warrior godfather

Chapter 281 Military Training
After the whole game, Curry completely dominated the Warriors' offense without being "warmly entertained" by the Thunder. He made 22 of 14 shots, including 13 of 7 three-pointers, 3 of 3 free throws, and scored 38 points and 4 assists. With 5 rebounds and 2 steals, he delivered the most gorgeous individual scoring performance so far in the playoffs.

Curry doesn't have many assists. After he passes the ball to Green, Green will not pass the ball in a hurry, but cuts to the basket to further compress the Thunder's defense line, wait for the opportunity to observe the defense, and then deliver shells to his teammates. He is still in the low post. He played several cards, mobilized the team's pass and cut offense, and took on the important task of organizing the Warriors' game.

全场打完，格林7投5中，砍下了11分11助攻10篮板2封盖2抢断的经济型三双，攻防两端无处不在。

In addition to Curry and Green, who played well in duo, Chandler, who scored 14 points, 13 rebounds and 3 blocks, was another major contributor to the Warriors' victory.

It is precisely because of the boxing champion guarding the inside that the fiery Westbrook has not been able to wreak havoc around the basket, and was forced to shoot a lot of zombie jumpers in the middle distance, which reduced the offensive efficiency, and Chandler did not grab 4 points on the offensive end. All of the front boards were converted into points, and he had a very high degree of confidence in eating cakes under the basket, which can be called a combination of offense and defense.

In addition, Clay had 12 points, Butler had 14 points, Jeremy Lin had 10 points and 4 assists, and Yi Jianlian had 9 points, 6 rebounds and 1 block. They all performed well and were the contributors to helping the team win.

For the Thunder, Durant made 17 of 11 shots and scored 25 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists. He was productive and efficient. Westbrook made 23 of 12 shots and scored 29 points. The state of the game was extremely poor, and he didn't even have much desire to shoot. He only made 5 of 1 shots, 4 of 4 free throws, and scored 6 points. He failed to provide enough help for the eldest brother and the second brother.

But this is not the main reason for the Thunder's loss. Harden is only a sixth man role at this time. Under the background of cutting the rotation in the playoffs, his lack of firepower can be increased by Westbrook and Durant. In addition, Brooks' stubbornness and rigidity are the biggest reasons for the Thunder to lose the game.

He adhered to the traditional pick-and-roll defense method from beginning to end, and paid attention to Curry's shooting ability, but did not fully pay attention to it. As a result, the Thunder's defense was completely defeated by Curry's pick-and-roll pursuit.

After the loss, Brooks realized his mistake belatedly, but it was too late. He could only say with a little remorse in the interview:
"The responsibility for the loss in this game is all on me. I underestimated Stephen Curry's shooting. I saw the technical statistics just now and found out that he made 7 three-pointers. I should have paid attention to it earlier. There is no doubt that my negligence wasted Kevin and Russell's good form...but not next time, we will definitely take a win from Oakland before we return to Oklahoma!"

The reporter asked Zhang Yu this sentence, and Zhang Yu smiled casually:
"G2 is two days away. I'm looking forward to the Thunder's performance, but we will defend the home court. It's not that I belittle the opponent. The Thunder don't have much experience. It's impossible for them to win-at least not in Oakland."

The reporter asked Zhang Yu what he thought of Durant and Westbrook's performance. Zhang Yu said:

"Durant is a good scorer, but Westbrook is the one who can really change our defense. I would rather see Durant score 30 points than see Westbrook in our interior. one cent."

The reporter was surprised and said:

"Coach Z, if you say it so openly, aren't you afraid that Coach Brooks will be inspired by it?"

Zhang Yu smiled slightly:
"Will he believe me when I say that?"

After speaking, Zhang Yu got up and left, ending the interview, leaving the reporters looking at each other.

Brooks soon learned of Zhang Yu's speech in the interview, and he immediately fell into deep thought.

"Why would he say that? Is he misleading me, or is he trying to make me think he's misleading me? But right now it's Russell with the ball, he's the starting point for the team, Kevin more Playing the corner of the end point..., and Russell's compression of the Warriors' defense is more significant, and his state is also better in this game. Should I tilt the ball to him and let Kevin do a more pure end what time..."

Brooks became entangled and felt undecided about the tactics of the next game. He didn't know Zhang Yu's intentions, and he kept thinking whether to give Westbrook more possessions and let him drive the Thunder's overall offense, or let Durant play more. Initiate an offensive in a timely manner and give full play to Durant's powerful attacking ability.

