Chapter 508: The Strongest Battle in the West
In fact, this game was played, the worst thing was Warcraft, at the beginning, the team wanted to run tactics and make the tactics run more smoothly, so he was directly replaced, and then the team was unable to play the effect, and was beaten too hard by the opponent, so he gave up the game directly, although Warcraft didn't say anything, but he actually wanted to prove himself when facing the Lakers, and only got a total of 10 minutes of playing time, although there were 9 points, But it's still far from what he had in mind about the Lakers in the first place.
At the end of the game, the Lakers finally played soy sauce players in the third and fourth quarters, so the difference between the two teams was finally fixed at 24 points. With two consecutive victories, the Lakers are also a little complacent, but Ye Xuan doesn't dare to have this thought, after all, his next opponent will be the incomparably powerful Warriors, if he wants to face them head-on, then the Lakers' chances of winning may still be relatively small, it depends on what targeted play the Lakers can come up with.
If you want to sum up last season's Warriors in three words, it can only be - strong and invincible. With 114.5 points per 100 possessions, first in the league, 103.8 points per 100 possessions, fifth in the league, and 99.3 points per game, the second fastest in the league - with such a fast pace of play, there is no other player in the league but the Warriors. In addition, the Warriors ranked first in the league in 9 data such as number of shots, shooting percentage, three-point shots, three-point shots, three-point shooting percentage, two-point shooting percentage, defensive rebounds, and assists. Plus, they rank 4th in the league in total rebounds, 9th in steals and 2nd in blocks.
The Warriors had few weaknesses last season other than not shooting many free throws (23rd in the league in free throws per game, 22nd in the league in free throws made and 16th in shooting percentage), but the weak free throws are understandable - the Warriors mainly rely on shooting from the outside, and the free throw shooting is very low; The inner line is very strong, which leads to their low quality. If the Warriors are even strong at free throws, then it really doesn't make sense.
But even though they are as strong as 73 wins and unanimous MVP, the team is still pursuing to build a dream battleship, so there is a situation where Bogut is sent away half-sold and half-sent, Azeri and Speights are abandoned, and Barnes has no chance to renew his contract. The Warriors' offseason operations are complicated, but they are not difficult to say — because the focus is on Durant. In order to bring in Durant, the Warriors let go of Barnes, Boggart, Festus Ezeli, Barbossa, Speights, this operation almost hollowed out the team's frontcourt, but fortunately, with a strong roster, they brought in two inexpensive Pachulia and David West, two veterans who are bent on chasing championship rings.
To put it simply, it can be calculated: the loss of Boggart, Azeli, the gain of Pachuria, West, which is generally balanced, with a slight loss; Losing Barnes, Barbosa, getting Durant, that's undoubtedly enhanced; Overall, it is still enhanced. But on the other hand, the accounts can't be counted like this. The Warriors, who had a 73-9 record in the regular season last season, became the target of public criticism in their own right, and were overturned by the Cavaliers in the finals after falling behind 1-3, and went from being feared to being despised in an instant. The offseason opened the two MVP pinnacle huddles, which made other teams linger. What kind of treatment will the Warriors get in the new season? Will it be deliberately targeted by other teams? Become a real "enemy of the whole world"? It's not necessarily a bad thing, but it's not necessarily a good thing either.
Last season, the Warriors had a very perverted record, setting the best record in NBA history in the regular season, reaching an ungodly 73-9, but the Finals were overturned with a 3-1 lead and fell from the clouds into the quagmire. But it also reminds the Warriors that no matter how well they play in the regular season, it doesn't mean they can play well in the playoffs. This may mean that the Warriors will not deliberately pursue the regular season record in the new season, but work hard to grind the team and accumulate strength for the playoffs.
