Legend of Tomorrow

? The Lakers' offense still depends on Kobe. He scored 12 points in a single quarter, Bogut scored 4 points, Odom and Butler 2 points, and the others did not score a point.

Guo Xu scored 12 points and 6 assists in a single quarter, Marion also scored 10 points, and Howard scored 8 points. They formed a new Suns Trident, ensuring offensive firepower.

After discovering that it is so easy to deal with the Lakers, Guo Xu is becoming more and more confident in leading the team to win the championship. The Suns' current lineup is really strong, and their defense is much better than last season. If this continues, it will not be possible to win the best record in the regular season. strangeness.

Stoudemire's defensive ability is not as good as Varejao's. Although Stoudemire's offense is not as violent without Stoudemire inside, it is not difficult to win with the efficiency of several core players while guarding the opponent. Guo Xu's defensive end is less spoiled That's it.

Last season, if the Suns players had gone all out on defense in every game, more than half of the games would have entered garbage time in the third quarter. Against weak teams, they would have been unable to fight back against opponents who often abused them.

The Lakers are stronger than in their previous life, and they are still a weak team against the Suns. Even if Bogut has just entered the league and needs training, and his strength is similar to Kwame Brown, the Lakers still have one more Butler.

If the Suns led by Nash want to beat this Lakers, they will definitely have to work hard, and they may not be able to advance to the playoffs. In the first round of the playoffs in the previous life, the two sides played a tiebreaker to determine the winner, and the Lakers once led 3-1.

During the timeout, Kenny Smith commented: Last season the Suns' offense was invincible, averaging 123 points per game and unstoppable. This year their offense is still sharp and their defense seems to be stronger. I think this is a miracle.

Barkley smiled: Those who say that without star inside man Jason can't win can shut up. As long as he is on the court, his teammates can perform well. I feel that this season Howard can average 10 points per game. 20 points, selected as an All-Star.”

Guo Xu rested in the second quarter. The coaching staff’s plan was to let him rest for 5 or 6 minutes in the second quarter of each game. If the score could not be extended, he would play the full second half. In this way, in a very anxious game, he would play the entire game. He played about 42 minutes per game, and his physical strength was enough to maintain his condition.

Payton came off the bench to organize the offense. Howard, who had rested for a while, came back to lead the bench. The other three were Ariza, Haslem, and Varejao.

Marion and Guo Xu rest together and play together. After several seasons of running in, the coaching staff found that they are more efficient when playing together. Without Guo Xu, Marion's offensive efficiency will decline, and it will be difficult to use his speed advantage.

This is why many experts look down on Marion, thinking that he is not a qualified second-in-command, and his offensive ability with the ball is indeed not good.

The Lakers rotate five players: McGinnis, Vujacic, Butler, Devin George, and Bogut.

Even if he comes off the bench, Bogut is not the Lakers' main offensive point. Jackson asked Butler to lead the bench. He knows Butler has potential. He learned some skills from Kobe last season, and his offensive ability with the ball has improved a bit.

Moreover, Butler is an iron man and can play for a long time with enough physical strength. At a certain period of time, he and Kobe will stagger their playing time, which will not only allow Kobe to rest for a while, but also allow him to perform better.

After the substitution, the rhythm of the game immediately became dull. The point guards on both sides lacked speed and could not push fast breaks.

This is the usual playing rhythm of the Lakers, but it does not mean that they can have the upper hand. The Suns have almost no weaknesses on the defensive end, and the Lakers players who play man-to-man defense are constantly hitting the iron.

Even the veteran Payton is not a weakness. He is active defensively and has rich experience. He has no pressure against McGinnis of the same height.

McGinnis joining the Lakers at a low salary excited fans for a while. Last season, he was the starting point guard for the Cavaliers, averaging 12.8 points and 5.1 assists per game, and performed well. Unexpectedly, at just 31 years old, he declined to the point of decline after joining the Lakers. His performance in the preseason was very poor and he could only serve as a substitute. He scored 5 points and 2 assists in the game.

