Stan Van Gundy expected the Suns to use a small lineup, or it didn't need to be expected at all, and Leon's steadfast use of a small lineup in these games has had a big impact in the media and coaching circles.

In coaching circles, no one recognizes Fox Leon as a master tactician, because this guy is a halfway monk, has never even been a professional or even an amateur player, and is a former boxer and has been in prison.

So in a place like the basketball world that talks about origin and "blood", no matter how many championships a wild fox like Leon wins, he has no faction, and he is a barbarian in this civilized world of basketball.

But in the history of civilization, it was the invasion and migration of barbarians that changed the face of the world, and Leon's tactical acumen and development also greatly influenced the basketball world.

After winning Boston in 2004, David Stern realized that Fox Leon and his Green Army had a good chance of monopolizing the league in their ugly ways, as Auerbach did in the past. At the same time, their ugliness has also affected other teams, such as the Spurs and Pistons, and Stern shuddered at the thought of the future league being dominated by these teams.

So since 05, the league has begun to advocate offense little by little, and the Celtics gritted their teeth and went against the current to win three consecutive championships, but the general trend of the league's offense is irreversible. Now Leon has come to the Suns who are on the offensive trend, and it seems to have the meaning of taking advantage of the trend and contributing to the offensive tide.

The Suns stumbled a little in the first few games, and after a few run-ins, especially their small lineup, they began to show a little bit of something. Of course, fans rarely pay attention to this, and they only see the wonderful offense and defense and the final score, while the coaching staff of each team is very focused on seeing what else the Suns' small lineup can play.

Stan Van Gundy thought the same way, everyone knows that the small lineup's shot is on the inside, and he certainly won't let go of this opportunity, he extended Howard's time on the court, and changed the team's three-point shooting strategy, replacing Carlos Arroyo to increase the offensive ability of the backcourt, constantly attacking the Suns' interior.

The move certainly worked, as Howard scored on consecutive rebounds inside or on the receiving of breakaway passes from teammates. But the Magic still trailed the score because they couldn't stop the Suns' offense on the defensive end, specifically, they couldn't stop Jascovisius.

After Hill came on, Leon decided to remove Bale and replace him with Jascovitius, so that with Hill, if he is in the right form, he can make up for Jascovitius's soft feet on defense.

After a few rounds, Hill had no problem marking Trkgoru, and his feet were perfectly able to keep up, while his reach determined that Tkegrew would definitely not be comfortable. He can also help the two outside players to help stop the defense, and his experience is there, which is not comparable to a rookie like Dudley.

And Jascovy Hughes' offense exploded in the second half of the first quarter, hitting two three-pointers in a row on offense and delivering a beautiful assist for Marion's breakaway dunk in the middle.

The Suns' three-point-based offensive strategy, with all five players on the court having three-point ability, made Howard's defense a little weak. While his mobility is good enough to extend his defensive range to the three-point line, he's the only barrier for the team, and when he fills the interior there is no one, and Lewis's ability to block under the basket is basically none.

This gives the Suns a lot of room to operate, Marion and Hill are both masters of empty cutting and running, while Nash and Dior are legendary masters, and Jascovitius's passing ability is also very strong, with five shots, three passes and two cuts on the court.

It's just that it doesn't seem that they have such a tacit understanding, Hill's running position on the offensive end is still very rusty, and he even collided with Marion, even so, at the end of the first quarter, the score of the two sides was 34:29, the Magic's offense was very good, but the Suns' offense was really quite ferocious, after 30 points in the first quarter, he hit 6 three-pointers, and the Magic couldn't lift his head.

In the second quarter, the two sides entered the rotation phase of the second lineup, Van Gundy finally replaced Howard, and once Howard was off the court, the entire defensive system collapsed almost, and could only rely on intensity and rotation to maintain. Leon knew this very well, and he could see that Jascovisius was in good shape tonight, and boldly extended his time on the court, swapping Nash and letting Jascovitius play the main control.

At this time, the "King of Europe" completely broke out, he entered the Olympic mode at the beginning of the second quarter, took the ball over half court, and after a block, he shot directly outside the three-point line, hit, and hit two more in a row, and he has hit 4 three-pointers in this game.

After accepting Leon's offer to join the Suns this summer, Jasco Vysius was hell-bent on proving himself, so he went crazy practicing his three-point shooting in the summer to take his three-point shooting up a notch. At the end of each day's training, he also has to work on it, because in Nash, he sees an example of success.

Jascovitius's wonderful performance did not end, the Magic outside line strengthened his defense, but he was not a player who could only shoot strongly, he played with Hill who continued to stay on the court, using Dio's cover, Hill cut to the basket, the Magic's attention on the outside line was on Jascovitius, and he made a precise through pass to Hill, Hill received the ball and hit a layup.

It was Hill's first point for the Suns, his first goal, and he had a smile on his face, and it was a great feeling to be back on the court and still be able to score.

The Suns' offense is getting smoother and smoother, Stan Van Gundy called a timeout, re-replaced Howard and the main lineup, they played well on the offensive end, but there was really no way to prevent the Suns' offense. Now, the Suns' coaching staff finally understands why Leon wants to play a small lineup, and why they are so hopeful that Hill can join, this flexible and sophisticated No. 3 position, the offensive contribution to the team is invisible.

Moreover, Hill Ke has not participated in joint training in the team, and their cooperation is not tacit enough, as long as he is not plagued by injuries, with his state, and the team is running in, this small lineup will look quite powerful.

Stan Van Gundy also has unprepared cards in his hand right now, anyway, the Suns are in the West, playing in the regular season, and they can't touch it in the playoffs. So he focused on letting Howard attack, and at halftime of this game, Howard had already taken 13 shots and scored 17 points, which he may have taken in a game before.

At halftime, the Suns entered the halftime break with a 61-51 lead, 10 points ahead of the Magic, and the Suns, who had no center, pressed the Magic team with a monster under them, which was a little incomprehensible.

Only Leon knew in his heart that he didn't do anything else in this half of the game, and his main focus was on giving players statistics, and then mentally calculating the offensive and defensive efficiency values, which was a piece of cake for him.

Through some complicated mental arithmetic, Leon knows that the Suns won this half of the game because of their high offensive efficiency and average defensive efficiency, and if they want to continue to strengthen, one is to wait for Xiao Si to return and further improve their offensive efficiency, and the other is to slightly improve their defensive efficiency, at least higher than average.