warrior godfather

Chapter 284 Strength in Numbers!

April 4, San Antonio, AT&T Center.

The 18581 spectators who sat in the auditorium, whether they are Spurs fans, Grizzlies fans from afar, or rare neutral fans, all stared at the players on the court, and quickly looked up in the air from time to time The big screen, for fear of missing any details, the tense atmosphere filled every inch of space in the arena.

On the court, the Grizzlies and the Spurs are engaged in a muscle-to-muscle, defense-to-defense strangling battle. The slow to suffocating rhythm and the tough confrontation that every ball must be fought make people seem to return to the 2005 Spurs in a trance. And the Pistons set the finals with the lowest ratings record in history.

Every attack of the Grizzlies starts from a low position.

Randolph and Marc Gasol both have very comprehensive inside skills and coping capabilities. The Grizzlies use black and white as the inside axis, supplemented by Mike Conley, OJ Mayo, Sean Battier and other outside helpers. , The offensive end has a steady rhythm without losing efficiency, and the defensive end is even more balanced inside and outside. Marc Gasol is the bear body, Mike Conley and Sean Battier are the bear claws, tough yet flexible.

In contrast to the Spurs, Duncan alone supports the offense and defense inside, McDyess is too old, and Splitter is too useless. Although he is still the rock-solid stone Buddha, the Grizzlies have two giant bears, one black and one white. Duncan He is sure to lock down any one of them, but it is hard to beat four hands with two fists.

When he gave Randolph 2 big caps, he could only watch Marc Gasol send an unpretentious, but accurate and timely pass from the high post, and watched those passes turn into Grizzlies Score after score.

On the offensive end, Duncan delegated power to Parker and Ginobili, but did not get the help they deserved.

They are not good at three-pointers, and the Grizzlies are just good at inside defense. Ginobili, who was plagued by injuries at the end of the season, has not fully recovered from his injuries after his return from the line of fire in G2. Scored 14 points, 23 points, and 17 points, and the efficiency was extremely low. The points were accumulated entirely by shots. Parker was also a ghost in one game and two games, lost under the defense of the Grizzlies.

But in this game, the situation has changed.

Both Manu Ginobili and Parker broke out. The Argentine Demon Knife made 9 outside shots and scored 4 three-pointers. He made 18 of 10 shots and 10 of 9 free throws. He scored 33 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists, completely dominating the game.

Parker also scored 24 points with Manu Ginobili attracting the defense. Together with Duncan who struggled to score 13 points under the Grizzlies Twin Towers strangulation, the GDP combination scored 70 points and led the Spurs to a difficult 110:103 victory. The opponent tied the big score to 2:3.

After the red light came on, countless fireworks and streamers fell, and the nervous Spurs fans cheered for joy. The Spurs players on the bench also rushed to the field ecstatically, surrounded Ginobili in the middle, celebrated and vented The joy of escaping death.

But not everyone was so happy. Popovich just smiled and clapped his hands after winning the game, but his emotions didn't fluctuate much.

Budenholzer smiled and said to him:

"Greg, Manu's condition seems to have recovered. As long as we fight for G6 and return to the home court, we will definitely win the tie-break!"

Popovich smiled:
"I hope so..."

He patted Budenholzer on the shoulder, but the latter didn't see the worry that flashed in his eyes under his calm expression.

Popovich looked at the celebrating disciples and muttered to himself:

"In addition to this game, Manu's three-point shooting percentage in this series is only in the early [-]s. Can he really shoot such a three-pointer in the next game... If he can't play such a performance, the Spurs' offense will What should I do..."

In the cheers that swept the audience, no one heard Popovich's words, and no one thought about the future. The players were immersed in the joy of victory, and the fans regained their confidence in the GDP combination. They firmly believed in themselves The home team is No. [-] in the Western Conference, and it will definitely be able to save the day, and it is absolutely impossible to fall in the first round.

They also didn't notice that the Grizzly, who was a loser, wasn't discouraged at all. Hollins's face, which resembled a grizzly bear, didn't show any anger. He patted each team member on the shoulder and said in a deep voice:

"You all did a great job, let's go, go back to the home court and kill them!"

None of the Grizzlies players lost, no one was frustrated, they all nodded resolutely, and quietly left the AT&T Arena in celebration.

……

"Hey, Ronan, the Grizzlies lost, and they're going back home to play G6 against the Spurs!" Silas approached Zhang Yu and said loudly.

"Good shot..." Zhang Yu shouted, and then pulled his attention away from the game on the field, looked at Silas with a smile, and said loudly amidst the noise in the field, "The Grizzlies lost? This is good news, we can wait for work at leisure and have two more days of rest!"

