warrior godfather

Chapter 337 Who Has More Potential

Evening, 9:15 p.m., Oracle Center.

At this time, there are only 15 minutes left before the start of the game between the Warriors and the Thunder. The arena is almost full of seats. Except for a few Thunder fans, a large number of enthusiastic Warriors fans have entered the arena one after another, filling the Oracle Center and cheering for the team. Cheer up.

On the court, the players of the two teams are doing their final warm-up. The atmosphere in the halftime of the Warriors is still as happy as ever. Curry’s routine work before the game not only makes the fans happy to watch, but also makes his teammates laugh and laugh. Relax Feeling nervous.

In the other half, the Thunder players were much more serious. They warmed up quietly, with few people communicating. Everyone focused on their own affairs and tried to adjust to the best state.

Before tonight's match, the two teams rested for a full three days. While fully recharging their energy, they also became the focus of attention from the outside world because of this strong matchup.

Yesterday, this kind of attention reached its peak, and all the media were discussing this battle of focus that is likely to affect the final ranking in the West, discussing the MVP battle between Durant and Curry, and most of them are optimistic about the Warriors.

As the "under dog" Thunder players, they were inevitably affected. Whether it was the tension in their hearts, or their fighting spirit, before the start of the game, they all maintained a sense of awe. Attitude.

Today is the first time the Thunder have met the Warriors since they were eliminated from the playoffs last season. This game is not only their battle for the title, but also a battle of revenge!
Standing on the sidelines, Brooks folded his arms and looked at the Thunder players who were earnestly warming up. He nodded slightly, as if he was very satisfied with their performance.

He turned his head and glanced at the other side of the technical stage. Zhang Yu, who was talking and laughing happily with the coaching staff, narrowed his eyes and flickered.

At this moment, Zhang Yu seemed to feel something, looked towards him, nodded to him, and smiled in greeting. Brooks was startled, returned a smile, and looked away.

Zhang Yu looked at the warming-up Thunder players along his line of sight, watched Westbrook repeatedly hit three-pointers from the outside, frowned slightly, and said:
"Westbrook's three-pointer is a bit accurate..."

Beside him, the members of the Warriors' coaching staff noticed Zhang Yu's gaze shifting. They looked at the Thunder's half court, observed Westbrook's warm-up for a while, and nodded slowly, approving Zhang Yu's statement.

Westbrook's three-pointer during warm-up was indeed accurate.

Ron Adams thought for a moment and said:

"Ronan, do you want to change your defensive strategy? The game hasn't started yet, and it's still too late. Westbrook's shooting is unstable, but when he feels good, he can make a lot of three-pointers."

"No, our defensive focus still has to be on Durant. This is just a warm-up, which means nothing. If he is still very accurate in the game, it will not be too late for us to make adjustments." Zhang Yu looked away and shook his head.

Silas laughed:
"Ronan was right. When Stephen was warming up, the more accurate the logo's three-pointers were, the more iron he would be after the game started. Looking at it the other way around, Westbrook should be very iron later on."

"Ha ha……"

Zhang Yu, Ron Adams, and Bruce all laughed out loud when they heard the words. The atmosphere of the coaching staff became as relaxed as the Warriors warming up on the court.

After a while, after the laughter stopped, Ron Adams looked at the warming-up Thunder players again, and said with emotion:
"In the past two years, the Thunder have grown a lot. When I was an assistant coach in Oklahoma City, I thought they would become stronger, but I didn't expect them to become so strong. It has only been two years, and they are already The second place in the Western Conference... Presti's vision is really good. He has selected a group of young people with great potential. Westbrook has grown up, and Harden has initially fulfilled his potential. Unlimited."

This season, the Thunder can emerge suddenly, ranking second in the West. In addition to Durant's unsolvable offensive performance, the improvement of Westbrook and Harden is a crucial reason.

Since the start of the game, Westbrook has averaged 23.8 points, 6.2 assists and 4.5 rebounds per game. Compared with last season, his efficiency and production have improved, his turnovers have decreased, and he has become more mature, providing Durant with more help.

Harden's progress is even more rapid. He averaged 17.3 points, 4.1 assists and 3.8 rebounds per game this season. Compared with last season's average of 12+2+2 per game, he has made a qualitative leap. As of now, he is the best sixth player. Man's most powerful competitor, bar none.

