warrior godfather

Chapter 559 See you in the finals
Louisiana, New Orleans.

This hurricane-stricken coastal city still maintained a pleasant temperature in February, and gathered a large number of fans from all over the United States to participate in this year's All-Star Weekend.

Players from each team participating in the All-Star Weekend also arrived in New Orleans one after another. They will be the protagonists of New Orleans in the next few days.

Antetokounmpo is also one of them. He took the same flight with Curry, Olynyk, and Middleton and came to New Orleans to participate in this year's Rookie Challenge.

The wave of injuries experienced by the Warriors during this period has seriously affected the team's record, but for the rookies in the team, it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Rookies such as Antetokounmpo, Middleton, JaMychal Green, and Bazemore all got valuable opportunities to play. Heavy duty, cameo from time to time in the fourth position, the playing time is close to Chandler, reaching nearly 28 minutes.

These rookies are also very competitive. Knowing that such opportunities are hard-won, they all performed very positively after playing and played very well.

In the past two months, Antetokounmpo has played as a substitute in the fourth and third positions, and even briefly played in the fifth position. He averaged 22 minutes per game, scoring 7.3 points, 5.2 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 1.2 blocks. 1.1 steals, comprehensive performance, has established a firm foothold in the Warriors' rotation.

Instead of starting at small forward as he did in his rookie season with the Bucks, Antetokounmpo has gone straight to power forward and embarked on a different growth path.

Although his thin body makes it very difficult for him to face real centers, but in the current league, there are fewer and fewer big insiders, especially after the rise of the Warriors, each team is against the No. [-]. The projection ability of the position is getting higher and higher, and the space type four position is popular, but the confrontation is not the most valued attribute.

This environment gives Antetokounmpo the opportunity to take advantage of his athletic ability. With his quick feet, he can sweep around and help defend, which is much more contribution than playing the third position.

Moreover, he has the best teacher by his side. Green's defense level can be said to be "Shi Yifang". Under his precepts and deeds, Antetokounmpo has benefited a lot and made rapid progress. The physical defense has reached the elite level, but it is still lacking in confrontation, with obvious advantages and disadvantages.

On the offensive end, Antetokounmpo still focuses on offense without the ball. Air cutting is his main scoring method, and he rarely has the opportunity to attack with the ball.

However, this is currently the most suitable offensive method for Antetokounmpo. His ball-handling skills can kill all sides in the development league, but he is very immature in the league. It is easy to make mistakes when handling the ball. To be broken is to be hated, and there are often walking situations.

But when it comes to counterattacking, Antetokounmpo is a sharp knife.

He has a keen sense of fast break, striding forward, he can run across the half court in three or two steps, and he is unstoppable when he rushes forward, and he will always take the lead.For this reason, Zhang Yu also specially arranged fast-break tactics for him. He can score at least one goal through fast-break counterattacks every game, which adds a lot of passion to the team.

Antetokounmpo's performance is very good, but he is not the biggest gain of the Warriors during this period.

After Leonard was injured, Middleton was ordered to serve as a substitute in the third position. Later, Danny Green and Clay were injured one after another. He was put on the starting lineup by Zhang Yu and partnered with Curry in the backcourt until Danny Green returned. After that, he returned to the third position.

Although Middleton has changed many positions, his task has not changed, and that is to score.

In the first game after entering the rotation, Middleton came off the bench for 21 minutes, made 8 of 5 shots, 3 of 2 three-pointers, scored 12 points, 2 rebounds and 1 assist, making a lot of contributions to the Warriors' victory .

Later, he fully demonstrated his offensive characteristics, with superb shooting skills and comprehensive skills, especially the mid-range pull-up that ignores defense with one hand, which can be said to be unpredictable.

Middleton's mid-range shot is all about his touch. When he feels good, he can score more than ten points no matter how the opponent defends. He is a very important scoring point on the Warriors' bench, but when he feels bad , the opponent goes short, and he can't make the shot.

Moreover, Middleton's scoring is very dependent on shooting. His athletic ability is very average, the threat of breakthrough is very small, and his vision is relatively narrow.

However, Middleton's defensive intensity is not high, and the opponents are all substitutes. Other teams don't know him well, and they hardly arrange targeted defenses for him. not bad.

In the 20 games in which Middleton got a stable chance to play, he averaged 26.3 minutes per game, scored 13.4 points, 3.3 rebounds, 1.5 assists, and 1.1 steals. The three shooting percentages were 44.5%, 42.1%, and 86.5%. and efficiency, the performance is excellent.