But not deliberately pursuing a record does not mean that the Warriors' record will be bad. The Warriors, who have the league's strongest backcourt combination, one of the strongest small forwards, and one of the best four positions, are unlikely to have a bad record unless they suffer a massive injury. In fact, the addition of Durant can be considered the best option for the Warriors, if not one. Not only is Durant a strong individual, but he is one of the few players in the league who has strong individual ability and is very selfless at the same time. Durant can play very efficiently and effectively next to Westbrook without affecting Willbrook's play, and that's the ability — probably no one else in the league can do that except Durant. It is conceivable that since Durant can adapt to Wei Shao, it is not a problem to adapt to the Splash Brothers.
If Durant and the Splash Brothers blend perfectly, and Green doesn't need much of the ball himself, then the Warriors are likely to continue to play the best in the league — and while it's probably not 73 wins, it shouldn't be a big deal to get 60+ wins. We often use the phrase "injuries are the only thing that stands in their way" to describe a team's terrible condition, but this time it may have been. The Warriors are arguably the most dominant team since the 2000 OK-led Lakers, at least on paper.
However, the strong strength also makes the opponents they face more crazy, in the first 5 games, the Warriors won four and lost one, and the record was inferior to the Lakers, but the reason why they lost that game was not without reason, they lost the game, they lost the game, it was lost to the Pelicans, the Pelicans are also an old opponent for the Warriors, the Pelicans who played the role of Brother Thick Mei and Anthony have carried out another wave of reinforcements this summer, so the combat effectiveness is also very amazing, but the Warriors are really going to let go, It doesn't have to be a loss to the Pelicans.
Before this game with the Pelicans, the Warriors had just finished a back-to-back, facing the Hawks and the Heat in a row, both teams were like playing chicken blood, playing extremely fiercely, which also made the Warriors consume a lot of physical strength to complete the back-to-back two consecutive wins, but after a day of rest, they had to welcome the Pelicans, and I don't know if the game was not enough to rest so the Warriors were inaccurate or what the reason was, in short, the shooting percentage of the Warriors in the first two quarters of the game was miserable, Curry's three-point 7-of-1 plus Tangshen's 6-of-1 three-pointer directly made the Warriors lose their combat effectiveness, and the difference was once expanded to 20 points, although the Warriors fought back in the third quarter, but the Pelicans were not the kind of fish belly team, and in the end, the Warriors could only lose to the Pelicans 103:91 on the road by 12 points, and the 91-point score was also the lowest score since the Warriors started this season, of course, the Warriors last season basically did not score such a low score.
The game between the Lakers and the Warriors also attracted a lot of attention from the audience, if you talk about the current few giant teams, then the Warriors, Cavaliers and Lakers are definitely among the best, and this kind of Finals-level competition will naturally attract a lot of media, so this game has been brewing in the media for several days.
Time flies quickly, and the Lakers haven't had much tactical drills on their side, and the game is about to start. At the beginning of the game, Gasol pressed Pachulia to distribute the ball to Ye Xuan, and Thompson, who was responsible for defending Ye Xuan, immediately pounced to stop Ye Xuan, who was about to sneak attack, and Ye Xuan had no choice but to control the ball across the half court, and then began to prepare to organize an attack. In fact, the Lakers do not have any advantage in the face of the Warriors, after all, there are four All-Star level players in their prime, and Wade and Gasol on the Lakers' side are already veterans who have passed their prime, and the most important thing is that the Lakers do not have a point that can contain Durant in a fundamental sense, so Wharton Jr. even began to consider whether to use Clarkson or Solomon Hill to defend Durant, or simply let Ye Xuan defend Durant in the wrong position.
But fortunately, although the Lakers don't have much to do with the Warriors on the defensive end, they also play relatively well on the offensive end, and they can use Ye Xuan's personal ability to cause trouble to the opponent, and if Ye Xuan is not in Curry's position, then you can also let Wade hold the ball and play Curry alone, after all, Curry's defense at this point has always been a problem for the Warriors, and when other teams want to play Curry's point, it is basically the Warriors' side to change the defense and clamp and the like. But when facing the Lakers, the process of changing their defense is likely to give the Lakers a three-point opportunity, so they also need to be cautious.
