Min Congda gave a brief command at the timeout, asking the players to continue to play the way they had just played.

"Tonight, we're an inside team."

This is the speech of Min Congda to the players in the locker room before the game starts.

As a head coach, Min Congda's style is different from that of ordinary coaches, he is a tournament coach.

The preparation is meticulous and targeted, and of course, the corresponding requirements for the obedience and tacit understanding of the players are also very high.

The current Clippers just meet his requirements, with good obedience, strong personal ability, and a fairly high degree of tacit understanding.

Players can be used as pawns on the field, resolutely carrying out the coach's tactical intentions, and rarely have their own ideas and choices.

Of course, when necessary, Min Congda will give the players enough autonomy to let the players decide the game.

However, the first quarter was the time to set the tone for the rhythm of the game, and Min Congda asked the players to attack strictly according to the requirements.

The biggest problem for the Warriors tonight is the lack of Kevin Durant, Durant's absence not only deprives the Warriors of the number one scorer, but also distorts the Warriors' tactical formation.

Originally, they had three strong shooting points on the outside, Durant, Thompson, and Lillard, and the Clippers faced such an outside fireteam, and the defensive formation must be expanded enough to give enough defensive attention.

Durant was not there, Kerr chose to start Green and let James return to the outside of No. 3, in fact, playing a big four small, the Clippers have an advantage on the inside.

Min Congda picked up the long-obsolete twin-tower tactic, a low-post all-rounder with a nimble, tall basket assaulter, and joined hands to attack the Warriors' interior line.

At the same time, on the defensive end, the Clippers contracted firmly, and Min Congda asked Anthony Davis to "chase and make up for it at all costs", asking him to focus 80% on protecting the basket on the inside.

Anthony Davis had already made two blocks in just a few minutes of the first quarter and successfully built a no-fly zone in the three-second zone.

As for the breakthrough and three-point shooting of James and Green on the outside, it's up to them, and it depends on the will of God whether they can enter or not.

If Durant is here tonight, the Clippers will not dare to defend like this, and even play half a quarter, the Clippers will have to use one big and four small.

Min Congda knew that Durant was absent, so he formulated such a strategy very targetedly, if they meet in the playoffs and Durant returns, Min Congda's tactical manual must have a new way to deal with it.

In terms of team management, Min Congda has done nothing, but at the specific tactical level, Min Congda has always been aggressive.

Especially when the Clippers no longer have an absolute advantage in lineup and hard power, tactical aggressiveness is very necessary.

After the timeout, players from both sides returned to the court, Lillard with the ball, and James came over to block Lillard — a rare sight in the last 10 years.

James would have blocked his teammates? It's incredible.

But this season, James has covered the guard's pick-and-roll as part of the Warriors' tactics.

In the face of the Warriors' blocking, the Clippers switched defenses, Leonard pressed Lillard, and Lillard immediately distributed the ball to James.

James received the ball and went down and directly held the ball to impact the Clippers inside!

In the face of Gasol Jr.'s defense, James forced a layup and caused Gasol Jr.'s foul.

James goes to the free throw line.

Min Congda complained to the referee on the sidelines: "It's time to start walking!" It's a walk! It's all from the Baicao Garden to the Sanwei Library, and you still have to blow defensive fouls. Mark didn't press down either! ”

Although he returned to the position of head coach after a few years, Min Congda did not fall behind at all in the business of complaining and spitting with the referee, and he was very skilled.

Anyway, whether James has walked or not, Min Congda didn't see it clearly, whatever, shout a few words first, and interfere with the referee.

So the next time James really walks, the referee will think, let's blow it, otherwise Smart will complain again, and I don't want to be noisy by him.

This is a commonly used psychological tactic to put pressure on the referee to make some decisions in his favor at critical moments.

High-level confrontations, sometimes a foul blow, can change the trend of the whole game.

Min Congda, who went all out into the role of coach, fought for the team's victory in every detail.

James hit both free throws, and those two points are important for the Warriors.

And the Clippers are still mainly on the inside in terms of strategy, and this time the low post handed over to Anthony Davis, allowing Davis to eat Green with his back.

However, it is not a very good choice for Davis to play Green with his back, don't look at Green's low height, but his defensive ability in the low post is not bad, the lower set is very stable, and his defensive skills are excellent.