但在首发出战的4场比赛中，米德尔顿的发挥就比较一般了，场均只有9.6分3.6篮板1.1助攻0.8抢断，投篮命中率也下滑到了42.3%、38.7%、84.5%。

He has the same problem as Antetokounmpo, that is, his size is relatively thin, and he suffers from confrontation. When facing other teams starting, there are not many scoring opportunities and the efficiency is not high.

But this is only Middleton's second season, and he still has a lot of room for improvement. It has been a great surprise to be able to stand up when the team is in trouble.

In addition, JaMychal Green and Bazemore also showed the strength of qualified substitutes, scoring 5.6 points and 6.5 points respectively, filling part of the firepower vacancies.

The most important thing is that, like Middleton, they all have a three-point shot, and their three-point shooting percentages are 36.7% and 35.8%. Although the shooting percentage is not high, they dare to shoot and provide space for the team. , so that the Warriors' passing and cutting system can continue to operate, and a 60% winning rate is maintained by relying on abuse.

When the two entered the league, neither made three-pointers. JaMychal Green didn't shoot three-pointers at all, and Bazemore's shooting percentage was extremely low.

But in the past year, the Warriors coaching staff arranged a highly targeted training plan for the two, just practicing three-pointers and defense. None.

A season has passed, both of them have practiced three-pointers in advance, and their hit rate is not low, and they dare to shoot, the threat is great, and the opponents dare not let go.

This three-pointer, coupled with the qualified defensive level of the bench, is enough for the two to enter the rotation and get a stable playing time.

But it's a pity that Jamichael Green and Bazemore are not first-year rookies, otherwise they have a great chance to enter the All-Star Rookie Challenge and fight alongside Antetokounmpo, Middleton, and Olynyk.

But even so, the outside world was still shocked by the strength shown by the Warriors rookie, and the evaluation of Zhang Yu was even higher.

The Warriors had a total of five rookies from last year and this year, all of which were played, and none of them were parallel imports.

In particular, Middleton, the three second-round picks and undrafted picks, watched the water dispenser for a year, and when he was ordered to be in crisis, he played a qualified rotation performance. Among them, Middleton even became the sixth man to break up. Potential, the Warriors are definitely making a lot of money.

Zhang Yu's vicious vision and accurate knowledge of people have been proved again. More importantly, after the rookie contracts of these people are over, they are all restricted free agents. The Warriors have the initiative to renew their contracts and can definitely keep them.

This is also a major feature of the Warriors' draft. Many teams can discover low-ranking players, but they can't keep them, because they often only give second-round picks and undrafted players a basic salary of one or two years. Well, there is no loss if you can't play it.

The Warriors' contracts for second-round picks and undrafted picks are all three-year minimum salary. After the contract expires, it happens to be a restricted free agent, and the initiative to renew the contract is in the hands of the Warriors.

This reflects Zhang Yu's strong self-confidence. Every spot in the NBA team is very precious. If Middleton and the others fail to play, the depth of the Warriors' lineup will be greatly reduced, and there will be no spots to sign new players. players.

But they all played out, and the Warriors' wave of operations became a stroke of genius. When the main players and rotation players were hit by injuries, the basic-salary players directly stepped up, filling the vacancies in the team's lineup, allowing the Warriors Maintaining competitiveness without having to temporarily find someone to put out the fire, or fall directly to the bottom, is the dream of all teams.

Many teams rely heavily on the performance of their main players. The depth of the lineup is very poor. If the main lineup lacks one or two players, the rotation will collapse, and the record will directly fall to the bottom.

And the stronger the team, the more serious this situation is, especially the top players with superstars in the formation. In order to maintain a strong main lineup, the salary space is used on a few players in the head, and the substitutes are often poor. Rely on the personal performance of the stars.

But the Warriors are an outlier. While sitting on the No.1 Curry in the league, they can also maintain a very deep rotation lineup, which is entirely due to Zhang Yu's vision.

Other strong teams such as the Clippers, Thunder, Bulls, Pacers, Heat, etc. do not have the bottomless lineup depth of the Warriors.

However, no matter how good the depth of the lineup is, it is just icing on the cake, and the top-level combat power is the most important.

The Warriors' main lineup has too many injuries. In the past one and a half months, they still lost more and won less when they encountered strong teams.

In fact, if Zhang Yu uses Curry at all costs, just like Harden went all out when he led the Rockets with a single core when Paul was injured, playing more than 40 minutes per game, the Warriors can win more games.

