warrior godfather

On November 11, the Warriors, who rested for three days, sat at home to face the Nuggets.

This is the third time the Warriors and Nuggets have played against each other in 20 days. The last time they played against each other was in January next year.

When the league arranged the schedule, it obviously did not expect that the Nuggets would become the top four in the Western Conference this season. Of the three games between them and the Warriors, only one game was broadcast live in the United States, and the schedule of the two teams was too tight. It's too late to change.

Under the broadcast of the local TV station in California, the Warriors, who had been recharging their batteries for a long time, easily defeated the Nuggets 119:108 at home and achieved four consecutive victories.

Since they have played against the Nuggets twice, the entire Warriors team is very familiar with the strength and style of play of the Nuggets. The whole game is mainly based on passing and cutting, and they have maintained a lead of about 10 points against the Nuggets. .

In this game, the intensity of the confrontation between the two sides was not high. The Warriors did not use their full strength on the defensive end.

库里出战34分钟，20投11中，三分11中6，罚球4中4，砍下32分5助攻6篮板2抢断。

After more than a dozen games, others have become more and more accustomed to Curry's unpredictable running positions. When attacking, they can pass the ball to Curry in time. Curry's scoring without the ball is getting easier and easier. The ratio has also continued to rise, and his scoring with the ball is [-]-[-].

Opponents must take into account Curry's possession and off-the-ball, and must also guard against Curry's seamless switching between off-the-ball and off-the-ball modes at any time, and it is becoming more and more difficult to defend him.

In this game, the Nuggets couldn't take into account Curry's unpredictable offensive style. In the first half, they were too afraid of his off-ball, which gave the Warriors a lot of opportunities. In the second half, the Nuggets relaxed their guard on Curry. He used running without the ball as his offensive starting method, and immediately launched an offense with the ball after receiving the ball, tearing apart the Nuggets' defense.

Butler is the number two contributor to the Warriors' win. He seemed to have received some stimulation in this game. He had a particularly strong desire to attack and worked hard on the defensive end.

他全场17投8中，三分6中2，罚球7中6，砍下24分6篮板4助攻1封盖2抢断的全面数据，表现非常亮眼。

However, as his number of shots increases, the number of shots of other players will decrease. Clay only made 13 of 6 shots, 7 of 3 three-pointers, and scored 15 points. Chandler scored 6 points and Green scored 5 points. decreased.

掘金全队没有任何一个人得到20分以上，得分最多的是15投7中，三分5中2，罚球3中2，砍下18分4助攻4篮板的伊戈达拉。

In addition, Gallinari has 15 points, Ty Lawson has 14 points, and Faried has 12 points. The distribution of points is very even, but none of them pose too much threat to Yong.

In the post-game interview, the fiery George Karl did not blame the Nuggets players, but said with relief:
"For a long time, I don't have to think about how to defend Stephen Curry. This is the only good news today! The league's schedule is too unreasonable. We will definitely not only be ranked fourth in the West, and our record will definitely be even better next time!"

……

After defeating the Nuggets, the Warriors took a day off, and then on December 12, they played against the Pacers from afar.

In the past, as long as there was a game between the Warriors and the Pacers, Mark Baum would definitely go to the scene to watch the game.

But the general election in the Neon country is coming soon, and he has put all his energy on shorting the neon coins. He has been controlling the overall situation in New York and cannot get out. This time he did not come to the Oracle Center.

However, this also allows Mark Baum to not have to worry about which team to support. Although he is a die-hard Pacers fan, after becoming a shareholder of the Warriors, Mark Baum was attracted by the Warriors' gorgeous style of play, tough defense and outstanding performance. Attracted by his record, he regards the Warriors as the second home team, and the status of the Warriors in his heart is gradually comparable to that of the Pacers, and even slowly has a tendency to surpass them.

The Warriors rank first in the league with a proud record of 14 wins and 1 loss. They are looking at the mountains and small, and they are likely to defend their title.

Before coming to the Bay Area, the Pacers only achieved a record of 8 wins and 8 losses, ranking seventh in the Eastern Conference, and will soon fall out of the playoffs.

This season, Granger has been sidelined indefinitely due to a knee injury. Paul George has become the number one star of the Pacers. The ball has skyrocketed, averaging 16.7 points, 7.1 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 2.2 steals and 2.8 turnovers per game.

As a third-year young forward, Paul George's performance is already very good, but compared to Granger in the same period, he is still a bit inferior, not enough to lead the Pacers to conquer the East.

But fortunately, the Pacers also have powerful players such as David West, George Hill, Roy Hibbert, Lance Stephenson, etc., playing team basketball, and can still maintain the ranks of the playoffs.

