The Whip of the God of Basketball

This match lasted for more than 20 minutes, one half, and finally Leon ended the game early. The main team led the substitute team by 5 points at 66:61. It can be seen from the score that at halftime, the two teams scored more than 120 points in total. It was obviously a scoring battle. At the same time, the main team was only 5 points ahead of the substitute team at the end, which is simply incredible.

When Leon blew the whistle to end the game, Stoudemire was still mumbling displeasure, saying that he would continue to play, and by the end of the game, he would definitely beat the substitute team by 20 points. And Leon said: "Beat the substitute team by twenty points, is this your goal?"

As soon as Leon's words came out, no one said anything. Even Stoudemire took the ball and walked aside. Everyone was sweating, but no one wanted to wipe the sweat to cool down or anything. The main players were standing on the sidelines, waiting for Leon's lecture, while the substitute players were all smiling and high-fiving each other. Obviously, losing only five points in a match against the main team is actually a win.

What wins is not the score, but confidence and momentum. Similarly, what the main team loses is not the game, but face.

On the first day he entered the Suns training camp, Leon gave the Suns' veteran players a hard slap. Of course, he also gave D'Antoni a hard slap. This score seemed to say, look at you Mike. , What have you been practicing defensively in the past few years?

Of course, Leon knows that this is not a reflection of the full strength of the Suns' main players. A summer's rest has made their bodies a little rusty, and the substitute team has been well relaxed and practiced in Lake Havasu, where Fox- Leon spent a lot of time training a special routine to deal with the sun.

In fact, their routine is very simple. They push forward like the Suns from the outside. Jaskovicius has problems with confrontation in the positional battle, but in the push battle, his passing is very good. The Suns' defense was not very effective. If you can't push, just do unlimited pick-and-fade outside the three-point line, a lot of fake pick-and-rolls, and use Barea's assault ability and Barry's passing and three-point ability to tear apart the Suns' defense. Then there is Turiaf's never-ending fight for offensive rebounds in the paint.

These three moves hit the three weaknesses of the Suns' defense. One is that Nash, as a point guard, is the player closest to his own basket when attacking and lacks the ability to retreat; second, there is a problem with outside rotation; third, inside Stoudemire is not a good rebounder.

This summer, Kurt Thomas, who was originally able to provide protection in the low post for the Suns, was signed by the SuperSonics. With only Diaw and Stoudemire available, the Suns' defensive rebound protection will definitely not be enough. Stoudemire I can't get stuck, but Dior is lazy.

Another point is that Leon knows that the physical strength and morale of this group of substitutes can only last for more than 20 minutes. If they continue to play, they will definitely be defeated by Nash and the Suns who are slowly getting better in the second half. In that case, this team will be defeated. A single match will have no effect. Therefore, Leon ended this seemingly asymmetrical game early.

Looking at the expressions of some of the players who were slightly unhappy and some who were very excited, Leon said: "A summer has passed, think about it, do you feel any different from last year? You run very fast, you jump very fast. He's very tall and his shots are accurate. But his defense is terrible, he can't get rebounds, and he doesn't retreat in time. When he can't run, he doesn't have many offensive methods in positional warfare. He can only rely on Nash to get the ball around. Can anyone tell me how to solve these problems?"

If Leon had spoken out about these issues at the beginning of training to criticize the Suns' main players, he would have been disgusted and rebellious by the players. But when a twenty-minute confrontation ended and the main team's problems were exposed, the players knew that what Leon said was correct. But they often hear these things from the media and some experts, and it seems that there is no particularly good way. After all, they were very close to the finals. After all, they have achieved a lot of success, so why should they change it?

Who knows if these problems are corrected, whether the previous advantages will disappear? If every team in the NBA can succeed by correcting and correcting problems based on the analysis, then anyone can win the championship.

Obviously, everyone would have such thoughts, but no one dared to speak out, and everyone just remained silent. D'Antoni stood aside and wanted to talk. He wanted to tell Leon that it was not good to directly ask players questions like this in the team. After all, they are all adults, not children anymore. They are working, not going to school.

On the other side, Mike D'Antoni's brother Dan D'Antoni muttered: "This is not a university, NBA training classes are not university professional classes, and the players are not students..."

Dan D'Antoni has always been resentful that Leon took his brother's position and his brother had to help him.

At this time, Marion said: "Who knows? Isn't this the coach's job? We can just be responsible for playing." Marion is a player with a cheerful personality. He often speaks without any scruples, and his brain is quite funny, and he plays well with the ball. As unrestrained as the wind.

But as soon as Marion finished speaking, Bell and Diaw standing next to him knew that something was going to happen. No one dared to talk to Leon like this when they were in the Boston Celtics, not even Garnett and Pierce.

Sure enough, Leon walked up to Marion. He was nearly a head shorter than Marion and had to raise his neck to look at Marion. When Leon came closer, Marion could clearly see the scars on Leon's face and the fists as big as casseroles on his chest. Marion couldn't help but think of this terrifying figure who could knock down the entire Indiana Pacers team and knock down a gang leader in Boston with one punch.

Looking at Leon's eyes, Marion swallowed and wanted to say something, only to hear Leon say: "If you can score two more points in the third quarter of Game 5, you can seize those two points in the fourth quarter." This offense, I think you probably won’t have to change coaches this season.”

The fifth game Leon was talking about was the Battle of Tianwangshan in this year's Western Conference semifinals. In the crucial third quarter, Marion failed to score a point, and in the fourth quarter, he missed two key goals, which directly caused the Suns to lose. In a crucial battle, they were eliminated in the end.

Leon's words obviously made Marion a little angry. His face didn't look good and he clenched his fists, but looking at Leon's fists, it was better to forget it.

Leon took a few steps back, looked at Bell again, and said, "Laga, tell me, guess how to solve these problems."

Bell was trained by Leon in the Celtics, turning him from a fringe player in the NBA into a perimeter player who can ring the bell at the American Airlines Center. Leon asked him to say, he must say it, and after thinking about it, he responded: "We should build a better defense and be more active in rebounding on the defensive end. Maybe you will introduce the Hawk Eye training method, or that kind of A very unique defensive method, amoeba pressure if I remember correctly. Uh..."

After a few words, Bell couldn't go on. He was not an academic talent, but an engineer who fought wherever he pointed. His answer seems to be expected. In fact, most Suns players or fans think so. They believe that Leon's arrival will bring defense to the Suns and make them a strong team with balanced offense and defense.

But Nash didn't think so. He had communicated with Leon before. Leon said that the Suns' offense was not good enough, so after hearing what Bell said, Nash said: "I think maybe our offense is not good enough. If the bench team can play that kind of offense, then there’s no reason for us to only score five points more than them.”

After Nash finished speaking, he gave Nash a thumbs up and said: "MVP-is-MVP! (This is MVP!)" Then, Leon shouted: "Starting today, the Phoenix Suns training camp officially opens! If Averaging 110 points per game won’t help you win the championship, so let’s get 120 points per game!”