The Warriors meet the Columbus Explorers in the finals.

This is the first time in a year that the Warriors have met the Columbus Explorers, and it is also the first time that LeBron James has met Levan in a year.

Only this time, it was on the stage of the finals!

There are too many elements, so on the night that the Golden State Warriors confirmed their entry to the Finals, the whole hot atmosphere was already stirred.

In addition to LeBron James saying "I feel like we've adjusted to the best", Steve Kerr also said when asked about the championship against Lewan and the Columbus Explorers again: "Before the 10s, the symbol of this league was definitely Michael Jordan, and after the 10s, the symbol of this era became the ...... of Lewan."

Li Wan has entered the finals 7 times in his career, and has won all 7 championships, and ...... at the same time In his career in the finals, he has never played "tie-break"!

Meets all the criteria of Michael Jordan.

He also completed a similar condition one more time.

Even if Michael Jordan is Steve Kerr's old teammate, he should know Michael Jordan better than others, and he also believes that Li Wan's achievements have gradually surpassed Jordan, at least, after 10 years, Jordan is no longer the only choice to represent this league symbol!

"It's definitely going to be a very tough thing to beat, so we have to make it our biggest challenge, it's something we have to realize! This is not an easy series! ”

Steve Kerr has been the "King B" image since he became the head coach of the Warriors and tweaked the "Death Five", and there are few times when he is so cautious.

But when facing Li Wan and the Columbus Explorers, he showed a cautious side......

Not only him, Stephen Curry was also very cautious when talking about his second encounter with Li Wan in the Finals in an interview: "He's a seven-time champion, two of the best players in the history of this league, he has the same Michael Jordan dominance, and it's going to be tough to beat him, so we have to have a similar determination, it's going to be a tough battle!" ”

They reacted similarly one after another, and LeBron James was stunned......

No......

You ......

What about playing with me, right?

I said there that we were adjusted to the best state, you guys are good, put aside this to say that it is a difficult thing to beat Li Wan, can I not know that it is difficult?

But let's ......

Can you be a little more consistent?

His worries were not unreasonable, no, the next day after the media published their statements, he was directly ridiculed by the group:

"The person who was beaten 28-0 by Li Wan is the most confident, what is this Mark Twain?"

"Seriously, I really feel that LeBron James's self-confidence is like the sun, it will never be extinguished, where did he get so much self-confidence?"

"It's also a classic, pre-game rhetoric, post-game nonsense, this is not the first time, I believe, definitely not the last!"

……

LeBron James used his personal experience to verify to everyone what it means to "have a bad record and have no right to speak"!

With his record against Li Wan in the Eastern Conference playoffs coming to 0-28, any words he says when facing Li Wan are easy to be taken as a joke.

In fact, his words are normal when viewed individually, but they think that their current state is very good, but because they are facing Li Wan, his words have become a joke.

At the same time, the Columbus Explorers also arrived in San Francisco to prepare for the upcoming Grand Final!

Golden State fans were thrilled, and frantic expletives could be heard as the Columbus Explorers bus passed by on the road.

I don't blame them for being so crazy......

With LeBron James' contract expiring this summer and Klay Thompson's second contract ending his third year, Thompson has a player option on his hand that he can choose to jump out of his contract or continue to fulfill his contract.

In other words, this summer is very likely to be the last year that this "five-star warriors" get together, and if they can win the championship this time, then everything is good, it is time to sign and sign, it is time to give big contracts to big contracts, and everyone will continue to fight together.

But if you can't win the championship......

Then LeBron James will definitely have to go, and it remains to be seen whether this team will continue to undergo major changes.

In such a situation, you say that as Golden State Warriors fans, they are not going to be a little more restless than usual.

Before the game, Li Wan also mentioned this in an interview: "This will be their most explosive year, and it is certain that this will be a difficult series!" ”

When Li Wan also described this round of the series as a "difficult series", the outside world was looking forward to this round of the finals even more.

