Start coaching the Thunder, starting with Westbrook

Chapter 95 Fish Belly Sun
The owners of NBA teams, in fact, most of their assets are relatively ordinary, including the Bass family, the owner of the Lakers. The Lakers are their biggest asset.

In many cases, a team will have multiple owners, because one person may not be able to withstand the spending pressure of an NBA team.

Of course, this does not prevent NBA teams from becoming healthy assets, because the overall market value is rising, but some rise quickly, such as the Warriors, which leapt to second place in the league, while others rise slowly, like the Spurs, who have won several championships in the new century and still look the same.

The Suns are located in Phoenix, which is definitely not a small city, but the ball market is not so optimistic, especially if the team's performance is not good, it will naturally affect the attendance rate, and the decline in income will also reduce the enthusiasm of the boss, which forms a vicious circle.

In stark contrast, of course, is their opponent in the game on November 11, the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Strictly speaking, Oklahoma City is not a big city, and it is definitely not as good as Phoenix. However, the enthusiasm of Oklahoma City fans did not come to Li Sheng until the first game back home in the regular season.

If the Oracle of the Warriors is a "golden ocean", then the home court of the Thunder is a blue ocean.

After half a year of waiting, the first game at home was finally here. No matter how many complaints and doubts there were on the Internet, after they came to the stadium, they were the purest fans, supporting their home team in the simplest and most direct way.

Especially under the mobilization of the on-site DJ, before the game officially started, the scene shouted "OKC" three times. At that moment, Li Sheng felt a little excited and wanted to run to the court to dunk a basket.

Oh he won't, that's all right.

It's really hard to feel the home atmosphere without experiencing it yourself.

Ordinarily, NBA players are also used to seeing big scenes, but it will still affect their performance in away games, because the fans have become the team's sixth man at this time.

They inspire the home team with their shouts and enthusiasm, and influence the visiting team with their abuse and harassment. All this is for victory and the simplest and ultimate happiness.

Li Sheng could feel their happiness, so he naturally wanted to make them happier.

So when the players were about to play and the game was about to start, he seriously called the players to his side for the first time, and took the form of cheering.

"OKC!"

"OKC!"

"OKC!"

It was Ibaka who jumped the ball. From the time he won the ball and Reggie held the ball and pushed it past halftime, the fans kicked off the new season at home with a sound that was enough to overturn the ceiling of the arena.

Li Sheng rubbed his ears, frowned and smiled wryly: "I feel like before they affect the sun, I will soon lose my voice."

Uduka laughed and said: "It seems that the fans in the Holy City are still too 'quiet'..."

Li Sheng recalled that San Antonio has only one team, the Spurs. Although it is a small market, the enthusiasm of the fans is actually very high, but it does feel worse than here.

Of course, it may also be that in his memory, it is not as intuitive and impactful as the feeling at the scene.

Today is still the regular starting lineup, and Reggie has to take on the responsibility of the team's starting point guard during Westbrook's absence.

But in fact, Li Sheng did not intend to let him control the ball. When he performed best in the Clippers playoffs in the future, he also proved that he is really not the material to organize the team. If the ball is kept in his hands, it will be very easy to target.

So after reaching the 45-degree angle on the right, Reggie immediately threw the ball to Durant, who was on the weak side, and the others also pulled away to help him clear the position for singles.

This is the classic routine of the triangle offense, which creates singles opportunities for the star. Others can either stand in their own open shooting points, or use the cover to cut air, so that after the star attracts double-teams, they can pass the ball to find other opportunities.

Li Sheng's arrangement for Durant is that if he can't directly find the ball for passing opportunities, then he will hand it over to the second organization point, usually to Ibaka or Perkins.

As the starting center who won the championship with the Celtics, Perkins has rich experience, so he has been unable to organize or support him well, but it is still possible to transfer the ball for a short time as a transit point at a certain moment; after Ibaka has the ball, he can choose to shoot directly or rush to the basket, and he can pass the ball again if he attracts the defense.

Ibaka's running and jumping talent is outstanding. Although he is poor in independent attack and is a blue-collar style of play, given him a chance, his personal impact makes opponents have to defend.

The inside combination of the Suns is the Polish hammer Gortat and Markieff Morris (Morris). Morris is a space-shooting power forward who can shoot outside the three-point line. On the defensive end, he can also defend against the outside. If the opponent breaks through to the inside, Gortat will defend the penalty area.

However, such a combination only looks ideal, but the actual effect is a mess.

In less than 3 minutes of the first quarter, Gortat was fouled by Durant and Ibaka successively, and the two fouls went off the field directly.

Of course, Gortat also made Reggie an offensive foul, which is considered a signature of European and American players, but his movement speed is relatively slow. If he fails to return in time, he will naturally lose his position and become blocked.

Not to mention, the league favors the Thunder more, and the referees will favor them more.

With Gortat, the Suns' defense in the penalty area became weaker. Under Li Sheng's emphasis, Reggie began to use his own advantages to kill the penalty area.

The Suns' backup center is Miles Plumlee, who just came to the Suns through a transfer from the Pacers in July. He is still a second-year rookie.

In the 8th minute of the first quarter, when Li Sheng replaced Ibaka and Durant to take a rest and let Antetokounmpo take the fourth position, let him attack this point.

He is also a rookie, but defense requires more experience than offense, and the offense also has more initiative.

What's more, Antetokounmpo's physical condition, after the confrontation gradually came up, it was difficult for Plumlee to stop him, and in the end he had to foul and send him to the free throw line.

Antetokounmpo made two free throws, but Hornacek felt a little bad.

Although the team chose Alex Ryan as a backup center this year, but according to the targeting of the Thunder's offensive insider, the first-year rookie may not be able to handle it.

Is this to make them have no center available?
In May of this year, the Suns announced a coaching change, and Jazz legend Jeff Hornacek became the new coach.

Many fans later impressed him most not with himself, but with his beautiful daughter, Abby Hornacek, who was once a popular candidate for the heroine of the basketball network.

She, the daughter of the boss of the Bucks, and the daughter of the boss of the king, once became wet sweethearts.

As for Hornacek's own coaching career, there were really no bright spots. Later, he still failed in the Knicks and finally left sadly.

As a player, Hornacek was very characteristic. His nickname was "Dead Light Gun", and he was a reliable outside scoring point during the Jazz Shuangsha period.

The disadvantage is that his body is thin, and his confrontation and defense are poor. As a result, this shortcoming has continued into his coaching period.

This Suns also took the path of shooting. In fact, it can be said that it has continued from D'Antoni's running and bombing the Suns, but the Suns' defense at that time was actually not bad, and it can even be said that many people underestimated it.

Although Nash has always been said to be "unable to defend", the Suns have many defensive champions who can make up for his defense without forming obvious loopholes, just because the offense is too gorgeous to cover up their defensive end.

Of course, their defense is definitely not the top in the league. After all, D'Antoni's philosophy is "the best defense is offense."

But now the Suns are almost losing even the most basic defense, especially after Hornacek put up a wonderful lineup of three guards at the beginning of the second quarter.

(End of this chapter)