Chapter 116 The Meaning Expressed in Each Other's Eyes

To date, among the many second-in-commands he's worked with, if you were to ask Su Feng who he misses the most...

Then Su Feng would definitely tell you...

The answer is Nash.

Ever since Su Feng left the Raptors, a famous saying has been circulating in the NBA world.

—Su Feng began learning how to organize the team's offense because he lost Steve Nash.

And even though a full year and a half has passed since then...

But for the fans who witnessed Su and Nash breaking records together in the Finals that year...

That is still the most incredible collaboration on the basketball court they have ever seen.

I pass, you run.

Wait for "Nash" to move. (A play on words, "什" shares pronunciation with Nash's name.)

A sudden "Feng" storm. (Again, "枫" shares pronunciation with Feng's name.)

Oracle Arena, evening of the 22nd.

When four-time scoring champion Su Feng met four-time assist champion Nash, they didn't even need to speak; Su Feng and Nash knew the meaning each wanted to convey in their eyes.

My dear old partner, what do you think of the team I'm currently on?

On the court, after the players from both teams finished warming up, the big screen immediately showed the starting lineups for tonight's game.

Heat: Haslem, Su Feng, Ariza, Butler, Alston.

Warriors: Dampier, Stoudemire, Jackson, Bell, Nash.

This season, the Warriors were able to reach third in the West in part because Stoudemire developed his mid-range shot during the offseason and also because Raja Bell quickly grew into the left and right hand man of the Suns... ah, no, the "Warriors King."

With Jackson and Bell, two defensive powerhouses, helping to defend, Nash's current on-court environment is roughly the same as the 76ers' "Ai."

Although for the most part, "only attack, no defense" is the most impressive label this Warriors team has left on people.

But on the basketball court, how can you play a high-quality fast break without a certain amount of defense?

In the center of the court, Haslem and Dampier jumped to start the game.

The result was beyond someone's expectations...

According to relevant statistics, this was Haslem's tenth consecutive game winning the opening tip-off for the Heat.

And after landing from the jump ball, Haslem also hammered his chest three times.

Su Feng knew that this was Haslem responding to someone in Motor City.

Before this game, when asked by reporters why Haslem, who was similar in height to him, could always jump for the Heat's first possession...

Big Ben used the phrase "he's just lucky" to summarize it.

And after this sentence reached Haslem's ears, Haslem said in an interview that if he was lucky enough to jump for the Heat's first possession next time...

Then he would hammer his chest three times to thank his brother Big Ben for his blessings.

It's just...

Whether this method is Haslem sincerely thanking Big Ben, or "mocking Ben"...

That's up to the benevolent to see benevolence, and the wise to see wisdom.

On the court, Alston dribbled the ball past half court, and Su Feng came out to receive the ball on the left wing with the help of a teammate's screen.

In order to get more fast break opportunities on the court, this Warriors team has always liked to expand their defense and force their opponents to speed up through high-pressure pressing.

First, even some teams that like to grind in position offense are also difficult to maintain their original rhythm under this high-pressure pressing.

Secondly, if the opponent is too careless in handling the ball, the Warriors can easily get a chance for a transition offense by stepping up in time.

Undoubtedly, this defensive strategy is definitely the favorite of breakthrough masters.

This season, Iverson and James have both scored 40+ in games against the Warriors.

And as one of the best penetrators in the league today...

In Su Feng's opinion, the Warriors' defense is simply tailor-made for him.

It's just...

When Su Feng stepped into the three-point line with his coquettish steps...

Looking at Stoudemire and Raja Bell, who were rushing towards him at the same time, and Jackson, who had been eyeing him behind him...

Su Feng suddenly became uneasy!

What the heck?

On February 1st, in the NBA's official announcement of the monthly player awards, Su Feng and Nash were also selected as the Eastern and Western Conference monthly players for January, respectively.

This is the third consecutive month that Su Feng has been selected as the Eastern Conference Player of the Month this season.

As early as during the New Year's Day holiday, in the NBA's official announcement of the December awards list, Su Feng was selected as the Eastern Conference Player of the Month in December.

In addition to breaking his career single-game assist record in the game against the Warriors and becoming the 12th player to score "20+ points + 20+ assists" in an NBA game, Su Feng also completed a record of achieving double-doubles in 26 consecutive games.

Moreover, after the end of the January games, Su Feng also sat on the throne of the regular season assist king of the 04/05 season with an average of 12.5 assists per game.

And although, in the Heat-Warriors battle in January, the Warriors led by Nash narrowly lost to the Heat, in the final game of January, the Warriors successively defeated a number of Western Conference powerhouses such as the Suns, Mavericks, and Lakers.

Especially in the team's game against the Suns on the 24th...

Before the "Little Phoenix" could be reborn, Nash pulled out the broken sword that had just been shattered by Su Feng and led the Warriors to complete the "recasting of the broken sword" on the road.

In that game, Nash scored a total of 21 points, plus 20 assists.

After the game, on TNT, Kenny Smith bluntly said that this season, as the data played by these monsters is becoming more and more exaggerated, he is completely afraid to predict what kind of performance this group of monsters led by Su Feng will have in the next game.