After all, Li Wan has 7 crowns in hand, what kind of situation can make him feel difficult?

Hearing Li Wan's words, Steve Cole was not happy, but frowned even more.

Li Wan's attitude shows that all members of the Columbus Explorers attach great importance to this game, and there is no possibility of them "sneaking up".

Moreover, Li Wan took such a serious attitude......

This sentence alone was enough to make their opponents feel numb in their scalps.

He really wanted to rush to Li Wan immediately, crying and saying: "Brother, it's really not to this extent, it's not necessary, brother, we are not as powerful as you think!" ”

The outside world predicts this round of the series, not to mention, whether it is the Finals or the Golden State Warriors, and the media is quite divided when predicting.

There are a lot of media outlets that are optimistic about the Warriors, and of course, more are optimistic about the Columbus Explorers.

The reason is still that reason......

Except for Li Wan, the overall state of the Columbus Explorers is somewhat unstable, and this problem has not become a big problem when facing other teams, and now facing the Warriors, it is difficult to guarantee that it will not become a breakthrough.

However, whether the media is optimistic about Columbus or the Golden State Warriors, there is one thing they are very adamant:

The score of this series will be scorching, at least until Game 5.

There will definitely be no sweep!

It is even very likely that in this round of the series, there will be the first finals "tie-break" battle in Li Wan's career!

"Whether you admit it or not, this season's Li Wan, the helpers around him are the ones with the lowest average ability in his entire career!" Here's an ESPN column where Tyronn Lue bought the newspaper and "accidentally" put it where Carmelo Anthony could see it.

And when Anthony frowned at this report, he hurriedly said: "Hey, man, don't take it too seriously, it's not a big deal, what do these media know?" They're just making up there to make traffic, you know, if they don't, their stories won't cause any discussion! ”

Anthony gave him a deep look and walked away without saying a word.

Looking at his back as he left, Tyronn Lue also showed a smile of "plan succeeded".

On June 2nd, in the continuous reports from the outside world, the finals day of the NBA 17~18 season also officially arrived.

The first game was played on the home court of the Golden State Warriors.

This year the Warriors moved to a new home court: Chase Center!

In the new stadium, the enthusiasm of Golden State fans is also even higher.

Boos filled the ears of all the Columbus Explorers players.

Carmelo Anthony looked at the whole person, very serious.

Li Wan also noticed this, but he didn't say anything.

He believes Carmelo Anthony's career experience can face any situation and at the moment he's so serious for only one reason and he wants to keep that attitude going into tonight's game.

Everyone in the Warriors team entered, and the whole momentum was very strong, especially after seeing Li Wan, their eyes were full of desire to fight.

They are eager to defeat Li Wan!

became the first team in this era to give Li Wan his first defeat.

This will definitely have an impact on Li Wan, you must know that at this moment he has just "become a god", and he is also slightly better than Michael Jordan in terms of honor. But if he loses this series, then his previous advantage over Michael Jordan will be gone, and the media's public opinion on him will become "the closest person to Michael Jordan", and the reason is very simple, it is because Li Wan lost in the finals!

After all, he only got seven championship rings, and he hasn't completed his second "triple crown" yet......

Even if he has a "quadruple championship", the media in the United States will recognize Michael Jordan's achievements even more.

One of the key factors is Li Wan's age, he is only 29 years old...... This is the peak of a player, and at this stage of the GOAT, you must not fall in the finals!

There are no shortcuts in basketball, and neither are the GOATs!

The big screen on the scene quickly gave the starting lineups on both sides:

"Columbus Explorers: No. 1 Levan, No. 2 Wiggins, No. 3 Carmelo Anthony, No. 4 Sabonis Jr., No. 5 Adams;

Warriors: No. 1 Stephen Curry, No. 2 Klay Thompson, No. 3 LeBron James, No. 4 Green, No. 5 Pachuria; ”

When the game officially started, the big screen on the scene gave close-ups of Stephen Curry, Levan Wan, Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James in turn.

