warrior godfather

Chapter 269: Copper Wall and Iron Wall (8000 words)
Spoelstra sullenly took the tactical board from the assistant coach beside him.

He never thought that his team would be beaten 8:0 at the beginning, maybe even 9:0 behind.

The Heat players haven't realized the changes in the Warriors, and their expressions are very relaxed. Only James with a livid face, sat down without saying a word, and looked up at the replay of Butler scoring 2+1 on the big screen.

Butler played this ball too smartly, and the sudden stop action was so sudden that he was completely deceived. What embarrassed James even more than this was Butler's steal of him.

He turned to the Warriors bench, and there was elation, as Butler and Curry were treated like heroes, and everyone was laughing and high-fiving them.

James' expression gradually became serious. He knew that he could no longer underestimate that second-year rookie, otherwise he would pay a greater price.

"...LeBron, LeBron! You will handle the ball later, pay attention to slow down the pace, pick and roll with Chris, try to hit the basket, hit the success rate, understand?"

"Oh, oh, no problem." James heard Spoelstra call his name, recovered and nodded.

After more than half a season of running-in, the Heat have gradually figured out their own style of play. James has finally established the core position of the team. His ability to handle the ball is much better than Wade. In fact, he served as the point guard of the Heat. , The pick-and-roll is usually initiated by him.

Going around, James still returned to the role of the big core of holding the ball, mastering the Heat's possession of the ball, and Wade played off the ball step by step, but it is not obvious yet.

At the same time, on the other side of the technical stage, Zhang Yu was also arranging tactics. He gathered all the Warriors players around him and said loudly:

"Remember our defensive strategy, shrink, shrink, or shrink! We can give them room to break through and bring them into the pocket to solve..."

In the noisy atmosphere of the arena, the short timeout ended quickly, and the two sides returned to the court. Butler walked to the free throw line, executed a 2+1 free throw, and made a steady hit amidst the cheers of the fans.

9: 0.

The Heat attacked. James dribbled the ball at the top of the arc to control the rhythm according to the coach's instructions. When there were 15 seconds left in the attack time, he beckoned Bosh to come up to cover him. Butler chose to squeeze the screen, while Green stayed at the free throw. Below the line, without following out, James was able to use the short gap to rush into the inside line.

But after Butler struggled to squeeze through the screen, he stuck up to James again, while Green blocked the way to the penalty area and opened his hands.

This is the common way for all teams in the league to defend James after the Cavaliers-Spurs Finals. At the beginning, Popovich used Duncan to block the penalty area, and Bowen interfered from the outside. James only shot 36% of the shots, and the Spurs were also clean. Swept the knights.

James also instantly saw the Warriors' defensive strategy, and he was already familiar with this defense to the bone.

But he didn't stop, and with an indomitable momentum, he rushed towards the basket!
Not everyone is qualified to defend him like this. If it were Chandler, he might change his offensive style, but Green's height of less than 2 meters is not in his eyes.

Facing James who was rushing towards him like an armored chariot, Green didn't have the slightest fear. He raised his right hand high, greeted him, turned his body slightly, and collided fiercely with James.

boom!
Like sparks colliding with the earth, the two burly men entangled in one place, and James was surprised to find that Green's strength was stronger than he imagined.

But the two were still moving towards the basket, and Green didn't dare to stand still to stop him. He would definitely be blocked by the referee, and James. The strength is too strong, and it still has the upper hand in the confrontation. Green can only reduce his speed a little, but he still can't stop the beast.

James took a big step, rushed into the Warriors' penalty area, and used his body to push Green away, preparing for a layup.

But at this moment, a pair of big hands blocked his head like covering the sky, and Chandler took advantage of Green's delay in James' time to help defend from the weak side in time.

And James went all the way to the basket, he was at the end of his strength, at the stage where his old strength was exhausted and his new strength was not born, he had no time to dodge, and the layup was firmly blocked!

