Chapter 3 The Match

After the Heat's sudden change of formation in the third quarter, the Suns showed obvious signs of maladjustment.

In the past two years, even against the Raptors, the Suns' players rarely experienced their speed being suppressed like this.

On the court, after the two teams played for another five minutes, Riley brought Mourning and Haslem back onto the court.

As the person in the league who considered himself to know Su Feng best, Riley knew that Su Feng occasionally playing center was fine, but letting him play that position for too long would be treating him like Iron Man.

In the summer, under Riley's whip, Haslem not only successfully lost dozens of pounds, but his short jump shot was also very reliable on the court.

In Su Feng's original timeline, Haslem, with his outstanding mental attributes, was still shining for the Heat in 2020.

For Haslem, who was born in Miami, he would cherish every minute of playing time Riley gave him.

Therefore, D'Antoni, who thought the Heat were just making regular rotations to make up for their lack of height on the court, didn't know...

Riley's substitution of Haslem at this moment meant...

The Heat were going to fight the Suns at close quarters.

Relying on a flurry of punches in the first half of the third quarter, the Heat had narrowed the gap between them and the Suns to 73-77.

But to win this game, Riley knew very well that relying on this kind of lottery-style flurry of punches wouldn't work.

Comparing offense?

No...

As the saying goes, defense is the best offense.

Although basketball is indeed a sport that compares who scores more...

But if you can limit the opponent's offense through defense, then as Director Sun said...

While you score 100 points, you can also limit the opponent's score to below 100 points, wouldn't that be equal to winning the game?

On the court, facing the Heat's sudden increase in defense to playoff level, the Suns' players, who failed to adjust in time, frequently missed shots.

Moreover, the most fatal thing was...

Despite having an absolute advantage in height, the Suns' inside line was jointly smashed by the Heat's "Big Three Inside" in the second half of the third quarter.

Mourning, the iron-blooded head and embodiment of steely will, grabbed 3 offensive rebounds in this quarter.

Haslem, the short and stocky head and representative of grassroots heroes, fought for 2 offensive rebounds in this quarter.

And the real inside king...

Su Feng, the Heat's only giant, grabbed 4 offensive rebounds in this quarter.

In *Slam Dunk*, Akagi once said to his brother-in-law Sakuragi that on the basketball court, rebounds are a team's lifeline.

Because when you grab an offensive rebound, you not only take away an offensive opportunity from the opponent, but also give your team an additional offensive opportunity.

However, unlike Shohoku playing Sannoh...

Coach Anzai's math had problems, but that didn't mean Riley's math had problems.

Because in reality, judging from the Heat's and Shohoku's playing styles at the time, who told Coach Anzai that...

When Sakuragi and the Heat's Big Three grabbed offensive rebounds for the team, it was equal to 4 points inside and out?

Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!

In the third quarter, Korver and Ginobili went wild from beyond the arc.

Because they had the guarantee of offensive rebounds from Su Feng and others, they didn't have to worry about being countered after missing a shot.

And under this ebb and flow, the Suns' players became more restrained in their offense.

As an offensive power forward, Jamison's athletic ability was indeed good at this time.

But tonight, Haslem gave Jamison a lesson.

Because athletic ability and grabbing rebounds are two completely different things.

And on the other side, Marion's eyes gradually lost their gleam under Su Feng's big elbow.

As for Ostertag...

In 2002, in order to save his sister, after donating a kidney to her...

Tonight, he, like Mourning, was a "kidney warrior," but he clearly suffered from not being as fierce as Mourning.

"Hey, referee, he just pulled my jersey again, didn't you see that?"

On the court, Ostertag asked the baseline referee, his mentality collapsing.

Hearing this, after glancing at the "kind" look Mourning gave him...

The referee shook his head repeatedly, retorting, "No, buddy, I can assure you, I saw it clearly. Alonzo's positioning was very clean."

Ostertag: "..."

Looking up to the sky!

Is this really our home court?

Uh...

If this isn't your Suns' home court, could it be the Heat's home court?

Actually, in the third quarter, the referees were just trying to find balance on the court.