This "lens language" corresponds to the gimmick of the media before the game:

"Plan B" civil war, Stephen Curry VS Leewan, and the "03 Golden Generation's peerless duo" Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James.

Seeing the media arranging this round of the finals gimmick, LeBron James is naturally very unhappy.

Because Carmelo Anthony is the "second" in the Columbus Explorers, mixing with him doesn't mean that he is the "second" of the Warriors, and Stephen Curry is the top name of the Warriors?

Ay!

If only I had known that I would also sign up for "Plan B"!

But in fact, the media really doesn't make a distinction according to this.

The main reason is that Stephen Curry has won the regular season MVP and the Finals MVP, while LeBron James has only one regular season MVP compared to him. Who's the bigger one, do you need to say?

What's more, this Warriors team is relying on the system established by Stephen Curry, no matter how you look at it, this is Stephen Curry's team.

Although LeBron James won more possession of the ball, the Warriors' strategy is really not who carries the ball, but who is the core of the system.

Like the Pacers under Reggie Miller, can you say the boss is Mark Jackson?

It's a very simple point of view, and before Stephen Curry didn't make it clear that this is LeBron James' team like Wade, the media was more accustomed to recognizing Stephen Curry as the "absolute core" of this team!

The beep sounds, and the game officially begins.

Adams managed to jump to possession, and Levan took the ball to the front court to watch how the Warriors targeted him.

Seeing that it was just Klay Thompson who came up, Li Wan immediately signaled to open the single.

However, the Warriors' defensive formation has a change of tactics, and when Li Wan is almost ready to attack with the ball, Stephen Curry on the wing will try to come over and force him to shoot early, but this has caught Li Wan's attention, you have to come to the bag, Stephen!

He called Wiggins to do a cross-run on the flank, but it didn't work out the first time...... I don't know if I deliberately practiced such a hand, and soon, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson bypassed each other.

In front of Li Wan is still Klay Thompson.

But Wiggins ran back at this time, and suddenly formed a block, Li Wan bypassed in an instant, Stephen Curry couldn't avoid it, and he defended it hard, and Li Wan killed him inside and easily completed the score.

2-0！

Stephen Curry shook his head slightly, chewed the braces in his mouth, and calmed himself.

But what he didn't expect was that Li Wan, who won the first shot, continued to find him as a point in the future, not only did he find Stephen Curry, but the entire outside line of the Columbus Explorers was looking for him to play.

The terrifying outside height of more than 2 meters with an average height of more than 2 meters makes Stephen Curry's height of 1.91 meters extremely helpless.

And that's just the height disadvantage, if you take into account the weight and explosiveness......

You can only imagine how painful Stephen Curry has been during this time.

At 5:34 of the first quarter, Stephen Curry's head was already buried in the ground, and a little discouragement flashed across his face.

Fortunately, LeBron James's breakthrough transfer ball did a good job during this time, and the outside line also seized most of the opportunities.

The two sides are tied at 16-14 at the moment, and the Columbus Explorers are only 2 points ahead.

Tyronn Lue took the lead in the change, taking Sabonis Jr. off the court and Rajon Rondo for control.

He's going to keep the whole rhythm under control and not give the Warriors a chance to run.

His early substitutions were calculated in time, and there was almost one more minute, and according to the Warriors' substitution habits, they should have used Iguodala to play the "five-small" lineup.

Tyronn Lue's early change of formation is for Steve Kerr to see:

Your mind is under my control, and I advise you not to act rashly!

Seeing that the Columbus Explorers were pressing the rhythm, Steve Cole's entire brow really furrowed.

He knows very well that even if he takes the "small ball lineup" at this time, he may not be able to get up.

But Pachulia is about to reach the tipping point of his physical fitness, just look at the arrangement of the Columbus Explorers at this time, Stephen Curry was temporarily let go by them, and began to target Pachuria's slow movement problem, and carry out "small and big" outside plays.

