The Whip of the God of Basketball

D'Antoni was obviously a little confused by Leon's words. People often say that when two star players work together, if the chemical reaction is good, 1+1 is greater than 2, and if the cooperation is not good, 1+1 is less than 2. Judging from the cooperation between Nash and Stoudemire in the past few years, it is obvious that 1+1 is greater than 2. Nash won the regular season MVP and became a superstar in the league. Stoudemire's scoring also soared and he successfully became the league's top star.

But what does Leon mean by 1-1? D'Antoni didn't have time to ask in detail. The game on the court was still going on. He just wondered whether Leon wanted Nash and Stoudemire to reduce their cooperation. That would be more than worth the gain. The two of them were in the Mavericks and the Suns respectively in the past, but neither of them achieved what they achieved when they cooperated with the Suns. If they give up this duo, will the Suns' strong foundation still exist?

But D'Antoni didn't ask any more questions, because when Turiaf and Jaskovicius came on the court, the Suns' performance on the court gradually picked up. Nash's offense was quite determined. He felt good today and hit consecutive long-range shots from the outside. Jaskevicius has a keen sense of passing the ball in positional battles, and he is very comfortable feeding Stoudemire.

Although there is no way to attack directly as soon as the ball is in hand like Nash, it gives Stoudemire a better opportunity to start and play singles, and the ball is passed to the right point. It seems that the Suns' offense has been split into two parts. On one side, Nash plays by himself, and on the other side, others coordinate the offense around Stoudemire. The original engine of the Suns was suddenly stripped away. An independent scorer.

Nearly halfway through the second quarter, the Suns gradually opened up the score. When Nash went off to rest, Marion came back on the court. Before playing, Leon told Marion to do more of what he is good at, and also told him that the task of 10 rebounds was not completed yet.

For Marion, grabbing ten rebounds in a game is really easy and comfortable. If you ask him to shoot three-pointers, he can't do it. His long arms are too much in the way, but if you let him grab rebounds, his ape-like wingspan will help. . Even though Marion is only 2.01cm tall, he has a short neck. If you count his standing height, he can definitely reach the level of a 2.08cm player.

Because of this, Leon hopes that he can take on more defensive tasks in the forward position to make up for Stoudemire's inherent deficiencies. When Nash was on the court, he often had the opportunity to steal chicken layups. When Nash came off the court, he couldn't do it by letting him get the ball by himself, so he started to do the dirty work honestly.

Nash sat next to Leon and asked: "I have already scored 14 points. If I score 16 more points in the second half, I will have completed the task. But today I only had 2 assists in the first half. I am really not used to it."

Leon said: "You are outstanding, allowing every player around you to play 120% of their value. Their statistics have skyrocketed and their worth has doubled. However, their level has not actually increased, they are still the same strength. And because of the increase in scoring, it may even cover up what they originally have, or what is more suitable for their style of play. Moreover, when you are not around, others must learn to attack and solve problems on the court."

Leon's words go straight to the core of the Suns' problems in the past two years - the entire team has been activated because of Nash's presence, but also because of Nash's presence, it has lost the ability to solve problems on the court. Once Nash comes off the court, the Suns' offense often comes to a standstill, and in the playoffs, even if Nash doesn't come off the court, when Nash is in trouble, it will be difficult for others to provide critical help.

This is the main reason why the Suns have lost to the Spurs and Mavericks in recent years. Except for Nash, there is no player who can solve the problem independently. Stoudemire may have such potential, but at present, it seems that he still lacks such training. So many people believe that Stoudemire will be nothing once he leaves Nash. But Leon doesn't think so.

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At the end of the first half, the Suns were struggling. Generally speaking, they were undergoing a forced change in style under the guidance of Leon. Everyone is very uncomfortable. After all, the game is one thing and the trainer is another. It is indeed difficult and dangerous for the Suns' players to give up the style of play that they have relied on for success in the past. Once the new season starts and the Suns are unable to quickly achieve results with their new style of play, criticism will definitely come.

