warrior godfather

Chapter 407 Envy
"Ladies and gentlemen, you are welcome to take flight UA4562 of United Airlines, a member of the Star Alliance, to San Francisco. The doors have been closed. Please turn off your mobile phones and other electronic devices and fasten your seat belts. Now I will play the video of safety instructions for you, please Pay attention to watch, all members of our crew will serve you wholeheartedly, wish you a pleasant journey, thank you."

A soft voice rang in Stevens' ears. He adjusted the seat to a comfortable angle, turned his head and looked out the window, a complex color flashed in his eyes.

Zhang Yu called him at noon yesterday and chatted for a long time about Butler. Finally, he accepted Zhang Yu's invitation and went to the Bay Area to watch the game between the Warriors and the Lakers in G5.

As Stevens said to Zhang Yu yesterday, he is very optimistic about the Warriors' lineup this year. This is not a compliment against his will. With his character, he will not do such a thing.

After Zhang Yu left the Bulldogs, Stevens has been paying attention to the Warriors, watching the Warriors step by step to today, knowing the Warriors' lineup and style of play, and knowing the Warriors' strength very well.

Ronan, the team you coach is about to enter the Western Conference Finals for the second time, and even has a good chance of hitting the championship, but I am still working hard for the NCAA championship...

The plane took off smoothly and flew steadily at an altitude of [-] meters. Stevens stared at the cloudless sky outside the window, his thoughts were churning, and he couldn't calm down for a long time.

Zhang Yu won two NCAA championships for Butler University, forged a legendary reputation, then left, turned around and bought the Warriors, and became the head coach of the Warriors. The team took the No. [-] position in the league, cultivated an MVP-level superstar, became famous, and was highly respected throughout the United States.

Although Zhang Yu is under [-] years old and has only three years of coaching career, and has not yet led the Warriors to a championship, many people already regard him as a top coach.

On the other hand, Stevens himself, after Zhang Yu left, he took over as the head coach of the Bulldogs. The team also entered the Big Ten because of two NCAA championships.

With Zhang Yuzhuyu in front of him, Stevens put all his energy into his work and wanted to continue the bright road that Zhang Yu opened for Butler University, so that Butler University can truly become a giant in the NCAA.

He has indeed achieved good results. During the three years since Zhang Yu left, the Bulldogs played in the finals twice, and once stopped in the final four. They are very competitive every year, and they are a team that cannot be ignored in the NCAA. strength.

And the outstanding performance for six consecutive years has also allowed Butler University to consolidate its popularity across the United States. Many of the new generation of high school students regard Butler University as an excellent basketball school, and there are constantly players outside of Indiana. Talented high school students come here especially.

However, Stevens failed to lead the Bulldogs to win another championship after all, and Butler's very strong upward momentum was also wiped out.

In fact, Stevens' coaching performance has been remarkable, and it has also helped Butler University to stabilize and become a powerful team in the NCAA. As long as it stabilizes this performance, Butler University will be a new one in ten years. Giants, with their prominent reputation, can attract talented high school students from all over the United States to enroll every year, forming a virtuous circle.

Fans of the Bulldogs are also very satisfied with Stevens. His ability has also conquered the sports department of Butler University. In one year, the contract he signed with the school is about to expire. He offered a very generous five-year contract.

However, Stevens couldn't get over the hurdle in his heart.

He is very elegant and easy-going in dealing with people, but he is actually a very proud person in his heart.

At the beginning, Stevens was able to give up his high-paying job and good life in a pharmaceutical company to become a basketball volunteer at Butler University because he had very strong self-confidence and firmly believed that he would be able to succeed.

Zhang Yu won two championships for the Bulldogs. After Stevens took over his position, he took Zhang Yu as the benchmark and had only one goal, which was the championship. Otherwise, it was a failure.

However, three years have passed, and the Bulldogs have not only failed to win the championship, but their performance has declined. Last season, due to Hayward's participation in the draft, Stevens followed Zhang Yu's suggestion and recruited a large number of freshmen. Dinwiddie, Nance Jr., Zeller and McClemore all have good potential, but they are still very immature. Stevens racked his brains and arranged very subtle tactics. The Bulldogs finally stopped in the semi-finals.

However, after this year of tempering, all four of them have made rapid progress. After March Madness was eliminated, Stevens saw deep unwillingness in their eyes, and offered to stay in the school for training in summer. High morale.

