Chapter 369: Finals, Fight the Nets Again!
The Golden State Warriors are very strong, very strong, but at the same time there are very obvious shortcomings.
As a superstar, Curry is the easiest player to target and restrain himself, after all, as a leading star, he can't get FMVP in three out of four championships, and no matter what excuse he can't prevaricate.
Admittedly, Curry's presence will make the opponent's defensive focus stay on him, thus making it easier for other players to attack, but this is only for the role of the tactical system.
The offensive end is easy to be limited by defense, and the defensive end will always be used as a breakthrough, which determines that although Curry is very strong, he must have the right teammates to really play to his full strength.
Durant is a teammate who is very suitable for Curry, does not occupy the ball, has a steady offensive ability at critical moments, and excellent projection and stable scoring ability can perfectly exert Curry's deterrent power to attract the center of gravity of defense.
Ingram obviously doesn't have the individual ability of Durant, and although he can score with his mid-range shooting ability, he can't replace Curry as the core scoring point of the Warriors.
This is also the reason why Thompson became the team's No. 1 main scorer in the first game.
However, Buddha Light is Thompson's strategic weapon, and the ultimate cooldown CD is very long, and the first game of Buddha Light has not been able to win the game, and the next game is more passive for them.
On May 16, the second game of the Western Conference finals continued.
During the game, it could be seen that Curry was eager to make a difference on the court.
However, the players in charge of defending him by the Clippers are almost all big men close to 2 meters, and Brogdon, who is slightly shorter, is also 1.96 meters tall.
Curry, who was full of enthusiasm, couldn't fire from the outside, and turned to a lot of balls to hit the basket, and the effect was good, and he made as many as 14 free throws in the whole game, hitting 12 shots, and scoring 31 points, 3 rebounds and 6 assists in the game.
But Thompson, who entered the state of reading the big move, performed extremely strained in this game, only 5 of 14 shots in the whole game, and the 35.7% shooting rate was the same as in the last game.
The Splash Brothers must have a pull, and once one of them pulls his crotch, it will be difficult to win the game.
At the end of the two games, the Clippers took a 2-0 lead and had the upper hand.
I have to admit that the Rockets' magic ball tactics are the biggest nemesis of the five-star Warriors period, after all, they are the only team that can fight with the five-star warriors in the series to a score of 4:3, and even once won the match point 3:2 first.
The magic ball theory of crazy three-point shooting made the Warriors, who were already focusing on three-point shots, have to bow to the wind.
And now, the Warriors' Durant has been replaced by Ingram, and the core of the Clippers' magic ball tactics is Wang Chao, which is compared with the Rockets in the original 17-18 season.
In the third game of the Western Conference finals, the Warriors, who returned to their home court, finally bottomed out strongly in a desperate situation.
Curry Thompson scored 30+ points at home, Ingram also scored 21 points, and the three scored a total of 86 points, finally pulling one back at their home court, chasing the score to 2:1, avoiding the fate of 3:0 or even being swept.
But the situation is still not good for the Warriors, who can only win games by relying on the explosion of stars, but there are few cases like Curry and Thompson both breaking out.
On May 20, the fourth game of the Western Conference finals, the Warriors, who were still sitting at home, did not wait for a miracle.
At 126:117, the Clippers won by 9 points at the Warriors' home court, and the score became 3:1.
The Clippers won the first match point, and if they win one more game, they can eliminate the Warriors and enter the Finals.
The Warriors have no way back.
In a desperate situation, the warriors burst out with a tenacious will to survive, to be precise, the Golden State martial arts team reappeared in the league.
Wang Chao has long been accustomed to the Warriors' stinky habit of brushing up on external moves as soon as they can't fight, but the anxious Warriors do need to avoid the edge for the time being.
Even if Wang Chao himself is not afraid, he must prevent his teammates from being injured by the other party, especially Green and Rooney, who are rude and go to the waste at first glance.
The Clippers have had a lot of crispy skin this season, and it is easy to reimburse them for the whole season.
Just in case, Wang Chao, as always, did not rush to kill, but selectively released another game, allowing the Warriors to return to their home court with a score of 2:3.
Although Game 6 is the home court of the Warriors again, it has a slight whistle advantage, but the momentum is meticulous over and over again, again and again, and again and again.