Zhang Yu smiled, Butler + Green + Chandler, and Kirilenko was sitting off the court, this is the net he laid for James!
Snapped!
The basketball was slammed upcourt by Chandler, and Curry slammed out of the diagonal stab, picked it up before everyone else, and ran to the upcourt.

Because James was blocked so suddenly, none of the Heat players could react, and Curry was unguarded. He rushed into the penalty area, kicked hard, and dunked the basketball with both hands.

11: 0.

But it was this unpretentious dunk that caused a tsunami of responses. The fans all opened their mouths in surprise and even stood up from their seats, as if they had seen something extremely incredible.

This is Curry's first dunk since entering the league!
The players on the Warriors' bench also got up one after another, and fell backwards in a row, as if feeling the "shock wave" after Curry's dunk, the expressions on their faces were exaggerated, and Curry himself hugged his head and widened his eyes , As if frightened, the entire Oracle Arena was boiling because of Curry's dunk.

At this time, ESPN, the broadcaster, also played the subtitle "Curry completed the first dunk in his career". Zhang Weiping laughed and said:

"Today, fans and friends watched. Curry dunked for the first time on the court. It seems that his athletic ability is much better than Nash. At least he can dunk on the court."

Yang Jian said:

"James has been intercepted and blocked one after another on the offensive end. His state today seems to be a bit problematic. If he can't adjust in time, it will be difficult for the Heat to play."

Spoelstra's face on the sidelines became even uglier, but it was impossible for him to call two timeouts in a row. He took a deep breath, pressed his hands down, signaled the players to stabilize, and then did He made a gesture, which meant that James continued to call.

He is also somewhat dissatisfied with James' performance, but he cannot take the ball away from James. A superstar has dignity. Even if Spoelstra wants to adjust his offense, he must wait until James scores.

James is also suffocating. Since the Heat got on the right track, he hasn't felt so suffocated for a long time.

In the next round, he still played a pick-and-roll with Bosh, but instead of hitting the basket with a header, he completed a jumper from the middle distance, and the basketball bounced into the basket.

At 11:2, the Heat finally scored.

Looking back, Clay missed a three-pointer, and Spoelstra immediately signaled to hand the ball to Wade to play.

Although James hadn't finished venting his anger, he had already played several rounds, and it was Wade's turn. He could only hand the ball to Wade and run to the corner to open up space.

Now that the Big Three are formed, it is impossible to play as one likes, and James knows this too.

After Wade received the ball, he waved his hand, and his teammates dispersed one after another, taking away their defenders and leaving the top of the arc to him and Klay.

In the last game against the Warriors, Bosh got a taste of the sweetness from Green, while Wade blasted the young Clay. Later, Zhang Yu replaced Tony Allen to curb his offense a little.

Just now when James wanted to get back on the field, Wade restrained his desire to attack. Now that the ball finally came into his hands, Flash licked his lips excitedly. He wanted to teach the young rookie a good lesson.

Facing his defense, Clay looked calm and didn't panic at all. He seemed to have forgotten that he was blown up by Wade in the last game. He stared intently at Wade's movements. The right hand was raised high, covering Wade's shooting space, and the right hand crossed the bar, posing a very standard defensive action.

But he was a little tight. Although he blocked Wade's shooting space, he left a gap for Wade to break through.

Wade was stunned for a moment. He knew that his shots were not accurate. The opponents usually defended him with wide shots, but Clay did the opposite, which made him a little unexpected.

But he quickly realized that when he pulled the ball to the left, he had to use his speed to pass Clay in one step, but Clay was not easily broken by him like the last time the two played against each other. Applying physical confrontation, he delayed his movements for a while, and then followed him closely. Although he was slightly behind by half a body, he raised his hand to cover Wade's shooting space all the time, and the two walked to the inside together.

And it was Clay's delay that allowed Chandler to stand in the defensive position in time, blocking Wade's way to the penalty area, and Clay kept covering Wade from the side, preventing him from taking an easy shot. , and Chandler formed a two-sided attack.

Wade suddenly realized that he had fallen into a trap, and quickly looked up to find his teammates, and found that Dampier had an empty space under the basket, and he hit the ground and sent the ball over.

