Bishop of the Abyss

Chapter 292 292. The playoffs start, Luke: Hey, it turns out that releasing water is such a difficult thing!
This is obviously good news for the Grizzlies against the Suns in the first round of the playoffs.

D'Antoni, the head assistant coach of the Grizzlies, served as the head coach of the Suns for five consecutive years.

Although the Suns have undergone some changes in their tactical play since Alvin Gentry took office this season, due to the playing styles of Steve Nash and "Small Overlord" Stoudemire, the Suns' defensive counterattack and The changes in positional warfare are not earth-shaking.

No one in the entire league knows better than D'Antoni how to defend against the cooperation of Steve Nash and "Stoudemire" Stoudemire. big contribution.

And Lagabel, the most important defensive gate on the outside of the Suns, was also packaged and sent to the Charlotte Bobcats by general manager Steve Kerr this year.

As an outstanding player who has been selected to the All-Defensive Team twice in his career, Lagabel's existence is definitely the foundation for the Suns to be invincible in those two years.

Due to physical reasons, Steve Nash's defensive efficiency has always been below the league average, and Lagabel can share Steve Nash's defensive pressure to the greatest extent.

This is also the main reason why the Suns' guard line was not completely blown by other teams in those two years.

Now, with Lagabel in a deal with "Slam Dunk" Richardson and sent to the Bobcats, the entire Suns defense is in a mess.

Although the Suns signed Matt Barnes from the free market during the offseason, Barnes's defensive ability is far from that of Lagabel.

The reason for Barnes' excellent defense is due to his daring attitude and vicious personality, while Lagabel's defensive awareness and difficulty are at the top of the league. There is a very big gap between the two.

In later generations, Steve Kerr led the team as the head coach of the Warriors and played a good team record. Although there is suspicion of picking the former head coach Mark Jackson, Steve Kerr's coaching winning percentage is still very impressive.

However, during his tenure as general manager, Steve Kerr's series of operations were very confusing.

Especially this year, Cole, as the general manager of the Suns, made a series of operations in the trading market that people couldn't understand at all. Turning around, the fans didn't see that the Suns had been essentially strengthened.

Although Jason Richardson is a player with very strong offensive firepower from the outside, the Phoenix Suns with Steve Nash had a very empty defense at the back line. Lagabel's departure undoubtedly made this Suns even more extreme.

If you want to win, you can only rely on the players to play stably on the offensive end. Otherwise, once the offensive feel drops to freezing point, with the Suns' defensive ability, they can only be pressed to the ground by the opponent and rubbed crazily.

In the final stage of the regular season, the Suns were overtaken by the Rockets and the Jazz, and finally slipped to eighth in the West. They had to meet the Memphis Grizzlies, who won 76 regular season games in the first round.

A large part of this is due to the deal between the Suns and the Bobcats. Even though "Slam Dunk" Richardson and the Suns are running in well, and this season Richardson can also contribute 16.4 points and 4.5 points per game in the Suns. Rebounds and 1.9 assists.

But the Suns' defensive problems have never been resolved, and Alvin Gentry is also a coach who focuses on offensive tactics, which also makes the Suns more extreme than when D'Antoni led the team before.

It is worth mentioning that in order to get Jason Richardson, the Suns paid two important players, Lagabel and Boris Dior, in this deal.

The importance of Lagabel to the Suns' defense is self-evident. Lagabel's departure directly led to the collapse of the Suns' defense.

Steve Nash's defensive efficiency has slipped to third-worst among all point guards in the league averaging more than 15 minutes per game this season.

In other words, when Steve Nash is on the court, although the Suns can play a gorgeous and penetrating offense, at the same time, Steve Nash will also become the main offensive launch point of the opponent's defense.

As early as during the regular season, Suns fans often saw a certain scene where the opponent continued to look for Nash through infinite pick-and-rolls. Offensive players attack resolutely and sharply.

Faced with Steve Nash's thin body and the physical confrontation in the middle and lower reaches of the league, except for a few Muggles, guards who can securely start in the NBA team can basically take advantage of Steve Nash, and even directly Destroy Steve Nash's matchup.