"Next year's champion must be the bulldog..."

Stevens whispered to himself, looked away, and lowered the visor to avoid the increasingly glaring sunlight above the clouds.

……

After a 4-hour and 50-minute flight, the plane landed smoothly at San Francisco International Airport.

Stevens got out of the airport, and the Warriors staff arranged by Zhang Yu had been waiting for 20 minutes. He picked up Stevens and went to the Oracle Center.

The flight Stevens took took off at 12:30 noon and landed at 5:20. G5 between the Warriors and the Lakers was held at 8:30 pm, and there was still a long way to go from San Francisco International Airport to the Oracle Center. Therefore, Zhang Yu directly arranged for him to go to the arena, and after the game, he would treat him well.

Of course, even if Stevens arrives in the Bay Area in the morning, Zhang Yu doesn't have time to entertain him. He has been preparing for the game at night, so he has no time to spare.

After Stevens came to the Oracle Center, he was taken to the VIP box that Zhang Yu had prepared for him.

At 8:30 in the evening, after resting for more than two hours, Stevens finally cheered up, and the game between the Warriors and the Lakers officially started.

For more than two hours, Stevens stayed alone in the VIP box. Zhang Yu was not polite to him, and did not send anyone to entertain him. Stevens didn't know whether the game was coming soon and the Warriors were short of manpower. It was because he stabbed Zhang Yu a few words yesterday and suffered "retaliation".

But now, none of this matters anymore. The Lakers are 3:1 behind the Warriors. If they lose this game, they will be eliminated. Stevens' gaze left him no time to think.

But soon, Stevens leaned back on the sofa, turned his gaze to Mike Brown standing on the sidelines, and shook his head.

At this time, only 6 minutes into the first quarter, but Stevens has no expectations for this game.

Mike Brown continued the experience of the previous two games. After the start of the game, he arranged for Kobe and Gasol to take turns playing singles. The interspersed running of the Lakers in the triangle offense in the past disappeared without a trace. Kobe and Gasol no longer It is the axis of the low position and the waist position, but a pure scorer, leaving only the function of scoring.

Everyone else was responsible for opening up the space, and after Kobe and Gasol made shots, they rushed to grab the offensive rebounds collectively. Only Bynum played two strong shots in the low post from time to time, but under Chandler's defense, the effect was very poor. Such an opportunity was quickly lost.

But Zhang Yu made adjustments. The Warriors no longer put fast-break counterattacks as the top priority as before, but shifted their focus to protecting the backcourt rebounds. Chandler and Green were stuck, Curry and Clay And Butler all shrunk to the basket to protect the rebounds. The Warriors' penalty area was tightly protected, and it was difficult for the Lakers to get a second chance to attack.

Mike Brown was overjoyed after seeing this scene. In his opinion, the Warriors had cut off their own arm. Without the sharp fast-break counterattack and the success rate of the battle, the Lakers are not afraid of anyone!
But in Stevens' view, the Lakers' game is a foregone conclusion, and the Warriors' advancement to the Western Conference Finals is just around the corner.

It's true that the Warriors gave up the fast break, but the Lakers couldn't beat the Warriors in a positional battle.

Fast-break counterattack is the sharpest weapon on the offensive end of the Warriors, but in addition, the Warriors have many offensive tactics, such as Curry's pick-and-roll with the ball, Butler's singles with the ball, Klay and Curry's off-the-ball running, etc. etc., are very skilled and efficient offensive methods of the Warriors.

Without fast-break counterattacks, the Warriors' offensive efficiency will indeed drop a bit, but the scoring stability will not be affected too much, especially Curry's offense with the ball. Choose one of two bottles of poison.

Mike Brown insisted on his basketball philosophy. He didn't even switch on Curry, but adopted a defensive strategy of strong delay after the pick-and-roll. It was a little stronger than G3 and G4, but it was not much stronger. As long as Curry had a trace There is no gap, you can make a three-pointer, strong delay or no delay, there is no difference between being in front of Curry and being open. Even if Mike Brown adjusts to switch defenses, with the footsteps of Gasol and Bynum, he can't guard him, just It just takes a little more effort.

