start with scouting

Chapter 175 I gave you freedom too much

The schedule is quite dense, and the Thunder only have one day off before the third game, and the whole team set off for the away game overnight.

The team's special plane landed in Arizona at one o'clock in the morning, and then took the bus to the hotel. It was already two o'clock in the morning.

When checking in the room, Su Yang told the Thunder players: Don’t play too hard, pay attention to rest, and don’t take it lightly. Don’t be like the Mavericks in the Mavericks Finals. They played so crazy in the away game against Miami that they lost three games in a row. .

The Thunder generals readily agreed, but the assistant coach Mark proposed to be stricter in a joking tone. He simply moved a chair and sat at the elevator entrance.

Su Yang laughed it off, knowing that some coaches did it before, but he himself always trusted the players, which was one of the foundations for him to gain the support of the players, just reminding him, if you really want to do that, the players are prone to rebellious psychology.

After waking up at noon and eating something casually, Su Yang pulled the assistant team to replay the second game against the Suns.

The five played through the video, and assistant coach Brian sighed: "It seems that we did only win in the second half of the first quarter. It was a wrong rotation for the Suns to let Channing Frye appear early. Tomorrow night, they will definitely not win." keep doing that..."

"Let the players prepare for a tough fight..."

Su Yang is very clear that the home field advantage is not just talk, the player's psychological bonus will be great, and the Suns are not bad, the two losses have avoidable mistakes, and all the mistakes are made again, the Suns have found a way to win. ball direction.

At the end of the replay, Su Yang went to find Harden to play games. The two teamed up and played a big game in "Battlefield", which made Durant complain that he would shoot the game every time, and he would play 2K NBA next time. Guaranteed You can make Su Yang and Harden cry with just one hand.

In the evening, a few people ordered takeout on the phone, ate short rib steak and mesquite pods, watched the Cavaliers away game against the Celtics with laughter and laughter, and witnessed LeBron's supernatural shooting rate of 63%. point.

In the whole game, the Cavaliers beat the Celtics 124 to 95, leading the series 2 to 1.

Durant said excitedly: "It seems that LeBron's elbow ligament is not injured. I hope the Cavaliers can reach the finals. I want to face LeBron directly. I want to let the fans and the media see who is the real player." The league's number one small forward..."

Su Yang was also a little confused. Many news broke that LeBron had torn ligament in his right elbow, but it seemed to have no effect.

During the discussion, Harden said that he had to go out for something, and everyone disbanded immediately, and each went back to the room to rest.

On the second game day, the entire Thunder team gathered at [-]:[-] pm and took the bus to the Suns' home stadium, the American West Arena.

After getting in the car, Su Yang noticed that Harden was sleeping with his head covered. He was a little surprised, but he didn't investigate further.

Arriving at the arena, the whole team first warmed up by shooting, then practiced double-team tactics, and then returned to the locker room.

After explaining several key points of offense and defense in detail, Su Yang rushed to the media center to accept pre-match interviews from various reporters. The first question was asked: How do you view hot comments on social networks? Also using Channing Frye, Gentry achieved results Much worse.

Su Yang said with a smile: "I did coach Channing Frye in the Trail Blazers. He is an excellent player. The three-pointer can impress me, but how effective a player is on the court is not completely determined by the coach. ..."

Speaking of the scene, Su Yang knew very well the reason for Frye's abnormal performance, which was that he played too simply and did not hide Frye's intention to shoot a three-pointer. Even an STS screen would do, but Gentry didn't do that, and Nash didn't It seems unnecessary.

Anyone who blatantly allows a certain player to attack, unless it is a top superstar level, will have a sharp drop in efficiency.

At 06:30 in a blink of an eye, the game officially started. Hilary Swank, the actress of "Million Dollar Baby", came to the scene to help the Suns. The Suns fans were uniformly dressed in dark red T-shirts. people.

The Suns won the jump ball, Nash launched a pick-and-roll, assisted Lopez to get the first two points, and it took only nine seconds in total.