As for the absence of the "French magician" Dior, it also greatly weakened the rotation depth of the Suns inside. After Dior left the team, the head coach Alvin Gentry had to use Louis Amundson, who was doing nothing, as the insider. rotation.

And when the opponent's inside height is sufficient, even the first-year rookie Robin Lopez is highly valued under Alvin Gentry.

In addition to the constant injuries of "Little Overlord" Stoudemire, he basically played one game and one rest in the regular season. He only played a total of 50 games in the whole season. On a championship team.

Alvin Gentry, who just served as the head coach of the Suns during the offseason, complained in front of the media more than once, "The depth of the team's lineup has been broken up by various transactions, and now there are only a handful of players that the Suns can use on the court."

"Sometimes I can't wait to put on a jersey and play. This is the rotation crisis that the Suns have."

"Once it enters the playoffs, this lineup depth is definitely a very big hidden danger."

All indications are that Steve Kerr, the general manager, is not very smart. Trading players always like to look at fame and outstanding personal data, rather than choosing the player that best matches the current Suns.

There is no doubt that no matter who Steve Kerr pulls to the team through a trade, the core of the entire Phoenix Suns offense is Steve Nash and "Small Overlord" Stoudemire.

No matter how strong other players are, as long as they can't reach the height of Kobe and Kevin Martin, they are destined to only become the helpers of Nash and "The Little Bully" Stoudemire.

Kerr, who served as the team's general manager for the first time in his career, made the mistakes most young general managers make.

When trading, they only care about the reputation of the players and the personal data they played that season, but they can't find the real meaning of team reinforcement.

Thanks to "Shark" O'Neal joining the Celtics under the butterfly effect instigated by Luke, otherwise Cole would trade O'Neal to the Suns under normal circumstances this season.

As a result, the entire Suns' offensive system collapsed completely, positional battles could not be penetrated, and fast break battles could not be run. This is a series of wonderful operations that Kerr served as the general manager of the Suns.

Although Cole failed to renew his relationship with "Shark" O'Neal, his operational ability during his tenure was still questioned and abused by Phoenix fans.

If nothing else, Steve Kerr is only a matter of time before get out of class.

After learning that the team will face the challenge of the Phoenix Suns in the first round of the playoffs, assistant coach D'Antoni immediately became interested.

A few days before the start of the series, D'Antoni took over the command from Luke, and simply acted as a life mentor in the training hall, instructing the players in detail about the tactics and styles of play that the Suns often use on the court.

And also made a lot of conclusions about the playing habits of Steve Nash and Stoudemire.

Speaking of these details, they can only be regarded as talking on paper. If you want to win in the game, it depends on the hard power of the team and the performance of the players on the spot in the game.

But once the players can perfectly apply the details instructed by D'Antoni to the game, it will have a great impact on the trend of the entire series.

If a team finds out the details of the opponent before the start of the series, the balance of this round of the series has already tilted.

Just as the old Nelson led the Golden State Warriors, which was not favored by anyone, and the Dallas Mavericks in the first round of the playoffs.

The reason why the Warriors were able to complete the black eight miracles written in history was not because of how strong the Warriors were at the time, but because the head coach Nelson knew the offensive and defensive habits of the Dallas Mavericks well.

After all, before that, the old Nelson served as the head coach of the Mavericks for eight consecutive years. It is no exaggeration to say that many stars of the Mavericks, including Nowitzki, were brought out by the old Nelson. Knows that Mavericks better than Sr. Nelson.

It is precisely because of the understanding of the Mavericks that the Warriors were able to stage the black eight miracle that shocked everyone that season.

Putting the same situation on the Grizzlies this season, the chances of the Grizzlies winning the game are definitely much higher than the Warriors, because in this round of the series, the Suns are ranked eighth in the West, not the Grizzlies.

In addition, Luke is also satisfied with his opponents in the first round of the playoffs. It is better to deal with the Suns than against the seventh-ranked Jazz in the Western Conference in the first round.

With Mike D'Antoni's understanding of the Suns, the Grizzlies can retain more energy to enter the semifinals, and put more thoughts on the Spurs and Mavericks.

…………

On April 4, local time in the United States, the first round of the playoffs officially started. The defending champion Grizzlies sat at home to meet the challenge of the Phoenix Suns.

