After defeating the Clippers, the Suns had a four-day holiday. During this period, D'Antoni did not arrange heavy training for the players. He mainly let them rest and recover. This is also Mustache's consistent style.
The season is very long, and if a player's body is stretched like a string for a long time, it will easily break.
On January 7, the Suns continued to play at home against the visiting Indiana Pacers.
The Pacers are currently ranked 9th in the Eastern Conference. This was originally a game without any suspense, but the Suns played extremely hard.
People are afraid of being famous, and pigs are afraid of being strong. When the Phoenix Suns won 10 consecutive victories, all opponents were afraid of them. When they won 20 consecutive victories, all opponents felt like beating them. Every player wanted to defeat them.
The Suns come to prove themselves!? It will be a great sense of accomplishment to end such a long winning streak, and there is no shame in losing. Anyway, there are already so many teams that have fallen at the feet of the Suns on their winning streak.
The Pacers came to the American West Arena with this mentality. They performed well in the first quarter, their shooting percentage was online, and the ball rotated very well. On the other hand, the Suns did not play the tornado fast play they are good at. In the first quarter, they scored 25
Only 7 shots were made, his performance was mediocre, and he was 6 points behind 19-25.
Four days without a game made the Suns players' bodies feel slack.
Fortunately, the Suns regained their form in time in the second quarter. Nash hit a signature horseback archery to sound the clarion call for counterattack. After entering the rhythm, the Suns players' shooting percentage improved significantly. The team took 21 shots in this quarter.
Hitting 12 goals, Chen Yan made 7 of 11 shots and contributed 17 points.
However, the Pacers' offense was sharper in this quarter. Top star Daniel Granger scored 11 points. TJ Ford, who transferred to the Pacers from the Toronto Raptors this summer, also performed well, with 7 points, 3 assists and 2 steals in a single quarter.
At halftime, the Pacers continued to lead 53-49.
Entering the third quarter, Chen Yan was still the main point of attack for the Suns. He scored another 13 points in this quarter, but Chen Yan's outstanding performance failed to help the team catch up with the score.
Daniel Granger broke out in this game, scoring another 15 points in a single quarter. At the end of the three quarters, his personal score had risen to 37 points. It can be said that he played a super performance tonight.
Many NBA stars and even ordinary players will play a few super-performance games in their careers. Granger was like this tonight. He was very determined in his breakthroughs. He either scored or drew fouls. He could throw jumpers from the wing. It was simply
Possessed by Jordan.
77 to 74, the Suns further recovered some points, but were still behind.
As soon as the fourth quarter started, Granger came again. After a hand-off with Daniels, Granger made a decisive move from the high post. Chen Yan changed defense and pounced hard. In this game, the Pacers played well and Chen Yan did not let go.
meaning.
"Whoa!"
Granger shot the ball against Chen Yan. Granger was tall, one size bigger than Chen Yan. It was difficult for such a player to interfere with him when his hands were hot.
Looking back, Chen Yan followed the same pattern and played hand-to-hand with Nash. The Pacers did not switch defenses. Daniels was about to go around the screen to chase Chen Yan. Chen Yan seized the time difference between his opponent's pursuit and made a switch.
High jump shot!
Chen Yan was very excited after the ball was scored. He felt like competing with Granger on the same field, which further aroused his desire to score.
The game remained deadlocked until the last minute and a half, with the Pacers always maintaining a slight lead.
In the Pacers' offensive round, Granger caught the ball on the wing, feinted and walked inside. He went to the center of the Sun to attract a double team and then calmly distributed the ball to the outside. Daniels had a chance, but he failed to grasp it and the ball hit the basket.
It jumped three meters away from the neck.
Daniels is not a three-point shooting material. His career shooting percentage is only 23%. This season, he only averaged 0.3 in 1.7 shots per game, and his shooting percentage is only a pitiful 20%. He will never hit that kind of super wide open space.
Take action easily.
After Chen Yan picked up the rebound, he turned around and pushed forward. The Pacers players focused all their attention on him, ignoring Nash who was sneaking towards the frontcourt.
Chen Yan sent a precise diagonal pass, and Nash caught the ball and made a layup!
109 square meters!
The next few rounds both sides ended in a blackout. At the last moment of the game, the physical fitness of both sides declined significantly, and the shooting rate is based on physical fitness.
With 25.9 seconds left in the game, the Pacers called a timeout.