Payton rarely takes shots on the offensive end. His style of play is similar to Ron Harper during the Lakers period, and he is getting older and stronger on the defensive end. Now the Suns' perimeter players are all Payton's apprentices, and he was like a crash course on defense last year.

Payton has been on the NBA defensive first team nine times, twice on the second team, and won the best defensive player. Even if he doesn't score a point, the Suns are willing to give him a contract. After this season, as long as he does not retire, the Suns are willing to renew his contract.

Ariza is already an excellent blue-collar player, and he made 0 of 3 shots against Butler. Butler has gradually been able to develop three-pointers. Now he mainly relies on mid-range shots and breakthroughs to score points.

Butler has super physical fitness, is fast and often performs breakthrough dunks, and his head is almost flat, but Ariza is not a vegetarian. The two are about the same speed and have similar height and wingspan. As long as they are not passed, Ariza can Can interfere with shooting.

On the offensive end, the Suns also had the upper hand. The tactics were very simple. They opened up and let Howard hold the ball and attack, while Varejao provided him with cover.

Payton can also teach his teammates to attack. Howard can now not only break through the frame, but also practice post-up skills. Looking only at scoring ability, he is not inferior to Joe Johnson, and his organization is slightly worse.

The shortcoming of the Suns is that the rotation lacks a second ball-handling offensive point. Last season, it was really unsolvable for Joe Johnson and Howard to lead the bench together. The management wanted to make up for this vacancy, but unfortunately they did not find a suitable candidate this summer.

Bogut only scored two points on 1 of 2 shots in the second quarter. Varejao had no advantage in isolation. No wonder Kobe didn't pass the ball. The home fans were shocked when they saw it.

Fans all have similar thoughts. The Australian No. 1 pick seems to be a parallel import who can only talk nonsense? White Duncan is far different from the real Duncan.

What made the home fans even more devastated was what happened later. The two sides successively replaced their main players. In order to help Kobe clear the inside and give him more offensive space, Jackson replaced Luke Walton and Cook.

As soon as the Suns saw that Bogut was off the court, the Lakers were going to use small-ball tactics. They immediately replaced Varejao and replaced him with David Lee and Marion to partner inside.

Under Guo Xu's organization, the Suns quickly hit a 13-2 run, widening the point difference to more than 30 points.

Among them, David Lee scored 6 points, a cut and dunk after a pick-and-roll, and two mid-range shots. On the defensive end, he is responsible for resisting people in the penalty area, grabbing rebounds and passing them to launch counterattacks, and he also protects backcourt rebounds very well.

Barkley commented after Jackson called a timeout: David Lee scored in double figures in the last game, and he played well late tonight. Compared with Bogut, I think he is more like the No. 1 pick.

Smith said: Varejao and Ariza also played a role on the defensive end today. The Suns are all draft picks at the end of the first round or second round picks, but none of them are weak when playing.

In the second half, Kobe, who was 31 points behind, became anxious and began to work frantically alone. When he got the ball, he looked for opportunities to take shots. The Suns did not double-team and strictly guarded outside shooting points. Bell, Howard, and Ariza took turns to defend alone.

Kobe is not terrible when he plays two points. He may score 3 or 40 points in the game, but his efficiency is about the same as the two swingmen Bell and Howard combined. It's just that the Suns share playing time between the two, and Kobe plays longer. If the Suns guard other positions well and their efficiency beats the Lakers, they will win without a doubt.

Kobe made 6 of 9 shots in a single quarter and scored 17 points on 5 of 5 free throws. However, the point difference is still widening. Suns players can also score, and the stars have a higher shooting percentage.

Marion hit three three-pointers in a single quarter, and also scored four times on counterattacks and positional cuts. He made 7 of 9 shots and scored 17 points.

Guo Xu scored 7 points and 7 assists, and scored 23 points, 16 assists and 2 steals in the three quarters.

At the end of the third quarter, the Suns led by 36 points, and the game entered garbage time early...