There are very few players in the Grizzlies this season who have played in the playoffs in the first year. Except for a few players such as Roy Hibbert, most of them are men who have seen big storms.

Chris Paul, Michael Reid, Zach Randolph and others have proven themselves in other teams.

Among them, Kevin Martin and the Gasol brothers helped the team successfully win the championship trophy last season, which also caused the Grizzlies players to enter the playoffs with a very relaxed mentality.

Especially the record of 76 wins and 6 losses in the regular season made the Grizzlies players feel no pressure.

Even the warm-up players before the game had giggling smiles on their faces, and they couldn't see the sense of oppression that the playoffs were about to start.

On the other hand, the Phoenix Suns, from the head coach Alvin Gentry to the core of the team Steven Nash and Stoudemire, as well as the role players below, all faces are full of dignity, even with a touch of bitterness .

The Suns players are very clear about what kind of challenges they need to face next.

No one thinks that the team can complete the promotion in an upset in this round of the series. The real thought in the hearts of Sun fans is that they can win a victory from the Grizzlies and avoid being swept away.

Before the game started, the Suns head coach Alvin Gentry walked towards Luke with a wry smile on his face, "It's really unlucky, I was thinking of struggling as the eighth seed, but I met you in the first season of coaching the Suns , I really don’t know what evil I did in my previous life.”

"Now I don't expect to be able to get cheap from you. I just hope that the team doesn't lose too badly. Otherwise, I'm afraid I will give up my hot coaching position."

"You know, I have always had conflicts with Steve Kerr. He thinks that the team's failure to produce results is a problem with my coaching ability. Anyway, he will not admit that it is a loophole in his trading operations."

"Fortunately, the team's executive president, Craig, has a good impression of me, otherwise you wouldn't see me standing on this field now."

Luke has also heard about Alvin Gentry's current embarrassing situation. Due to a series of strange operations by Steve Kerr during his tenure, the Suns' record has not only failed to improve, but has declined compared to last season.

In order to keep his team's general manager position, Cole will naturally not admit that it was his own trading problems that caused the Suns' overall strength to decline.

So this scapegoat must be carried by Alvin Gentry, who has just served as the head coach of the Suns.

Fortunately, Craig, the CEO of the Suns, is quite satisfied with Gentry's training methods. In the high-level meetings held by the Suns many times, Craig and Cole stood completely opposite to each other.

The fundamental reason is that Steve Kerr, who just took office, stretched his hand too long and accidentally touched Craig's cake, which made Craig very dissatisfied with Steve Kerr, no matter what They will subconsciously sing against Cole.

Especially in the poor record of the Suns team, the several transactions after Cole's handling were also criticized by the fan community, which gave Craig the upper hand in this group of confrontations for a short time.

The more Steve Kerr wanted to depose Alvin Gentry, the more Craig wanted to keep Alvin Gentry.

This has allowed Alvin Gentry to still play in the playoffs as the head coach of the Suns until now.

In this year's playoffs, the Suns encountered the mighty Grizzlies in the first round. From the results point of view, the chances of the Suns being upset are almost zero.

Even if the Suns are swept out in the first round, under normal circumstances, Alvin Gentry's coaching position can still continue into the next season, but if Steve Kerr does not dismiss get out of class, Alvin Gentry will become very dangerous.

To put it simply, only one of Cole and Gentry can stay, not because there is an irreconcilable conflict between Cole and Gentry, but to ensure their own positions, the two sides must walk away during the offseason. Lose one person.

As an old friend who had a good personal relationship with Luke last season, Luke naturally didn't want Alvin Gentry to leave the team in despair just after taking over the Suns for one season.

But Luke also has no ability to force Steve Kerr to dismiss get out of class. After all, Luke's influence is not enough to affect the structure of other teams with a single sentence.

What Luke can do is to let Alvin Gentry lose decently when the victory is already decided, so that the outside world will at least side with Gentry, thereby increasing Steve Kerr's support. Possibility of dismissal.

"Don't worry, old man, don't always look sad, how can I make you lose too much, and find an excuse for Steve Kerr."

"The only thing I care about in this year's playoffs is the Spurs. I hope the Spurs can get past the Mavericks, otherwise the Grizzlies will be very disappointed." Luke patted Alvin Gentry on the shoulder and said with a smile on his face. .

