The Whip of the God of Basketball

Leon and Morey chatted and ate until after nine o'clock in the evening, but Leon did not order ice cream at this ice cream restaurant. He did not want to eat ice cream today and sit on the sidelines during the game tomorrow night with diarrhea.

When preparing to leave, Morey drove his SUV from the parking lot to take Leon back to the hotel. Leon said he could take a taxi back. Morey thought Leon was being polite and insisted on sending Leon off, but Leon said: "I hope you can sell your car instead of wasting time driving it every day."

Morey was surprised by Leon's words. He didn't know what Leon meant. Leon said: "Driving is a waste of time. If you send me back and then drive back by yourself, you will consume all the time on the way." Nearly an hour and a half. For an hour and a half, you have to be focused on nothing else. This is okay during the season. If it is the offseason, all kinds of trade rumors and news are flying all over the sky. Some opportunities are fleeting and you have to seize them. All time to think and function. Driving will give you one hour less free time every day. That one hour can determine a lot of things.”

Morey was thoughtful after listening to Leon's words and said: "Is this why you always drive your shabby car?" When he was in Boston, one thing that impressed Morey deeply was that every season Leon Every time I buy a car, I don't buy a new car, but I buy an old car that I don't know how many hands I have. It feels like it will be scrapped tomorrow after driving it today.

Leon nodded. He never spends time in cars. If it weren't for the difficulty of getting a taxi in Boston, he wouldn't even buy a second-hand car. Now he buys more cars because of Khomeini and the upcoming child, otherwise He didn't want to drive. Driving is a waste of time for him. He can't do anything else while driving.

"If you want to be a good general manager, sell your car and dedicate yourself to basketball. After all, we are all monks halfway." Leon patted Morey on the shoulder. Morey was 1.9 meters tall. Leon patted His shoulders were reaching for it, but it didn't make Leon look any lower. Morey accepted Leon's teachings like a junior. Morey knew that in the NBA circle, Fox-Leon's words must be listened to.

Afterwards, Leon took a taxi and left the restaurant, and Morey drove his SUV home. This SUV was a new one he bought after coming to Houston to celebrate his new general manager job. Unexpectedly, Leon had already let him go. He sold it. Of course he was reluctant to part with it now, but many years later, he did as Leon said, sold his SUV, traveled by online car-hailing every day, and used the time saved to pay attention to the dynamics of the league, and truly became a A well-known and excellent general manager.

Of course, this was much later.

The next day, on the night of November 17th, at the Toyota Center in Houston, the regular season game between the Rockets and the Suns will be held here. When the opening ceremony was held before the game started, there were only a few people at the scene. There is no way, Houston fans are like this. They have bought tickets for the regular season but are always late. They like to leave early after watching half of the game. As a result, the Rockets, a team with a good record and popularity in the league, have average attendance.

Fortunately, the Rockets have Yao Ming. You can often see Chinese fans who come from all over the United States to watch Yao Ming play. Their Chinese slogans are often a sight on the sidelines during Rockets games.

After the opening ceremony, the starting players from both sides stood on the court and hugged each other to greet each other and prepare to start the game. Leon walked to the technical stage and shook hands with Rick Adelman. The veteran coach just signed a four-year contract with the Rockets this summer. Morey invited him in the hope of changing the Rockets' weak offense in the Van Gundy era. The disadvantage is that under the leadership of Adelman, he can play an excellent and smooth offense like the Sacramento Kings.

Of course, this doesn't seem that easy. After Adelman's arrival, many people, especially the Chinese media, speculated that the Rockets would play a gorgeous Princeton offense like the Kings, allowing Yao Ming to play in the high post like Divac. Support and use his passing and mid-range shooting abilities to lead the Rockets to a new level.

However, Leon, as an industry insider, doesn't see it that way. He doesn't think the Rockets will play Princeton's offense, and there is no need for the Rockets to play Princeton's offense. Facts have also proven that in the first few games of the regular season, the Rockets did not use Princeton's high-low air-cutting coordination. Yao Ming's support in the high post was far less effective than his power in the low post.

As an excellent coach, Adelman will not rigidly adapt players to tactics that are not suitable for them. Instead, he will tailor the game according to the characteristics of the players, and Leon also knows that Yao Ming does not like to play the Princeton offense. When he was with the Celtics, Wang Zhizhi was a member of Leon's staff. Every time he played against the Rockets, Wang Zhizhi would reveal some of Yao Ming's weaknesses to Leon. As teammates of the national team, the two had been fighting against each other since they were teenagers. The opponents definitely understand each other well enough.

Therefore, Leon knows very well that with Yao Ming's playing style and preferences, it is impossible for him to exploit his weaknesses and avoid his strengths to play Princeton's offense and turn himself into the next Divac. This year, Yao Ming's weight has exceeded 300 pounds. He stands on the NBA field full of giants, but makes everyone else look like a dwarf. He stands on the court like a mountain.

Today, the Suns' starting center is Stoudemire. Stoudemire, who is 6 feet 10 tall, is a bit hunched. He looks like a defender when he stands opposite Yao Ming. But with a jump ball in the center circle, Stoudemire's explosiveness came into play. His knee seemed to have fully recovered and he won the ball.

The Suns got the offensive ball. In the starting lineup of both sides, the Suns restored the starting five at the beginning of the season, while the Rockets' Tracy McGrady was absent due to injury. Center Yao Ming, power forward Chuck Hayes, small forward Sean Battier, and shooting guard Mike -James, point guard Ralph Alston. Except for Yao Ming, who is taller than everyone else, the Rockets are a bit short in other positions.

In response to this shortcoming of the Rockets, Leon put Stoudemire at the center position when attacking and the power forward position when defending, letting Diaw guard Yao Ming. This will of course cost Diaw his life. Since Leon came, he has to defend O'Neal for a while, face Howard for a while, and face Yao Ming today. The key is that Leon will not let Diaw gain weight, which leads to Diaw's death. It felt like I was being run over by a steamroller every night.

But this kind of mismatched matchup is obviously effective, because Stoudemire can pull Yao Ming out on the offensive end and consume him. On the defensive end, there is not much difference between letting Stoudemire guard him and letting Diaw guard him. The main thing to deal with Yao Ming is to destroy his game. Rhythm, once Yao Ming is unable to find a feeling on the offensive end, his power on the court will be greatly weakened. In terms of pick-and-roll coverage and offensive support, Yao Ming's level is not enough to support a team's half-court offense like Duncan.

Moreover, without Tracy McGrady, the Rockets' offense was controlled by Alston. His offensive rhythm control was much worse than Nash. He missed a three-pointer in the first quarter of the offense, and Adelman was angry and yelled on the sidelines. With the long rebound, the Suns could launch a counterattack. Stoudemire became the vanguard in the counterattack. Yao Ming's return to defense was already very fast, but he still couldn't keep up with the Suns' rapid attack.

In the first quarter, the Suns used quick counterattacks to score 14 points, accounting for nearly half of their points. In addition to height, another weakness of the Rockets is the lack of athletic ability of the players. Once they play fast offense, they lack physical fitness and often cannot keep up with their opponents. At the end of the first quarter, the Suns scored 39 points in a single quarter. The Rockets also had a good offense and scored 30 points. However, the Suns' firepower was too fierce, causing them to fall behind.

However, the Rockets are not a team like the Knicks that will be easily destroyed by the Sun's offensive power, and Adelman is not a flashy coach like Thomas. They will not give up so easily at Houston's home court. of.