First in scoring

Chapter 536 535. Universe Lake VS Universe Warrior (Beginning)
After Curry lost to Zhang Yang in the first round in 14, his goal became simple - to overcome the huge obstacle of Zhang Yang and become more powerful than Zhang Yang.

Since the two are of similar age, this has become a lifelong goal in his basketball world.

Compared to Curry, Durant's thoughts are much more complicated, and his eyes were full of resentment when he looked at Harden.

Schoolbag: No, man, if you want to join the Lakers, you should tell me! Can't you take me with you?
But he also knew that if he didn't leave, Harden would not leave either. On the day when he stayed up all night and made up his mind to join the Warriors, Harden was still discussing how to threaten the Thunder management to pay some taxes to bring in better helpers, saying that their revenue in recent years has been among the top in the league, but their salary expenses are at the bottom of the league, which is not right.

But he knew that it was impossible to make the Thunder owner bleed, so he found Harden the next day and firmly expressed his intention to split up.

Who knew that this little fat boy would actually run back to play hometown basketball with Zhang San, and even called DeRozan!
Now it has become the most difficult path for him to join the Warriors. If he fails to win the championship, he will become the biggest laughing stock in NBA history!

After the players from both teams entered the court, Zhang Yang, Harden and Curry stood together, looking at each other, with a sense of mutual respect.

Although they are rivals, Zhang Yang, Harden and Curry all highly recognize each other's strength. For the past four years, they have been recognized as each other's strongest opponents.

DeRozan pulled Zhang Yang and Harden away with a dark look on his face.

Ronaldinho: Flirting with other students from the 09 class? You think I'm not here, right?
Compared with others, Zhang Yang and Harden were not so serious and nervous.

Zhang Yang was excited about this opponent who looked too powerful and couldn't wait to face him head-on.

Erha: My third brother is invincible, and my eldest brother is here too. Is there any opponent we can’t defeat?
The stars of both teams had different thoughts and hurried to make pre-match preparations. Soon, the game was about to begin and the starting lineups of both teams came onto the court.

Warriors: Curry, Thompson, Durant, Draymond Green, Pachulia.

Lakers: Harden, DeRozan, Zhang Yang, Larry Nance, Tarik Blake.

At 8 o'clock in the evening, the referee blew the whistle and threw the ball into the air. Blake won the jump ball with his absolute speed advantage, and the Lakers attacked first!
Harden received the ball and pushed forward, and the Compton Big Three all focused their eyes on Curry who was standing at the top of the arc.

There is no need to test, whoever faces Curry will hold the ball and attack. Those who are good at one-on-ones will not face Curry, so they will use pick-and-roll and target players. This was the style of play first used by 'Zhang Yang' in the 15 Western Conference Finals.

Thompson, Durant (Barnes), and Iguodala on the bench are all good at one-on-one defense. They can interfere with shots from the outside and keep up with the pace of breakthroughs. With Green's help and backup defense, they do an excellent job of defending against offensive players with the ball.

Focusing on Curry is the most appropriate option.

However, the offensive players cannot choose who to defend, but it is decided by the defender.

But the rules have changed since the 14-15 season. The shooting cylinder rule has been changed, which not only reduces the standing center and the three-point defense, but also limits the space occupied when defending pick-and-rolls.

Like the defense that Zhang Yang and Felton used against Hinrich and Tyrus Thomas' pick-and-roll offense in the Eastern Conference Finals, if it were to happen now, the ball handler in the pick-and-roll would just have to dribble up and throw the ball out, which would result in a three-point foul. The only way to defend against the pick-and-roll is to switch defense.

Of course, for the current Lakers, there is no need to use pick-and-roll to call out players. Ronaldo, Erha and Zhang San are left to the elementary school students to choose.

Curry, who was stared at by the three brothers of the same class, felt a bit like he was in the wind. When asked to choose one from the three, he picked the shortest one.

Curry bravely moved towards Harden. Harden was much stronger than Curry, but he still easily completed the dribble between his legs despite Curry's resistance. He changed direction to the left to get half a body space, and directly crushed Curry and broke into the inside from the left side!

The Warriors' defense quickly rotated and blocked the defense, and the Lakers also began to cooperate as a team around Harden's breakthrough and Zhang Yang's movement.