In this game, the Suns' starting lineup is: Nash, Richardson, Matt Barnes, Dudley, and Stoudemire.

Grizzlies here: Paul, Martin, Artest, Gasol and Gasol Jr.

The reason why Alvin Gentry put "Small Overlord" Stoudemire in the center position is completely helpless.

Due to Cole's poor trading operations, the Suns' current inside configuration is very broken. Apart from "Small Overlord" Stoudemire, Alvin Gentry can only choose first-year rookie Robin Lopez. on the starter.

However, as a rookie who has just entered the league for less than a year, Lopez cannot meet the starting standards of a playoff team in terms of experience or personal ability.

Especially in the face of Marc Gasol, who has a very high golf quotient, Robin Lopez probably has only one way to go to be blown up.

The bad situation made Gentry have to put Stoudemire in the fifth position, trying to use his mobility advantage to take advantage of the matchup with Marc Gasol.

As a space-based insider, Dudley can open up space for Stoudemire's breakthrough dunk to the inside, replacing part of Dior's previous role.

After the game started, Stoudemire, who has better jumping ability, took the lead in getting the ball for the Suns.

Due to the arrival of Alvin Gentry this season, the Suns' offensive focus has changed from Steve Nash's original offense to Stoudemire's control of positional battles.

At the beginning of the game, Nash and Stoudemire played pick-and-rolls in high positions. For the cooperation between the two, Luke had already made adjustments before the game.

I saw that the Grizzlies directly defended a set of standard zone defenses to prevent Gasol from being pulled to the outside by Stoudemire, thus suffering a disadvantage in lateral movement speed.

The zone defense can ensure that Marc Gasol always guards the penalty area and honestly defends in his most comfortable area, without having to consider the speed gap with Stoudemire.

Even if the zone defense is likely to allow the Suns to find more shots on the perimeter, for a team with Paul and Artest, the help defense rotation will never be particularly difficult.

The Grizzlies' zone defense clearly created some problems for both Nash and Stoudemire.Stoudemire's downswing also failed to come out and directly bomb the basket.

Seeing that Stoudemire's offensive line was completely pinched by the positions of Marc Gasol and Artest, Nash could only circle around with the ball, and then used his height advantage on Chris Paul's head Complete a mid-range jumper.

"boom!"

As Nash missed a mid-range jumper, Marc Gasol immediately took the rebound and took a look forward. The Suns returned to defense quickly, and Gasol could only hand the ball to Chris Paul. To fight positional warfare.

For positional warfare offense, the Grizzlies' intention is very obvious, that is, Chris Paul and Pau Gasol will play pick and roll.

Due to the starting five of the Suns, Steve Nash and Dudley's defensive capabilities are below the average level of each position.

When Paul and Pau Gasol play pick-and-roll, no matter who holds the ball and initiates an offense, it is a set of targeted advantages.

After the pick-and-roll, Gasol quickly slid down to the penalty area, and during the sprint process, he used his strength advantage to squeeze away Dudley's defense.

Seeing an opportunity from Gasol's side, Paul directly hit the ground and passed the ball, and sent the ball steadily to Paul Gasol's hands from the gap. Put the ball in the basket easily before the defense comes.

2:0
When Paul and Gasol used the pick-and-roll to score the first goal of the game, the entire Grizzlies home instantly burst into deafening cries.

The excitement of the fans at the scene made the morale of the Suns more and more low. Even the head coach Alvin Gentry simply sat on the sidelines without any change on his face for this defense.

Before dispatching this starting lineup, Gentry knew that Nash and Dudley would be the key breakthrough targets of the Grizzlies, but Gentry really had no choice. These two players were the Suns with the highest offensive efficiency in the regular season.

If these two are removed from the starting lineup in order to avoid being targeted on the defensive end, then the Suns can simply raise the white flag and surrender, and there is no need to continue this round of the series.

The Suns attacked, and Nash did not continue to play pick-and-rolls with "Small Overlord" Stoudemire this time. As a player with a very high IQ, Nash is very aware of how strong the zone defense has restrictions on pick-and-roll tactics.