After speaking, his eyes shifted to the field again.

At this time, the Warriors and Thunder's G5 was in the fourth quarter, which started half an hour later than the Grizzlies and Spurs game. After the results of the game there, Silas immediately informed Zhang Yu.

Silas said with emotion:

"Yeah, I really didn't expect that the Grizzlies could really play like this with the Spurs, Ronan, you've got it right this time, we should be playing the Grizzlies in the second round... last year's Black Seven, this year's Black Eight, is the dark horse so worthless?"

"Counterattack directly, yes—it's beautiful!" Zhang Yu yelled a few words, clapped his hands vigorously, and then replied, "This result is not surprising at all...Return to defense, good shot!"

Zhang Yu suddenly stopped, shouted subconsciously, and laughed.

The Warriors already had an absolute advantage on the field, leading the Thunder by as much as 17 points, and there were only 6 minutes left in the game. The big score behind 1:3 and the difference of nearly 20 points caused the morale of the Thunder players to plummet. Lost rules, the general trend is gone.

All the audience stood up. They were wearing the golden T-shirts issued by the team, and they were connected together like a surging golden ocean. Led by the DJ, they shouted "warrior" in unison, and the sound echoed throughout the arena. Among them, there is a kind of shocking power.

Larry Riley was in the second row from the sidelines, in front of him, behind him, and Ayesha, and Mary Green from Seckinaw, Michigan, and Leigh from Tomball, Houston. The Seeley family, Mark Baum in suits and his gentle wife Rosie, the Stevens family from Indiana, the Jeremy Lin family from Palo Alto... …

They stood up with the rest of the audience. Compared with the joy and excitement of ordinary fans, they were more excited. Larry Riley kept applauding, smiling, and kept whispering:

"Okay, okay, we're going to the second round, we're finally rebuilding, and I'm no longer the GM of a bad team, no more..."

Leslie raised his hands and yelled whenever Butler held the ball, then pointed at Butler on the field with trembling fingers, and proudly shouted to the audience who didn't know him:

"See, that's my brother, haha, Jimmy Butler is my brother!!"

Mark Baum just crossed his legs, pretending to hold Rosie's hand calmly, and said:
"Ronan did a good job. He led the Warriors to the playoffs in two years. My vision was right."

Rosie gave him a blank look:
"Who said yesterday that you should invest [-] million in the Warriors?"

Mark Baum laughed dryly:
"I'm not joking..."

Jeremy Lin's parents are both doctors, they are more reserved, they just kept laughing and applauding, and looked at each other with emotion in their eyes, Lin Jiming said with relief:
"The scholar is promising, we can rest assured in the future..."

With tears in her eyes, Mary Green silently watched Green who was fighting hard on the field, with her hands on her chest, piously praising God.

The Dale family watched their father play from the sidelines since they were young, and they were not so excited anymore. They just laughed and cheered and celebrated with other fans. Only Seth looked at his brother who caused a tsunami of noise after scoring on the court, and his eyes flashed. Overwhelmed with envy, he whispered:
"Stephen, I will definitely catch up with you!"

In everyone's expectation, time passed slowly. After Zhang Yu replaced the substitute player, he no longer had to pay attention to the situation on the field. He sat down and looked at Silas:

"Where did I just say?"

"You said that the Spurs' loss to the Grizzlies was not an accident!" Silas had to raise his voice amidst the noise, and replied loudly.

"Yes, that's right, that's it!" Zhang Yu nodded and said, "The Spurs lack shooters, only Duncan can't support them inside, Jefferson has declined seriously, the team is in a transition period, and the overall defense has declined seriously. Conspicuous, but in the playoffs, it has become an Achilles' heel, oh, yes, Ginobili is also plagued by injuries, which is even worse for the Spurs."

Silas nodded thoughtfully, but still said in a puzzled way:

"If you put it this way, the Spurs do have a lot of problems, but they can achieve the first record in the regular season and lead the Grizzlies by 15 games. No matter how weak they are, they must be better than the Grizzlies, right?"

Zhang Yu smiled lightly and said:
"If you said this sentence two months ago, it might be right. At that time, the Grizzlies played around Rudy Gay. The record was 31 wins and 26 losses, and the winning percentage was just over half. But after Rudy Gay was injured, Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol became the offensive and defensive axes of the Grizzlies. The record of the Grizzlies has become 17 wins and 8 losses, and the winning percentage is close to 70%. Rudy Gay is Ewing of Memphis. Now the Grizzlies The Bears aren't necessarily weaker than the Spurs."

"yeah!!!"

