Under these circumstances, they were still 9 points behind.

This only proves...

The Suns are really strong, especially the performances of veterans O'Neal and Hill, which were key to their lead.

......

In the home locker room, Kobe served himself a bowl of millet porridge with sea cucumber.

I heard that the Chinese men's national football team likes to eat sea cucumbers...

Out of admiration for the nation, everyone on the Lakers team respects Chinese athletes, whether in basketball or football. During halftime, Lakers players like to drink millet porridge with sea cucumber.

Gentry took the technical statistics sheet from Cummings.

65:56!!

The score is symmetrical, with the Suns in the lead.

First half...

The Suns took 46 shots and made 21, a field goal percentage of nearly 46%. The Lakers took 41 shots and made 18, a field goal percentage of nearly 44%. The two teams had similar field goal percentages. The Lakers took 5 fewer shots than the Suns because the Suns capitalized on Lakers turnovers to launch several fast breaks during the 5 minutes that Wei Guo and Kobe were not on the court.

In addition, the Lakers trailed the Suns in rebounds (21-19), assists (9-11), steals (3-7), and blocks (5-2). Except for rebounds and blocks, the Lakers were behind the Suns in all other categories.

After reviewing the statistics, Gentry analyzed, "O'Neal and Hill will inevitably have less energy in the second half, so we'll target them with Wei Guo and Kobe."

"I have a different opinion..."

Wei Guo put down his chopsticks and said, "D'Antoni won't place all his hopes on the veterans. Barbosa and Diaw will take up most of Hill's time, so there's no need to focus on Hill in the second half."

Gentry nodded, "I'll do as Brother Wei says."

......

Three minutes into the second half, Barbosa substituted Hill.

Wei Guo's prediction came true again...

The Lakers players didn't react at all. This kind of scene is too common. When Gentry talks about tactics during halftime, if Wei Guo interrupts, it is inevitably because Gentry's analysis is wrong. This will not affect the players' respect for Gentry. Gentry's biggest role in the team is not tactical analysis, but inspirational words.

He coached for six seasons and won the Coach of the Year award four times.

The fact that none of the players and assistant coaches on the six teams ever questioned Gentry after his departure speaks volumes about his strength.

Wei Guo anchors the inside!

This greatly limited the performance of Stoudemire and O'Neal, which also reflects O'Neal's role on the court... Although he played three minutes in the second half without scoring a point, he contained Wei Guo, making him the Suns' biggest contributor.

With Nash hitting two consecutive three-pointers... the Suns extended their lead to double digits!

D'Antoni glanced at Gentry and noticed that although Gentry was watching the game, he didn't seem inclined to call a timeout... This made D'Antoni a little uneasy, as Gentry remained very confident in the game.

72:61!!

The Lakers are down by 11 points.

It was the Lakers' offense again. Wei Guo left the three-second zone and ran to the three-point line, drawing Stoudemire away... This gave Kobe an open shot, who backed down the basket, followed by a series of spin moves and fakes, shaking off Barbosa before scoring with a low layup. This was the dream footwork that Wei Guo taught Kobe.

Kobe has mastered this skill in the game...

However, he didn't quite master it. Kobe had thought that after this season ended, he would seek out Hakeem Olajuwon as his mentor and quickly grasp the essence of the Dream Shake.

72:63!!

The Lakers are down by 9 points.

Wei Guo waved his hand and shouted, "Everyone, get your spirits up and defend! Let's catch up!"

What a familiar phrase...

The Lakers players were energized, the Suns players were visibly shaken, but O'Neal didn't take those words seriously... He had never been teammates with Wei Guo and didn't understand the meaning of those words, but when Wei Guo said that everyone had to give 200% effort when playing with spirit on defense, and that anyone who slacked off would have their ass kicked after the game.

As soon as Nash received the inbound pass from the baseline, Paul rushed up to press him and block Nash's passing lanes!

A full six seconds passed...

Nash managed to dribble the ball up the court with difficulty and pass it to Bell!

After receiving the ball, Bell made a shooting fake, but it didn't fool Kobe. He knew very well that Kobe was not only better than him offensively, but even Bell's defense, which he was so proud of, was inferior to Kobe's. Because he was afraid of making a mistake, Bell chose to avoid Kobe and called Barbosa over to receive the ball!

Barbosa received the ball and drove into the paint, but was blocked by Wei Guo. He tried to pass the ball, but Odom intercepted it.

The defensive intensity was suffocating...

Although O'Neal and Stoudemire were well-positioned, they didn't even have a chance to receive the ball.

After Odom stole the ball, the Lakers launched a fast break. Odom's dribbling skills are also very strong. He and Kobe charged towards the frontcourt from the left and right... When Bell caught up, Odom faked a shot and passed the ball to Kobe.

"Bang!!!"

Kobe catches the ball, jumps, and dunks with both hands to score!

72:65!!

The Lakers are down by 7 points.

......

"Phoenix Suns request a timeout!"

......

D'Antoni called an emergency timeout.

Although I don't know much about the Lakers, I know Wei Guo very well. All the teams Wei Guo has played for have one thing in common, including the Suns back then. When Wei Guo wants to catch up with points through defense, his teammates will turn into 'mad dogs'. The only way is to call a timeout to control the pace.

"You all heard what Brother Wei just said..."

D'Antoni looked serious. "This is a test for us. Whether you can score under this kind of defensive pressure is the test for us. I believe you can do it. If you really have no other options, just give the ball to Nash and let him take a one-on-one!"

A helpless situation!

Another weakness of the Suns is their lack of players with exceptional one-on-one ball-handling skills. They rely on Nash to initiate the offense and play team basketball.

A player with strong one-on-one skills can help a team out of a predicament.

The year they won the championship, there were many players with exceptional ball-handling skills, Nash was one, and Joe Johnson was another.

besides...

The team also has Wei Guo, a man who can solve everything with one-on-one play.

Currently, this team can only rely on Nash to score one-on-one. Stoudemire has strong scoring ability but average ball-handling ability, so he relies on cooperation with Nash. O'Neal is invincible under the basket, but he needs to contain Wei Guo. Scoring under Wei Guo's defense is too difficult, so we can't rely on O'Neal to score one-on-one.

Hill is getting old...

Bale and Barbosa, needless to say, have only average one-on-one abilities.