warrior godfather

Butler and Wilson Chandler are matched up, but Leonard is really unstoppable.

After he came on the court, he not only scored through fixed-point three-pointers and fast-break conversions, but also took out mid-range singles. When the Warriors' offense was at a stalemate, he forced the matchup DeJuan Blair.

Although Leonard's movements are still a bit stiff and his coordination needs to be improved, relying on his generous body and extraordinary wingspan, the effect is good.

This is the result of his hard training for a summer and another season in the game.

He hit countless irons in the regular season, and finally got the efficient mid-range singles in the Western Conference Finals.

He is also an important contributor to the Warriors' victory over the Spurs by more than ten points. The GDP combination that has rested for several days is in good condition.

After all, Thomas Jr. is not the "King of the Last Quarter" or "The Strongest 175 on the Surface". In the regular season, he can still play the role of sixth man and master of chaos. Targeted, Thomas Jr.'s ability to score points is not so prominent.

The Warriors need a new scorer on the bench, and this person can only be Leonard.

Zhang Yu asked him to attack with the ball a lot during garbage time, not for him to practice blacksmithing. After a season of training, Leonard should also show some results.

Fortunately, he lived up to his fate. In the very critical Western Conference Finals G1, he played his best performance in the playoffs, which gave the Warriors fans a big surprise.

After the game, some Warriors fans praised Leonard on the Internet:
"Leonard played really well. He has defense, three-pointers, singles, and fast breaks. He is much better than his rookie season and has improved too fast."

"Those two mid-range face-to-face singles are simply amazing. It is no exaggeration to say that they are a bit like Jordan, but the movements are a bit awkward!"

"Now it depends on Coach Z's employment. Leonard plays very well, but Butler is also very strong. The Warriors have two offensive and defensive small forwards. What a luxury!"

"Let's take it easy, Leonard has played a game, and you guys are blowing away? Jordan has come out, he is still far from Butler!"

Fans of other teams are also very envious of the Warriors' striker configuration, especially the Spurs fans:
"Butler, Clay, Green, Leonard, Parsons... Where did Coach Z find such a bunch of strikers with a height of about 2 meters? They all played out, so how do others play? I looked at Dior and Bonner's harmless appearance to humans and animals makes him want to cry without tears!"

"That's right, it doesn't matter if the Warriors have a strong striker. No matter how strong they are, they can be as strong as Durant James? But the Warriors have the strongest guard. I'm really convinced. Gary Neal is going to defend Curry. Is it right? Put Parker and Ginobili on defense?"

"Don't mention it, the Warriors are weak inside? Chandler's offense is not good, but besides Howard, is there any blue-collar center who defends better than him? Gasol's defense is similar to his, and Green's help defense is simply amazing. It’s just elusive, can pass the ball, can shoot the three-pointer, can push the fast break...why let the Warriors take all the good things?!"

Spurs fans' complaints were met with sympathy from neutral fans:
"Brother, don't be sad, we will fight again next year! Oh, I forgot that Duncan is already 37..."

"Who let the Warriors have Coach Z? I seriously doubt that he is a time traveler, otherwise how can he be good in the draft? This is unscientific!"

"Come on, Coach Z is a genius, but his talent is to be a head coach. He can win championships in both the NCAA and the NBA. Do you know how difficult it is? Back then, NCAA names such as Pitino and John Calipari Handsome to the NBA, are not acclimatized, before only Larry - Brown can win in the NCAA and NBA, Z coach is the second, and Larry - Brown has only one championship in the NCAA and NBA, Z coach The NCAA has surpassed him, and the NBA is almost there, this is not awesome, it is very awesome!"

The first contest between the Warriors and the Spurs in the Western Conference Finals caused quite a stir, but it was mainly focused on the Warriors.

The performance of the Spurs has always been very good. They have not won less than 50 wins for more than ten years. This is a legendary and brilliant achievement.

The Eastern Conference Finals and the Western Conference Finals are different. The Heat are one of the most popular teams in the league, but the Bulls have a background far beyond the Heat, and Rose, who is also very popular. The duel between the two is destined to usher in the Western Conference Finals higher attention.