In addition to being a super scorer, Wade's organizational skills are also above average. Since entering the league, his average assists per game has never been lower than 4, and has remained above 6 all year round. Giving the ball to teammates is his forte.

But when Dampier received the ball, Green shrunk to the basket in time, stuck close to Dampier, and tried to cut the ball continuously, making it impossible for him to lift the ball to complete the finish.

At the same time, Chandler also seized the opportunity to turn back to protect the frame. Dampier was completely surrounded by the two, and the shooting space and passing route were almost completely blocked. After several struggles, he managed to find a gap. Throw the ball over the hoop and it's fate.

His wild shot didn't even touch the basket, he went straight up and down, and was caught in Green's arms. The Warriors took the opportunity to push and counterattack. Chandler, who followed up, grabbed an offensive rebound and made a violent dunk.

Bang!

13: 2.

This powerful dunk ignited the Oracle Center again, and the shouts of "warrior" resounded throughout the audience, and the fans' emotions were completely aroused.

"Di-"

Spoelstra's face was livid, and he called a timeout again.

At this time, the first quarter had just played 5 minutes, and he had already used two timeouts.

The boxing champion raised his head to the sky and let out a long roar, then grinned and laughed. Everyone smiled and clapped each other's hands. They all saw the strong confidence in each other's eyes. They really felt their own progress. Facing the old enemy, They already have the strength to fight.

Zhang Yu stood on the sidelines, smiling to greet the players leaving the field, and behind him were Warriors fans who raised their arms and shouted.

On the other side of the technical stage, the Heat players were a little dazed. They were caught off guard. The Big Three looked at each other, and their expressions became serious. They completely put away their contempt for the Warriors. The young people on the opposite side, It is an opponent that needs them to deal with seriously.

Instead, it was Spoelstra, who took the tactical board handed over by the assistant coach, with a smile on his face, comforting his players in a gentle voice.

As the head coach, he has seen the most thoroughly. The Warriors have initially established their own offensive and defensive systems. The rookies have made rapid progress, but the Heat's preparations are insufficient. This game will be a tough one. Help the players adjust their mentality.

Speaking of it, this is also Spoelstra's own mistake. The Heat's rising record makes him a little bit lost, who has always been cautious. For a team like the Warriors, which is located in the West and does not have much intersection, and was defeated by the Heat before. The team did not pay too much attention to it, let alone prepared targeted tactics.

"Come on, the Warriors are no longer the Warriors who lost to us by a big margin. They are a real strong team! We must give our all..." Spoelstra took a deep breath , Bury the remorse in my heart deeply in the bottom of my heart, and concentrate on arranging tactics.

Yang Jian sighed:
"The Heat called another timeout. They were stunned, but no one thought that the Heat could be beaten 13:2 by the Warriors, and the process was so dramatic. The Big Three were defended in turn. This is too rare. gone."

Zhang Weiping said with a smile:
"It can be seen that the Heat coach Spoelstra is not well prepared, otherwise the Heat's offense would not be as it is now, and there is no coordination at all. Although he brought the Heat to the second position in the Eastern Conference, it is still too much. You are young and need time to grow up."

This time, Spoelstra called a long timeout in order to interrupt the momentum of the Warriors. After the timeout ended and the two sides returned to the field, the fiery atmosphere in the Oracle Center had cooled down a lot.

Spoelstra took a closer look at the Warriors fans who had returned to the field, and found that although their expressions were still excited, they were generally calm, and he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

He is confident that as long as the Warriors do not maintain the momentum of the counterattack, the Heat will be able to bring the situation back with the powerful offensive firepower of the Big Three.

"Di-"

The referee's whistle sounded, the game continued, the Heat sent a sideline ball, and the first attack came back from a timeout. Spoelstra handed it over to Wade. Compared with James, he is more familiar with and believes in Wade's attack. ability.

This time Wade was much more cautious. He first used fake moves to completely shake Clay away, and then succeeded in throwing a shot one step inside the free throw line before the Warriors' help defense was in place.

