Chapter Eighty-Three: The Trap
At the end of the third quarter, the score was 75:84, and the Suns' offensive firepower decreased in the third quarter, but unfortunately the Clippers themselves were not much better, and the difference between the two teams still did not narrow.
Stoudemire had 22 points and eight rebounds, Nash 15 points and 10 assists, Marion 12 points, Hill 10 points, Dio 8 points and Barbossa 5 points.
Through the scoring distribution of the Suns players, fans only need to look at it to know that the Clippers have been blown up inside, the point guard has been blown up, and the No. 3 position has not taken advantage, and only the No. 2 position has the Clippers to hold one.
Charles Barkley commented before the start of the final quarter: "The Clippers must prevent the Suns' offense, the Suns were the league's No. 1 scoring team last season, as long as the offense is smooth, they can score a lot of points quickly, and if they are not careful, they are easy to be led by their pace to attack and run." The best way to deal with this is to keep your composure and play your way, soften their quick counter-attacks and find open spots to score. ”
The two brothers played almost the entire third quarter and had to get enough rest at the start of the fourth quarter, and Dunleavy Sr. wasn't going to risk overusing them for a game that wasn't planned.
At 7 minutes and 30 seconds, the two returned to the court, with a score of 84:94, and the difference was still 10 points.
This score is like a trench, and once the Clippers want to close the gap to within 10 points, the Suns will always have someone to step up.
Barbossa, nicknamed the Brazilian Lightning, reached the peak of his career last season, averaging 18 points per game and entering the ranks of quasi-All-Stars. And in these five minutes of bench time, he really used his rapid breakthrough like lightning to repeatedly hit the Clippers' baskets. Eight out of 10 points from the Suns' bench came to Barbossa alone, and the Brazilian used his pace to beat Mobley, an older cat with more experience than him.
After the two brothers came on the pitch, Barbossa was replaced by D'Antoni.
Barbossa, although he also shot well, was too sticky to the ball, and the defense against the twins was already disgraced in the first half, and D'Antoni replaced Nash and Stoudemire, intending to end the game as much as possible.
Mustache sat on the bench, looking at the twins who looked exactly the same, and wanted to get Brother Panda, that is, Ji Guoqiu. He watched a game where the Chinese would fit seamlessly into his team to fill their last gap, and the Suns would have a defensive ability on the inside that they hadn't had before.
The Phoenix people have already made a move, trying to use Marion and next year's draft pick to take the Clippers' bad contract, but asking the Clippers to add Ji to the trade.
This mention was thrown directly into the trash by Dunleavy Sr., who is also a coach and manager, and unless he has Alzheimer's, he will definitely not break up the twins.
Stoudemire blocked and dismantled at the free throw line, but Ji Guoqiu predicted in advance to block the breakthrough route, and at this time Ji Guoqiu suddenly shouted in his heart: "Boss, let him go to the left, doesn't he not pass the ball?" We set a trap for him. ”
Ji Guoqiu's heart moved, and he really gave up a breakthrough route on the left side.
Stoudemire's basketball IQ is really not very high, and even if he is smart, he can't imagine that the two brothers can communicate in their hearts, so this should be a foregone conclusion.
The Suns fans in the audience saw Xiao Si dribbling and breaking through again, and immediately cheered, and Xiao Si's breakthrough today could also cause the two brothers to foul, which was extremely lethal.
However, this time Xiao Si was unlucky, and he also had a trace of doubt in his heart, this breakthrough seemed too easy, but he didn't have time to think about it, two steps later, he had already come to the basket, and he could dunk when he jumped......
"Smack!"
Ji Guosha rushed from the left wing position when he was about to make a move, and a big hand accurately pressed on the basketball that Xiao Si had just thrown, and then suddenly made a force, and the basketball was slapped away by Ji Guosha, and fell directly into the hands of Black Parker on the outside.
The referee saw it very clearly, there was no penalty foul, good hat!
The Suns fans felt like they had been choked by the neck, the cheers came to an abrupt end, and the Clippers had launched a counterattack......
Artest has been controlled by Grant Hill's defense in this game, and only now has scored 7 points, and this time the counter-attacking beast has accelerated to keep up.
Black Parker was tangled under the basket by Raga Bell and passed back to Artest, who was plugged in behind.
Grant Hill can't bear the running Atay this time, the opponent's 260-pound weight is equivalent to a miniature version of James once it rushes up, Hill hurriedly gets out of the way and is seriously injured, and the beast can dunk it with both hands!
Stoudemire is angry about being covered, he has always had the upper hand in the competition with the two brothers in this game, the big hat just now Xiaobawang thinks it was just an accident, no one can never be blocked, Xiao Si comforted himself in his heart, he will double the face he lost this time in the next attack.