But the poor record of the Pacers is no wonder to Paul George. Granger's season reimbursement is very abrupt. Although he has been plagued by injuries before, he can at least guarantee an attendance rate of more than 75% every season.

Even though Granger's strength is declining year by year due to constant injuries, he can still maintain the combat effectiveness of the league's top small forward and escort Paul George's growth.

But now he is directly reimbursed for the season, and Paul George was kicked out of the rack. It is already commendable to be able to play such a performance.

As long as he is given one season, he can lead the Pacers and the Heat to seven games in the Eastern Conference Finals, surpassing the height when Granger led the team.

But the Bulls have not fallen now, and the competition in the East is much fiercer. If Paul George wants to lead the team to the Eastern Conference Finals, he must cross one of the mountains between the Heat and the Bulls, which will be very difficult.

Such an immature Pacers are naturally no match for the Warriors.

The Pacers' style of play is very similar to that of the Nuggets. They focus on the overall offense, and the ball is not concentrated in the hands of one person. As the core star, Paul George averages only 14 shots per game. David West , George Hill and Roy Hibbert all had more than 10 shots.

Correspondingly, their scores are similar, with Roy Hibbert having the lowest scoring average of 11.8 points per game, George Hill averaging 14.6 points per game, and David West's scoring average is only less than Paul George landed 0.4 points.

In front of the Warriors' defense with no weaknesses and few weaknesses, it is difficult for such an average offense to be effective.

Paul George has now shown his technical characteristics, that is, he mainly shoots with the ball, and his breakthrough ability is relatively average. Butler is most afraid of this kind of player, and Paul George is still inexperienced, making it even more difficult to break through Butler Le's defense.

George Hill doesn't have much advantage against Curry. He is not good at confrontation, and his physical condition is not much better than Curry. He can only rely on pick-and-rolls to send offense.

Roy Hibbert is completely invisible in front of Chandler. He relies entirely on his body and height to play. Chandler doesn't suffer much in these two aspects, and he has a lot of defensive experience, so there is nothing he can do.

Only David West played better. Green is not afraid of confrontation, nor is he afraid of opponents being able to shoot. He is afraid of David West, a strong power forward who has confrontation, skill and ability to shoot. .

David West frequently screens for George Hill at the free throw line, and then rolls out to catch George Hill's pass and shoot, or catches the ball down and turns into a post-up single, and he often succeeds.

Fortunately, the Pacers only have David West's offensive efficiency. In addition, Paul George can digest the ball, and the overall score is within the range that the Warriors can bear, which cannot change the trend of the game.

Conversely, on the defensive end, David West and Roy Hibbert were both slow and unable to defend in time. Splash frequently used cover to run without the ball, and got many small open opportunities. The two tried their best To make up, also can't make up.

This problem was even more serious when Curry started to hold the ball and play big in the third quarter. David West and Roy Hibbert dared not not switch out, and as long as they switched defenses, they would be trained by Curry .

In the end, the Warriors defeated the Pacers 116:103, winning five consecutive victories!
In the post-match interview, Pacers head coach Frank Vogel said helplessly to reporters:

"Defending the Warriors is definitely a big problem. They are completely different from all other teams. There has never been a team in the league that has both Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson who are very good at running off the ball. The guards, especially Stephen Curry, he is a point guard, but he runs off the ball better than any shooting guard, when he runs with Klay Thompson, our defense is completely messed up .”

"David and Roy tried their best, but they were too tall to jump out and block the shot of two guards, and just give Steph Curry and Klay Thompson a little space, and they can make it. There is no solution. Fortunately, we only need to play two games with the Warriors. I can think about how to limit the Warriors' offense without the ball..."

Curry, who almost broke Vogel's mentality, played 34 minutes, made 16 of 10 shots, 9 of 6 three-pointers, 5 of 5 free throws, scored 31 points, 6 assists, 3 rebounds and 1 steal, with extremely high efficiency.

克莱14投7中，三分9中4，罚球2中2，砍下20分3助攻3篮板1抢断。

His agility and speed are not as good as Curry, and under Vogel's training, the Pacers have excellent defensive discipline. Aggressive, interferes with Klay's shooting and reduces his efficiency.

In fact, judging from the Pacers' defensive characteristics, the number of shots taken by Splash is a bit small, only 30 times in total. They should have chased the Pacers' inside line.

But Butler took a full 18 shots, more than Curry, so Splash's shots will naturally be compressed.