He thought about it walking out of Oracle Center, he thought about it when he got on the team bus, he thought about it when he got back to the hotel, he thought about it late into the night.

The next day, Brooks, who had dark circles under his eyes, suddenly figured it out. He laughed at himself:
"Why should I mess myself up because of the opponent's words? What I should think about now is how to defend Curry. As for the offense...just leave it to Russell and Kevin!"

Brooks stopped thinking about it, and immediately convened the coaching staff, played the game video of G1, and discussed the tactics of G2. He briefly mentioned the team's offense and focused on the adjustment of defensive tactics, especially the defense against Curry.

He also knows that his on-the-spot adjustment ability is a bit poor, so he has put a lot of effort into preparation before the game.

As the discussion continued to deepen, Brooks gradually discovered many details that he hadn't noticed in the game, and his expression became more and more dignified.

Curry made three-pointers after single-block screens again and again. Curry caught the gaps in the Thunder's defense and gave the ball to Green again and again. How to destroy the Thunder's defense, and all of this stems from Curry's powerful shooting ability.

Only then did he realize what a big mistake he had made last night.

It's not that Brooks didn't watch the Warriors' game video before, but the Warriors in the regular season and the Warriors in the playoffs are two completely different teams. Last night, Curry entered the attack mode after the first minute of the opening.

And even if he won the scoring title in the regular season, he still puts the team first. After a game, he can't make many such difficult shots with the ball. His high three-point production in the regular season is more due to the combination of whether he has the ball or not. A variety of offensive methods piled up.

In this case, Brooks didn't get much useful information from the Warriors' game tape.

But in the playoffs, Curry didn't even test it, and directly turned on the killing mode. Brooks still used the experience of the regular season to deal with Curry's offense, and was influenced by the inherent basketball concept, thinking that his three-pointer with the ball The score cannot last forever, and the degree of attention to Curry is completely insufficient, which led to the Thunder's defense being defeated by the Warriors.

Of course, the lack of experience in the playoffs is also one of the reasons why he is not ready. This is the price that recruits must pay in the playoffs. Although Brooks has served as an assistant coach for many years, the feeling of being there is completely different from that of the head coach. .

Zhang Yu was able to make correct judgments without being affected last season because he had three years of experience in the NCAA March Madness. Under the baptism of the single-game elimination system that is even crazier than the NBA playoffs, Zhang Yu has accumulated sufficient "cup games" "With experience, I know how to play in the playoffs.

Fortunately, it is not too late, Brooks is a pragmatic person, he is not an old-school coach who insists on tradition, as long as it can help the team win, he is willing to make any changes, but his response is a little slow.

After a morning of careful discussions, Brooks finally made a final decision:

"That's it. Change the defense first. If it doesn't work, we will pinch Curry. Now is the playoffs. We don't have much time to adjust. We must win the game first. We must not let him score so many points again!"

The assistant coach reminded:
"What about Draymond Green? He got a triple-double yesterday and has a strong ability to handle the ball. If we further shift our defensive focus to Curry, will he pass more assists?"

Brooks thought for a moment and said:

"His self-scoring ability is not strong. Others can shrink appropriately and give him space. Besides, the Warriors are not so accurate in three-pointers except Klay Thompson. Let them shoot. We only need the inside and Curry, and the rest The next thing to do is to fight against the Warriors!"

……

On April 4, after two days of rest, the second contest between the Warriors and the Thunder was staged as scheduled at the Oracle Center.

It is still full of audiences, the atmosphere is still noisy and enthusiastic, and it is still the counterattack of you coming and going.

But the difference is that the Thunder's defense against Curry changed from the slack in G1. As long as Curry initiates a pick-and-roll, he will immediately switch defenses, and will not give him a chance to pull up and shoot a three-pointer after hanging up the screen.

But for Curry, this just increases the difficulty of attacking. The cumbersome Perkins is no different from a stake in front of him. Curry can create shooting space and breakthrough opportunities with a single shake. .

However, Brooks made preparations before the game. This time he quickly made adjustments, allowing Perkins to change back to the method of strong delay and then retreat. The ball can't be converted into an easy scoring opportunity. After all, Chandler doesn't have Green's passing ability.

