warrior godfather

Chapter 570 Mere Paul
At the same time as the major awards of the regular season were awarded, the first round of the playoffs also came to an end, but the final result was a big surprise.

Not all the teams in the upper half successfully advanced to the next round. The Warriors 4:2 the Mavericks, the Clippers 4:2 the Grizzlies, and the Thunder 4:1 the Spurs, but the Trail Blazers defeated them with a big score of 4:2 , eliminated the rocket.

This is a series of ups and downs. G1 scored overtime, and the stars of the two sides faced each other. Harden, Howard, and Jeremy Lin scored 27 points, 27 points, and 24 points respectively, but Aldridge and Lillard were crazy. Scoring 46 points and 31 points, overwhelming the Rockets Trident, the Blazers finally won 122:120.

Harden missed two lore chances at the end of the fourth quarter and overtime, which is also the epitome of his state throughout the game.

Harden played 45 minutes, made 28 of 8 shots, 14 of 3 three-pointers, 10 of 8 free throws, scored 27 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists and 1 steal. Can win the game steadily, and will not be dragged into overtime by the Blazers.

G2，哈登继续拉胯，全场19投6中，三分5中2，罚球4中4，砍下18分3篮板4助攻1抢断6失误，最后还6犯离场，即使霍华德狂砍32分14篮板4封盖，也是无济于事。

Lillard also pulled this game, but he didn't pull all of them. He made 14 of 3 shots, 7 of 2 three-pointers, 12 of 10 free throws, scored 18 points, 11 assists, 8 rebounds and 3 turnovers. He almost got a triple-double. Played a typical Harden game.

But Aldridge broke out again. He made 28 of 18 shots, 8 of 7 free throws, scored 43 points, 8 rebounds and 3 blocks, and went against Howard.

People originally thought it was a scoring battle between Lillard and Harden, but it turned into a duel between Howard and Aldridge.

Afterwards, the two teams continued to fight each other, and Harden's state finally recovered. G3 scored 37 points, and the Rockets narrowly won; G4 scored 28 points, and the Rockets narrowly lost; It was tied at 5:2.

Then, the most dramatic Game 6 was staged at Portland's Moda Center.

In this life-and-death battle for the Rockets, Harden's state in the first three quarters was very good. He made 11 of 8 shots, 6 of 4 three-pointers, 12 of 12 free throws, scored 32 points, 6 assists, 2 rebounds and 4 steals. His defense became serious.

But after the game entered the fourth quarter, Harden suddenly disappeared. He scored 4 points and 1 rebounds on 2 of 2 shots. In the critical moment of the last 5 minutes, he even scored 9 points. Lead the Rockets forward.

In the last 40 seconds, Batum hit a long two-pointer, and the score came to 96:96.

The Rockets attacked, Harden hit the iron, Howard grabbed an offensive rebound and missed a tip-up.

With 29 seconds left in the game, Aldridge grabbed a rebound, the Blazers attacked, and a 24-second violation occurred.

In the last 5 seconds, the Rockets attacked, Harden hit the iron with two points, but Jeremy Lin rushed in from the outside, jumped high from the crowd, grabbed an offensive rebound, and made a tip-up. The Rockets led the Blazers by 98 points 96:2. 1 second left.

Stotts immediately handed over the timeout, Jeremy Lin roared and ran to the Rockets bench, the Rockets team rushed into the field, surrounded him, and celebrated wildly.

They have seen the dawn of dragging the series into the tiebreaker and returning to the home court.

Back from the timeout, the Trail Blazers sent the ball to the sideline. Lillard was in ambush on the sideline on the weak side. After the referee whistled, Lillard immediately ran 45 degrees to the strong side with the double screen of Matthews and Aldridge.

The quality of this double screen is relatively average. Jeremy Lin followed Lillard, but after Lillard received Batum's serve, he ignored Jeremy Lin's interference and twisted his body to throw the ball out.

brush!
The light was on, the goal was scored, Lillard made a three-pointer at the buzzer, and the Rockets beat the Rockets. The Blazers won the game 99:98 and advanced to the second round of the Western Conference with a big score of 4:2!
Jeremy Lin, who was throwing all his strength, landed, looked back at the basketball hitting the net, and sat on the technical table for a long time without saying a word. Beside him were the Blazers fans who were wildly celebrating.

……

The East also had a down-and-up situation. The Nets eliminated the Raptors 4:3 and advanced to the second round of the East.

Joe Johnson averaged 41 minutes per game and scored 52.3 points with a shooting percentage of 21.9%. Deron Williams and Pierce were no longer stars, but they also contributed to key shots. Garnett was completely reduced. For role players.

