The Rockets led by double digits in the first quarter and held the lead at the end of the first half, but were overtaken in the third quarter, and the Suns' offense came on waves, eventually completely overwhelming the Rockets in the fourth quarter.

The Suns had three players score 20 points in this game. Nash had 25 points and 10 assists for the Suns, 15 of which came in the second half. Jason. Richardson 26 points, Amare. Stoudemire had 24 points and 15 rebounds.

The Rockets collapsed in the final quarter, failing to shoot a single shot for five minutes midway through the fourth quarter and had to score on free throws. With 3 minutes left in the game, the Rockets finally hit a shot by Yao Ming, but then Nash's cold shot extended the margin to 10 points, and the Rockets' loss was basically a foregone conclusion.

The Houstonians were unable to close the gap to within 10 points after that, and their hopes of returning to the Western Conference Finals were ultimately crushed by the Suns.

The Clippers' opponents in the Western Conference semifinals have finally been decided, and the Phoenix Suns eliminated the Rockets after a tiebreaker to advance, and their opponents in the Western Conference finals will be the Los Angeles Clippers, who have not tasted defeat in this year's playoffs.

In fact, the Suns can reach the Western Conference Finals with their current lineup, which has given fans a lot of surprises, because from before the start of the season to now, few people are willing to list the Suns as the favorites to win the championship. The Suns were unable to trade away "Big Shark" O'Neal in the first half of the season, and head coach Gentry was still clear about their desire to start a rebuild, and this season, their realistic goal has long been unset on a championship.

For the Suns' top management, there are a lot of issues to consider at the moment, and Nash has not signed a contract extension with the Suns. The odds of leaving next season are high. That is, after the end of the season. The Suns will completely lose their core of the team. In this case, do the Suns need to re-sign Smalls with a high salary? Or go to the free market and look for other players who are more inexpensive? But Stoudemire also has a strong desire to leave, even if the Suns want to renew the contract, Stoudemire may not stay in the end, so after this season, the dream combination that has been with the Suns for 6 seasons will go their separate ways.

In recent seasons, the Suns have seen a lot of changes in their personnel structure. After D'Antoni single-handedly turned the Suns into the king of running and shooting, the Suns injected fresh blood into the entire NBA. But in D'Antoni's system, this frenzied attacking tactic has a fatal weakness, and that is defense.

Throughout the previous championships, no team can win the championship by attacking alone, crazy offense may bring ups and downs of the wonderful game, but only defense is the real magic weapon to ensure the victory of the game. After several stops in the Western Conference Finals and semifinals, the Suns' top brass began to revamp the team, trading for O'Neal and Richardson from the Bobcats. However, O'Neal failed to fit into the Suns system as many expected. Eventually, the Suns and head coach D'Antoni also parted ways. Trying to get the team to start with defense.

But D'Antoni's departure didn't make a difference for the Suns. Their defense failed to make any substantial changes, and with the addition of O'Neal completely disrupting the rhythm of their previous run-and-gun play, the Suns began to become a paradoxical self, and they were even squeezed out of the playoffs last season. The nondescript style of play began to disappoint fans, and even Nash publicly expressed his displeasure.

General manager Kerr quickly saw the sign, he straightened D'Antoni's former subordinate Gentry, and then traded Guò to send O'Neal away, even if it didn't work out in the end, the Suns also picked up the running bomb of the year under Gentry, which allowed the Suns to improve a lot this season and finally reached the Western Conference Finals.

Of course, no one thinks that the Suns can eliminate the defending champion Clippers in the Western Conference Finals, and in the regular season this season, the Clippers have a 4-0 record against the Suns.

General manager Kerr now has to think hard about how the Suns will develop in order to have a real hope of going to the championship stage. If we go down the current line, should the Suns add some players with expertise on defense? Instead of turning your own line of defense into an hourglass, as you are doing now.

Phoenix's media is also pessimistic about the Western Conference Finals, the Clippers' offensive and defensive speed is not inferior to the peak of the Suns a few years ago, even the center Ji Guoqiu has the athleticism of the peak Xiaosi, and the speed and flexibility of the younger brother Ji Guoqiu are better than the elder brother, so how can the Suns run? Not to mention that the Clippers' defense and offense are the league's No. 1 deposits, and the Suns can't win in their best areas, so their most realistic goal now should be to avoid being swept by the Clippers.

