Chapter 126: The Battle for the Top of the List (3)
The Warriors' five-man lineup of the dead is certainly shocking, but this style of play that infinitely increases the speed and offensive firepower of players at the expense of the interior is also a double-edged sword, and once it encounters a team with a strong interior lineup, it will become overstretched in terms of protecting rebounds. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ļ½ļ½ļ½Uļ½Eć ļ½ļ½ļ½ļ½
The most obvious example is the Western Conference Finals and Finals last season, Ibaka and Adams sat on the Thunder's interior line, once dragging the Warriors into a desperate situation, and in the Finals, with Bogut's injury and retirement, the Warriors' interior defense has completely become a paper barrier, and it is completely vulnerable in the face of James and Irving's sharp breakthroughs.
Therefore, if the Knicks want to win, they must rely on the strong play of the inside line, Noah was trained by Thibodeau, and he has been through a hundred battles, and he is not afraid of fighting tough battles at all, which Wang Zhuo is not worried about.
Porzingis, another major pillar of the Knicks, has an obvious advantage, with long height and long arms, standing on the inside can be said to be a pillar of optimism, coupled with Porzingis's rapid progress, and his steps and skills under the basket are getting better and better, Wang Zhuo believes that Porzingis can take on the big responsibility.
The Warriors served in the backcourt, Curry received the ball and wanted to launch a fast attack, but the Knicks suddenly pressed the whole court and stifled the Warriors' fast break opportunities, Curry had to slow down, stabilize the rhythm, and carry Grant to the frontcourt.
In the Warriors' away locker room before the game, Wang Zhuo repeatedly emphasized not to fall into the rhythm of the Warriors, no matter how to curb the Warriors' fast attack, everyone knows that once the Warriors run up and shoot three-point shots, even if they are Da Luo Immortals, they may not be able to return to the sky, so Wang Zhuo told the players to press the whole court from time to time, scare Curry, and disgusting Steve Cole by the way.
At the beginning of the game, Curry played tactics seriously and patiently, and did not try to force a three-point shot, Green once again mentioned the high post to block Curry, Curry borrowed the block, went around Green's side, and burst into the restricted area.
Curry figured out the Knicks' defensive strategy in the first offense, and broke through to threaten the Knicks without allowing outside shots.
Anthony is very good at helping to defend, and at the moment when Green receives the ball, he moves quickly, which can make Grant feel at ease and boldly follow Curry and eliminate Curry's three-point threat in the bottom corner.
Green's overall view is very good, seeing Anthony move over, he pushed it with his hand, and the ball came to Durant's hands, Durant took a step with the ball, but found that Porzingis blocked the breakthrough route, but the superstar is a superstar after all, Durant is not flustered, stops and retreats, and shoots backwards, and the action is very coherent, in one go, without the slightest drag.
Durant is tall and has long arms, a high shooting point, and it is a shot with a tilted body, which is very difficult to block, which is also one of Durant's tricks in the league.
Porzingis tried his best to block, but unfortunately the whip was out of reach, the ball arced, and fell steadily into the hoop, after the goal, Durant raised his index finger and pointed to the sky with one finger, which was Durant's signature action after the goal.
Although the Warriors' offense was not blocked, Kerr stood on the sidelines without a trace of relief on his face, because the Warriors' rhythm was not opened, and the established tactics were not played, relying only on the feel and the individual ability of the star.
The Knicks attacked, Grant passed the ball out in the half, Anthony received the ball, Porzingis blocked, Anthony broke through the ball, Rose received the ball on the left side, and Thompson followed.
Rose didn't have a good offensive opportunity, tentative step, still didn't get rid of Thompson, at this time, Porzingis suddenly cut into the basket without the ball, Rose was quick, threw the ball to the basket, Porzingis jumped up, holding the basketball in the air and dunking into the basket.
The score was 4-5, the Knicks were one point behind, Curry tried to force a three-point shot in the next round of offense, the ball hit the iron and popped up, Porzingis grabbed the rebound, but the Knicks' offense did not work, Anthony borrowed the block and dismantled, and the lateral jump shot was missed, Pachulia pinned down Noah, and Green picked up the rebound.
The two sides went back and forth, and there were goals all the time, but they couldn't close the gap, and when it came to 6 minutes in the first quarter, the score of the two sides was 12-14, and the Warriors led by two points, but Kerr couldn't help but call a timeout.
After the timeout, Kerr replaced Pachuria, replaced Iguodala, and sacrificed the lineup of the five small deaths in advance, because Kerr was very dissatisfied with the Warriors' offense, and he couldn't play fast, and he was dragged by the Knicks to play positional offense, so Kerr wanted to rush first and increase the speed of the Warriors.
Wang Zhuo's prediction ability is very accurate, knowing that Kerr wants to speed up, he also made appropriate substitutions, replacing Noah with O'Quinn, O'Quinn's ability to protect the basket is not as good as Noah, but the defensive area is wider than Noah, and the speed is faster, and the pace is more flexible, which is very suitable for defending fast offense.
After the pause, the Warriors attacked, the Knicks unexpectedly pressed all over the court, Curry shook his head, spit out the braces and swallowed them again, his expression was full of disgust with the full-court pressing, if it was replaced by a hot-tempered player, I am afraid it would have begun to rush trash talk.
Curry was a little tempered by Grant's defense, and the results of a few attempts to shoot were not good, and Kerr kept emphasizing the need to move the ball together, pass the ball more, and run more, so Curry advanced to the front court and began to direct the run.
After the Warriors' height was further reduced, Green was promoted to the No. 5 position, and the burden of blocking the high post fell on Durant's shoulders, but Green's overall view and passing ability were revealed, which is the Warriors' usual tactical strategy.
When Kerr thought Green would tear apart the Knicks' positional defense with passes, it was found that the Knicks made a tactical switch, with O'Quinn defending Green instead of Porzingis, while Porzingis focused on defending and grabbing rebounds.
Wang Zhuo knows Iguodala's playing style, strong defensive ability, sharp breakthroughs, a big heart, and good response and passing skills, the only drawback is that the shooting is unstable, so Wang Zhuo's tactical strategy seems to be deliberately emptying Iguodala.
Curry commanded at the top of the circle, Thompson and Iguodala lifted from the free throw line to the 45-degree three-point line on both sides, forming a double cover, Green took advantage of the situation from the bottom left corner, bypassed Thompson and ran to the top of the circle, Curry dribbled and rushed, and after being blocked, the ball was distributed to Green at the top of the circle, who knew that Green just received the ball, O'Quinn followed him and appeared in front of him.
Curry moved to the bottom left corner, Grant chased after him like a maggot on a tarsal bone, and when Curry was both uncomfortable and disgusted, Green looked around, only Iguodala was let go, hesitated for a moment, and finally passed the ball over.
Iguodala received the ball and observed the situation on the court, O'Quinn stood near the free throw line, once he broke through, the opponent would definitely come over without hesitation to make up for the defense, and Porzingis guarded the basket, forming a second barrier, almost cutting off the line of breakthrough, and the jump shot, five people within one meter in front of him interfered.
After thinking about it, Iguodala decided to jump for three points, only to see Iguodala adjust slightly, pull onions on dry ground, shake his wrist, and pluck the ball, but the angle of the shot was a little incorrect, causing the ball to deviate from the correct track.
Wang Zhuo stood on the field and broke out in a cold sweat, fortunately, the bet was right, in this game, Iguodala's hand felt like a basin of water in the winter, cold and cold.