NBA: Top 3D talents to start

Chapter 407 The Western Conference Finals, Fighting the Warriors Again

The Clippers were eliminated, and the Western Conference Finals matchup became the Lakers VS Warriors.

From the 2014-15 season, the Warriors led by Curry reached the Western Conference Finals for the first time and successfully won the Finals until now, seven full years have passed.

Seven years is enough to undergo many vicissitudes of change. The once powerful teams in the league have completely changed, including the Warriors. Curry Thompson Green's three veterans stayed on the team.

Among the active players in the league, the only one who can achieve the achievements of the Warriors is the evergreen LeBron James who has led the team to the finals for seven consecutive years and won the championship three times.

No one expected that with Durant leaving the team, the Warriors, which almost fell from the clouds to the bottom, could still maintain a very strong competitive level. Although the elimination of the Clippers involved some luck, luck is not a part of strength. Woolen cloth?
In another time and space, the season when Leonard won the championship with the Raptors was also because the Warriors were full of injuries. Both Durant and Thompson suffered serious injuries, so they picked up a championship trophy.

Now facing the Warriors, Leonard is also injured, so this is a retaliation, right?
Wang Feng thought with peace of mind.

But in fact, in this time and space, the direct beneficiaries of Durant's 19-year injury were Wang Feng and the Lakers, who were playing against the Warriors in the Western Conference Finals.

It was because of Durant's injury that the Lakers eliminated the Warriors in that series and reached the finals, and defeated the Toronto Raptors led by Leonard, and won Wang Feng's first championship trophy as a core player.

Two years have passed, and today, both teams are in the Western Conference finals, but the situation of the two teams is not the same.

The Lakers are strong and strong, Wang Feng is in full swing, and Jimmy Butler also made his debut after recovering from injury in the final game of the second round.

On the other hand, the Warriors are not in good shape after seven fierce battles with the Clippers.

Although they were lucky enough to win the game due to Leonard's injury, the Warriors consumed a lot, especially Klay Thompson, the team's number two, who has always been injured and insisted on playing.

Because of Wang Feng, Thompson was very lucky to avoid the major injury that seriously affected his career. The catastrophe was avoided, but in the past two seasons, Thompson had various minor problems. The game attendance rate is only around 80%, not as high as Curry.

However, minor injuries and illnesses are better than direct reimbursement for two years.

It's just that this result directly benefited the opponent Lakers.

Butler's recovery state is very good, he has fully recovered, except that he has not played for a few months and his players are a little raw, there is no difference from half a year ago.

The outside world thinks that the Lakers will win the result of the Western Conference Finals matchup between the Lakers and the Warriors.

The same goes for the odds for the game, with the Lakers far less likely to make the Finals than the Warriors.

People guessed right.

On May 5, in G14 of the Western Conference Finals series, the Lakers easily won their first victory at the Warriors' home court.

The starting five for the Lakers are Wang Feng, Butler, Ingram, Kuzma and Lopez.

The Warriors are Curry, Thompson, Alec Burks, Green and center Willie Cauley-Stein.

In the starting lineup of the Warriors, Burks and Stein are just ordinary rotation players with limited strength, but there is no way, this is already the most suitable lineup that the Warriors can currently make up.

The tactics of the current Warriors are somewhat similar to those of the Warriors in the first 14-15 season. The death five small lineup has not yet been fully formed, and there is no cosmic brave who joined Durant later. The offensive tactics mainly revolve around the Splash Brothers or Curry’s super strength. Outside shooting ability to carry.

The same is true of the Warriors' tactics against the Lakers.

However, from the very beginning, the Warriors' tactics could not be implemented, because the Lakers directly arranged for Wang Feng to mark Curry.

There is no doubt about Curry's offensive ability. This season averaged 30+ points per game. This is the second consecutive year that he has averaged 30+ points per game in the regular season.

But Wang Feng's defensive ability is really too strong.

