The Whip of the God of Basketball

The Suns' signings in the summer were not successful in the eyes of others. Espn gave them a C grade. If it were not for the arrival of Fox Leone, they might have been given a D. Players like Barry and Jaskovicius are either old, short, or have not proven themselves. In short, they all have obvious flaws.

And in the eyes of some people, none of these players have outstanding physical fitness, which seems really inappropriate for the Suns, who are good at playing fast. In the first game against the SuperSonics, the performance of this group of substitutes was only acceptable and did not allow the Suns to show a sense of speed.

After the start of the second quarter, Leon seemed to let Stoudemire lead the group of old, weak and sick people forward. Jaskovicius controlled the ball for half the game. After the European king came to Phoenix, On the advice of the team doctor and trainer, he gained weight to improve his defensive confrontation capabilities. At the same time, he strengthened his three-point shooting training and took a good rest in the dry climate of Arizona.

At this time, he was full of physical energy. Diaw set a screen for him in the high post. Jaskovicius broke in from the middle, dribbled low and avoided the defender, and shot a mid-range jumper with one step inside the three-point line! The ball went hollow into the net. This position was almost the FIBA ​​three-point line. He felt very comfortable shooting here.

A simple and efficient offense, the score reached 31:33. Then in the defense, Diaw successfully stole the ball. Jaskevicius quickly advanced with the ball. The Lakers retreated a little slowly, and Jaskevicius passed the ball. Stoudemire, Stoudemire caught the ball and dunked violently! Less than a minute into the second quarter, the two sides were tied.

A tie was normal. After Kobe Bryant came off the court, the Lakers lost their core and were a little overwhelmed on offense. Jackson looked at the time and felt that these people could hold on a little longer. As a result, when the position was attacked, it was discovered that the Suns actually defended a zone defense! This makes the Lakers players a little overwhelmed. The league has just introduced zone defense in the past two years. Not many teams have used it well, but Fox-Leon's team is undoubtedly the best.

At the 2004 Athens Olympics, the U.S. team was at a loss when facing Lithuania's zone defense and ultimately lost the game. At that time, Jaskevicius was in the Lithuanian team and killed the Dream Team with three three-pointers.

The Lakers kept passing the ball from the outside, but could never find a good opportunity. For players like Barry and Jaskevicius who are a little old and a little slow, but have very bright minds, zone defense is really the most suitable for them. Defense, this is why Leon dares to use this old, weak, sick and disabled second lineup. He is the best defensive training master in the league.

In the end, Farmar of the Lakers missed a three-point shot from the outside. Stoudemire got the rebound and counterattacked again. Jaskovicius rushed to the three-second zone with the ball again. This time the Lakers defended very timely. , Jaskovicius turned around and passed the ball to Diaw in the high post. Diaw and Stoudemire made a high-post screen cooperation. Stoudemire cut inside, and Diaw lobbed the ball into Stoudemire's hands.

The Lakers defenders are not stupid. They know that Diaw is not capable of three-pointers. The two of them went directly to double-team Stoudemire inside. Stoudemire had no chance to stand up. If he stayed still for a while, it would be three seconds. He remembered Leon's instructions. ——There must be someone on the wing, so he passed the ball to the left corner, where Brent Barry was standing.

Barry received the ball, took an effortless shot, and hit a three-pointer.

This young dunker who once showed that "white people can fly" has become a stable shooter in more than ten years, and he is not sticky at all. He had 42% of the three-pointers with the Spurs last season. It was Leon who took a fancy to his shooting percentage and traded him over. If he can score two or three such three-pointers in every game, he will be very satisfied.

At 36:33, the Suns took a three-point lead. The little advantage the Lakers had established through reasonable distribution of the ball in the first quarter was gone, and they seemed to have nothing to do against the Suns' zone defense on the offensive end. Leon is betting on the Lakers' outside shooting. This is a method commonly used by Jackson in the playoffs, and now Leon is using it on himself.

Sure enough, the Lakers, who had no offensive focus, could only guide the ball from the outside. In the end, the ball hit Kwame Brown's hands. Kwame Brown wanted to turn around and attack inside, but was blocked by Stoudemire! The ball was blown away directly!

Rookie Dudley grabbed the ball and immediately passed it to Jaskovicius. The Suns launched a counterattack, and the ball finally passed to Diaw. Diaw got the ball in the middle, Stoudemire came over, and the two completed one Cross change, Diaw directly lobbed into the inside, Stoudemire jumped high, made an alley-oop, and took the ball into the basket!

At the beginning of the second quarter, the Suns beat the Lakers 9:0! Successfully overtaken the score to 38:33, turning a four-point deficit into a five-point lead. Now Phil Jackson had to call a timeout, and he wanted to replace Kobe. The field has lost its offensive strength. Facing the Suns' zone defense, the Lakers' substitutes really have no choice.