巴特勒全场19投8中，三分8中3，罚球5中4，砍下23分6篮板2助攻1封盖1抢断。

In the game, he singled Paul George many times, but the efficiency was not high, only 6 of 2 shots, but with the help of a lot of three-pointers and fouls at the basket, he still maintained his efficiency.

It is precisely because Butler took part of the ball from Splash, and the efficiency is not high, that the Warriors only beat the Pacers by 13 points.

If Butler is willing to act as a green leaf and completely give up the ball to Curry and Clay, the Warriors will definitely win another 20-point or more victory today, and it is very possible to check in in three quarters.

After the game, Zhang Yu looked at the stat sheet of the game, his eyes fell on Butler's stat column, and he fell silent.

In fact, Butler had already shown his desire to possess more possessions in the last Warriors game against the Nuggets.

Prior to this, his average number of shots per game this season was 15.7, an increase of 1.4 times compared to last season, and in these two games against the Nuggets and Pacers, his number of shots soared to 18!
Curry's average shots per game this season is only 19.3 times. Butler's shots in two games are almost catching up with him, even higher than Durant's shots-Durant's shots this season The number of shots is only 17.8, only slightly higher than Westbrook.

"Ronan, what are you looking at?" At this moment, Cole came to Zhang Yu and asked.

Zhang Yu raised his head and handed over the data sheet in his hand:

"Look at Jimmy's stats."

After Cole took it, he took a closer look and was taken aback for a moment:
"He took more shots than Stephen?"

Zhang Yu nodded slightly, and Cole handed the data sheet back to Zhang Yu, saying in a deep voice:
"It seems that you have to talk to him. Although under the pass-and-cut system, everyone has the authority to handle the ball, but the principle of optimal efficiency must be followed. No one can shoot at will, um, except for Stephen... Anyway Jimmy didn't have that authority, he kind of crossed the line."

Zhang Yu nodded slightly:

"I will have a good talk with him, as far as I know him, he should have no other ideas, just want to score more points, this is not a problem, I can give him some more ball possessions...Next The first game is to play magic, so let him play a good game first, and then I will talk to him about the possession of the ball.

……

On December 12, the Warriors played at home against the Magic.

In the locker room before the game, Zhang Yu suddenly announced:
"Jimmy, you have unlimited firepower in this game. I allow you to score in any way you think is feasible. I only have one request, that is, you must score at least 30 points today. Can you do it?"

As soon as he said this, there was an uproar in the locker room. Previously, the Warriors only had Curry with unlimited firepower on the court, and everyone else did not have this right. Zhang Yu suddenly gave it to Butler, which immediately aroused discussion among the players.

Everyone looked at Butler, but Butler himself also had a look of surprise on his face, he hesitated for a moment, and then nodded:
"I get it, boss, I'll get 30 points!"

Zhang Yu nodded, but his expression did not change at all.

Butler turned to look at Curry beside him:

"Stephen, I don't know what's going on..."

Curry smiled and waved his hands:

"Whatever the boss tells you to do, you do!"

Butler stared at Curry for a while, seeing that his expression did not seem to be fake, he smiled and said:

"it is good!"

Subsequently, the Warriors walked out of the locker room and entered the court. After the warm-up and entrance ceremony, they started a contest with the Magic.

The Magic got six players and four draft picks in Howard's trade, three of which were first-round picks, and they have completely entered the rebuilding period. Before this game, their record was 6 wins and 10 losses, ranking last in the Eastern Conference Third, just higher than the equally bad Cavaliers and Bobcats.

It is worth mentioning that the last opponent of the Magic was the Lakers. After they experienced a three-game losing streak at home, they started a wave of five consecutive trips to the West. The first stop was Los Angeles.

In Howard's home game against his old club, the Lakers lost 103:113 to the poor Magic. Even if Kobe scored 34 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists, he could not save the team.

霍华德仅仅13投6中，得到21分15篮板，和“大宝贝”格伦-戴维森的23分12篮板拼了个旗鼓相当。

And this is already the ninth loss of the Lakers this season. Before that, the Lakers had a record of 8 wins and 8 losses, ranking only tenth in the Western Conference, and there is still a distance from the playoffs.

And this is already the result of the Lakers catching up. After the opening record of 2 wins and 5 losses, the Lakers fans couldn't bear it, and Kupchak also came to his senses. He was fooled by Zhang Yu and hurriedly fired Mike Brown. An assistant coach Bickerstaff stepped in and became the interim head coach of the Lakers.

But he didn't work for a long time. After temporarily coaching the Lakers for 4 games and achieving a record of 2 wins and 2 losses, Bickerstaff abdicated and D'Antoni took office quickly and became the new head coach of the Lakers.