4: 13.

Wade's goal relieved the hustle and bustle in the Oracle Arena, and the fans gradually woke up from the frenzied atmosphere. The Big Three are the Big Three. It is impossible to prevent superstars from dying. Previously, the Warriors just used the Heat's support. He underestimated the enemy's heart and took the lead. After the opponent paid more attention to it, he still needed to fight head-on to win the game.

"Warrior—warrior—"

Led by the on-site DJ, the fans gradually chanted slogans to provide all the support they could give to the Warriors players on the court. They knew that the matchup between the team and the Big Three would last a whole game.

Amidst the cheers of the fans, the Warriors launched an offense. Curry picked and rolled Dampier, and the Heat decisively flanked him. This is a tactic that Spoelstra had arranged long ago. Curry finally won.

After Curry was flanked, he distributed the ball to Butler very calmly. In the past three months, he has encountered many double-teams, and he has also conducted targeted training, and his ability to play the ball under flanking has been greatly improved.

Butler was briefly open as James shrunk to the edge of the lane to help, but after he caught the ball, James sprinted toward him, trying to interfere with his shot.

At his peak, James was terrifying on the defensive end. He was at the top level regardless of single defense or assist defense. He quickly threw himself in front of Butler, and he controlled his center of gravity very well, only slightly shifted to the right. .

But it was this offset that gave Butler a chance. He raised his hand to shoot. James subconsciously raised his hand to interfere, and his center of gravity tilted again. Butler quickly received the ball and went to the basket to kill.

In this case, no matter how quick James reacted, he was half a body behind Butler. The two entangled and entered the inside line. Butler firmly stuck James behind him. Easy layup.

15: 4.

After scoring the goal, Butler glanced at James defiantly, his eyes full of provocation.

Butler, who grew up on the streets, never knew what fear was.

James smiled and didn't say anything, but he slowly narrowed his eyes and his expression gradually became stern.

Zhang Weiping praised:
"Good shot! Butler scored 5 points on James, and even broke one of James. He competed with James. This game is good."

Subsequently, the Heat took the initiative to slow down the pace, and the Big Three took turns to score, helping the team stabilize the situation.

With 3 minutes left in the first quarter, Spoelstra replaced James Jones and Eddie House to space James, let Wade and Bosh go down and rest, and let James use his huge containment power Drive the Heat's overall offense.

But the Heat are also not good at defending against the Warriors' offense. When Curry is double-teamed, he handles the ball calmly. He can always give the ball to open teammates. Others' three-point stability has also improved, and he can punish the Heat for double-teaming. , Butler even seized the opportunity of James' defense, shot from inside and outside, and scored consecutively.

And after Curry was double-teamed a few times, Zhang Yu waved him and Green to play a pick-and-roll. The Heat still double-teamed Curry, but Green showed his improved pass control skills. When he was emptied, he rushed inside. Either attract help defense, give Chandler a lob, or further compress the Heat's defense, distribute the ball to the outside, and let Klay and Butler shoot open three-pointers.

Although he still makes mistakes when handling the ball, he has improved a lot compared to the last time he played against the Heat. He can even throw an open three-pointer suddenly, so that the Heat dare not let him go too far. Also much smaller.

When the Heat made substitutions, Zhang Yu also made substitutions.

He paced up to Danny Green, looked straight into his eyes, and said:
"Danny, can I trust you?"

Danny Green, who was leaning on his chin with his hands, felt a little bored for a moment, and then realized something. He felt his heartbeat suddenly speed up, and nodded quickly:
"Of course, coach!"

"are you ready?"

"Of course, coach, I'm always ready!" Danny Green trembled.

Zhang Yu smiled, patted him on the shoulder, and said loudly:

"Go, you replace Clay, play according to the tactics of training, don't be nervous, make a bold move!"

Danny Green stood up from his seat and said loudly:
"Yes, sir!"

After a while, Zhang Yu took advantage of the dead ball and replaced Clay and Butler with Danny Green Kirilenko.