In recent years, with Su Feng's continuous evolution, he has naturally been subject to checks and balances from the rules on the court.

However, as a "fair, open, and just" league...

And Su Feng's best partner in this league...

Stern couldn't really watch Su Feng die, could he?

So, many times, Su Feng's teammates could get more or less care from the referees.

And Mourning, who had been fighting in the NBA for many years, had always been a representative of iron-blooded tough guys...

Therefore, generally as long as it wasn't a particularly bad foul, the referees would turn a blind eye to Mourning.

On the court, after three quarters, the Heat successfully changed their score with the Suns to 93-84.

And in the final quarter, D'Antoni's biggest drawback in leading the team was exposed.

That is, even though the Suns had a bench mob that was no less than the Heat's, once the Suns were behind on the court, D'Antoni would only overuse the starters.

Especially, after learning from John Davis in Toronto for two years in this life, D'Antoni regarded overusing core players as a magic weapon for victory.

In Su Feng's original timeline, the most interesting thing about D'Antoni's coaching period with the Suns was that whenever a starting player was injured, the Suns' fans would be surprised to find that, oh, we still have such a great player on the bench!

In the 05/06 season, after Stoudemire was unexpectedly injured, Diaw proved himself on that Suns team.

During the regular season, D'Antoni's tendency to overuse the starters wasn't so obvious, but every time it came to the playoffs, the 7-8 man rotation was the Suns' unchanging rotation strategy.

As a result, the Suns, who could always run their opponents to death in the regular season...

In most cases, they ran themselves to death in the playoffs.

And in the future, even when it came to the "Horse" Warriors showdown, D'Antoni didn't change this habit.

At that time, in the Western Conference Finals, the Mosaic, whose main rotation was based on 8 players, was obviously a bit unable to keep up with that Warriors team in terms of physical fitness in the last two games.

Of course, a multi-player rotation isn't always a good thing for a team.

Because for a team like the Heat that has Su Feng...

With Su Feng's physical fitness, if you don't overuse him to death, do you want to use him as Wiggins?

Tonight, D'Antoni chose to overuse the starters, and Riley also sent Su Feng onto the court at the beginning of the fourth quarter.

Not to brag, when the league enters the next version, with Su Feng's exaggerated playing time...

He will definitely force a bunch of his successors to death in the future.

On the court, in the final quarter, Su Feng, who had been entangled with Marion for an entire quarter, finally waited for the time when this "Hacker's" physical fitness declined.

Heat's offense.

Odom's high post distribution was blocked.

Su Feng took the initiative to ask for the ball on the wing and dribbled strongly into the paint.

Seeing that he couldn't stop him, Jamison had no choice but to foul Su Feng.

But who would have thought that at the moment he hugged Su Feng around the waist, Su Feng was still using the inertia of his body to rush forward!

Bang, swish!

Under the basket, Su Feng forcibly made a layup and was awarded an additional free throw!

On TNT, Barkley said with emotion, "If it were Michael in this kind of situation, he would probably have been pulled down long ago."

And on the side, for some reason...

Smith always felt that Barkley was licking Su Feng more and more outrageously recently.

Because Jordan in his prime, for this kind of play, the "Old Rogue" wouldn't even need to land, he would have already completed a "traveling and one" in the air, okay?

On the court, Su Feng made the additional free throw.

96 to 84.

It was the Suns' turn to attack.

Knowing that McGrady would also try to switch on the "McGrady Time" when he was cornered, Su Feng didn't dare to be careless. From the moment McGrady started dribbling the ball, Su Feng used a more desperate...

— Deadly Entanglement, than he had used against the Lakers before.

And in front of the TV, Kobe had no mood to watch the game when he saw this scene.

"I told you long ago, he didn't use his full strength at all when he played against us...

Shaq didn't believe it at the time!" After complaining, Kobe suddenly felt that he had completely lost his love for Su Feng.

But on the court...

If this was Su Feng's love...

Then McGrady really didn't want it at all.