During this time, the frequency of the Columbus Explorers' offense began to decrease, but the overall efficiency came to the best of the night.

At 8 minutes and 34 seconds, Steve Cole, who had no choice, chose to bite the bullet and take Iguodala on the court. Tyronn Lue replaced Adams at the same time and brought on Kwame Brown.

Steve Cole motioned for LeBron James to try two to see if he could pick up the tempo.

As a result, after the first round, he knew: he would definitely not be able to rush!

Rajan Rondo and Li Wan, two "masters of the field", hold the ball on the court, where can they mess up......

At the end of the first quarter, the Columbus Explorers stretched the margin to five points.

It's worth mentioning that the top scorer in the first quarter on the Columbus Explorers' side was not Leewan, but the serious-looking Carmelo Anthony, who scored 11 points.

Li Wan has only scored 8 points so far, including 3 of 4 shots and 2 free throws, which is very efficient. It was also him who played into an offensive continuously, and Steve Kerr had to make a defensive arrangement against him, pinning down the opponent's defensive formation of Li Wan, restraining the "desire to attack", and creating a good offensive environment for Carmelo Anthony.

Of course, it must be said that Carmelo Anthony's overall form is also very good, especially the two shots against Stephen Curry and Pachuria, both of which were scored.

Seize every opportunity.

It was also a huge headache for Steve Cole.

The Columbus Explorers showed their "absolute defense" in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals, which overturned Steve Kerr's original conjectures about Leewan's set-up.

Now Carmelo Anthony is still in the first night of the Finals......

Don't talk about him, whoever comes will have a headache.

Tyronn Lue's suppression of Steve Kerr in terms of tactics and personnel scheduling continues.

In the second quarter, Tyronn Lue made a rare move to keep Lee Wan on the court, because Steve Kerr also likes to use LeBron James to play the first and second quarters.

Watching Li Wan play, Steve Kerr really wanted to yell at Tyronn Lue:

How many times have you watched my footage?

Steve Kerr feels that Tyronn Rube is more familiar with his arrangement habits on both ends of the floor.

LeBron James' look was not very good-looking, after the first quarter, the highest scorer on the Warriors' side was Klay Thompson, who hit all three catch-and-shoot shots, including two three-pointers, and scored a total of 8 points.

Stephen Curry was badly targeted, becoming a hole on the defensive end, and he was anxious to make up for his mistakes on the offensive end, shooting a total of 7 shots in the first quarter, hitting 3 shots, 0 of 3-pointers, scoring 6 points, and then LeBron James's 5 points......

The Columbus Explorers were disgusted by his targeting on the defensive end tonight!

They completely copied the Spurs' defensive system, Wiggins led the defense, but at a 45-degree angle on both sides, they would definitely arrange packs, and at the same time, Tyronn Lue was also Kwame Brown or Adams chose one of the interior arrangements tonight, allowing them to take turns standing on the court and compressing the space on the inside, which is equivalent to saying a total of "triple defense", not to mention his "Middle East-style breakthrough", even if he really drove the tank, he may not be able to recklessly enter.

He had no choice but to shoot.

But this thing......

Not to mention the defenders, even he himself is not very trusted.

The most important thing is that he has been away from the Heat for two years, and with Pat Riley urging him, his shooting ability has increased a lot, and after coming to the Warriors, he himself has to admit that his main focus is on the maintenance of his body, and there is so much neglect of shooting.

As a result, after his high-intensity confrontation, his entire shooting percentage will drop suddenly......

I thought that now that he was in the rotation stage of the game, he would definitely be more relaxed, but I didn't expect it! On the other side, Li Wan was directly put on the opposite side to attack him during this time......

So targeted!

It's a hammer!

He knew very well that even if he turned on the "All-Out Zhan" mode, he would not be able to beat Li Wan in the matter of soaring points......

