warrior godfather

Chapter 402 Back-to-Back Advantages
May 5, Los Angeles, Staples Center.

The Warriors and the Lakers just finished a fierce battle last night, and only rested for a day, and the two teams then set foot on the G4 field.

It's a spectacle that only happens in shortened seasons -- back-to-back playoffs.

This is also for ratings considerations. There must be a game between the East and the West every day. Yesterday the Warriors and the Lakers, and the Thunder and the Spurs were held on the same day. Today, there must be a back-to-back game. In the end, the league chose the Warriors and the Lakers.

For this reason, Mike Brown complained about the league's schedule before the game. The Lakers players also complained about the high intensity of confrontation in the playoffs, too much physical consumption, and too little back-to-back rest time. The Internet frantically denounced NBA officials, but the league remained unmoved.

Everything has to be compromised for the ratings. In order to make money, he can only suffer for the players, and blame the league for the responsibility.

But the Warriors have no complaints about back-to-back games. Zhang Yu said in an interview that the Warriors resolutely obey all the arrangements of the league. Even if the league requires the Warriors and the Lakers to play back-to-back, he has no objection.

Zhang Yu's move was ridiculed by Lakers fans in every possible way. The Warriors are all young people. They still swept their opponents 4-0 in the first round.

And the Lakers are sitting on a group of veterans, and a day off is not enough. The league's arrangement of the schedule is simply in the hands of the Warriors.

Immediately, many Lakers fans shouted injustice on the Internet, believing that the league was favoring the Warriors by doing so, demanding to reschedule the game, and even asking for an investigation to see if there was a behind-the-scenes transaction.

For such unreasonable demands from the Lakers fans, the league of course will not do what they want, but issued a non-aggressive official statement, saying that the league's schedule is the best after considering all aspects of the situation. Choice, fair and just.

After getting the "Shangfang Sword", the Warriors fans who were ridiculed by the crowd immediately counterattacked, ridiculing the Lakers fans for not being able to lose, and for not being able to play on the field, they have to play outside tricks, etc. It also made the public opinion atmosphere of the Warriors and Lakers series the most explosive of the four series.

But none of these can affect the progress of the game. From the beginning of the schedule, the fans of both sides have been arguing, and the quarreling has not stopped until the start of the game. In this increasingly sharp confrontation, G4 finally started.

……

Mike Brown tasted the sweetness of the last game. This game continued to stick to the strategy of shrinking the inner frame and betting on the Warriors' touch.

In fact, he still has no idea, but G3 and G4 are played back to back, and the Warriors players only have one day to make adjustments. In Mike Brown's mind, even if the Warriors' overall condition improves, it should not be much better. Bar?

With a slightly apprehensive mood, Mike Brown sat on the sidelines and watched Bynum successfully jump the ball. Gasol hit Green with his back, turned over and made a jump shot, and scored the first goal for the Lakers. This made him feel relieved. In one breath, I felt a little relieved.

As long as Gasol maintains the state of the previous game, the Lakers' offense will be fine, and he is more confident in winning G4.

But then, the Warriors, who were brooding after the last loss and wanted revenge, used a precise three-pointer to make Mike Brown's heart lift up again.

After losing the game yesterday, under the mediation of Zhang Yu, the Warriors quickly came out of the emotion of failure and transformed it into a more high-spirited fighting spirit and determination to win.

Today, they started training at eight o'clock in the morning, practicing shooting hard under the supervision of Zhang Yu.

From [-]:[-] to [-]:[-] in the morning, and from [-]:[-] to [-]:[-] in the afternoon, all Warriors players went through four and a half hours of shooting training, and the last half hour of simple tactical training, and then rested until [-]:[-] in the evening. Get in on the action at the Staples Center.

Under such highly targeted training, the few people who lost their touch yesterday all recovered and regained their touch.

And Zhang Yu had expected that Mike Brown would continue yesterday's shrinking defensive tactics. Before the game, he designed and arranged three-point tactics for the Warriors, using a lot of screens to create three-point shooting opportunities for them.

After the start of the game, the Warriors started with a pass and cut. Curry did not play with the ball, but ran without the ball with Clay and Butler. Under the shrinking defense of the Lakers, they got good open shots in a row, and They made three-pointers one after another, punishing the Lakers' defensive strategy, and the Warriors scored rapidly.

