Chapter 167: The Situation Changes
The third big game between the Suns and the Clippers was packed at the American Airlines Center Arena, after all, this is the Suns' second playoff game in three years.
On the court, Li Mojie gritted his teeth and struggled, under the pressure of Jordan Jr. and Griffin on the Clippers' interior, the interior line was almost blocked, and Matt Barnes's defense also made Li Mojie's offense more and more difficult.
"After the first two outbursts, Lee's form has clearly slipped in this game, and he has only hit 5 of 15 shots, scoring 11 points and scoring -10 efficiency," said ESPN commentator Bryn.
"Well, this is also normal, the state of the players fluctuates, the last two games Li Mojie performed quite well, which is simply not like a rookie can do, now that his form is declining, I can feel that he is still an earthling." Van Gundy explained to the audience.
"Well, not only that, but Li Mojie's defense attracted in addition to statistics and the role of opening up space for teammates cannot be ignored!" Brin added.
"For the big man's defense, Frye was careful not to lose his position behind him, and Markieff made up for it at the right time."
"Follow up on the outside, Mojab, Ismael, Middleton, pay attention to their threes, they're used to stepping up in the third quarter, we need to be quicker in the rotation."
"If you have the opportunity, resolutely attack the basket, kill the basket, and make the opponent's big center Jordan Jr. foul, their backup center is quite unreliable."
At half-time, Hornacek spent a little longer setting up his tactics and making substitutions, and at home, Hornacek was hoping to win.
Judging from the first two games, Bledsoe's disadvantage of being injured and unable to play has been reflected, that is, Chris Paul can unscrupulously thread the needle, whether it is Ismael Smith or Ramon Sessions, there are not many people who can limit Paul in this league, but the Suns obviously have one, but unfortunately they are still sitting off the court, which makes countless Suns fans sigh.
Fifteen minutes into the half-time break, the second half restarted, and the Suns took the lead, and their first ball did not hit the inside, but Li Mojie took advantage of the cover of Frye and Markieff to catch the ball in the middle range and hit two points.
On the other end, the Clippers started their offensive basket tactics from the first shot, and Paul and Glenn Davis also scored two points on a breakaway layup.
In the first few rounds of the third quarter, both sides were attacking according to the established tactics, with the Clippers shooting from mid-to-long range mainly through off-ball running and pass-through after blocking and pick-and-roll, while the Suns looked for opportunities to attack the basket and occasionally split the ball to the outside Middleton and Frye to shoot three-pointers.
At 79:65, a few minutes after the score was played, the Suns still trailed by 14 points, and there was no obvious fluctuation.
The Suns attacked, Li Mojie held the ball high, several Suns players were actively running, and the opportunity to catch the ball appeared in Middleton's hands.
Middleton is currently the Suns' most accurate shooter for three-point shooters, so Crawford follows closely when he catches the ball from the outside.
But Crawford himself is only 195cm tall, while Middleton is 201cm tall, and his arm span is more than 10 cm longer than Crawford.
"Yes, Middleton is the Suns' most reliable scorer in this game, he has scored 17 points so far, and he is the Suns' highest scorer!" Brin exclaimed.
"This guy!" Paul looked at Middleton salivating, and for no other reason than to get Middleton.
"With a height of 201cm, a shooting guard can shoot without the ball, his height and arm span can defend small forwards, and his salary is low, if the Clippers can recruit him this year, then I will definitely be able to meet the floor of the West Final this year, and if I can replace the champion with Jordan Jr. or Griffin to sign Li Mojie, I will definitely win the championship this year!" Paul thought.
The two sides continued to attack, and when Middleton got the ball again, Danny Granger chose to make up the defense, so Li Mojie, who had been tied up for nearly three quarters, was finally liberated!
Middleton passed the ball to Li Mojie, Li Mojie did not mean to shoot on the outside in the face of Glen Davis, and after receiving the ball, he changed direction, Li Mojie flashed out of the breakthrough space from Davis's side, and then started to break through and rushed to the basket.
In the third quarter of the game, the Clippers arranged for Granger to defend Li Yang, and Glen Davis paid attention to the defense, which was originally the task of Griffin and Jordan Jr., but one of them went down to rest, and the other was pulled out of the outside by Frye.
Big baby Glenn Davis couldn't keep up with Li Mojie when he was young, let alone now? Li Mojie directly entered the three-second zone and made a layup!
"Yes, when the outside shooter state comes out, Li Mojie can be released! Hornacek used a space-type interior Channingfrye to pull Jordan Jr. far out of the restricted area, coupled with the weakness of the Clippers' defense at the No. 2 position, the Clippers had to loosen their defensive focus away from Li Mojie! Van Gundy said when he saw that the situation seemed to have changed.
The Clippers attacked, and Jordan Jr. moved forward to block the pick-and-roll.
"Let Jordan Jr. shoot, don't let Paul, don't let Jordan Jr. go down." Hornacek yelled from the sidelines.
After Jordan Jr. got the ball in the high position, his face turned black when he heard this.
"Vote, vote!" Frye stood a meter in front of him and scoffed.
This little Jordan really didn't dare to shoot, he didn't allow free throws, let alone shooting in this position, Crawford came up to answer, and he immediately asked for it to Ke6, but unfortunately Ke6 made a three-point shot directly and missed!
"Li Mojie jumped up and picked up the rebound, the Suns' fast break!"
I saw that Li Mojie's feet on the court were like stepping on Hot Wheels, and the speed of advancing with the ball was one notch faster than Glenn Davis's speed without the ball!
"Hell!" Paul scolded, the small forward has such a fast advance with the ball, Paul has only seen one person, that is their Dust Four, the boss of the Banana Boat Brothers, LeBron, Paul thought that there was no other semicolon in the league, but he didn't expect there to be another one here!
In the face of Crawford and Paul, who retreated, only these two defenders retreated the fastest, and both of them tacitly pounced on Li Mojie, Li Mojie didn't blink his eyes, and with a flick of his hand, Ismael Smith took the ball and dunked it!
"Well done!"
"Pretty, Mo Jie!" This kind of passionate fast break, or on his own side, how can this not excite Suns fans?
"This situation seems to have been reversed!" Although the Clippers are still on the leading side at this time, they feel that they are at a disadvantage in terms of playing style and momentum, and Rivers feels very bad! Reading a book and finding the latest chapters by yourself? You're out, WeChat attention Beauty editor helps you find books! It's really a good book to flirt with girls!