Moreover, when Curry faced Wang Feng, there was no advantage in any point. His height, weight, jumping, strength, and even the speed that the guards rely on for their survival are all lagging behind.

What's more terrible is that Curry's best three-point long-range shot was overwhelmed by Wang Feng's defensive shock badge.

As long as Wang Feng can form an effective interference in time before Curry makes a shot, even if he just dangles in front of Curry's eyes, the effect of the badge will be activated, greatly reducing Curry's hit rate.

In addition, Curry's other big killer move, the quick shot after relying on the opponent's cover, is not easy to use here.

The same purple Hall of Fame-level pick-and-roll dodger badge can help Wang Feng quickly bypass any defense, even with Curry's shooting speed, he can't avoid Wang Feng's defense.

Curry was restricted by Wang Feng, and Thompson was in poor form due to injury. The only player in the Big Three who is in good condition is Draymond Green, who is not good at attacking. How can we play this game?
In the first quarter of the game, the Lakers scored 33 points, while the Warriors only had 25 points.

In the second quarter, the Lakers scored another 31 points and the Warriors scored 23 points.

At the end of the half, the score between the two teams was 64:48, and the point difference had reached 16 points.

水花兄弟一个13投4中，一个10投3中，命中率均不在线，反倒是前几轮系列赛表现糟糕如同卧底一般的格林6投4中，其中三分球5中3，罚球4中4得到15分。

But with Green's ability, this is already the limit.

The game entered the third quarter of the second half, and the point difference was further widened to more than 20 points.

Such a huge point difference disappointed the Warriors home fans, and head coach Steve Kerr also felt very helpless.

Make bricks without straw.

Unexpectedly, once the family was big and the business was big, Curry Durant came out one after another, and he, who wanted to fight as he wanted, would encounter this kind of predicament one day.

Curry was suppressed by Wang Feng all the way, what he needed was a player who could share the pressure on the offensive end and attract Wang Feng's attention.

Thompson himself is competent, but because of his injury, he can't do anything, and the team can't find a second player who can take on this important task. What can be done?
……

A few minutes after the start of the fourth quarter, the Warriors took the initiative to replace all the main players and gave up struggling.

At 116:94, the Lakers beat the Warriors by 22 points at home.

In this game, Butler, who returned from injury, showed his talents. He made 22 of 12 shots in the game, scored 31 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists, the highest score in the game.

Wang Feng did not compete with Butler for the limelight, and put more energy on dealing with Curry on the court, and successfully locked Curry. As a result, he made 19 of 7 shots in the whole game, with a shooting rate of 36.8%, and only scored 19 points. .

Wang Feng, on the other hand, handed over a luxurious triple-double of 24 points, 18 rebounds and 14 assists.

In just one game, the Warriors exposed many problems.

The team's original good defense has disappeared, and the offensive end relies heavily on Curry. More importantly, a flaw that originally existed has now become more serious-that is, rebound protection.

The Warriors, who are accustomed to using the death five small lineup, are not good at protecting rebounds.

In the years when Wang Feng was still there, the Warriors also had Bogut, Pachulia, McGee and other experienced blue-collar center guards.

But now, only center Stein, who has been in the league for 15 years, is left to protect the team's rebounds.

This is indeed a defensive blue-collar center player with the ability to protect rebounds, but the experience and ability are still not good enough.

This also led to Wang Feng grabbing a full 6 offensive rebounds in the Warriors' penalty area in this game.

The Lakers' victory over the Warriors has already clearly seen the gap in the competitive level of the two teams.

If Thompson is healthy and Curry and Green feel hot, the Warriors may still have a chance to break the wrist with the Lakers, but it is absolutely impossible now.

……

On May 5, G16 of the Western Conference Finals was still at the home of the Warriors. The Lakers won again 2:114, and the score came to 111:2.

