warrior godfather

Chapter 276 Zhang Yu's Expectation

On March 3, the Warriors came to Phoenix to challenge the Suns away.

The Suns are falling fast. Last season, they were able to reach the Western Conference finals. This season, they can't even cross the threshold of the playoffs. They are now only ranked tenth in the Western Conference, and they are as many as 5 wins behind the Hornets, who are eighth in the Western Conference. With 13 games left, they are basically sure to bid farewell to the playoffs.

Nash struggled for a season, but the hero's end was inevitable.

People really realize that the era of Zonda is over, and Deron went away to Brooklyn and struggled in the quagmire with the Nets. Paul tried his best, but he only brought the Hornets to the eighth place in the West. Winning the MVP trend, Curry fought fiercely with Durant on the scoring list. It's finished.

This game has also become another proof of this statement. In the face-to-face contest with Nash, Curry showed his power and scored 37 points, 5 assists and 5 rebounds. It was just a performance of 22 points and 11 assists, and the Suns also lost to the Warriors 105:119.

It seems that traditional point guards are really no longer suitable for this era. Point guards in the new era seem to be like Curry, Rose, and Westbrook. , and then send out about 10 assists to complete the task.

People are gradually realizing that traditional point guards have an upper limit. They are stronger than Nash. He has never touched the floor of the finals in his life. Kidd seems to be far away from his first championship ring. Paul, in essence, is also a combo guard.

In recent years, many talented point guards have emerged. Rose, Westbrook, Curry, Harden, and Wall have been selected with high picks one after another. A point guard.

Gradually, the title of "Golden Age of Point Guards" was called out. Many people predicted that when these talented point guards grow up, the NBA will enter an era of point guard hegemony. In the middle, the clues were first seen.

On March 3, the Warriors came to Dallas to challenge the Mavericks. This was the second stop of their three-game streak, and the last stop was to play the Spurs.

These three games plus the previous home game against the Mavericks constituted a devil's schedule. Fortunately, the decline of the sun gave the Warriors a chance to breathe.

In this game, the Warriors came with the ambition of revenge. They vowed to avenge their loss at home. His sophistication and fighting spirit still made these young people leave with hatred again.

Nowitzki started by crushing Green as the Mavericks. Zhang Yu could only flank him, but Carlisle quickly let Nowitzki come to a high position, and then after Kidd's transfer and Nowitzki's points Under the ball, the Warriors' inside line, which became empty because of the upward pincer attack, was quickly penetrated by Chandler who was rolling down and Marion who was cutting in the air.

Zhang Yu then asked Chandler to defend Nowitzki, which played a certain role, but as the playoffs approached, Nowitzki's state is getting better and better, his offense has reached the peak, facing Chandler Le also maintains a decent scoring rate.

After Chandler was transferred from the basket, the people who protected the frame became Green and Butler. Of course, Kidd would not let go of this great opportunity, and frequently sent second passes for Bogut and Marion. Green and Butler Le tried his best to shrink and assist defense, but limited by his height and experience, their frame protection effect was not good.

Zhang Yu made adjustments again, replacing Green and Kirilenko to protect the frame, but Kirilenko is no longer at his peak, and his athletic ability has dropped significantly compared to before. He is unable to handle the important task of protecting the frame alone.

Under Zhang Yu's balance, he changed back to letting Green defend Nowitzki, using his strong confrontation and long wingspan to try his best to interfere with Nowitzki's shooting rhythm, Butler/Clay flanked, and Chandler stayed at the basket Under the frame, but also ready to help defense at any time.

He chose one of the two bottles of poison, which is to completely strangle Nowitzki and test the response ability of the Mavericks' role players.

In essence, Zhang Yu is not a team player. He believes in individual heroism. Between stars and role players, he chooses to let go of role players, which is the same as Tyronn Lue strangling Curry.

The difference is that Tai Lue won the bet, but Zhang Yu lost the game.

While the Warriors poured most of their defensive attention on Nowitzki, Terry, Marion, Kidd and Barea stepped up.
They made three-pointers one by one, continuously took advantage of the emptiness of the Warriors inside, and cut to the penalty area to score. Chandler was going to fight with Bogut. The Warriors were on fire inside and out.

But Zhang Yu still gritted his teeth and deployed heavy troops on the front line to guard against Nowitzki. He didn't believe that the old guys like the Mavericks, who were about to retire in a few years, could keep going on the offensive end.

So, the first half passed, the third quarter passed, and half of the fourth quarter passed. These veterans actually maintained an efficient offense, kept suppressing the Warriors, and even gradually widened the point difference.

