warrior godfather

Chapter 390 History repeats itself
After the red light came on, Nowitzki slowly stood up from his seat, his expression was quite calm, he seemed to have accepted the reality of losing G1, but if you look carefully, you can still see a twinkle in his eyes And lost.

In this game, from the first minute, Nowitzki turned on the attack mode and supported the Mavericks' offense with singles. He made 1 of 22 shots, 13 of 5 three-pointers, and 3 of 5 free throws. 5 points, 31 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 steal and 1 turnovers. He tried his best to regain the excellent state of winning the playoffs last season.

But such an outstanding performance, still failed to exchange for a victory for the Mavericks.

Nowitzki's performance was impeccable, but Curry did not give up too much. In the case of frequent encounters with the Mavericks, he made 17 of 9 shots, 9 of 5 three-pointers, and 3 of 3 free throws. 26 points, 11 assists, 5 rebounds, 2 steals and 3 turnovers in a double-double. He had no ball in the first half and held the ball in the second half. A perfect combination of personal offense and driving teammates.

Of course, this is also inseparable from the vigorous performance of other Warriors players. Clay felt very good in this game. When Curry felt bad in the first half, he supported the Warriors' offense.

He made 18 of 11 shots, 13 of 7 three-pointers, no free throws, scored 29 points, 2 assists, 3 rebounds, 1 block and 1 turnover. He broke his personal record for scoring in the playoffs. Dividing the ball, the title of "Splash Brothers" is well deserved.

Butler's performance is also very good. His hard-breaking efficiency in the transition period is not high, but he helped the team stabilize the score. Li can wait for work with leisure, and immediately grasp the initiative after returning to the court.

He made 14 of 6 shots, 4 of 2 three-pointers, 6 of 4 free throws, scored 18 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 1 block and 2 turnovers. He combined offense and defense, and together with Curry and Clay formed the Warriors' offensive team. Trident, the three scored 73 points together, playing the performance of the Big Three.

The performance of others is also remarkable. Green has 8 points, 6 rebounds, 8 assists, 3 blocks, 2 steals, 3 turnovers and 5 fouls, filling the data column. As a center forward some of the time, he had to use tough confrontation to make up for his lack of height. He suffered several fouls and was almost sent off.

钱德勒稳定砍下11分7篮板2封盖，易建联发挥出色，得到7分5篮板，伦纳德6分4篮板3抢断，都做出了力所能及的贡献。

On the other hand, the Mavericks, apart from Dirk Nowitzki, only Terry scored 17 points, and everyone else's performance was very average. Carter only scored 11 points, Kidd 6 points, and Marion scored 16 points. But he took 17 shots and only made 8 of 2 three-pointers. He wasted a lot of precious open shots and his efficiency was extremely poor.

It’s not entirely his fault. The Warriors have been consciously letting him shoot three-pointers. Marion’s long-range shooting record in the past is not bad, but his three-point efficiency has dropped sharply in the past two years, but he still dares to shoot three-pointers. , It is impossible to watch the opportunity of the big open slip away, so he stepped into the trap set by Zhang Yu for him, and became one of the culprits for the Mavericks' loss.

Another culprit is naturally the Mavericks inside line composed of Haywood and Nowitzki.

Their movement is too slow to keep up with the footsteps of the Warriors players. The Warriors played well in the first half, largely because they couldn't defend. Curry and Clay were like dragons entering the sea, and got a lot of small open shots. They scored 20+ in the half, supporting the Warriors' offense.

In the second half, Curry regained his touch. He went directly to Nowitzki. In order to limit his scoring, Carlisle had to adopt a flanking strategy against him. He didn't dare to let Nowitzki face him alone.

In this way, the rest of the Warriors got a four-on-three opportunity. Curry handled the ball very calmly under the pincers and could always find space. Clay, Butler, Green and others also seized the opportunity. Punishing the Mavericks' defense and not wasting Curry's pass helped the Warriors win in the end.

Nowitzki is the Mavericks' offensive pinnacle, but on the defensive end, he is slow and is a living target for Curry and Clay. Carlisle had to work hard to keep him from being exposed to Curry. Pay the price of letting the rest of the Warriors play four-on-three.

