warrior godfather

Chapter 560
The All-Star weekend gave the Warriors players a full seven days of rest. When Curry, Antetokounmpo and others returned to Oakland, the last batch of wounded such as Clay and Parsons also returned to the team one after another.

After more than a month of injuries, the Warriors' lineup has finally returned to its integrity.

After the lineup is complete, the Warriors also started a wave of sprint after the All-Star Game.

2月19日，勇士客场以108:92轻取国王，全队7人得分上双，克莱砍下最高的27分。

库里这场比赛终于有了喘息之机，只出场了32分钟，轻松砍下23分7助攻4篮板3抢断。

But the next day, the Warriors returned home to face the Rockets, and the intensity of the game suddenly increased. Clay and Leonard had just returned from injury, and they were still a little uncomfortable. Curry could only play again, played 39 minutes, scored 35 points and 4 With 5 assists and 1 steal, the Warriors led the Warriors to a 102:99 victory over the Rockets by 3 points.

It was also with this victory that the Warriors successfully surpassed the Rockets in the Western Conference rankings and rose to No.3.

The honeymoon period between Harden and Howard is gradually passing. Harden needs to have the ball in his hand to be able to exert his power, but Howard is obsessed with low singles. The Rockets still have Jeremy Lin who needs to hold the ball.

In the beginning, the three were able to give in to each other, but as the season progressed, there were signs that the ball was not enough, and the conflicts between the three gradually increased, but it was hidden under the Rockets' excellent record and never revealed. come out.

In this game, Howard's two low singles in the fourth quarter were made by the Warriors and turned into a counterattack, which ruined the Rockets' good lead and finally lost the game.

This victory after a fierce battle with a direct competitor greatly boosted morale. It was also after this game that the Warriors won a wave of seven consecutive victories, defeating the Nets, Pistons, Knicks, Raptors, and Celtics one after another. People, stabilized the third place in the West, and launched a powerful impact on the second place in the West, 1.5 wins away from the Clippers.

During this period, Curry is still the Warriors' pinnacle of the sea. His performance directly determines the Warriors' upper limit, but a deep lineup is the key to the Warriors' successive victories.

After Danny Green, Parsons, Clay, Leonard and other wounded returned one after another, the Warriors' stretched front line suddenly became extremely comfortable.

Middleton, Antetokounmpo, and Jamichael Green have all practiced, and Olynyk can also play as a guest at the fourth position. The Warriors have a lot of talents on the front line, from the second position to the fourth position, all of them are large The striker and guard swingman form the most powerful striker group in the league.

However, this also brought Zhang Yu a happy trouble, that is, there are too many people available, and the playing time is not enough.

Leonard, Clay, and Green have to eat more than 30 minutes per game. Zhang Yu can only cut the time of Parsons, Danny Green, and Yi Jianlian. A few minutes, so that they can get the opportunity to exercise.

Their current strength is not as good as Parsons and Yi Jianlian for the time being, but their potential is far beyond that and they need to grow in the game.

As for JaMychal Green and Bazemore, we can only go back and continue watching the water cooler.

They are also capable, but the Warriors have too many capable players on the forward and defensive lines. They can't compete, and their potential is relatively limited. They can only return to the bench and wait for the next opportunity silently.

……

After winning seven consecutive victories, the Warriors ushered in two strong enemies. They will challenge the Bulls and Pacers back-to-back on March 3th and March 4th. stand.

After continuous long-distance travel and away trips, the Warriors players were a little tired and in a bad state, and lost these two strong dialogues one after another.

This is also related to the lack of preparation of the Warriors coaching staff. Their energy is mainly focused on the western teams. No matter how strong the Bulls and Pacers are, they only meet twice in a season. It is not worthwhile to study their tactics. .

In contrast, the Warriors are more familiar with the Heat who have met in the finals twice in a row, and have won the Heat once before the All-Star Game.

That was when the Warriors suffered a wave of injuries and were short of major generals, but they beat the Heat with the Big Three at home 113:102, which was surprising.

In that game, Zhang Yu arranged a very targeted tactic, instead of passing and cutting, he played a pick-and-roll, Curry attacked with the ball, and others crazily attacked the Heat's weak inside line, and the effect was excellent.

Antetokounmpo shined brilliantly. The Heat are not familiar with him enough to allow him to display his strong athletic ability. With fast breaks and air cuts, he scored 18 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 block. This is Curry's No. [-] scorer.