The Raptors' "trash brothers" did not perform very well. DeRozan averaged 23.9 points per game, but his shooting percentage was only 38.5%. He maintained his production and efficiency by averaging 11.3 free throws per game. Under 20+ is also relying on an average of 7 free throws per game, and the shooting percentage is only 40.4%.

The Bulls also had twists and turns in the first round. Under the guidance of Budenholzer, the Eagles played very well as a team. Jeff Teague and Millsap scored 19 points, 5 assists, 19 points and 10 rebounds respectively. They were very tenacious. The Bulls Relying on the performance of Rose with 25 points and 7 assists and Butler with 22 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists, the Eagles were eliminated with a big score of 4:2.

The Pacers easily eliminated the Bobcats 4:1, and the Heat swept the Wizards 4:1. Their next opponents were the Nets and the Bulls.

……

The first round of the playoffs is all over, and the contest of the divisional semifinals also kicked off.

People's attention is focused on the Bulls who have met in the playoffs for four consecutive years, on the MVP Durant's playoff journey, and on the contest between Wu Kuyong and the complete Clippers.

After the Warriors eliminated the Mavericks 4:2 in the first round, many fans who were previously pessimistic about the Warriors' playoff prospects quickly turned extremely optimistic.

Before the start of the series with the Clippers, many Warriors fans uttered rhetoric:

"Leonard locked Paul on the second defense, Green locked Griffin on the first defense, Chandler and Jordan Jr., Clay's offense and defense are far stronger than Redick, the Warriors are stable!"

"Curry is recovering from his injuries. The Clippers will definitely have no problems. When the time comes to play against the Thunder, he will come back and beat Durant violently. Let him grab Curry's scoring champion and MVP!"

"Paul, what a shame!"

"Coach Z will teach Rivers a good lesson..."

Although there are still some Warriors fans who worry about not being able to beat the Clippers, even to the point of worry, they are only a minority.

Those extremely optimistic fans directly touted Klay, who averaged 24.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 1.1 steals, and 4.6 three-pointers in the first round of the series, as the league's first shooting guard, beating Paul, but not See Klay drop to 42.3 percent from the field.

There are also some Heat fans who don't care about the tough battle between the Heat and the Bulls in the second round. Instead, they pay more attention to the current situation of the Warriors than the Warriors fans. "You will know who is swimming naked when the tide recedes." , "Curry lies in the second round" and other remarks are endless.

But Warriors fans don't care about this at all. Whether they are optimistic about the Warriors or not, all Warriors fans know one thing clearly. Curry is the soul of the Warriors, and nothing can change this.

Amid all the turmoil, the series between the Warriors and the Clippers finally started under the joint expectations of Warriors fans, Clippers fans, and some Heat fans.

……

May 5, 4:9 p.m., Oracle Center.

If you ask any Warriors fan at the scene when he misses Curry the most, he will definitely answer, it is today.

At this time, G1 between the Warriors and the Clippers has entered the last 2 minutes and 13 seconds of the fourth quarter. The score on the big screen in midair is 103:86. The visiting team is in front and the home team is behind. The Warriors are 17 points behind the Clippers. The suspense has been lost.

Zhang Yu didn't make unnecessary efforts. He replaced the main player 1 minute ago and conceded the loss. Rivers then replaced the substitute, and the game entered garbage time.

People in the auditorium got up and left one after another, and there was a blank space after another.

There is no need to watch the game anymore. Instead, it is easy to encounter traffic jams after the walk. Experienced fans are cursing and speeding up.

On the Clippers bench, the main players who were replaced were talking and laughing, and the atmosphere was relaxed. Rivers and the assistant coach were talking and grinning, and their attention was no longer on the game.

On the other side of the technical table, the Warriors' bench was silent, the players looked ahead quietly, no one spoke, no one talked.

Curry's injury is recovering well, and he can already watch the game with the team. He is wearing a well-chosen burgundy suit, and he looks a lot more mature, but there is no smile on his face. He holds his chin with his right hand and stares at the field expressionlessly. .

Zhang Yu looked calm, pacing back and forth on the sidelines with his head down, looking up at the situation on the field from time to time, and clapping his hands twice when the Warriors scored, as if this was not a garbage time of the game, but just an ordinary transition.

But anyone who has watched this game would not think that Zhang Yu would be as calm as he showed.