Ye Xuan's side is this plan, after controlling the ball to the front court, he passed the ball to Wade, Wade held the ball and singled Curry directly, Green on the side immediately came over to make up for the defense, Wade did not force a breakthrough, but passed the ball back to Ye Xuan, Ye Xuan received the ball and used the feint of the three-threat posture to shake off Thompson, and immediately went to the inside line, Zaza-Pachulia and Green also rushed to this side, but Ye Xuan was not the stunned green back then, and gently threw the ball and sent the ball to the basket. And after the switch, Randle, who was defended by Curry, lightly clicked the ball into the basket.
The Warriors serve in the backcourt, their offensive means have actually been simplified, directly hand the ball to Durant single, Durant easily singled Solomon Hill with the ball, after shooting the ball, Durant still seems to be at ease, Solomon Hill's height is still too difficult in the face of a player of Durant's height.
Looking back, Ye Xuan also turned on his unreasonable mode, facing Thompson's defense, he directly used Rose's non-deceleration and change direction that he had not used before, when he first drew this talent skill, Ye Xuan was not going to use it, after all, this action is too damaging to the knee, but in the face of such a strong enemy, it is the king to be able to get rid of the entanglement as soon as possible and score the ball, so I can't take care of these anymore.
I have to say that Rose's skill is indeed very powerful, after easily passing Thompson, Ye Xuan entered the opponent's penalty area, in the face of Green's supplementary defense, Ye Xuan tossed and moved in the air, and then hit the ball with a lever, the audience at the scene saw such a wonderful goal, even if it was away, it still gave Ye Xuan a lot of applause, of course, this can only be seen in the regular season, if the two teams meet in the playoffs, then what awaits Ye Xuan will only be boos.
After Ye Xuan hit the ball, Steve Kerr was obviously a little dissatisfied with Thompson's defense, and stood on the sidelines and yelled twice. Tang Shen also knew that his performance in defense was not very good, so he ran to the front court with his head down. The Warriors' offense is still the same, and this time Ye Xuan also knew that Solomon Hill had nothing to do with Durant, so when Durant held the ball again and was ready to play alone, Ye Xuan stood in front of him.
Durant didn't take this change to heart, after all, Durant is also an invincible player all over the world, and there are many scoring champions in the NBA league, so he is naturally very confident, but he didn't expect that after integrating Payton's defensive talent, Ye Xuan's defense has been strengthened to a certain extent, Durant's offense actually failed to find space to shoot, and in the end he could only forcibly pull it up, and was almost covered by Ye Xuan, and finally the basketball ended in iron, and Gasol accepted the rebound, Then quickly passed the ball to Wade.
Wade immediately began to move forward after receiving the ball, Ye Xuan's side immediately began to rush to the front court after defending the ball, although there was a Curry staring at him in front of him, but obviously if he was allowed to catch the ball, Ye Xuan would definitely not miss this frontcourt, Wade also knew Ye Xuan's ability, and directly made a super long ground pass, sending the ball from Green and Thompson to Ye Xuan's hands, Ye Xuan didn't brake here, he was going straight to the basket, Curry still had a trace of fantasy, was about to make an offensive foul, but Ye Xuan's reaction was not bad, the moment Curry stood still, Ye Xuan came to a ball to pass, and he also used a turn to avoid Curry's foul, and then turned back to catch up with the basketball passing from the other side, and ended the offense with a 180-degree back dunk.
All the actions were done in one go, from the ball out of his hand to Ye Xuan's re-grasping of the basketball, the audience at the scene was dumbfounded, and Ye Xuan's final dunk was obviously quite good, so many Chinese viewers at the scene also applauded Ye Xuan warmly, no way, there are so many Chinese here in San Francisco, so Ye Xuan will not have too much pressure every time he comes here.