Leon was back in his hands-off form, sitting on the bench with his eyes blank and calling only one timeout in the entire first half because he was about to make a substitution. Sitting next to him was a sad-looking Suns coaching staff, led by D'Antoni, and the Suns' assistant coaches were exhausted.

The Suns completely retained the previous structure of the coaching staff, and then Leon gave the coaching staff a lot of power, so they were no different from the previous years on and off the court, they should be working hard, they should be giving advice, they should be teaching the players face-to-face, in short, they were very busy in the pre-game of every game.

Compared to Leon, he is more like an assistant coach, and if it weren't for the bad influence, he would really want to bring a newspaper to the bench to pass the time.

During his year in college, Leon deeply realized that coaching an offensive team is really much easier than a defensive team, and the defensive team has always been spurred to make them more focused; As long as the attacking team has everything in place beforehand and a good master of on-field command, all that's left to do is watch.

Of course, this is the regular season, and there will never be such a chance to be in a daze in the playoffs.

And it's not for nothing that D'Antoni and the assistant coach are full of sadness, because until this game, the Phoenix Suns have not faced a real strong team challenge. The other two Spurs and Mavericks of the Western Troika will not meet the Suns anytime soon. In the East, the supergiants Boston Celtics and Suns will not meet until February next year, and other things such as the Pistons and the newly rising upstart Hornets will not meet for the time being.

So despite a good start of 6-1, it is normal for the Suns' coaching staff to be worried about the true strength of the team, not to mention that their head coach doesn't know what he's doing every day, and he works hard for more than a week, and the lineup is in full swing and immediately returns to its original shape, and begins to sit in the coach's seat in a daze.

Midway through the third quarter, D'Antoni stabbed Leon and said, "Fox, it's time for a timeout." ”

Leon reacted at this time, rubbed his eyes, got up and went to the sidelines to ask for a timeout, made adjustments to the personnel, and switched to the second lineup. At this time, he looked up at the score, 91:71, and the Suns had already led the Knicks by 20 points at home. The Suns didn't exert much force at all, so they kicked the overweight Knicks to the ground and hit them casually.

After Small's return, he was in excellent form in the first quarter, and later did not let him play for too long out of protection, and the Suns continued with their small lineup. The Knicks were a group of black and stout inside, but they couldn't show their abilities, and the Suns' three-pointers were completely thrown away by the smart running and passing of Nash, Jascovisius, and Dio.

In the fourth quarter, it is estimated that Thomas also figured it out, he replaced Randolph and Curry, and replaced Nate Robinson and Fred Jones, the same main small lineup, continuous fire from the outside, and the Suns played against the offense. I didn't expect the effect to be good, after hitting a few three-pointers, the score difference was slightly closer, and when it reached about 10 points, the scene was not so ugly.

But time has become the Knicks' biggest enemy, and in the closing stage, Nash controlled the situation well on the court, this season under the guidance of Leon, his desire to attack is much stronger than before, three consecutive attacks, he is a person dribbling to drag for 24 seconds, and then forced a shot, resulting in two balls, this is a typical Kobe style of play.

With a lead and little time left, that kind of goal was a major morale blow to the opposition, and after hitting a three-pointer head-on, Nash clenched his right fist tightly and scored another 31 points in the game. If it goes on like this, Nash may really be able to get a scoring title this season.

The Knicks gave up after two three-point attempts on the outside, and took advantage of the dead-ball opportunity, Leon switched to the bench, and Thomas also gave up, replacing garbage players with garbage players in garbage time to run out of time.

At 119:101, the Phoenix Suns got another win at home, their form is getting better and better, and the players are finding a feeling, a feeling that is not quite the same as the games they won before.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines after the buzzer went off, Steve Nash said: "It was a good game, I feel like we're on the right path and our potential isn't fully unleashed, we can play better and play better." ”

That's right, the Phoenix Suns can play better, Leon thinks the same, the victory over the Knicks is not something to be commendable, their defense is just too bad, the Suns have not encountered a real defensive powerhouse so far, and their firepower on the offensive end can be further amplified.

But to be honest, Leon himself has no bottom to what extent it can be magnified.

A day later, the Suns faced the Chicago Bulls at home, who were in a slightly worse state than the Knicks, who had won just one game since the start of the season.

After signing Ben Wallace from free agency, the Bulls did not evolve into a super defensive powerhouse like the Pistons, and Wallace's disadvantages in height and weight were magnified by the Bulls. Without the help of another Wallace's top defense and defensive system, Ben Wallace's struggle against a heavy interior line is unobstructed. And he is getting older and older, and the decline in footwork and reaction speed is very fatal for a short defensive interior like him.

As a result, the Bulls have not been able to build a solid defense with Ben Wallace, and after playing a decent record in the previous two seasons, they have shown signs of depravity this season. Of course, Wallace has a salary of tens of millions, good rebounding and blocking ability, and can get a starter every game, but as long as he is there, the Bulls' offense will be properly four to five.

Of course, the Suns will not let go of the weaknesses of the Bulls in the lineup, while putting Wallace to score on defense and pressing the Bulls' perimeter, while using Xiaosi to impact Big Ben on the offensive end. Big Ben is 34 years old this year, and he is no longer the explosive head of steel and iron bones, and he can't prevent Xiao Si from facing him one-on-one.

Xiao Si who was saved and used in the last game, Leon is still used carefully in this game, and it just so happens that the Knicks and the Bulls, two teams in poor condition, give Xiao Si to find his form on the inside. Xiao Si, who was in a big swing in the first quarter, was pressed to the bench by Leon in the back. In this game, the Suns really played well was the veteran Hill, who was extremely efficient throughout the game, and he unexpectedly made a phone call with Dio - there were also concerns that Hill's arrival would clash with Dio.

Hill scored a team-high 25 points, and Nash finally got back to normal, scoring only 15 points without 30 points, but also dished out 15 assists to help the Suns sweep the Chicago Bulls at the American Airlines Center 121-105 and continue to lead the Western Conference.

Amare Stoudemire looked a little unhappy after the game, feeling he had recovered from his injury but still not getting enough playing time, and Leon set his playing time to 25 minutes.

But Leon only used one sentence to make Stoudemire remove the unhappiness in his heart, and he said: "We're going to Houston in the next game, and this is your chance to perform well." ”