warrior godfather

Chapter 761
In the All-Star game, Durant actually defended unlimited defenses. There was always someone defending in front of Curry.

After Rose received the ball, he didn't single it out. He didn't even want to play in the regular season, let alone an All-Star, and passed the ball out.

After Antetokounmpo and Embiid received the ball, they were unceremonious and expressed themselves very actively.

The Durant team lacked an inside line, just a thick eyebrow, and didn't take defense too seriously at the beginning. The two sides came and went, and the score rose alternately.

The offense of the Durant team is very characteristic. Harden is paddling, and the other four are very active. Whoever gets the ball will shoot. But gradually, James began to hold the ball and organize the offense. Durant and thick eyebrows turned to catch the ball. Shooting, Irving played a few balls from time to time, dreaming back to the Cavaliers.

This tactic is really suitable. Both Nongmei and Durant are off-ball masters, one inside and one outside. Even if the quality of James' passing is not high, the two can get the ball into the basket in various ways.

With the Curry team paddling with two people, the Durant team quickly established a lead of more than 10 points.

D'Antoni didn't care about the Curry team's tactics, just watched from the sidelines, and when the time came, he would change players and let 12 stars take turns to appear on the court. The Rockets still have to fight for the first place in the West.

But Butler directly told D'Antoni that he didn't want to play an All-Star, but wanted to sit on the sidelines and rest, so D'Antoni had to put him on the bench.

Stevens also sat firmly on the Diaoyutai, and did not arrange tactics during the timeout, allowing the Durant players to discuss themselves.

James took up the posture of the head coach, spitting all over the place, very excited, but Durant stood aside, feeling and listening. For a while, he really couldn't tell who was the captain.

In the first three quarters, the score remained stalemate. In the fourth quarter, the Durant team continued to increase its intensity, and the Curry team, which was still paddling, couldn't stand it anymore, and the point difference was gradually widened.

D'Antoni replaced Rose, who had been fishing, but put Curry, who obviously didn't want to play, on the court. I don't know if he wanted the fans to watch the top ticket for a while, or he wanted to take the opportunity to consume Curry's energy.

Curry stayed on the court, still lacking interest, standing in the bottom corner, serving as a spot-up shooter, opening up space, and watching Antetokounmpo and Embiid perform.

In the end, the experienced Durant team was even better, beating the Curry team 157:145.

Antetokounmpo and Embiid fought hard and scored 26 and 28 points respectively. Curry only scored 11 points and Rose 10 points.

James scored a triple-double of 29 points, 10 assists and 12 rebounds, and won the second All-Star MVP trophy.

When receiving the award, James smiled very brightly, but when he saw Curry talking and laughing with Rose and Butler on the sidelines, and applauding casually, his smile slowly disappeared.

……

After the end of the All-Star Game, each team still has three days off. This is one of the reforms made by the league during the offseason last year.

Zhang Yu gave the All-Star players a day off, and then assembled and resumed training.

In the past, after the All-Star weekend, there were only two days off. Zhang Yu gave the team two days off, but this time, the Warriors made a rare trade in the middle of the season. Run in and integrate into the team as soon as possible.

Moreover, the Warriors' first opponent after the All-Star Game is the Thunder, which double-killed them before, and they need Lopez's performance even more.

On February 2, Lopez stood in front of his new teammates for the next two months for the first time in the training field at the Chase Center.

Zhang Yu said:

"Brook doesn't need me to introduce him? He is one of the best centers in the league. He will serve as the starting center in the next game, and we will fight side by side to fight for the championship. Welcome!"

clap clap clap!
There was a burst of applause. In the crowd, Looney also applauded vigorously. He has no ambitions and is very self-aware that he doesn't mind losing his main position.

Lopez and the Warriors are also old rivals, they are all acquaintances, not unfamiliar at all, and said with a smile:

"I'm very happy to join the Warriors. This is my closest chance to the championship. I will definitely go all out. I hope we can cooperate well... But I think you owe me an apology. In the previous two games, you have been fighting Against me!"

"Hahaha……"

Everyone laughed, and Antetokounmpo said loudly:
"Then you stay here, don't leave, no one will target you!"

He has partnered with a space-type fifth position like Olynik, and he has partnered with a center like Rooney who does not have a three-pointer. He knows better than anyone what it is like for a center to shoot a three-pointer. I really hope that Lopez can stay. warrior.

Lopez shrugged:

"Man, I want to stay too, there's no way to win a championship anywhere else, but it's not up to me."

As he spoke, he turned his head and glanced at Zhang Yu.

Zhang Yu clapped his hands and said loudly:

"Okay, I'll save this question for later. Let's start training. I don't want to lose to the Thunder three times. Before we didn't have Brook, we could still find reasons. Now, we don't have any excuses, we must win!"

……

December 2, 18:07 p.m., Chase Center.

The audience was crowded, and today's Bay Area fans are extremely enthusiastic. There is no home game to watch for a week, and they are all suffocated.