The Lakers are not vegetarian either. Mike Brown doesn't design those complicated offensive tactics, but he keeps his original intention in mind and gives Kobe and Gasol unlimited firepower, allowing the stars to play unlimited singles.

This is not a good way in the regular season, and Lakers fans have scolded Mike Brown many times because of this, but in the playoffs where the intensity suddenly increases, star singles are the safest offensive method, although this monotonous tactic has various Shortcomings.

After the first quarter, the two teams battled to 26:23, with the Warriors leading by 3 points.

Although the three-pointers of the Warriors are good, Curry, Clay, and Butler each made two three-pointers, and Green also made one three-pointer, but shortly after the start of the game, Gasol and Kobe were both physically fit. Plenty, the success rate of offensive singles is very high, scoring 2 points and 8 points respectively, sweeping almost all the points of the Lakers, helping the Lakers to cling to the score.

……

After the start of the second quarter, Zhang Yu and Mike Brown were assigned to the rotation lineup, which was still the same as before. The Warriors were led by Jeremy Lin and Butler, while the Lakers were led by Gasol.

Soon, the Warriors gained the upper hand. Except for Kobe on the Lakers' back line, everyone else was useless, resulting in a weak lineup in the team's connecting segment. Only Gasol supported the offense.

Zhang Yu arranged for Yi Jianlian to mark Gasol, and Butler and Danny Green took turns flanking him, forcing him to pass the ball to his teammates to complete the finish, while Steve Blake, Matt Barnes and Jordan Hill were The regular season is still a bit useful, but in the playoffs, they can't keep up with the high-level confrontation intensity. They can enter the Lakers' rotation lineup entirely because the depth of the Lakers' lineup is too poor and no one is available.

The game only played 1 minute and 47 seconds, and the Warriors widened the point difference to 8 points. Butler was in excellent form today, scoring 5 points in a row, and even sent an exquisite pass to Whiteside under the basket. , very excited on the field.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Mike Brown had to take advantage of the dead ball and replace Bynum and Ramon Sessions, hoping that the Twin Towers could stabilize the situation and try to give Kobe a little rest.

He has given up hope for a quick victory over the Warriors. If the Lakers want to win the game today, they must hit the critical moment. He must buy time for Kobe to rest and save his energy consumption.

……

Bynum lived up to Mike Brown's expectations. After he came on the court, the Lakers' defense in the penalty area immediately rose to a new level, and the depth threat on the offensive end also greatly increased. They quickly stabilized the situation and even began to recover points.

At 8 minutes and 12 seconds into the game, the point difference between the two teams stabilized at about 5 points. The two teams came and went, and no one could break the deadlock.

Zhang Yu has been closely observing the situation on the court. He looked up at the game time, then turned his head to look at Mike Brown, who was sitting firmly on the Diaoyutai Lakers bench, and called a timeout.

If Kobe doesn't play, then he will force Kobe to play. The back-to-back "advantage" must not be wasted!

After the timeout ended, Zhang Yu switched back to the main force, but according to the usual practice, he let Butler off the court to rest, but the Lakers continued the lineup just now, and Kobe continued to stay on the court to rest.

But soon, Mike Brown regretted his decision.

After the main players of the Warriors came on the court, Curry chased Gasol and Bynum like a wolf. Butler, who came back on the court after a break, also had a strong desire to attack. Successfully killed.

The two teamed up to quickly help the Warriors widen the point difference to more than 10 points. Mike Brown had to take advantage of Butler causing Bynum's second foul and walking to the free throw line to switch the main force back to the court. .

Subsequently, Kobe, who rested for 5 minutes and 25 seconds, launched consecutive singles on the offensive end and scored consecutive mid-range points to help the Lakers recover the point difference to within 10 points.

The game returned to the rhythm of the first quarter. The difference is that Mike Brown's defense against the Warriors' passes and cuts has improved a lot. Rely more on defensive counterattacks and Butler and Curry's offense with the ball.

This is where the limitations of Chuanqie lie. Chuanqie is a powerful weapon when facing mid- and lower-level teams in the regular season. Everyone in the Warriors actively moves, and three passes and two leads can pass easy open opportunities. No matter how hard you work, you can easily win.

