warrior godfather

Chapter 282 Head Coach and His Assistant Coach
At nine o'clock in the morning the next day, Zhang Yu woke up from his sleep.

The Warriors have no training today, rest in the morning, and the whole team flies to Oklahoma in the afternoon to prepare for the third game against the Thunder.

The first round of the Warriors’ playoffs is relatively sweet. They play games every two days and have plenty of time to rest. Teams like the Heat, Mavericks, and Magic are different. They play games every day, with home and away games Running back and forth, the schedule is very tight, and there is little room for adjustment.

It stands to reason that, as young teams, the Thunder and the Warriors should have a tighter schedule, and those older teams should have a looser schedule, but the rankings of the two teams are not high enough, and the attention is not as high as those of the higher-ranked teams. Such a weird situation.

Zhang Yu got dressed and walked out of the bedroom. Tina was cleaning the study next door. Seeing Zhang Yu get up, she quickly put down her work and went to the kitchen on the first floor to cook for Zhang Yu.

After the home game, Zhang Yu used to sleep well to relieve fatigue. He likes to eat hot food. Tina would not make breakfast in advance as usual, but waited for Zhang Yu to wake up.

While waiting for Tina to cook, Zhang Yu finished washing and going to the toilet, then slowly went down to the first floor and sat down in the dining room.

There was already a stack of newspapers on the dining table. Normally, Zhang Yu would go to the office to read the news, but when the team was on vacation, he would ask Tina to order the next day's newspaper in advance for him to read after waking up in the morning.

It is still dominated by paper media, and the mobile Internet era has just started. News can be read on mobile phones, but it is just news and cannot completely replace newspapers.

Zhang Yu picked up the top copy of "USA Today" and turned to the sports page. The headline on the front page was the game between the Warriors and the Thunder last night:

"...Curry told the world in this game why he is the scoring leader and Durant is not. He is only 6-foot-3, but he smashed the 6-foot-10 Iraqi with an incredible three-pointer. Bacca, he dedicated a great scoring performance to the home fans, and it was also the craziest scoring performance in the playoffs. His 10 three-pointers also broke Ray Allen's single-game three-pointer hits in the playoffs. Count the records."

"It is worth mentioning that Curry made 43.5 three-pointers with a shooting rate of 305% this season, breaking the record set by him last year. This is also the first time in NBA history that a player has made 300 three-pointers in a single season. Three-pointers, this is what Stephen Curry did in two years, no one knows how many records he will break in the future, we are probably witnessing the birth of a legendary shooter..."

Zhang Yu carefully read the report of "USA Today", picked up the "San Francisco Chronicle", and turned to the sports section.

As a local paper, its focus is naturally on the Warriors, but the San Francisco Chronicle puts its focus on the coaches:
"...we have to admit the fact that Coach Z completely beat Scott Brooks. Look at what Coach Z did after Westbrook scored 14 points in the first half -- he put Klay Delaying Westbrook's breakthrough, Green, Chandler or Kirilenko inside are ready to help defend at any time, and never give him a chance to easily hit the basket. For this reason, he does not hesitate to give the Thunder's role players the opportunity to shoot open three-pointers , Two of Harden's three three-pointers were made under such circumstances, but Coach Z always insisted on defending Westbrook, and even replaced Tony Allen in the fourth quarter, completely locking up his attack."

"On the other hand, coach Brooks insisted that Ibaka defend Curry alone when Curry made 5 three-pointers in the first half. Maybe Ibaka is an excellent defensive player, but his defense is not good. He obviously shouldn't continue to stick to the original defensive strategy when it has the slightest effect. But it is clear that Coach Brooks has no habit of changing the game plan, and this is the way he has always coached. Let us thank him for his persistence. His persistence 'helped' the Warriors win this game, and let us know how happy it is to have Coach Z, he let the Warriors bathe in light again..."

Zhang Yu couldn't help laughing when he saw the praiseful words for him in the second half of the report, shaking his head and putting the San Francisco Chronicle aside.

The following newspapers were similar. Curry's 42 points occupied the front page headlines of almost all media sports news. Many columnists wrote articles overnight, reviewing the Warriors and Thunder's G2, and most people thought that the Warriors Will win this series.

Zhang Yu flipped through all the newspapers, and Tina also made breakfast and brought it over from the kitchen.

"Thank you, Tina." Zhang Yu nodded politely, took the plate, picked up the knife and fork, and began to eat the late breakfast.