库里这场比赛经历先前的压制触底反弹，22投11中，砍下37分8篮板8助攻。

After all, he is the top superstar in the league. Although Curry's touch was still affected by Wang Feng in this game, and he only made 14 of 4 shots from beyond the three-point line, but he decisively gave up the outside attack and began to attack the basket with the ball.

Wang Feng's defensive deterrence badge is only effective for outside shots, and Curry's goal of breaking through the frame with the ball is more to draw fouls.

Curry, sitting at home and throwing everything away, took 14 free throws and made 12 of them.

If it's just to deal with the breakthrough Curry, Wang Feng naturally has no problem. Although the death coil badge is only a gold level, with Wang Feng's double 94 speed and agility, and 91 defensive awareness, he can completely prevent Curry from dying.

But there was nothing he could do if Pongci made a foul. His stronger body and tough confrontation than Curry became his weaknesses at the home whistle.

After being called for two defensive fouls in a row, Wang Feng, who was so disgusted, didn't really defend Curry who was breaking through. Anyway, Curry's real threat is the three-pointer, and it doesn't matter how he wants to play at the basket.

The result is the same. Although the difference between the two teams in this game is not big, the Warriors have no hope of winning.

Although Curry scored 37 points, apart from him, the Warriors only scored in double figures with Thompson's 24 points and Green's 16 points.

Wang Feng scored 35 points, 17 rebounds and 8 assists in this game, and once again grabbed 5 offensive rebounds in front of the Warriors inside players.

Both Butler and Ingram also scored 20+ points, as stable as old dogs.

Lost both home games and went to the Lakers home court with a score of 0:2. No matter how you look at this game, the Warriors have no hope.

"It seems that this finals will finally see a fierce battle between dragons and tigers."

Many people who were not fans of the two teams but simply watched the fun became a little excited.

The Lakers in the West are about to qualify, and the situation in the Eastern Conference Finals is quite clear.

The Brooklyn Nets led by Durant's Big Three and the Milwaukee Bucks led by Antetokounmpo made it to the Eastern Conference Finals.

In the same two home games, the Nets all successfully defended and defeated the Bucks in both games.

杜兰特在与年轻新星字母哥的对决中也占据优势，两场比赛分别砍下41分8篮板和36分11篮板，完全压制字母哥29分14篮板和33分15篮板。

And it's not just Durant who is in an advantageous matchup. In the two sets of matchups between Irving VS Wall and George VS Middleton, the Nets also have the advantage.

In the competition between the Big Three and the Big Three, the Nets won all round, and shooting guard Dinwiddie and former All-Star power forward Blake Griffin on the bench also performed well, and the Nets also played well in the bench rotation. Won.

With a 2:0 advantage, the Nets have half-stepped into the finals. As long as no players are injured, the finals will be a matchup between the Lakers and the Nets.

This is the first time in four years since the Warriors' Curry, Durant, Thompson Green, and the Cavaliers' James Wang, Owen Love, and their top-matched lineups have played against each other in the finals under the luxury Big Three configuration.

This description is not an exaggeration at all.

In the 17-18 season, the Warriors won the championship, defeating the Cavaliers who lost Wang Feng and Irving, leaving only James struggling to support.

In the 18-19 season, Wang Feng led his team to the finals for the first time as a core player, defeating Leonard's Raptors.

In the 19-20 season, Wang Feng's Lakers again faced the Milwaukee Bucks led by Antetokounmpo Antetokounmpo.

In the past two years since the Lakers won the championship, the Lakers' lineup is really good, but Ingram is still in the growth stage and has not yet been regarded as a qualified member of the Big Three. The Lakers are more often called the dual-core of Wang Feng and Butler line-up.

This is even more so for Leonard's Raptors and Antetokounmpo's Bucks, and they will even be called single-core teams. After all, the cards of Lowry, Siakam, Middleton and others followed suit. Ingram is about the same.

But this time the situation is completely different!

(End of this chapter)