But in the playoffs, the intensity of the game has increased, both sides are paying attention to the blocking of passing routes, and their defensive enthusiasm has greatly increased. It is very difficult to get easy opportunities through passing and cutting.

In Zhang Yu's previous life, Cole, who believed in Chuanqi very much, had to play the pick-and-roll that he despised as the playoffs progressed. At the critical moment, he even violated his basketball philosophy and gave Curry unlimited firepower , Let him keep instigating pick-and-rolls, even infinite singles, and dare not play passes.

Because Cole himself also knows that his pass and cut system is invincible when he abuses food, but if he really hits the "high-end game", he still needs star singles to solve the problem.

……

Soon, the second quarter came to an end in a conflicted sense of tension and calm.

The content of the game was tense and intense. Both sides went all out in every offense and defense, and the intensity was full. The Warriors also seized the opportunity of the Lakers' offense and forced several fast breaks and semi-fast breaks. They seized every opportunity to push forward. Rhythm.

What is calm is the rhythm of the game. The two teams played very lively, but because almost every attack is dominated by stars, the success rate is not low. You come and go, the score is always tight, and the Warriors can't do it in one fell swoop. Widening the point difference, the Lakers did not collapse in a few minutes.

At the end of the first half, the score was fixed at 60:53. The Warriors led the Lakers by 7 points. The point difference was not big, but in such a high-intensity playoffs, 7 points is already an advantage that cannot be underestimated.

……

After a 15-minute break at halftime, the two teams returned to the field for the second half.

At this point, the impact of back-to-back matches finally began to show.

Most of the Warriors are young players, and one day is enough to recover their physical strength. The only veteran player among the main players, Chandler, is also a blue-collar.

But the main force of the Lakers has three veterans over the age of 30. More importantly, they have played an important role in both offensive and defensive ends of the Lakers.

In the first half, they were not affected by back-to-backs and played their full strength, but after the start of the third quarter, the fatigue caused by back-to-back games gradually eroded their bodies and affected their performance.

Bang!

In an offensive round, Kobe passed Butler's defense and shot a fallback jumper, but when he took off, the height was a little lower, and it was this height that allowed Butler to interfere with his shooting. Kobe had to Turning up the arc of the shot a little bit, this shot also ended up with iron.

Not only did Kobe's efficiency decline, Gasol moved more slowly in the third quarter, and his performance on both ends of the offense and defense was worse than in the first half. too much impact.

The Warriors took advantage of this opportunity, and after defending against the Lakers' offense, they launched consecutive fast-break counterattacks to further widen the score.

However, Mike Brown quickly found a solution to the problem, or in other words, it was a last resort choice.

Now that the efficiency has decreased, increase the number of shots to make up for the decrease in efficiency!

With a wave of Mike Brown's hand, the Lakers no longer worried about returning to defense. After Kobe hit the iron, Bynum, Gasol and Artest all rushed into the Warriors' penalty area, frantically grabbing offensive rebounds, and delivering shells to Kobe.

And this happened to hit the Warriors' weakness. The Warriors seem to be double insiders, but Green is less than 2 meters tall. In fact, only Chandler is an orthodox insider. But even Chandler, his weight is relatively light among big centers. , confrontation does not suffer, but it is not his strong point.

And Bynum and Artest are huge in tonnage, and their confrontation is also top-notch in the league. Gasol seems soft, and he doesn't suffer at all in the confrontation. With the three of them desperate, the Warriors basically grabbed the offensive rebounds. However, they, the Lakers scored consecutively through the second offense, and also contained the Warriors' defensive counterattack, killing two birds with one stone and stabilizing the situation.

At the same time, the Warriors themselves had their own problems. Curry's touch in this round of the series has always been very good, but it declined tonight. He missed three consecutive three-pointers and was quickly recovered by the Lakers.

Fortunately, Butler stood up, first forced a breakthrough to the inside, and succeeded in a layup against Bynum, then singled Artest, hit a mid-range emergency stop jumper, and finally cut to the penalty area and hit the basket, causing Gaso Paul returned, made two free throws and scored 6 points in a row, helping the team stabilize the score.

After the third quarter, the score was fixed at 83:80. The Warriors only led the Lakers by 3 points.

(End of this chapter)