warrior godfather

On the offensive end, Zhang Yu also saw Cole's weakness, and used the pass and cut to achieve an effect beyond everyone's expectations.

No matter from any point of view, the Warriors are not suitable for using pass and cut against the Celtics.

The Celtics start with five small lineups. Horford is actually the position of the power forward on top of the center. Durant has the speed of a small forward, but the position is a power forward, which makes the Celtics move extremely fast in the starting lineup. , Chuanqie's tactics of relying on screens and running to find open opportunities should be completely ineffective.

However, the Warriors have the most suitable pass-cut tactics in NBA history, and the person who can maximize the power of pass-cut - Stephen Curry.

Cole stayed in the Warriors for four years, consciously learned the essence of Zhang Yu's tactics, fully mastered the pass and cut, and was able to carry forward the most perfect tactics in the world.

However, he will never be able to exert the greatest power of passing and cutting, because the Celtics do not have Curry.

Only Curry's unparalleled three-point deterrence can attract the defense to the greatest extent and create enough open opportunities for teammates. Only Curry's top-level abnormal ability in holding the ball, off the ball, and passing the ball can be switched at any time. Offensive mode, giving full play to the unpredictable characteristics of passing and cutting.

Others don't have "ku has gravity", and will never be able to achieve the effect of the warrior's pass.

Zhang Yu can pinch the Big Three of the Green Army, because their off-ball and passing skills are not at the top level, especially passing. Even Irving, who is a point guard, has never been a star who is good at passing.

But Kerr didn't dare to flank Curry. His ability to handle the ball under flanking is the best in the league. Only a few people can compare with him. It is easy to find open teammates, and this is completely intolerable for Kerr.

Perhaps because of his background as a role player, Cole tried his best to prove that role players can also take on great responsibilities. He attaches great importance to the role of role players and is extremely good at discovering leftovers and marginal people, but he has an inexplicable aversion to stars and young talents.

His favorite tactic is to let stars act as bait for role players. Even if the team falls behind in the last few seconds, a lore/draw is needed, and a final decision by a superstar is needed. Cole dares to arrange Curry to move to attract defense, and role players take The ball completes the tactic of finishing.

There is no doubt that his tactics often end in failure. In that suffocating atmosphere, every player bears huge psychological pressure, especially the role players, even if it is a big open opportunity, it is very likely that they will not be able to shoot. In, let alone a defensive lore.

At this time, the team boss should be allowed to play singles with the ball. This is the responsibility they must bear, and only superstars can withstand tremendous pressure and complete the finish.

But Cole obviously doesn't think so. He arranges lore tactics for role players over and over again, even if he fails repeatedly, he never changes his mind, which makes Warriors fans crazy.

And this kind of thinking is reflected in the defense, which is the extreme emphasis on role players. Even if the opposing star keeps scoring, the role players must not be allowed to bloom more.

This is also influenced by Zhang Yu. The Warriors' previous defensive strategy was mostly to lock up other players and let the opponent's stars attack, and it received very good results.

Cole served as an assistant coach beside Zhang Yu and learned all Zhang Yu's tactical thinking, including defense.

So after the Celtics flanked Curry once in the first quarter, Cole immediately reminded them to switch defenses, which can give Curry a certain amount of space, but not others.

This did play a role, the Warriors have greatly reduced the open opportunities, and the scoring opportunities of Wiggins, Jaylen Brown, Looney, and Covington have plummeted.

But Curry gained more space because of this. His ability to run without the ball is the first in history. The Celtics still defend and change defenses, and sometimes even slow down their pursuit of Curry because of blocking open positions.

Of course, Curry will not let go of such an opportunity. He has used many times to run without the ball, such as emergency stops and quick starts, reverse running and air cuts, walking on the other side of the screen, short pick and roll and then receiving the ball, two passes and one hit the wall. The way the ball combines to find scoring opportunities.

He doesn't need to be open, because with his lightning speed, as long as there is a gap, it is enough to complete the shot.

It doesn't even matter if there is no gap. Curry can switch from off-ball mode to ball-holding mode in an instant. Using the change of the opponent's center of gravity from off-ball pursuit to standing defense, Curry takes the lead, and then through simple but sharp rhythm changes , shaking out of the space, completing the fatal blow.

After the first quarter, Curry scored 3 three-pointers and scored 17 points, the highest in the game, leading the Warriors to lead the Celtics by 34 points at 23:11.

The Celtics played a pass and cut, and under the tight flanking and rotation of the Warriors, they sent 6 turnovers and lost 9 points just by counterattacking.

But Cole looked at the scores of the two teams in the first quarter, but did not have the idea of ​​adjusting tactics.

On the contrary, he felt that the Celtics made many mistakes because the players had no experience in the finals and were too nervous in the first quarter. As time goes by, the mistakes will definitely become fewer and fewer.

And Antetokounmpo can't fight again. The Celtics are undoubtedly crushing the Warriors in terms of strength. They will win with any tactics. Great and totally worth it.

As for Curry's explosion in the first quarter, Cole didn't care much about it.

When he was an assistant coach in the Warriors, he saw James 50+ in the finals, Durant 40+ in the playoffs, Harden 40+ in the playoffs, and Rose 30+ in the playoffs, but none of them led the team to win the Warriors.

