The Whip of the God of Basketball

During the halftime break, the Suns' locker room was quite calm. Leon didn't even bother to arrange the tactics for the second half for the players. Although their defense was still ordinary in the first half, Leon didn't want the players to work hard. Defense, on the contrary, he was quite satisfied with the performance of the players.

Especially the substitute second team, during the transitional stage, Jaskovicius, Barry, Turiaf, and even rookie Dudley all performed brilliantly. Generally speaking, although the Suns did not come to open the score, their performance was relatively stable in the first half. According to Leon's temper in Boston in the past, the midfielder would definitely scold everyone, but he did not in the Suns. He just let the players have a good rest, which made Laga Bell and Boris Diaw feel very uncomfortable.

The two sat together and muttered quietly. Bell asked Diaw if Coach Leon had completely changed his gender this year. He heard that people's personalities would change greatly after having children. Diaw objected. He thought that the regular season had just begun. , the days are still long, it is better to play hard. Both of them went to the Celtics and were trained by Leon when they were rookies, and they were both low-post picks, so they had the same respect for Leon as a student would for a teacher.

After the two of them finished their discussion, they looked at Leon. He was sitting on a stool in a daze, which was simply incredible. Of course, neither of them dared to provoke Leon for fear of being brought over and scolded by him, so they only dared to speak quietly.

Leon sat there. He did not let himself go. On the contrary, his mind kept spinning. He analyzed the Suns' offense and defense in the first half, combined with the Lakers' performance, and made a detailed assessment of the team's offensive and defensive effects. . At the same time, he is also trying his own new idea of ​​​​managing the team, which is to provide a more relaxed team environment for offensive teams, especially teams with veterans as the core.

In a defensive team like the Boston Celtics, the coach must constantly push the players. Defense is to make the opponent uncomfortable, and the coach must make his own players uncomfortable so that his players can make other people's players uncomfortable. uncomfortable. Players on defensive teams must always maintain a strong sense of hostility, even murderous intent.

As for the offensive team, NCAA Leon feels that it needs to let the players relax, and the players can emotionally integrate with each other, and even inspire confidence and creativity beyond their own abilities. This will allow the team to burst out with superhuman strength on the offensive end. energy of.

Of course, this requires the coach to control and grasp the emotions of the team very well. Phil Jackson on the opposite side is undoubtedly a master in this regard. Leon has never been very fond of Phil Jackson. The two coaching paths are very different, but today Leon admits that there is still something worth learning from Jackson. After all, nine championships did not fall from the sky.

Therefore, Leon only told the players with a serious attitude at the beginning of the game, "Play well in this game." During the game, he focused on encouragement and guidance. To be honest, he was really not used to hearing it. Especially when he saw players missing players on the defensive end and not delaying, he clenched his fists and wanted to hit them, but in the end he held back.

After the halftime break, the players from both sides returned to the court, and the second half of the game was about to begin. Before going on the court, Leon grabbed Nash and said to him: "Steve, we agreed that you are going to take it." A scoring champion." Nash smiled and nodded, but Leon added with a serious face: "Your competitor is on the opposite side, and you are already behind."

Leon was talking about none other than Kobe Bryant, the Lakers' scoring champion in 2006 and 2007. Nash never thought about comparing scoring with Kobe. He also knew that letting himself win the scoring title was just a joke from Leon, but this joke was not made randomly. Before the start of the season, Leon and Nash had the most exchanges. The two smart people had endless topics to talk about basketball. Leon's many ideas and suggestions gave Nash great inspiration. At the age of 33 and about to turn 34, Nash is determined to start a new chapter in basketball, just like he did when he first came to the Suns three years ago.

In the first half, he participated in the team's offense as an ordinary player. For the first time, he felt that the burden of organizing the offense was no longer so heavy. At the end of the first half, he felt extremely relaxed. Because of this, he slowly gained momentum at the beginning of the second half.

The same was true for Kobe on the opposite side. The Lakers served first in the second half. Kobe wanted the ball after halftime. Facing Laga Bell's defense, he continuously changed back and turned his back and hit a difficult fadeaway jumper to help the Lakers take the lead.

