warrior godfather

Chapter 392 Now Is Your Time
May 5, 7:7 p.m., Dallas.

The American Airlines Center was full of seats, and Mavericks fans wearing dark blue cheering T-shirts formed a dark blue ocean in the auditorium.

Game 4 between the Warriors and the Mavericks is about to start. Players from both sides have come to the court. Chandler and Haywood are standing near the center line and preparing to jump the ball. The others are standing in their own half, waiting for the start of the game.

Warriors players generally look relaxed, high-fiving and chatting with each other with smiles on their faces. Love the game of golf.

And the Mavericks players standing opposite them all looked solemn, no one was chatting, no one was joking, even Nowitzki, who was the calmest, frowned slightly, with a lingering heavy feeling lingering on his face. meaning.

In the first three games, the Mavericks lost all the games. The series fell behind the Warriors by 0:3 and stood on the edge of a cliff. As long as they lose one more game, they will be eliminated and the playoffs of this season will end. journey.

In the history of the NBA playoffs, there has never been a precedent for a successful comeback from a 0:3 deficit. In other words, the Mavericks' series is already over. They are just lingering, and they will definitely be out in the end. It's just the difference between morning and evening.

In fact, after entering the playoffs as the eighth place in the Western Conference, the Mavericks players are mentally prepared to be eliminated, but they are the defending champions after all. They only won the championship last season, reached the top of the mountain, and enjoyed everyone Worship, they will be eliminated in the first round in the second year, and it is still in front of the home fans, which makes it difficult for them to accept.

These veterans glanced at each other, and they all saw a certain kind of similar determination in each other's eyes.

Even if you lose, you can't lose at home, and even if you're out, you can't be out in front of the home fans!

……

"Di-"

As the referee blew his whistle and threw the ball into the air, the game officially began.

Haywood struggled to take off, but Chandler bounced faster and flicked the ball to Curry first, and the Warriors won the ball on the first attack.

Curry chewed his braces and slowly dribbled the ball across the half court. Zhang Yu's exhortations in the locker room before the game emerged in his mind:
"The Mavericks are already 0:3 behind. They have no hope of winning the series, and they have no burden. They are relaxed. They definitely don't want to lose the series at home. On the contrary, it will be more difficult than the first three games... But, We can't bring the series back to Oakland. Whether it's the Clippers or the Lakers, they are tough opponents. We have to wait for work! So today, we are going to eliminate the Mavericks! So after the game, give me ten With the spirit of two points, put out all your strength, in Dallas, in front of their home fans, send them home, avenge the Western Conference Finals!"

Pop, pop, pop.

Amid the rhythmic slaps, Curry came to the top of the arc, stuffed the braces into his mouth, and suppressed his thoughts, his lazy expression became serious, and he waved to Green.

Green immediately went up to the top of the arc to cover Curry. Nowitzki followed Green to the top of the arc and switched to Curry.

Curry saw Nowitzki coming in front of him, his eyes lit up and he laughed.

He dribbled the ball twice on the spot, and after Green pulled away, he suddenly changed direction forward and handed the ball to his left hand, causing Nowitzki to shift his center of gravity.

Nowitzki moved sideways in a hurry, trying to block Curry's breakthrough, but his reaction was a full beat, and his footsteps were too slow. Curry easily rushed past him, came to a position one step inside the free throw line, and rushed to the sea. Before Wood's help defense arrived, he made a throw shot.

brush!
The basketball flew past Heywood's fingertips, crossed a high arc, and fell into the net.

2: 0.

After the goal, Curry patted his chest and pointed to the sky, and retreated to the backcourt with a smile, his face full of relief.

Nowitzki looked at Curry and smiled wryly. He knew that his "ordeal" was about to begin again.

In the past two games, Carlisle changed his defense in G1 and adopted a strategy of switching defenses against Curry's pick-and-rolls. He would rather let him play Dirk Nowitzki instead of double-teaming Curry and let others play four-on-three. Opportunity, today, he continued his defense in G2 and G3, although the Mavericks lost all these two games.

On the sidelines, Zhang Yu saw Nowitzki switch in front of Curry, looked at Carlisle in surprise, and turned his head after seeing his normal expression.

He got it, Carlisle didn't trust Curry to keep going.