It's a pity that because his teammates' performance was not strong enough, Nash's assist data still slipped to an average of 12.3 assists per game after playing in January.

And this is one of the reasons why Nash was able to be selected as the Western Conference Player of the Month in January.

Because in the last 4 games of the Suns in January, Nash, who had no choice but to personally take action, was able to score an average of 30.5 points per game.

On February 2nd, after O'Neal and others returned to the team one after another, the Heat successfully helped the Mavericks to the top spot in the West on this night.

Because after they defeated the Suns twice on the road, the Mavericks also defeated the Grizzlies on the same day.

Entering 2005, D'Antoni's method of overusing the main players began to fail.

Currently, many of the Suns' main players have suffered from varying degrees of injuries.

And the Mavericks, who have been developing in a low-key and patient manner, unexpectedly lost to the Warriors at the end of January...

But in February, when the opportunity to reach the top of the Western Conference appeared in front of them again, this team led by the famous coach Davis...

This time, they didn't let the opportunity slip away from them again.

And on the same night, Kobe, who encountered his career nemesis, the Cavaliers, was not happy at all.

In Su Feng's previous life, in two games against the Cavaliers in 2004 and 2005, Kobe was forced to leave the court due to injuries twice.

As a result, in this life, even though Su Feng had already reminded Kobe in advance, Kobe still accidentally stepped on Johnson's instep when landing in the game.

Unlike deliberate dirty plays, Kobe's injury was purely his own bad luck.

Because how could Joe Johnson have guessed that Kobe would have to force a dry pull-up jumper without space at the time?

But fortunately, after examination by the team doctor, Kobe will be able to recover in two weeks.

In New York, after learning that Kobe could make it to this year's All-Star Weekend, Stern was also relieved.

Because according to the first three rounds of voting results for the Denver All-Star Weekend, Su Feng and Kobe are the leading vote-getters in the East and West, respectively, and coupled with the fact that fans have been looking forward to these two people's Bp (team selection process) during the All-Star Weekend this season, Stern doesn't want to see Kobe injured at this juncture.

In the West, the Mavericks, Suns, and Warriors all have a chance to become the top team in the West this year in the second half of the season.

In contrast, the格局 (ge ju - situation, pattern) in the East this year is relatively clear.

In addition to the Heat standing out, the 76ers, Celtics, and Pistons are currently ranked second to fourth.

In the bottom half of the Eastern Conference playoffs, the Nets are the only team that can pose a threat to the top half.

This season, Pierce has made significant progress.

In addition, Francis is also a T1-level offensive point guard under the premise that he has not suffered a major injury.

It's a pity...

Compared to being a coach, in Su Feng's eyes, Nets coach Frank is still more suitable for being a general manager.

Because in addition to being able to have a good relationship with the players...

The ink in this guy's belly is hard to describe.

And the Cavaliers, who attracted much attention at the beginning of the season, have recently encountered a losing streak.

In January, in the game between the Cavaliers and the Grizzlies, because Van Gundy gave the world a teaching game on how to defend Little Zhan Zhan, Little Zhan Zhan basically never climbed out of the quagmire of zone defense in the subsequent games in January.

In Su Feng's original space, in the future, after fading out of the coaching circle, Van Gundy often did this kind of thing to come up with bad ideas for the other 30 teams.

As a result, don't say it...

In the case of not being stubborn, Van Gundy is really more reliable than the think tanks that other teams spend a lot of money to build.

In this life, although Van Gundy has not yet taken up the commentary job, this guy's defense is indeed genuine.

In Su Feng's memory, the Mosaic team in the Yao-McGrady era was once the Cavaliers' nemesis at the time.

If it weren't for the fact that Mosaic and the Cavaliers only had 2 games in a season, then Yao Ming's career record against James would definitely be more than just 8 wins and 3 losses.

Cleveland, whether James wants to send someone to assassinate Van Gundy is temporarily put aside.

On the 10th, after the Heat took their 43rd victory of the season, on the same day, the NBA officially announced the Eastern and Western Conference starting lineups for the 2005 Denver All-Star Weekend after the end of the fourth round of voting.

At this time, online, looking at the starting lineups of the East and West this year...

The fans' attention was also drawn to the Bp between Su Feng's team and Kobe's team, which will be held on the 11th.

According to the rules, because Su Feng once again created a new record for votes in the NBA All-Star voting session this year, he will be the first to select starting players in his Bp with Kobe.

In the substitute players, Kobe, who won the Western Conference vote king this year, will be the first to select players.

"I feel that after the player selection is over, this year's All-Star Weekend can be declared over in advance." Miami, Su Feng said to Kobe from the air when interviewed before the start of the Bp session.

In Los Angeles, Kobe also quickly responded to Su Feng's ridicule, "To be honest, I also think that after this year's player selection session is over, you don't need to watch the next regular season game."

New York...

Although Stern was very happy that Su Feng and Kobe were willing to use trash talk to warm up before the start of the selection.

But...

In Stern's opinion, can't these two people speak properly?

What do you mean by not having to watch the next regular season game after the player selection is over?

Damn it!

If no one watches it at that time, believe it or not, I will black out all your regular season honors?

…