On the second day after the end of G1 in the Western Conference Finals, the Bulls and the Heat launched the first contest of the Eastern Conference Finals at the American Airlines Center in Miami.

Maybe it's because James habitually uses the first game as a test, maybe it's because the Heat and the Pacers are fighting fiercely, and the team is in a sluggish state.

In short, the Heat lost to the Bulls 86:93, and fell behind by a big score of 0:1.

Like the Heat playing the Pacers, the game between the Heat and the Bulls is still a defensive battle.

The two teams have reached the tiebreaker in the Eastern Conference Finals in the past two years, and they met again in the Eastern Conference Finals this year. The smell of gunpowder was very strong. The confrontation in the game was very intense, and fouls occurred frequently.

However, this time the referee did not favor the Heat as much as the previous G7 between the Heat and the Pacers, and the Bulls did not suffer.

In the end, the Bulls finally won the game with Rose's outstanding performance of 33 points, 9 assists, 5 rebounds and 1 steal.

The Bulls finally did not rely solely on Rose to attack. After two defeats, Thibodeau also reflected on it. He arranged tactics for Luol Deng, Belinelli, Boozer, Noah, and Gibson. But anyway, I don't expect Rose to rush inside with the ball alone.

But the biggest reliance for the Bulls to win is defense. Except for James who scored 24 points, 7 assists and 8 rebounds, no one else scored more than 20 points.

The collective state of the Heat players is sluggish, and the Bulls' defense is very tough, which made the Heat lose the Eastern Conference Finals G1 in front of the home fans.

As a result, the Heat lost their home court advantage, and the Bulls have completed their away game mission. Even if they lose in the next game, they can return home with a victory.

This makes Heat fans have a bad feeling, is it going to repeat the past two seasons?
They don't want to experience the feeling of falling behind by a big score in the Eastern Conference Finals and relying on the tie-break to come back!
After the game, some Heat fans expressed their grief and indignation on the Internet:

"Who said the west is strong and the east is weak? The Heat have formed the Big Three, and they still play tie-breaks every day. Before finishing three seasons, they played four tie-breaks. I don't want to see the fifth tie-break again!"

"Hey, it's not easy for me, Zhan. The East is the dragon's pond and the tiger's den. It's already peeled off after reaching the finals. No wonder the Heat haven't won the championship for two consecutive years. Who didn't get the bonus of the West..."

But this claim was immediately refuted:
"Is it possible that it's not that the East is too strong, but that James is too weak?"

"It's not that the west is strong and the east is weak, is it that the east is strong and the west is weak? How many best teams are there in the West, and how many best teams are there in the East? James only meets Rose one at a time in the East in a year, and is still crying?"

"The Heat played so many tie-breakers in the Eastern Conference, but in the finals they couldn't even win the tie-breaker and went home. Doesn't this just mean that the Heat are not good enough? It's hard to reach the finals, and they still want to win the championship, dreaming Bar……"

"To sum up, James loses easily and wins hard!"

The loser has no right to speak. Since the Heat have lost, they should not even try to gain the upper hand in public opinion.

However, the fans are very concerned about losing, but the players are different. James himself is very calm, saying in the post-match interview:
"You know, I'm used to taking the first game as a test. Losing G1 won't bother us. We will win this series in the end, just like the previous two times..."

Rose's answer is much more succinct:

"There's always going to be a team going to the Finals, so why can't it be us?"

After this game, the smell of gunpowder between the two sides became more and more intense. Fans of both teams regarded each other as the biggest enemy and started a scolding war on the Internet.

At the same time, the lottery ceremony for this year's draft has also ended.

The championship is only related to the Warriors, Heat, Bulls, and Spurs, but the lottery ceremony is closely related to the interests of more than a dozen lottery teams, and has attracted more fans' attention.

What is surprising is that the Cavaliers won the No. [-] lottery, and the Magic, which ranks last in the league, only won the No. [-] lottery, while the Wizards won the No. [-] lottery.

The Bobcats, ranked second to last in the league, were the most unlucky. They only got the No. [-] pick. If it was a big draft year, the No. [-] pick would still be worth a bit of money, but in this year's draft year, it is worthless.