"By the way, Tina—" Zhang Yu suddenly turned to stop Tina who was about to leave, and ordered, "Take out the dark blue training suit I often wear, and I will go to the arena later."

"No problem, is there anything else I need?" Tina said softly.

"No more, go get busy."

Tina agreed, turned and left, Zhang Yu began to concentrate on eating breakfast, he cut off a piece of bacon, put it in his mouth, and chewed carefully.

Although the players are on vacation, he will still go to the office to watch the video later to prepare for the coaching staff meeting on the plane in the afternoon.

In the playoffs where every inch of land is contested, a 2:0 lead is not enough insurance. Although the outside world agrees that the Warriors will win the series, Zhang Yu must not relax in the slightest if he wants to achieve this goal. Prepare.

If the Warriors want to continue to "bath in the light", Zhang Yu must always work hard.

……

April 4, 23:11 p.m., Memphis, FedEx Arena.

As the headquarters of FedEx Corporation, Memphis is an important transportation hub and center of the transportation industry in the United States. It has the busiest cargo airport in the world and is the 17th largest city in the United States. However, the largest city in Tennessee does not have the same Status matches professional sports performance.

After the Grizzlies moved from Vancouver to Memphis, they still have the same sense of existence as they did in Canada. Except for three consecutive round trips under the leadership of Pau Gasol, they have no other achievements.

But this year, things seem to have changed.

此时，马刺和灰熊的G3进行到了最后时刻，比赛还剩1分40秒的时间，灰熊以88:84领先马刺4分。

The Grizzlies fans had already seen the dawn of victory, they all stood up from their seats, shouted and applauded vigorously, and cheered for the team. Their off-white T-shirts were connected together, like a huge gray-white dotted with variegated cracks. The granite, like the style of the Grizzlies, is rough, tough and tenacious.

boom!
On the court, the Spurs' half-court restricted area was turned on their backs. Randolph's shot was blocked by Duncan, but he immediately grabbed the offensive rebound, leaned hard, knocked Duncan back slightly behind him, and grabbed the others to assist. Before blocking the block, with a hook with his left hand, the basketball flew to the basket.

But he exerted too much force, the basketball hit the backboard heavily, and it bounced off without touching the frame. Parker grabbed it.

As soon as the French sports car stepped on the accelerator, it immediately rushed to the frontcourt, but ignored the Grizzlies chasing behind. Battier followed closely, stretched out his hand silently from behind him, and the basketball in Parker's hand flew out. , and was picked up by OJ Mayo on the other side.

He slowly dribbled the ball at the top of the arc to control the time, and he didn't throw a pull-up three-pointer until 24 seconds were about to run out.

Bang!

The basketball bounced out of the basket, and Duncan overwhelmed Marc Gasol to protect the rebound. Looking back, Parker scored two points with his best throw.

86: 88.

Hollins immediately called a timeout, and the tidy "defence" shouts at the FedEx Center suddenly fell silent.

At the end of the timeout, head coach Hollins exhorted loudly to the players who were about to play on the sidelines:
"Slow down, beat the clock, don't rush—don't rush!"

Keeping his coach's instructions in mind, the young Mike Conley dribbled the ball slowly at the top of the key and didn't attack until there were seven seconds left on the shot clock.

Randolph went up to cover him, and then disassembled and slid down. Mike Conley lobbed the ball over, but Duncan saw the timing, stretched his long arms, grabbed the same spot with Randolph, and turned the basketball towards him again. direction.

Mike Conley hastily bent down to pick up the ball, and Manu Ginobili, who was facing him, also jumped to grab it. You fiddle with me once, and roll in the direction of Randolph and Duncan.

Randolph was on the offensive side, and he was farther outside than Duncan. He bent down to pick up the ball quickly, looked up, and saw that there were only 2 seconds left in the attack time. In desperation, he raised his hand and threw the ball. But suddenly found that he was standing outside the three-point line!

But at this time, no one in the arena paid attention to this matter. Everyone's eyes on and off the court were focused on the basketball until it hit the backboard and bounced into the basket.

91: 86.

"yeah!!!!"

The moment the goal was scored, there was a wave of sound, and the Grizzlies players rushed to Randolph's side, celebrating wildly, even the referee's timeout whistle was drowned out.

After returning from the timeout, Ginobili fouled the frame, made two free throws and scored two points.