After the Thunder changed back to defending against pick-and-rolls, the effect was quickly achieved in the next two rounds. After Chandler received a pass from Curry, he needed to pass it out to reorganize, or give Green who was half-open and let him finish. Not converted to score.

But Zhang Yu immediately instructed Curry and Green to play a pick-and-roll, and Ku chased the pick-and-roll, who defeated the Thunder in the previous game, and appeared in front of them again.

However, Brooks had already prepared for this, and Ibaka resolutely switched defenses. Sefulo killed and circled the front defense Green's down attack, allowing Curry to single Ibaka and not giving Green a second chance to handle the ball.

Compared with the bulky Perkins, Brooks is very confident in Ibaka's defense.

And the facts are exactly as he expected. In the first round of singles against Ibaka, Curry wanted to use the rhythm to shake out the breakthrough space, but Ibaka accurately predicted his movement, and finally with a hasty The three-point strike ended.

In the next few rounds, although Curry also scored goals, his efficiency dropped a lot compared to when he was singles against Perkins, which was so low that Brooks could accept it.

Zhang Yu is not surprised by this. At this time, Ibaka has not experienced serious injuries. It is the time when his athletic ability is the strongest, and after two seasons of training, his defense has reached the defense level, and his ability to defend small Very good, and the frame protection has reached the top level. He was selected to the best defensive first team for the next three consecutive years and is the league's top defensive insider.

After all, Curry is only a second-year rookie. Although he has not taken any detours under Zhang Yu's guidance and has increased the ball at an unbelievable rate every year, his control skills, confrontational strength and projection have not reached the level. At the peak level, it is not impossible to play Ibaka alone, but when he has not adapted to Ibaka's defense, his efficiency will inevitably decline.

The Thunder players seized this opportunity. Durant and Westbrook continued their excellent touch in the first game and succeeded in the mid-range. Although Butler and Clay tried their best to defend, they were of no avail in the face of their fiery touch. By the second half of the first quarter, the Thunder had taken an 23-point lead at 15:8.

Zhang Yu stopped waiting and called a timeout to make adjustments in time, allowing Green to deal cards continuously at the top of the arc and in the low post, and played a pass and cut. Clay and Curry made three-pointers without the ball to help the team stabilize the situation.

After a season of running-in, Zhang Yu began to let Green deal cards at the top of the arc. He would not give up his "successful experience" like this.

And the effect is really good. Clay and Curry can easily tear apart the opponent's defense with the help of screen crossovers, and Green can send the ball in time, although his passing has not yet reached the level of proficiency at the peak. , The turnover rate is quite high, but the Thunder's defense is still enough.

How much Durant and Westbrook exploded on the offensive end, and how slack on the defensive end.

Since Westbrook entered the league, the problem of defense without the ball and not concentrating has been with him, and it will not change in the future. Durant did not know what defense was at the beginning of his career. But there is no sense of existence.

Relying on Clay and Curry's three-pointers, as well as Westbrook's rest, after the first quarter, the Warriors recovered 3 points and entered the intermission with 23:28.

In the second quarter, the two sides sent a rotation lineup. This time Brooks learned his lesson and let Westbrook lead the bench lineup. This is why he let Westbrook go to rest early in the first quarter.

Facing the inside line of the Warriors guarded by Big Z, Westbrook's eyes shined brightly. Without the caution of facing Chandler, he strode to kill the inside line when he got the ball, but he ignored the existence of Kirilenko. He mercilessly gave him two big hats, which ignited the atmosphere of Oracle Arena, and let Westbrook know that Jiang is still old and hot, and he dare not attack the Warriors' restricted area unscrupulously.

Relying on Kirilenko to prop up the defense, and Jeremy Lin's breakthrough and connection, the Warriors once again approached the score in the transition period. After both starters returned to the field, the score became 34:37, and the Thunder's lead was only left. 3 points.

In the second half of the second quarter, Zhang Yu and Brooks did not make any major adjustments. The two teams passed the final period of the first half smoothly. The Warriors entered the intermission with a score of 45:47, 2 points behind, and a tacit understanding Save the fight for the second half to resolve.

In the tense atmosphere of the playoffs, the 15-minute intermission passed without knowing it, and the two teams returned to the court to start the second half of the contest.

As soon as the third quarter came up, the Thunder launched a fierce attack. Westbrook and Durant took turns to fight, trying to open the score in one go.

But Westbrook's touch has declined. He first hit the iron in the mid-range shot, and then made a ridiculously biased three-pointer, giving the Warriors two chances to counterattack.

