Don’t lie when talking about football, there are pictures and the truth.
During the 2023-24 regular season, "Coin Talk Basketball" continues to use the "pictures and truth" method to interpret hot topics, watch the excitement, and learn about the secrets.
The Suns challenged the Clippers. The three Thunder brothers gathered together. The result was that the eldest brother had the most explosive statistics, but the victory belonged to the second and third brothers. 138-111, the Clippers beat the Suns to pieces.
It is reasonable for the Suns to lose to the Clippers, because the Suns' strengths on paper have no advantage over the Clippers, and are even a bit of a disadvantage, while their shortcomings on paper were directly penetrated by the Clippers.
The picture below explains everything. Kawhi and Theis were playing a pick-and-roll. Theis made a false screen, but actually turned around and cut to the basket without blocking Bill. The round-faced Den struggled to block Kawhi, but Bill's defensive position was a bit "hazy". He did not switch to guard Theis, but stayed at the top of the arc. This can be interpreted as Bill trying to keep an eye on Harden and expecting his teammates to help defend. restricted area.
However, the Suns' basket was emptier than the road in the early morning. Both Eubanks and Durant were staring at Kawhi who was dribbling and moving. The direction Kawhi could take the ball was to Theis, who was down the right side. Coffey in the corner, Harden at the top of the key. Bill is in the passing route of Kawhi and Harden. Eubanks and Durant can just stay with Coffey. Coffey averaged 0.5 three-pointers per game this season. His long-range response is limited. Theis has reached the basket, but neither Eubanks nor Durant retreated to defend.
This is the core problem of the Suns. Their individual defense resources are already weak, and their defense communication is poor. It is difficult to imagine that the head coach of this team is Vogel, who is based in the NBA on defense.
In the final analysis, it is difficult for a clever woman to make a meal without rice.
Okogie is one of the Suns who can defend from the outside, but his 25% three-point shooting percentage is not on the table. Vogel puts Okogie on the court, and he has to endure the opponent letting Okogie go to help defend the Suns star. situation.
The Suns can best defend Durant inside, but KD also has offensive tasks, especially since the Suns need him to attack with the ball. This style of play is very energy-consuming.
Durant's best defensive career period was with the Warriors. He didn't need to dribble a lot to develop offense. He just ran out of position to catch and shoot. The energy he saved could be used on the defensive end.
The Suns have no point guard, and the offensive logic is that the three giants are attacking one after another. This style of play is not impossible, but when encountering the same combination of giants, and two of their giants have been assist leaders, look at Harden and Westbrook Is Taiyang greedy for feeding Zubac all kinds of balls?
The Suns simply couldn't beat the Clippers. They scored 63 points in the first half, which was a lot, but the Clippers scored 71 points. After the game, the Suns scored 111 points, which was not low, but the Clippers scored 138 points.
The Suns and Clippers are competing in offense. The unreasonable mode cannot beat the methodical moves, which is more miserable than defense. Durant has to face the interruptions of Kawhi and Westbrook, and the Suns' weak interior defense is even more difficult to watch. , lost 62 points in the penalty area!
The Suns' giant combination has problems in terms of basic logic. Among the three, there is no organizational type, and there is no reliable point guard in the team. This is quite outrageous. They completely rely on the personal hard work of the stars to handle the game. When encountering The average team is okay, but against a team like the Clippers, which has both star quality and defensive fundamentals, they really can't do it.
After this defeat, the Suns are ranked ninth in the Western Conference. This is the distance between them and the championship group.
The Lakers are tenth and the Warriors are 12th. The era of Zanduku is bowing its head in front of the years.
