The Whip of the God of Basketball

On the night of October 12th, at the Arco Arena in Sacramento, Fox-Leon finally appeared leading his Phoenix Suns. Fox-Leon returns to the NBA arena he is familiar with after a year's absence. Although it is still the preseason, all preparations for the game are proceeding in an orderly manner on the court. The cleaners, cheerleaders, reporters, security guards, volunteers, performers, and the sparse audience in the arena, everything is so familiar and a little strange.

This place is completely different from the university arena. The most impressive thing in the university arena is always the fanatical school fans and basketball fans. During this year at Davidson College, Leon fully experienced the craziness of American college basketball, and As for now, he still often wonders whether he should continue to stay in college for two years. After all, compared with the NBA, it is the real paradise of basketball.

However, the moment he walked into the Arco Arena from the player tunnel, Leon knew that he would still return to the NBA, because he was booed from the scene. That's right, Kings fans don't like Fox Leon. If we want to say where Leon is the least popular in the league, there is no doubt that it must be in California, led by the Lakers, plus offensive teams like the Kings and Warriors. , would not like a Puerto Rican from Massachusetts.

As early as Chris Webber's Kings period, every time the Celtics came to Sacramento it would be a fight to the death. After that, the Kings declined and the Celtics returned to their peak. Although there was no big grudge between the two sides, after all, they could not meet in the playoffs. , but this does not prevent Sacramento fans from hating this guy.

Leon listened to the boos and boos from the audience. There was a little girl on the sidelines with purple paint on her face, giving Leon a thumbs up. Leon knew that returning to the NBA was the right thing to do. He is not a masochist, but he enjoys the feeling of being booed wildly and then leading the team to give them a hard kick, especially in the away game, where he beats the opponent's fans speechless and the whole audience is silent. Sometimes, he wanted to light a cigar immediately.

On the college court, he hasn't lit up a cigar for a long time. After all, things are different on campus.

The boos from the fans certainly did not affect Leon's mood. On the contrary, it is an honor for a player or coach to be booed by the fans in an away game. Leon never regards honor as a burden. Although it was only a preseason game, he was dressed very formally today, with a jet black suit and a beige polka-dot tie. It was completely different from the way he looked with his wide open collar and disheveled hair when he first became a coach.

He stood on the sidelines communicating with D'Antoni, not discussing this game, but planning the entire preseason. For the first time, D'Antoni understood that there was so much work to do in the preseason. In the past, when he was the head coach, he was not willing to take care of the preseason games and left it to the assistant coaches. Although the games were played, he just wanted the players not to get injured. Leon was different. He made detailed arrangements for the deployment of the lineup for the next game, the players' playing time and tactical requirements. He communicated these with D'Antoni and listened to D'Antoni's opinions.

"It's hard for Sean to make big breakthroughs in ball-handling offense. He has a big personality. You know this guy never manages money and spends as much as he has. Just like his skills, although the shooting is ugly, it just works. No It will be changed again." Leon was communicating with D'Antoni about Marion's problem, and D'Antoni commented.

Regarding what kind of role Marion plays on the offensive end, Leon and D'Antoni have had a lot of discussions in the past few days. D'Antoni has provided Leon with a lot of information related to Marion. This is when Leon personally came to request D'Antoni. The important reason for Anthony to stay is that he can help Leon understand the team faster. And Leon has some new ideas and views on the use of Marion.

In 2006, Shawn Marion shined due to Stoudemire's injury. As a power forward, he was capable of fast breaks, rebounds, blocks, and steals. Together with Diaw, he supported the Suns. Insider. As a result, Stoudemire returned in 2007, and Marion and Diaw suddenly seemed to be less good at playing. Especially in the playoffs, Marion's weakness on the offensive end with the ball was magnified, and he was unable to provide Nash with enough at critical moments. support. They couldn't have three strong points with the ball like the Spurs did, and ultimately lost with regret.

Before the start of this season, Cole had already thought of trading Marion, but Leon believed that Marion was not put in the right position and must change his role in the team and play his role to a greater extent. .

