Chapter 359: I don't care about the away
In the second half of February, the Warriors were all on the road, but the players didn't care.
This season's record has made them so confident that they don't care if they are away or not.
That's certainly not a bad thing, but the team is also worried that the players will be happy and sad if they are too excited.
With such a strong squad, it is certainly necessary to be prepared for injuries.
Not being the main player is also one of the principles of the team's rotation, but the team will certainly not go after the record because of the risk, and they are not stupid.
On February 24, the Warriors played the Heat away.
The Heat's lineup this year is actually good, and the record is the same, they finally came out of the shadow of James' departure, but Bosh was injured again some time ago, which caused problems with the thickness of the lineup.
In fact, the Heat's strength growth is mainly because of Whiteside, but now the Heat does not seem to have found a plan to bring out all of Whiteside's strength.
To put it bluntly, it is to play the small ball that the Heat is good at when they win the championship or change the tactics, and when Bosh was there, the team still started with a big four small lineup after running in.
It also involves the problem of ball possession and team status, when they introduced Whiteside, they just wanted an inside substitute, but they didn't expect to pick up a big fish, and after this season, they will face the problem of renewing the contract of the big fish, and they will not just want to be coolies if they have the strength of the big fish.
Between teams and players, the needs are often different, which is why Zhang Xiaotian wandered in several cities.
So during this time, Whiteside was playing as a substitute, even after Bosh was injured.
It is estimated that the Heat want to suppress this buddy's temperament, after all, the current Stoudemire is also a pseudo starter, and it is really rare to use a pseudo starter in the fifth position.
This pseudo-starter only played half a quarter, and the little bully of the year has been defeated by injuries and age, and his speed in front of the Warriors is not enough, and the offensive and defensive ends can only be cumbersome.
After moving on Whiteside, the Heat's interior line clearly has an advantage.
However, it doesn't matter if the Warriors are underdogs inside, they have adapted, and their backcourt trio, Curry, Klay Thompson and Zhang Xiaotian, can completely suppress Dragic, Wade and Winslow.
But in the first half, the Warriors trailed by four points.
The starter was Wade who started to explode directly after he came on the court, followed by Whiteside who dominated both offensive and defensive ends after he came on the court, and yes, the offensive end was also dominated.
He played off the bench just in the period when the Warriors played a small lineup, as long as he handed the ball in, this guy could rely on his physical talent to complete the offense, although they all belong to the type of defense strong and weak offense, but in fact, Whiteside shot a lot better than Jordan Jr.
The Warriors hurriedly adjusted to let Bogut play more, but the Australians couldn't win against young people, especially this kind of guy who was like Zhang Xiaotian, who suddenly opened up.
At halftime, the Warriors unified their thinking, appropriately contracted the defense and paid more attention to the interior, preferring to let the Heat shoot outside the three-point line, and the current Heat three-point shooting is not a strong point.
As for Wade's side, what made him break out was that Wade was 34 years old and still had a knee injury, so he couldn't break out all the time, as long as he was consumed normally.
In the third quarter, the Warriors strengthened their defense, and the offense was based on Curry's point.
Dragic's defense isn't bad, it's just a little bit away from limiting Curry.
This league can limit Curry's people, just like the players who can defend James alone, and no one has enough confidence to guarantee it.
The Warriors don't have a strong offensive power inside, and the opponent can choose to pinch the shot, but when they are caught outside the three-point line, four people enter the All-Star team, and the others are not dead.
So even if the Warriors only shoot from the outside, the defense of the other teams will be a headache.
What's more, Zhang Xiaotian can play inside, Curry can also break through, and the team's ubiquitous inside cut, the Warriors are not strong inside, but everyone can score inside.
Running back, cutting inside, and going to the basket when the ball arrives, it's not much different from training.
The Heat did not pretend in the second half and directly let Whiteside start, but after the Warriors contracted their defense, Whiteside's autonomous offensive power did not reach a certain level of interior, and it was difficult to do whatever he wanted.
Their choice is to replace some shooters, small and big ones, the Warriors will definitely have a chance to shrink the defensive perimeter, and whether they can score depends on the team's tactical level and whether the players are competitive.
The Heat's bench was a bit of a struggle, with Josh Richardson and McRoberts both hitting three-pointers, and the Warriors rallying the lead and then flipping each other over in the rotation.
At the beginning of the fourth quarter, the Heat put Lore Deng in the No. 3 position to defend Zhang Xiaotian, and Zhang Xiaotian was also treated as a rotational attrition, before Winslow.
Offensively, Dragic is in charge, and although Wade is very active in this game, he can't play that long, and he needs enough time to rest to be effective.
Luol Deng is only 31 years old, but he is no longer at his peak, if he can barely compete before Zhang Xiaotian's skills are opened, Zhang Xiaotian in the last quarter can already blow him up.
The two singles with the ball were one step without explanation, and the third time Lore Deng left a distance, and Zhang Xiaotian immediately hit a three-point shot.
After turning the score around in two minutes and giving the team a four-point lead in four minutes, the Heat rushed to a timeout.
Spoelstra also saw that in order to guard against this former disciple, he had to be a single defensive warrior, and in addition, Whiteside's assistant defensive interior line had to be watched from behind at any time.
There is nothing to say, the Heat immediately changed back to the main force, and Zhang Xiaotian is still a young Winslow to post.
As the No. 10 pick this year, Winslow is a very useful player.
But in the last quarter, Zhang Xiaotian played with the ball, not only an individual offense, but also a split ball, after Curry and Klay Thompson came up, there was no team that could limit the Warriors' attack.
After Wade came up, he desperately hit the inside line to make a foul, and the score looked hard.
On the Warriors' side, Curry scored three points, Curry scored three points, Curry finished Klay Thompson with three points, and Zhang Xiaotian occasionally came to such a cold arrow.
Bogut was beaten down by Wade, it doesn't matter, Draymond Green is on top, this thing can do any job anyway, he is not needed for offense at this time, it is just right to do dirty work.
If you can't stand it, it doesn't matter, let Whiteside play a few.
Wade scored one point, Whiteside scored two points, did he win three points.
That's what the Warriors hate, for them, the closer they are to the basket, the higher the shooting percentage, and if they don't exist, they can easily explode to you.
In the final moment, the desperate Heat still scored three points, but then the Warriors also hit.
When the game entered the last minute, Curry's two three-pointers directly extinguished the Heat's hopes, and then Zhang Xiaotian's three-pointer made the Heat completely desperate.
The Heat soldiers just want to ask, aren't you afraid that no one will play with you if you hang like this?