Chapter 744 [Golden Double Pit, Sweeped in the First Round]

The Suns' first roster for the playoffs was quickly determined, and combo guard David Wesley was excluded.

"Mickey Mouse" is now slow to move as a point guard, and the shooting guard is short, so he can only rely on his muscles to find resistance. The most important thing is that his shooting percentage is gone, only 29 from beyond the three-point line, and he cannot be a fixed-point shooter.

The coaching staff believes that two point guards, Guo Xu and Lowry, are enough. Guo Xu will increase his playing time in the playoffs, and Lowry can also play an role as a substitute for ten minutes.

Veteran inside player Clifford Robinson can bring some help to the team. He is good at catching and shooting after covering. He has a certain degree of confidence from beyond the three-point line. His three-point shooting percentage in the regular season was 77. He can also organize passes, which is the same type as the retired Kukoc.

On the 20th, Guo Xu invited the whole team to have a dinner together. The atmosphere before the game was very relaxed.

Owner Brian Colangelo also attended the party and thanked everyone for their dedication to the team. Everyone feels very honored to have set a historical record of 78 wins and 45 consecutive wins in the regular season. As long as there are no abnormally strong teams in the future, their names will be mentioned often by fans.

When talking about the first round of the playoffs, Guo Xu relieved the pressure on his teammates again. He said: "I will pass the ball to everyone. When you are not able to score, you will leave it to me to practice tactics. This is not to underestimate the enemy. Kim is really nothing special.”

D'Antoni's views were similar to Guo Xu's. He did not talk about football during the meal. He only said: "Tomorrow we will practice four routines in the morning and we will definitely win. Let's relax today."

The pressure on the Nuggets is much greater. They were swept by the Suns in the regular season, and they were defeated miserably every time. They could not organize an effective defense at all. After Kenyon Martin was injured, the Nuggets no longer expected to win. Losing less would be victory.

On the 21st, the first battle between the two sides started in Phoenix.

Suns: Guo Xu, Roy, Marion, Haslem, Stoudemire.

Nuggets: Iverson, Anthony Carter, Anthony, Nene, Camby.

Soon there was a one-sided situation on the court. Looking at the lineup, you knew that the Nuggets had flaws. The shooting guard was the 185-foot-tall "Stupid Bird" Carter.

In Guo Xu's previous life, Steve Blake also joined the Nuggets and Iverson. Since Iverson played as a shooting guard, coach George Karl was accustomed to arranging a two-guard formation in order to help him exert his power.

This is suicide. In order to help Iverson score, he sacrificed perimeter defense. Iverson averaged 424 minutes per game in the regular season, and he was paired with another point guard for more than half of the game.

It’s not that the Nuggets don’t have orthodox shooting guards.

Jr. Smith has great physical fitness and is much better offensively and defensively than Carter, but Karl insists on letting him play as a substitute just because his organizational skills are generally not suitable to partner with Iverson.

Under Karl's formation, the Nuggets' "golden guns" are more like "golden pits", which can only attack, not defend.

With two small guards on the court together, the Suns can really play however they want. When Guo Xu passes the ball to Roy, it's an opportunity to challenge Carter. He can use his height advantage to make a mid-range shot, his strength advantage to hit hard, and he can also protect the basketball and wait for Guo Xu's movement to organize the offense.

Guo Xu also had an opportunity to challenge Iverson alone, but that would be a no-brainer. He would leave a little space on the outside to throw a three-pointer, which was not conducive to the overall coordination. Not that the No. 1 opponent in every round is shorter than Guo Xu. He wants to try his best to help Roy gain experience in the playoffs so that he can play better in subsequent games.

Guo Xu plays without the ball most of the time, attracting defenses in the corners, and sneaking to the baseline to find moves without the ball. He can shoot directly after getting rid of Iverson, he can break through and score when facing Camby out of position, and he can also challenge Iverson one-on-one when he can't get rid of the defender to catch the ball.

Camby rarely switches defenders. He just grabs rebounds and blocks shots near the penalty area, waiting for the opponent to attack, euphemistically called guarding the penalty area. In fact, his confrontation ability is average. Nene is better at resisting than him. This guy is good at brushing up defensive statistics. The Nuggets' overall defensive efficiency is second to last in the league.