During the rotation in the second quarter, as he expected, Levan played well against a defense that didn't have Iguodala and Klay Thompson and Green.

Steve Cole had no choice but to put Iguodala back on the court.

Tyronn Lue saw that Steve Kerr had increased the power of the court, and he didn't pretend, and directly put the other main players except Carmelo Anthony back on the court at 3 minutes and 24 seconds in the second season.

LeBron James felt that familiar feeling of suffocation again.

But after both sides returned to the court in the second quarter, the Warriors' outside shooting began to pick up, with Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson hitting three-pointers one after another.

During this time, the Warriors' point gain momentum was fierce.

Tyronn Lue called a timeout and then put Carmelo Anthony back on the court at 4:35 of the second quarter, after a total of about six minutes of rest.

Lee Wan started scoring in the second quarter, and by the time the main players returned, he had already scored 12 points in the game, and at this time Tyronn Lue was replaced by Carmelo Anthony, and the Warriors' defense was more dispersed, and he seized the opportunity to start "military training" for Klay Thompson in front of him.

This affected Klay Thompson's form on the offensive end.

Stephen Curry is gradually becoming "alone".

Steve Kerr opted to call a timeout while replacing the defender in front of Leewan.

The scene that had just become noisy because the Warriors stopped the Columbus Explorers was quiet again, and they didn't expect that the Columbus Explorers were so fast that it was completely reversed in just two minutes.

Drexler said: "During this time, Li Wan scored 7 points in a row! ”

Bill Wharton believes that it is not all because of Leewan's momentum on the offensive end, but also because Tyronn Lue is much faster than Steve Kerr in terms of tactics tonight, and is extremely targeted.

There is also a difference between a champion coach and a champion coach!

If you look at it tactically, letting Green defend Li Wan did play a role in making Li Wan no longer attack. But......

It also pitted Clay against Carmelo Anthony!

Klay Thompson has the height of the forward line, and he doesn't suffer from defending Carmelo Anthony, but he just can't defend against Carmelo Anthony's excellent offensive skills.

The good thing is that Carmelo Anthony's efficiency has dropped during this time.

But......

The Columbus Explorers can also guarantee rebounds!

Kwame Brown withstood the "scum", and the players on the court of the Columbus Explorers at this moment were Levan , Rondo , Anthony and Wiggins, all of whom were good at rushing for rebounds.

On the Warriors' side, although Klay Thompson has the height of the forward, his ability to rush rebounds is not good, averaging 3.8 rebounds per game in the regular season, and the average rebounds per game has increased in the playoffs, but it is only 4.1 rebounds!

Even compared to Rondo, who came off the bench, his average number of rebounds per game is not enough!

Not to mention Stephen Curry, although his average number of rebounds per game is 5~6, it looks like he is already a forward player-level rebound. However, most of them are in the transition between offense and defense, and the two sides are very scattered in formation, and the board is completed.

But tonight Columbus crushed the whole rhythm to death, and he had no chance to "fish in troubled waters" at all.

The second quarter was almost over, and he grabbed one rebound.

In "Muscle Jungle", his ability to grab the board is fully revealed.

What's more, tonight he was constantly targeted by the Columbus Explorers on the outside, plus he could maintain a lot of his offense on the offensive end, and his physical fitness did not allow him to rush and grab rebounds frequently.

With just over two minutes left in the first half, Kenny Smith said, "This game showed us the trick of how to limit the Warriors!" ”

is to constantly press the position, so that the whole rhythm can't run.

The problem with the "five little deaths" is always that the height is not enough.

Pachuria, a guy who can't be a starter if he goes to any team, can play as a starter for the Warriors because his height is what the Warriors desperately need!

Of course, Kenny Smith added: "But it's definitely not easy to suppress the Warriors' offensive tempo!" ”

What configuration does the Columbus Explorers have on the field right now?

Levan and Rajan Rondo, to put it mildly, are the two most stable guards in the league right now, and they can't get up to speed as long as they want to.

