Legend of Tomorrow

The Suns once again defeated the Rockets at home. After the star game, the Rockets were in bad shape and dropped to eighth in the Western Conference.

Francis was in a sluggish state, playing 29 minutes in the game, making 2 of 7 shots, 1 of 3 three-pointers, no free throws, and only had 5 points, 6 rebounds and 2 assists. How can this be the data of a star?

Francis couldn't get rid of Guo Xu who was fully defending with the ball. Marion was also very active in switching defenses when he played as a power forward in the pick-and-roll. The Suns defended in a 122 zone. Players would shrink near the penalty area, which effectively restricted the performance of Yao Ming and Francis, allowing them to only stay in the penalty area. Outside shot.

Fortunately, Yao Ming is relatively confident in his one-step mid-range shot inside the three-point line. Francis is almost useless when encountering a zone defense. He rushes into the penalty area to look for blocks. He has a good body, Stoudemire and Nene have good bodies, and they also have height, Wingspan advantage.

Tomjanovich repeatedly urged Francis to practice shooting more, but to no avail. The privileged Francis was either in the nightclub or on the way to the nightclub during the holidays, so there was no such thing as extra practice.

Rockets substitute small forward Glenn Rice performed superbly, making 8 of 11 shots and 7 of 8 three-pointers, scoring 23 points and 5 rebounds. The Rockets still lost by 11 points.

The Suns also have veterans who performed at a high level. Kukoc came off the bench for 24 minutes and made 6 of 9 three-pointers. He was not inferior to Rice and scored 22 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists.

Kukoc has been in good form in the past two months and has been substituted at the fourth position, leaving Haslem completely on the bench to focus on losing weight.

Kukoc, who is nearly 35 years old, is getting slower and slower, but when he plays, the Suns not only have one more three-point shooting point in the inside, but can also use inside support tactics, one more organization point, and the positional offense is better than Nene and Stoudemire. It flows better when we are together.

The Suns' away game against the Raptors was simpler. Carter, who was defended by Marion, only scored 13 points. The Raptors lost by 30 points with almost no resistance. The third quarter entered garbage time, and the final score was 120 to 87.

The Raptors didn't even have a good point guard, and Guo Xu only played 24 minutes before resting. In Guo Xu's previous life, the Raptors introduced Alston as an important rotation for the team this season, and now the Streetball King is playing for the Suns.

While winning streak, Guo Xu got another piece of good news. The Mavericks, their main competitor in the regular season, faced a crisis. Main center LaFrentz was absent due to injury. The Mavericks lost to the Magic and Grizzlies one after another. The Suns were only one game behind the Mavericks, ranking second in the Western Conference.

The Mavericks lost to the Grizzlies by 21 points, which was shocking.

Although LaFrentz has a single role on the offensive end, he can play some roles on the defensive end. He is strong enough to resist people and has good shot-blocking ability. Before the injury, the Mavericks played against the Rockets. LaFrentz blocked three big shots of Yao Ming in single defense.

Now that the Mavericks have no protection in the penalty area, Big Bamboo Pole Bradley is forced into the starting lineup. He is not strong enough to defend the inside and moves too slowly to defend the pick-and-roll. He relies on his 229cm height to hang around in the penalty area. The penalty area is no longer easy to mess with. After the NBA added the defensive three-second rule, Bradley's role is getting smaller and smaller.

At this time, the Mavericks coaching staff thought that the Grizzlies' substitute center Chakalidis was very good. If he had this person in the team, the defense would be much better. At least the opponent would not be able to easily score in the basket. A high shooting rate would be worth two points. .

The team has been losing in interior defense for several consecutive years. Mavericks fans have expressed their dissatisfaction online. Some people suggested that Cuban change the manager. If the management did not mess around, the Mavericks would have won the championship.

The Mavericks have had no shortage of stars since the 3j combination, but their lineup configuration has always been unreasonable. The management did not look at chemical reactions when building the team, and they should indeed bear some responsibility for the defeat.

