warrior godfather

Chapter 196

After the grand and noisy entrance ceremony, the headlights came on, the Oracle Center was brightly lit, and the fans cheered again.

Zhang Yu came to the technical stage, smiled and looked at Brooks who was walking towards him.

The two simply shook hands. Although they were smiling, they looked at each other with a strong fighting spirit.

Although the audience focused their attention on the players on the field, it was not just a battle between the players, it was also a battle between the two head coaches, and a battle between the two coaching staffs.

Both Zhang Yu and Brooks are full of confidence in the tactics they have arranged, and believe that their players are the strongest. Now is the time to verify all this.

The Warriors started with Curry, Butler, Azubuike, Varejao and Chandler. This is the 6th game of Varejao's return. The tacit understanding, and after the baptism of this 7-game winning streak, the state of the Warriors team has been stimulated, and they are bound to win this game.

The Thunder's starting lineup is Durant, Westbrook, Jeff Green, Krstic and Sefolosha, which is also the starting lineup Brooks has always used.

Thunder's players are relatively young and lucky, and have not encountered too many injuries. This starting lineup has been used since the beginning of the season, but when it comes to the decisive moment, Brooks usually replaces Sefolosha with Ha Deng, adding an attack point, that is the Thunder's strongest lineup.

ESPN's Mike Brin, Jeff Van Gundy, and Mark Jackson commented on today's nationwide live broadcast. Unlike TNT's entertainment style, ESPN's commentary is very professional. Although the audience is not as wide as TNT's commentary, it is more acceptable to rational fans. Welcome.

On the court, Durant stood in his own half, squinting and looking at Curry on the opposite side.

He still remembers how badly he was double-teamed by his opponent last time, and there is another thing that has kept him in his heart, that is, Curry was selected as the All-Star starter, and he was just an All-Star substitute.

This is already the third year of his professional career, but he was selected as an All-Star substitute for the first time this year, and Curry became an All-Star starter in his rookie season. Durant is very unfair about this, he is this year's scoring leader , has always been at the top of the scoring list, and the record is not bad. Why is Curry the starter and he is the substitute?

Durant turned to look at Zhang Yu, who was calm and composed on the sidelines, and shook his right hand vigorously. It was the fans behind this person who abruptly lifted Curry into the All-Star starting lineup. Rand doesn't believe that Curry will get more votes than him, obviously he is the darling of American fans!
And Durant still remembers the double-team Zhang Yu arranged for him in the last game. He was guarded with a feeling of doubting his life. No other coach had targeted him like that before, as if inspired by Zhang Yu. After that, he also Encountered double-teaming by other teams.

But after he went back, he repeatedly practiced his ability to play under double-teams, and further refined his off-ball offensive methods. If the Warriors still double-team him, he will definitely severely punish the opponent for this defensive strategy. , and if the opponent does not double-team, he will let the Warriors know what a scoring champion is!

"Di-"

With the whistle of the referee, Chandler successfully jumped the ball, and the game officially began!
According to Zhang Yu's arrangement, the Warriors will still follow the usual style of play at the beginning. Curry and Chandler will play pick-and-roll at the top of the arc. Zhang Yu will not make any changes first. He will first test the Thunder's tactics.

In the last game, Curry and Chandler's pick-and-roll pierced the Thunder's defense. This time Brooks will not be indifferent. He changed his defensive strategy and is determined to guard the basket. Resolutely don't let Chandler get to the basket smoothly.

This is the case with this ball. When Chandler opened and slid down, Jeff Green and Durant immediately made a posture of helping defense in the middle, blocking Chandler's sprinting route.

Brooks' method is very useful. Chandler has no offensive threat outside the penalty area, but the Warriors have already trained for this situation. He didn't panic and passed the ball directly to the left corner.

According to the Warriors' practice, there should be a shooter there to open the space.

Sure enough, Butler, who was ambushing in the bottom corner, received a pass from Chandler. Durant was facing him, and he quickly returned to his position. He hesitated to catch and shoot the ball, and seized the slightest gap.

brush!
The basketball went into the net hollow, 0:3, and the Warriors got off to a good start.