DeRozan used Blake's screen to get to the most accurate 30-degree mid-range shot on the right side and pinned down Pachulia. Harden broke into the left elbow area and was double-teamed by Green. He passed the ball to Nance who cut in from the left baseline. Durant actively closed the basket and blocked the defense. Nance passed the ball again... a lob!
Zhang Yang rushed into the basket from the free throw line, jumped high, caught the ball in the air with his left hand, pulled it back as far as it could go, and swung his arm along with the momentum of his body falling...an alley-oop dunk!
The cheers of the fans at the scene were immediately ignited - Jack seemed particularly excited tonight?
The fans all felt it, and the players on the field could naturally see that Zhang Yang was particularly active tonight.

Of course, his teammates were greatly encouraged. This alley-oop was truly beautiful, with smooth and graceful movements.

The opponents were naturally not in such a good mood, and they had a strange feeling - this guy seemed to be enjoying the game?

Curry doesn't think there's anything wrong with this. He thinks that as the current No. 1 player, this is how he should behave when playing in a game.

Kobe and Duncan have retired, and Zhang Yang is already the best active player. Even if some media do not admit it and think that Zhang Yang does not have enough honors in the regular season, with only one scoring title and one MVP, Curry, as a player, firmly supports that Zhang Yang is the best player in the league and should be discussed together with Magic, Bird, God, OK, and Stone Buddha to be the king of the era in terms of historical status. On the one hand, this is his personal feeling, and on the other hand, if Zhang Yang is not the best active player, then what was the point of his efforts over the years?
Most of the Warriors players have similar ideas to Curry, except for one person...Shubao: Oh, no, it's the Western Conference Finals! The game that decides the championship, damn Jack, don't you have any pressure at all? Me! The elementary school student, Klay, and Draymond, we are four All-Stars! Two MVPs!

As for Zhang Yang, he was completely unaware of the feeling of "enjoying the game" emanating from him. He just wanted to play and win the game.

And in this shot, he can do an alley-oop layup deftly, but he just wants to show off that the 'he' here can jump better than he can!

Not only is he better than him, but he can also jump better than the 80-line 'him'.

In terms of physical fitness, the 80 line is actually the "weakest". Of course, he is one level stronger than he is now. He himself has not yet reached his strongest time. The "weak" here refers to the upper limit in some aspects.

Because many physical fitness talent points were obtained after the '92 Eastern Conference Finals', and at that time the 80 line had reached the peak of physical fitness. According to the description of the 'Gate of Experience', the relevant talent points obtained after the physical fitness reaches the peak will no longer raise the physical fitness, but can only slow down the speed of physical fitness decline.

In terms of jumping ability alone, he is almost as good as those in the 80th line, which is an excellent level. He can complete most of the aerial moves smoothly, but it can hardly be called powerful. But here he can reach that level!
When the Warriors attacked, Curry advanced to the frontcourt and passed the ball to Durant, then started running.

What a perfect teammate! He gave up the ball so easily. Zhang San couldn't do that. Although he was also willing to play without the ball, the main attacking right had to be in his hands... Zhang Yang sighed and focused his attention on defending Durant.

Durant was already used to his usual right hand being blocked, so he rushed to the left.

Durant accelerated directly and failed to get rid of Zhang Yang, who was one of the fastest forwards and guards. He came to the right position, his movements suddenly paused, and then he stood up again, throwing Zhang Yang to the right with his long legs... and was blocked by Nance Jr. in the elbow area!
Zhang Yang quickly chased after Durant from the middle of the left sideline of the three-second zone, and Durant quickly lifted the ball with his long arms and threw it toward the top arc. Green moved one step inside the top arc to receive the ball, and Zhang Yang took a look but did not make up for it, but retreated to the basket. Durant passed the ball and pressed to the bottom line, blocking Harden who was chasing Curry, but Curry cut into the three-second zone and met Zhang Yang!
Two of the Tsunami trio were blocked on the left side of the basket! But... there was still one!
Green seized the opportunity to throw the ball to the right sideline. Thompson circled the baseline, ran to the right sideline to receive the ball, turned around and shot a three-pointer towards Blake...

Blake definitely followed the switch this time, but Thompson received the ball, turned around and shot too quickly, and the ball had already flown over his head by the time Blake got in position to block it!

hit!

Zhang Yang smacked his lips. It was really accurate, but that was secondary. The main reason why he could shoot so accurately was his off-ball running ability, which was second to none in the league.

According to Kobe's analysis two days ago, Thompson's positioning, physical fitness, basketball IQ, and skills are all indispensable.

Thompson's speed is not actually that fast, Blake can keep up with him in short distances, but he is definitely not slow either. Because he does not hold the ball, he can start with a better body posture when changing direction with the help of a screen, and he has received special training from relay race training experts, so his speed is sufficient in the smaller range of the court.