In the final quarter, under Su Feng's strict defense, McGrady only made 2 of 7 shots and scored only 6 points including free throws.

In the second half of the fourth quarter, as the starters' physical fitness collapsed one after another, the Suns completely lost hope of a comeback.

On the other hand, the Heat...

After the game, except for Su Feng, who was lying on the floor like a dead dog, the rest of the Heat players retained relatively good physical fitness.

In the end, the score of this game was 121 to 107.

The Heat successfully won their Eastern-Western Conference top battle with the Suns, and extended their recent winning streak to 11 games.

In the whole game, Su Feng, who mainly scored in the first and final quarters, made 13 of 26 shots, including 6 of 10 three-pointers, and 9 of 9 free throws, scoring a game-high 41 points, 15 rebounds, 8 assists, 3 steals, and 3 blocks.

On the Suns' side, McGrady, who had been hyped up by the Su Feng haters before the game, had 22 points, 7 rebounds, and 8 assists.

Statistically, McGrady's "20+5+5" wasn't bad.

But for the fans who watched the live broadcast of this game...

Su Feng, who didn't rest for a minute in this game, was more than just omnipresent.

On offense, he had to face the opponent's strongest defender.

And on defense, he had to face the opponent's strongest offensive player.

Plus, he also played a small half of the third quarter as a center...

Therefore, after this game...

Only God knows how tired Su Feng was.

Not easy!

It was really not easy!

Because since entering the league, this season was Su Feng's true "single-core leadership," so without that group of lovely Pippens...

Even in the season playing under Larry Brown, Su Feng had never been as tired as he was tonight.

However, this feeling of constantly challenging his limits made Su Feng exclaim with satisfaction.

Because in his last season with the Raptors, Su Feng mostly didn't need to shoot, and his Pippens had already killed the game...

So after coming to the Heat, Su Feng once again found his long-lost pure heart.

Moreover, because the Heat would be returning to Miami after the game with the Suns, Su Feng thought...

No matter how hard or tired he was, it was just a matter of sleeping.

But the 11-game winning streak and the comeback victory against the Suns on the road...

This was a victory that no amount of money could buy.

After the game, at the press conference, Riley's several on-the-spot changes in the game became a hot topic of discussion.

At this time, in order to express his love for Su Feng, Riley also said, "Just like high-end ingredients often only need the simplest cooking methods.

If it weren't for Su, how could I have come up with the tactic of letting him play center tonight?"

At the press conference, after Riley praised Su Feng wildly, the reporters continued to ask, "The Heat have achieved their best start in recent years, Coach Pat Riley, will your goal this season be the championship?"

Hearing this, Riley smiled and replied, "We are just a playoff team now. At this stage, I will not adjust our goal for this season.

But if we can stay in this position at the end of the season, then I think even if I tell you that I don't want to compete for the championship, you definitely won't believe it."

Like Su Feng, this was perhaps the happiest season of Riley's coaching career.

Don't be surprised...

In fact, men are such a group of naive creatures.

If he had easily conquered the league after getting Su Feng, then where would Riley's happiness come from?

In this game with the Suns, Riley racked his brains for victory.

And this sense of accomplishment of winning by tactics in adversity, how could it be given by the boring, monotonous crushing games?

I came, I saw, I conquered.

If Su Feng was destined to become the king of this era.

Then his Pat Riley's dream was to become the man behind this king.

...

"Yo, isn't this the great NBA current No. 1 player, Su Feng?

Why do you look so tired, as if you've been partying in nightclubs for several nights in a row?"

Miami, not long after Su Feng and his teammates got off the plane, Su Feng petrified on the spot.

Looking at Britney, who personally drove to the airport to pick him up home...

Because he had already received a text message from Lily, Su Feng knew very well that he was afraid he wouldn't survive tonight.

Oh!

My poor daughter!

And my unlucky son!

Please don't miss your handsome dad!

Because your mom...

Is really too...

Charming!

"Honey... aren't you... aren't you busy recording a song?" In the passenger seat of a Ferrari, looking at Britney beside him, Su Feng asked knowingly.