Then the Grizzlies continued to press time. Randolph singled Duncan and missed two points, but Marc Gasol and Randolph struggled to grab offensive rebounds and used up the last few seconds without giving the Spurs a chance to win. Help the team narrowly beat the Spurs 91:88.

The moment the red light came on, all the spectators stood up, and the players on the Grizzlies bench also rushed into the field, surrounding the teammates on the field, and countless fireworks and ribbons fell from the dome, and the entire Federation The express arena is in a state of boiling.

Popovich on the sidelines raised his hand to brush a colorful flower on his head, and looked at the players who came off the field with a livid face. The Spurs players all lowered their heads slightly, not daring to look directly at their boss. coach.

"Humph!"

Popovich snorted coldly, narrowed his eyes slightly, turned to look at Hollins who was coming from the other side of the technical table, took a deep breath, suppressed the anger in his heart, and walked forward to shake hands with him hastily. After shaking hands, he turned around and walked towards the player tunnel.

On the way back to the locker room, Budenholzer, the chief assistant coach of the Spurs, came to him and whispered:

"Greg, we didn't have much luck in this game, but Randolph won't make such magical three-pointers every game. I don't think we need to worry too much about the Grizzlies."

Popovich shook his head, his face solemn and said:

"No, Mike, in G1, we lost by 3 points; in G2, the Grizzlies lost by 6 points; in this game, we lost another 3 points... three consecutive games have reached critical moments, which is enough to show that this is not a coincidence, Grizzlies Although the Bears are the eighth in the Western Conference, it is not so easy for us to win this round of the series. If one is not good, it may even make a big joke...Of course, you are right, Randolph may not be able to play again in his career. Make a magic three like this, but we must not take it lightly, the Grizzlies are our archenemy!"

Budenholzer listened carefully to Popovich's words, and nodded slowly, but he looked at Popovich, whose face was still gloomy, and said with relief:

"Although we lost, the Warriors also lost G3 against the Thunder. The series between the two teams will not end easily. No matter who wins in the end, they will not have much more rest time than us."

Popovich glanced at him and said:

"Mike, as I said, the Grizzlies are our archenemy. We must focus on them. No matter whether our opponent in the next round is the Warriors or the Thunder, that is not something we need to consider now."

There was a hint of sternness in his voice, and Budenholzer trembled in his heart, he nodded quickly and said:
"I see, Greg."

Popovich then turned his head away, quickened his pace, and said in a muffled voice:
"Let's go, I'm going to kick those brats' ass hard...By the way, what is the specific situation of the Warriors and Thunder match?"

"Ah?" Budenholzer was very surprised, but quickly reacted and explained, "Oh, so, Durant broke out, he scored 38 points, Westbrook didn't score much, only 16 , but his breakthrough effect is good, sent 9 assists, Harden made 5 three-pointers, and scored 22 points. As long as he and Durant feel good, the Warriors are very difficult to defend... Curry The hand feeling is not very good. He took 18 shots and only scored 22 points. Other players in the Warriors failed to share his pressure. Only Jimmy Butler scored 17 points. A team that relies heavily on Curry..."

"... Ronan, Ronan?"

"Huh?" Zhang Yu slowly opened his eyes and snorted in a daze.

"It's already 11:30, let's rest first, there's still time to watch these videos tomorrow."

Zhang Yu raised his head, rubbed his stiff neck, and saw Silas standing beside him, looking at him with concern.

He forced a smile, but the smile unconsciously turned into a yawn halfway through.

"Ha...Okay, Stephen, let's go, I've almost finished the first pass."

Zhang Yu shook his head, turned off the laptop, then slowly stood up, left the hotel conference room, and walked to his room.

After losing the game against the Thunder in G3, the Warriors returned to the hotel where they stayed. The players naturally went back to their rooms to rest after eating, while Zhang Yu came to the conference room of the hotel and watched the editor in the video room. The replay of the game was roughly edited, and then he carefully studied the video of tonight's game, but fell asleep unconsciously, and was just woken up by Silas.

Silas's room was adjacent to Zhang Yu's, and the two walked out of the conference room together and walked to the end of the corridor.

Their room was on the fourth floor, and the hotel's conference room was on the second floor, where they had to take the elevator.