Zhang Weiping's eyes lit up, and he said:

"Kirilenko is on the stage. He is Yao Ming's old opponent. Everyone should be familiar with him. He is nicknamed AK47. He has a strong defense. He has been selected to the best defensive team many times. He is especially good at blocking shots. Some fans who have watched the game for a long time It should be remembered that he blocked Yao Ming several times..."

Yang Jian turned his attention to Danny Green:

"The new No. 14 Danny Green is entering the regular rotation of the Warriors for the first time. In the past, the Warriors usually replaced Clay in the second quarter with Tony Allen. Zhang Yu has prepared something new to deal with the Heat."

After the two teams have rotated, the Warriors' striker has become Kirilenko + Green + Chandler, which is more than the defensive strength of the starting lineup.

After entering the game, Zhang Yu arranged for Green to face James. His confrontation was stronger than that of Kirilenko. Kirilenko was responsible for the follow-up defense. In the end, Chandler guarded the basket.

Facing the highly layered defense of the three, James played very uncomfortable, but the Warriors' strict defense against him also gave others opportunities, but except for James Jones, others were not strong enough to seize opportunities. The Heat's offense In general, it was still contained.

After Danny Green came on the field, he was still a little nervous. He got 3 open three-pointers, but only hit 1.

Kirilenko continued his good performance in training, almost seamlessly connected with the Warriors' defensive system, and had a great presence on the defensive end. He contributed 3 block and 1 steal in just 1 minutes.

But his shortcomings in shooting still have an impact on the Warriors' offense. Coupled with Danny Green's relatively poor shooting performance, the lineup composed of three and a half non-space points makes Curry's offense with the ball more difficult.

The unbalanced offense and defense of the Warriors has troubled Zhang Yu for a long time, but in order to limit the offense of the Heat, he chose a defense-first lineup. Danny Green is already his rotation for offense compromise, otherwise he should be in this position. It's Tony Allen.

Fortunately, with their excellent defense, the Warriors still maintained their lead. In the end, the Warriors ended the first quarter with a score of 29:22.

After Danny Green came off the field, he lowered his head in frustration and said with some embarrassment:
"I'm sorry, Coach, I didn't make those two [-]-pointers..."

Danny Green is very regretful. Only God knows how long he waited for this opportunity. In order to enter the rotation, he practiced defense and three-pointers every day. He didn't even dare to practice other things, for fear that he would not be able to reach the coaching staff. want the ball.

But when he really got the opportunity he dreamed of and entered the rotation lineup, the nervousness immediately swept over his whole body, making his movements much stiffer, and even missed two three-pointers that were difficult to train.

This is against the Heat, and it's live broadcast across the United States!

The annoyance of wasting opportunities flooded Danny Green uncontrollably. He looked at Zhang Yu nervously and was ready to be severely reprimanded.

But Zhang Yu just patted him on the shoulder and said with a light smile:

"It's okay, as I said, let you make bold shots. You did the right thing. I will send you on the court later. Don't be afraid, just shoot when you get the chance. Don't forget, you are a shooter!"

"I'm a shooter..." Danny Green murmured, and then his expression slowly became resolute, and he nodded heavily, "I know what to do, coach!"

Zhang Yu comforted him with warm words, and only returned to his seat after Danny Green relieved his tension and completely relaxed.

But the moment he turned around, a gleam of worry flashed through Zhang Yu's eyes. He seemed calm, but he was also worried about the team's space problem, but the lack of shooters can only wait for the players to practice shooting It can only be resolved later, he can only bury this worry in his heart and show a calm side.

Zhang Yu is the real backbone of the Warriors. He must always show that he has a well-thought-out look, so that the players can have confidence.

Just when Zhang Yu comforted Danny Green, the game entered the intermission. In the CCTV live broadcast room, Yang Jian said:

"It can be seen that the defense of these young players of the Warriors has made a lot of progress. They were able to catch the Heat by surprise in the opening game, but when the Big Three are serious, the Warriors are still difficult to defend."

