The Suns led 33 points 73 to 40 in the first half. Even though the Suns had defensive weaknesses, the Lakers' shooting percentage was still very low.

Devin George became the most disappointing player for the Lakers. He has a physical advantage and his shooting is too poor. He has to rush into the penalty area to play. His long-range shooting percentage is basically abandoned.

After signing a long-term middle-class contract, George became very rude and had no progress in shooting. After being reimbursed for a serious injury, his physical fitness also declined significantly.

During the break, Kobe was so angry that he was very dissatisfied with his teammates' defense. Guo Xu made 11 of 15 shots in the first half, 5 of 7 three-pointers, 4 of 4 free throws, and scored a double-double of 31 points and 11 assists.

He entered the playoffs and wanted to prove his strength, not to find a traitor. Since the three consecutive championships in 2002, he has failed too many times. Many people are questioning him, and he can hardly bear the pressure.

Guo Xu's Suns were not strong in his previous life, especially before the playoffs, when they lost center Cote Thomas, so the Lakers were able to fight the Suns for 7 games and once led 3-1. Even Kwame Brown averaged 12.9 points per game in the series, which shows how bad the Suns' inside defense is.

The Suns' internal and external defense team led by Guo Xu has no obvious weaknesses. Even if they are sent to the bench, they are good at defense. The biggest weakness may be Guo Xu's height, which has poor interfering shooting, and the two Lakers point guards who lack shooting range cannot catch them.

This weakness is not so easy to catch. When Guo Xu defends closely and disrupts the opponent's rhythm, he can make up for the lack of height to a certain extent.

In the second half, D'Antoni directly asked Guo Xu to rest.

Veteran Payton is responsible for leading the team, and the other four are Ariza, Howard, James Jones, and David Lee. Four people over 2 meters tall, Payton is also 193cm. This lineup is not afraid of misplacement and is suitable for joint defense.

The defensive system was completely established according to the arrangement of assistant coach Larry Drew. All five of them defended the area and contracted near the penalty area to strictly prevent breakthroughs and strong attacks, and interfered with shooting nearby.

Kobe continued to play and led the team, recovering a little score, but he did not have a significant advantage against the Suns substitute. The Lakers were the same as the problem in the first half, and their outside shooting was too poor, including Kobe.

The Suns players who were leading the scores were not under pressure and dared to play and cooperate to share the ball. Veteran Payton led the offensive rhythm very well.

In 4 minutes and 47 seconds, something unexpected happened.

Howard held the ball from the right and forced a layup against Kobe. Before he jumped to the highest point, Kobe hit the head with an elbow and fell to the ground. The referee's whistle sounded.

Guo Xu has already clocked in and got off work. Kobe made 2 of 7 shots against the Suns in this quarter, and made 2 of 2 free throws, only 6 points. He looked at the Suns players' smiles and felt greatly insulted.

Last round, Kobe broke through Ariza's baseline and made a layup. Howard, who was restoring the defense, fouled down and fell to the ground. Finally, he couldn't suppress the fire.

Howard intends to target Kobe today, and assisted in defense many times has worked. He wants to be the boss of a weak team and wants to get a high salary. He believes that it is a good opportunity to increase exposure.

There was chaos on the field, and Howard got up from the ground and wanted to find trouble for Kobe.

At this time, Guo Xu stood up from the sidelines and signaled his substitute teammates not to enter the court. As soon as he entered the court, it would easily cause greater chaos and would be suspended.

Veteran Payton also played a role on the court and rushed over instead of helping his teammates fight Kobe, but separating the people between the two.

The video replay soon appeared on the big screen, and the fans in the audience were booing, and Kobe was obviously a foul on the person and the ball.

After watching the video, the referee booed Kobe for a first-level malicious foul and sent him off the court. The home fans booed again.

As we all know, the NBA League has certain protection and favoritism for some superstars. However, when some stars do things that affect the league's reputation and image, the NBA will also adopt a zero-tolerance attitude.

Violence and malicious fouls at the stadium are the things the league wants to eliminate most. Kobe has been suspended in the regular season this year.

On January 11, in the Lakers' match against the Grizzlies, Kobe and Mike Miller clashed, and the referee blew up Kobe's first-level malicious foul. Two days later, Kobe's elbow escalated, and the league imposed a two-game ban on him.

In the third quarter of that game, Miller broke Kobe's forehead with his left hand while making a breakthrough layup. After being stitched in the field, the tough Kobe immediately returned to the field. At the beginning of the last quarter, he elbowed Miller hard while defending, and suffered a malicious foul.

After the game, Kobe refused to apologize because he felt that Miller was the first to take the blame, and he just had to avenge him.

He also vented the worries of failure on Odom, blaming the other party for his bad performance and not coming out to cooperate with him on pick-and-roll, so that he was always disturbed when he shot three-pointers.

With Kobe's pitiful three-point shooting percentage, he can't make a mistake in the teammates without pick-and-roll? Even if the whole team adds the referee to him, can he hit 40% of the pick-and-roll shooting percentage? Odom naturally doesn't want to take the blame, and the two started fighting for a while.

Kobe kicked a few lights in anger and broke a TV monitor. Finally, when he left on the team bus, the staff had to separate the two.

Sometimes, Kobe's paranoid personality is unbearable. In Guo Xu's previous life, some people said that it was this demand for victory and the "oppression" of himself and his teammates that made Kobe successful. In this life, Kobe was unable to succeed, because he and Guo Xu's Suns team were in the same area, and his teammates who needed him to oppress had not yet come.

After Kobe left the field, the Lakers lost their number one offensive point, and their morale dropped sharply, and they could not suppress the substitutes of the Suns. Even Howard was elbowed, he got off the court to rest.

The Suns played with a substitute until the end, and Payton also rested in the final quarter. Blake was responsible for organizing the offense and David Lee was responsible for holding the ball. In the end, the Suns beat the Lakers 125-88 37 points.

Kobe played for 28 minutes, made 7 of 21 shots, 1 of 4 three-pointers, 5 of 6 free throws, and scored 20 points, 2 rebounds and 3 assists.

After the game, the reporter asked Guo Xu to comment on Kobe's elbow strike.

Guo Xu didn't feel surprised at all. After all, Kobe's previous life had so many elbow strikes that he could make a 20-minute highlight. This is just on the defensive end, and the elbow trailing on the offensive end does not count.

Guo Xu thought for a while and said, "It's obvious that he can't beat us in a hurry. Josh controlled his emotions well, even if he suffered a loss. On the basketball court, players should use basketball to decide the outcome, rather than elbowers or footrests. Kobe's approach is very bad."

The reporter asked: "Bryant may be banned. Is this good news for the Suns?"

Guo Xu shook his head. "No, this is not good news for the Suns. No one wants him to suspend the game. This reporter should not say that it seems that we need Kobe to suspend the game if we defeat the Lakers. It was him who made a malicious foul, not that we would do anything to win. You asked a question like this that made me feel uncomfortable."

He didn't feel that he needed to give Kobe any face. If he hadn't played in the second half, he might have been the one who was hit by Kobe.

Kobe may not be unable to do such a thing. Kobe and "World" Howard, the previous life, were just separated and scolding each other on the court. Guo Xu has been away from the Lakers for almost four years and has never contacted Kobe much, so his relationship has long faded.

Other Suns players also commented on Kobe. The person involved, Josh Howard, commented: "It's so disgusting. I'm just thinking. I don't want to say more about this. Kobe obviously did it on purpose. It's not the first time he's like this."
Chapter completed!