61:60, as for the Suns, the opening possession of the ball returned to Nash's hands. Nash called Stoudemire's pick-and-roll from the high post. It is unimaginable that this was the second pick-and-roll between Stoudemire and Nash in this game. Nash took advantage of it. He dribbled extremely skillfully and freely into the three-second zone. He did not speed up, but observed the defender while dribbling. Brown was obviously worried about Nash's breakthrough and worried about him passing the ball to Stoudemire who was cutting inside. He couldn't stand forward. Inconsistent.

Fisher came around from the side, Nash dribbled sideways to dodge a step, and shot a jumper directly from the free throw line! A very calm and steady shot, as easy as a free throw, the ball went hollow into the net and scored two points. The Suns led by 1 point again.

At the beginning of the second half, the top players on both sides scored a goal each. During the Lakers' halftime break, Phil Jackson told Kobe that he wanted him to strengthen his personal attack and never fall behind in the third quarter, even if he didn't open up the score. Since the Suns don't double-team, Kobe will naturally not be polite. Facing the so-called "Kobe Killer" Laga Bell, Kobe is merciless and continuously breaks through with his hips. He makes an extremely beautiful breakthrough into the Suns penalty area and leaps into the Suns penalty area. He rose up in the air, avoided Stoudemire's block, and succeeded in a layup.

Kobe turned on his personal offensive mode, and the reasonable score in the first half disappeared.

But turning around, Nash and Stoudemire picked and rolled again in the middle. Nash used the rhythm to speed up and passed Fisher. Brown followed Nash but did not dare to get close to him for fear of passing the ball. As a result, Nash hit the board with a high throw. Also scored two runs.

After the goal, Kobe said to Nash: "Want to score more?"

Nash smiled and replied: "I'll be with you anytime."

Now it's good. Kobe's figure completely disappeared from Kobe. Kobe also noticed it. The Suns weren't defending anyway. It was time to score in the third quarter. He took the ball during the offense and scored without hesitation. Inside, using his left hand as skilled as his right, he completed a left-handed floater over Diaw's head for two points.

The two teams were taking the lead alternately. Not to be outdone, Nash first handed the ball to Diaw after halftime, and then used the screen to get to the right corner. Diaw made a diagonal pass. Nash took the ball and shot with a fake move to shake Fisher away, dribbling the baseline. Breaking in, followed by a mounted arrow, scoring two points.

The two went back and forth in the first two minutes of the second half, each scoring a goal. It was a very beautiful game. Every one of the spectators at the American Airlines Center became excited. Although the Suns seemed to have lost their turbulent seven-second offense, looking at this The high scores are equally enjoyable.

Phil Jackson watched Nash argue with Kobe like this, and he didn't understand what medicine Leon was selling in his gourd. Logically speaking, once the Suns need to rely on Nash to score, they are basically forced into a desperate situation. For example, in the fourth game of the 2005 Western Conference semifinals against the Mavericks, he had 48 points and 5 assists in a single game, but the team lost. Contest. The scariest thing about Nash is that he can both score high points and assist his teammates. A good way to beat the Suns is to only let him score high points and not give him the chance to drive his teammates.

But today it seems that Nash's score is constantly rising, but the rest of the Suns are not completely idle. From a tactical point of view, Nash and others seem to have become two independent systems, which is very confusing.

While the game was still going on, Kobe and Nash were still performing scoring performances. Kobe showed off his gorgeous low-post offensive skills, while Nash took the word "rhythm" to the extreme, using various time differences and fake moves to make the game even more difficult. Fisher, who was in the same class as Nash, looked like a five-year-old veteran - even though he looked like a veteran once he entered the league.

And Nash, like Kobe, showed off his left-hand skills to the fullest, dribbling, throwing, and layups, except for shooting with his left hand. The entire third quarter became a showpiece for Nash and Kobe. When Nash took a step outside the three-point line to get past Fisher's defense and hit a three-pointer, the score reached 75:71. The Suns actually led the Lakers by 4 points, and Nash dominated the confrontation with Kobe. Advantage? Nash didn't end the third quarter and scored 13 points single-handedly, while Kobe scored 10 points - two offenses in which he became habitual.

Jackson had to call a timeout to adjust. To be honest, he couldn't understand Nash and the Suns.