Changing sides to attack and defend, the Suns directly resorted to zone defense, the Thunder reacted a little slowly, Westbrook passed the ball too high and made an out-of-bounds error.

The Suns attacked for the second time, and Stoudemire received the ball and made a strong foul against Ibaka. Fortunately, only the second penalty was hit.

Durant took advantage of the chaos to grab a rebound, Westbrook caught the ball from the center line and launched a fast break, helping Matthews score a three-pointer from the bottom corner.

The two teams came and went for a few rounds. Chandler accidentally got two fouls and had to play Jordan in advance.

In that way, the two teams played each other limitedly until the substitute stage, and Gentry honestly arranged for Frye to play in the rotation.

Su Yang sent Harden at the same time. He never thought that Harden's desire to attack was very low. He only made 2 of 1 shots in a few minutes and had 0 assists. Get two fouls in a row.

Seeing that the Thunder were about to fall behind, Fry made two three-pointers to stabilize the situation.

During the pause between the quarters, Su Yang poured chicken soup for Harden's soul, encouraging more shots, and the defense needs to be smarter.

Harden nodded in interest, followed by 5 of 0 shots, 2 turnovers and 1 foul, which made Su Yang laugh.

The Thunder were defeated by Harden on both offense and defense. Fortunately, Frye made 4 of 0 shots in a single quarter, and the Suns only took a 7-point lead.

Returning to the locker room during the intermission, Su Yang looked at the slightly haggard Harden. Thinking of Harden leaving early when watching the game and sleeping on the bus, he guessed that Harden probably played too crazy last night, which led to today's No late game status.

Of course, Chandler accidentally got two fouls in the first quarter of the game is also one of the reasons why the Thunder fell behind.

"We are currently suffering from foul troubles. The problem is not serious. Just play seriously in the second half..." After thinking for a while, Su Yang decided not to point out Harden's abnormal state, so as not to affect the mood of the whole team. After all, he was only 7 points behind.

The third quarter kicked off quickly. Durant, Westbrook, and Ibaka teamed up to play a super gorgeous offense, successfully dismantling the Suns defense. Desen shot.

It's a pity that Stoudemire played bravely and scored 16 points in a single quarter, allowing the Suns to enter the fourth quarter with a 2-point advantage.

With an attitude of trust and the idea of ​​trying again, Su Yang sent Harden to lead the bench as usual. As a result, Harden made 5 of 1 shots, made 1 turnover and 2 fouls. On Durant and other main players.

But the Suns occupy the convenience of the home court, very presumptuously changing the zone defense to a triangle and 2 defensive strategy, choking Durant and Westbrook, and filling up other Thunder players in various ways, generally maintaining the lead with all their lives, and Nash took the lead in making big fouls.

At the anxious moment of the game, Westbrook was a little impetuous, did not listen to Su Yang's command, and forced a frontal breakthrough to double-team.

It's a pity that Nash and others had already prepared, and it was the Suns' home game. Westbrook took two offensive fouls in a row before he became honest.

With 2 minutes left in the game, Su Yang instructed the whole team to play more three-point tactics. The chances came out, but the shooting rate was very low. The main reason was that the momentum was suppressed, which caused the Thunder generals to be too nervous. Stiff and deformed in movement.

In the end, the Thunder lost to the Suns 108 to 117, and the series became 2 to 1.

Throughout the game, Harden made 14 of 3 shots, with 4 turnovers and 5 fouls. Durant scored 36 points.

Participating in the press conference after the game, the reporter asked what he thought of the news that Harden appeared at the door of the nightclub at two o'clock in the morning.

Su Yang said with a smile: "James did not perform well in this game. It may be because of staying up late. His poor performance is not the only reason for our loss, but he is an adult and a qualified professional player. , I'm sure he can make adjustments, but if the same thing happens again, I will ban him outright, and the same with any other player."

(End of this chapter)