At 07:30, G1 of the series between the Warriors and the Clippers started on time. The Clippers continued their usual starting lineup. The Warriors started with Livingston as the starting point guard, and Danny Green returned to the bench.
The Clippers gave the Warriors a disarm when they came up, and played a 3:10 start in 2 minutes. The Warriors were unable to score, and Zhang Yu was forced to call a timeout to make adjustments.

The Clippers' defense is very targeted, changing defenses on every screen, and even Jordan did not hesitate when switching defenses. It is because the Warriors do not have Curry and lack reliable scorers, so they cannot punish the Clippers for switching defenses.

This is also the way Rivers came up with after carefully studying the series between the Mavericks and the Warriors. It is impossible for him to make such a change on his own initiative.

If Curry is still there, not only will Rivers not let Jordan and Griffin switch defenses, but he will even let them squat, betting that Curry can't beat the Warriors alone. This is definitely something he can do.

On the contrary, after Curry was absent, Rivers' tactics became bolder, but this was mainly because the Mavericks' defense against the Warriors was so good that Rivers couldn't justify not copying his homework.

After returning from the timeout, the Warriors increased their offense with the ball. Leonard began to call Redick through the pick-and-roll, but the effect was not particularly satisfactory.

Rivers coached the team, but only set up a framework in the general direction. When it comes to specific implementation, most of the decisions are made by the players. When attacking, they rely on Rondo and Paul. When defending, they rely on Garnett and Iguodah. pull.

As long as Redick entangles Leonard for a second, Iguodala's defense will come up, and Leonard can't distribute the ball to the open teammates in time. When he passes the ball out, the Clippers follow-up The rotation was also in place, and the Warriors' offense stalled.

On the contrary, Livingston had a higher success rate in singles against Redick. After several trial shots, Clay finally warmed up his hands.

Like the Clippers, the Warriors also use unlimited defense changes. This may be the only benefit of Curry’s injury. The Warriors don’t need to protect Curry on the defensive end. suffer.

With tough defense and Clay's gradually recovering offense, the Warriors finally began to slowly chase points back. At 4 minutes and 23 seconds into the first quarter, an official timeout was entered, and the score came to 20:15. The Warriors were only behind the Clippers by 5 point.

After the timeout ended, both Zhang Yu and Rivers began to make substitutions.Crawford, Matt Barnes, Parsons, Middleton and others came to the court.

Because the Warriors fell behind and needed to chase points, Antetokounmpo was left off the court, Zhang Yu was on a point-chasing lineup, Middleton, Parsons, Olynyk came on, replacing Leonard, Livingston, Chandler and Clay continued to stay on the court to lead the team.

Rivers replaced the best sixth man Crawford and Matt Barnes, and Paul and Redick took a rest.

After the substitutions of the two teams, the defense declined, and the score began to rise alternately. At the end of the first quarter, the Clippers led the Warriors by 28 points at 24:4.

In the second quarter, both sides continued to implement the game strategy of the first quarter. The only difference is that the Clippers' main lineup played longer, while the Warriors rotated more frequently, using vitality and defense to fill the scoring gap that Curry was absent.

At the end of the first half, the score was fixed at 56:51, and the Clippers led by 5 points. The game seemed to have entered an anxious but steady rhythm, heading towards the critical moment.

But after the start of the second half, the situation changed suddenly. The Warriors' players felt fluctuated and missed three-pointers. Suddenly, no one could score.

The Clippers rely on Paul and Griffin's strong attack, which is not efficient, but they have been scoring steadily, and the point difference is gradually widening.

At the end of the third quarter, the Clippers beat the Warriors 81:67 with 25:16, extending their lead to 16 points.

In the ensuing fourth quarter, the Warriors fought back. Zhang Yu fought against Livingston, Clay, Leonard, Parsons, and Green, but Paul steadily controlled the rhythm of the game and pressed the time to fight In the second game, the Warriors did not let the Warriors fight back, and the Clippers maintained a lead of about 15 points until Zhang Yu saw that there was no hope of chasing points, so he took the initiative to withdraw the main force.

After the game entered garbage time, the Warriors' third team had the upper hand, played more methodically, and caught up with some points.

In the end, the Clippers defeated the Warriors 108:99, leading 1:0. The Warriors rarely lost in the first game of the series. This was the first time since Zhang Yu became the head coach of the Warriors, and the Warriors lost their home court advantage. .

After the game, the generals of the Warriors were downcast, but Zhang Yu comforted each player in turn. After shaking hands with Rivers, the last one returned to the locker room.

　I made up yesterday's, and I still have it today, but it will be later, so I can read it tomorrow morning.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)