warrior godfather

Chapter 764 The battle for the top spot
Lopez's seamless integration into the team allowed the Warriors to make up for their biggest shortcoming and ushered in a long winning streak.

The Warriors have already played against strong teams at the championship level. Except for the Bulls, Cavaliers, and Rockets, the remaining opponents are at most at the playoff level.

Regardless of whether there is Lopez or not, the Cavaliers are not the Warriors' opponents at all. The Bulls are more difficult to fight against the Big Three, but Lopez's frame protection just happens to restrain the Bulls who are inaccurate three-pointers.

Only the Rockets are very difficult, but Lopez was overcome by the Rockets. Harden and Paul are both masters of small players.

In the last match against the Rockets in the regular season, Zhang Yu did an experiment, put Lopez on the court, and tried various defensive strategies, focusing on the effect of Lopez defending Harden and Paul.

The result was unsatisfactory. Lopez was completely unable to switch defenses. Harden's first step was too fast.

Lopez can't defend the squatting hole. Harden and Paul are also masters of pick-and-roll shooting with the ball.

The Rockets have many three-point shooters. If Lopez squats inside, the other four Warriors will not be able to rotate in time, and a large number of open opportunities will be missed.

Zhang Yu gave Lopez a full 30 minutes, during which he repeatedly adjusted his defensive strategy, but all ended in failure.

Lopez used to be a pillar of the inside and defended the Warriors' restricted area as solid as gold, but this game was extremely embarrassing. He scored 2 three-pointers on the offensive end and could not make up for the points lost on the defensive end.

The failure of defense also made the Warriors finally lose to the Rockets 115:126, ending the 11-game winning streak after the All-Star.

After the game, the media and fans were puzzled by Zhang Yu's superstitious belief in Lopez. It was clear that Lopez had exposed the weakness of not being able to switch defenses in the first half. As a result, Zhang Yu continued to use Lopez in the second half and lost a lot of three-pointers.

But Zhang Yu dismissed their doubts and criticisms and did not explain.

Instead of testing tactics in the regular season, should we try again in the playoffs?
Of course Zhang Yu knows that Lopez can't defend and switch defenses, and facing the Rockets will be the Warriors' biggest weakness.

But you have to actually play in the game to know how big Lopez's weaknesses are, how many points the Rockets will score on him, and how much his offensive role can make up for the lost points on the defensive end.

Only in this way, if he meets the Rockets in the playoffs, Zhang Yu can know when Lopez will play, how long he can play, and what tactics to use.

After all, Looney and Zhou Qi are more unbearable than Lopez. If the Warriors really meet the Rockets, it is impossible for Antetokounmpo to play the center for the entire game, and Lopez will eat at least 20 minutes.

What Zhang Yu has to do is to make a good choice, carefully arrange Lopez's rotation and tactics, and minimize the loss of Lopez's playing.

The media and fans couldn't understand Zhang Yu's intentions. They could only see the regular season in front of them, but turned a blind eye to the upcoming playoffs.

However, they are not without reason. The Warriors and the Rockets have similar records. This head-to-head confrontation is worth a lot of money. It has an important impact on the No. [-] ownership in the Western Conference and is also crucial to the mvp battle between Curry and Harden.

The Rockets attached great importance to this game. D'Antoni used a 7-and-a-half-man rotation. He was repeatedly proven unable to guard Curry's Anderson. He only played 11 minutes.

Originally, the Warriors led the Rockets by 1.5 games, ranking first in the Western Conference. After this game, the Warriors' lead was only 0.5 games left, which was in jeopardy.

This is the most puzzling thing for Warriors fans, and it is also where the media questioned Zhang Yu the most.

What could be more important than home court advantage in the playoffs?
But looking at the Warriors' upcoming schedule, Zhang Yu's actions don't seem so incomprehensible.

The Warriors have 7 games left. Except for the Pelicans and Pacers, other opponents are not in the playoffs.

The Rockets have 8 games left and need to play 5 playoff teams, the Thunder, Celtics, Trail Blazers, Spurs, and Pacers. The schedule is much more difficult than the Warriors.

In the first half of the season, the Warriors had a more difficult schedule than the Rockets and lost more games, but at the last moment, the Rockets had to face strong opponents one after another. This is one of the reasons why Zhang Yu dared to experiment with tactics.

But no matter how simple the schedule is, victory cannot come from the sky. If the Warriors want to maintain the No. [-] ranking in the Western Conference, and Curry wants to gain an advantage in the MVP competition, he must win the last seven games and firmly control the initiative. hand.

3月31日，勇士主场以113:96轻取国王，库里三分球12中7，轻松砍下28分。

On the same day, the Rockets narrowly beat the Suns 104:103. Gerald Green received a pass from Ariza and hit a three-pointer at the buzzer.

Harden was in poor form, shooting less than 4% from the field, relying on 17 of 11 free throws to score 28 points.

In the scoring list, Curry ranked No.31.4 with 1 points, and Harden ranked second with 30.4 points.