"The last chance to attack, the Pacers' possession of the ball, if they can kill the game and end the Suns' winning streak, it will definitely become a hot topic among fans." Kenny Smith said.
"He will also be the target of curses from Suns fans." Barkley laughed.
Kenny Smith also laughed and said: "Hahaha, twenty consecutive wins, my God, this is not an easy achievement. You must know that 82 regular season games in one season are equivalent to winning in one breath."
1/4 of the schedule.”
"Let's see who's going to handle this last possession," Barkley said.
"Whoever handles the final attack on the Pacers' side should make sure the time is running out, so that even if they miss, they can still play overtime and not give their opponents a chance to make the winning shot."
The timeout ended quickly and players from both sides returned to the court.
The Pacers have adjusted their lineup. The current five players on the field are Jarrick Jack, Brandon Rush, Daniel Granger, Dunleavy and Murphy.
The Pacers removed TJ Ford, who is limited in height, and Daniels, who has no outside ability. Everyone on the field has mid-to-long-range shooting ability, and everyone is likely to complete the last shot.
The referee blew the whistle, Jarrick Jack and Granger went out to catch the ball at the same time, and Murphy successfully passed the ball to Granger.
Granger was not in a hurry to attack, he had a whole round to attack.
Raja Bell bent over and knelt down, one step away from Granger. As the Suns' best defensive player on the perimeter, he was responsible for marking Granger's final attack.
The other four Pacers all have good three-point abilities, helping Granger spread the space on the court.
In the last 8 seconds, Daniel Granger kicked the ball off.
Granger changed direction and walked to the left, taking one step away from the free throw line and turning around to reach the midline.
Bell followed his rhythm, but did not reach forward easily, maintaining a sense of pressure without losing his position.
After Granger finished a set of moves, he shot a high jumper from the free throw line. Even though Raja Bell had already reached out to interfere, the Suns fans at America West Arena were still uneasy.
Granger was like a god of war tonight, he has scored 46 points so far.
Granger felt something bad the moment he released the ball. He clearly felt that his ring finger and little finger were pulling the ball out. This usually happens when the ball is struck.
Sure enough, the trajectory of the ball in space obviously deviated to the right.
"Clang!"
When the sound of the iron was struck, the hearts of Suns fans also relaxed. Granger gave him a chance!
Stoudemire called a timeout while grabbing the rebound, with 2.1 seconds left before the end of the game.
Granger returned to the bench dejectedly. He and Chen Yan fought against each other for a whole game, but in the end, when it came time to truly test the quality of the star, he relented.
The initiative in the game came to the Suns again. When D'Antoni was arranging tactics, the camera continued to focus on Chen Yan.
Chen Yan was the league's kill king last season. This season, he hasn't had a kill in more than two months. It's not that Chen Yan's ability to make key shots has become weaker, but that the Suns' overall combat effectiveness has improved to a higher level, and there are fewer anxious games.
Yes, I didn't give him this chance.
After the timeout, the Suns also adjusted their lineup. Novak went into the game wearing armor. Like the Pacers, the Suns also replaced players with outside shooting at the last moment.
"Beep!"
The referee blows the whistle and the game starts again!
Diaw raised the ball from the sideline, and the Pacers players watched closely. They didn't want the entire game to fall short in the last two seconds.
Diaw encountered a world-famous sideline ball, and he couldn't send the ball out immediately!
Nash took two steps back to catch the ball. Diaw glanced at Nash and swung in the opposite direction one second before the service violation!
Chen Yan used Novak's screen to go around the wing and catch the ball at a 30% angle outside the three-point line. There was a communication problem with the Pacers. Granger was a step too slow to avoid the defense, and Brandon Rush did not change defense. The two of them
Just watching Chen Yan take the ball from outside the three-point line!
Fans knew it as soon as the ball was released. The difficulty level for Chen Yan to make such a wide-open three-pointer was almost 0!
"Whoa!"
"Du~"
The final word!
The ball goes in and the light comes on!
109 to 112!
Chen Yan punched the air hard, Phoenix, your killer king is back!
Fans left comments online one after another.
"The pedestrians collectively short-circuited and missed a person who should not be left out!"
"How dare the Pacers let Chen Yan take such a comfortable shot?"? "The long-awaited countdown!"
"The killer never misses an opportunity."
"Huge, huge mistake!"
"Granger should be the most frustrated person on the court. He just missed the buzzer beater last round. This round he saw Chen Yan hit the buzzer beater in front of him."
