Legend of Tomorrow

That night, the Suns defeated the Rockets 106-88 and won two consecutive games.

Outside star Tracy McGrady was absent due to injury, and the Rockets were far behind the Suns in terms of momentum and had almost no resistance. They started with 4 wins and 8 losses, becoming the most disappointing team.

When the Rockets traded Francis, Mobley, and Cato for McGrady and Howard, everyone felt that the Rockets made a lot of money. In fact, if McGrady does not have serious injury risks, the Magic will not be able to send him away.

Last season was McGrady's final peak. His speed and jumping were still at the top of the league. During preseason training this season, McGrady collided with Mutombo, causing another knee injury. Later, his back injury also recurred.

McGrady was born with scoliosis. During the physical examination, the doctor said he could only play four seasons at most. It is not easy to achieve such an achievement today. If it weren't for the congenital disease, he might have become the league's top player with his talent.

This is all McGrady's fate. When he was with the Magic, the team did not control his playing time, which posed hidden dangers. It was useless even if the Rockets head coach was replaced by Nelson.

Yao Ming's fate has changed. Not only did Nelson not let him gain weight, he also asked him to lose a little weight to increase mobility. He was pulled out to play pick-and-rolls with teammates, catch the ball and make mid-range shots, or cut to the ball after his teammates attracted defense. Low ball for singles.

In Van Gundy's tactical system, a group of Rockets stand in position, Yao Ming is always in the low post, and Nelson requires the players to move and create opportunities for each other through interspersed movements. If no space is passed, it is left to the star for singles.

Without Tracy McGrady, the Rockets' singles players are Yao Ming and Derrick Anderson, who can also play a role. Yao Ming scored 18 points, 10 rebounds and 2 assists, and Anderson scored 23 points and 4 assists.

The Rockets lost because they couldn't defend. With McGrady absent, the wing defense became very poor. It was a two-guard combination of Alston and rookie Jared Jack, and the small forward was the 196m tall Anderson.

Nelson made a serious mistake. He looked down on Ryan Bowen, who was good at defense and had poor offensive ability, and did not renew his contract. Once McGrady is absent, the Rockets' wings become extremely weak. The other two swingmen are veteran Jon Barry and 2004 second-round pick Bernard Robinson, who has no special skills.

Guo Xu defeated Alston, Jack and veteran David Wesley, scoring 37 points and 7 assists in 35 minutes, and led four teammates to score in double figures.

The Rockets' lineup is very afraid of fast breaks. Yao Ming, Juwan Howard, and Mutombo can't get up quickly, especially the veteran Mutombo, who is already walking and playing.

Uncle Mu is a veteran with a good mentality. He likes to play with Yao Ming and serve as a substitute for the Rockets.

It doesn’t matter if I can’t win the championship, I just smile happily every day.

But Rockets fans cried. They wanted to see the team win the championship, just like when Big Dream was there.

As long as the center does not return to defense in place, the Rockets' penalty area cannot be defended. Uncle Huo and substitute power forward Scalabrine are defensive black holes, and it is of little use if the defense is in place. David Lee scored a career-high 28 points, 14 rebounds and 2 assists, beating Howard with 8 points and 4 rebounds.

On November 25, the Suns played against the Nets again at home and won three consecutive games 102-81.

Guo Xu scored 37 points, 6 rebounds, 11 assists and 2 steals, leading five players in the team to score in double figures.

Now his scoring average per game is already very high, and he has overfulfilled his task. He is not in a hurry to score points. When the opponent is tightly double-teamed, he will pass the ball to create opportunities for his teammates, striving to ensure a regular season winning rate.

In an interview, Guo Xu said that he had no goal. In fact, he was still eyeing the championship. If he played well in the regular season, he would have home court advantage in the playoffs. Stars simply score high points. If their record is bad, they can only dominate the pseudo-fans. Those who have good statistics and win championships are superstars, and they dominate the league.