Under the strict defense of the Heat, Curry played for 40 minutes, scored 6 three-pointers, scored 37 points, 11 assists, 4 rebounds and 2 steals. Clay and Clay were absent at the same time, leading the team to a morale-boosting victory.

However, the Bulls and the Pacers are not the Heat with a lack of morale. The two teams have a neat lineup and high morale. They sit at home and wait for work. away trip.

The one thing these two losses have in common is that the opponent's star forward has played well on both ends of the floor.

巴特勒砍下23分6篮板4助攻2抢断1封盖的全面数据，在主场优势的加持之下，获得了9个罚球，极大杀伤了勇士的内线。

This is his technical characteristic. Even if the Warriors players know him very well and carefully guard against his fouls during the game, they are still hard to guard against.

Paul George also performed very well. He and Butler are two extremes. He doesn't make many free throws.

But facing the Warriors, the two chose to call the pick-and-roll, try to avoid Leonard, and call Curry.

This was inspired by the Heat. James frequently called Curry by name in the finals, causing all teams to follow suit.

This is not because Curry's defense is too bad, it is the Warriors' defensive loopholes, but because the Warriors' other starting defenses are too good. Clay, Leonard, Green, and Chandler are all players with a defensive level. Only Curry is a soft persimmon in comparison.

Moreover, Curry is still the core of the Warriors' offense. Naming Curry can increase his consumption on the defensive end, weaken the Warriors' offense in disguise, and kill two birds with one stone.

Since it is in the regular season, the Warriors' protection of Curry is not as strict as in the playoffs. In many cases, they directly switch defenses and then assist defenses later, which gives Butler and Paul George a chance to play.

But only with their performance, the Bulls and Pacers can't win the Warriors. The performance of Rose and David West is also very critical.

The Warriors lacked a second scoring point besides Curry. When Clay played the Bulls, he felt relatively normal. He made 10 of 4 three-pointers and scored 19 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists, but he did not surpass Butler. , The overall performance of the Warriors was not as good as that of the Bulls, so they lost the game.

In the game against the Pacers, Clay felt cold. He made 8 of 2 three-pointers and scored 17 points on 17 shots. The efficiency was very poor. Although Curry scored 31 points, he was alone, and the Warriors lost to the Pacers.

This is Clay. As a shooter, even if he is second only to Curry, his nerve knife attribute is still too strong.

When he feels good, his scoring is very explosive, and he can score 30+ or ​​40+ in a single game, but when he feels bad, he can only rely on deterrence on the offensive end to open up space for his teammates. Other functions.

It's just because he played so eye-catchingly under the cover of Curry's brilliance, and no one criticized him for not playing well, which gave people a very stable illusion.

In fact, Clay is a scorer with a very volatile touch, and his production ceiling is not high, and he lacks the ability to attack with the ball, which has great limitations.

However, he and Curry fit together very well. Their shooting skills and off-the-ball running positions are superimposed. The Warriors have an extremely wide offensive space, allowing the Warriors' passing and cutting system to exert its greatest power, but other players with the ability to hold the ball No shooting guard can match that.

But this still can't conceal that Clay can only attack without the ball and relies heavily on the limitations of his touch.

Even in the cosmic brave period, Clay had two super scorers, Curry and Durant, and the possession of the ball did not decrease at all, but the scoring output and efficiency did not increase. In the finals, the offensive performance even declined sharply. Fortunately, the Warriors played It must be an abusive game, and Clay's performance has little effect on the outcome.

In the Warriors' finals against the Raptors in 2019, Clay played the best round of the series, but that was because Nurse adopted the ultimate defensive strategy of one-star four-pointer against Curry, and Curry attracted the Raptors. With most of the defensive attention, Clay got a lot of easy scoring opportunities, and he was able to play a highly productive and efficient series.

In fact, even in the 2016 series against the Thunder, Klay's efficiency was still not high, shooting only 41.6% from the field, which was lower than his three-point shooting percentage.

After entering the three-point line, his threat will be greatly reduced. Fortunately, as the series progressed, the Thunder's defense against Curry became tighter and tighter, and his offensive environment became better and better. Opportunity.

This is actually the epitome of Clay in the playoffs. He always explodes in the second half of the series, which has a lot to do with the opponent's defensive strategy.

At the beginning of the series, the opponent's marking of Curry was not particularly tight, and he was strictly guarded against Klay's off the ball. It was difficult for him to run out of open space and it was also difficult to score.

