Injuries in basketball only make me stronger

Defending the Suns is a headache.

Byron Scott even does this, but to be honest, he can't think of anything too good.

Therefore, during the halftime break, he kept emphasizing to the players: defense, maintain a good offense and defend well at the same time!

Then, nope.

The players listened attentively, but they couldn't help complaining in their hearts. It was really lonely. Who the hell doesn't know how to defend well? You can tell us how to do it, okay?

Of course, no one would jump out to steal the spotlight at this time. Everyone said that the coach was right!

Next comes halftime.

During the halftime interview, Byron Scott accepted the link.

The reporter asked: "Is it your secret weapon to have Lian Feng play point guard in this game?"

Byron Scott showed a kind smile: "It seems right to say that. We have been trying to provide more possibilities for potential players like Lian. But in fact, he proposed to play point guard himself."

"How do you think he behaved?"

"There is no doubt that he is playing like Johnson. I think he can fully make up for the team's offensive organization problems during Chris' injury."

"So do you think he's a better point guard option than Paul?"

The reporter's trap-filled questions did not fool the wily Byron Scott. He smiled: "I didn't say that. They are both indispensable cores of our team. Their styles are different and they are good at it."

Everything has its own merits, you can’t compare like this, I mean seriously, both of them are very important!”

At the beginning of the third quarter, the main players went up to play for a few minutes, and then took turns coming down to rest.

After Lian Feng came off the court, he silently observed the Suns' offense.

Players' individual abilities aside, why are the Suns so difficult to defend?

After previous research, coupled with last season and today's match, Lian Feng now has a complete concept in his mind.

The Suns use fast breaks as their main offensive method, but not all of them are fast breaks. Their offense and defense can be summarized by the word "scattered".

The first is the classic V-shaped offense.

The two shooters quickly sank into the bilateral baseline. To defend them, two players must be sent to keep an eye on them. At this time, there are only three people in the middle who can defend.

Defense is broken.

Then, Nash can take advantage of the fact that the three players in the middle are faster than the defenders, form a formation first, and then execute pick-and-roll tactics in the high post—sometimes a two-man pick-and-roll, and sometimes a three-man corner tactic.

All of this is based on speed. Since their lineup sacrifices thickness in exchange for speed, they can always form a high position first to attack more and less, so the success rate of pick-and-rolls is extremely high.

To defend them, you have to be faster than them.

Therefore, in the future small ball era, fast speed will often be used to control fast speed, and small balls will be used against small balls.

But small ball defense also has requirements for the defender's lineup. Traditional No. 4 and 5 positions like Tyson Chandler and David West have much higher speed than light inside players like Stoudemire and Marion.

It's a big disadvantage, so it's impossible to use this idea: You really can't expect an old man like Mr. Xi to run so fast.

At present, most teams in the league are like the Hornets, with traditional heavy forward players inside, so the Suns can create the first 17 consecutive victories in team history. And the teams that can beat them this season basically have enough

Fast inside player.

So to sum up, Lian Feng believes that to defend this Suns team well, lineup is the most fundamental way.

Since the lineup cannot be changed at this time, other methods must be used.

Hmph...it's still the same idea: use our strengths to exploit their weaknesses!

After David West and Tyson Chandler took a break, Lian Feng whispered a few words in their ears.

At this time, in the boxing champion's heart, Lian Feng was the leader, and he nodded directly after hearing this.

After hearing this, David West patted Lian Feng on the shoulder: "Man, you and I want to get together!"

In the third quarter, both sides took turns to rest. The score was not opened.

The Suns relied on the performance of their substitute lineup to catch up and achieve the lead.

75 to 81.

But when Lian Feng came on the field in the second half of the third quarter, he once again relied on his previous ideas to open up the situation on the outside.

Lien Feng hit two consecutive three-pointers to tie the score, and the Suns called a timeout.

After taking the field again, the Suns changed their defensive strategy and began to stop tightening.

At this time, Byron Scott, who had not played any role throughout the game, finally made a rare decision. He also called a timeout and replaced David West and Tyson Chandler again.

Lian Feng shouted that this is right!

Once the two of them took the court, the Hornets' interior thickness was unmatched by the Suns.

Without zone defense and tightness, Lien Fu can always find two people with suitable opportunities in the interior, and then send a beautiful assist or alley-oop.

And he himself began to break through the paint and fight hand-to-hand with Stoudemire and Marion in the penalty area.

Collision, sweat dripping.

The forward was sent to the free throw line again and again, and the Hornets' score steadily improved.

However, the defensive performance was still unsatisfactory.

Under the leadership of Nash, the Suns still maintained extremely high efficiency and scored again and again.

The score between the two sides was rising anxiously.

At the end of the third quarter, the score reached 84-85, and the Hornets were only one point behind.

The suspense will eventually be brought to the last section.

After a short break, the Hornets put on their full starting lineup, and the same was true for the Suns. No one was willing to work hard for a whole game and fall short at this time.

After the start of the fourth quarter, it started out the same as the previous quarter, with both sides going back and forth, and no one could take advantage, or in other words, each could take advantage of the other.

The offense is very sharp, but they are not very good at defending their opponents.

Such a battle situation makes the fans at the scene excited. Whenever the Hornets score a goal, they scream at the top of their lungs to let the players hear it.

But at a certain point in time, something strange suddenly happened.

The audience suddenly discovered that there seemed to be no change in the offenses of the Hornets and the Suns, but the Hornets surpassed the score bit by bit, and then began to widen the score!

103 to 97.

106 to 97.

112 to 102…

There are 5 minutes left.

The fans didn't pay close attention to what was happening on the court, but the coaches off the court were aware of the crux of the problem.

Lian Feng on the field was panting and holding his knees, sweat dripping down. He slowly raised his head and showed a weird smile.

It seems that this idea is...right!

The key point until now is just two words: rebound!

The Suns' strength is speed, so what are their weaknesses?

thickness!

Thickness...not only reflected in offense, but also in defense.

What Lian Feng told David West and Tyson Chandler was to stay on the inside, defend the air and cut down, give them opportunities from the outside and mid-range, and protect the rebounds!

Yes, the core point is to reduce the Suns' cutting offense with a higher success rate. With Tyson Chandler's height advantage, the Suns can only focus their offense on the mid-to-long range.

So the result is that at the beginning, both sides go back and forth, but the success rate of the mid-to-long distance is always not as high as that of the inside. As long as the Hornets' offense can be effective and bite the score, then just wait for them to miss.

Under Lian Feng's organization, the offense successfully sealed the score, and the Suns finally began to lose shots.

Under the conscious control of the Hornets, they almost couldn't grab offensive rebounds.

After all, defense is more than just before taking action!

So far in this game, Tyson Chandler has 17 rebounds and Lian Liang has 9 rebounds. As long as the Suns miss their shot, their offense will be over.

On the other hand, the Hornets also did a very good job on offensive rebounds.

Therefore, unknowingly, the Hornets have more offensive opportunities than the Suns.

So... the result was that the score was unknowingly widened.

In the last 5 minutes, Nash began to exert his strength and continuously used his personal ability to score, but was unable to recover.

The score was finally settled at 128 to 120.

It is worth mentioning that when scrambling for a backcourt rebound in the last two minutes, the ball fell from the heads of Tyson Chandler and Lien Feng.

Tyson Chandler did not take off and let the ball fall directly into the hands of the forward.

In this way, Lian Feng's rebound count reached 10.

In the end, Lian Feng led the team to victory with 29 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds, and also got the first triple-double of his career!

(Brothers, Happy New Year!)