But the Warriors have not yet fallen into such a desperate situation. Curry has both on and off the ball, and his defensive style of play also makes him consume more than Harden, and he is not as resistant as Harden. After careful consideration, Zhang Yu gave up. Such thoughts.

If Curry, like Harden, was only responsible for offense, not defense, and would not run without the ball in his hand, he would be able to play a few more minutes, but if he really played like that, he would not be Curry.

However, a 60% winning rate is decent enough. The fourth record in the Western Conference also allows the Warriors to remain in the first echelon of the Western Conference. When the lineup is complete after the All-Star Game, it is time for the Warriors to exert their strength.

For this reason, Zhang Yu did not come to New Orleans to participate in the All-Star Weekend. He stayed in Oakland and carefully studied the game video to prepare for the second half of the schedule.

……

Antetokounmpo followed his teammates and came to the hotel prepared by the league for the players participating in the All-Star Weekend.

Along the way, Curry told him, Olynik, and Middleton about interesting things that happened in the All-Star Game, which fascinated the three.

Especially when he heard Curry talking about winning the three-point contest for three consecutive times, Antetokounmpo exclaimed again and again, his face full of amazement.

The Greek Second Division also has its own All-Star, and Antetokounmpo has been selected, but compared with the NBA's All-Star Weekend, it is the difference between a grass-roots team and Broadway.

The next morning, Antetokounmpo participated in a series of community care activities organized by the alliance, distributed food to poor families in the local community of New Orleans, and played games with students in public elementary schools, which reminded him of his childhood life , very dedicated, full of a sense of accomplishment.

In the afternoon, Antetokounmpo participated in the training of the rookie team, but he was just a little transparent. The host's thick eyebrows were the protagonist, and everyone else was a foil.

However, the Warriors are the only team with three players selected for the Rookie Challenge, and Antetokounmpo is most comfortable training with Middleton and Olynyk.

It is a pity that they were not on the same side and had no chance to cooperate in the game.

That night, the three played a round of soy sauce, and the thick eyebrows were not the protagonist. Drummond scored a super double-double of 30 points and 25 rebounds, leading the Grant Hill team to a 142:136 victory over Chris Webber and won the rookie challenge. Game MVP, 25 rebounds also created a rookie challenge record.

But there was an episode after the game. When the presenter Will Perdue handed the trophy to Drummond, he accidentally dropped the trophy on the ground and the trophy broke in half.

On the second day, the individual events were tedious and monotonous.

The team composed of Lillard and Trey Burke won the skill challenge with a 0.1 second advantage. Belinelli defeated Bradley Beal and became the first three-point contest champion in the history of the Spurs. , Paul George and Terrence Ross won the slam dunk contest, and Wall was voted as the slam dunk champion.

It can be seen that the league wants to increase the factors of east-west confrontation and group confrontation in individual events, but with little success.

However, Antetokounmpo, who came to the scene for the first time to participate in the All-Star Weekend, still watched it with gusto.

On the third day, the highlight finally came, and the much-anticipated All-Star Game kicked off.

But this has nothing to do with the Warriors. Curry paddled as always, and the All-Star Western Conference coach Rivers let him play, and he fished on the court.

The regular season is tiring enough, and he doesn't want to work overtime in the All-Star Game.

In the end, the Eastern team defeated the Western team 163:155, and the young people shined. Durant scored 38 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists, Griffin scored 38 points and 6 rebounds, Irving scored 31 points, 14 assists and 6 rebounds. Double-double, won the All-Star Game MVP.

When Irving received the MVP trophy amid the cheers of the audience, Curry stood not far from him, clapped his hands perfunctorily, and chatted with Rose.

Although they entered the league less than two years earlier than Irving, the All-Stars are no longer their focus. They only have one goal in their eyes, and that is the championship.

Ross said:

"Stephen, this time, I'm sure of the championship!"

Curry snorted:

"You guys should reach the finals first!"

Rose smiled, looked left and right, and beckoned to Butler, who was selected as the Eastern All-Star substitute, and said:
"Jimmy, Steph says we can't make it to the Finals!"

Butler came over, hugged Curry heavily, and laughed loudly:
"Stephen, our record is much better than yours. Don't let us make it to the finals, but you can't make it!"

Curry laughed:

"I trust the boss, do you believe it?"

Butler froze for a moment, then nodded slightly:

"I believe, see you in the finals!"

"See you in the finals!"

(End of this chapter)