Charles. Barkley analyzed the four requirements for the Suns to be able to overcome the Clippers, which is very demanding.

First, Nash needs to play aggressively against the Rockets series, and he needs to score 30+ points to make up for his shortcomings on the defensive end. Second, Xiao Si must explode with Ji Guoyi, and he must get as many points as his fox brother, or even more. Third, O'Neal has to show at least 70% of his peak strength in the limited 20 minutes of playing time, so that he can form a stalemate with Brother Panda in these 20 minutes. Fourth, that is, the former dunk king Richardson, also has to come up with the seventh game against the Rockets.

If you count carefully, the Suns will have to meet all four of these requirements to secure a win over the Clippers today, and without any of them, they won't have much hope of beating the Clippers.

Barkley added: "I was asking for a few things, but I couldn't help it, and the Suns, when they were leading by 10 or 20 points in the first half, were still not reassuring because this team scores fast and concedes points quickly. So they have to perform very well to get the best of the game against the Clippers. ”

On May 16, the league announced the schedule for the Western Conference finals, and as for the Eastern Conference matchups, it has already been announced.

The Los Angeles Clippers and Phoenix Suns game is scheduled for May 17. The Eastern Conference Finals between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Orlando Magic will be played the day before. Other words. The Clippers' game was held at the end again.

May 17, Los Angeles Clippers VS Phoenix Suns - Staples Arena, PM, 21:00.

May 19, Los Angeles Clippers vs. Phoenix Suns - Staples Arena, PM, 20:30.

On May 21, the Los Angeles Clippers vs the Phoenix Suns - American Airlines Center Arena. PM，20：30。

May 23, Los Angeles Clippers vs. Phoenix Suns - American Airlines Center Arena, PM, 20:30.

May 26, Los Angeles Clippers vs Phoenix Suns - Staples Arena, PM, tentative.

May 28, Los Angeles Clippers VS Phoenix Suns - American Airlines Center Arena, PM. Tentative.

On May 30, the Los Angeles Clippers vs the Phoenix Suns - Staples Arena. PM, tentative.

After the Western Conference Finals matchup was released, Suns coach Gentry sounded the alarm to his players and talked about the strategic points against the Clippers, saying: "Because their height and athleticism advantage inside is too obvious, we have to protect the rebounds and grab the rebounds, which will be a key factor in the trend of this series." ”

In fact, there is no shortage of altitude advantages in the Suns. Lopez is tall enough, but he has no offensive ability, and he is destined to play little time, and the Suns have always disliked this kind of blue-collar interior line with no shooting ability and insufficient fast-break ability.

Big Shark O'Neal is also not low in height, but unfortunately his speed and style of play are incompatible with the Suns, Gentry in addition to using O'Neal when dealing with Yao Ming, dealing with the Clippers is likely to let O'Neal continue to play 20 minutes per game.

They also have an inside line at the end of Channing. Frye, who is the center with the most playing time for the Suns, is also Gentry's most trusted interior player besides Smalls.

After joining the Suns, Frye completely exploded his ability at the three-point line, shooting 43.9% from three-point range in the regular season, ranking fourth in the league in three-point shooting, a stability that even many guards struggle to achieve. However, this center is somewhat similar in size to the fox brother in his first season, and he is far inferior to the twin brothers in terms of athleticism and strength, especially for the 245-pound panda brother, it is estimated that he will be blown out of shit.

It's not for nothing that Gentry has been emphasizing rebounding protection before the game, and before the start of the Western Conference Finals, the Suns averaged 41.2 rebounds per game, ranking sixth among 16 playoff teams. But in the face of the Clippers, who previously averaged the first rebounds per game, Gentry's warning was very timely, and the Clippers were able to grab an average of 50.6 rebounds per game, completely destroying all teams in the league, and the two brothers alone could contribute almost 30 rebounds per game. Don't forget, the Suns are a shot-oriented team, and if you can't protect your rebounds, you're dead.