And Zhang Yu was used to watching Curry being double-teamed in his previous life. During normal training, he would also arrange a substitute team to double-team Curry, so he subconsciously felt that Carlisle would definitely double-team Curry. After all, in the Western Conference Finals last season, the Mavericks He kept flanking Curry, limited his scoring, and finally eliminated the Warriors easily.

But now he realizes that the root cause of Carlisle's flanking Curry is not because he fears that Curry is too strong, but because the other Warriors players are too weak, and it won't cost too much for the Mavericks to flank Curry.

This season, the Warriors' young players have grown rapidly, Butler has been selected as an All-Star, Clay has become a high-yield and efficient elite shooter, and Green has become an all-around fourth position, and his performance has become very stable.

In G1, Carlisle continued his experience in the Western Conference Finals last season and continued to pinch Curry, but he was severely punished by Butler and the others. Since then, he has feared the young players of the Warriors' ability to respond, and guarded them strictly. Curry has never been flanked.

Carlisle's goal has indeed been achieved. Butler, Clay, Green and others are not as dazzling as in G1. Butler only scored 16 and 17 points in these two games, and Clay only scored 12 and 17 points respectively. Green's assists No more than 5 games.

However, Curry was like a tiger that had escaped from the cage, and he was out of control. He scored 44 points and 31 points in the two games respectively. In G3, he scored 15 points in the fourth quarter and almost contained it with his own strength. The Mavericks' fierce counterattack allowed the Warriors to completely grasp the initiative in the series.

In this game, Carlisle will continue to let Nowitzki switch to Curry. Zhang Yu is looking forward to what kind of performance Curry can play.

……

In the subsequent first quarter, the Warriors and the Mavericks played evenly, and the trend of the first three games was almost exactly the same.

The Mavericks' core lineup is very reasonable on the offensive end. There is Kidd who is responsible for sorting out the ball, super scorer Dirk Nowitzki, top shooter Terry, Marion who is good at cutting, shooting and holding the ball. There is a Carter with fuel in the tank even though it has deteriorated a lot.

Their cooperation is very tacit, and Nowitzki's singles is also very incomprehensible when he is physically fit. He can drive the Mavericks' overall offense. The Warriors can't prevent the Mavericks from scoring. micro.

But the Mavericks couldn't prevent the pick-and-roll instigated by Curry. Nowitzki's defense is in place, and Curry will play big. Green passes down the pass, and he hits the penalty area or feeds Chandler again.

The Warriors also played a few rounds of passing and cutting from time to time, allowing Green to deal cards in the low post or the top of the arc, and ran the elevator door tactics, strong-side three-man coordination, Curry and Clay's 8-figure running position, against Nowitzki and Clay. Haywood's shortcomings of slow footwork, creating open three-pointers and cutting opportunities, have also achieved good results.

The first quarter passed under the lively confrontation between the two teams. The Warriors led 3:0, and their mentality was a little relaxed. Moreover, Zhang Yu also specifically told him not to be too tough in the confrontation. The series is already a sure thing. , the gain outweighs the loss, so the Warriors' defensive strength has dropped a bit compared to the previous three games, and the Mavericks' offense has been better.

Although the Mavericks and the veterans are eager to win, they are more for the sake of face. They have actually accepted the result of being eliminated by the Warriors in the first round in their hearts, and they will not work hard on the defensive end. Offensively, too.

After the first quarter, the battle between the two sides ended at 30:33, the Mavericks led by 3 points, the offensive efficiency of both teams was extremely high, and the scene was very exciting.

……

In the second quarter, both Zhang Yu and Carlisle were deployed in the connecting lineup.

The Warriors are led by Butler and Jeremy Lin with two ball-holding points, and they are better offensively. They quickly equalized and overtook the score. This is also consistent with the trend of the past three games.

The Mavericks only have Dirk Nowitzki as a ball-handler who can attack aggressively. Last season, Dirk Nowitzki was in excellent form and played the best playoff performance of his career. As a role player, the Mavericks finally reached the top and won the only championship in team history.

But the Mavericks team also has shortcomings, that is, it lacks a second ball-handler who can score independently, so Terry can only be used as a point guard in the transitional period to lead the second team.

Surprisingly, Terry completed this task relatively well, and even had 6 assists and 5 assists in a single game in the finals. This is also an important reason for the Mavericks to finally defeat the Heat and win the championship one of the reasons.

But now, Terry is no longer miraculous. His strength and spirit have regressed. He is just a nervous knife shooter who sometimes convulses.