However, Leon seems to be quite satisfied with the performance of the players, especially Stoudemire. Without the pick-and-roll cooperation with Nash, Stoudemire has used his outstanding mid-range shooting skills and He scores points with hard hitting skills facing the basket. It seems that he has increased his goals again this summer.

There is also Jascovicius. The Suns’ offensive style of play suits him very well. He is really not used to the defensive-oriented style of play in the Eastern Conference, and the Warriors’ impact-oriented offensive style of play. He also couldn't keep up. Only the Suns' fast human-ball interaction was the style of play he expected.

But what was worrying in the first half was that the Suns' offense was pretty good, but their defense was still bad, or even worse, because they had three big colanders in the backcourt, Nash, Barea and Jaskovicius. Anyone on the court will become a defensive hole, and sometimes there will be two people on the court, which simply means that Marion will be exhausted.

Marion finally understood why Leon told him to do more of what he was good at. It was because there were too many leaks on the outside, and he had to wave his long arms to block leaks everywhere.

In the locker room, Leon looked at the technical statistics table and asked: "Who else has not completed the task? Let me see, Laga Bell, your breakthrough, can you now only throw three-pointers from the bottom corner?" ? And Boris Diaw, you didn’t block a single shot. I guess you’re not too fat to jump, right?” At present, the two old Celtic players, Bell and Diaw, have not completed the roles assigned by Leon. For Bell, he has become accustomed to shooting three-pointers under the guidance of Nash, and then helping him on the defensive end next to Nash, allowing him to break through with the ball...but there is Artest on the opposite side.

As for Diaw, he felt that the task assigned to him by Leon was too difficult. Blocking is really not something you can do just by trying. Some centers who are famous for blocking may not be able to block three shots in a game, let alone a forward. tall players. Diaw complained: "Three blocks are really difficult, unless I don't guard every ball carefully and just wait to block the shot."

Leon glared at Diaw and said, "Do you mean you were serious about defense before?" Diaw stopped talking now. He had always been ineffective on the defensive end, so he was left to rush around in the paint. Not happy.

"If you fail to achieve your goal, stay and practice in the gym tonight. I will always be with you." Leon reminded Diaw. Now Diaw has nothing to say. If he were to be another coach, Diaw would definitely ignore him. Anyway, he is paid by the team to play for the team, so he can refuse the extra training. But Leon is different. Leon can be regarded as his guide to the NBA, and Diaw is still very afraid of Leon in his heart. If nothing else, just those fists...

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After the start of the second half, the Suns' style of play changed slightly. Nash is a very smart player and can learn any style of play quickly. He quickly understood Leon's intentions. Attacking first does not mean not passing the ball, but it means handing over some organization and support tasks to other players, or letting other players complete the offense themselves. For example, letting Bell hold the ball and attack the basketball. He still has this ability.

Or leave it to Stoudemire to face the basket, don't always wait until the situation can't be opened, or you must complete a pick and split and then let Stoudemire to fight hard. He can solve it by himself. question. Under such circumstances, Nash found that he could play more relaxedly. He didn't have to wait until an emergency moment to score points by himself. He could just shoot and score when he had the chance.

Nash thought about it, but others still had to adapt. Fortunately, Jaskevicius had a good way of organizing the half-court position. As long as he was on the court, the Suns' offense would not go into chaos. The two sides went back and forth like this, but the Suns slowly gained the advantage, and finally defeated the Kings 115:107, an 8-point advantage, and won their first win of the preseason.

At the last moment of the game, Nash got the chance to make free throws. He made two free throws. At that time, his score was 28 points. As long as he made both free throws, he would get 30 points. Nash, who usually shoots more than 90% of his free throws, actually made one of two free throws and only scored 29 points. He failed to complete the tasks assigned by Leon.

So after the game, Nash went to Leon and said, "I didn't complete the task. Let's practice more tonight." Of course, Diaw also failed to complete the task like him, but he looked unwilling.