The Whip of the God of Basketball

After being crushed by the Suns, Houston's cockroach never turned over in the fourth quarter.

In the fourth quarter, Adelman gave up on letting Yao Ming play and put on a smaller lineup to fight the Suns, but it did not have a good effect, because if you want to chase points in the fourth quarter, the first thing to do is to be able to Contain the opponent on the defensive end, and then your goals will be meaningful. Otherwise, if you score a goal, the opponent will also score a goal, and the time will decrease little by little, and victory will slowly slip away from your hands.

The Rockets were obviously unable to contain the Suns defensively. Of course, Adelman did not do anything. He adjusted the defensive positioning and asked Sean Battier to guard Nash. Battier used his defensive awareness to constantly interfere with Nash's defense. Pass the ball and follow him closely without giving him a chance to break down the Rockets defense. If it were the previous Suns and the previous Nash, this would undoubtedly have an effect, and the Suns' offense might stall as a result.

But this season's Nash is no longer the same Nash. He plays more resolutely and courageously than before. Since the Rockets use big defense against small ones, he unceremoniously showed the fans at Toyota Center various techniques of small against big ones. . No matter how good Battier's defensive footwork is, he can't keep up with Nash in the center of gravity. Nash used the dribble to get space three times in a row and ended the offense with a jump shot.

Battier is an excellent defender, but when faced with attacks from highly skilled outside ball handlers, Battier's defensive effect has always been relatively average. The score difference is always stable in double digits. Seeing that the situation was not going well, Adelman called a timeout to readjust and returned to the regular defensive matchup, letting Ralph Alston go with Nash. Alston played as a substitute for the Celtics for a year, and then wandered around several teams. Now he has firmly established himself as the starting point guard in the Rockets.

With his steady dribbling and three-point shooting, he is a good controller for the Rockets' back line. But he is still too young in front of Nash. What's more, Leon knows almost all of Alston's technical characteristics. His biggest problem on defense is his poor ability to prevent pick-and-rolls.

Alston and Yao Ming both have big problems in pick-and-roll defense, both outside and inside. Yao Ming is too tall and cannot be pulled out, while Alston is physically weak. Regardless of whether he squeezes through or bypasses, he often follows He can't match his opponent, let alone his poor blocking and interference ability.

This is also an important reason why the Rockets, who were in great shape last year, were overturned by the Utah Jazz. The two starters could not contain the opponent's core tactics, and even if they were leading by a big score, they could not completely beat the opponent to death. The Suns are also a team with a strong pick-and-roll ability, even better than the Jazz.

Before this game, Nash and Stoudemire actually didn't have many pick-and-rolls. This season, Leon has deliberately weakened the team's tactical system's reliance on the Nash-Shoudemire pick-and-roll, but it does not mean that the power of the two pick-and-rolls has decreased.

When Leon saw that Adelman had replaced Alston to defend Nash, he was naturally not polite. On the offensive end, Nash and Stoudemire cooperated in the pick-and-roll. Whether it was Yao Ming or Scola, the pick-and-roll defense was average. Yao Ming did not On the court, Stoudemire rushed forward and dunked Scola twice in a row until he couldn't even lift his head. Although Scola quickly retaliated on the offensive end and used his footsteps to score at the basket, the point difference neither widened nor narrowed, and it was just a stalemate.

Time passed little by little. Without Tracy McGrady, the Rockets could not recreate the miracle at the Toyota Center. They also tried desperate shots from beyond the three-point line. Unfortunately, it was too late. The Suns did not make any mistakes on the defensive end. At the same time, the offensive end relied on Stoudemire and Nash, the two most stable points, to score consecutively, making the game lose suspense.

There were not many people in the entire Toyota Center. Seeing that the game was about to be lost, the number of spectators was getting smaller and smaller. In the last two minutes, the two sides replaced their main lineups and stopped playing. Except for some enthusiastic Chinese fans, the Toyota Center was almost empty. .

In the end, the Suns defeated the Houston Rockets 115:101 on the road with a 14-point advantage. Amare Stoudemire made 9 of 9 shots and 6 of 6 free throws. He won the game with a 100% shooting rate. With 24 points, he is undoubtedly the best player in this game.

In this way, the Suns continue to maintain an excellent record of losing only one game and leading the entire Western Conference. Such results can be said to be a slap in the face to many people who looked down on the Suns before the start of the season. Many people believe that the Suns' lineup has not achieved success in three years and is already at the end of its strength. It is impossible to perform well in the Western Conference with such minor repairs. If you succeed, you will be the first to fall behind the troika.

However, they have forgotten that O'Neal also wasted three years with the Los Angeles Lakers. It was not until the arrival of Phil Jackson in 2000 that the Phoenix Suns took off. After acquiring Fox Leon, the Phoenix Suns' tactics took on a completely new look and became more three-dimensional and richer. There is a sense of layering, the firepower is becoming more fierce, and the defense is also steadily improving. After the game against the Rockets, the Suns jumped from sixth place before the start of the season to second place in ESPN's newly released strength rankings.

The first one on the list is of course the Boston Celtics. From the beginning of the season to now, the Celtics have not lost a single game. After acquiring Ray Allen to form the Big Three, Boston has regained its luster and is once again in the limelight in the league. No two at a time. Kevin Garnett, who was retired last season and returned this season, is in great form. He is ahead of the rest in the current MVP rankings and ranks first.

However, it is still early for the Suns and Celtics to meet, and Leon does not have to worry about this issue yet. For the Suns, they will face a denser schedule next. Back-to-back games against the Kings, a day off to play against the Clippers, then against the Warriors, back home to play against the Rockets, against the Magic, and then start a road trip in the Eastern Conference.

After the game against the Rockets, the Suns team boarded the plane back to Phoenix. Leon mentally calculated the schedule for the next three weeks. To sum up, there is no one who can play.

……………………

Three weeks later, December has entered. In winter, the climate in the United States is getting colder and colder, but the weather in Phoenix is ​​not bad. Leon has just returned from the cold Minnesota. This is the last leg of their last road trip, which started in New York, went around the northern border of the United States, and finally played the Timberwolves game to end the road trip.

In the past three weeks, the Suns have lived up to expectations and continued to advance rapidly. They only lost two games in 10 games. One was avenged by the Houston Rockets after returning home. After McGrady returned, Yao Ming really showed off his power and penetrated the paint. the sun. The other game was against the Timberwolves a day ago. They encountered a cold winter in the center of the triangle and were suppressed by the Timberwolves. In the end, they lost the game 114:117.

Leon expected to lose in this game. This was the last and fifth game of the road trip. The players were very tired from the continuous journey, so after returning to Phoenix, Leon immediately gave the players Give them a holiday to let them have a good rest.

But Leon didn't give himself a day off today. He got up early in the morning, put on his coat and went out to the team's training hall. During this time, he was working on Boris Diaw to help him train low defense.

For this reason, Leon specially brought Stoudemire over as a sparring partner. Stoudemire is full of energy. Of course he will not let go of the opportunity to receive guidance from the best coach in the league. And he also wants to see if he can improve his defense, although even Leon is not very hopeful.

After arriving at the training hall, Stoudemire and Diaw were already there. They were wearing Suns training uniforms. There was another person present with them, the former Suns star and retired center Alvan Adams, who is currently on the team. Served as Vice President of Operations. Today, Leon specially invited him to come over to provide technical guidance to the team's two insiders.

After all, he is a star of the Suns. Although he is not a great superstar in NBA history, he is still a very capable inside player. And in that era when the inside was king, there were famous white insiders who established themselves in the league through their unique technical style. , naturally it’s useless if you don’t use it.