D'Antoni is aware of Marion's flaw, but the Suns' system feels like a done deal and it is difficult to make major changes. Of course Leon didn't think so. The first game of the preseason was the testing ground for the Suns to make changes.

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The game officially started at 7 o'clock in the evening. Until the starting players of both sides took the stand, there were only a few people in the auditorium of the Arco Arena. After all, this was just an ordinary preseason game, and the Sacramento Kings were no longer the same players as they were in the early 21st century. The gorgeous offensive Princeton Legion is gone, Webber is in the Pistons, Divac retired, Christie retired, leaving only Mike Bibby and Brad Miller, and Ron Artest, who was traded from the Pacers.

Before the game, Artest also greeted Leon, and the two shook hands and hugged. When he was with the Pacers, Leon beat up the bad boy of the Pacers with three punches and two kicks. Unexpectedly, he defeated the Pacers. Not only did he respect Leon in future games, but Artest, who had always had a bad temper, obviously restrained himself a lot. In the Auburn Hills conflict with the Pistons in 2005, Artest controlled his temper and did not beat him violently. fan.

As a result, the Pacers eliminated the Detroit Pistons in the playoff semifinals that year and took revenge. Of course, it was a pity that the powerful Pacers were swept by the Celtics in the Eastern Conference finals. The defending champions in 2005 were strong. Incredible.

With the Celtics still unable to break through the green shadow, and Jermaine O'Neal beginning to suffer injuries, the Pacers began to rebuild in the 2006 season. Jackson went to the Warriors, and Ron Artest Here comes the king. Obviously, Artest's style of play and temperament are really inconsistent with the Kings. He does not have a gorgeous offense, and his playing style is more like the toughness of the Chicago school. This makes him feel nondescript wearing a Kings jersey.

But when the game started, Artest was in very good shape tonight. He made three-pointers from the top of the arc, three-pointers from the bottom corner, and beat Marion in the low post. He scored continuously on the offensive end. As for the Suns, the tasks assigned by Leon obviously made the players feel a little constrained when playing. Coupled with the differences in training and normal games, the Suns played very unsmoothly.

Especially for Steve Nash, Leon allowed him to score 30 points in a single game. This was not difficult for him, but it was really difficult for him to give up his habit of organizing first and attacking second. And Stoudemire had many pick-and-rolls with Nash after the opening, but they were all pick-and-rolls and outside catch-and-shoot jumpers. Although he hit two goals, he always felt that it was weird not to rush in and dunk.

As a result, the Suns played awkwardly throughout the first half. They couldn't let go of the offense and the defense was still the same. Everyone was doing a different job and playing a different style. It was really difficult to get used to it. D'Antoni looked at the team's performance and couldn't help but feel a little anxious, but seeing Leon still sitting firmly on the Diaoyutai, he couldn't say anything.

At the end of the first quarter, the Kings actually led the Suns by 3 points, 20:18, and the Suns' 18-point score was really not like the whirlwind Suns team in the past few seasons. Leon called a short timeout, but he did not ask the players to change their playing style. Instead, he made a substitution. He replaced Lagaber with Jaskovicius and Turiaf. Dior.

Then in the second quarter, this lineup played for three minutes, and the effect was surprisingly good. After Jascovicius came on the court, he was particularly good at positional offense. He did a very good job of transferring the ball several times, which immediately drove the Suns' run. This created two one-on-one offensive opportunities for Stoudemire. Stoudemire made a strong breakthrough and scored in a mid-range shot.

The meaning of Turiaf's existence is to go up and block Nash. Because he doesn't ask for pick-and-rolls or outside cuts, his blocker is particularly solid. Nash didn't care about that much anymore. Since Leon allowed himself to score, he went all out to score. He made two sudden shots from outside the three-point line, and both of them hit.

The Suns suddenly took the lead, and people suddenly vaguely saw a different Suns team. At this time, Leon said to D'Antoni: "Mike, we used to say that a good chemical reaction can make 1+1 greater than 2, but have you ever thought that 1-1 can also be greater than 2?"