At the beginning, the Warriors were forced into a desperate situation, and the Warriors did fight very hard, but after having a buffer, even if they lost the game, the Warriors would still be eliminated, but without the intuitive sense of urgency at the beginning, it was still a lot worse.
As a result, the Warriors lost to the Clippers at their home court, and the overall score was 2:4 to stop the Western Conference finals.
The Clippers officially advanced to the Finals.
It must be mentioned here that since joining the league in 1970, the best result in the playoffs is only the second round, and if it weren't for Wang Chao, the Clippers would not have reached the Western Conference finals stage for the first time until 2021.
But now, the Clippers not only entered the Western Conference Finals for the first time, but also eliminated their rival Warriors in the Western Conference Finals and reached the Finals! This is also the first time in the history of the Clippers!
This season's Clippers have a lot of first experiences, all brought by Wang Chao, if the Clippers can beat the team in the East on the finals stage, then it will also be the first time to win the NBA championship.
This kind of thing, just thinking about it, Clippers fans feel that it is bubbling, and it is definitely not just imagination.
In the past two years, Wang Chao has led the Nets and the Nuggets to win the championship, and there is no reason why he can't do it in the Clippers.
If Wang Chao really does it, then he will also become the only player in NBA history to win three consecutive championships by three teams.
There have been many three-consecutive champion dynasties in this league, Jordan's Bulls two three-consecutive championship dynasties, the Lakers OK dynasty, and the Magic dynasty of the Super Magic combination, and the Wang Super Rocket dynasty.
But this kind of dynasty that belongs entirely to Wang Chao alone is unique!
Even some fans who don't like Wang Chao can't help but faintly look forward to it at this time, and they also want to know whether Wang Chao can be a one-man dynasty.
While the winner is decided in the west, the final in the east is gradually becoming clear.
Nets vs Bucks, or the Nets are superior.
Although the Bucks have a forward combination of Antetokounmpo + Goji Wiggins, they are obviously a notch behind the Nets' luxurious Big Four lineup.
Especially Brother Alphabet, he was only on the rise in the 18-19 season, although his personal data has exploded, but in fact, his own strength is still slightly lacking compared to the next few years.
In the Eastern Conference Finals, Brother Alphabet played against Durant, and the gap between the two in strength and experience was clearly revealed.
Brother Alphabet's performance on the court is obviously weaker than Durant's, especially when the game enters a critical moment and needs stars to step up and lead the team forward, Durant can use his super single ability to score frequently, on the other hand, Brother Alphabet can only break through with the ball, and then fail to attack under the attack of Durant and Jokic.
4:2。
The Nets and Bucks have the same score as the Western Conference Clippers vs. Warriors, with the same six-game tiebreaker.
In these six games, he averaged 28.4 points, 10.8 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game, shooting 52% from the field, and his performance was not bad at all.
However, compared with Durant's 32 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists, it is slightly inferior.
Moreover, the Nets are not only Durant, but also the old and experienced Paul, as well as the new generation of the younger generation of Booker and Jokic.
The luxurious roster allowed the Nets to reach the Finals for the third consecutive year, but in the Finals, they once again encountered their nightmare - Wang Chao.
Two years ago, when Wang Chao was still on the Nets, he was like a hero to them, helping them win the first championship in team history.
But a year ago, Wang Chao, who joined the Nuggets, shattered their dream of defending the title on the stage of the finals and brought the Nuggets the first championship in team history.
This year, Wang Chao came to the Clippers and then met the Nets on the Finals stage.
Although the Clippers, like the Nuggets, only have one All-Star on the team, Wang Chao, no one dares to underestimate their strength.
Coming all the way up from the West, the Clippers have proven that they are strong, and even this team does not need Wang Chao to put too much energy on the offensive end, and the offensive ability is completely sufficient.
The Clippers and Nets are both among the teams with the strongest offensive firepower in the league this season, and of course, the Warriors, who have just been eliminated by the Clippers in the Western Conference finals, have offensive efficiency and points per game averages that are one step higher than other teams.
This finals showdown, no surprise, will be another offensive battle! ——
I have to admit that the Nets are indeed the strongest opponent in the past two years, but like last year, this team has weaknesses.
The first is the relationship between Durant and Paul.