The final sudden stop and turn to shoot requires strong leg strength to brake, as well as strong waist and abdominal core strength to maintain movement stability. Every shot is like cutting out and pasting the scene of the previous shot.

It's extremely stable, very impressive, but a bit tiring on the legs.

In addition to basketball IQ, Thompson must accurately control his position, grasp the opportunity to use the screen, maintain connection with teammates in tactical coordination, and maintain connection with teammates who assist...

Let the old blacksmith figure it out. It would be best if he could take it apart to help Zhang San improve his off-ball skills, but it won't be a loss if he can't. I heard that it was Little Buss who paid for the overtime.

This defense was generally successful. It forced Thompson, who served as a containment and receiving point in regular time, to actively look for shooting opportunities. Even if the opponent made the shot, there was nothing they could do.

Zhang Yang had to admit that Kobe's brain in basketball was really amazing. Durant's step-over and change of direction during the breakthrough was impossible to defend. It was absolutely impossible to defend. It was useless for the defender to keep up with the speed and retreat actively. The opponent was taller than most centers and had a super strong emergency stop braking ability. He just jumped up and threw it away. He stuck to him and was passed by the long legs in one step.

But Kobe thought of a way to counter it - blocking the middle!

This is probably one of the only two flaws in Durant's breakthrough during his prime.

After Durant breaks into both sides of the three-second zone, there is an 80% chance that he will choose to step to the middle, then grab the ball and go straight to the basket to cause damage. This is determined by his advantages in height and wingspan, and his success rate is extremely high.

The success rate of going down the line is much lower. At this time, the outstanding height and arm span will become a drag. Of course, the success rate is relative. However, if the speed is fast enough and you don't care about the direction Durant changes direction, you can directly use the speed to occupy the space for Durant to go to the middle in advance, which will create better conditions for double-teaming.

Zhang Yang felt that Kobe was extremely powerful because he could find a few flaws in Durant's almost unstoppable offense when he was at full strength.

Another flaw that Durant broke through is that he is prone to turnovers. When he was with the Thunder, he averaged 3.5+ turnovers per game. In the first five years of his career, he had more turnovers than assists. At his best, his assist-to-turnover ratio was about 5 to 1.5.

However, this problem has been greatly avoided under the Warriors' system. If Durant cannot break through, he can directly pass the ball to Green, who always distributes the cards in a high position.

In the offense-defense transition, Harden continued to attack Curry.

Zhang Yang cooperated and went around to the free throw line. This time Green blocked him directly. Zhang Yang received the pass from Harden and went to the right baseline. Blake received the ball and took a step forward to dunk... but was blocked by Durant who was actively shrinking!
Blake forced Durant to make a jump shot...the shot bounced on the rim and fell into the basket.

Harden gritted his teeth as he watched the scene: Durant’s defense wasn’t so aggressive back then.

When retreating, Zhang Yang and Harden both praised Blake for his beautiful play.

At that time, Blake had to force it. It didn't matter whether the ball went in or not. He could even throw the ball out of bounds with a pull-up shot, but he couldn't make a mistake by passing the ball blindly and cause a counterattack.

When Durant just made up for the situation, the Splash Brothers had already rushed forward.

At this time, Blake must be encouraged to play firmly next time. We cannot ask a pure defensive role player to be perfect, but only to pass.

When the Warriors attacked, with the experience of successfully blocking Durant in the previous round, Zhang Yang was more determined this time and was ready to implement the strategy of restricting Durant that he had discussed with Kobe.

But an unexpected situation occurred. After being blocked in the first round, Durant did not continue to attack with the ball in the second round, but moved to the weak side!

Curry, Green and Thompson play as a three-man team on the right!

Curry used the screen to pass the ball to Green who was on the right sideline. Green passed the ball back to the top of the arc, and Thompson received the ball but was blocked by Nance who switched defense.

Thompson did not throw the ball against the defense, but instead pushed the ball out from Nance's waist.

After Curry passed the ball, he slipped along the baseline and ran to the left sideline, pushing the defense to the lower limit. The free throw line was empty. Durant squeezed Zhang Yang to the front of the basket to receive the ball, and then he raised his hand high and threw the ball into the basket!
Zhang San: This... is the fully-equipped version of Harris Barnes?
This is such a decisive giving up!

Yes, in the Warriors, unless it is a crucial ball, there is no need for Durant to attack and open up the situation like he did in the Thunder team with only two young players!

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Today I traveled a long way back to Chengdu, and wrote a chapter as soon as I got home. It's a little short, so please bear with me, my friends. I will be back to work soon, and I wish you all good work and prosperous business in the new year!
(End of this chapter)