He knew he couldn't reach Davis, so he put all his heart into the top and bottom plates, making it difficult for Davis to turn around and miss the shot.

James grabbed the backcourt rebound and launched a counterattack, Thompson received James's pass, feinted and shook it away, broke through with the ball, and hit a pull-up jump shot!

The quick counterattacks of both sides were very crisp and neat, and they shot when they should have been shot, without ambiguity, and the shots were very hard.

And the Clippers are still in the low post, this time it was Gasol Jr. who received the ball, and then gave it to Leonard in the low post, and Leonard ate James on his back.

James easily withstands, passes, transfers, gives to Harden, Harden breaks through, divides the ball, gives it to Davis, and Davis then distributes the ball to Curry on the outside.

Curry catches the ball and hits a three-point shot!

The Clippers' positional battle is classical, so fans think that they dream back to 2002, this inside-out game is a set, are you the Clippers or the Spurs?

Kerr slowly came back to his senses and understood Min Congda's intention, which was to use the inside advantage to press the Warriors and use the low post and frontcourt rebounds to break the Warriors' defense.

Do warriors dare to shrink? Don't dare, one Harden and one Curry on the outside, you shrink a lot, isn't it fatal?

Is this trick new? It's not new at all, and it can even be said to be an old antique in tactical strategy.

But it's such an old antique, other teams can't use it, first, they don't have this resource, who still has such internal resources in the league?

The second is that most teams, including the previous Clippers vs. Warriors, will soon be brought into their own rhythm by the Warriors.

This year's Warriors regular season is indeed historically strong, and their record is on the way to 70 wins.

However, the Clippers did not enter the rhythm of the Warriors at the beginning of tonight, but quickly seized the advantage.

One of the key tactical points is that the Clippers chose to let Leonard possess the ball through the half, allowing Curry and Harden, the two most dangerous three-point threat outside linemen, to play without the ball.

As a result, the Warriors have to allocate a considerable part of their defensive energy to the weak side, resulting in a somewhat tight supply of defensive resources on the strong side.

On the weak side, there are two three-point gods with the ball, how dare you put it? Relax a little, and Curry is a three-pointer.

Curry's three-point shooting was pretty good tonight, and every time he went to Oracle Arena, he was in great shape.

At this time, the Warriors gradually lubricated on offense, and the power of passing and cutting tactics gradually emerged.

James received a pass from Green, cut into the basket again, dodged Anthony Davis' block, and made a left-handed layup.

Although James has been criticized for his rough and monotonous skills, his finishing ability under the basket is really strong, and he is extremely soft and steady when he goes to the basket after receiving the ball, whether it is playing the board or licking the basket, he is nine out of ten.

So Kerr has long decided that it would be a pity that a player like James doesn't be a pick-and-roll man.

Before he combined all his layup talent with tank strength, although this move is very powerful, but the physical consumption is large, and it should be saved for critical moments.

In regular time, James did a pretty good job of catching and attacking the basket after cutting and running back.

In fact, if there is a smart coach from the beginning to train James in the direction of the all-round Karl Malone, it is not impossible.

Min Congda is also very relieved to see that James is playing more diversely now, and he has always thought that James is a very malleable player.

His body, his talent, his mind, if he puts his heart and soul into basketball, he can become Duncan at the small forward position, and '11 and '12 were great opportunities for him to lead the team to a championship.

It's a pity that he was coerced by capital too early, and his skills, tactics, and playing style became much narrower, limiting his full potential.

Although the NBA is a very commercial league, it is also a fact that the level of competition is extremely high.

The two sides entered an offensive and defensive tug-of-war, and the Clippers insisted on playing with two towers, low post, passing inside and outside, rushing to grab rebounds in the frontcourt, and firmly suppressed the Warriors.

On the Warriors' side, the defensive end didn't think of a good way for the time being, and on the offensive end, James hit the interior many times, and the Clippers went head-to-head, trying to beat Gasol Jr. and Anthony Davis down one.

But what's the use of beating one?

The first quarter went into the personnel rotation, and Min Congda replaced Zach Randolph.

Randolph paired up with Anthony Davis to continue to dig hard in the low post and grab rebounds in the frontcourt.

