The Whip of the God of Basketball

At the end of the first quarter, the two sides tied at 24:26, and the Jazz still led the Suns by two points. After the Suns deployed a smaller lineup in the second half, they did not get any advantage from the Jazz, because the Jazz also had a small lineup, and under Sloan's training, the Jazz's defensive toughness was very good, with single defense and supplementary defense. There is no problem with defense. Moreover, the rhythm on the court was well controlled and the Suns were not allowed to attack quickly, so it was rare that the Suns' small lineup did not take advantage of it.

You must know that in the last two weeks of games, the Suns almost relied on this unexpected small lineup to draw points on the court. You score two points and I score three. You shoot one and I shoot two. The Suns' starting lineup is already very powerful. , no matter how powerful the rotation is, some weak teams will really be unable to bear it.

In this game, Sloan showed the entire league how to deal with smaller lineups. Instead of using big men to dig into the Suns' inside line, Sloan should use smaller players to keep up with the smaller players, keep up with the speed, continue the offense, and maintain suppression of the opponent. To this end, Sloan increased the rotation. He expanded the rotation to 11 people, so that every player on the field has sufficient physical strength and mobility, and can put pressure on the Suns defensively.

After the start of the second quarter, Leon still suppressed Diaw off the court and played for about two minutes. The Jazz got smoother and smoother. Halprin scored continuously under the basket, helping the Jazz widen the point difference to 6 points. So, Leon called a short pause. When facing a coach like Jerry Sloan, he couldn't be a hands-off manager on the sidelines, because he might really be targeted to death.

They were already targeted by Pat Riley in the last game. He didn't want to accept a losing streak. During the timeout, Leon made substitution adjustments and replaced Nash. In previous games, Leon's personnel strategy was very different from D'Antoni's. He would let Nash take a rest in the middle of the first quarter, then put him on at the end of the first quarter, and play until the middle of the second quarter. Then take a break.

Because the Suns are now less dependent on Nash's organization, and Nash is 34 years old this year and a proper veteran, Leon must rationalize the use of Nash. Today, Leon slightly changed the rotation order and asked Nash to go down and rest early, because after a few more minutes until the middle of the second quarter, he needs to use all his players to try to end the first half and turn the advantage back to the Suns.

At this time, Leon patted Dior on the shoulder and asked Dior to come on. In this way, the Suns have a rather strange lineup without a point guard, with Turiaf, Stoudemire, Marion, Diaw and Hill on the field. Contrary to the previous small lineup, this belongs to the Suns' big lineup, and because there is no point guard, the heavy responsibility of team organization undoubtedly falls on Diaw.

On the other hand, Sloan also sent Jason Collins as an insider, and he seemed to have a premonition of what tricks Leon was going to use. Indeed, if you look at the lineup configuration, today's Suns are really similar to the Utah Jazz at their peak in the 1990s. The point guard and power forward dominate the offense, there is no talent at the center position, and there are a few engineers on the forward and defensive lines. A type of excellent striker, and then there is an all-around third point.

The Jazz's third point back then was Hornacek. Now Leon wants Diaw to do this third point. This third point is undoubtedly very important. Maybe his data is not showing up, maybe he can't make continuous cuts on his own. points, but judging from the trend of the entire game, such third-point players can provide huge help to the team in the transition period, during the transition period, and at critical moments.

In the past, the Boston Celtics didn't need such a third point because they had too many people who could play, but the Suns are different now. Their talent is not that high. In the past, D'Antoni asked Marion to do this third point. Unfortunately, Marion's data was sufficient, but in the playoffs, his technical characteristics determined that he could not do this third point.

According to Leon, Jascovicius also has the ability to do this third point, but after comprehensive consideration, he believes that Diaw is more suitable, because the Suns do not have Duncan inside, they only have Stoudemire , and they already have Nash on the outside. Of course, Jaskevicius will not give up on this point, because their goal is not just the Spurs.