After the goal was scored, Brooks frowned and shook his head dissatisfied.

Since he asked the players to shrink their defense, he was mentally prepared to miss the Warriors' three-pointers, but he couldn't accept this kind of leakage.

Just now Jeff Green clearly let go of Varejao to help defend, but Durant also went to help defend, allowing Butler to get a small open three-pointer.

He made it very clear before the game that Varejao has almost no shooting threat, Jeff Green can boldly let him go to help defend, and Durant also needs to help defend, but he must choose the timing of the help defense carefully, and he cannot give Butler an easy shot As a result, Durant messed up his defensive strategy as soon as he came up.

Brooks sighed, instead of blaming Durant, he applauded instead, stopped Durant who was running up the field, and gestured to him. Guarded.

In the past two years, Durant has been completely stocked by the Thunder. His scoring ability has been fully developed and he has become the league's scoring leader, but the price is that he puts all his energy on the offensive end. Of course, no one will let such a Super scorers focus on defense.

As a result, Durant has not developed the execution and discipline of the defensive end at all. The single defense can barely maintain the average level of the league by relying on the advantage of height and arm length. The auxiliary defense is completely messed up and unsightly.

Brooks also wanted to cultivate Durant's defense and formulated a targeted training plan for him, but Durant has always had physical weaknesses, and the Thunder relied heavily on his offense. After trying a few games, Brooks only Being able to give up helplessly, he acquiesced to Durant paddling on defense and leaving his physical strength on the offensive end.

But this is not good news for the Thunder's defense. The striker is an important part of the team's overall defense. With the Thunder's defensive weakness, plus Westbrook, who can only defend alone and is getting more and more slack in defense without the ball, the Thunder's defense is divided, and the outside defense can only rely on Sefolosha and Jeff Green. , Fortunately, the defensive level of the two has reached the elite level, otherwise Brooks will really want to cry without tears.

In the next few rounds, the Thunder relied on Kostic's pursuit and Jeff Green's tireless defense, which basically restricted Curry and Chandler's pick-and-roll cooperation. Put the ball into the basket. With his passing vision, he can only distribute the ball to Varejao who was emptied by Jeff Green. The latter has no shooting threat and can only stand in the middle distance. Jeff Green It's easy to get back in position and don't give him an easy chance to score.

Conversely, the Thunder let Westbrook and Jeff Green try two first on the offensive end, and found that it was still difficult to break through the penalty area guarded by Chandler, and after nearly [-] games of running-in, Chandler was completely Integrating into the Warriors and joining hands with Varejao, the Warriors' defense in the penalty area has become more unbreakable than before.

Zhang Yu took advantage of the Thunder's weakness of lack of shooters - which is also the weakness of most teams at this time, shrinking the inside line, boldly emptying Westbrook, Sefolosha and Jeff Green, but just sent Butler to pester Durant, The defense of the restricted area was impenetrable, which made the Thunder's attempts to hit the inside repeatedly hit a wall.

In the first half of the first quarter, the two sides tested each other, and the Warriors still had the upper hand. Chandler's height and mobility are there, and it is impossible to be completely restricted by the Thunder. Moreover, Curry and Chandler played a pick-and-roll When playing, other people don't stick around and watch, but run off the ball on the weak side, cover each other, and run a few opportunities.

At 5 minutes and 24 seconds into the game, the Warriors led the Thunder by 18 points at 13:5. Brooks saw the Thunder's offense completely stagnant, and raised his hand to call a timeout.

Although he was reluctant, he had no choice but to magnify his moves.

After the Thunder players left the field, Brooks called the players together and said in a deep voice:
"We'll fight like this later..."

The short timeout ended quickly, and the two sides returned to the field.

In the Thunder's offense, as usual, Westbrook held the ball across the half court, but he did not insist on attacking the basket like he did in the first half of the first quarter, but controlled the ball at the top of the arc.

At the same time, Durant started from the bottom corner and went out to the free throw line with the help of Sefolosha's cover. Westbrook passed the ball. After Durant received the ball, the Warriors immediately went up to attack. It is also a strategy arranged by Zhang Yu. As long as the ball is in Durant's hands, he will immediately attack and force him to take the ball.