Zhang Yu's expression changed from surprise, to helplessness, and finally to numbness.

Now that he is on the gambling table, he has to admit defeat, but if he is asked to choose again, he will still attack Nowitzki without hesitation.

When the Warriors' single defense cannot limit Nowitzki, Zhang Yu will never allow a superstar to score unscrupulously.

However, although the defensive end was defeated, the Warriors had no problem with their offense this time. Curry was pinched by the Mavericks just as he was on the field, but his scoring was much more stable and his mistakes were controlled. Clay also returned to normal this time. Almost all three-pointers were grasped, but Butler steadily digested his part of the ball, sharing the pressure of Curry holding the ball to develop offense.

But the biggest disadvantage of the Warriors is that they are a young team with inexperienced youngsters, lack of tacit understanding, a high turnover rate in passing and cutting offenses, and their offensive integrity is far inferior to the veteran Mavericks.

Zhang Yu wanted to use the physical advantage of the striker to grab the front board and relieve the offensive pressure, but under the joint protection of Bogut and Marion, there was no good effect.

The Warriors have no good way to break the Mavericks' defense, but Zhang Yu will not let the players force the pass and cut. The team's offense will eventually fall on the pick-and-roll and singles, but the Warriors always have two non-space points on the field. It won't cost too much to let the Mavericks pinch Curry, and they can shrink in time when Butler breaks through. The two want to provide a hard solution for the team, but they are powerless.

This goes back to the old problem, the team lacks ball handling and space points, and these two problems can only be solved when the rookies grow up.In this game, the Warriors can only swallow the defeat again.

In the end, the Warriors lost to the Mavericks 95:103. Although the loss was not much, the Warriors were firmly suppressed by their opponents. Although they caused a few waves, they never overtook or even tied the score.

库里在小牛的重点照顾下，仅仅得到18分6助攻5篮板，克莱15分，巴特勒17分5篮板，格林拿到了5分5助攻5篮板1抢断1封盖的奇葩数据，不过林书豪在衔接段发挥得很出色，砍下了14分5助攻。

This is also the only bright spot for the Warriors in this game. Jeremy Lin has gradually shown the demeanor of a sixth man. He can not only score points on the court, but also organize the team's offense. He is one of the few reliable ball-holding points for the Warriors. one.

For the Mavericks, Nowitzki scored 23 points and 7 rebounds. He didn't score much, but he greatly involved the Warriors' defensive focus.

Except for Nowitzki, other players from the Mavericks played very well. Five of them scored in double figures. An economical triple-double with 5 assists and 21 rebounds, Bogut had 15 points and 3 rebounds, and Barea also had 13 points and 12 assists.

Carlisle and Zhang Yu made the same decision, and they both deployed heavy forces around the opponent's core star, but the Mavericks' role players stood up, and the Warriors' role players stood up partly, but not completely, so the Mavericks won. won the final victory.

After the game, Zhang Yu took a deep look at Nowitzki before leaving the court.

He had a hunch that the entanglement between the Warriors and the Mavericks would not end so easily, and he still needed to consider how to deal with this difficult German.

……

"Ronan, are we really going to do this?" Silas asked worriedly.

"Of course." Zhang Yu picked up a cup of latte, took a sip, and replied lightly.

"But according to the current ranking, the Spurs will be our opponents in the playoffs. Today is our last regular season game with the Spurs. If we take a rest, we will miss the chance to play against them!" Silas was a little excited Said, "And the team is only 1.5 games ahead of the Thunder. I think we should try our best to win every game and keep our home court advantage over them!"

Zhang Yu put down the latte in his hand, turned his head and looked out of the floor-to-ceiling windows, at the quiet and peaceful streets of San Antonio in the early morning, and said with a smile:

"Stephen, you know, according to the predetermined plan, fourth or fifth is actually the same for us. Anyway, the Nuggets are still 6 games away from us, we will not fall to sixth, and we and the Thunder There is one more game, as long as we win that one, the home court advantage will still be ours nine out of ten."

After defeating the Suns, the Warriors rushed to Phoenix overnight. After half a day of field training, they will challenge the No. [-] Spurs in the West tonight.

Silas's expression froze, then he forked a large piece of bacon and stuffed it into his mouth, and said a little discouraged:

"Okay, but I still feel that the game against the Spurs should not be let go so casually."

The Warriors were having breakfast in the restaurant of the hotel where they were staying. Zhang Yu and Silas were sitting by the window. On the table next to them were assistant coaches and team trainers such as Bruce and Ron Adams, and Jonathan was among them.