Just took advantage of the cover of wing player Matt Barnes, Nash directly broke through with the ball inside, attracting the defensive attention of Chris Paul and Artest
Then the ball was quickly transferred to Richardson at a 45-degree angle, who forced a three-pointer against Kevin Martin's defense.

"boom!"

The Suns' second shot attempt still hit the basket's neck. Under the basket, Marc Gasol stuck Stoudemire hard behind him, leaving the little bully with no room to take off. Artest took off the backcourt rebound.

Artest, who took off the rebound, saw Chris Paul running all the way forward, hesitated for a while, but still didn't dare to throw a long pass like Marc Gasol.

Artest is very aware of his two blows. With such a long distance, Artest feels that the chance of hitting the photographer's face is far greater than passing it to Paul.

However, Marc Gasol, who was standing next to Artest, looked anxious when he saw the opportunity from Paul, "Ron! What are you hesitating about, pass the ball quickly!"

Hearing Marc Gasol's roar in his ear, Artest gritted his teeth, rounded his arms and made a long pass.

Even Artest himself doesn't know whether the accuracy of this pass can accurately fall into Paul's hands.

Seeing Artest send a long pass to himself, Paul felt that the arc of the ball seemed a bit high.

Paul, who was sprinting with all his strength, watched Steve Nash's defense behind him, and at the same time watched the basketball slowly falling in his direction.

When he was about to cross the bottom line, Paul took off with all his strength and barely reached the ball with the impact of a cannonball with his palm.

In the blink of an eye, Paul found Kevin Martin who was following up from behind, and used an extreme save to pick the ball to Kevin Martin's position.

As Paul lost his balance and fell heavily to the ground, the basketball also fell into the hands of Kevin Martin, and Martin completed a powerful fast-break dunk!

"Wonderful, Chris's save this time is really wonderful!"

"Even though Ron's pass from the backcourt was a bit too strong, Chris still used his own judgment to transfer the ball to Kevin who followed up from the back, thus completing the wonderful cooperation in this fast-break counterattack! "

"It's no wonder that the Grizzlies averaged 122 points per game in the regular season and ranked first in the league. It's really a pleasure to watch the Grizzlies' offense!" On-site commentator Coney Flake laughed.

The extreme cooperation of the Grizzlies on the field made the fans once again fall into a climax, and even the head coach Luke sat on the sidelines and gave applause.

Whether it was Kevin Martin who followed up quickly, Chris Paul who made an extreme save, or Artest who threw a long pass under the urging of Marc Gasol, they all played wonderfully in this fast break counterattack Cooperate.

Especially D'Antoni, who likes to play extreme counterattacks, stood up and clenched his fists excitedly, "Beautiful! This is basketball! This is my ideal offense!"

The two offenses of the Grizzlies were like the epitome of the first quarter of the game. In the next period of time, the Grizzlies became more and more excited on the offensive end. On the other hand, the Suns' morale was getting lower and lower due to consecutive missed attacks.

Even though Alvin Gentry made three consecutive substitution adjustments in just over four minutes, the Suns still could not avoid being suppressed by the Grizzlies.

With Zach Randolph, who was replaced by Luke at the end of the first quarter, facing Amundsen and scored a jumper, the Grizzlies have extended their lead to 14 points, and there is quite a feeling of winning the game in the first quarter. momentum.

Faced with this situation, Alvin Gentry seemed a little helpless, standing on the sidelines, shaking his head and sighing, really not knowing how to adjust to take advantage of the Grizzlies.

Luke, who had a double-digit lead in the first quarter, was also not complacent, but, like Alvin Gentry, sighed helplessly.

"We have a double-digit lead, and the team's offensive firepower is extremely powerful. Why are you sighing?" Beside him, D'Antoni asked suspiciously.

Luke shook his head: "Hey, it turns out that turning on the water is such a difficult thing."

"........."

After the first quarter, the Grizzlies led the Suns by 16 points and ended the game.
　Today, September [-]th, I went to watch a movie with my wife. I was a little rushed, and I wrote it in a hurry. If there are any typos, please let me know in time, thank you!
　　Tomorrow we will start to challenge daily [-]D changes, until the end of the month, please supervise, I want to break through!

　　Finally, ask for a monthly ticket, ask for a recommendation ticket, ask for support, thank you, the third child!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)