Hearing this, after giving Su Feng a smile that could captivate millions of American otaku, Britney smiled and said, "Do I look good today, honey?"

Su Feng: "..."

What an easy question!

"Even the stars in the sky are not as dazzling as your eyes.

Even the spring water of the Seine River cannot compare to your smile.

Fortunately, you already have someone you love, otherwise the goddesses on Mount Olympus would lower their heads in frustration when they saw you." With a strong desire to survive, Su Feng took out the manuscript he had written in advance and read it out.

And now...

Britney was overjoyed.

Just...

"Honey, are you sure this is the way to kindergarten... oh no, are you sure this is the way home?"

Looking at the route Britney was driving, although he was a road killer verified by Kobe, that didn't mean he didn't know the way home.

And so...

In a little-known corner of Miami...

After Su Feng and Britney had an in-depth exchange on how to write English compositions, when Su Feng and Britney returned home together...

Now, he really didn't even have the strength to hug Su Baby.

"Awoo... awoo... awoo!"

But, looking at his daughter, who was getting cuter day by day, how could Su Feng not hug her before going to sleep?

And on the side, Su Hao, who was originally lying on a Su Feng jersey playing...

After staring at his old father for a few seconds, he crawled to the other side.

And there...

There was a Kobe 8 jersey spread out on the floor.

...

On the 30th, after "resting" for a day, the Heat, who returned to their home court, welcomed the challenge of the Jazz.

As a result, unexpectedly, the Jazz, who had already begun rebuilding this season, unexpectedly became the team that ended the Heat's winning streak.

This season, after Stockton retired and Malone went to the Lakers to pursue his dream, the Jazz were no longer a Western Conference playoff-level team.

Although Reid and Kirilenko's continued progress on the court made all Jazz fans feel very gratified, before the start of this game with the Heat, Jazz fans really hadn't dreamed of beating the in-form Heat on the road.

However, just like how a person's character will be conserved.

The Heat's hot shooting touch during their winning streak will also be conserved.

On this night, it was more accurate to say that Su Feng was crying himself to death than to say that Kirilenko had defended Su Feng to death.

And in the case of Su Feng's poor shooting touch, in the second quarter...

Riley almost had the idea of trading Ginobili again.

Because no matter how bad Su Feng was, he still had a 7-of-23 shooting percentage after the game.

But Ginobili was different...

In this game, in addition to handing over a 0-of-13 shooting percentage panel, Ginobili also had as many as 9 turnovers on the court.

In the end, the score of this game was 95 to 89, and Jerry Sloan, who was picking high-ranking rookies for next year, suffered a head blow.

And after the game, as in Su Feng's memory, Kirilenko still had to rely on a translator to communicate with him.

In Su Feng's original timeline, Kirilenko's English was quite poor even after entering the NBA for many years.

And this also prevented him from advancing to a higher level.

Because can you believe that, apart from some simple tactical words, this Kirilenko had always been playing on the court with his mic muted?

But fortunately, Sloan wasn't the talkative type of coach.

Otherwise, if Kirilenko had changed teams, it would be another matter whether he could make it or not.

And at this time, the benefits of Su Feng's long-term communication with Britney in English were reflected.

Because in the past two years, not only had his English speed improved quickly, but also Britney's Chinese speed had improved quickly.

Because Su Feng had promised Britney that after he retired, he would take Britney back to China to taste all kinds of delicacies, so Britney also worked hard when learning Chinese.

Just...

I don't know why...

Britney always felt that the Chinese words Su Feng called her by were not so proper.

Because last time, when she asked a Chinese female teacher she hired what "yame die" meant, the Chinese female teacher was immediately embarrassed.

...

On the 30th, after unexpectedly losing to the Jazz, the Heat ended their first month of the new season with a record of 13 wins and 3 losses.

On the standings, they still led the Eastern Conference.

And the three teams behind them were the 76ers, Celtics, and Pistons.

This season, the competition in the upper half of the Eastern Conference was unprecedentedly fierce.

Now even the experts dare not predict who will still be in the upper half at the end of the season.