The table of Ron Adams and Bruce was the closest to the two of them. Hearing their conversation, Ron Adams looked over and said with a serious expression:

"Ronan, I think Stephen is right. We can use this game to test the Spurs' tactics. Judging from the current ranking, if we pass the first round, the opponent should be the Spurs. We need to prepare early."

Bruce also looked over here, and although he didn't say anything, he nodded lightly, apparently having the same thoughts as Silas and Ron Adams, while Jonathan looked at this side silently, sticking to his assistant's principles. Points, no indication.

Previously, Zhang Yu told them that the team's goal this season is to be fourth in the Western Conference and not compete with the Mavericks for the third position in the Western Conference, and that he will rest Curry in tonight's game against the Spurs, which shocked the coaching staff .

Although the second place in the Western Conference is the defending champion Lakers, they are strong, but the Spurs are also old and powerful. The core lineup composed of GDP is still there, and this season is strong and nirvana, which is not easy to match. They don't understand why Zhang Yu made such a choice , quickly asked the reason.

Zhang Yu explained:
"The style of the Grizzlies is very restrained against the Spurs. If they can reach the eighth place in the West, the Spurs will lose their skin in the first round. As long as we can beat the Thunder in the first round, we will face a severely injured Spurs in the second round. , it will be much easier to play.”

And our opponent is very likely to be the Grizzlies... Zhang Yu added silently in his heart.

His reason was barely accepted by the coaching staff, but they still doubted Zhang Yu's statement. So far, the Spurs and the Grizzlies have played against each other three times, with a record of 2 wins and 1 loss. They have the upper hand. They don't think the Grizzlies Restrain the Spurs.

Silas looked at the record ranking, and suddenly said:
"But the Grizzlies are now ninth in the Western Conference, so they may not be able to make the playoffs."

Zhang Yu smiled slightly:
"We have two more games against the Grizzlies."

Everyone was silent, they understood Zhang Yu's meaning, he was going to carry the Grizzlies into the playoffs, let them make a chestnut for the Warriors, and then the Warriors would reap the benefits.

Silas was silent for a while, then murmured:

"But it's a bit sloppy to expect the Grizzlies to consume the Spurs. After all, the Grizzlies are only eighth in the West..."

Faced with Silas' doubts, Zhang Yu certainly couldn't say that the Spurs would be hacked. As long as the Thunder passed, the Warriors only needed to kill the Grizzlies to enter the Western Conference Finals. This was far more cost-effective than fighting the Lakers to the death.

He can only rely on his absolute authority and prestige of never looking away to forcefully promote the implementation of this plan. The coaching staff can only implement it according to the rules, but they still have doubts in their hearts. Silas put forward his own opinions today.

It's just that he changed the angle. Instead of persuading Zhang Yu to fight for the third place in the Western Conference, he wanted him to give up the idea of ​​resting and fight the Spurs in real battles to prepare for the playoffs. The common thinking of the coaching staff.

But on this matter, Zhang Yu and the coaching staff still had differences. He said slowly:

"Stephen played full time for a season, and the load on him was too great. Letting him rest in rotation is really for the consideration of the playoffs. This matter is settled like this. Take your time, and I will leave first."

After finishing speaking, he picked up half a cup of warm latte and drank it in one gulp, pushed the plate in front of him, nodded to everyone, got up and left.

Seeing this, Jonathan quickly stuffed the remaining half of the fried egg on the plate in front of him into his mouth, chewed it a few times, swallowed it whole, followed Zhang Yu, and walked out of the restaurant, leaving only the coaching staff members looking at each other.

The two walked to the elevator one after the other and waited for the elevator to come down. Jonathan said hesitantly:
"Boss...why didn't you tell Coach Silas that this was to help Stephen win the scoring championship?"

As Zhang Yu's assistant, he never left Zhang Yu's side, and Zhang Yu didn't shy away from him. Yesterday, when Jonathan was helping Zhang Yu sort out the team documents he wanted to approve, he heard a call between Zhang Yu and Larry Riley.

After returning to the home court, Curry's statistics were a bit unpopular. After several games, his scoring hovered around 25 points. He only scored 30+ points when he played against the Kings. Durant deliberately increased his shots. They can score more than 30 points, and the scoring average is 0.2 points ahead of Curry.

Now there are only 10 games before the end of the regular season. If Curry wants to win the scoring title, he must seize the final sprint.