After the shot was frustrated, Westbrook turned to attack the inside, but under the joint blockade of Chandler and Green, it was difficult for him to find opportunities in the Warriors' penalty area, and his offensive efficiency was pitifully low.

Although Westbrook sent two assists when the Warriors shrunk to help defend, it was still a drop in the bucket and didn't help the Thunder's offense much.

Throughout the third quarter, the Thunder's offense was supported by Durant alone.

His mid-range pull-up jumper made Butler helpless. Although Butler tried his best to apply confrontation to his lower body and try to interfere with his shooting rhythm, if Durant's confrontation was as weak as his lanky frame, he would not be able to do anything. Possibly the scoring champion.

Butler's interference can only make his scoring a little more difficult and slightly reduce his scoring efficiency, but it cannot limit his scoring.

This is Durant, he is a no-killer that has never appeared in the history of the NBA. In one-on-one duels, no one can guard Durant, even if he is far from reaching his peak at this time, But his proficient off-ball skills and his immature handling of the ball alone make him unstoppable on the offensive end.

But Butler is not an ordinary small forward either. He and Durant, whose arms are above his knees, are two extremes. His talent is very average, but Butler has a tenacious confrontation and a determined fighting spirit. He uses every opportunity to interfere with Durant. The shooting is exactly the little bit of difficulty he added to Durant, making Durant add a lot of changing directions and running every time he scores, which consumes a lot of energy and reduces his efficiency a little.

At the same time, Curry also adapted to Ibaka's defense. He no longer tried to break through to the inside. Ibaka turned around quickly, was tall and long, and was especially good at blocking shots. He interfered with Curry several times in the first half. Layup.

If you can't go forward, then go back.

Curry first sticks to the three-point line, shakes out the space and shoots a three-pointer, then takes a step back to shoot a three-pointer, and then takes two steps back to shoot a super long three-pointer. In front of tens of thousands of people in the Oracle Center, he was unlucky once, Twice, or even three times, he retreated farther and farther, and made consecutive three-pointers with difficult retreat steps, interpreting the word dexterity to the extreme.

And Ibaka has to guard against Curry's breakthrough. Curry is not a shooter who can only shoot three-pointers. He must reserve one step of reaction space, especially when he made two step-back three-pointers in Curry. The back was too tight, but after being passed by Curry in one step, he never dared to post defense again.

This made it impossible for Ibaka to block Curry's step-back three-pointer. He could only try to stretch his arms and pray that Curry didn't feel good.

But unfortunately, God didn't seem to hear his prayer.

When Ibaka didn't dare to stick to the defense, Curry easily found his rhythm through continuous dribbling, and recorded an incredible step back, left horizontal withdrawal, and right horizontal withdrawal three-pointer at his fingertips , continued to detonate the atmosphere of the Oracle Center: "MVP" voices filled the audience.

This is Curry, he does not have the talent of Durant's monster, but in one-on-one, if he is given enough time to find his own rhythm, then his scoring is unstoppable, especially in front of him. Still a big man-as long as the opponent is more than 10 cm taller than Curry, then it is impossible for him to limit Curry's scoring!
Relying on Curry's open-ended three-point performance, the Warriors quickly opened up the score. When Durant made two points and two points, Curry, who was completely in rhythm, changed direction, followed by a back dribble, and then retreated. The first step is to score three points. This powerful scoring explosiveness allowed him to score 21 points in a single quarter, and also allowed the Warriors to overtake by 12 points, entering the fourth quarter with a score of 72:60.

In the fourth quarter, Brooks only allowed the substitutes to play for 2 minutes, and then replaced all the starters. When the playoffs are not time to save energy, if the Thunder return to the home court with a score of 0:2, the situation of the series will be very difficult for them. Become very dangerous, he will fight for a victory in Oakland anyway.

But how could Zhang Yu give him this opportunity? The Warriors and the Thunder are both youth teams, full of energetic young people. Brooks is willing to shorten the rotation, and Zhang Yu does not hesitate to play the main players. Le, Green, Chandler and Tony Allen all debut.

After seeing Brooks let Ibaka defend Curry alone, Zhang Yu decided to let Tony Allen defend Westbrook. In this game, Westbrook's marking of Clay was much tighter, and he did not give him a chance to easily run out of space. After all, Now Westbrook still has a defensive attitude.