Payton was the Suns' second-best performance in this game. He scored 12 points and 10 assists on 6 of 8 shots in 28 minutes. Under the organization of two guards, the Suns ball moved quickly and well.

The Nets focused their energy on double-teaming Guo Xu, forcing him to pass the ball, saying that nothing could stop him from scoring super high points. If there was a second time, the Nets trident should commit suicide.

Guo Xu let go on the defensive end against Kidd. Kidd made 9 of 17 shots, 4 of 6 three-pointers, 3 of 4 free throws, scored 25 points, 13 rebounds and 3 assists, and performed at a super level. His performance only prevented the team from entering garbage time in three quarters.

Carter's efficiency was greatly reduced when he was guarded by Howard and Bell. He made only 9 of 23 shots, 3 of 7 three-pointers, 2 of 3 free throws, and scored 23 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists. Jefferson performed slightly better, scoring a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds.

After the game, the Nets had a record of 5 wins and 7 losses, a very bad start. The remaining Suns have a record of 9 wins and 3 losses, ranking second in the Western Conference behind the Spurs with 10 wins and 3 losses.

In the game on the same day, the Spurs lost to the Bulls by 17 points at home. Ben Gordon and Jason Richardson worked together and contributed 11 three-pointers.

Many people analyzed the reason why the Suns won and believed that Guo Xu carried the offensive banner alone, with statistics equal to two stars. His teammates were mainly responsible for solid defense, and they won with a little performance on the offensive end.

It's quite simple to say, but averaging 40+ per game, even if the stars are allowed to take unlimited shots, no one else in active service can do it.

Guo Xu currently averages 6.4 three-pointers per game. He can score close to 20 points in a game just by relying on three-pointers. If he keeps this up, he will set a record for three-pointers in a single season, and increase it to nearly 500 goals. .

By averaging 5 three-pointers per game, he can set a 400+ record. No one else could even achieve 300+ three-pointers in a single season before.

Other Suns players also performed well. In his rookie season, David Lee averaged 10.3 points, 10.5 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game, shooting 56% from the field, making him a strong contender for the Rookie of the Year award.

Josh Howard averaged 15.4 points, 6 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.2 steals per game. He shot 47.5% from the field and 38.5% from the three-point range. He averaged 1.1 shots per game and was the team's second scoring point.

Bell averaged 10 points per game, shot 44.8% from three-point range, and hit 2.6 three-pointers per game. On the offensive end, he mainly relies on shooting three-pointers from the corner, throwing them when he receives the pass, and then focusing on the defensive end.

The most unusual one is Payton, who averaged 29.4 minutes per game, scored 8 points, 3 rebounds, 8.4 assists and 1 steal, and shot 47.3% from the field. He has a second spring, and together with Guo Xu, he often has easy scoring opportunities during fast breaks, and he provides crazy assists.

If he continues like this, Payton may break his record for assists in his peak season. He averaged 9 assists per game in his peak season with the SuperSonics, but that was completed in 40.3 minutes. Now his assist efficiency is better than that in his peak season. .

Most of the Suns' players like to catch the ball and take quick shots. Apart from Guo Xu, the only one in the team who likes to attack with the ball is Howard. This makes it easy for Payton's passes to be converted into assists.

His role is actually that of Draymond Green of the Warriors, who is responsible for organizing on the outside and shooting when he is left open. He has rich game experience and is comfortable in this system. He is much more comfortable than joining the Heat in his previous life.

Payton's statistics dropped sharply in the Heat, because Wade must hold the ball to exert his power. O'Neal also needs his teammates to lob the ball in the low post. Payton's turn is not available when playing pick-and-rolls, so it is difficult for him to provide assists.

Payton also faced this dilemma when he was with the Lakers, averaging only 5.5 assists per game in 35 minutes. In the playoffs, he was even more miserable, with all statistics declining across the board. Now that he has regained his youthful feeling, I feel like I am crazy about being a teenager. I feel that I will have no problem playing for another three to five years. As long as I partner with Guo Xu——

s——\u003e