After the game, Mark Cuban, who came to Oakland to watch the game, looked very ugly.

He sat next to the Mavericks' bench, watching the game with a sullen face the whole time.

Mark Cuban has watched the game for so many years, and he also understands Nowitzki's technical characteristics very well, and he can see Carlisle's embarrassment.

A deep feeling of remorse rose in his heart. If Bogut was still there, the Mavericks' inside defense would never be so weak. Nowitzki can defend with confidence and boldness just like last season's Western Conference Finals , sticking to Curry, let him go inside, anyway, there is Bogut protecting the frame inside.

But now, the Mavericks are back in the past when they needed Nowitzki to protect the frame. Heywood was unreliable. , As a result, Carlisle could only double-team Curry, swallowed a bottle of poison, and was poisoned to death.

Mark Cuban knows that the Mavericks' operations during the offseason last year completely failed, and the team's hope of defending the title was ruined by him and Nelson Jr.

He greeted Nowitzki and said apologetically:

"Dirk, I'm sorry..."

He didn't go on, but Nowitzki knew what he was thinking and laughed:

"It's okay, Mark, we'll just come back in the next game."

Mark Cuban nodded heavily, and the Mavericks may win the next game, but in this round of the series, the Mavericks have gone far.

Nowitzki and Mark Cuban hugged before walking towards the Warriors players.

Although the Mavericks lost the game, he still smiled, shook hands and hugged the young opponents who defeated him one by one, and finally came to see Curry.

Nowitzki looked Curry up and down carefully, and said:

"Stephen, congratulations to you for winning this game."

Curry, who shoots unreasonable three-pointers on the court, is very humble off the court:
"You guys played really well too."

Nowitzki smiled and nodded:

"Thank you... come on."

After the words fell, he stretched out his hand to Curry.

Curry was taken aback for a moment, then reached out his hand, hugged Nowitzki, and said:

"come on."

Then, the two separated, Nowitzki waved to Curry, left the court with his teammates, and walked towards the player tunnel.

When he walked to the entrance of the player tunnel, a voice suddenly came from his ear:
"Dirk, come on, you've played really well!"

He looked up, but it was a white man in his 30s wearing his jersey, waving at him and shouting his name.

Nowitzki's heart warmed, he stretched out his hand, gave him a high five, and replied:

"Thank you!"

Then, he quickened his pace, walked into the player tunnel, and walked to the visiting team's locker room.

Halfway through, Nowitzki saw the hole he had punched out again.

He slowed down and stared intently at the "We Believe" on the T-shirt above the hole with complicated eyes.

History seems to be repeating itself.

After a while, Nowitzki suddenly smiled, shook his head, stopped looking at the T-shirt, and walked quickly to the locker room.

The past has passed, no matter whether he wins or loses this time, he has won the Warriors once and the entire league once, and his career has been completed.

……

Two days later, G2 between the Warriors and Mavericks started at the Oracle Center on May 5.

The 0:1 lag seems small, but it has pushed the Mavericks into a desperate situation.

In the history of the league, only 0% of the teams behind 2:6 in the series have a comeback success rate. If the Mavericks lose G2, the hope of winning this round of the series will become very slim. After all, the league is 2:0. The person who is most sure of being overturned is not the Warriors, but the Clippers.

So in this game, Carlisle made adjustments again. He learned the lesson of G1 and relaxed the double-teaming of Curry. He would rather let him have a chance to play big, and no longer give others four-on-three Space, allowing him to drive the Warriors' overall offense.

He chose another bottle of poison, chose to believe in Nowitzki, and believed that he could win against Curry.

Zhang Yu is naturally happy to see the success of this. He still insisted on the game plan of the previous game, and adopted a strategy of single defense against Nowitzki, supplemented by shrinking and assisting defense. He can be allowed to play personally, but he is determined not to Let him drive Carter, Terry and Kidd and other shooters, but let Marion attack and let him continue to play the Warriors' "sixth man".

In this case, the opening of G2 is almost exactly the same as the previous game.

On the side of the Mavericks, Dirk Nowitzki, who is physically strong, frequently launched singles on the offensive end. Chandler succeeded in consecutive singles. Dele couldn't interfere at all, so he could only make his shots as difficult as possible, but this couldn't show its effect not long after the game started.