Tonight is also their long-awaited matchup. The Warriors lost the first two games against the Thunder. Now that Lopez is here, the inside has been strengthened, and the fans hope to win back at home.

However, they are also a little worried. Lopez joined the team for a short time, and there is a week-long All-Star Weekend in between. Can he integrate into the team?
Seeing Lopez joking with his teammates from time to time during pre-match training, the fans were a little relieved.

At the very least, he has a good relationship with his teammates. This is a good start. I hope Coach Z doesn’t miss out this time. He can really make up for the Warriors’ internal shortcomings...

Without keeping the fans waiting for too long, after the grand entrance ceremony, players from both sides came to the field.

The Warriors' starters are Curry, Jaylen Brown, Wiggins, Antetokounmpo, Lopez, and the Thunder's starters are Westbrook, George, Anthony, Josh Huestis, Gobert.

As expected, Lopez started instead of Looney, and the Thunder were the Big Four + a leftover.

Since the Big Four occupy most of the Thunder's salary space, the last starting spot can only be filled with rookies and a basic salary.

In the last Thunder game against the Lakers, Donovan used a small lineup, with Terrence Ferguson starting. Today against the Warriors, forward Huestis was used.

But the Thunder still have a huge disadvantage in the interior. In the past, Looney was fine when he was the starter. Now Antetokounmpo and Lopez are both over 2 meters tall, with a huge advantage in size.

Justis is just filling in, and the Thunder can only rely on Gobert inside, one against two, which is unavoidably worrying.

But Donovan had no choice. The Thunder paid a large amount of luxury tax in order to form the Big Four, and the others were players with a basic salary, which was embarrassing to use.

He can only pray that Lopez is not strong enough, or that the time he joined the Warriors is too short, the tacit understanding is insufficient, and the Thunder has a chance if he does not integrate into the team.

"Di-"

The referee blew his whistle and threw the ball into the sky. Lopez beat Gobert and moved the ball to the backcourt, and the game officially began.

Curry bent down to pick up the basketball, dribbled it to the frontcourt, stopped at the top of the arc and played a pick-and-roll with Antetokounmpo.

Westbrook struggled to squeeze the screen, Huestis jumped out to delay Curry, and Curry scored Antetokounmpo.

Antetokounmpo made a short pick-and-roll, and immediately turned and went down. Huestis turned and returned to his position. It was too late, and Antetokounmpo strode towards the basket to kill.

Gobert glanced at Lopez, who was standing in the bottom corner, and went straight back to the penalty area to make up.

Antetokounmpo didn't make a strong move, and took advantage of the situation to pass the ball to Lopez in the corner.

After Lopez received the ball, there was no one around him to defend, so he adjusted, made a three-pointer and shot into the frame, 3:0.

"Pretty!"

"nice shot!"

There was a huge cheer from the audience, and Lopez also felt the enthusiasm of the fans in the Bay Area. He smiled and waved to both sides before retreating to the backcourt.

On the sidelines, Zhang Yu applauded, but Donovan frowned.

At the turn of the round, Westbrook took the ball and Gobert picked and rolled, and used the cover to rush into the paint.

Brown went directly to cover, Lopez didn't come out, they were all waiting for Westbrook inside.

Westbrook didn't break through the route. After attracting the defense, he distributed it to Gobert who went down. Antetokounmpo also shrank to the penalty area and stopped in front of Gobert.

Gobert didn't have the ability to complete the finish through the defender at all, and he didn't have the ability to distribute the ball. He could only stop the ball on the spot and glanced left and right, only to find that Huestis, who was emptied outside the three-point line, passed the ball. .

After receiving the ball, Huestis was also unguarded. He took a look and made a three-pointer, but missed.

The rebound was grabbed by Lopez and handed to Antetokounmpo at the first time.

Antetokounmpo dribbled towards the frontcourt, and the Warriors launched a counterattack.

The Thunder retreated quickly, but Antetokounmpo was even faster. He rushed into the three-point line against Huestis and made a European layup, 5:0.

The Thunder attacked, and Westbrook still picked and rolled and went to the basket to kill.

That's what he did in the first two games, and it worked so well that Looney couldn't stop him at all.

Jaylen Brown went around the screen and Lopez retreated to defend, but Westbrook didn't pass the ball again. He rushed to the basket with the two men surrounded, layup from an extreme angle, and was slapped out of the baseline by Lopez, who had been prepared.

"Yeah!"

"Pretty!"

The cheers at the scene were louder, and the Warriors fans fell in love with Lopez as soon as they attacked and defended.

Westbrook fell to the ground in some embarrassment, and got up without waiting for his teammates to pull him up.

The Thunder sent the baseline ball, Westbrook received a pass from George, and still had a pick-and-roll with Gobert, but this time he didn't rush in, but took a step forward, pulled up and shot, and made a long two-pointer, 5:2.

The cheers at the scene became weaker, and Westbrook shook his hand, snorted coldly, and retreated to the backcourt.

He feels pretty good today, if you don't let him rush to the basket, then he will shoot, the Warriors don't want to guard him!

(End of this chapter)