The Suns' No. 4 positions are all the type to pull out and shoot. After Nene was lured away, Camby had a chance without guarding Guo Xu, at least for an easy single. Camby went out, and the defender passed the ball to Stoudemire to finish.

It would be easy for Stoudemire to challenge Camby directly with the ball, but the Suns don't play that way and want to create easier scoring opportunities.

On the defensive end, the Suns arranged role players to engage in wheel battles with Anthony, constantly getting close to each other. Anthony has entered his peak period this season, averaging 288 points, 6 rebounds, 8 assists and 12 steals per game, with a shooting percentage of 48.

He has been in brilliant form throughout the season, defeating Ariza, Roy, and Marion in one-on-one series, but it is a pity that he can't sing alone.

Iverson's performance was much worse. His regular season field goal percentage of 454 hit a new high, and his 47 three-point field goal percentage was also good, averaging 1 goal per game. But his scoring efficiency is still not high, scoring 248 points, rebounds, 72 assists and 18 steals in 424 minutes.

In the regular season, Iverson played 8 minutes more than Guo Xu, but scored fewer points than Guo Xu. There is no comparison between the two.

Entering the playoffs, this gap has become more obvious. Iverson has been injured many times and his physical fitness has begun to decline. Compared with ordinary guards, he is still fast, but he is obviously at a disadvantage compared to Guo Xu.

Iverson's change of direction breakthrough couldn't pass Guo Xu, so he had to rely on shooting. Even if he was restrained by teammates who could score, he went back to the old path of the 76ers, taking a lot of shots and hitting the iron like crazy.

The Suns won consecutive victories at home, and easily won the third game on the road. In the fourth game, the Nuggets players had lost their spirits and suffered a 4-point defeat at home.

The Suns swept the promotion 4-0 and became the first team in the league to advance.

Guo Xu completely suppressed Iverson, playing only 0 minutes per game in the series, and the longest game in the third game lasted 5 minutes. His average of 27 points and 9 assists per game in the series seems average, but his shooting percentage is as high as 64, and his three-point shooting percentage is also 50.

Iverson played longer than him, averaging 208 points and 51 assists per game, shooting 68 from the field, and 294 from three-point range. He was ineffective except for relying on screens to get rid of Guo Xu and get to the basket.

Obviously unable to defend and attack, coach Karl still chose to rely on the main force, mainly using only 8 players in rotation. The other three are swingman Jr. Smith, forwards Najera and Kleiza.

In the regular season, Smith averaged 2 minutes per game, scored 1 point, 2 rebounds and 14 assists, shot 441 from the field, 9 from three-point range, and averaged 24 three-pointers per game. Entering the playoffs, he only averaged 118 minutes per game, sitting on the bench and watching Iverson play.

After the game, Nuggets fans felt like they were slapped in the face. At the beginning of the regular season, many people felt that the Nuggets could threaten the Suns, but in the end they only finished eighth in the Western Conference and barely made the playoffs.

After Iverson left the 76ers, some Amy said that without the burden of his useless teammates, Iverson would definitely play better in the Nuggets. No one says this anymore. Iverson's field goal percentage against Guo Xu is less than 0. Who can beat him with this kind of shooting rate?

Converted into true shooting percentage, the gap between the two is even greater. Iverson only has 447. How is he a star in this series? He's clearly an undercover agent!

Anthony's shooting percentage is not stable enough. He played three good games and only had 40 in the fourth game.

Nene's shooting percentage is high enough, but his shots are too few. The Suns management will not regret giving up Nene. The coaching staff has tried to develop him, but his character is destined to not be as successful as Stoudemire. He rarely uses his physical advantage to shoot endlessly.

In fact, Nene's talent can definitely take on more tasks. He has the footwork in the low post. The only thing he is worse than Stoudemire is in shooting, which he failed to develop well in the Suns.

The Suns players entered the holiday and waited for the next round of opponents. They had to rest for a long time because the Lakers vs. Timberwolves series was very anxious and the battle ended in a 2-2 tie.