The Warriors' defense is in a big dilemma: Curry and Harden are opening up the space, and Thompson, Lillard, and Green have to go to mark near the three-point line, resulting in a decline in backcourt rebounding protection.

After conceding a few backcourt rebounds in quick succession, once the outside players shrink to grab the rebounds in advance, the outside line will leak.

Harden seized the opportunity to receive a pass, hit another three-pointer from the outside, and the Clippers made 4 of 7 three-pointers in the first quarter.

If it were to be replaced by another team, the first quarter would have collapsed, but the Warriors relied on the strong individual ability of the players to score the fairy ball after three tactical failures and bite the score tightly.

At the end of the first quarter, the Clippers led the Warriors by 8 points at 39:31, and the score of the first quarter was close to 40 points, which was enough to see the ferocity of the Clippers' firepower.

In the first quarter of the strategic confrontation, Kerr failed to catch Min Congda's moves, and Durant's absence was an important reason, but don't forget, the Clippers also sat on the bench with Paul George.

And until the playoffs, George will not play, and the Clippers are always one less big man.

At the interval, Kerr's mentality had stabilized and he began to deploy his troops and replace Speights to deal with the Clippers' double interior line.

Speights is physically strong, can top up on the inside, and he has a very good outside shot, can throw threes, and is a very important interior bench for the Warriors this year.

When he comes on the court, he can increase the Warriors' interior height and defense, while pulling Davis out as much as possible on offense.

Davis's single-minded protection of the basket on the inside line is still a headache for the Warriors.

However, Min seemed to expect the Warriors to use Speights, so the Clippers did not continue their two-tower strategy at the beginning of the second quarter.

Instead, Anthony Davis was used to play center on the inside line, and PJ Tucker was replaced to play the No. 4 position, and a small lineup of one big and four small was played.

Before the start of the second quarter, Min Congda grabbed Davis and said to him: "Hold the basket, don't chase defense, don't go big and small." You have only one task tonight, which is to guard the basket, the three-second zone, the backcourt rebound, and everything else in defense has nothing to do with you. Even if Stephen is going to be killed, you don't care. ”

Min Congda deliberately emphasized this point, because the Warriors often grabbed Curry to play in the offense before, and Anthony Davis, as an important defensive point in the system, would wipe Curry's ass.

But tonight, Min Congda repeatedly emphasized before and during the game that he should not take care of Curry and protect the basket is the only thing he has to do.

Anthony Davis nodded, and that's what he's done since the first quarter, focusing on the basket and leaving the rest to his teammates.

As for Curry, what to do? Min Congda said very clearly, Curry, you have to solve it yourself, don't let yourself become a hole in the defense.

This season, Curry is not as under as much pressure on offense as last season, and after winning the MVP, he is already satisfied and does not want to get another one.

The team's scoring title was also given to James Harden.

Curry's ankle injury recurred midway through the season, and Min immediately asked him to rest until he recovered.

So Curry is physically fit enough to allocate quite a portion to defense.

Min Congda said bluntly: "I don't expect you to help defend, make up defense, and grab rebounds, as long as you deal with the people you want to defend, it is the greatest contribution to the team." Also, I'm not going to hide you defensively forever, even though you won the MVP last season, in my mind, you're not really the MVP yet. A true MVP doesn't need his teammates to wipe his ass constantly. Your own shortcomings, think of your own way, boy. ”

Curry is still at the heart of the Clippers' tactics, the center of the storm, but Min Congda is not used to him.

It's about forcing him to put more into the defensive end, to make himself stronger, tougher, and to break some bad habits in defense.

For example, if you like to jump and reach out to interfere, to be honest, with your little short hand and bounce ability, what is the use of you jumping up and blocking, it is better to stand in your defensive position, in case you are deceived by feints and lose your position, resulting in the collapse of the defensive formation.

Min Congda asked Curry to become a quasi-elite No. 1 defender, and as for switching to Min Congda, there is no expectation.

So, in the second quarter, Kerr suddenly found that the Clippers' routine had changed again, presenting a new situation.

One big and four small, resolute one-on-one defense, and Davis Curry blocking on the offensive end......

How is this going on? It's changing too much and too fast, and my brain can't turn around.

(End of chapter)