warrior godfather

Chapter 552

While Whiteside gradually won the favor of Warriors fans, the Warriors sat at home and ushered in a challenge from the Thunder.

This is the first time the Warriors have played against the Thunder this season, and the situation of the two teams since the start of the game is also completely different.

The Warriors lost a general, fell into the quagmire, had a poor record, and have not yet entered the playoffs.

The Thunder strengthened the back line during the offseason. Westbrook experienced a summer of cultivation and returned from injury. The rookie Gobert's performance at the center position was surprising.

Under the leadership of Durant, the Thunder team is full of vigor and has a record of 6 wins and 1 loss. It ranks first in the Western Conference and first in the league, which is very different from the situation of the Warriors.

Before the two teams played against each other, the Thunder, from top to bottom, showed high fighting spirit and a very confident attitude during the interview, vowing to overthrow the Warriors.

Under Zhang Yu's urging, the Warriors players didn't say too much about this game. They just played it as an ordinary regular season.

Zhang Yu himself has lost the attitude of winning at any time in the past. When the reporter asked what the Warriors' winning percentage is, he avoided answering. He just emphasized that the Warriors will definitely strive to win and play the best performance in front of the home fans. .

On November 11th, at seven o'clock in the evening, the duel between the Warriors and the Thunder kicked off.

The scene at the Oracle Center is still as hot as ever. Although the Warriors have had a poor record recently, this has not hindered the Warriors' support for the team in the Bay Area.

They have experienced the thickest darkness, and this small setback is nothing to them.

They believe that under the leadership of Coach Z, the team will definitely get out of the current predicament and return to its proper position.

……

After the start of the game, the Thunder showed a very firm attitude, confronted tough, and defended aggressively.

The starting lineup composed of Westbrook, Tony Allen, Durant, Ibaka, and Gobert, looking at the entire league, is also second to none. Except for some congested space, there is no major weakness.

As a fledgling rookie, Gobert entered the league and served as the starting center for a strong team like the Thunder. Although it was only a pseudo-starter, it was also a great test for him.

Surprisingly, Gobert withstood the test.

His figure looks thin, but he is not weak in confrontation. He has a very keen sense of defense and does not fight randomly. In the limited playing time, he can complete the task of protecting the frame very well.

In the first seven games, Gobert averaged only 15 minutes per game, but he was able to get 1.4 blocks, and his deterrence at the basket was very high.

Before the game started, Zhang Yu reminded everyone to pay attention to Gobert's frame protection.

But Whiteside didn't care about the French rookie, he played very casually, and was blocked by Gobert when he came up, so he restrained himself.

However, the Warriors also came prepared. Gobert's frame protection is good, but he always squats on the court and stays at the basket.

So the Warriors used pick-and-rolls and screens to create open opportunities for Curry and Clay, targeting the weaknesses that Gobert couldn't defend, and bit the score with a three-pointer.

But in turn, Whiteside couldn't stop Westbrook's impact after the pick-and-roll.

He would even jump out after Westbrook's pick-and-roll, as if he was afraid that Westbrook would make a pull-up three-pointer.

Cole was very angry when he saw Whiteside's hot-eyed defense, and immediately started cursing, but Zhang Yu felt nothing in his heart.

He has seen another brawler with sharper eyes. Compared with him, Whiteside is considered good.

The two sides launched a series of attacks against the opposing center, and also replaced Gobert and Whiteside in the middle of the first quarter.

Zhang Yu replaced Yi Jianlian and killed the fifth junior; Brooks replaced veteran Nick Collison and also put on a small lineup.

Both teams lowered their height, and the inevitable decline of the frame guard naturally increased their efforts to hit the basket.

In this regard, the Thunder quickly gained the upper hand because of Westbrook's presence.

Westbrook frequently used cover, and once accelerated, he unreasonably rushed into the Warriors' inside line, with a hard bridge and a hard horse, first throwing himself in the air, and then making moves, but the Warriors really couldn't guard against it.

Green and Yi Jianlian paid a total of 3 fouls on Westbrook before they barely contained his impact.

But the Warriors lack a violent battering ram like Westbrook. Curry's breakthrough is to use dexterous rhythm changes. Green and Yi Jianlian on the inside are both space-type fourth positions.

