Defending Kobe Bryant is not a simple technical job, but a systematic project. Just like other teams try their best to deal with Nash, if you want to beat your opponent, you have to contain their superstar, and to contain a superstar, it's definitely not feasible to bet on him not feeling good, especially against a super scorer like Kobe.

You have to defend at the beginning of the game, whether it's packing, setting defensive traps, sending people to entangle, bite fouls, or whatever, it's like healing, it takes a long time, at least half a game to see the effect, and sometimes even after the game is over, or even after the game is over.

If it's a series, it's even more important to take a long-term view and develop a set of coping strategies to deal with players like him, which is what every superstar has to face and every coach has to think about.

Dealing with it, Leon has a set, but now that the game is in the final quarter, it is obviously impossible to think about implementing a set of defensive projects, and even a trap is difficult to dig well. Players aren't game puppets, you can set up a tactic and manipulate them to do it. Defense, like offense, also needs to develop a feeling in daily training and games, and neither Bell nor Marion found the feeling of defending Kobe Bryant tonight.

However, Leon naturally has his way, because he knows that the Sun is the superior side in strength no matter what, and as long as the strength is superior, he will have a way.

On the other hand, Phil Jackson also knows that Kobe Bryant is hot now, and if he wants to win in the final period, it depends on Kobe's play, of course, it would be better if there was one more person who could stand up, there are always such characters in Jackson's team.

"Keep focused, there's three points, you have to bite on the defensive end, put pressure on Nash, he was attacking a lot tonight. Don't be out of position, apply pressure, apply pressure! ”

Jackson yelled at the players, this time has to be yelled, the second game of the season, the Lakers played quite well tonight, if they can win this game, it will be a big boost to the team's morale. He laid out the team's defense, he knew that this defense after the timeout was important, and he also saw that Nash's position with the Suns had changed from the past, but there was no strategy for dealing with it at the moment.

"Do what you can, I trust you." Jackson finally told Kobe that he had absolute trust in Kobe's ability, just as he trusted Michael Jordan back then.

Kobe nodded and didn't say anything, he has experienced countless critical moments like this, and he will experience countless times in the future, which is simply a habit for him, not to mention that this is just a regular season game, and the season has just begun. If there is any change in his heart, he may be thinking about what tricks the guy on the other side will do.

Leon is definitely the most cunning coach in the league, there is never a shortage of bad moves, and all kinds of psychological tactics are emerging, and he did not add to the Los Angeles people in the first place.

When the timeout ended and the players from both sides returned to the court, the atmosphere at the American Airlines Center reached a climax, and the fans knew that the moment was coming. In addition to the fans, there are also professional commentators, reporters and Suns administrators on the sidelines, who are watching this crucial period to determine the outcome of the game, and they want to see what changes Fox Leon has made.

Overall, the Suns' performance was not satisfactory in terms of score and situation, and while their offense was smooth, the defense did not look like it was improving, and it even felt like a step back from last season, when the Suns were in the top 10 in the league.

The Suns serve on the outside, at this time Leon has sent all the starting lineups, Dio sent a throw-in on the outside, Nash mentioned the line, Marion and Xiaosi came over to make a double cover for Nash, Dio passed the ball to Nash, Nash received the ball and hung directly towards the inside! Marion had turned to the inside, while Smalls cut outside, drawing out the Lakers' defense.

As a result, Marion directly relayed a two-handed basket in the air! At 102:97, it took less than three seconds for the Suns to complete a beautiful offensive coordination, and Jackson could only gently hold his forehead and sigh. Offense can rely on Kobe Bryant alone, defense is always not good, obviously the Lakers need an excellent defensive ability, strong mobility outside player, to make up for their defense. Others, whether it's Radmanovich, Wharton or Evans, are too big a problem with speed.

Now, it's time to look at the Suns' defensive strategy, the Lakers in the backcourt served directly to Kobe, and Kobe dribbled across the half court, which is a puzzling scene, the person who leads Kobe Bryant is neither Bell nor Marion, but Steve Nash!

Nash directly defended Kobe Bryant near the midline, and even Kobe didn't expect that this was not a change of defense after blocking and dismantling, nor was it a tactical misalignment, but the two were directly opposed! That's how the sun is arranged!

