Chapter 1352: Beat the Lakers in One Quarter

"Look, the Lakers dare to attack the three-point line now." Zhang Heli shouted.

At the 6th minute of the first quarter, 10:20, the Suns led by 10 points.

Although the Lakers were able to get into the three-point line, Li Ba had been playing hard at the basket. Under the cover of Jimmy Butler, his success rate was much higher than the Lakers' outside attack. At the same time, he was at the basket, rebounds were more secure, and the Suns had more shots, so the score difference widened to double digits.

Zhang Heli smiled and said, "There are gains and losses. The hammer returned to the basket and the lack of outside defense made it easier for the Lakers to score outside, but it also gave the Suns more rebounds and more shots."

At this time, the Suns attacked.

Li Ba also pulled out from the basket first, received the ball, turned around, and then attacked the basket.

Howard didn't come out this time. He knew that Li Ba was going to force him and wanted to knock him down. He couldn't jump shot, so he stayed at the basket and jumped in time to defend.

But this kind of defense was too passive. The hand couldn't be pressed down when blocking, and the jump couldn't leave his cylinder, so it was impossible to stop Li Ba from hitting the basket.

"Bang!"

Li Ba's jumping speed is still at the top level, faster than Howard's current one, and with a jumping height that is not inferior to Howard, he pressed the latter and smashed the ball into the basket.

The Lakers called a second timeout afterwards.

Barkley analyzed: "With the Lakers' inside defense, there is really no way to stop the Hammer's attack under the basket. Howard's inside defense is the second in the league, except for the Hammer, but under the Hammer's attack, his defense is too weak and passive."

Kenny Smith laughed: "Do you dare to do small tricks to the Hammer? Do you dare to hit the Hammer hard and deliberately hurt people?

If you dare, the Hammer will definitely fight back, this is his deterrent power.

And those who dare, Artest, Malone, Bynum have tasted the power of the Hammer, so Howard dare not, this is the reason for his weak and passive defense."

Barkley shook his head and laughed, and complained: "So they are now going to limit defense, which is to tie up the Hammer's hands and feet. Guess what rules they will introduce?"

Kenny Smith guessed "The previous rule to restrict defense was illegal use of hands. I also got some information. The rule to be introduced this time is likely to be illegal contact."

"Oh?"

Barkley screamed and shouted: "If even contact is not allowed when defending, then it's better to do as Tiechui said, and everyone will go to watch the three-point contest directly."

Kenny Smith laughed and said: "By then, the offensive method will become very monotonous, no low-post play, no double-teaming, no strong play under the basket, no back-to-back play, no dunks, no breakthroughs, only you shoot, and then I shoot, no one will defend, because that means fouls, and the ball will be back soon anyway, so there is no need to defend at all."

After the timeout, the Lakers learned from the Suns this time, using Tony Allen to switch to defend Garnett, and let Alian come in to double-team Li Ba.

This is equivalent to half-opening Garnett, which is also a good tactic, because half of Garnett will definitely not kill the Lakers, and as long as Li Ba is restricted, the Lakers can also strengthen control on rebounds and make up for the points lost from Garnett.

"Kevin, come in for a pick and roll."

When Li Ba saw the Lakers' defense, he immediately called Garnett, who had been pulled out, in.

Today, he focused on the Lakers' basket and competed with the Lakers in terms of success rate, one inside and one outside, to see who was more efficient.

The team led the powerful Lakers 2-1, and Garnett was more motivated than anyone else. If he won this game, he would lead 3-1 and advance to the Western Conference Finals. When he saw Li Ba calling him, he immediately rushed in.

"Tony, go in and block him." Mike Brown shouted loudly.

"Go outside and double-team the ball holder."

When Li Ba saw Jimmy Butler was about to follow in, there were too many people in the paint area, so he shouted quickly.

At this time, the five seconds were almost up, so he quickly retreated to the high position and asked Harden for the ball.

After getting the ball, Al-Jade was at the bottom, and Howard did not come out and was still guarding the basket.

Garnett knew that Li Ba wanted to play Howard, so he immediately made a pick and roll and blocked Al-Jade on the left side.

Li Ba turned around with the ball, broke through A-Lian from behind Garnett, and rushed to Howard.

A-Lian also reacted quickly, immediately turned around and rushed into the basket, and jumped up with Howard to block Li Ba.

But Li Ba did not attack the basket. After jumping up, his hands shook and passed the ball to Garnett.

Garnett jumped from the front of the basket, caught the ball with both hands in the air, and dunked Howard who had just landed with a bang.

"Beep!"

The referee blew the whistle, pointed at Howard, and made a blocking foul gesture.

"Haha, Howard has two fouls, and the Lakers are in trouble now." Yu Jiada laughed.

"The Lakers' backup center is not better than Drummond. The Lakers are in trouble now." Zhang Heli laughed.

The Lakers are indeed in trouble. If Howard continues to stay on the court, he will definitely be stared at by Li Ba. If he goes down, the Lakers' inside line will definitely be completely blown up and exploded into slag.

Moreover, even if Howard goes down, he will always come up again. What should we do then?

Mike Brown has a headache again.

In the end, he took a conservative approach and replaced Howard with a backup center.

In this way, in the following time, the Suns' offense was completely carried out under the basket.

Li Ba did not go out to defend, but focused on the paint area, controlled the rebound, and then played under the basket, using his high efficiency on the offensive end to directly blow up the Lakers.

Kobe and Paul attacked desperately, but the outside hit rate was much lower than the inside attack. Even with the three-pointer, it was not enough to offset the high hit rate of the inside, not to mention the huge gap in rebounds.

After the first quarter, 23:38, the Suns won by 15 points, which can be said to have blown up the Lakers.

Li Ba made 9 of 10 shots and 3 of 6 free throws in a single quarter, scoring 21 points, 8 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals, 3 blocks and 1 foul.

"This is the strength of the inside line, with a high success rate and rebounding advantage. Even if Kobe and Paul are in great form, they can't win."

Zhang Heli shouted excitedly.

In the second quarter, Li Ba continued to play, and Drummond also played. Such a strong inside combination forced the Lakers not to withdraw the main force.

Howard also played again, and the other main players were the same.

In the second quarter, Li Ba resumed the defense of the Lakers' outside line and once again drove Kobe and Paul's offense out of the three-point line.

At the same time, on the offensive end, Li Ba continued to focus on Howard, using his strong impact to frequently attack the Lakers' basket.

However, because Li Ba was at the fourth position, the Lakers' rebounds recovered and the disadvantage was not as great as in the second half of the first quarter.

At the same time, the Suns' inside offense was slightly less, because Li Ba was far away from the basket, had fewer opportunities, and did more defense and passing.

In a single quarter, Li Ba made 4 of 5 shots and 4 of 6 free throws, scoring 12 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals, 3 blocks, 1 turnover, and 1 foul.