The two were silent all the way, until after entering the elevator, Silas spoke comforting words:
"Ronan, the Thunder is not a weak team. They are only 2 games behind us. It is normal to lose a game to them. Stephen is not in a good state tonight. Durant and Harden feel amazing, so it is so difficult to play... And even so, we only lost less than 10 points, as long as the team's state returns to normal, the next game will definitely not be like this."

Zhang Yu opened his mouth, hesitated to speak, but finally just nodded without saying anything.

After the elevator went up to the fourth floor, the two went back to their rooms respectively. After Zhang Yu washed up, he turned off the light and lay down on the bed. He only felt a sense of exhaustion emanating from the inside out, making him just want to fall asleep quickly.

But while feeling exhausted physically, Zhang Yu's mind kept echoing tonight's match between the Warriors and the Thunder, and he couldn't fall asleep for a long time.

In the dark, he tossed and turned for a long time, then suddenly opened his eyes, sat up, turned on the bedside lamp, picked up his mobile phone, found Stevens' number from the address book, dialed it, and waited quietly for the other party to answer.

Zhang Yu waited for a while, and Stevens' sleepy voice came from the phone:
"Hey?"

"it's me."

"Ronan?" The voice on the phone suddenly rose.

"Yes, I have something to ask you, Brad." Zhang Yu said.

"Oh? Tell me." Stevens said with a little surprise.

The two had been in frequent contact before, but both he and Zhang Yu knew that they were going to lead the team to play games, and they were busy with work. They usually chose to talk on the phone when they were not playing. It was the first time Zhang Yu called him so late.

"You should know that we lost to the Thunder tonight, right?"

Stevens chuckled lightly:
"Of course, I have watched every playoff game of the Warriors. Your loss tonight is a bit ugly."

Zhang Yu smiled wryly and nodded:

"No way, as long as Stephen's condition is slightly worse, it will be difficult for us to play."

Stevens wondered:

"You should know best that after Stephen misses the target, he will call back soon. Don't worry at all, or are you afraid that you won't be able to beat the Thunder?"

Zhang Yu sighed softly and said:

"You said, I don't know, I never worried about the series against the Thunder, but this game exposed a lot of problems, much more serious than I thought before, which is directly related to our final victory. How far can I go in the playoffs, after I went back to the hotel tonight, I have been watching the game video, trying to find a solution."

"So have you found a way?" Stevens asked.

Zhang Yu shook his head slightly disappointed:
"No, besides Stephen, I have never been able to find a second reliable ball-holding point. Whether it is a pick-and-roll or a pass, he is the only engine of the Warriors' offensive end. As long as his state declines slightly, the Warriors' The offense is unsustainable. If we want to win, Stephen must score 30+ per game, unless others can break out, but this is difficult. Jimmy’s strength is limited, and the defensive intensity in the playoffs is high. They can maintain the existing It’s not easy to perform like Klay, for example, he missed two games in a row.”

"You didn't discuss it with your coaching staff?"

"No... Well, to be honest, I know this problem can't be solved now, I just want to complain to you... Sorry, Brad, I disturbed your sleep." Zhang Yu paused and said apologetically .

There is an hour's time difference between Indiana and Oklahoma. Stevens must have fallen asleep and was awakened by him from his sleep.

Of course, Zhang Yu did this because he knew that March Madness was over, and Butler's recruitment work would not start for a while, and Stevens was very free recently, so Zhang Yu would call him.

"Hehe, why didn't you say that when you dragged me to watch the video all night, then I don't need to sleep?" Stevens sneered.

"Uh..." Zhang Yu's voice froze, and he didn't know what to say for a moment.

"Okay, don't talk about those useless things. I just drank red wine at home and watched two playoff games. One was the Pacers playing the Bulls, and the other was you playing the Thunder. I wasn't that tired—at least It's a lot easier than being on the sidelines and watching your team lose," Stevens said with a chuckle.

Zhang Yu leaned on the erected pillow, touched his nose with a wry smile, Stevens was still familiar with the smell...

While he was thinking about this, Stevens' doubtful voice came from the phone:
"However, the problem you mentioned is not impossible to solve - at least part of it can be solved, and you used it in the last game. I don't know why you still feel distressed?"

"Huh? You're talking about..." Zhang Yu straightened her upper body, sat cross-legged, and regained her energy.

He felt that the drowsiness haunting him seemed to dissipate. He vaguely thought of something, but he didn't have a definite answer vaguely.