Zhang Weiping added:

"Green, Butler, Clay and other players all have potential, but they still need time to grow. Three months is far from enough. Facing the Big Three, they still lack experience. Fortunately, the Warriors have Chandler guarding the inside. , he is the magic weapon of the Warriors' defense."

Yang Jian nodded and said:
"That's right, but Kirilenko's performance is also quite good. He integrated into the Warriors at an unexpectedly fast speed, making it hard to see that he was only traded to the Warriors for two days. Replace Matthews with him. Warriors The defense, which is already ranked among the top three in the league, will become stronger."

Zhang Weiping smiled and said:
"Hehe, many people now say that Zhang Yu is more old-school than the old-school coaches. He traded away all the Warriors can shoot in exchange for those who can defend. He doesn't look like a young man under 30 years old at all."

"Speaking of age, there is another interesting fact about Zhang Yu..."

While the two were chatting in the live broadcast room, the second quarter began, and the two teams rotated again. The Warriors had Jeremy Lin, Yi Jianlian, Danny Green, Butler and Big Z, while the Heat had Bosh, Wade, James Jones, Eddie House and Joel Anthony.

Stella on the sidelines smiled when he saw the rotation of the two sides.

The existence of the Big Three allows him to have at least one star on the court to lead the team at all times. Wade and James can achieve a seamless connection. The Heat can always maintain a strong point for developing offense, which is something no other team can do. Now is the real strongest moment for the Heat.

Sure enough, the Heat quickly approached the score under the leadership of Wade and Bosh.

Although Zhang Yu replaced Butler as a ball-handling point in order to match the Heat's firepower, even if he and Jeremy Lin tried their best, there was still a gap in terms of offensive development with Wade and Bosh.

Moreover, Wade's defense made it difficult for Jeremy Lin to move on the court. The pick-and-roll offense that the Warriors were good at during the rotation stage was frustrated, but Danny Green stood up and made two open three-pointers. Making kills and standing on the free throw line did not let the situation collapse quickly.

But at 6 minutes into the second quarter, the Warriors' rotation reached its limit, and the Heat still relied on the star's dimensionality reduction blow to overtake the score by 40:38.

Then, taking advantage of a dead ball, the two sides switched to the starting lineup again, but Zhang Yu replaced Butler to rest and let Kirilenko play.

In this way, the game returned to the defensive battle in the first quarter. The iron wall composed of Chandler + Green + Kirilenko blocked the inside of the Warriors, while the Heat swept the perimeter led by Wade and James. , and just restrained the guard combination of Curry and Clay.

The Heat's scoring depended on the Big Three's tough shots one by one, while the Warriors still aimed at the weakness of Bosh and Dampier's slow movement, and played a lot of off-ball coordination, which was quite effective.

After more than half a season of running-in, the Warriors not only initially set up a defensive system, but also began to take shape in the offensive pass and cut cooperation.

Of course, Zhang Yu is different from Cole. He just uses passing and cutting as a powerful supplement to the Warriors' pick-and-roll offense, not passing and cutting for the sake of passing and cutting.

However, in the absence of shooters, off-ball offensive methods such as going around screens and hand-offs can allow Green, Chandler, and Kirilenko, who have low shooting threats, to participate in the offense, effectively reducing the problem of space congestion, and also Can target the weakness of the Heat.

After the second quarter, the two teams fought evenly, and the battle ended at 54:56. The Warriors only led the Heat by 2 points.

However, the most dangerous transition period in the second quarter passed, which made Zhang Yu heave a sigh of relief. In the second half, the Warriors can appropriately shorten the rotation.

When the red light at the end of halftime came on, Zhang Yu and Spoelstra looked at each other across the technical platform as if they had a good heart, and saw the sharp coldness in each other's eyes.

They all knew that the game really started in the second half.

Yang Jian sighed:
"The Warriors played so well at the start and only led the Heat by two points in the first half. The firepower of the Big Three is indeed the best in the league."

(End of this chapter)