But as the series progressed, Curry's threat became more and more serious. Opponents could only accumulate defensive resources on him, changing from single defense to assisted defense, and then from assisted defense to pincer attack. Curry's gravity began to play a role. Lai got more and more opportunities, and he also had a chance to explode.

This is the difference between a superstar and a star.

In a round of series, Curry can play well from beginning to end, can also change the opponent's defense, and can even score high points under flanking or even staring at the quadruple.

But Clay can only have a chance to explode when the opponent gives him a chance. If the opponent keeps guarding against him, he can only produce about 20 points at most. This is also the upper limit of off-ball offense, and Clay cannot break through.

In the final analysis, as the No. [-] scorer, he still lacks stable offensive skills with the ball. He is too touchy to catch and shoot, and he is not Curry. His touch fluctuates too much, and the gap between the upper and lower limits of offense is huge.

So in Zhang Yu's mind, Clay is not the best candidate for the Warriors' No. [-] scorer, but Leonard is.

But he still needs time to grow, and the Warriors can only rely on Clay now.

After Leonard started this season, he has made great progress. He averaged 32.4 minutes per game, scored 15.5 points, 6.7 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 2.1 steals and 0.8 blocks. His scoring has increased by nearly 5 points compared with last season. The three hit rates were 52.3%, 38.2%, and 83.4%, respectively, and the efficiency has also improved.

But his scoring mainly relies on off-ball cuts and fixed-point catch-and-shoot shots. His offensive skills with the ball still need to be tempered, and the stability of mid-range shots needs to be improved. He can still perform one or two against ordinary small forwards. -It is difficult for a first-class striker like George to perform.

In fact, Leonard's performance in the Warriors has been much better than that in the Spurs in the same period, scoring 2.7 points more.

Zhang Yu's cultivation of Leonard is more targeted than Popovich, and he did not suffer from injuries in the first two seasons as he did when he played for the Spurs, and he got more training in the game.

And playing next to Curry, Leonard has many opportunities for air cuts, scoring more easily, and showing his talent on the offensive end earlier.

However, he came into contact with basketball too late, it takes a long time to polish his skills, and he is still far away from his peak.

Clay is Curry's biggest helper at this stage, and his performance will have a great impact on the game.

In the game against the Pacers, Clay didn't feel good, so Zhang Yu could only increase Curry's playing time.

Curry played 38 minutes and scored 30+, but he was still powerless.

The two-game losing streak also widened the gap between the Warriors and the Clippers to 2.5 games, which is farther away from the second place in the West.

After returning to Oakland, Zhang Yu held a coaching staff meeting to discuss the next game plan.

He was a little hesitant, whether to return to the normal rhythm of the game, control Curry's playing time, and not compete with the Thunder and Clippers for the top two rankings in the Western Conference, or seize the opportunity of the last 20 games, sprint a wave, and strive for the Western Conference top two.

Originally, he didn’t want to fight, but the momentum of the Thunder and the Clippers was too strong. Iguodala strengthened the shortcomings of the Clippers’ forward line. Tony Allen and Gobert let the Thunder have the top defense in the league in advance , The two teams played a strong dominance in the regular season.

However, the strength of the Warriors has dropped a bit compared to last season. The home court advantage will play a vital role in the playoffs between the Warriors and the two teams.

But the continuous wave of injuries made Zhang Yu a little worried that the overload would cause the Warriors players to suffer from injuries again. If someone was injured in the playoffs, it would be a big blow to the Warriors' strength.

Between the home court advantage and possible injuries, Zhang Yu hesitated.

But after discussing with the coaching staff, Zhang Yu decided to fight.

Cole believes that it is necessary to fight. Without home court advantage, it is difficult for the Warriors to pass the Clippers and Thunder consecutively.

Fraser believes that after the players were injured in the middle of the season, they rested for a long time, and they will not be easily injured in the playoffs. The sprint at the end of the season will instead stimulate their state.

Ron Adams also prefers that the Warriors must at least get the second place in the Western Conference and at least have home court advantage before the Western Conference Finals.

In the end, Zhang Yu informed the players of the coaching staff's decision and gained their support.

As long as you are a player, you don't want to take turns, especially the arrogance of being the defending champion, which makes the Warriors players very dissatisfied with the third record in the Western Conference.

They have already geared up their fists, and they only want to return to the top of the alliance and stand out from the crowd.

Zhang Yu gave them this opportunity, and they would never let it go.

(End of this chapter)