Chapter 422 Showdown
The game between the two sides began. The Hornets' first attack, Paul had the ball in the half court, and Nash led the defense against Paul. Paul held the ball at the top of the arc and quickly passed the ball to Peterson on the left. Then Paul went down to the left bottom edge. Peterson passed the ball back to Paul. Paul held the ball on the bottom edge and faced Nash one-on-one.
Paul is only 6 feet tall, but he rarely has outstanding singles skills with the ball in the face. Defenders must pay attention to him when he has the ball.
Nash stood in front of Paul, tucked in his waist, pushed his body forward, and did not give Paul any room to adjust and break through the bottom line. After making several physical contacts with Nash, Paul did not choose to squeeze to the free throw line because the Suns would be there. Player's double-team.
He opted for the pass because David West set a high post screen for Butler coming in from the weak side. Butler got a nice shot inside the 3-point line, and Paul immediately passed the ball. In Butler's hands.
A C&S, Butler catches the ball and hits the first goal of the game, a skillful play from the Hornets and a great pass from Paul.
Leon watched the Hornets' first attack from the sidelines. He could feel that the Hornets and Scott were definitely prepared for this game. They must have made targeted tactical arrangements.
Scott is a coach, Leon has played against him many times, and he knows him very well. He is very good at arranging tactics around the core defenders and building a team. He can maximize the brain function of the core defenders on the offensive end. The team has a clear division of labor and a high combat effectiveness. powerful.
The disadvantage is that once there is no passing master in the backcourt, he will not be very good at commanding, his thinking is relatively rigid, and he lacks creativity in following the prescription.
Of course, such a coach is very useful in the regular season. At least this season, the Hornets have shown a strong combat effectiveness. Although their record is not as dazzling as the Suns. After watching a lot of videos, I think this year's Hornets will be a strong competitor in the playoffs.
At this time, the Suns had completed their first counterattack. Nash gave the ball to Bell who cut into the three-second zone.
This season, Bell has more freedom on the offensive end. In the past, Bell's role was more on fixed-point three-pointers and defensive gates, but after Jascovicius came, Bell felt some pressure.
Jaskovicius is definitely not as good as Bell on defense, but his decisiveness on the offensive end makes Leon willing to put him on the court to share the pressure with Nash instead of letting Bell on the court.
Leon also reminded this old subordinate of himself to play more openly on the offensive end and not to shrink back, so that the slightly weak backcourt of the Suns can have a stronger threat.
Afterwards, the two sides scored a few more goals. The Hornets played in a coordinated manner, while the Suns were free and unrestrained. The offense was not entirely controlled by Nash, and everyone could participate in the offensive coordination to complete the offense. Any link in it, initiation, conduction, movement, and termination.
The scores of the two sides rose alternately. Both teams were offensive teams. They played very openly at the beginning of the game. Both Paul and Nash entered the state early and played very smoothly on the court.
So in the first four minutes, neither side had a dead ball, no timeout, and only a few free throws, so the technical station ordered an official timeout.
Leon continued to sit on the bench calmly, without making any adjustments, and didn't even bother to say anything, so he asked everyone to drink water, wipe off their sweat, and rest on the bench.
Steve Nash consciously took on the role of coach, kept communicating with his teammates, asked them to pay more attention to their running positions and tactics, and repeatedly reminded his teammates "don't help in defense, don't help in defense."
The Suns' several assists in the defense gave Paul a chance to pass the open ball, and Nash was also motivated. He didn't want his teammates to assist in the defense. He wanted to handle Paul on both ends of the offense and defense.
This is a rare state for Nash. Nash is indeed a very competitive player, but his competitiveness is mainly reflected in the team's victory, and he doesn't care much about individual duels.
It's just that tonight is different. Recently, many media have begun to compare Chris Paul and Nash. Nash is still not obvious at Paul's age, but Paul has played super high-level games one after another.
This contest between the newly emerging No. 1 position and the two-time MVP naturally attracted a lot of attention.
Before the start of the game, a reporter asked this question, and Nash naturally evaded it with an official response, saying that he only cares about the game and only wants to win.
But before the start of the game, in the interview before the locker room, Leon intentionally or unintentionally mentioned that Chris Paul is a better defender with more comprehensive potential, which made Nash very unhappy.
So after the timeout ended, the two sides returned to the court. In the offensive round of the Suns, Nash, who had not taken the initiative to attack before, started the attack mode in advance.
He made a pick-and-roll cooperation with Stoudemire at the top of the arc. Stoudemire cut outside, leaving a huge space for Nash in the middle. David West would not dare to let Stoudemire go. Chandler made up for it. Come up, but Nash was unhurried, using his own rhythm to make a circle on the inside and slip out from the bottom line.
Paul followed closely, and there was some movement in his hands, but Nash was not disturbed. Suddenly, he made a quick back turn and followed by a fadeaway jumper. Nash was so fast that Paul didn't even have time to jump up to interfere, and Nash's ball had already been shot. out.
Such a short distance is too easy for Nash, and he easily scored two points.
In terms of speed, strength, and explosive power, Nash's breakthrough is only at a moderate level. However, his passing threat is too great, and opponents generally dare not make up for it.
Nash scored his first point of the game, and Paul's counterattack came quickly. He quickly dribbled the ball across the half court, taking advantage of the Suns' defensive foothold, and with the help of his teammates, he drove in from the middle. At the basket, under Stoudemire's supplementary defense, he hit the board with a difficult right-handed throw and scored two points.
The situation where Paul dribbles through the crowd is like an elf shuttling between giants. In the end, no one can touch him. His speed is his greatest weapon.
Nash couldn't catch up with Paul's speed at all, but when he turned around, Nash immediately called his teammates to serve quickly. After receiving the ball from the backcourt, he also killed the half court with extremely fast speed. After advancing to the basket, he did not Choosing a one-handed throw, he didn't have the explosive power of Paul, but slipped to the bottom line again.
This time, Chandler learned his lesson and followed. As a result, Nash turned over and passed the ball to the center with a one-handed hit to the ground. Dior who cut in received the ball and made a layup with his left hand, a beautiful offensive cooperation.
The speed of the two sides was completely accelerated because of the confrontation between Nash and Paul. Of course, Paul was not to be outdone. After getting the ball in the backcourt, this time he didn't dribble the ball across the halfcourt. He directly passed a long pass to Pete in the backcourt. In Sen's hands, Peterson rushed forward with the ball from the right, threw off Marion's defense, rushed into the basket and scored with a single-handed dunk!
The tempo on both sides was too fast, and the defensive alignment of the players was washed away.
Leon saw that the two sides were about to start the rhythm in the first quarter, and he didn't think about calling a timeout to suppress the rhythm. On the contrary, he wanted the players to play offensively in this game, and see whether the Hornets' strict team's offense is strong, or the Suns The current unrestrained and free system is even better.