The Whip of the God of Basketball

On the evening of November 4th, the American Airlines Center Arena in Phoenix was already packed with seats at 7 pm. Today the Phoenix Suns will welcome their home opener here. After a regrettable season, the Phoenix Suns are facing the basketball And the passion for championships will be rekindled here.

The Suns conducted tactical training in the morning. Leon participated in the training, but did not provide tactical guidance. He only had a simple communication with the players and talked about many experiences and ideas about playing, especially with Nash. In addition, the whole team still listened to D'Antoni's arrangements and practiced in an orderly manner.

Leon gave the players another day off in the afternoon. When everyone arrived at the arena at around 6 p.m., and after the warm-up, Leon gathered everyone in the locker room. With more than half an hour left before the start of the game, Leon conducted a A simple pre-game speech.

"Tonight is our second game of the season and our first home game at the American Airlines Center. The passionate Phoenix fans, no one has the right to let them down. I have given everyone enough rest and relaxation in the past two days. But I want to tell you, don’t forget our goal this season, the championship. We are already on the road, and rest is to move faster, not to wait for death.”

Compared with the looseness of the previous few days, Leon became completely serious during the game. He was dressed meticulously, with every button buttoned tightly, hair gel fixed tightly, and the scars on his face were exposed again. The atmosphere in the entire Suns locker room was much more tense. The players had solemn expressions and were listening carefully to Leon's instructions.

"OK, I believe Mike has laid out the tactical points for you. The opponent is our defeated opponent, but don't take it lightly. Come on, my friends, create a good start."

Leon said finally, and then the whole team left the locker room and headed to the player tunnel. The opening ceremony was about to begin. At present, D'Antoni is responsible for the team's tactical details, pre-match tactical arrangements and other work, and Leon is just a check-in. Two years after the Celtics won the championship, Leon began to hand over more detailed work to assistant coaches. He was only responsible for the general direction and on-the-spot command.

The Suns are a mature team, with a mature structure, mature tactics, and a mature coaching staff. There is no need for him to spend too much time on details. He followed the players into the arena and today The American Airlines Center was bustling with activity at night and had become a sea of ​​orange.

Leaving the harsh green of Boston, the orange of Arizona makes people feel warm and welcoming. During the opening ceremony, the US Air Force stationed in Arizona sent a military band to participate in the unveiling and sang and played the US national anthem. Following the players' appearance ceremony, when Kobe Bryant was introduced as a guest player, he was booed by the audience. This is also normal. In the past two seasons, the two teams have met twice in the playoffs. Even if the Suns beat the Lakers twice, Suns fans still have to politely boo the Lakers' top star.

And another reason is that Kobe's life has been really bad in the past two years. On the court, he blocked and killed gods and Buddhas, but he had constant problems off the court, from the Eagle County incident in 2004 to O'Neal in 2005. The discord, the team's consecutive first-round losses in 2006-07, and the farce of demanding a trade in the summer, it can be said that Kobe has been questioned round after round. Public opinion has changed from the beloved Peter Pan in the past to He turned into the aloof and arrogant Black Mamba, and the only place where he could clear his name was on the basketball court.

The Lakers did not make much move in the free market this year. The key signing in the free market was Derek Fisher returning to Los Angeles and being under the command of Phil Jackson. This is also Jackson's consistent style. He is in charge of a new team. After the lineup is established, he likes to recruit old players from past teams or old lineups. After all, his triangle offensive concept is not so easy to understand and accept.

In the draft, the Lakers exchanged draft picks and Turiaf for the Suns' sixth man Barbosa. In this game, Barbosa also returned to his old place, but only one Barbosa and one Fisher. It's still hard to feel the hope of the Lakers' revival.

Even so, Kobe broke away from the trade rumors and temporarily stayed with the Lakers. Although they lost to the Rockets in the first game, with the training of Zen Master and the commitment of the management, the Lakers' military morale was still relatively stable. Kobe faced Just smiling slightly at the boos in the crowd, he responded to them with his performance on the court.

When the Suns entered the stadium, the lights went out. In the DJ's exciting voice, the Suns' starting lineup came on stage one after another. Stoudemire, Marion, Diaw, Bell, Nash, this set accompanied the Phoenix people through three wonderful seasons. The lineup was still active on the court. With Nash's final appearance, the cheers reached a climax and the lights were turned on.