Stevens put it bluntly:
"It's very simple. Since the Warriors don't have a second ball-holding point besides Stephen, why not give him four defenders and let him let go alone? The 76ers made it to the finals with this move, and the Warriors You can completely replicate the 76ers' tactics, Larry Brown lets Iverson attack alone, you let Stephen take charge of scoring, and Stephen has Butler as a helper, which is better than the 76ers."

Listening to Stevens' words, Zhang Yu twisted a corner of the quilt with his left hand, and the fog in his heart gradually dissipated, revealing the answer hidden behind it.

His eyes became brighter and brighter, and he muttered to himself:

"Yeah, why didn't I think of it..."

Stevens said sharply:
"I think you can't think of it, you just want to use the playoffs to train rookies! In fact, you can shorten the rotation and increase the playing time of Stephen, Tony Allen and Andrei Kirilenko. Stephen's playing style is the least The kind that is prone to injuries, he is young and full of energy, to be honest, 39 minutes is a bit short, I think 42 minutes is about the same."

Zhang Yu did not agree with Stevens' statement:

"No, I think the playoffs are the best time to train rookies. This high-intensity game and intense atmosphere can accelerate their growth."

Stevens retorted:
"Really? I don't think so. What's the difference between the playoffs and the regular season? It's just that the confrontation is stronger, the referee's scale is looser, and the playing time is longer. If the strength is not enough, the playoffs make mistakes in the playoffs. More training for rookies than scoring in the regular season? This is obviously impossible! Ronan, listen to my advice, cut the rotation, anyway, there is no scoring point, it is better to let Stephen do it himself, and don’t forget, Stephen is also a rookie, the Warriors want to go Going further, his growth is the most important thing, if you want to train rookies, the most important thing to train is Stephen."

After Stevens finished speaking, Zhang Yu fell into deep thought.

He gradually tightened his right hand holding the phone, nodded slowly, and said:

"Brad, you're right, I know what to do. Steph's outstanding performance made me ignore the fact that he is also a rookie. In fact, he has only played one round of the playoffs and still needs a lot of series. Workout, last year's series with the Suns helped him a lot, and if it goes far enough for us this year, Steph will get a lot more."

Stevens laughed:

"Yes, the playoffs do have a training effect, but that is for a main attacker like Stephen. If he can adapt to the intensity of the playoffs, he will definitely improve a lot next season. This is only for the Warriors. It's the best news."

Zhang Yu excitedly said:
"Yes, and I have long thought about how to play this playoffs. Listen to me, after the Grizzlies black the Spurs..."

Stevens interrupted:
"Wait, Grizzly Black Eight?"

"Uh, what I mean is that the Grizzlies are very likely to be black eights. When we pass the Thunder, we will fight the Grizzlies like this..."

"Ronan, you are still so confident, but have you overlooked the inside attack ability of Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol, and it is difficult for the Grizzlies to get black eights. Don't look at the Spurs at a disadvantage now, but as long as Popovich does this..."

The two completely forgot that it was late at night and early in the morning, and they discussed the future development of the Western Conference playoffs and the tactics of each team in full swing.

In a trance, Zhang Yu felt as if she had returned to the past at Butler University, watching the video with Stevens in the office until late at night.

Back then, the Bulldogs hadn't won a championship, and he wasn't as famous as he is now.

Now, everything has changed, he is no longer coaching the Bulldogs, Stevens has taken his place, he has become the famous Z coach in the United States, but between him and Stevens, it can still be the same as before , discussing basketball enthusiastically and purely in the middle of the night.

"Brad, come help me. I'm serious. As long as you agree, the position of the Warriors' chief assistant coach will be yours." Zhang Yu said suddenly.

Stevens was taken aback for a moment, as if he didn't expect Zhang Yu to say that, he smiled and said:
"Ronan, I'm already the head coach. It's time for me to go back to being an assistant coach."

Zhang Yu was silent. He knew what Stevens meant. How could a powerful head coach of the NCAA go to an NBA team and work as an assistant coach with a lower salary?

He also knew that this was impossible, but the memory of the old days made him send out the invitation impulsively.

Stevens noticed Zhang Yu's silence. After three years as a partner, the two of them knew each other very well. He chuckled and said:

"Get a championship, Ronan, don't lose face to Butler University, the champion coach of the Bulldogs, how can he be just an ordinary coach in the NBA? When you win the championship, I will go to the NBA and be your opponent. At that time, the whole world will know that the head coach of our Bulldogs is the best coach!"

(End of this chapter)