Even Chris Paul doesn't necessarily have them as steady.

Because......

Paul in the playoffs, he knows everything!

Either selfishly, or injured, in short, Chris Paul has never been sorry when it comes to making people regretful!

This is not something that the average team can have.

The conditions were too harsh, and only the Columbus Explorers could govern the Warriors in this way in the entire league.

By the end of the first half, the Columbus Explorers had stretched the deficit to eight points.

It doesn't look like a big point difference, but what is more critical than this is the rhythm of the entire Warriors being pinned.

For the Warriors, bringing up the pace is fundamental to everything.

If the pace can't be improved, the number of offensive and defensive transitions is not enough, the sense of separation between the two formations will not be so obvious, and the Warriors will have a lot fewer opportunities to get shooting space.

No matter what the tactic, the essence is to help the player get the space to shoot!

Steve Cole pinned all his hopes on LeBron James.

If the speed can't be improved, then the only way to keep scoring is through the individual ability of the star. It is also a very useful measure to stimulate changes in the opponent's defense.

But what I'm talking about here is that changing the defensive formation through the individual abilities of the stars is not just something that a basic supergiant like a sudden score can do.

It's the finals, the team standing on this stage, there is nothing, and the tactical literacy is definitely the top.

A team without tactical literacy will not be able to play effective tactics, this is a certain thing.

It's just a simple breakout, and it can't achieve the purpose of completely changing the opponent's formation!

This kind of thing, Klay can't count on it, Green can't count on it even more, Stephen Curry has a very good "small fight big" ability, but it is only when he is "small and big", facing Li Wan or Wiggins, no matter which, he can't finish well.

This is why he is said to be an "atypical supergiant".

He doesn't have the top physical fitness of the average supergiant, and he also doesn't have the top ball-handling ability of the average supergiant.

LeBron James became the only choice!

LeBron would love to say no, because the Columbus Explorers made it clear today that they were trying to give him intensity, if they also sensed that the Warriors wanted him to play singles and solve the problem through his singles......

Then his efficiency will plummet!

Is LeBron, who has a shooting percentage of more than 40, still the "king of efficiency"?

He suddenly misses Wade a little!

If his good Anda is still there, then at this time, at least Wade will share the pressure for him, so that at this time, the whole team will point to him to play alone.

As long as you are a fan who has watched LeBron James games, you will find such a situation, even if LeBron James is at a critical moment, when he needs to chase points, he will rarely take continuous individual singles to help the team score, his style of play is always to choose the most beneficial team on the court, poof, sorry, laughing, is the most beneficial way for him.

So when Steve Kerr lets him single-handedly with the ball, pinning all his hopes on him, all can be said ......

I'm a little sick and rushed to the doctor!

There's no way he can't see that LeBron James isn't a Jordan-like guy.

There's only one case where he's expected to take a lot of shots, and that's when he feels like he's on the right side tonight, or when it comes to the last game, he has to prove that he's strong, and it's his team-mates who are too good to lose.

The first game of the finals is clearly not yet at this time.

No, after the start of the third quarter of the game, his style of play is still the same as in the first half, all kinds of breakthroughs, if someone gets in, try to attack, but if he doesn't get in, he immediately throws the ball to the best person in his field of vision.

His vision is really good enough!

This is not blown, not black!

may also be used to "throwing the pot......

But in this way, his efficiency was maintained, and the entire formation of the Columbus Explorers team did not change in the slightest.

Steve Kerr was so anxious that he jumped to his feet, but LeBron James still had no intention of changing his style of play, and the Warriors missed the last chance because Li Wan's "nerve knife" was triggered!

made 5 consecutive three-pointers, and the game difference instantly came to more than 16 points.

The suspense of the game is completely gone.

119-101, the first game of the Finals, the Columbus Explorers took the lead on the Warriors' home court!

Big score 1-0!

(End of chapter)