In the first game of the regular season in December, the Cavaliers defeated the Atlanta Hawks away from home, and then returned to home, where they successfully avenged the Raptors.
After two consecutive victories, the Cavaliers won another five consecutive victories.
Immediately afterwards, they will face the Phoenix Suns. They are going to Phoenix to challenge the Suns away from home. This is a highly anticipated game.
After Lin Yu participated in the show, there were more and more discussions about whether the Cavaliers were already the favorites to compete for the championship. The opinion that the Cavaliers were the favorites to compete for the championship took the upper hand.
But some people believe that the Cavaliers' record is not valuable enough.
"Although the Cavaliers have the best record in the league at 15 wins and 2 losses, in the first 17 games, most of the opponents they encountered were of little value. The only two that can be considered outstanding are the Rockets and Spurs. Against the Rockets,
A win and a loss against the Spurs. Such a record cannot prove that the Cavaliers are the favorites to compete for the championship."
Obviously, this game against the Suns is the Cavaliers' chance to prove themselves.
Defeat the Suns, and they will truly enter the ranks of favorites to compete for the championship. If they lose to the Suns, including the loss to the Spurs, I am afraid the Cavaliers will be considered a master of abuse.
Everyone is paying attention to the game between the Cavaliers and the Suns, and within the Cavaliers, they are even more concerned about the upcoming wave of devilish schedule.
"On December 6, we will first face the Phoenix Suns, then the Dallas Mavericks, and then move to Los Angeles to challenge the Lakers and Clippers successively. This wave of four consecutive visitors in the Western Conference is too important for us."
Mike Brown held a team meeting before departure, and he set the goal of four consecutive away games: "In these four games, I hope we can win three of them. Against Phoenix and Dallas, we
We have to win at least one of them, and we have to win both games against Los Angeles."
Naturally, the Cavaliers generals would not say that we could not win three games. Everyone nodded and expressed their approval of Mike Brown.
Then, Mike Brown talked about things that must be paid attention to in the next game.
"The Suns are not in good shape this year. So far, their record is 10 wins and 6 losses. Compared with the previous two seasons, they have lost too many games this season, which means that their shortcomings have been exposed.
Brendan, Phil, and I spent yesterday and this morning watching the Suns' game tapes this season and came to several conclusions."
"First of all, the Suns' defense is too poor. This is our opportunity. The next game will definitely be an offensive battle. We must beat our opponents on the offensive end."
"Secondly, Mike D'Antoni's team may have a fatal problem. His team always plays very well in the first two seasons, and then in the third season, they start to slack off. This slackness
The root cause is that their tactics placed too much emphasis on running, so that in the third season, their enthusiasm for running began to decline, and the power of their tactics also declined."
"In the end, defense against Steve Nash is the key." Mike Brown completely turned his eyes to Lin Yu: "Lin, I leave him to you."
Lin Yu nodded and accepted the task.
Last season with the Celtics, in the two games against the Suns, Lin Yu faced Shawn Marion, while Nash was handed over to Delonte West by Doc Rivers.
This season, perhaps with James around, Shawn Marion's defensive pressure is greater, and the Cavaliers don't need to worry about the offensive threat created by Marion.
In Mike Brown's opinion, half the game is won by strangling Nash.
After the team meeting, the Cavaliers spent their last rest day in Cleveland, and then, the next day, they boarded a special plane to Phoenix.
After a long flight, the knights arrived in the west.
The city of Phoenix has very obvious characteristics of the American West. The weather is dry and desert surrounds the city. It looks a bit like a city in the Middle East.
In the evening, after recharging their energy, the Cavaliers left the hotel and headed to America West Arena.
In the past two seasons, after Steve Nash joined, the Suns have achieved excellent records at the forefront of the league, with 62 wins in the 2004/05 season and 54 wins in the 2005/06 season. One was first in the league, and the other
It is fourth in the league.
However, their outstanding performance in the regular season failed to translate into the playoffs. In both seasons, they reached the Western Conference Finals, but were defeated 4:1 by the Spurs who eventually won the championship once, and were defeated 4:1 by the Mavericks who also won the championship the second time:
2 defeated.
Obviously, after achieving an excellent regular season record, they failed to succeed in the playoffs, which cost the Suns too much energy.
At the beginning of the new season, they retained all the main lineup from last season and lost 6 games directly. They did not look as strong as the previous two seasons.
Some Phoenix fans are worried about the state of the Suns, while others believe that the Suns have learned to be smart and know how to stay in the regular season and then exert their strength in the playoffs.
But against the Cavaliers, they still have to strive for victory, not for anything else, just because this is a game between the favorites.
Victory in this game can help the winning side find a way to win in the playoffs.
At the American West Arena, amid cheers, Lin Yu walked to the center of the court.
The game was about to start, and he stood at the shooting guard position, but his eyes were focused on Steve Nash on the opposite side.
In away games, LeBron James usually doesn't show off his fans. He hugs his opponents and teammates one by one just like Jordan and Kobe.
When he hugged Lin Yu, James glanced at Nash and starting shooting guard Raja Bell on the opposite side: "You will be under a lot of pressure in this game, Lin."
Lin Yu nodded, he also felt the pressure of facing Laga Bell on the offensive end and Nash on the defensive end.
He needs to find a neutral point to distribute the energy he consumes on the offensive and defensive ends.
On the other hand, James. Although Shawn Marion is the Suns' leading scorer, in this game, he has to face James' offense and will put all his energy on the defensive end. In this way, James can put all his energy on the offense.
Finished.
The referee walked to the center of the field and blew the horn to start the game.
Amare Stoudemire jumped up, defeated Big Z with absolute advantage, and easily won the jump ball.
Steve Nash took a step back, got the basketball, and quickly crossed the center circle. He discovered that the person the Cavaliers sent to guard him was not his old rival Andre Miller, but the young Chinese Lin.
Lin Yu directly went up to defend Nash. If he could delay the opponent's offensive, Lin Yu's defense would be half successful.
As for the remaining half, it may be guarded by peak Gary Payton to truly succeed.
Therefore, Lin Yu had a very clear understanding of the defense in this game. He knew that he could not completely guard Nash. All he could do was make Nash uncomfortable.
Nash was unable to promote fast break counterattacks, unable to quickly pass the ball to organize the offense, and unable to easily get rid of the defense and score...
But Lin Yu couldn't stop Nash from choosing a path between passing or scoring. He was just a person and couldn't be distracted from doing two things.
In the first round of the game, Nash was closely guarded by Lin Yu's confrontational defense. He controlled the ball for five or six seconds, but failed to find a good opportunity and directly passed the ball to Boris Diaw.
Diaw became a transit point for the ball. After passing his hand, a pass found Amare Stoudemire in the penalty area.
Stoudemire, who suffered a serious cartilage injury last season and missed almost the entire season, was still able to fly and escape after his comeback. It must be said that this can be regarded as a miracle in the history of medicine.
On this shot, after receiving a pass from Diaw, he jumped inside, shook off the defense, and easily made a layup, scoring 2 points.
The Cavaliers failed to prevent the Suns from scoring. On the subsequent offensive end, Andre Miller, who had the ball past half court, handed the ball to James.
James broke through and Shawn Marion's one-on-one defense broke into the depths and was flanked by Boris Diaw. A ball was passed to the outside and Lin Yu received the ball.
He jumped up, faced Laga Bell's defense, and shot a three-pointer.
Whoosh!
In the American West Arena, the crisp sound of net wiping was a bit harsh. No one expected that at the beginning, it was Lin Yu who made a three-pointer against the defense!
