Chapter 1213: Artest Is Knocked Away

This time Li Ba was in a deep position, so Artest followed him and blocked Li Ba after he entered the frontcourt.

But Li Ba first slowed down, then suddenly accelerated and changed direction. Artest didn't keep up with him at all and was directly knocked down to the other side.

Li Ba entered the paint with the ball, Kobe gritted his teeth and blocked it, but the former did not attack, but passed it to Ray Allen.

"Swish!"

Ray Allen made a three-pointer and hit a goal.

0:8, the Suns led.

There was a problem with the offense, and the Lakers called a timeout.

Barkley analyzed: "It is obvious that the Suns have put a lot of thought into the defense. The Lakers have used this kind of bottom-line breakthrough offense for several consecutive games. The Suns are ready."

Kenny Smith said: "The Suns' defense in the paint is quite good, and with the performance of the hammer, the Lakers have fallen into a state of powerlessness in offense. If the Lakers want to score, if they continue to break through the inside, they must use more offensive screens and more passes, rather than this simple bottom-line breakthrough tactic."

After the timeout, the Lakers attacked.

Parker held the ball at the top of the arc, Kobe was on the right wing three-point line, and Artest was on the left wing three-point line.

This time, Duncan and Gasol no longer moved up to the free throw line, but moved to the low position on the wings.

This also pulled Li Ba and Alian apart, exposing the Suns' basket to the Lakers' firepower.

At this time, Parker started to break through with the ball, breaking directly from the top of the arc, instead of breaking through from the right wing where he was best.

At the same time, Kobe quickly moved to the top of the arc.

Alian did not move, still defending Gasol, while Li Ba moved one step to the basket and let Duncan take two steps.

Parker did not attack, but suddenly changed direction and rushed towards Li Ba.

Li Ba took a step to the left of the basket. He saw Parker rushing over, and at the same time saw Kobe coming down from the top of the arc, so he knew that Parker's ball would definitely be given to Kobe.

Sure enough, Parker rushed to Li Ba and stopped with a spinning top turn, and the ball was passed to Kobe.

The moment Li Ba "saw" the ball being passed to Kobe, he began to react: he turned around and bypassed Parker in front of him.

Three meters in front of the basket, which is one step from the free throw line, Kobe received the ball, rushed to the basket, and took a step to jump.

At this time, Li Ba bypassed Parker, took a step and jumped to block the shot.

Kobe's air-staying ability exploded. Facing Li Ba's block, he suddenly turned 360 degrees in the air, bypassed Li Ba, and then picked up the ball before landing.

Li Ba was heavier, landed first, and then jumped twice at the fastest speed. His long arms crossed the basket and grabbed it. With a snap, he grabbed the ball directly.

"Yeah!"

Another wonderful block, which made the whole audience boil.

Kobe landed and was very regretful.

He shot a little slower on this ball. If he shot 0.1 seconds earlier, he would not have been blocked.

He felt that it was a selective error. He should have shot with his back to the basket and should not have turned 360 degrees. It was a waste of time.

The Suns played a fast break again. Li Ba passed the ball and ran down himself. After reaching the top of the arc, Nash passed the ball in.

At this time, Artest came from the wing to defend, and Li Ba attacked the basket from the front with the ball. The two collided in the air, like Mars hitting the earth. With a bang, the former was instantly bounced away, and landed unsteadily. With another bang, he fell heavily on the floor, and then slid out of the baseline.

Li Ba also tilted in the air, but his speed and explosive power combined, the impact force was much greater than Artest, and he still managed to complete a one-handed dunk.

The referee blew the whistle, Artest hit the hand foul, and Li Ba scored an additional free throw.

After the baseline, Artest looked painful, he hugged his left foot and couldn't stand up.

"Damn it!"

Kobe and Phil Jackson off the court swore at the same time.

The Lakers made a substitution, Tony Allen came on.

Artest was carried off the court by Duncan and Gasol, and was sent directly back to the locker room from the bench.

Li Ba made the free throw, 0:11, the Suns led.

Artest's injury had a great impact on the Lakers, because he still had offensive ability and three-pointers, but Tony Allen could only break through and layup.

Next, Ray Allen left Tony Allen open and double-teamed the ball holder, making the Lakers more passive on the offensive end.

It was not until the 4th minute that the Lakers broke the scoring drought. Kobe did not break through again, but made a three-pointer. The score at this time was 3:15, and the Lakers were 12 points behind.

Barkley shook his head and sighed: "The Lakers' state tonight is not bad, but the Suns' defense is too good. If they continue to play like this, the Lakers have no chance of winning."

Kenny Smith said: "Today, the Suns have a change, that is, the hammer has resumed his fast break, which makes the Lakers very passive, both offensive and defensive."

In the next time of the first quarter, Kobe took over the ball.

In order to chase points, he chose to shoot outside.

The Lakers once again adopted the human sea tactics, Kobe and Parker shot outside, and others fought for rebounds.

After one quarter, 16:32, the Suns led by 16 points, and the score almost doubled.

Li Ba made 4 of 4 shots and 2 of 3 free throws in a single quarter, scoring 10 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 steals and 4 blocks, and performed very strongly on the defensive end.

The second time, Li Ba continued to play, forming an outside line with Carter and Dudley, and Haslem and the Polish Hammer formed the inside line.

For the Lakers, this was a game they could not lose. If they lost this series, the game would basically be over. Therefore, only Duncan did not play, and Odom took over the power forward position. The other main players were on the court.

The Lakers still used the human sea tactics on the offensive end at the beginning, but Li Ba immediately changed the defensive tactics and started defending directly from the source.

As a point guard, he had the convenience to defend Parker.

Although Parker was faster, he needed to use some tricks to bypass Li Ba.

After a chaotic battle, at the end of the half, 45:53, the Suns still led by 8 points, and the Lakers pulled back 9 points.

Li Ba still exerted his strength on both offense and defense in this quarter, and did not hold back. He made 6 of 8 shots and 5 of 8 free throws, scoring 17 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, 2 blocks, 1 turnover and 1 foul.

His steals and blocks were given to Parker, who suffered a lot and made 6 turnovers in a single quarter.

But Kobe also blew Carter and scored 18 points in a single quarter.

In addition, the Lakers had a big advantage in the interior and the rebounds were guaranteed, so even though Li Ba performed bravely in the second quarter, he still lost some points.

Zhang Heli said: "If the Suns play like the last game, putting Ginobili in the bench lineup will also be beneficial. The bench lineup will be very strong, but then the main lineup will be weak. Fast breaks will not work without Ginobili."

Duncan and Gasol each played half a quarter in the second quarter. At the beginning of the third quarter, Gasol played and Duncan rested.

The Suns' main players played, and Carter continued to be on the court.

In the third quarter, Li Ba did not attack again, but focused on defense to accumulate physical strength.