After a day of rest, the Suns welcomed a tough opponent, the Utah Jazz, on December 12. Around this time point on, the Suns are about to start playing against the best teams in the league, and the Jazz are a strong opponent.

After Stockton's retirement and Karl Malone's departure, the Jazz's long era of twins, which began in 1984, came to an end, but the Jazz's stable, efficient management soon found a replacement for the team in the draft and free agency. Although the Jazz are one of the smallest in the league, they are indeed very good at surviving in this league.

The 2005 rookie Deron Williams and the free agent Carlos Boozer, who was stolen from the Cavaliers, began to show their power again in the West after several seasons of growth and running-in, with these two variants of the new Utah Jazz. Last season, they made it all the way to the Western Conference Finals and finally fell to the Spurs, and Sloan's decades-long tactical system cultivation once again showed its brilliance in the new Jazz team.

Leon didn't play against the Jazz and Sloan much before because they were both in the East, and at that time, when the Celtics were in their heyday, the Jazz were rebuilding, and the pizzas on both sides were tepid and there was no spark.

And this one, it can be regarded as a confrontation between two pairs of blocking and pick-and-roll groups, Williams Boozer against Nash Stoudemire. Before the start of the game, the situation was more favorable for the Suns, the Jazz's main center Oku was out due to injury, so the Jazz did not start at center, and Sloan lined up Boozer and Millsap's interior combination. The Suns are still a stable regular lineup, and after the return of Xiao Si, as long as there are no injuries, the Suns' starters will not be able to beat.

Nothing is more important to the regular season than a consistent starting lineup, which is an important prerequisite for a good regular season and a good record to prepare for the playoffs.

Dio has been crazy training in the past two days, and people look a little thinner, and Leon has arranged him to play against Boozer in this game, for Dior, who has already experienced the ravages of giants like O'Neill, Yao Ming, and Howard, a big man like Boozer is already a small meaning. One-on-one defense is not good nine times out of ten, but Dio has a breath in his heart, and he will not easily let Boozer wreak havoc on the inside.

As a second-round pick, Boozer can now become a stable power forward with an average of 20+10 per game, which should be said to be very remarkable, of course, in order to get a bigger contract, he broke his contract renewal promise with the Cavaliers and went to Salt Lake City, which made him suffer a lot of demand. But on the basketball court, after all, strength speaks, and last season with Deron Williams led the Jazz to a breakthrough, proving that the Jazz's signing is still very unique.

As a power forward, Boozer's physicality and the legendary Karl Malone in the team's history cannot be compared, whether it is power, speed or bounce, Boozer is a head behind Malone. Especially in terms of speed, his lateral movement on the defensive end was a disaster, but in the Jazz and Sloan's system, Boozer still maximized his all-round offensive advantage.

He has an excellent mid-range, and his left and right hand attack skills are quite comprehensive, his body is wide and thick, his feet are solid and steady, and his finishing ability after receiving the ball is quite good, and he is a very reliable offensive arrow on the Jazz inside.

On the defensive end, the Jazz have never relied on speed and intensity to weave a defensive net, they rely more on the complementary cooperation between the position and the players, so even if the Jazz players have relatively good running and jumping ability, they can still play a tough defense and not be broken by the opponent, which is also where their strength lies.

After the start of the game, the two sides were in the stage of testing each other, and the offense was decent, and the Jazz started from Carlos Boozer, and the Suns did not defend him in a targeted manner, just let Dior fight alone.

Boozer still has an advantage in strength, and he has eaten Dio alone for several consecutive balls, and the Suns have started to grind the position first, according to Leon's arrangement, starting from Dio's point. Because Leon knows that if you want to stimulate Dio's enthusiasm and enthusiasm on the defensive end, it is useless to desperately let him defend and scold him, such as making him excited and opening his heart.

Attacking teams are like this, the premise of winning is that the offense is smooth, the defense can put pressure on the opponent, and in the face of adversity, what to do is to be more resolute on the offensive end and rely on goals to solve the problem. This is very different from defensive teams, where the best way to solve the problem is often to get the opponent into trouble once they find themselves in trouble.

After more than a month of play, the Suns have slowly found their new rhythm, which is different from the one led by D'Antoni under Leon. They didn't come up and fight together at the beginning, but slowed down, let the players slowly get into the groove, everyone was involved in the attack, a little bit of acceleration, until the second half of the game, when they were already like a Saturn 5 flying into the air, and there was nothing to stop them.

Nash, as the controller, understands this very well, and he was once again semi-invisible in the first quarter, handing over the burden of the organization to Dio, who took on the role of point guard in the positional battle, and worked with Xiao Si to make Nash look more like a shooting guard.

The first few offensive games in the first quarter Dior were not too good, he missed both of his passes, he saw the gap of his teammates, but the technique was too demonic, and the players on the Jazz side were highly focused, and both times were stealed.

Williams took the ball and launched a direct counterattack, he was as strong as a small tank, and a point guard acted as a forward. This is only Deron Williams' third season, last season was his second season, and he has already shown great potential in the playoffs, from the first round to the Western Conference Finals, he is playing better and better, and this season his stats and strength have gone further.

Of course, Nash couldn't catch up with such a small tank, and he couldn't stop it if he caught up, so he could only watch Williams make a layup twice, and the Jazz had the advantage in the first quarter.

During the break, the two sides rotated the lineup, and Dio sat back on the bench sweating profusely, he had tried his best to play in the first quarter, but he felt a little uncomfortable no matter how he played. Sure enough, just one or two simple special training sessions still didn't work, the defense couldn't be prevented, and there was no good play on the offensive end, which made Dio feel frustrated.

As the game continued, Leon saw Dio's frustration, he crouched down next to Dio and said, "Tell me what is best in you?" ”

Dio looked at Leon, gasped for breath, shook his head and said he didn't know, now his mind is a little messy, he is really out of shape lately.

Leon stretched out his hand and patted his face, and said, "Are you running fast, are you amazingly powerful, are you shooting accurately, are you super first-class passing, answer me." ”

Dio said: "No, none. ”

Leon then asked, "Then tell me, why can you stand on this field and get millions of salaries, because the general manager is a fool?" ”

"No," Dior said, "because... Because they say I play... Playing smart. ”

Leon patted Dio's face again, he could see that Dio was a little confused now, and he had to make Dio's mind clearer, otherwise his state would get worse and worse this season.

Some players are like this, at a certain time in a certain season, they suddenly fall, sometimes because of the accumulated bad form, sometimes because they didn't survive that moment, and they will fall behind in the extremely competitive NBA, and then be eliminated, and finally disappear from people's sight.

This league is so cruel, and Leon doesn't want to see Dio become such a player, and he also points out that Dio plays a huge role in the team's offense and defense, and he has to activate this guy.

"Use your brain, play with your brain, I know you are smart, you know how to play the best, don't give up your thinking, and if you don't play well, look at the opponent is not pleasing to the eye, you can do something to cheer yourself up! OK？ I'll give you another five minutes to rest and think, and you'll give me the game in the second quarter. Leon yelled at Dio.