And on December 1st, the NBA officially announced the major awards for the first month of the new season.

Relying on leading the Heat to perform a turnaround in the first month, Su Feng deservedly won the Eastern Conference's first monthly player award of the new season.

And the Western Conference's first monthly player award was won by Garnett, who came from behind.

In the last few games of the month, Garnett led the Timberwolves to a 5-game winning streak.

And throughout November, Garnett, who averaged 24.4 points, 13.8 rebounds, 5.4 assists, 2.8 blocks, and 2.4 steals, was also the best overall performer this season.

In the Heat's December schedule, their opponents included the back-to-back games against the Celtics and the 76ers.

Then...

In his fourth season, don't mention how happy Yao was on the night he beat up Brother Feng.

There was no way...

This wave of poor record, on the one hand, was due to the Heat's declining state.

And on the other hand, it was also related to the Heat starting to encounter strong teams in the league.

In a long season, the schedule couldn't always be friendly to the Heat.

Therefore, unlike the outside world's view that this Heat team was beginning to show its true colors...

Recently, after exhausting all the oil in his tank, Su Feng believed that this Heat team was constantly learning how to play those difficult games while being beaten.

And in December, after completing two consecutive trades, James' Cavaliers also began to usher in a wave of upward momentum.

As the Cavaliers management envisioned, Bosh's arrival immediately gave James a completely different living space on the court than before.

Don't look at these two people as rookies...

But in the history of the NBA, where can you find rookies with more immediate combat power than James and Bosh?

Just...

Although everyone expected that Bosh and James would be a good match.

However, the addition of Joe Johnson was the real reason for the Cavaliers' rise.

"He is a great shooter, I feel like he can make three-pointers from any position!"

In December, James, who had learned *Emotional Intelligence* from Su Feng, did not skimp on his praise for Joe Johnson.

In the 10 games after joining the Cavaliers, Joe Johnson's recent data had soared to "18+4+4".

Moreover, he could also make 2.3 three-pointers on the court every night with a shooting percentage of nearly 37%.

So now the question is.

Did the Orlando management, who previously traded Joe Johnson to Cleveland, regret it?

Emmm!

You may not believe it when I say it.

The Magic management was currently immersed in the happiness that Ricky Davis brought them.

Because originally, Bibby could still rely on his magical performances on some nights to lead the Magic to win one or two games...

But now, after Ricky Davis joined, where could the Magic still win?

And for the Magic, who just wanted to tank...

Isn't this a win-win situation?

Okay...

Thank you to the Magic management for their outstanding contribution to the topics brought by the NBA's Christmas game this year!

According to the schedule, because Su Feng will once again usher in the "Inheritance Battle" with James in the upcoming Christmas game...

Therefore, with the Cavaliers' recent rebound, for a time, this game, which was originally regarded as one-sided, suddenly had suspense again!

"I can't wait to usher in my first Christmas game of my career!"

On the evening of the 23rd, when filming the preview MV for this year's Christmas game for the American media, James smiled.

And in Miami...

Looking at James, who was still unaware of the Christmas game at this moment, Su Feng always felt that he was really old.

Because as a veteran who had already fought in the NBA for eight years...

Not to mention the Christmas game, even the All-Star game, Su Feng didn't want to participate in.

In Su Feng's opinion, which of these games could be as interesting as the Finals?

But so be it.

Seeing that the opponent in this year's Christmas game was the Cavaliers, Su Feng reluctantly squeezed out a smile when filming the MV before the game.

Listen up!

I am the ruler of Pennsylvania in the past.

The governor of the Northern Territory.

Looking at Cleveland from afar...

My successor...

It really makes me happy!

Come on!

Young Ohio boy king!

Let the grievances of thousands of years be put to rest here!

The Great Fantasy Senluo hanging ratio exclusive krypton gold eye!

Let you accept the tempering from the orphan in this dark and holy flame!

...

ps: Uh, are there any friends who want to dub the paragraph at the end above? A 10,000-word chapter is here! Begging for monthly tickets, subscriptions, and recommendation tickets!