On December 27, the Suns defeated the Clippers 118-95 at home to make it an eight-game winning streak.

The two sides divided the winners and losers in only half time, and Guo Xu played for 7 minutes in the third quarter, making up enough for two doubles to go to rest.

Since the main run-and-bomb tactics, the Suns have also had "bench bandits", and the opponents they played in the second quarter fell into disarray. In this Jacobson pump, he hit four three-pointers in a single quarter and scored 14 points.

The swingman position was originally a weakness of the Suns, but Kirisek has become a strong point after the arrival, and three people who can shoot three-pointers share playing time, and Marion can often go to the guest position as a power forward.

Because of Marion's cameo as a power forward, Haslem has played less minutes, but he trains a lot and works harder to lose weight.

Guo Xu asked the staff to shoot a lot of videos for Haslem, and he started filming in the preseason, and his teammates also appeared on camera to interact with him and made comments. He is ready to wait for the playoffs to let people see the weight loss results of Ha Fat, which is an interesting gimmick of the Suns and very inspirational.

On the 29th, the Suns defeated the Cavaliers, who are at the bottom of the league, 110-84 away, and won 9 consecutive victories.

Xiao Si and Guo Xu broke the Cavaliers with one move, and Ilgoskas couldn't prevent Guo Xu's breakthrough, as soon as he left the basket, others couldn't prevent Xiao Si's strong attack.

In order to prevent Xiao Si from cutting in the air, the Cavaliers players fouled a lot, and Xiao Si made no bad free throws, making 12 of 16 free throws in the game, plus scoring in the sports battle, and scored 32 points and 11 rebounds in the game.

The Cavaliers can't use joint defense tactics, Guo Xu breaks through to attract the formation to shrink, and Joe Johnson, Kirisek, and Jacobson will get three-point shots.

Guo Xu watched a lot of Suns games as a fan in his previous life, and he used Nash's style of play, and he was a Nash with stronger personal offensive ability. Although the Suns' core players are much younger and less experienced, they are no less impressive in running.

As a result, the team exploded just like when Nash first joined the Suns, and unless they meet the kind of team that can also run and have excellent individual defense, the Suns can always rely on talent and shooting to take out opponents. Run-and-gun tactics have always been the nemesis of joint defense, and the regular season is a big killer.

After the game, the Suns flew to Minnesota to play back-to-back games against the Timberwolves.

The Timberwolves started the season with only 16 wins and 14 losses, but it was a very tough game because the Suns flew from the East to the West, and it took four hours to get to the hotel by plane and car, not counting the time to wait for the plane and get out of the airport.

It was already midnight when everyone stayed at the hotel, so they immediately went into their rooms to rest. There are no players on the Suns who like to go to nightclubs, and even if they do, they won't choose to go to Minneapolis this month, and they are easy to freeze to death when they go out.

Guo Xu asked Harpy to help book a seat at Heyday Restaurant yesterday, and invited the whole team to dinner at noon the next day, where the most popular food in the United States is at the moment, and it is also a paradise for cocktails.

At Guo Xu's suggestion, the coaching staff canceled the plan for adaptation training, and the tactics were discussed directly at dinner. Everyone chatted and discussed the game while eating, and the atmosphere was very relaxed.

It is estimated that there will not be any country in the world that understands the wine table culture better than the Chinese, in China to do things, drinking and eating is the most commonly used public relations means, if the use of appropriate rules, many things that can not be negotiated in the office or formal occasions, some important content that needs to be negotiated privately, can basically be successfully completed after drinking and eating.

Guo Xu has no ugly part in inviting guests to dinner, because everyone's interests are the same, and there are not so many complicated motives. Athletes can't drink alcohol before the game, and it's common sense that alcohol will make people react more slowly, so the whole team is forbidden to drink, and there is no persuasion to drink, and drinking more is just righteous, and this is not popular in the United States.

Having dinner and discussing tactics is something that no other team has ever done, and everyone feels good.

Of course, this is also related to the simplicity of the Suns' tactics, playing counterattack is running, seeing opportunities to divide the ball, players catching the ball and shooting, everyone will do it, it is the difference between fast and slow running. The positional battle is handed over to Guo Xu to play with the ball, and the others are ready to catch the ball and shoot.

In the Sun's positional battle, except for Marion, who is too physically strong to be idle, and runs more, everyone else's positions are relatively fixed.

So the biggest advantage of having a dinner is not about tactics, but about enhancing the friendship between the players, chatting more and communicating a little. In this way, everyone is very selfless, willing to pass the ball to the other side, the team is united, and the ball works very well.

D'Antoni now admires Guo Xu very much, he has been in the NBA for some time. He joined the Nuggets in 1997-98 and coached the Nuggets in 1998-99; He spent the 1999-2000 season as a scout for the Spurs; He also served as an assistant coach for the Portland Trail Blazers during the 2000-01 season.

In D'Antoni's impression, the team's interpersonal relationships are a very difficult part of the team, there will be all kinds of conflicts in the dressing room, and the players are prone to conflicts with the management. But in the Suns, the atmosphere in the team's locker room was so good that there was no contradiction at all.

Guo Xu is the leader on the field, and in the locker room, he can chat with all the players, and young people are rarely so mature.

In addition, Gugliotta can be a mentor to young players, without a fight, without temper, and with heart to teach young players experience.

While it's an unspoken rule of the NBA that veterans like to woo young players, that's not the case with the Suns. Guo Xu, Marion, and Gugliotta will not let others be the little brother of the bag. Can you still be tired with a sports bag by yourself?

D'Antoni briefly talked about the tactics, and then analyzed: "Although we lost 13 games at the beginning, I believe that the team's record will definitely catch up, we will not only win, but also try to get home advantage in the first round of the playoffs, so let's work together for this goal." ”

The newcomers did not respond vocally, they all felt that this goal was a bit vague, how many games should be won to have home advantage?

Guo Xu stood up and added: "I think it is not difficult to win about 50 games in the regular season to gain a first-round advantage. I have a basis, the Lakers have become weaker this year, and the Timberwolves only had 50 wins in fifth place last year, and this year's four or five are almost at that level. In the 82 games of the whole season, we only need to lose less than 30 games, 52 wins should be able to achieve the goal, and now there are 17 games to lose, do you feel the pressure on this? ”

"No, we'll make it for sure!" Haslem took the lead in responding. Although he is a substitute, he has the most energy, whether it is training or playing, it is like playing chicken blood.

Everyone else responded, believing that it would work, and now they have a clear idea. The Suns are currently on a nine-game winning streak, and everyone feels like they're going to win on a winning streak, with 52 games left in the regular season, how can they lose 17 games so much?

If Guo Xu said that the goal is to win 60 wins, the Suns will only have to lose 9 games next, which sounds very difficult, and his words directly relieve the pressure on the players.

In fact, Guo Xu's real goal in mind is 60 wins, which is almost enough to compete for the regular season championship, and last year the Kings ranked second and barely reached 60 wins. Even if he is not the champion, the gap is not far away, so he may win the regular season MVP and climb to the sky. As for the eastern team, Guo Xu didn't pay attention to it at all, and generally more than 50 wins are the champions.

He said that the goal was very low for the sake of the rookie players on the team, and it was easier for the rookies to play without pressure and play with their hands and feet.