Subsequent picks were expected, roughly in line with each team's record.

After the lottery ceremony, all the teams started to get active. Many matters, such as rookie training, draft pick trading, etc., were being pushed forward in secret. Which rookie did the team take a fancy to.

Every team has its own plans, but they have only one goal, which is to become stronger.

The Warriors are no exception.

But when the players were still in the playoffs, Larry Riley's attention was all shifted to rookie workouts and trades.

The game is under Zhang Yu's control, so he doesn't need to worry about it. The draft is his top priority.

Although Zhang Yu has already planned who to choose, the preparations before the draft are also essential.

It would be Larry Riley's dereliction of duty to let other teams know which rookie the Warriors are interested in and cut him off early.

Therefore, Larry Riley never disclosed the Warriors' interest in Alphabet, did not even have any contact with Alphabet, and did not invite Alphabet to try out for the Warriors.

Whenever a reporter asked Larry Riley what he thought of the alphabet, he showed a lack of interest.

The players invited by the Warriors to try out in the Bay Area are all rookies whose predicted picks are at the end of the first round, the beginning of the second round, and the mid-to-late part of the second round. These rookies coincide with the Warriors' draft picks.

According to Zhang Yu's instructions, Larry Riley showed great interest in France's Rudy Gobert. He's Chandler's successor.

When Zhang Yu was interviewed, he did not hesitate to praise Gobert, saying several times that he was very optimistic about Gobert's development.

Gobert's potential was "certified" by Zhang Yu, and immediately attracted the attention of other teams. Originally, he was predicted to be selected at the end of the first round, but he was quickly selected by the middle of the first round, and even the lottery team Invitation to tryouts.

Although in the joint trial training before, Gobert's performance was very bad, and he couldn't run at all, which was surprising and not optimistic.

But what people don't know is that Gobert's performance was so bad when he participated in the trial training with an injury in the combined training camp in Chicago.

But these are not important anymore, Zhang Yu personally hand-picked the rookie, so what could be wrong?

For a while, the eyes of most of the management in the league were attracted by Gobert. In this era of withered centers, a blue-collar center who can only defend is also very valuable and deserves serious attention.

After all, isn't the Warriors' inside line supported by blue-collar centers?
The defending champion will always have many imitators. After the Warriors won the championship, the lineup has been carefully studied by other teams. If the Warriors succeed in defending their title this year, many teams will follow suit.

When "Jordan's successor" was all the rage, all teams wanted to choose a second Jordan. In the future, many teams may want to choose a second Curry.

Even if the second Curry cannot be selected, the second Chandler is a very good choice.

At the same time, Larry Riley continued to show his enthusiasm for Gobert, and even had high-profile discussions with Gobert's agent. This matter was revealed by Gobert's side as expected. The degree of attention has increased, and the predicted pick has been raised from the end of the lottery to the end of the first round.

Larry Riley is not surprised by this at all. Gobert's agent will definitely try to improve Gobert's selection. Zhang Yu's favor is his best bargaining chip.

This is what Larry Riley wants to see. He spares no effort to accept interviews with major media, and he must mention Gobert, but he never mentions other rookies.

But in private, Larry Riley has been paying close attention to the situation of Alphabet and several other low-ranking rookies that Zhang Yu is optimistic about.

The Warriors had invited these rookies to tryouts before, but they didn't pay special attention to them. They just silently recorded their physical test data and field performance for reference in the draft.

In addition, Larry Riley's most important job is to prepare the transaction.

If you want to cut off letters from other teams, the Warriors' No. 30 pick is far from enough, and at least a lottery pick is needed.

During this time, Larry Riley has been paying close attention to the draft situation, but has not made an offer to other teams.

The Warriors haven't finished the playoffs yet, and which player to trade with has not been finalized. He can only wait until the Warriors' playoff journey is over before taking action.

Moreover, he managed to create a situation where he was only interested in Gobert. When Gobert's market rose to a certain level, he would have a reason to intervene in the draft pick transaction.

This is cheating.