Even Bryant paused slightly, dribbling nearby to adjust slightly, apparently he didn't expect Nash to come over to defend the main defense.

Jackson was even more confused, frowned, and thought to himself, Is Leon trying to let Kobe score and then block others? It's not a good trick for Kobe, you put him to score, and he can score until he kills you, and he's one of the few scorers in the NBA who can kill a team on his own.

But those commentators or experts sitting higher should be able to see that the Suns did not let Kobe guard others, but used Nash as a bait to make a small encirclement for Kobe, and they defended a 1-4 formation of pseudo-joint defense, and Marion and Bale were on standby at any time.

Kobe Bryant is not stupid, he saw the intention of the Sun, this is to set up a dragon gate formation for him to break through, Nash is directly clinging, is to let you burst. But at this time, with such a comparison of strength, Leon has set up a dragon gate formation, even if it is Longtan Tiger's Den Kobe, he will definitely rush!

Leon knows this very well!

Sure enough, Kobe Bryant made a cross-dribble and accelerated on the left side to break through Nash! He used a deft dribble to try to avoid Marion and Bale's double pack, but the two were prepared and came together early. Kobe Bryant can choose to pass, there was an opportunity from Wharton, but Kobe did not pass, he chose to dribble and turn out, walk 45 degrees on the left side, and directly lean back after dribbling and shoot a difficult jumper!

Marion tried his best to block, but Kobe Bryant still hit a two-point shot and a board, and his luck was really good. Bryant pulled his pant leg after the goal, and it was clear that he was starting to get excited.

But once he got excited, he almost went into the net set up by Leon, because the Suns' offensive efficiency began to play a role, Nash and Xiaosi began to block and dismantle, but Kobe Bryant was only one person.

Throughout the game, Nash and Xiao Si basically had no cooperation, but this does not mean that they will not, on the contrary, they have not been able to block and dismantle before, and at the critical moment, the Lakers cannot stop at all.

Nash made an extremely tricky ground-hitting pass to Nicky Small, who easily dunked with one hand to stretch the margin to five points again.

And back to the offense, the Lakers, who can only rely on positional offense, only have Kobe Bryant as a weapon in their hands, and once again face the Suns' three-person encirclement, this time Kobe, who forced his shot outside the three-point line, did not succeed, the ball collapsed out of the basket, and Xiao Si, who had been guarding the basket and couldn't get a rebound, got the backcourt rebound, and the Suns did not counterattack quickly, but slowed down the ball to Nash.

At this time, slowing down is good for the leading side, time is the best weapon to kill the opponent, and at the same time they have sharp blocking and dismantling on offense, and it is Nash and Xiaosi's blocking and dismantling, this time the beneficiary is Marion, the blocking and dismantling tore apart the Lakers' defense from the middle, Marion cut into the interior from the wing, Nash is a tricky hit to the ground, Marion received the ball and made a layup, 106:99, the difference came to seven points, and the Lakers were directly stopped.

Although Phil Jackson called a timeout, he had already shook his head slightly, there were less than two minutes left before the end of the game, and there were no cards in his hand.

And Leon also breathed a sigh of relief, although he couldn't see it on the surface, but he was still very nervous in his heart, in general, the final period was exactly the same as his deduction, and after observing the scene for a while, the Lakers players did not find the point of defending Nash and Xiaosi blocking and dismantling at all, and when it came to the critical moment, the defense was naturally full of holes.

After the timeout, Kobe Bryant tried to pass the ball to his teammates, but Fisher's outside three-point shot missed, and after winning the rebound, Nash still slowed down and time-consuming, and when there were five seconds left before the offensive time ended, he used a single block from Dio to hit a three-point shot and completely killed the game.

In the end, 110-101, the Suns defeated the Lakers by 9 points at home and won two consecutive victories, Nash scored a game-high 27 points and handed out 6 assists, Kobe Bryant got 33 points, 8 assists and 6 rebounds, but still could not bring a victory.

At the end of the game, Kobe Bryant was obviously very disappointed and left the court directly, without shaking hands with his opponent, while Leon and Jackson hugged each other, and Phil patted Leon on the shoulder hard, as if to say: Losing to you is just a card that is not as good as you.

Leon thought that he still didn't have enough cards in his hand.