However, even with Curry on the floor, the Lakers still held a slight edge in the second-unit matchup.
The gap in bench depth was not something Curry alone could completely make up for.
Over a 4-minute, 12-second rotation stretch, the Lakers erased the deficit and took a 4-point lead.
"Beep, beep!"
Alvin Gentry called a timeout.
Both teams brought their starters back.
For the Suns, Curry remained on the bench to rest, while backup small forward Jared Dudley stayed on the floor to strengthen the defense.
Play resumed.
Blake Su held the ball at the top of the arc.
"Step!"
"Step!"
Artest pressed tightly against Blake Su, while Pau Gasol lurked on the wing, ready to send a double-team at any moment. The Lakers were gradually increasing the defensive pressure on Blake Su.
But Blake Su did not panic at all. Dudley stepped up to set a screen, and Blake Su used it to shake off Artest. At the left high post, he found himself one-on-one against Pau Gasol.
"Whoosh!"
No fancy dribbling, just a burst straight to the rim. Pure speed overwhelmed Pau Gasol as Blake Su tore through him and charged into the paint.
"Thump!"
He gathered the ball and took off, adjusted in midair to avoid Bynum's block, then laid it high off the glass.
"Swish!"
Good.
"Wow. Blake Su just accelerated through a three-man defensive line and finished with an acrobatic layup. Seeing a center attack like that is terrifying!"
Possession changed.
Kobe posted up George at the left high post, and Dudley immediately closed in. The Suns also raised the defensive intensity on Kobe right away.
But Kobe, with five championships in hand and countless battles behind him, was even calmer.
A fake pass fooled Dudley away. Kobe backed down George, bumped him once, half-turned, then accelerated again, pulling George's center of gravity downward.
"Whoosh!"
Kobe stopped on a dime and leaned back into a fadeaway.
He had completely shaken George off balance.
"Clang!"
Unfortunately, it missed.
On the next possession, Kobe crossed the ball between his legs, held it in his left hand with a hesitation step, looked as if he were about to pull back, then suddenly exploded forward, catching George off guard.
"Whoosh!"
He broke free.
Kobe accelerated into the paint and, against Frye's defense, hung in the air, absorbed contact, drifted sideways, and banked it high off the glass.
"Clang!"
Still no good.
The rebound?
Bynum secured it and kicked it back out to Kobe, who posted up George again. Dudley came over to help, but Kobe had no fear at all.
He initiated contact with George.
"Whoosh!"
Protecting the ball, he spun away, shook both defenders by half a body length, then accelerated toward the rim once more against Frye's defense.
He adjusted in the air to avoid the block and tried a reverse bank.
"Clang!"
Still no good.
Blake Su protected the rebound.
"Wow. Kobe has missed two layups after shaking off the defense. That's pretty rare."
As they were saying that, another possession came.
Kobe made a reverse cut along the baseline, shook off George, slipped along the baseline and curled out. He caught Fisher's pass, turned, and fired up a sudden three.
A nearly wide-open three.
"Clang!"
Still no good.
Fortunately, Kobe charged into the paint, grabbed his own miss, and scored on the putback off the glass.
"Whew... Kobe finally got one to fall, but lately, going 1-for-5 is really a little too low for him."
"Tch!"
On the court, even after making that shot, Kobe snorted coldly, visibly annoyed and frustrated, because he had missed several straight attempts.
And more importantly, those were shots he had gotten good looks on, which Kobe found even harder to accept.
But for the rest of the second quarter, Kobe's touch remained ice-cold. He kept clanking shots, failed on possession after possession, and his efficiency stayed extremely poor.
It was sudden.
It made no sense.
But that was exactly what happened. And yet, surprisingly, when the half ended, the Lakers only trailed by 2 points.
"Huh? Why?"
At halftime, Mike Breen looked at the score from the commentary desk and asked in confusion.
"Uh..."
Van Gundy thought for a moment, then analyzed, "Kobe's touch suddenly went cold, almost like he's sick. He's fallen into a scoring drought.
He's missed over and over, wasting offensive possessions.
But aside from Kobe, there's Pau Gasol, Bynum under the basket, Fisher suddenly knocking down threes, and defensive stopper Artest.
These championship players are all doing their jobs, and they're all playing well.
On the Suns' side, their role players have struggled offensively under the Lakers' fierce defense, while Curry has been contained by Odom.
He also spent quite a bit of time off the floor.
As a result, the Suns' role players clearly offer much less offensive firepower than the Lakers'. If they want to score more, they can only rely even more on Blake Su's individual offense.
So even though Blake Su scored 24 points in the first half, and even though Kobe suddenly slumped in the second quarter, the Suns could only barely hold a 2-point lead."
"I see."
Mike Breen understood and sighed. "But that does make sense. One team is the defending champion, while the other was originally close to tanking.
The gap in overall team strength is just too big."
"That's right. That's the difficulty of carrying a team as a lone star."
"It feels like Blake Su is playing by himself against the Lakers' entire supporting cast. Of course, there are still two quarters left, so there are plenty of variables."
"..."
As they talked, the second half began.
The teams switched sides and resumed play.
"Clang!"
Kobe opened with a missed three.
His touch still had not come back. On the Suns' side, role players like George and Curry were not doing much better offensively either.
The commentators' words had come true.
For a while, the entire third quarter once again turned into Blake Su alone against the Lakers' entire supporting cast.
However, the playoffs are a stage for superstars. With Kobe, the superstar, in poor form, Blake Su, another superstar, still seized the upper hand even though he was taking on a team with a clear second option by himself.
With 13 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks in the quarter, Blake Su continued to push the Suns forward with an all-around performance that left no openings.
Suns (82): (75) Lakers.
The Suns entered the final quarter with a temporary 7-point lead.
In the final quarter, the bench rotations came first as usual. Curry, who had played the entire third quarter, did not check in, and in the second-unit matchup, the Lakers completely overwhelmed the Suns.
There was nothing they could do about it.
They could only let it happen.
After a full 5 minutes and 13 seconds, Alvin Gentry had given his starters enough rest, then sent them back in for the final battle, hoping to close the game with them in their best condition.
Of course, before they could close it out, the price they paid was that the Lakers' bench had cut the 7-point deficit down to just 1.
The final showdown began.
What the fans cared about was whether Kobe had recovered his form. If he was still struggling, that would be bad news for the Lakers.
Fortunately, Kobe's form had warmed up slightly, but Curry and Nash were also playing better than before.
And so, a back-and-forth battle was ready to erupt. The Suns had their strongest point in Blake Su. The Lakers' strongest point, Kobe, was still only in average form, but every one of their role players was playing with incredible energy.
For a time, neither side could do anything to the other.
The tense battle continued all the way into the final minute.
"Beep, beep!"
Phil Jackson called a timeout.
At that moment.
Suns (115): (117) Lakers.
The Lakers temporarily led by 2 points and had possession of the ball. The situation was favorable for them. For the Suns, by contrast, things did not look optimistic.
In the final crucial 1 minute and 15 seconds, they had to keep suppressing the Suns on both ends of the court if they wanted a chance to complete the comeback!
...
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