Not only has the production increased significantly, Harden's shooting percentage has increased from 43.6% last season to 49.1% in one fell swoop; the three-point shooting percentage has increased from 34.9% last season to 39% in one fell swoop, and the true shooting percentage is as high as 66%. high.

Harden's all-round improvement has allowed the Thunder to add a deadly outside ball-handling scorer. Besides scoring, he can also drive the Thunder's overall offense.

After Ron Adams finished speaking, Silas glanced at him and joked:
"Ron, you are so optimistic about the Thunder, so what do you say——we have more potential, or the Thunder have more potential?"

After he finished speaking, both Zhang Yu and Bruce looked at Ron Adams with inquiring expressions in their eyes, as if they were very curious about his answer.

Ron Adams didn't answer right away, but turned his gaze, looked at the warming-up Warriors players, and then said slowly:
"Of course the Thunder has more potential, because...we are already a strong team."

Silas froze, and couldn't help laughing.

Zhang Yu also smiled slightly and said:

"Since this is the case, let us, the pioneers, demonstrate to the Thunder how a strong team plays, and help the Thunder by the way to stimulate their potential!"

……

"Friends from the audience, good morning, everyone. I am very happy to meet you on Wednesday morning. Today is the NBA game day. We bring you a focus battle between the Warriors and the Thunder. Today, I came to the studio as a guest commentator. Yes, it is Zhang Weiping, who is very familiar to everyone... I hope that the audience and friends will actively send text messages to communicate with us while paying attention to the game. A is to support the Warriors, and B is to support the Thunder..." In the studio of CCTV5, Yu Jia read proficiently This is the opening line that he has used countless times.

After finishing speaking, Yu Jia's expression was a little dazed. He clearly remembered that the last time he explained the game between the Warriors and the Heat was also on a Wednesday morning.

In that game, James elbowed Leonard and Green poked James in the eye. The two sides changed their previous harmony and completely forged a hatred.

A surge of anticipation suddenly rose in Yu Jia's heart. Today, the Warriors and the Thunder will stage another strong duel. The two teams were direct opponents in the playoffs last season. After a long suspension, the two sides met for the first time. There is plenty of time Brewing hatred, what sparks will they rub against?

While his heart was turbulent, his job as a commentator was not neglected:
"Director Zhang, what do you think of today's game?"

Zhang Weiping said with a smile:
"It's really hard to say. The Warriors do have experience playing against the Thunder. They eliminated the Thunder 4:1 in the playoffs last year, but the Thunder played well this season. They only lost two games more than the Warriors. The most important thing is The thing is, Harden has been reborn. The Thunder didn’t just rely on Durant and Westbrook. The Warriors are not easy to guard against... However, I am still more optimistic about the Warriors. Zhang Yu is stronger than Brooks, and the young man is spiritual. , the Warriors should be able to beat the Thunder tactically."

Yu Jia nodded in agreement.

With Zhang Weiping's age and qualifications, Zhang Yu can indeed be called a "young man".

"Thanks to Director Zhang for his wonderful comments. The starting lineups of the two teams have come to the field. The Warriors are the regular starters of Curry, Clay, Butler, Green and Chandler. The Thunder also continued Westbrook, Sefolosha, Durant, Ibaka and Perkins combined, Harden is still the sixth man... Chandler wins with a jump ball, passes the ball to Curry, and the game officially begins!"

On the court, Curry dribbled the ball across half court, and the Warriors rushed forward like a tide, but the Thunder's retreat was timely and did not give the Warriors a chance to steal a fast break.

Curry stabilized the rhythm, came to the top of the arc, observed the running position of his teammates, handed the ball to Butler at 45 degrees to the left, and then ran to the right.

Butler lobbed the ball to Green who was asking for the ball in the low post, and he immediately cut inside. Chandler came up to him and set a screen for him.

The Thunder's defensive attention was instantly attracted by the cut Butler. Perkins blocked his advance in time. Durant also squeezed through Chandler's screen and chased Butler. Give him a chance to attack the rim.

Their goal has been achieved, Butler is being stared at tightly, and Green has no room to pass the ball to him.