At the end, the DJ flatly added "Coach, Fox Leon from Boston." The cheers at the scene had disappeared, and one or two boos could even be heard. This is normal. So far, the Suns have only played one game. Although they won, many Suns fans believe that Leon turned the Suns into a "neither fish nor fowl" freak.

"They no longer have a whirlwind offense, nor do they have a steel defense. They are neither up nor down, nor high nor low. I would rather watch a 7-second bombardment than watch such a freak."

This is a statement supported by many fans on the local basketball forum in Phoenix. A small number of local fans even established an "Anti-Fox-Leon Alliance" to collect messages from netizens, demanding that the Suns replace Leon as coach, and predicting that this will Leon will definitely be dismissed in the middle of the season, just like Larry Brown who left the Detroit Pistons for the Knicks before.

Leon has heard all this, and of course he dismisses it. The season has just begun, and he has enough time to shut everyone up.

Players from both sides stood on the court and the game was about to begin. The Lakers' starting lineup was Kobe, Fisher, Luke Walton, Kwame Brown and Maurice Evans. Odom missed the game due to injury. In the game, Jackson had to push Luke Walton to the starting position as power forward. Fortunately, the Suns also used a small lineup, and Jackson was not worried about the height issue.

Before the game started, Leon and Jackson shook hands near the midline, nodded to each other, and returned to the bench with almost no eye contact. Leon has been very successful in the past two years, while Jackson has experienced many twists and turns. In 2004, the Galaxy Battleship The disintegration, leaving the Lakers, and returning to the Lakers can be said to be all thanks to Leon. This year, Jackson vowed to make a difference again with the Lakers, but Leon came back to the West, or to the Suns. They really were enemies.

Jackson, who sat back on the bench, straightened his suit, folded his hands again, and paid close attention to the situation on the court. He wanted to give Leon a blow tonight.

The two sides jumped the ball, Stoudemire won the ball, and the Suns had the ball. The game started amidst the commotion at the scene. Nash got the ball and passed half court, but he immediately gave the ball to Diaw, who stepped forward to respond. Diaw controls the ball, and he rolls in from the left. This is the Suns' new tactical idea this season. Diaw will play as a point forward, while Nash will play more off the ball. However, this is also a point of controversy among experts and fans. In short, everything is still being tested.

It wasn't Nash controlling the offense. The Suns' players were obviously not used to it. They were a little stiff when running and always had to freeze. Nash made a big circle from the baseline to the corner. Fisher followed closely. Diaw chose to play with Ma. Lyon played a semi-pick-and-roll screen, and then passed the ball to Marion, who was cutting inside. Marion caught the ball and made an ugly little throw. The ball spun around in the hoop and flew out, missing.

The Suns did not fight for offensive rebounds and retreated quickly, giving the Lakers no chance to launch a counterattack. The Lakers Fisher controlled the ball. Facing Nash, Fisher first handed the ball to Brown in the corner, then went down to the left waist to ask for the ball. After receiving Brown's pass, he turned his back and hit Nash hard with his butt stuck out. It seemed that from the beginning, Jackson had spotted Nash's weakness on the defensive end.

Fisher was physically strong, and Nash couldn't withstand it at all. Diaw, who was on the line, could only come over to help defend. As soon as he assisted in defense, he was leaked. Fisher turned and passed to Luke Walton, who was cutting inside. The Suns' defense shrank again, and Walton With a beautiful hit to the ground, Kobe caught the ball from the right side and went straight for a layup, scoring the first point of the game! After the goal, Kobe and Walton high-fived. The Lakers played very well as a team on the first goal.

The offense and defense transitioned. This time, Nash no longer handed over the ball and took control of the offense. However, as soon as the half was over, Fisher suddenly got close to him and grabbed the ball. Then Kobe came over to double-team. The two of them sandwiched Nash's piece of meat like hamburgers. Nash had to jump to pass the ball, and Bell stepped forward to respond. After getting the ball, he held the ball and went inside, and then passed the ball to Stoudemire. As a result, the ball was not passed well and was intercepted. The Lakers immediately launched a counterattack.

Kobe received the pass and dribbled quickly and steadily past half-court. He looked back, turned around and passed the ball to the other side. Evans, who followed, caught the ball and threw away the defender for a layup. The Lakers Use the fast break to add two more points. In both attacks, Kobe played very reasonably. It seemed that people saw a different Kobe from the last two years. The Suns' offense seems to have not found its feeling yet, but Leon is not in a hurry. He knows that the time has not come yet.