On Sunday night, the Phoenix Suns host the challenge of the Cleveland Cavaliers in their third game of the season.

As the dark horse of last season's playoffs, under the leadership of LeBron James, the Cavaliers made history, magically reached the Finals, and then was shaved bald.

It stands to reason that the Cavaliers should go all out to bolster their roster in the offseason and put the team in contention for a championship. However, the Cleveland people seem to be quite happy with their roster, making no big moves in the summer, and retaining the lineup that made it to the Finals - although this roster is similar to everyone else except for LeBron James, and there is no real backbone.

In the first two games of the season, the Cavaliers won one and lost one, losing to the Dallas Mavericks in the opener, finding their way back to the New York Knicks in the second game and hitting the Suns in the third.

This is the first game of the Cavaliers' six-game road streak at the start of the season, and they will have a half-moon trip to the Western Region, and no matter who the opponent is, the game will not be easy.

The game kicked off at 6 p.m. ET and was broadcast live on T-NT TV, with Big Mouth Charles Barkley and longtime partner Kenny Smith commentating on the game.

Barkley's voice like a broken gong appeared in front of the audience's eyes along with the visual signal of the game, and Barkley certainly had a lot to say about this very interesting game.

"The Cleveland people made it to the Finals in the summer, and then they thought they could have that luck this season without making any real additions? Didn't they know that Kevin Garnett was back this season? Still not knowing that Ray Allen has arrived in Boston, the Celtics are starting a three-in-a-row rhythm, as long as Garnett protects his knees. ”

As a good partner for Barkley, Kenny Smith certainly has to retort: "Charles, have you forgotten where you played today?" Phoenix! The Suns have had a great season. ”

Barkley was dismissive: "If I were still in the sun, I would agree." But Steve Nash is a year older, and Stoudemire still can't defend, look at what kind of they got in the summer, old and crippled, I don't believe Fox Leon can pinch this group of old and sick people together. They still can't get over the Spurs, trust me Kenny. ”

"Uh-huh, is it like the sun couldn't cross a rocket back then?" Kenny Smith brought up the old story again, when the Phoenix Suns lost to the Rockets 3-4 in the playoffs for two consecutive years, which can be described as a pain in Barkley's heart. But now Barkley, whose skin is as thick as the city wall, of course doesn't care about this attack, and instead says: "The Suns thought Leon could give them a strong defense, but now they have become nondescript, I don't know what kind of basketball they are playing, boxing basketball?" ”

Recently, some basketball critics have believed that the Suns are playing a lot of singles now, and Xiao Si is just singles, and Nash has started to play singles, is this still the Suns of the past. It's just that the Suns have won both games, and if they lose the game, there will be a bloody storm. And losing is inevitable, it's just a matter of time.

The Cavaliers are the upstarts in the East, LeBron James has gradually entered the peak since last year, even if the Cavaliers did not make a big reinforcement in the summer, as long as James is still there, his continuous improvement is the biggest reinforcement for the team. Therefore, this game is a lot of attention, and it is a strong matchup.

After the opening ceremony, the starters of both sides were ready to start the game, and the Suns still started with Smalls as the center, while the Cavaliers were the starting lineup of Ilgoskas, Gooden, James, Gibson and Gallari Hughes.

The Cavaliers' lineup looks taller and more complete, they have an absolute advantage on the inside, Ilgeskas is the high point, Gooden is also an orthodox power forward, and the Suns let Xiao Si play the No. 5 position alone, and he is bound to suffer in rebounding and interior defense.

"If the Suns insist on Stoudemire playing center, they're going to have a hard time!" Barkley saw the Suns' starting lineup and said without hesitation. At this time, the NBA is still the world of super power forwards, Duncan, Garnett, and Dirk are all at their peak, and they will be paired with tall and strong meat shield centers, so that the interior offense and defense are integrated. As for the Suns, Xiao Si's defense is not good, and it is not matched with a defensive interior, and normal people will feel dead when they see this starter.

Leon stood on the sidelines, and before the game began, he made a final admonition with the players, and he pulled Dio, Marion and Bale to lay out the key points of defense.

