NBA: Top 3D talents to start

Chapter 116 The second round against the Trail Blazers (second update)
(Sorry for something at home, there are only 2 updates today, and I will find a way to make up for it tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.)
Curry + Thompson VS Lillard + McCollum, this kind of matchup can be regarded as a very eye-catching game in the second round of the playoffs.

Most media generally believe that the Warriors will definitely win the series, but the confrontation between the two sides in the backcourt will definitely be quite intense.

However, the Warriors have no intention of presenting such a matchup to the audience.

"Wang Feng, in the game against the Trail Blazers, you will be responsible for defending Lillard, and McCollum will hand it over to Clay." Cole looked at the players and carefully explained the details that he needed to know in the game against the Trail Blazers.

"This arrangement can minimize Stephen's pressure on the defensive end, allowing him to devote all his energy to the offense. You must limit the opponent's offense as much as possible."

For Wang Feng, he has long been accustomed to defending the opponent's sharp-edged outside players.

During the regular season, Wang Feng often switched defenses with Curry to guard against some small guards with strong offensive capabilities. Although his speed and agility at double 90 are always at a disadvantage when facing most first-line guards, his height and shape advantage, Coupled with the effects of badge skills such as defensive shock and death coil, Wang Feng is also very effective in defending small defenders.

Of course, Lillard is different from Barnes in the first round. This is a first-class guard with an overall rating close to 90, and he will not be blindly reckless when facing Wang Feng. Even he cannot completely defeat Lillard. Thoroughly restricted.

……

On May 5, the first round of the playoffs between the two teams began at the home court of the Warriors.

As soon as the game started, Wang Feng took the initiative to find Lillard to defend.

Obviously, the Blazers had anticipated the possibility of this happening. Lillard held the ball in the top arc and raised his hand calmly to call for a pick-and-roll.

The Blazers' inside players immediately pulled out to cover Lillard's pick-and-roll.

Pick-and-roll tactics are a compulsory course for defenders, including Curry who often use pick-and-rolls to avoid players with stronger defenses.

Taking advantage of the faster speed of the small guard, Lillard rushed to the basket in the gap of the pick-and-roll, and scored a layup against the Warriors inside player who was defending.

2:0, Lillard took the lead at the start.

For the Warriors, Curry attacked with the ball.

Unlike the Warriors' targeted tactical defense, on the Blazers' side, it is Lillard in the same position who is marking Curry.

There is no way, the Blazers have no choice.

Wang Feng defends Lillard, and Curry can defend Maurice Harkless at the small forward position of the Blazers, because the opponent is only a role player and has poor offensive ability. .

But if Lillard switches defenses and lets others defend Curry, then he will be marking one of Thompson and Wang Feng.

Both Thompson and Wang Feng are more than 2 meters tall, much taller than Lillard who is 1 meters tall. In addition, the shooting accuracy of the two outsiders is also quite high. It is not as good to let Lillard defend them. It's easy to defend against Curry.

It's just that the ease here is only relative.

Curry dribbled the ball from the left and broke through suddenly. Lillard stepped up to follow up, but Curry suddenly stopped, stepped back and exited the three-point line to shoot.

"Swipe!" The basketball crashed into the net.

……

At the beginning of the game, Curry and Lillard scored consecutively, and the scores of the two sides rose alternately. It seemed that the game was inextricably linked.

But it didn't take long for the Blazers to start to lose support.

"Damn it..."

Lillard dribbled the ball slowly, looking at the expressionless Wang Feng standing in front of him, he couldn't help thinking secretly. "This guy is too difficult!"

Relying on the pick-and-roll tactics, Lillard can still score efficiently under Wang Feng's defense, but after the pick-and-roll, he can only break through to the basket to score a layup, and has almost no chance to score outside the three-point line.

Although Lillard's breakthrough is very strong, extremely fast, and explosive, his strongest scoring method is the same as Curry's three-pointer!
In the regular season, Lillard averaged 8.2 shots from outside the three-point line and hit 3.1 goals. Three-pointers accounted for nearly 4% of the total points.

Although this ratio is not as good as Curry, it is also a fairly high ratio among outside players, close to Thompson.

However, with Wang Feng marking Lillard, for a few minutes, he did not find a particularly good outside shot.

No way, not all players in the league can do it like Curry's method of using pick-and-roll players to cover and standing directly behind the pick-and-roll player from the three-point line to shoot.

Lillard can only score through breakthroughs, but Curry has both internal and external considerations. After several successful three-pointers, the scores of the two teams began to gradually widen the gap.

A three-pointer is one point more than a two-pointer, which is something even a fool understands.

"It's not the way to go on like this..." Lillard had no choice but to try to make a three-pointer from the outside.

However, under the influence of Wang Feng's even defense and the defensive deterrent badge, all the shots missed in several attempts.

Lillard's three-pointer was strangled, and McCollum on the other side couldn't count on it. This season, the newly-emerged McCollum is best at mid-range and long-range shooting. Although his shooting percentage outside the three-point line is very good this season , reached more than 40%, but the number of shots was not many.

Moreover, it was Thompson with good defensive ability who defended McCollum. Under the targeted defense, his scoring range was also limited to the three-point line.

In the first quarter of the game, the two teams fought to 34:28, and the Warriors led by 6 points.

In the second quarter of the game, the point difference further widened to 11 points.

In the third quarter, the Blazers lost another 4 points, and the point difference became 15 points.

By the fourth quarter, the Blazers, who wanted to fight to the death, began to fire frequently from beyond the three-point line, but the Blazers, who hadn’t gotten too many three-point shooting opportunities in the first three quarters, felt bad. Instead of recovering the point difference, the Blazers To make matters worse, the score difference was further widened.

At 116:98, the Warriors won their first victory in the series.

Throughout the game, the Warriors did not take away the opponent in a sudden wave, but relied on the advantage beyond the three-point line, bit by bit, like a blunt knife killing people, gradually widening the point difference and finally establishing a winning position .

Both Lillard and McCollum performed fairly well. Facing Wang Feng's defense, the former still scored 42 points with a 30% shooting rate, most of which came from layups and free throws.

McCollum also scored 23 points, but the two made a total of 13 shots from outside the three-point line, but only hit 3 goals, which was seriously unqualified outside the three-point line.

On the Warriors side, Curry made 14 of 7 three-pointers, Thompson made 8 of 3, Wang Feng made 7 of 4, and his three-point shooting percentage was as high as 48%.

This situation made it impossible for Lillard and McCollum to work hard inside the arc.

(End of this chapter)