The Thunder's relatively small lineup, on the contrary, restrained the Warriors' offense even more.

At this time, Curry stood up.

After Nick Collison came on the court, when the Thunder went online to defend against pick-and-rolls, they changed to switch defenses, and Ibaka took on more tasks of protecting the frame.

Zhang Yu grasped that this point was not a loophole, and let Curry and Yi Jianlian play pick-and-rolls, and military training Nick Collison.

In all fairness, Nick Collison can be regarded as a very good defensive inside player in the league, and he has a lot of experience in big defense and small defense.

But in front of Curry, his defense was still not good enough, allowing Curry to score 10 points in half a quarter.

Curry's performance helped the Warriors stabilize the situation, but Westbrook's kills quickly made the Warriors full. Durant began to perform a big swing in the second half of the first quarter, frequently standing on the free throw line, making the Thunder Has been suppressing the Warriors in the score.

After the first quarter, the score was fixed at 35:30, with the Thunder leading by 5 points.

The offensive success rate of both teams is very high, but in terms of free throws, the Warriors made 7 fewer free throws than the Thunder, which is also an important reason for the Thunder's advantage.

In the second quarter, the rotation of the two sides played, and the Thunder once again showed a strong desire to win. Brooks left Westbrook on the court and let him lead the bench.

Although Zhang Yu had long thought that the Thunder would make a fuss in the transition period, he replaced Leonard and Clay in the second half of the first quarter and asked them to bring substitutes in the second quarter, but Westbrook alone was enough on the offensive end. The sum of the top two.

Under Ron Adams' ear-to-mouth orders, Whiteside finally understood that defending Westbrook had to stay under the basket. He was immediately overjoyed, squatting inside and not coming out.

In the first quarter, he often threw out against the pick-and-roll because Zhang Yu always criticized him for staying in the hole and not putting pressure on the pick-and-roll ball handler. Whiteside wanted to perform well in front of Zhang Yu, so he defended the pick-and-roll. Time to expand.

It's good news for the Warriors that Whiteside finally made the right defensive choice, but it still hasn't helped.

Westbrook felt overwhelmed today, and his mid-range zombie jumper was stiff, but his hit rate was very high. He played an effect similar to Splash hitting Gobert in the first quarter, leading the Thunder to quickly widen the point difference.

Fortunately, Leonard and Clay are also responding to Westbrook with scoring, so the Warriors can barely bite the score.

But when the main players of the two teams returned to the court, the point difference still came to about 10 points. Without Curry's restraint, Leonard and Clay faced much greater defensive pressure, and scoring was not so easy.

Subsequently, Leonard and Clay were replaced by Zhang Yu to rest, but Westbrook continued to stay on the court.

Brooks made up his mind today. He must take advantage of the Warriors' poor state to win this victory and maintain the momentum of the Thunder.

In this way, Curry faced Durant + Westbrook alone, and it was difficult to beat four hands with two fists. The Thunder also changed their defense strategy and began to flank Curry.

Curry is used to being double-teamed and scored the ball in a timely manner, but Green tried two open three-pointers and failed to make them. The Warriors' offense stalled, and the Thunder took the opportunity to expand the point difference.

Zhang Yu could only switch back to Clay and Leonard after 2 minutes, and the Warriors stabilized the situation.

After the second quarter, the score was fixed at 68:55, and the Thunder's lead came to 13 points.

At this point in the game, the Warriors fans at the scene felt bad.

The Thunder were in full swing. Durant and Westbrook scored 14 and 18 points respectively in the first half.

In contrast to the Warriors, only Curry scored 20 points in the first half. Leonard and Clay had a very difficult time scoring in front of the Thunder's highly targeted defense.

Clay was also able to maintain production with strong three-pointers that ignored the defense, scoring 11 points in the half, but the efficiency was a bit low.

Leonard's scoring is difficult.

His scoring methods are mainly mid-range ball-handling singles, fixed-point three-pointers, and air cuts. The Thunder's defense does not give him opportunities for air-cuts and fixed-point three-pointers. It is difficult for his mid-range singles to get rid of the interference of Durant's long arms. , the hit rate is not high.

After failing to make a breakthrough in the playoffs for several consecutive years, Durant learned from the pain and finally realized his own shortcomings. He began to work hard on defense and made great progress.