Although the Mavericks still had Kidd on the court during the transition period, he was one year older and almost completely lost the threat of a breakthrough. He only had the ability to deal cards at the top of the arc and shoot three-pointers, unable to create opportunities for his teammates.

Soon, the Warriors extended their lead to 5 points, and Carlisle had to switch to the main lineup early in the second quarter to stabilize his position.

Seeing that the Mavericks had all the veterans on the field, Zhang Yu followed suit and changed into the starting lineup, but let Butler go down to rest, and Leonard took his place.

For the rest of the second quarter, the two sides still fought lively. Here Curry made a symbolic ultra-long three-pointer, and Nowitzki made an unsolvable Golden Rooster independent fadeaway jumper. Clay and Green made a textbook standard three-pointer hand in hand, and Terry pulled up and threw in a super long after halftime.

The first half was quietly spent in the offensive battle between the two teams. The two sides fought 60:59, and the Warriors only led the Mavericks by 1 point.

But the difference is that when the young players of the Warriors walked to the player channel, they still had relaxed faces, talking and laughing, and their movements were light and powerful, while the veteran players of the Mavericks couldn't hide their faces when they waved to the audience on the sidelines. The tired look on the face.

……

After the start of the second half, neither Zhang Yu nor Carlisle made any adjustments. The two teams continued to play against each other, but it was the same as the previous three games.
The veterans of the Mavericks couldn't hold on anymore.

So far in this round of the series, the Warriors' core tactics are very simple, that is, to continue to consume Nowitzki's physical energy on both ends of the offense and defense. Cisky, on the defensive end, Chandler single-handedly defended Nowitzki, luring him to continue singles.

Nowitzki is not an iron man, and he is 34 years old this year, and his physical function has declined. Under this high-intensity consumption, he can still maintain high-yield and efficient scoring in the first half, but he can't support it in the second half.

This has been the case in the first three games, and tonight is no exception.

Moreover, although the defensive intensity of both sides in this game has declined, Chandler is indeed merciless in defending Nowitzki. He still tries to give him physical confrontation and try to increase the difficulty of every shot he makes.

The intensity of the confrontation does not decrease, and the pace of the game is further accelerated. Nowitzki's physical consumption is more intense, and his scoring efficiency in the second half decreases rapidly. The defensive pace is slower, and it is more difficult to defend Curry.

Apart from him, the Mavericks had no other ball-handler who could score stably and drive teammates, and soon fell into a scoring shortage. The Warriors took this opportunity to quickly promote the defensive counterattack. A wave of offensive climax quickly opened up the score.

At the end of the third quarter, the Warriors led the Mavericks by 89 points with 75:14, and beat the Mavericks by 13 points in a single quarter. They completely grasped the initiative of the game and were only one step away from the second round of the playoffs.

……

After the start of the fourth quarter, Carlisle only let the Mavericks' main players rest for 2 minutes, and then sent them back to the field, wanting a last-ditch effort.

But Zhang Yu didn't give Carlisle this chance. He didn't want to have long nights and dreams, so he transferred back to the main lineup at the same time, and suddenly increased the defensive strength, completely suppressing the old Mavericks. Advantage.

With 4 minutes left in the fourth quarter, as Curry made a step-back three-pointer against Nowitzki, the Warriors expanded their lead to 18 points. Carlisle sighed on the sidelines, called a timeout, and replaced The main force, throw the ball and admit defeat.

In the first round after returning from the timeout, Green took the initiative to foul and Zhang Yu replaced him as a substitute. The entire American Airlines Center fell into silence, except for the cheers and laughter on the Warriors' bench.

In the end, the score was fixed at 115:102. The Warriors swept the Mavericks 4:0 in the first round and successfully advanced to the second round of the playoffs!
全场比赛下来，库里在小牛的换防之下，砍下30分6助攻3篮板2抢断1失误，力压诺维茨基的27分2助攻6篮板1封盖3失误，率领勇士复仇成功！
After the game, Nowitzki and Curry exchanged jerseys, hugged him heavily, and said with emotion:
"Stephen, after the Western Conference Finals last season, I thought the future was yours, but now I realize that I was wrong, and now is your era!"

　Thanks to Yun Youzhe, ayjs, and book friend 20190827205035943 for their rewards!
　　Three changes and twelve thousand ask for monthly tickets and recommendation tickets.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)