And when Klay's offensive end fell silent, leaving only the role of opening up space, his shortcomings on the defensive end became a bit glaring. Of course, if Brooks intends to pinch Curry, then he will call Klay back. Make room.

Facts have proved that Brooks did not have the habit of changing tactics during the game. He insisted on letting Ibaka defend Curry alone. score.

This allowed Zhang Yu to not be punished for his substitutions. The Warriors had Tony Allen, Green, and Chandler on the field, but Curry was still able to single-handedly play Ibaka, and the offensive environment was not subject to any restrictions.

In a trance, Zhang Yu seemed to see the peerless demeanor of Curry taking turns training Adams, Ibaka and Durant in G2016 of the Western Conference Finals in 7.

The difference is that Curry is much younger, healthier, and smarter. The only thing he lacks is that powerful strength.

But Zhang Yu believes that as long as he is given a little more time, Curry, who is even more invincible than the unanimous MVP season, will shock everyone with an even more legendary performance!

This game was a prelude. Curry came up in the fourth quarter and continued to train Ibaka. Although his touch has dropped, he still maintained a high scoring efficiency. With Butler's strong attack, the Warriors have maintained the lead.

And Butler's consumption of Durant on both ends of the offense and defense showed an effect. Durant spent a lot of physical energy in the first three quarters, and his scoring efficiency in the fourth quarter dropped a lot. Westbrook has Tony Allen on the front line. With Green and Chandler helping to defend and interfere, there were almost no chances to score, and there were several mistakes, which gave the Warriors a chance to counterattack.

Although Harden was in good form and Curry scored 8 points in a single quarter, it was just a drop in the bucket for the Thunder. In the end, the Warriors defeated the Thunder 98:90 and won G2, leading the opponent 2:0. The game situation is very good.

After the whole game, Curry made 24 of 15 shots, 16 of 10 three-pointers, 2 of 2 free throws, scored 42 points, 6 assists and 4 rebounds, shining the audience. In this intense defensive battle, almost He carried the Warriors' offense with his own strength!

Durant scored 32 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists, but he was far behind Curry in terms of output and efficiency. He neither took away the data nor left the victory.

Westbrook only made 16 of 6 shots, scored 17 points, 7 assists, 8 rebounds and 5 turnovers. These 17 points were mainly obtained in the first half. He only scored 9 points, but the Thunder needed his offense more than his defense.

Harden's state has recovered, and he scored 16 points, 3 assists and 4 rebounds, but his defense was a problem. In the fourth quarter, Zhang Yu arranged for Butler to reverse pick and roll and call Harden, taking advantage of his shortcomings of slow lateral movement to score a lot of points .

On the other hand, for the Warriors, although except for Curry, only Butler scored 20 points, and none of the others even scored in double figures, but Clay had 9 points, Jeremy Lin had 8 points and 4 assists, Kirilenko had 7 points, and Green had 7 points. , Chandler 8 points, have made contributions within their ability.

The most important thing is that while they were unable to get more points, they tried their best on the defensive end and played a very strong overall defense. This is also the biggest reason for Westbrook's misfire in the second half. All, helping the team successfully defend the home court.

Under the adjustment of Brooks, the Thunder's defensive efficiency has also been greatly improved compared with the previous game. Sefolosha, Ibaka, Perkins, Collison, like Butler, Tony Allen, Green, and Chandler, played in the The defensive end did not spare his physical fitness, otherwise the Warriors would not have only two players scoring in double figures.

But Curry's 43 points made all their efforts come to naught.

After the game, commentator Van Gundy said with emotion:

"Such a fierce confrontational defensive battle is the most test of the hard-breaking ability of the stars of both sides. Curry stood up and carried the Warriors' offense on his shoulders from the beginning to the end. With his own strength, he defeated the Thunder. The best inside defender Ibaka, I even doubt whether Ibaka will have the confidence to stand in front of Curry in the next game..."

"While Durant was able to score steadily in the first three quarters, his efficiency plummeted in the fourth quarter due to his physical impact. Westbrook was even lost in the Warriors' tight defensive net. This was very fatal to the Thunder. Only relying on Harden Scoring with Durant, there's no way the Thunder can win this series."

"Maybe Coach Z is right. He doesn't want to see Westbrook score a layup compared to seeing Durant score high. Westbrook is the engine of the Thunder's offensive end. In this game, the Warriors went out. Thunder's engine!"

(End of this chapter)