The Lakers' offense is still the same as before, relying entirely on the singles of Kobe and Gasol. Mike Brown has coached the Cavaliers for so many years, and it seems that he has only learned the offensive tactic of star singles. Now he puts all his hopes on Kobe and Gasol. Sol, the two veterans, expect them to use their strong personal abilities to lead the Lakers to kill powerful enemies and keep his position as they did two years ago.

This is also a helpless move. Apart from them, only Bynum can be used. However, Kobe and Gasol are already old, and they can barely support the first half. What about the second half?What about the fourth quarter?

Stevens has already hoped for the death penalty for the Lakers in his heart. Although the Lakers can still compete with the Warriors in the first quarter, it is nothing more than showing off their blood and courage. By the second half, most of the Lakers' veterans were exhausted and their offensive efficiency was reduced. , and the young warriors are still alive and well, with stable output, the outcome will naturally be decided.

Stevens laughed lightly, as if a little disdainful, got up and went to the small freezer in the corner of the VIP box, picked out a can of beer, drank it slowly, looked at the audience, and began to become absent-minded.

……

Because the Warriors almost gave up the fast-break counterattack, the rhythm of the game was greatly reduced. The first half passed very slowly in the positional battle between the Warriors and the Lakers.

The two sides battled to 48:46, the Lakers led by 2 points, the two teams did not score many points, they mainly pursued the success rate, and the confrontation intensity was also very high, which made it very difficult to score every time.

In the second half, as Stevens expected, the Lakers' offensive efficiency began to decline, while the Warriors' offense was as stable as the first half.

The promotion is just around the corner. The Warriors players spared no effort and played extraordinarily hard. They all wanted to advance to the Western Conference Finals in front of the home fans.

After the third quarter, the Warriors have overtaken the score and extended their lead to 7 points. They beat the Lakers by 9 points in a single quarter, suppressing their opponents on both offense and defense.

Mike Brown couldn't sit still anymore. He only let the main players rest for more than a minute, and then replaced them all on the court. He wanted to recover the point difference in the transition period, and then played a critical moment with the Warriors.

But Zhang Yu didn't give Mike Brown this chance. After the Lakers' main players returned to the court, he immediately made Yi Jianlian take the initiative to foul. Taking advantage of the dead ball, he also changed to the starting lineup.

After seeing this scene, Stevens couldn't help laughing.

This is the Zhang Yu he knew. When it came time to be ruthless, Zhang Yu was more ruthless than anyone else, and Zhang Yu would never be complacent because of leading the score. In Stevens' impression, Zhang Yu was making sure every game He will only relax when he wins. He has never withdrawn the main force in advance, and sometimes even after the opponent is on the bench, he will still let the main force play for another 2 minutes. After establishing an absolute advantage, he will replace the main force.

In this game, he was a lion fighting a rabbit, and he also used his full strength, the main force against the main force, the star against the star, and the Lakers to the end.

In this fight, the Lakers fell into a disadvantage without any suspense.

In the third quarter, Kobe began to hit the iron. After playing in the fourth quarter, he did not recover his physical fitness due to lack of rest time, and even consumed more. The performance of the four Yanghua three irons was even worse than the previous game.

The Warriors played steadily, and Curry and Butler took over the game. Although their physical energy was also consumed a lot and their efficiency declined, they remained above the average level.

And like the previous games, Curry's long-range threat began to draw the Lakers' defensive attention. When Gasol and Bynum were defending pick-and-rolls, they were afraid of Curry's three-pointers and unconsciously expanded. The Lakers' inside scoring has a trend of blooming inside and outside, not only keeping the lead, but even gradually opening up the score.

The Lakers have been working hard to chase points, and they can narrow the point difference by working hard, but they will soon be ruined by Kobe's strike.

In the end, the Warriors defeated the Lakers 94:84, won the defensive battle, eliminated the Lakers with a big score of 4:1, and successfully advanced to the Western Conference Finals!
The moment the game ended, the sky was filled with ribbons and fireworks, and the Oracle Center was boiling. All the Warriors players jumped from the bench and came to the center of the field, wildly celebrating the victory.

Standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling glass windows of the VIP box, Stevens looked at Zhang Yu, who was surrounded by Warriors players, with envy in his eyes.

He picked up the beer in his hand, drank it down, and murmured:

"Ronan, you are so enviable..."

He decided that no matter whether he can win another championship trophy for Butler University next year, he will come to the NBA to make a fortune!
　Ask for monthly tickets and recommended tickets!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)