After the game, as soon as Chen Yan took a shower, reporters gathered around him.
Chen Yan deeply felt the difference between the intensity of the playoffs and the regular season. Not only his opponents, but also the reporters who were interviewing him also put the intensity on him. They entered the locker room much earlier. If they were not careful, they could easily be exposed.
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Chen Yan was sitting on his seat wrapped in a bath towel. A year ago, he would have been a little shy when facing this kind of scene, but now he behaves like an old fritter.
"Chen, you scored 33 points, 8 assists, 7 rebounds and 2 steals in this game. Are you satisfied with your performance?" the reporter asked.
"I would be lying if I said I was dissatisfied, but what makes me more satisfied is that the team won tonight rather than my personal data."
"Chen, do you think Solar Energy swept the promotion?"
"Come on! Man, this is just the first game, and our battle has just begun! I can't promise anything to the fans, I can only say that my teammates and I will try our best in every game."
Chen Yan will not be fooled by reporters. He will not say that he is already preparing to lose in the second round. After all, the last person to praise Haikou like this was Tracy McGrady.
"Is Amar'e Stoudemire coming back for this playoff round?"
"Personally, I can't wait to play with him. He is an important strength of the team and an inside pillar, but I don't have any say in when he will play. It depends on the wishes of the coach and the medical team."
Chen Yan patiently answered reporters' questions. A good start to the playoffs put him in a good mood.
On the other side, Sloan said at the post-game press conference: "Our players were too gentle tonight and we must play tougher. This is the biggest secret to winning in the playoffs."
As an old-school coach, Sloan's basketball philosophy has remained the same for decades. He believes that in the playoffs when the bayonet is red, it is necessary to be "dirty". If you are too nice, you will not win the game.
Later, Deron expressed a different view: "We played very hard. In this game, both offense and defense were restrained. If we want to win back a victory, we must learn to adjust."
Deron was obviously going against Sloan. During this period, the relationship between master and apprentice had obvious cracks. In the fourth quarter of this game, the master and apprentice even had a quarrel. Deron complained that Sloan imposed too many restrictions on him.
Sloan accused Deron of unreasonable offensive methods.
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After a day of rest, the second game of the playoffs for both sides started.
Sloan made another lineup change in this game. He put Kirilenko and Millsap in the starting lineup.
Sloan's purpose is to increase perimeter defensive capabilities and mobility. The Suns won the last game too easily. The old-school coach didn't want others to think that the Jazz were weak.
The effect of this change of formation on the defensive end is very obvious. With the combination of mobile inside line and all-around forward line, the Jazz are very purposeful. They initially aimed to block the Suns' outside strengths.
Nash and Chen Yan can only get the ball comfortably near the midfield logo, and the inside line has to move up to respond. Without Stoudemire, the Suns inside line has almost no lethality. Jazz players are unscrupulous in pushing up. Three Jazz players are almost
It is to step on the three-point line and defend outside. Even in the previous small ball era, it was rare to expand the defense like this.
The Suns were a little confused by the Jazz's sudden change of formation, and fell into a three-minute scoring drought at the beginning.
D'Antoni was forced to call a timeout. After the timeout, he made personnel adjustments, asking Azubuike to replace Raja Bell and Novak to replace Barnes.
After the timeout, D'Antoni used a trick, allowing Chen Yan to attract double-teams at the top of the arc, and Novak took another inside line out of the penalty area from beyond the three-point line, leaving a large open space for Azubuike.
Azubuike, a surprise player, made an impact in the first round, driving to the basket and scoring 21.
Novak then hit a precise three-pointer after receiving Chen Yan's pass.
The Suns during this period had the temperament of a champion. Even if the core players couldn't play, the role players still dared to attack and take action.
In the next round, the Suns took advantage of the Jazz's missed attack to counterattack. Chen Yan collected the rebound, made a gorgeous change of direction, dribbled past Kirilenko, and drove straight into the penalty area.
Deron flew to cover the hole of the gun and wanted to cause an offensive foul. Chen Yan started too fast. Before Deron could stand still, he bumped into him. Chen Yan threw the ball the moment it bounced away.
"Whoosh!"
Even though his body lost its center of gravity, Chen Yan's finishing touch was still soft.
The referee's whistle also sounded, it was 21.
Chen Yan made an extra free throw to help the Suns tie the score.
In this round, Chen Yan not only helped the team catch up with the score, but also regained his momentum.
The Jazz immediately came up with their trump card. They got off to a good start, but of course they were not willing to just let it go.
In the duo of Deron and Boozer, this time Deron did not return the ball in a classic pick-and-roll for Boozer to shoot, but handed the ball to him and then used his own cut to attract the defense and create space for Boozer to shoot. The latter hit the ball.