He has been at home since he was fired by the Knicks in the middle of last season, and he came out again after receiving a kind invitation from Kupchak.

But D'Antoni's luck was not good enough. As soon as he took office, Nash, who had just returned from injury, had a back injury and had another truce.

D'Antoni, who lost his favorite disciple, handed over the ball to Kobe in desperation, let him organize the offense with the ball, and began to bombard the Lakers.

This is the foundation of his life and his core coaching philosophy. No matter which team he is in, no matter whether he has a top point guard or not, he will bombard him.

If there is no point guard in the team that suits his wishes, then D'Antoni will transform one. If he can't transform it, then he can only dismiss get out of class.

Fortunately, Kobe was able to fill the role that D'Antoni gave him and did a good job at the point guard position.

And as long as there is a reliable point guard, D'Antoni's tactics can continue. The Lakers immediately achieved a record of 4 wins and 1 loss, got rid of the dilemma of being at the bottom of the ranking, and launched an impact on the playoffs.

But after losing to the Magic, the Lakers' ranking continued to decline, and D'Antoni was in a hurry again.

After all, the goal of the Lakers is not just to make the playoffs. Even if they play like this, Lakers fans still fantasize about competing for the championship and hope that the team can rise to the forefront of the Western Conference.

For the current Lakers, this is a very difficult task.

But even such a Lakers should not be underestimated in the eyes of the outside world. The names of the three stars speak for themselves. A wave of winning streak seems to indicate that the Zijin Army is about to pass the painful period of running-in and usher in a rise.

And the magic that can beat the Lakers has naturally been praised by people.

Avrola, who scored 30 points, Glenn Davidson, who scored 23 points, Nelson, who scored 19 points, and Vucevic, who scored 17 points, all gained a lot of praise overnight, and people seemed to be Looking forward to them being able to take the momentum of a big victory and interrupt the Warriors' winning streak in the next city.

But the Warriors are not the Lakers. The Magic can beat the Lakers, but they can't beat the Warriors. At most, they can only create a little trouble for the Warriors.

In this game, the head coach of the Magic, Jacqui Vaughn, was very smart. He knew that the Magic would definitely not be able to defend against the Warriors' offense, and his strength was far inferior to the Warriors. He simply fought against the Warriors after the opening game, and tried his best to defend. for.

Jacqui Vaughn is very clear about his responsibilities. The Magic is a bad team. Winning is not the goal, but losing is. He is content to create a little trouble and show his coaching ability to the outside world.

But it was such a strategy that caused a lot of trouble for the Warriors.

The Magic once led the Warriors by as much as 10 points in the game, and the Warriors only recovered a little bit in the second half.

Halfway through the fourth quarter, the Warriors completed their overtake and finally won the game 104:90.

What caused this thrilling situation was the unlimited fire rights Zhang Yu gave Butler before the game.

In the first half, the Warriors' offense almost completely became Butler's individual singles, eager to perform well, and Butler, who was selected to the best team, just took the ball and completely deducted the pass key.

At the beginning, Butler's continuous strong attack achieved good results.

The Magic put most of their defensive attention on Curry. They didn't know that Butler had unlimited firepower, and Curry kept running without the ball when Butler was holding the ball, which involved the Magic's The defense created space for Butler's storm.

But gradually, the Magic discovered that Curry didn't seem to have the idea of ​​​​participating in the offense, or that when Butler held the ball, he didn't have the idea of ​​​​letting others participate in the offense.

Afterwards, the Magic spontaneously changed their defensive strategy, focusing on marking Butler, but relaxed their supervision of Curry and Clay.

Jacqui Vaughan completely let the team's defensive focus change. Anyway, he never thought of winning, and he just played with the players.

The magic change had an immediate effect.

Butler's confrontation is very strong, he is extremely good at drawing fouls, and he has also practiced mid-range shooting, but he is not Curry. His three-year career is not enough to make him a superstar. At best, he is just a top three player. A second-rate star at the team level.

Under the Magic's focus on marking, Butler's offense quickly encountered a lot of help defenses and inside cover protection, and his scoring efficiency plummeted.

But he still didn't believe in evil, continued to attack the frame with the head iron, and hit the iron continuously. The Magic seized the opportunity to fight back and overtook the Warriors in terms of score, even leading by 10 points.

At the end of the first half, Butler's face was very ugly.

During the intermission, Zhang Yu did not criticize Butler, but gave him unlimited firepower.

But Butler refused. He took the initiative to hand over the ball and said:
"Boss, let Stephen come. I didn't handle the ball well enough in the first half. I can't support the team's offense."