But at this moment, Curry on the weak side suddenly ran to the strong side along the three-point line. After bypassing Butler to cover, he came to the left 45 degrees, and set up a second screen wall for Chandler. Le, throwing off the chasing Sefolosha, after receiving a pass from Green, he raised his hand and threw an open three-pointer.

brush!
Sefolosha squeezed through the screen in embarrassment, but he could only powerlessly raise his right hand, watching the basketball hollow into the net.

3: 0.

"Good shot! The Warriors played their usual three-man combination. Butler's cut attracted the Thunder's defender. More importantly, he kept Perkins inside, so that Perkins could not follow. Chandler's screen is also very solid, creating very good shooting opportunities for Curry." Yu Jia praised.

Zhang Weiping added:

"Durant made a mistake on this ball. He should have switched defenses with Perkins directly, but he didn't even look at Chandler. His defensive habits are too bad."

On the court, Durant looked at Curry who made an open three-pointer, frowned, and looked at Sefolosha with dissatisfaction. The meaning was obvious-how could you let him have such a wide open space?
He suffocated his energy today and vowed to win the Warriors, and no one will be allowed to slack off!
Sefolosha froze in place and opened his mouth, but in the end he didn't say anything, but raised his hand to indicate that it was his fault.

He didn't dare to argue with the team boss, but a grievance welled up in his heart.

It's not that you missed someone, can Curry have such a big vacancy...

The Thunder attacked, and just after Westbrook held the ball for halftime, Durant reached out for the ball.

Seeing Durant's gloomy expression, Westbrook immediately passed the ball.

After Durant received the ball, he beckoned to the inside, and Perkins stepped up to cover him, using his wide body to firmly block Butler behind him.

Durant took advantage of this opportunity and immediately dribbled the ball to the inside, but Chandler directly stuck up, blocking his breakthrough route, and Butler, who squeezed through the screen, also rushed towards him.

"The Warriors flanked Durant at the beginning!" Yu Jia said.

Durant was caught off guard and almost lost the ball. He barely avoided Butler's fierce press and gave the ball to Perkins who was emptied.

And Perkins, who left the penalty area, was no threat on the offensive end. He took a step with the ball, and Green shrank slightly to the basket, putting on a posture to help defend, and Perkins stopped the ball directly. Dele quickly returned to his side, and Perkins could only pass the ball back to Durant at the top of the arc.

This time, Durant didn't call a screen again, and directly singled Butler.

He used the iconic sharp change of direction, mobilized Butler's center of gravity, and then pulled the ball back with a shuffling step, completely throwing off Butler's defense, stepping on the three-point line, pulling up and shooting, the basketball bounced And enter.

3: 2.

On the sidelines, Brooks clapped his hands with satisfaction and smiled.

On the other side of the technical stage, Zhang Yu called out Butler's name in dissatisfaction, made a push gesture, and said loudly:
"Jimmy, stay aggressive!"

Butler quickly raised his hand, indicating that it was his fault.

Before the game, Zhang Yu specifically emphasized that to give Durant physical confrontation, he must not be allowed to have easy shooting opportunities, but Butler just took a step away from Durant, which made him very dissatisfied.

Zhang Weiping said:
"Good shot! Durant, with his long arms and long legs, is really hard to defend without double-teaming. Butler's defense is good enough, but he was thrown away by a change of direction. This is talent!"

On the court, the rounds were changed, the Warriors attacked, and it was still Green's low-post pass and cut. This time Clay got the opportunity to hit the iron with a small open three-pointer.

Looking back, just after Westbrook dribbled the ball halfway, Durant reached out and asked for the ball.

His expression remained gloomy, and the look in Butler's eyes gradually became murderous.

In this match, he will go on a killing spree!
But before Durant let go of the ball, Butler went straight up and spread his hands one step away from Durant, ready to fight.

Durant repeated the same trick, changed his direction and pulled out his hand, but Butler was very flexible and kept up with his footsteps. Under his interference, Durant hit the iron with a long two-pointer and the rebound was caught by Chandler. Protected, he quickly passed the ball to Curry.

boom!
Curry slapped the ball forward hard and took a big step, as if blowing the horn of counterattack, Clay and Butler flew on both wings and rushed towards the frontcourt!

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(End of this chapter)