In the rest of the second quarter, Kobe's time basically belonged to the Lakers, while the old guns took the lead on the Clippers' side.
Jeremy Lin couldn't guard Paul at all. In the next period of time, Paul broke through and drew fouls, or scored assists after breaking through. It can be said that the game was quite easy.
Jeremy Lin lost the first quarter. This is also Jeremy Lin's problem. He has never been able to stabilize his state. He can smoke like a god, but can't smoke like a ghost.
Jeremy Lin, who returned to the court, obviously couldn't get up, and was completely suppressed by Paul. In order to defend Jeremy Lin, Li Hao also gave the veteran two free throw opportunities.
The veteran not only scored eight free throws in the next few minutes, but also sent out an assist. Coupled with Griffin's steady performance, the Clippers maintained their lead.
For the Lakers, Kobe made 2 of 4 shots and 4 of 5 free throws. His performance was no worse than that of the veteran. It is said that the two almost became teammates before, but unfortunately they were forcibly stopped by the then league president.
Then the Clippers took advantage of the situation, and Paul came to Los Angeles as he wished, but it was the Clippers without Kobe instead of the Lakers.
Although Li Hao did not score again, his contributions in other aspects should not be underestimated. For example, he provided an assist to Kobe and Boozer each, and grabbed 3 rebounds in defense. In addition, he also completely restricted Barn. Sri Lanka.
Although Barnes scored the lowest among the starting five, he still contributed 10 points per game, and he was an experienced veteran.
However, Li Hao's outstanding performance after returning to the main force was still blocking shots, and it was Griffin who blocked Paul. After attracting the defense, Paul passed the basketball to Griffin. The White Monster immediately rose from the ground, but Griffin finished During the dunk, a figure jumped up from the side and slapped the basketball from Grigg's hand.
"Another incredible block. Li has contributed such blocks to us many times." Li Hao jumped very high, so every block was particularly exaggerated.
What's more, Li Hao is blocking Griffin this time. Griffin in his peak period was the representative of dunkers. After Nash got old and the fast-playing Cyclones disbanded, the Clippers became the most beautiful player in the league. The team is known as the "Lob City".
"Brother Ritian never covers no one." From Harden in his debut to Dragic, the core of the Suns, and now Griffin, he has blocked three of the opponent's core players in three games.
Li Hao's blocking attribute is really not high, it is only 60 points now, but with his abnormal bounce and speed, Li Hao can always find opportunities to block shots in the game.
In the end, the first half ended at 64:60. The Clippers' main team returned and still failed to change the point difference back to 9 points.
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"Coach, if you can, I will defend Chris Paul in the second half," Li Hao said to Scott when he returned to the locker room.
"Chris is not a guard you can bully with his height." If you want to say who knows the veteran best among the Lakers, it must be Byron Scott.
"How will you know if you don't try?" Li Hao was obviously not willing to give up. Firstly, it was for the victory of the team. Today's O'mei was watching the game as his girlfriend. Li Hao didn't want to lose. Secondly, he just wanted to follow Match the strongest players, unless the opponent is inside.
"Then give it a try" Scott frowned and finally agreed.
"I just want to feel the strength of the league's number one point guard." Li Hao, who received a positive answer from the head coach, came to Jeremy Lin.
After more than a month, Li Hao and Jeremy Lin had a good relationship, and from Kobe's care for Jeremy Lin about Li Hao, we also knew that Li Hao was someone Kobe valued and was even a key player for the team to train.
Li Hao does not have a starting position now, but Li Hao plays a lot of time. If you really count the previous two games combined, Li Hao has more minutes than Jeremy Lin.
Jeremy Lin will naturally not blame Li Hao for this. Sports and competitive strength speak for themselves. Jeremy Lin's poor form in the first two games cannot be blamed on others.
Besides, Jeremy Lin is not a rookie. From being undrafted to now establishing a foothold, from the Knicks' madness to the ups and downs of the Rockets, Jeremy Lin has experienced a lot in this league.
"There's no need to explain this kind of thing," Jeremy Lin said with a smile.
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Players from both sides returned to the court. The Lakers' starting lineup became Jordan Hill, Boozer, Kobe, Jeremy Lin, Li Hao, and the Clippers' DeAndre Jordan, Griffin, Barnes, Redick, and Paul.
"The Lakers head coach made a very correct decision to keep Li Hao on the court." Seeing that Li Hao was still on the court, Director Zhang gave Scott a rare compliment.
"Hahaha~~~ I knew it, I knew it." After the game restarted, O'Neal and Barkley speculated during the halftime break that Li Hao would take the initiative to defend Paul in the second half.
"Hey, when did you have such a tacit understanding?" Kenny Smith said to the two.
"This is not a tacit understanding," O'Neal and Barkley both denied.
On the court, Paul had already crossed half the court with the ball, and then saw Li Hao standing in front of him.
"Kid, do you think you can block me?" Paul is not a nice guy. Not only does he often talk trash to his opponents, but he also makes many small moves when defending.
"Well, who's talking?" Li Hao doesn't like to talk trash, but if he really encounters it, Li Hao won't give up. China has been developing the art of language for thousands of years. Li Hao dares to say: everyone here is trash. .
After speaking, Li Hao deliberately turned his head. Paul would definitely not miss this opportunity. However, Li Hao had already considered this issue and moved sideways to directly block the old cannon's breakthrough route.
Then the physical confrontation mode was turned on. Li Hao used his height and strong body to squeeze Paul's space. One of the reasons why Deron defeated Paul was because of the tonnage.
Tonnage alone is not enough, you also need to match Paul's ball-handling skills and speed. It is really not an easy task to have these three items on the back line.
Paul's lower body strength is very strong, and his confrontation ability is also very good. In today's league, only Deron is better than Paul at the first position. With the tonnage bonus, this is how Deron can eat, sleep and beat Paul. s reason.
As for Paul in other positions, let alone whether he can overpower Paul in terms of strength and confrontation, he is too tall and the center of gravity of dribbling becomes higher. In this situation, it is easy to be intercepted. However, Paul is still a master of steals and is the best in the league. The steal king.
In the years since Paul entered the league, whether he faced opponents at the same position or the second or third position, Paul never suffered much. The only exception was Deron.
It's quite interesting that NBA stars have conflicting styles, such as Yao Mingke, Stoudemire, James DeRozan, Curry Lillard, etc.