On April 4, the Warriors challenged the Suns, who pushed the Rockets into desperation, and won a big victory 2:121. Curry scored 105 points and Antetokounmpo 25 points.

The Warriors have two superstars, Curry and Antetokounmpo at the same time. They have advantages inside and outside. They can always hit the opponent's defensive weaknesses, and they have a greater advantage in abuse.

Solar and the Rockets were deadlocked to a critical moment, but they were suppressed by the Warriors, unable to fight back.

On the same day, the Rockets beat the Wizards 120:104 at home. Harden easily scored 28 points, slightly narrowing the gap with Curry.

On April 4, the Warriors defeated the Timberwolves 4:115 away.

Towns scored 6 three-pointers and scored 31 points, but he also scored more than 30 points on the defensive end. Curry scored 34 points and 11 assists, and Antetokounmpo led the team to victory with 27 points and 6 assists.

Due to the greatly weakened lineup depth and the lack of playmakers in the Warriors, both Curry and Antetokounmpo have very high usage rates, both to score themselves and to drive teammates.

Curry has reduced running without the ball. The pick-and-roll duo between him and Antetokounmpo is the most threatening offensive method for the Warriors, which can change the opponent's defense to the greatest extent. Many subsequent changes derived from this can be used by other Warriors players. Get easier offensive opportunities and participate in the offense.

As a result, Curry's scoring and assists are much higher than last season, and he often gets 30+10 triple-doubles, ranking first in scoring and assists.

However, Curry did not regain the ball-holding big core style of play. One-third of his assists were connected with Antetokounmpo inside and outside, and many of them were purely Antetokounmpo's personal ability. It is too strong, and it can be forced to score without a chance.

This is an advantage unique to Curry. The second and third in the assist list are Westbrook and Harden. Westbrook is next to Gobert, and Harden is next to Capela. With Paul sharing the ball, there is no threat to Curry.

……

On the same day, the Rockets narrowly beat the Blazers 115:111 at home. Harden scored 41 points, further narrowing the gap with Curry.

But then, the Rockets challenged the Spurs in back-to-back away games. The team was in a sluggish state. They made 31 of 7 three-pointers, only 22.6%, and lost to the Spurs 83:100.

This is not the first time the Rockets have suffered a disastrous defeat to an opponent because of an inaccurate three-pointer. D'Antoni's team is too dependent on the three-pointer, and has even surpassed the Warriors who are increasingly magic balls. Winning or losing depends on the three-pointer. If you win, you will lose if you feel bad, or even return home in a big defeat.

Other strong teams at the championship level will also lose due to poor state, but no matter how bad the hand feels, they can also rely on other methods to score stably, and they rarely lose so badly.

On April 4, the Warriors beat the Pelicans 6:116 away to consolidate their lead.

Cousins ​​suffered a serious injury to his Achilles tendon and was reimbursed for the season. The Pelicans Twin Towers only had thick eyebrows alone, which greatly reduced the threat to the Warriors inside. With Lopez and Antetokounmpo protecting the frame, they curbed thick eyebrows from attacking the frame. Also firmly contained the thick eyebrows on the offensive end.

Thick eyebrows didn't dare to guard against it. Holiday is a heavy guard and couldn't keep up with Curry. Curry made 17 of 10 three-pointers and scored 38 points.

On April 4, the Rockets ushered in the most difficult challenge, playing against the Celtics at home.

The records of the two teams are similar, both ranking in the top two in the division. The Rockets need to catch up with the Warriors, while the Bulls are chasing after the Celtics. Every victory is crucial.

In the end, the Celtics won this strong matchup.

The Rockets’ infinite defense was useless against the Celtics. Irving, Durant, and Leonard were all singles masters. They scored 24, 31, and 25 points in three-pointers respectively, leading the team to beat the Rockets 114:106 .

Cole is not only good at punching and cutting, sitting on the top three scorers, he has made more and more compromises, and he is full of praise for Durant, giving him the privilege of unlimited singles, even Leonard, It can only be used as Durant's deputy, focusing on defense.

After losing to the Celtics, the gap between the Rockets and the Warriors came to 1.5 games.

On the second day, the Warriors returned home and defeated the Pacers 111:104. The record advantage over the Rockets came to 2 games. With 2 games left, they almost locked the No. [-] position in the Western Conference. A theoretical anti-super hope.

On April 4, the Warriors beat the Eagles 10:97 at home.

In this game, the Warriors team was in poor condition, shooting less than 20% of their three-pointers. However, relying on Curry's breakthrough and the successive impacts of Antetokounmpo, Lopez, Wiggins, and Jaylen Brown, they grabbed At 17 offensive rebounds, 10 higher than the Eagles, won the game with a size advantage.

On the same day, the Rockets lost 113:118 to the Pacers back-to-back at home. The Warriors further expanded their lead and secured the No. [-] seat in the Western Conference.

Two days later, Zhang Yu rested the four starters in the last regular season game, and lost to the Nuggets 105:115. Finally, with a record of 67 wins and 15 losses, he ranked first in the league and first in the Western Conference, ending the 2017-2018 season. The journey of the [-] regular season.

(End of this chapter)