Modern basketball is no longer an era where superstars decide everything. The performance of role players is crucial, which is also in line with Cole's philosophy.

He doesn't care how many points Curry scores, because he firmly believes that Curry votes for the Warriors alone, so what if he gets 40+, or even 50+?
As long as the Warriors' role players are locked up, the Celtics can win the game. You keep the data, and I take the victory. This is what Zhang Yu taught Cole, and it is also a truth that Cole believes in unswervingly.

It's just that he ignored one thing, a very important thing, which is likely to determine the death of the Celtics.

There is one biggest difference between Curry and all other stars who scored high points against the Warriors but lost the game-they are all super scorers, but Curry is a super scorer and the first shooter in history at the same time !

And this is also in Zhang Yu's calculations.

……

In the second quarter, the game entered the transition period.

Whether it is a Warriors fan or a Celtics fan, they think they can breathe a sigh of relief, because Zhang Yu and Cole are both head coaches who like to use long rotations, and even in the finals, the substitute matchup is far from enough. It is on a par with the excitement of the first fierce battle.

But this time, Zhang Yu and Cole chose a short rotation at the same time.

Cole is better, the Celtics Big Three can lead the team, he just let Irving return to the court early, and lead the rotation lineup with Leonard, Durant rested 1 and a half minutes more than Leonard. back on the court.

Zhang Yu didn't dare to take it too seriously. After Antetokounmpo was injured, the Warriors with Curry and without Curry are two completely different teams.

When Curry rested, the Celtics took advantage of the Warriors' absence of a playmaker to narrow the point difference to 7 points.

So at 8 minutes and 31 seconds into the second quarter, Curry only rested for 3 and a half minutes and had to go into battle again.

Without him, it would be difficult for the Warriors to create scoring opportunities. Brogdon, Bogdan, and Jaylen Brown are all very good players, but they cannot play the role of the main attacker on a stage like the finals. There must be stars to attract the defense in order to play its due role on the offensive end.

Only Wiggins relies on his strong talent, whether it is the regular season, the playoffs or the finals, he is able to do a job with ease. He does not need to adapt to confrontation at all. How many points should be scored normally, and how many points are still scored now.

This is the scariest part of Wiggins, and it is also the biggest reason why no one thinks he is a parallel importer because he averaged only 18 points per game.

A striker who can stably contribute 18+ points in all intensity games, can shoot three-pointers, can cut, has a certain ball-holding singles ability, and is still a top-level striker on the defensive end, definitely cannot be called a parallel import.

It's just that Wiggins' talent is too explosive, and people have too high expectations of him, hoping that he can reach the height of a superstar.Even if he played the role of a top 3D+ secondary attacker, some people still feel very sorry.

For the Warriors at this time, Wiggins also gives people a feeling that they have more than enough heart but not enough power. When Curry is on the court, he is a perfect third master, and he can even top the second master position, but Curry In the next game, his slightly clumsy handling and singles with the ball are unbearable to look at.

Fortunately, after Curry returned to the court, the Warriors immediately stabilized the situation and maintained a 10-point lead.

This is of course because of Curry's strong offensive influence, which immediately raised the Warriors' offense to a higher level, but Cole's persistence in passing and cutting is the biggest reason.

The strengths of Irving, Leonard, and Durant are not passing support. What they are best at is holding the ball in their hands, crushing all defenses, and then releasing the ball in an unreasonable way. into the basket.

But Cole insisted that they take the ball to observe the running position of their teammates, and be ready to pass the ball at any time. Even if there is only one defender behind/in front of them, they cannot play singles with the ball.

This kind of tactics that violated the habits of the Big Three, and even their nature, made them very awkward, unable to exert their maximum power at all, and caused many mistakes by the Warriors.

But none of them complained, or even made any comments about Cole.

The success of the Celtics in the past two seasons has strongly proved Cole's status. One Eastern Conference Finals and one Finals made him one of the hottest head coaches in the league, and his status is extremely solid.

Moreover, he used to be an assistant coach of the Warriors, and he knows the Warriors' tactics very well. Since he thinks passing and cutting are the most effective, even if the Big Three feel awkward, they can only follow his arrangement.

And the point difference is less than 10 points, and it is easy to catch up with a few three-pointers, so the Big Three are not dissatisfied, but try their best to implement Cole's passing and cutting tactics.

So at the end of the second quarter, the Warriors still led the Celtics by 59 points at 50:9.

59 points is a regular halftime score for the Warriors' offensive ability, but the Celtics only scored 50 points in the halftime, which is much lower than the usual halftime score. question.

In the first quarter, the Celtics sent 6 turnovers. The second quarter improved, but they also sent 5 turnovers, and 11 turnovers in the half, allowing the Warriors to use counterattacks to score 17 points. The Celtics were behind biggest reason.

Of these 11 turnovers, 9 were passing errors during the passing and cutting process. The Big Three contributed 8 of them, and the remaining 1 was sent by Horford, which happens to be the four Celtics who are responsible for dealing cards.

However, Cole still didn't think there was any problem with passing and cutting. During the intermission, his attention was all on the Celtics' defense. (end of this chapter)