"Don't shrink easily, leave room for LeBron, spread the defensive formation, be flexible. If they want to score inside, let them get it, try to protect the backcourt rebounds, but the fast break is more important. Don't wrestle with them on the inside, strangle them on the outside with two points, especially Gibson, and don't let his three-point shot feel like it's your job to pull a jap. ”

Leon specifically told Ragha Bale to "take care" of Gibson, the little man who shone in this year's Eastern Conference Finals, beating the Steel Pistons into a live sieve with a string of lethal three-pointers, and he was still a rookie. For such a player, it is necessary to focus on it at the beginning of the game and not let him develop his feelings, so that he lacks the ability to adjust and experience, and he will not play much role in a game.

After the set-up, the players walked onto the court floor, and Leon sat back on the bench, D'Antoni saw Leon do such serious preparation and deployment for the first time, and said that the Cleveland Cavaliers are indeed a formidable opponent and need to be taken seriously. But what D'Antoni didn't expect was that this was the first time that Leon had seriously deployed his defense in this game, and it was also the last.

Leon has a lot of experience in how to defend James, he and Kobe Bryant are different types of players, and he also has explosive scoring ability after entering the state, but the most terrifying thing about James is not this, but he has maturity and calmness beyond his peers, his reasonable distribution and transmission of the ball, and accurate passing like a missile are the most lethal places.

That's why he was able to reach the finals with a group of teammates who weren't very good. Leon watched the whole process of the Eastern Conference Finals, and in the fifth game, the explosive performance of King Mountain James completely entered Field mode; In the sixth game, Gibson broke out again and slashed the opponent, Leon looked at the Pistons' defensive strategy and shook his head. After the league abolished the Handcheck rule in '04, the Pistons' original bucket grinder defensive power lost a small half, and Sanders' adjustment to the defense lacked system, and they were completely pressed by the Celtics in the East.

finally waited for Leon to leave, Garnett reimbursed, and as a result, the Pistons died under the hands of the new emperor, and the barrel defense was ineffective against James, and his sharp spear must be blocked by multiple layers of armor. For Bale, Marion and Dio, Leon has enough confidence, not because the three of them are particularly strong, but because the Cavaliers will not have a good way to crack it.

After the start of the game, the situation really developed according to Leon's idea, James was surrounded by three people on the outside of the Suns, Marion was the main defense, and Dio and Bale assisted in the defense; They adopted the strategy of surrounding but not clamping, blocking but not grabbing, building a fence in front of James, not completely blocking you, that is, responding to you, and cutting off the passing line between James and his teammates at the same time.

On the offensive end, the Suns used the strategy of Nash and Xiaosi blocking and dismantling as soon as they opened, quickly impacted the inside score at the beginning, established an advantage, and stopped the Cavaliers 7:0 in the opening game. Among them, Nash opened with a three-pointer, Xiao Si broke through the basket twice, dunked once, and Bo fouled a free throw, and everyone didn't sweat much.

Leon saw the pause, picked up the tactical board from under his feet, put it in D'Antoni's hands, and said, "Mike, set it up, I'm not going to stand up." D'Antoni took the tactical board handed over by Leon and glared at him, seeing that Leon had no intention of standing up at all, so he had to get up and gather the players who came off the field together to say a few words.

And Leon really sat on the bench and didn't participate in the discussion within the team at all, anyway, this kind of 20-second adjustment timeout is nothing to say, he doesn't want to waste his saliva. This season, the Suns start the schedule is still quite easy, after this game, they are going to the East for an away trip, and the opponents are not strong. The strong enemy in the west will basically not be encountered until the middle of next month, when they go to the southwest region. So the November game was very friendly to Leon, and his mind was already on the experimental lineup.

"Oh, look at the Suns' bench, is Fox Leon being sidelined? He sits there and doesn't stand up? Charles Barkley looked at the camera and turned to the Suns bench and feigned surprise. It's not at all like the style of his time with the Celts, and his teaching is very Buddhist.

Kenny Smith said: "Let's make a bet, will Fox Leon get up from the bench in today's game, how many times? ”

Barkley responded: "I bet three times, halftime departure doesn't count, up to three times!" ”

"OK, I'll bet five times, you can count it."