For the Warriors, Curry is the same as in the opening game of G1. He can get a chance after a single screen, but the difference is that his hand feeling is no longer as bad as in the previous game, but he grasped the fleeting space , consecutively succeeded from outside the three-point line, and set off a wave of offensive frenzy in the first quarter, scoring 16 points in a single quarter and making 4 three-pointers.

However, Nowitzki did not give up much, scoring 11 points in a single quarter, helping the Mavericks to bite the point difference. After the first quarter, the Warriors only led their opponents by 2 points.

In the second quarter, the Warriors had the upper hand. After Jeremy Lin went back, he carefully studied his game video. He no longer insisted on breaking through to the penalty area to complete the finish, but practiced hard on the throwing technique, gained space through the pick-and-roll, and broke through Kidd's After defending, he made a throwing shot early, but Kidd couldn't jump up, so it was difficult to interfere with his shooting, so Jeremy Lin's throwing shot achieved good results.

Coupled with Butler's stable performance as always, when the main lineups of the two teams returned to the court, the Warriors had extended their lead to 8 points.

Carlisle saw that the Warriors gradually took the initiative in the game and had to make adjustments. He sent the small lineup that was originally planned to be used in the second half to the court in advance, and let Nowitzki take the fifth position to fight against the Warriors.

After the Mavericks changed, the space on the offensive end became much wider, but Zhang Yu did not change to the fifth team, but continued the regular lineup, continuing to let Chandler defend Nowitzki alone, and Green let Marion empty. Sweeping around, using his defensive ability, the offensive end is to let Curry hold the ball to launch a pick-and-roll against Nowitzki.

However, Marion was not undercover in this game. He regained the long-lost three-pointer feeling and made two consecutive three-pointers to help the Mavericks quickly close the point difference. The Mavericks' 5-out lineup became worthy of the name , Zhang Yu can only let Green follow Marion well.

With Marion's outstanding performance, the Mavericks quickly recovered the point difference and even achieved a lead, but Zhang Yu remained unmoved and continued to stick to his own style of play.

He sat on the sidelines and watched Curry play Dirk Nowitzki in the military training. Even if he looked back, Nowitzki relied on his excellent space to frequently succeed in singles against Chandler, but he didn't panic at all.

Zhang Yu would like to see if Nowitzki has three heads and six arms. He could not rest for a moment on both ends of the offense and defense in the first half, and he still has such sufficient physical fitness in the second half.

……

After the start of the second half, the Warriors continued their solid style of play. On the defensive end, Chandler defended Dirk Nowitzki alone, trying to let him take difficult shots, and did not give the Mavericks shooters an open chance. On the offensive end, Curry held the ball and instigated pick-and-rolls. Specifically looking for Dirk Nowitzki to play.

Carlisle also put all his eggs in one basket, sending a lineup of one big and four small ones to play against each other. The defensive end did not flank Curry, who scored 24 points in the first half, and let Nowitzki defend him alone.

In the first half of the third quarter, the Mavericks were still able to bite the score, but gradually, because Nowitzki took on too heavy offensive and defensive tasks, his physical energy consumption was too intense, his scoring efficiency began to decline, and the defensive end could not keep up with the library. , the Mavericks are mired in the quagmire on both ends of the offense and defense.

On the defensive end, Curry only needs to hold an ashtray for Kidd on the three-point line. Unleashed extraordinary scoring explosive power, opened the point difference to more than 21 points in one fell swoop!
The Warriors are in a good position, Nowitzki's physical fitness is close to exhaustion, and he tried his best to fight again in the fourth quarter, but he can't play very well. Carlisle has no room for adjustment. He let the main lineup play for a few minutes, but still can't get close In the end, they had no choice but to give up, replace the starting lineup, and admit defeat in advance. The remaining few minutes have all become garbage time.

In the end, Curry shined in the audience, making 24 of 15 shots, 14 of 9 three-pointers, 5 of 5 free throws, scoring 44 points, 5 assists, 5 rebounds, 1 steal and 2 turnovers, helping the Warriors beat the Mavericks 114:97 , leading the series with a big score of 2:0, and almost entered the second round with one foot!

　Make up for yesterday's.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)