Stable hit at distance.
23 to 23, the two sides spent the first quarter in a stalemate.
Okur only played for one minute at the end of the first quarter. Sloan's tactical plan was to put him on the bench. This appointment was very targeted, just to restrict Chen Yan.
Doesn’t Chen Yan like to name Okuku?
Okur will not be allowed to play this time, it depends on your choice.
Okur is a functional player to begin with, and tonight he can maximize his function even if he doesn't play.
In the second quarter, Chen Yan led the bench to start the game. The Jazz's defensive strategy remained unchanged. Their number one task tonight was to lock down Chen Yan.
Because the defense was too wide, the Jazz were very empty inside. Hill and Barea rushed in and either scored or drew fouls.
People who don't know football saw this scene and thought it was Chen Yan playing as a substitute. People who know football understand that Chen Yan triggered Yan's gravitational buff. Because of his presence, his teammates have such a comfortable offensive environment.
The Suns substitutes made consecutive breakthroughs and scored, and the Jazz started to defend the zone defense. Chen Yan continuously switched to the 2-3 zone defense. Chen Yan had a keen sense of smell. When he saw the Jazz defensive formation changed, he immediately hit two three-pointers from the outside.
Sloan on the sidelines had a headache when he saw it. Chen Yan is the kind of assassin who can stab you in the back at any time. You can't give him a chance to breathe.
Next, Sloan used the same trick he used against McGrady. He let Brewer, Kirilenko, and Halprin take turns to consume him.
Several defenders played very tough under Sloan's instruction, but such drastic defensive actions also come at a price.
Brewer had 4 fouls in the half, Kirilenko had 3 fouls, and Halprin had 3 fouls.
If it were at the Jazz's home court, the referee might be able to be more relaxed, but this is the Suns' territory, and allowing them to make big moves would cause public outrage among the fans.
Chen Yan still maintained his momentum despite being targeted by Jazz players in turn, but he was consuming more energy than usual.
At the end of the third quarter, Brewer had been sent off, and Chen Yan was under a lot of pressure to defend Chen Yan alone, especially under Sloan's high pressure requirements.
Kirilenko's foul count also increased rapidly, and the Jazz could only use Korver, CJ Miles and even Deron to defend Chen Yan.
The Jazz suffered a backlash from their big defensive moves in the first three quarters. Entering the final quarter, their defensive quality plummeted to a whole new level. In less than 4 minutes of the fourth quarter, the two sides were already 10 points behind each other.
Delong was passed by Chen Yan in a defensive round. In desperation, he reached out and pulled Chen Yan's wrist. The referee did not hesitate to call a physical foul. Pulling the wrist in such a high-speed breakthrough can easily cause the player to dislocate.
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The Jazz players are also playing more and more anxiously, not at all as calm as they were against the Rockets.
There is no way, the opponent's different strength and mentality will naturally be different.
Boozer frequently showed his elbows on the offensive end and got fouled.
Zhang Lili couldn't help complaining: "Oh! Do you really think of yourself as Ma Long?"
The Jazz had a shooting failure in the final quarter, while the Suns shot a high 67% in this quarter.
The final score was fixed at 111 to 91.
The Suns once again defeated their opponents at home!
Chen Yan played harder than the previous game, but still made 12 of 22 shots and scored 39 points.
Barkley commented on this: "For a scorer like Chen Yan, you can only try to limit him, but there is no way to prevent him."
Nash also performed well. He scored 16 points and 14 assists, connecting the team very well.
Azubuike scored 18 points as a surprise player tonight.
The statistics of Utah's new duo are very good. Boozer scored 29 points and 13 rebounds, and Deron had 18 points and 16 assists. However, the efficiency was very impressive, making only 6 of 14 shots.
Deron's offensive choices tonight are very confusing. Perhaps the conflict between him and Sloan will further intensify after this game.
The Suns have won two consecutive games, and the outside world's evaluation of the Jazz is that they lost both games and people.
They moved too much on the defensive end, touching, pulling, hugging, tugging, everything.
Sloan supported his players after the game. He said that toughness and iron-bloodedness are the essence of the Jazz team, and there was no problem with their performance.
The next day, public opinion was also one-sided. In addition to the local media in Phoenix, many sports media in New York, Miami, Houston, etc. all denounced the Jazz, thinking that they played too dirty.
It's no secret that the Jazz play dirty. Kobe once angrily criticized Sloan's players at a press conference for being too dirty, believing that Sloan's style should be expelled from the league.
Kobe is a player who likes confrontation. For him to say something like this, you can imagine how dirty the Jazz are.