Leon looked up at the time. It was only two minutes into the second quarter. He forced Kobe onto the court early, thus achieving the purpose of being on the bench. Knowing that Kobe was going to play, Leon made another adjustment, replacing the old Barry and replacing Laga Bell. Although Bell couldn't guard Kobe, he could always cause some trouble, which was better than letting the old Barry. Better to die.

After Bell returned to the field, the Suns still maintained at least two players with fixed-point three-point ability on the outside. Dudley counts as half. Although Jaskovicius is a point guard, he and Diaw share the court. Domination of the ball. The offense of this bench lineup was actually trained by D'Antoni, and it is an improved version of the V-shaped offense of the past.

The improvement is that Diaw is sometimes the V-tip of the V-shaped attack, and Jaskovicius falls to the wing to support him. In the summer, when Leon asked Diaw to lose weight, he was not allowed to drink or eat. He eats fat, so Diaw's speed and explosive power are in a very good state.

After the timeout, Kobe returned to the court as expected. He was really fed up with the feeling of leading the game, falling behind at the end, and chasing points again. Today, his teammates were all in good condition. He wanted to sit on the bench for a while, but he had to come back on the field after only two minutes.

In one game, when Kobe got the ball, the Suns gave up their zone defense. Facing a top breakthrough player like Kobe, a pseudo-zone defense that did not defend for three seconds would be directly penetrated. The Lakers still used the triangle offense and gave the ball to Kobe at a 45-degree angle on the left side. It was a one-on-one opportunity. The Suns did not double-team. Kobe faced his old rival Laga Bell and used a realistic fake move to shake his center of gravity. Then he dribbled past Bell in one step, dribbled to the basket with his left hand, and succeeded in an easy layup with his left hand!

Stoudemire still didn't help defend, allowing Kobe to succeed in the air. It's not that he didn't want to defend, but Leon didn't need him to help defend. It doesn't matter, he can just find it on the offensive end.

But the Lakers will not easily let Stoudemire play alone again. When Jaskevicius and Stoudemire completed the pick-and-roll in the corner, Stoudemire received the pass and cut directly to the basket. Stoudemire pressed the basket, but Stoudemire still used his strong body to dribble to open a gap, and passed the ball to Dudley who was ambushing in the left corner. Dudley caught the ball and shot a three-pointer!

... A three-pointer, the ball came directly across the bridge, and Kobe grabbed the ball. Obviously Dudley has not adapted to the three-point line in the NBA. This game is also his first appearance, the first time he caught the ball and shot like this. excusable.

But Kobe's teammates on the Lakers didn't fare much better. Kobe dribbled the ball through the half court and saw Jordan Farmar taking the lead to go to the basket. Kobe passed the ball into the paint and Farmar caught the ball. It was about to go for a layup, but he rushed a little too far. As soon as he raised his hand, the ball hit the bottom of the basket and collapsed. Bell, who followed, regained the ball and the Suns attacked again.

Kobe wanted to shake his head when he looked at it. Farmar was also a second-year rookie. Making mistakes was inevitable. Bell did not slow down his rhythm when he got the ball back. During the timeout, Leon said that the second team must play fast and the ball should be played immediately. It was passed to Diaw, who dribbled the ball from the outside, and Dudley went to the corner to cover.

The two of them started a slow pick-and-roll, and Diaw carried the defender with his body and squeezed into the three-second zone. Then he hit the board with a one-handed throw. If the Lakers didn't double-team, he attacked by himself and still scored.

Both sides attack very fast, and the Suns clearly have the advantage in the fast pace. This is the rhythm they are familiar with and good at. Relying on the new triangle formed by Stoudemire, Diaw, and Jaskovicius, the Suns The offense of the bench lineup can be said to be quite smooth, and the distribution of ball rights is also quite reasonable. D'Antoni sat off the court and watched the effect of this combination, and he had to admire Fox-Leon's unique sense of lineup matching. After only practicing a few times, it had good results.

Of course, their defense was still relatively poor. The Suns' points were climbing up little by little, but the Lakers were still chasing closely. In the middle of the second quarter, the main players of both sides reappeared. Kobe saw that passing the ball and playing a reasonable offense was not particularly effective. It was a bit difficult to chase points, so I decisively started the personal attack mode. The Suns insist on letting Bell defend alone, without double-teaming, making defensive traps, or fouling. If you can shoot, you can shoot. If you have the ability, shoot me to death.

But Kobe can really shoot people to death. Before the end of the second quarter, Kobe hit two consecutive pull-up three-pointers on the offensive end, turning the score into 59:60 and narrowing the point difference to only 1 point. Kobe, who only scored 4 points in the first quarter, scored 16 points in the second quarter and already scored 20 points at halftime. On the Suns side, Stoudemire scored the most points with 14 points. None of the others scored in double figures, but they were very average. Among them, Nash only scored 6 points and sent 3 assists. This does not look like two years. MVP performance.

However, at halftime, Nash was in a very relaxed mood, more relaxed than ever.