Not only Durant, but Westbrook's defense has also improved. The Thunder failed to reach the Finals in 2012, and even made it to the Western Conference Finals once. Further out, he has to make changes on the defensive end.

But in the final analysis, Leonard is still not strong enough, his offensive skills are not mature enough, and his scoring ability is not strong.

Under high-intensity defense, Leonard's shooting lacks stability, lacks other offensive methods, and is easily restricted.

In fact, in this season's playoffs, when the Spurs and the Thunder met, Leonard's statistics were bleak, averaging only 11.8 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game, and his shooting and three-point shooting percentages were appalling. 41.2%, 26.3% .

It will take a long time for him to become a top striker who truly integrates offense and defense.

Now, he can only play a dim supporting role beside the dazzling Durant.

……

In the second half, the Thunder continued Ruhong's momentum and maintained their advantage in the score. The Warriors struggled to chase points, but they could barely hold on to the score.

In competitive sports, momentum is a very mysterious thing.

It is very ethereal, but it is very important. The last one has the upper hand in momentum, and it can also overwhelm the league's top scorer.

Now, the Thunder is the more powerful team. Although they are on the road, they seem to be playing in the Chesapeake Energy Arena, very tough.

Moreover, Brooks revealed another card, a hole card that caught Zhang Yu off guard.

In the middle of the third quarter, Brooks suddenly replaced Nick Collison, pushed Ibaka to the center position, and put on a set of Westbrook, Tony Allen, Sefolosha, Durant, Ibaka's five small lineup.

When the Warriors were killing all sides in the finals, other people were not idle, and Brooks was inspired. The Warriors can use the five small players, so why can't the Thunder use them?
Today, he put on a set of the Thunder version of the Death Five!
Unlike the Warriors' five-pointers, the Thunder's five-pointers have a lot of flaws in space. Tony Allen and Ibaka's three-pointers are very average, and Westbrook's three-pointers are productive and not efficient.

But this set of five small lineups has the ultimate defense. Tony Allen, Sefolosha, and Ibaka are three defensive champions, paired with Durant and Westbrook. style of play.

After the Thunder version of Death Five came on the field, they immediately froze the Warriors' offense.

Zhang Yu did not expect that Brooks learned his own tactics so quickly, and the Warriors had never practiced how to deal with the five small lineups.

However, after the initial chaos, the Warriors finally stabilized by relying on their familiarity with the five small lineups and Zhang Yu's two timeout adjustments.

But in just 3 minutes, the Thunder used the high aggression and high mobility of the five small lineups to make 3 defensive counterattacks, widening the point difference to 17 points and completely grasping the initiative of the game.

Even in the early part of the fourth quarter, Brooks was still worried. He left Westbrook and Durant on the court together, rotated the lineup against the Warriors, and opened the point difference to more than 20 points before replacing him with satisfaction.

The 20-point lag also put the Warriors at the end of their game. Zhang Yu didn't have to worry about how to win. He simply arranged tactics for Whiteside and asked him to collect more data, which would also increase the Warriors' bargaining chips in trade negotiations.

In the end, the Thunder defeated the Warriors 113:102 and won 4 consecutive victories. The Warriors fell into a vicious cycle of winning and losing again.

For the Thunder, this is a hearty victory.

Durant scored 27 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 blocks and 1 steal. After taking the position of power forward, he showed a good ability to protect the frame, which is quite surprising.

Westbrook scored 31 points, 9 rebounds, 11 assists and 3 steals in a quasi-triple-double, extremely versatile.

His 3 steals are the most surprising. They were all obtained by blocking the Warriors' passing route in the team defense, instead of gambling like before.

Curry's performance is not inferior to the two, scoring 33 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds and 2 steals, but the second scorer around him is Clay, who scored 20 points. Below 15 points.

伦纳德只得到了13分4篮板2助攻1抢断，而且效率很低，全场13投5中，三分4中1，罚球3中2。

His restrictions on Durant were not in place either. Durant was in a brave state today and repeatedly hit pull-up jumpers in one-on-one with Leonard. Leonard tried his best to interfere, but it didn't work.

In the post-game interview, Brooks was very satisfied with the Thunder's victory:

"This is the Thunder. We have the strength to compete for the championship. Defeating the Warriors is the best proof!"

(End of this chapter)