After replacing Diaw, the Suns instantly became a big lineup. The Jazz also stuffed Collins and Boozer in the paint, and the Jazz still led the score. At this time, Stoudemire began to exert his strength. He and Diaw cooperated in a pick-and-roll. After receiving Diaw's pass, he passed Boozer in one step and succeeded in a left-hand layup.

The Jazz had just made a substitution, and the defensive rotation hadn't been completed yet. Boozer shouldn't be able to defend this ball, but the Suns had so many people inside. As soon as they squeezed in and changed, it became Stoudemire and Boozer.

Looking back, Boozer received a pass from his teammate on the outside, took a step inside the right three-point line, and hit a mortar shot, catching the Suns off guard. Boozer's touch was pretty good today. After the goal, Boozer yelled at Diaw. After switching to a bigger lineup, the Suns did not let Turiaf guard Boozer, but continued to let Diaw and Boozer fight.

At this time, Diaw played point guard on the court. At this time, his height advantage became apparent. He controlled the ball at a high position and had a wide field of vision. Hill started running non-stop on the court. The 35-year-old looked tireless on the court. Stoudemire came out to cover Diaw, and the two looked like they were about to pick and roll again, but Diaw suddenly threw a high pass to the inside, and Turiaf jumped up and succeeded in an alley-oop!

The Suns played a variant of UCLA's tactics. In the UCLA tactics, the No. 1 position should have handed the ball to the inside after the pick-and-roll, then cut through the air, opened the wings, and the inside who received the ball from the outside would then pass the ball to the inside. Assist teammates to score. But after Diaw played the No. 1 position, he would not make an air cut. The man on the wing would make an air cut. After Stoudemire pulled out, Diaw directly passed the ball to the inside.

This kind of cooperation is more concise, and it also tests the player's ability to play the ball instantly. This is Diaw's first assist in this game. After Turiaf scored, the two high-fived, and Diaw felt that his muscles suddenly relaxed. a lot of.

Then, the Jazz also played a UCLA cooperation, but because there were many people inside the Suns, Stoudemire directly blocked Collins' layup with a block. Diaw got the ball and slowly pushed back. He stuck his butt out as soon as he passed half court. The person guarding him was Halprin. At this time, he saw Stoudemire cutting in from the middle. In the first quarter, Diaw would have hesitated, but now he no longer hesitated and threw a one-handed throw. After passing the ball, Stoudemire jumped up to get the ball, took off in one step and dunked directly, scoring two more points!

Two consecutive beautiful passes gave Diaw confidence, and he suddenly became more energetic on the defensive end. He no longer defended passively, but took the initiative, getting close to Boozer before he could catch the ball. Go up and harass him.

With such harassment, Boozer suddenly became uncomfortable due to his relatively weak lateral movement ability, slow attack movements, long attack lead time, and relatively high requirements for feeding the ball. It was impossible for Stoudemire to defend Boozer like this, and Turiaf would suffer from his footwork. Only then did people discover that Diaw was actually a good choice to defend Boozer.

In the absence of a long man, it would be a wise move to use a matchup of the same height and more flexibility to deal with Boozer.

Under Diaw's harassment, Boozer couldn't get the ball. Boozer didn't touch the ball for three consecutive rounds. Diaw's defensive intensity rose to the playoff level, and his offense became smoother and smoother. When the passing threat increased greatly, his offensive space was stretched out. He hit a three-pointer from the outside, directly helping the Suns take the lead.

Diaw dominated the Suns' offense and defense for a short period of time and successfully helped the Suns reverse the situation. Jerry Sloan had to call a timeout. He was about to change to the main lineup again. Boozer was on the court, no matter what the system concealed. As good as that is, his defense is ultimately flawed. He didn't expect that after Leon discovered this flaw, he used a Dior to expand the loophole.

This guy is really good at recruiting people in a targeted manner. What he didn't know was that Leon also breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, Diaw played well and successfully hit the chicken blood himself. Otherwise, if this big lineup couldn't play well, he would die miserably on the court.