But Durant didn't hesitate after receiving the ball. He directly pulled out and threw the ball over Butler's head. After he made the shot, Azubuike, who double-teamed him, arrived late.

brush!
The basketball bounced into the hoop, and Durant grinned and retreated back to the defense.

15: 18.

"Yes! Durant hit a difficult two-pointer to help the Thunder approach the score. This is also his first shot in the game." Mike Breen said.

Mark Jackson interjected:

"The Thunder should have played like this a long time ago. It is very irrational to let Westbrook and Jeff Green attack the penalty area guarded by Chandler, and Varejao's defense is also very good. Only Durant is unstoppable. Brooks should let Durant run the offense instead of Westbrook."

He had been questioning Brooks' offensive arrangements just now, and when he saw Durant scoring a goal, he immediately praised Durant and didn't forget to hurt Westbrook.

As a long-established traditional point guard, he can't understand Westbrook's style of play.

Looking back, Curry still held the ball to find Chandler for a pick-and-roll, but the latter's roll was blocked by the Thunder's help defense. He distributed the ball to Azubuike on the outside, and Azubuike held the ball himself. , The mid-range jumper hit the iron, and the rebound was accepted by Krstic.

Westbrook received the pass from Krstic and launched a fast break. Fortunately, the Warriors retreated in time and defended layer by layer, successfully stopping Westbrook, and the Thunder switched to a positional battle.

Durant still used the cover of his teammates to run without the ball. Butler made preparations in advance and kept up with Durant's footsteps, but Durant still pulled directly after receiving the ball, ignoring Butler's defense at all.

brush!
The basketball went into the basket smoothly, and at 17:18, there was only 1 point left.

"Di-"

After the goal was scored, Zhang Yu immediately called a timeout. Durant and his teammates clapped their hands one by one to celebrate, and shouted in relief. He felt his hands were burning hot. Tonight, he must report the arrow of the last loss. Vengeance!
……

On the Warriors bench, everyone gathered around Zhang Yu. Zhang Yu held the tactics board, but instead of drawing tactics on it, he said loudly:

"Everyone did a good job just now. We established a leading advantage, but the opponent changed the offense, and we have to change accordingly...Steph, it's time for you to perform, this is the Oracle Center, not to let Kevin Durant play wild Take back his limelight!"

"No problem, boss, leave it to me!" Curry nodded heavily.

"Kai Lanna, you did a good job just now, come down and rest for a while, there will be opportunities for you to perform later... Wesley will play, and we will implement plan B, ok?" Zhang Yu said.

Everyone nodded in unison. Azubuike didn't feel depressed when he heard that he was replaced. This was the tactic the team practiced yesterday, and Zhang Yu wasn't dissatisfied with him.

After the timeout, Matthews replaced Azubuike and the Warriors attacked.

When Curry came to the front court, he still beckoned his teammates to cover, but it was not Chandler who brought up, but Butler.

Durant, who was defending Butler, also followed. After Westbrook was blocked by Butler for a while, he switched defenses with Durant. Now Curry and Durant are facing each other.

After the Thunder switched defenses, Butler ran straight to the bottom corner, and Westbrook followed, leaving the open space at the top of the arc to Curry and Durant.

Only then did people realize that Curry was going to single-handedly fight Durant. Excited shouts rang out in the arena, and Durant's expression became serious. Wait for Curry to attack.

"Oh, Curry is going to single Durant through the pick-and-roll! Mark, what do you think of this set of matchups?" Mike Breen said.

Mark Jackson thought for a moment, shook his head and said:
"I don't think this is a good choice. Durant is tall and long, and he is not slow. He has more experience than Curry. It is difficult for Curry to gain the upper hand in a duel with him."

"No, you're wrong, Mark, Durant has never been a good defender, and Curry has shown us how he can blow up those tall insiders in the past 7 games. Although Durant He is a small forward, but he has the height of an insider, and he will definitely not be cheap in Curry's hands!" Jeff Van Gundy suddenly interjected and said firmly.

(End of this chapter)