Curry's rest this time is to allow him to save energy and avoid strong teams, so as to avoid a drop in scoring per game, and also give other rookies a chance to exercise. The Warriors' "Curry dependence" is a bit serious. Zhang Yu wants to see , In the absence of Curry, what level the Warriors can play against strong teams is also related to the coaching staff's training strategy for players in the summer.

Of course, this is a decision made by Zhang Yu in line with the team's plan, and he will never harm the team's interests just to give Curry stats.

Looking at the changing elevator floor numbers, Zhang Yu said softly:
"It's simple, I'm here to keep the coaching staff pure."

"Purity?"

"The coaching staff should focus on matters on the aura field, and should not be affected by off-field factors. Jonathan, you remember, if you become a coach in the future, you will put all your attention on training and tactics, star The data and commercial factors are things that the general manager should consider."

"Oh……"

Ding--

At this moment, the elevator came to this floor, and the elevator door opened slowly. Zhang Yu stepped in, followed by Jonathan.

There was no one in the elevator. After the two stood up, they turned around and faced the slowly closing elevator door, Jonathan asked suspiciously:

"Boss, why are you thinking about these things?"

"Nonsense, what did you call me?"

"Boss—well, I see, Boss."

……

That night, the Warriors challenged the Spurs away, and in the absence of Curry, they lost with a score of 92:116.

But Zhang Yu looked at the data sheet of the game, but there was no anger after the team's disastrous defeat on his face, but a faint smile on his face.

The best performer in the Warriors was Butler, who made 21 of 9 shots, including 6 of 2 three-pointers, 7 of 5 free throws, scored 25 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists. The efficiency was not satisfactory, but he digested a lot of balls right.

Zhang Yu is very satisfied with Butler's performance. When Curry comes back, he can give him more ball possessions. With Curry attracting defensive attention, his efficiency will not be so bleak.

Clay made 14 of 5 shots, 9 of 3 three-pointers, and scored 15 points. In the absence of Curry in this game, the Spurs stepped up their marking on him. His offensive environment is very poor. Lai made a few strong shots, reducing his efficiency.

But Zhang Yu also saw a lot of bright spots from Clay. He has fully adapted to the confrontation in the NBA. As long as he is given time to improve his shooting and strength, his strength will usher in a leap, and he will reach his peak earlier.

Green's data is still the same, 6 of 3 shots, 3 of 1 three-pointers, 7 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals, 1 block and 5 turnovers, filling the data column, but none of them are in double figures, and there is no Curry's containment and receiving cards, Green made as many as 5 turnovers, only one less than an assist. At the same time, his lack of scoring methods is also obvious. Now I don't even have to eat pancakes.

There is no doubt that Green needs to continue to improve his passing and offense. His three-pointers are still dependent on the sky, his autonomous offensive ability is almost zero, and his passing is not fine enough. Zhang Yu recorded these in his notebook and left them for him. Summer to solve.

However, Green's defense has improved at an astonishing speed after a season of training. He seems to be particularly talented at this end of the court, tough, tough, cunning, and vicious... Green seems to be born for defense, and he is excellent in single defense. , top-level defense, no dead ends in switching defenses, after the end of the season, he will definitely enter the defense.

What surprised Zhang Yu the most was Jeremy Lin. After taking Curry's starting position, he quickly adapted to the new role without any stage fright. , The pass is very firm, without the slightest hesitation.

全场下来，他10投6中，三分3中1，罚球4中4，砍下17分10助攻5篮板1抢断的两双，并且只有2个失误。

Jeremy Lin's outstanding performance has something to do with the Spurs' lax defense against him, but Jeremy Lin's advantages in finishing with his right hand, making kills, and playing pick-and-rolls were also shown in the game. When he practiced long-range shots, he would be a very good player. sixth person.

Yi Jianlian's performance made Zhang Yu very pleased. He made 6 of 4 shots and 2 of 1 three-pointers. He scored 9 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 block. Diligent.

After coming to the Warriors, Yi Jianlian lost his starting role and his possession of the ball plummeted, but he didn’t complain at all. Covering and changing defenses, opening up space, and supporting passes can all help the team, but he doesn't care about statistics at all, and is deeply loved by the coaching staff and teammates.

Moreover, Yi Jianlian is still young and has potential to be tapped. As long as he keeps going step by step, he dare not say he will become a star, but he is definitely a high-quality role player who perfectly fits the small ball era.

Zhang Yu put down the data sheet, tapped the table lightly with his fingers, and whispered to himself:

"There are still ten games left, which is the end of the regular season. I can't wait to see the playoffs and the arrival of summer."

(End of this chapter)