The Los Angeles Times duly published the two brothers' eight-game playoff averages before the game.

Ji Guoqiu has played 8 playoff games, averaging 22.5 points, 17.6 rebounds, 8.5 assists, 4.5 blocks, 2.3 steals and 4.4 turnovers per game, shooting 62.8% from the field, 50% from three-point range, and 98% from the free throw line.

Ji Guoyi has averaged 34.4 points, 9.8 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 3 blocks, 2.5 steals and 3.1 turnovers per game in 8 playoff games, shooting 58.2% from the field, 52% from three-point range, and 94.2% from the free throw line.

Both have improved their playoff numbers from last season, with the Panda brother raising his rebounds and assists to a staggering level, and the Fox brother raising his scoring to Jordan's level.

Speaking of Jordan, the Los Angeles Times also revealed a report that made fans can't help but think about Jordan, Lakers head coach Phil. Jackson was interviewed by a Los Angeles media outlet after the team was eliminated, and the Zen master said in the interview: Brother Panda is currently the best player in the NBA, and he has surpassed the Cavaliers' star LeBron. James.

As soon as this remark came out, it immediately became a hot topic in the past few days, and the fans of the two naturally started a war of words, but the media focused on the Zen master, and his words were too intriguing.

Phil. Jackson's coaching contract has expired after this season, so he is now considered a free agent, and there has been no news of a contract extension with the Lakers. The media speculated that his relationship with Buss Jr. was likely to lead to the end of his coaching career with the Lakers, but this does not mean that the entire career of the Zen master is over, and there are now at least 20 teams in the league that are willing to write a check for the Zen master's annual salary of tens of millions at any time.

"Panda definitely has a chance to reach the same heights as Jordan, and in the last three years against the Clippers, I can see that he's getting better and better, he's slowly improving his shooting percentage, and he's constantly improving his rebounds and assists to increase the power of his low-post offense. This season, when he can shoot from the outside or excel in the low post, there are few who can guard him because there is so much he can do. ”

The Zen master even praised Ji Guoqiu in an interview: "He is so tall, his arm span is not inferior to Gasol, and in the center position, his speed seems too fast." He's got an incredible sense of body control and a lot of offense from the outside and in the low post, but he's also a very team player and you can see how much his teammates love him. ”

"If I had to choose a team core, I wouldn't hesitate to choose panda, even if Jordan was on the list."

Phil. Jackson's last sentence is really incredible, and many people who react quickly immediately think of a possibility - could it be that this guy wants to coach the best players in the league again? Don't forget, the head coach of the Nets next season has not yet been decided, and if the Zen master is hired, who will be able to compete with him?

Ji Guoqiu was also surprised when he saw the report, he didn't expect Phil. That's what Jackson would say about him, and since he said so, it's almost certain that the Zen master won't coach the Lakers anymore. Phil. Jackson's words are equivalent to directly getting Kobe Bryant to the third place in the league, which shows that he no longer cares about offending the core of the Lakers, so there is only one possibility, he no longer plans to coach the Lakers.

"Damn, didn't he say that with me in mind? I didn't even mention me, which is unreasonable. ”

Ji Guoyi flipped through the newspaper for a long time, and found that this bastard didn't mention him at all, didn't he deliberately ignore him?

"You stupid fork, the old Dunleavy won two championships in the Clippers, and he is likely to get the third soon, his position in the Clippers is as stable as Mount Tai, and the Zen master knows how he can't replace the old Dunleavy, and you won't leave the Clippers, of course he won't show favor to you?"

"Then you can't not mention a word, this bastard clearly wants to hug your thighs, boss, you must not be soft-hearted, just ignore him."

Ji Guoqiu smiled when he heard this, and said with a mocking expression: "Are you a fool of me?" With such a good coach taking the initiative to send it to the door, I won't blame it, aren't you kid scared? ”

Ji Guo snorted, forcibly pretended, and said: "What am I afraid of, even if you have the help of this shameless Zen master, you are not my opponent, who is the number one in the alliance, we will wait and see next year." (To be continued......)