Ji Guoqiu's tactics were effective, and the next time Ji Guoqiu deliberately showed his flaws again, this time he put the right side to Xiao Si.
Stoudemire received the ball in the high position, and saw that there was an obvious breakthrough opportunity on the right, although he was suspicious again, but he looked at Ji Guoyi, the guy was still guarding Marion in the bottom corner, and he didn't even turn around with his back to him, so he should be safe.
Although Ji Guoyi didn't turn around, he kept staring at him with his brother's eyes, and when he saw Stoudemire breaking through again, he quickly turned around and made up for the basket. Although he didn't cover Xiao Si this time, it affected Stoudemire's layup, Stoudemire's shot was very biased this time, the rebound was won by Ji Guoqiu, and the Clippers fought back again.
Suns fans feel that this rhythm is not right, in the past, they played the opponent's fast attack counterattack, but now they have been hit by the small broken boat twice in a row, what is the situation?
Artest rushed again, and Marion and Grant Hill joined forces to stop the beast. Although the Artest is not very fast, once it starts, the impact force is also not to be underestimated, and it is a small tank, and it is difficult to stop it without a heavyweight big-tonnage player.
After the Clippers fought back twice, the score was 88:94, and the difference between the two teams became 6 points in the blink of an eye.
It was the smallest difference between the two teams in the second half, and D'Antoni called a timeout when he saw that the situation was not good.
"Amare, use your mid-range to finish them off."
D'Antoni was very unhappy with Stoudemire's failure to make two strong baskets, which was indeed the culprit of the Clippers' continuous rapid counterattacks to chase points.
On the other hand, the elder Dunleavy did not over-set up the tactics, the team is playing well now, just keep the status quo, in fact, the two brothers' two successful defenses were their own solutions.
The timeout ends and the game resumes.
Nash used the pick-and-roll to make a mid-range jumper and hit a solid shot.
Black Parker was deceived by Nash's feints and didn't even make a block move.
The Clippers attacked, Ji Guoqiu received the ball in the low post, quickly turned around and hooked his hand......
Stoudemire's defense was a beat slower again, and this time he really had to guard with his heart, but it was natural to get used to it, and it wasn't something that could be serious if he wanted to.
Xiao Si looked back and saw that the basketball went straight into the net, and it went in cleanly.
This is Ji Guoqiu's 15th point today, tying his highest score in the regular season. That's right, Ji Guoqiu's highest score in a single game is 15 points, and he has scored a total of three times in the regular season. Regardless of whether the game is won or lost today, Ji Guoqiu may set a new single highest score.
Stoudemire also felt that this was a disgraceful thing, and the defensive end began to defend seriously, but Ji Guoqiu still hit a hook on his head, which made Xiaobawang feel very embarrassed.
The Suns attacked, Stoudemire kept raising his hand to ask for the ball after blocking and dismantling, but Nash deceived the little bully with this pass, staring at Stoudemire, and the movement of his hand was also towards Stoudemire, but the basketball flew in the direction of Marion, and it was another move.
The two brothers were also fooled this time, and they also thought that Nash would pass the ball to Stoudemire to help the little bully get back face, but Nash's pass deceived everyone, and Marion received the ball and easily dunked under the basket to score two points.
The Suns' home fans cheered neatly with "MVP", and Nash's two-time MVP relied on his masterful passing and, of course, his offense at key moments......
The next time the Clippers missed, Nash received the ball and advanced quickly, and the 34-year-old veteran dribbled faster than many young players, and the Suns fought back again quickly.
Nash dribbled into the three-point line and suddenly came to a sharp stop, and he calmly pushed out the basketball in his hand from mid-range, and easily scored two points.
At 5 minutes and 10 seconds in the fourth quarter, the score was 90:100, and the Suns relied on Nash's continuous passes and shots to quickly expand the score that had been extended by the Clippers to double digits again.
Dunleavy Sr. called a timeout, but it didn't work much, the point guard is the weakness of the Clippers, as long as the opposing team has a star point guard, their game will become difficult, not to mention that the Suns don't just have Nash.
After the timeout, D'Antoni switched Barbosa to the second position, and the Brazilian lightning became the X-factor in the final moments, breaking through as fast as lightning, and with the two brothers being distracted by Stoudemire and Marion, they scored back-to-back breakthroughs to continue to widen the difference.
Posey was also a little weak against Barbossa, who was too small and fast, like the Warriors' Monta Ellis, to guard against.
Two minutes later, the Clippers' margin was stretched to 15 points, and Dunleavy Sr. had no choice but to give up the game and replace the main team, announcing that the game was in garbage time.