On the 21st, the Suns flew away to face the Wizards.

After a lot of changes to the team's lineup in the summer, the Wizards still couldn't make the playoffs.

The young shooting guard Hamilton who was sent away became the Pistons' leading scorer, giving the Wizards management a loud slap in the face. Stackhouse, who was traded, averaged 21 points and 4.5 assists per game, shooting only 41% from the field and 29% from three-point range.

If the Wizards want to win, they need not a swingman who can attack with the ball, but an inside player who can score.

Jordan's shooting percentage has improved this year, reaching 45%, and he averaged 20+6+4 overall data per game. However, he completely fell from the altar after the All-Star Game. Everyone knew that he could not lead the team to win based on his personal ability. ball.

Not to mention the 40-year-old Jordan, even Jordan at his peak would not be able to win a championship with such a group of insider partners in the Wizards. At most, he could lead the team to the playoffs.

Post players such as Haywood, Kwame Brown, Laettner, and Edon Thomas all lack offensive power. If Laettner can pull out of the pick-and-roll and then catch the ball for a mid-range shot, it will have a tactical effect, and his strength is better than that of Gugliotta, the Suns edge player. Not going anywhere.

As the first high school champion in NBA history, Kwame Brown's performance surprised everyone. He was suspended from the Wizards this season because he complained about too little playing time and missed the team's training due to illness. Brown also had trouble off the field, and was arrested twice for speeding.

Brown also had conflicts with team boss Jordan and coach Collins because he was often scolded by Flying Man Jordan. When he played this time, many home fans booed him.

The Suns won by 23 points. Three people on the team scored 20+ points. Guo Xu scored 30 points, 3 rebounds and 8 assists, beating Wizards starting point guard Larry Hughes, who only had 6 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals.

The Suns left Washington and flew to New York that night, playing away against the Knicks on the 24th.

This is a focus battle, and it was hyped three days in advance. Not only because Marbury leads the team against his old club, both teams have many stars, but also because Guo Xu is going to attend the Grammy Awards held at Madison Square Garden on the 23rd.

Marbury currently averages 20.3 points, 3.2 rebounds and 8.1 assists per game, shooting 44% from the field, 31.2% from the three-point range, and 80.3% from the free throw line. Judging from the data, he is one of the point guards with the strongest personal abilities.

However, the Knicks, who have the highest salary in the league, have less than half of their winning percentage. They lost to the Pistons in their last game. With many famous attackers, the team only scored 82 points.

Marbury, Sprewell, and Alan Houston respectively contributed 4 of 14 shots, 3 of 13 shots, and 3 of 10 shots. In terms of disappointing, the Knicks stars have always performed very steadily. Never disappoints the haters.

Marbury and Sprewell did not perform well, and openly quarreled with each other after the game, expressing their displeasure with each other. Veteran coach Don Cheney lamented at the press conference: People's hearts are broken and it's hard to lead the team.

As early as before the start of this season, Sprewell had already been estranged from the Knicks management, and the countdown to leaving the team had begun. In the summer, he slipped on his yacht and broke his hand. He concealed the incident and was fined $250,000 by the Knicks. Afterwards, he called the Knicks' top executives hypocrites.

The funny thing is, just looking at the lineup, the Knicks are now the only Big Four team in the league, and the Nuggets still traded McDyess to the Knicks.

Without Nene, the Nuggets would be willing to trade for Marcus Camby, plus blue-collar insider Osela Harrington. McDyess played only a few games before the Knicks management discovered that they had been fooled again. His condition declined seriously and he was soon reimbursed for his serious injury.

In contrast, the Knicks management is very grateful to the Suns. The two people traded were both fire fighters and played a huge role. The Suns just exchanged the No. 7 rookie, which can be called the conscience of the world. This is the only time the Knicks made a profit in the transaction.

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