In the finals last year, the two caused serious conflicts because of differences, but after the failure of the finals, Paul took a look at the suitable team in the free market, went around and around, and found that the Nets were still the team that was most likely to let him complete his dream of winning the championship.
Although the two have reconciled on the surface, neither of them is the kind of player with a big heart, and since the crack has been generated, it will naturally not disappear.
There are not many pictures of the two working together directly this season, and although the strength of the team is as strong as ever, it is clear that the contradictions between the two still exist.
This can be exploited.
In addition, the Nets are clearly not doing their best work.
This season's Jokic is actually quite strong in terms of strength, but due to the existence of three outside players, Jokic is more used as a functional center, and his style of play in the Nets is slightly similar to the Clippers' Lopez.
This is obviously a great waste, and it is reasonable that if the Nets' Jokic is the all-round fat man who is a complete body in the future and has almost no shortcomings, he may really be able to create a lot of trouble for Wang Chao, after all, the Clippers seem to be very powerful now, but the team can actually only play downwind.
The magic ball tactic itself is a tactic that is almost invincible with the wind, but once the team falls into the headwind stage and needs someone to step up, he really can't find a second suitable player except Wang Chao himself.
Neither Harris, Gallinari nor Lowe on the bench are players who can take the lead in crunch time.
Therefore, Wang Chao is equivalent to the helm of the Clippers, and must ensure that the team is in a tailwind state.
Therefore, the Nets also have too much talent, so that Jokic, the inside version of the answer, has no room to play its strength.
——
On May 30, the first game of the Finals, the Clippers played at home against the Nets.
At night, the Staples Center was lit up, and fans wore white T-shirts that represented the Clippers' home stadium and cheered loudly for their teams.
The Clippers' starting five are unchanged from before, and they are still Wang Chao, Brogdon, Harris, Gallinari and Lopez.
Nets starting five: Paul, Booker, Bojan. Bogdanovic, Durant, Jokic.
In the jump ball stage, Lopez won the ball, and the basketball was directly handed over to Wang Chao.
After Wang Chao dribbled past half court, Lopes immediately came over to block Wang Chao.
With the help of Lopez's blocking, Wang Chao directly accelerates and hits the inside layup to score.
Jokic tried very hard to defend Wang Chao, but his pace was slow, and it was difficult for him to keep up with Wang Chao, who had accelerated.
The main tactic of the Clippers this season is the magic ball tactic of massive three-point accumulation, but Wang Chao and Lopez's blocking and pick-and-roll is also one of the main offensive weapons, and it is usually difficult for opponents to deal with once they are used.
Lopez is shooting 37.4 percent from beyond the three-point line this season, and is a shooter to be reckoned with, and every time he pulls off the three-point line after a pick-and-roll for Wang, a defender must follow.
In this way, the main force that can defend Wang Chao is only a slow center, of course, he can't prevent it.
The Nets attacked, and Paul held the ball over the arc and passed the ball to Booker, who in turn transferred the ball to Durant, who came to the interior with his back to ask for the ball.
After receiving the ball, Durant made a direct back-to-back jumper shot in the face of Gallinari's defense.
Gallinari is 2.08 meters tall and has an arm span of 2.17 meters, although he is slightly worse than Durant, but he is also the closest player to Durant in the team except for Lopez, but he is also ineffective in defending Durant.
The latter hit a solid mid-range shot.
2:2。
At the beginning of the game, both sides chose to let their main attackers be responsible for the offense, Wang Chao and Durant both had very high offensive efficiency, and the scores of the two teams have been rising alternately.
Gradually, though, Wang Chao began to gain the upper hand in scoring.
After all, Wang Chao can do all kinds of solo work at the expense of physical strength, but Durant can't, if he doesn't do a good job in the distribution of physical fitness, like this, he will have to rest off the court in three quarters of the game.
The Nets gradually began to involve Paul, Booker and others in the offense.
Whether it is Durant, Paul or Booker, they all have a characteristic, that is, the mid-range shot is very accurate, and the lethality and threat are far greater than the offense outside the three-point line and the restricted area.
Regarding this characteristic, Wang Chao also arranged for the Clippers to conduct targeted defensive training, with the purpose of limiting their mid-range firepower. (End of chapter)