After Zhang Yu finished speaking, deafening cheers suddenly erupted in the arena. He looked on the field, but Yi Jianlian received a pass from Jeremy Lin, rushed inside and dunked successfully, causing all the fans to celebrate wildly.

"Okay, let's think about how to fight the Grizzlies tomorrow. Today we just need to celebrate!" Zhang Yu laughed and applauded, raising his arms.

The last 2 minutes of the game seemed to pass very slowly amid the drumming noise of the audience. Everyone stood up, and applause slowly erupted in the arena. It changed from chaos at the beginning to order, and then swept the audience. Warriors fans gave their support to the Warriors' substitute players who were still struggling on the court, to all the main players who had already left the court, and to Zhang Yu who was pacing on the sidelines.

With 34 seconds left, Jeremy Lin suddenly fouled Harden and sent him to the free throw line, but he came to the sidelines, grabbed Zhang Yu's hand, raised it high, and waved vigorously at the audience.

The fans instantly understood what he meant, and shouted in unison:

"Coach Z—Coach Z!!"

Zhang Yu was a little confused by Jeremy Lin's surprise attack, and then he realized that he hit his chest hard, and said with a smile:
"Jeremy - you boy!"

Jeremy Lin laughed:
"Coach, this is what we discussed. If we can win at home, we will let you accept the cheers of the fans at the end. You deserve it all!"

Other players on the court and on the bench also gathered around, the audience's voices became louder, and the referee also waited tactfully for a while before coming to pull people back, but no one paid attention to Harden who made the free throw. On the body, the shout of "Coach Z" resounded through the audience.

The favorite player of the Warriors fans is Curry, but everyone knows that Zhang Yu is the Warriors' savior.

Harden, who was not paying attention, hit two free throws silently. Unlike Westbrook and Durant, who were sitting off the court with lost faces, Harden's expression was very calm. An ordinary regular season.

Ron Adams noticed this, he pulled Silas who was applauding beside him, and said:
"Look, James Harden is still as calm as usual, and he is not at all frustrated because he is about to lose. No one else in the Thunder can do it."

Silas carefully looked at Harden Bright Eyes, nodded in agreement and said:

"That's right, Harden doesn't seem to be affected by the big score behind at all. You need to be calm at critical moments to create miracles. Harden will become a great weapon in the future!"

For the remaining tens of seconds, the Warriors did not attack again, even though the 24 seconds were up and they did not make a shot. The audience's attention was not on the court. Zhang Yu became the focus of attention of the audience, until the Thunder silently sent a sideline ball, and all the time went away. After that, the buzzer beeped for a long time, the red light was turned on, and the firework ribbons floated down from the stadium, and there was a burst of deafening cheers in the arena.

"Yeah!!!!!!"

"We won, we won, we're in the second round!"

"Warrior—Warrior—"

"Oh oh oh--"

In an instant, the Oracle Center was like a volcano erupting instantly, turning into a hell of noise. The players on the Warriors' bench surrounded Zhang Yu and came to the field. After shaking hands with the Thunder players, they got together and celebrated in their own way. to advance.

Curry and Green clapped hands continuously, and Green raised his head to the sky and let out a long roar, turned around and hit Clay hard on the chest.

Butler came to Leslie's family, hugged Leslie tightly, and shouted:
"I did it, Leslie, we won the series!"

Chandler and Tony Allen hugged, two veterans who had been through so much, not as excited as the others, just smiling at their excited young teammates.

After Jeremy Lin and his teammates high-fived each other, he came to his family and hugged his father and mother.

Two players from Europe, Big Z and Kirilenko, got together, and Kirilenko said in a little surprise:
"They look so happy, I haven't experienced this kind of atmosphere for a long time..."

Big Z smiled and said:
"Stay here, Andre, that's why I rejected the Heat's contract and stayed here with a basic salary. Don't you always want to pursue happy basketball? The Warriors play happy basketball!"

Kirilenko hesitated, shook his head, and sighed softly:
"talk later……"

Yi Jianlian hugged Zhang Yu, uttered Cantonese excitedly, and said loudly:
"Thank you, Brother Yu, without (without) you, I would never have played in the playoffs, let alone the second round, and I would have no way to stay (in) the NBA!"

Zhang Yu patted Yi Jianlian backhand and said with a smile:
"Ah Lian, don't get excited. This is the beginning. It's nothing to reach the second round. There are Western Conference finals and finals. We are going to win the championship!"

Yi Jianlian nodded again and again:
"Brother Yu, I believe everything you say (whatever you say), and everything you say is true (right)!"

……

After a period of confusion, the crowd finally recovered a little bit of calm. Under Zhang Yu's instructions, they lined up and bowed to the fans in all directions, thanking the fans for their support to the team. everywhere.

After bowing in all directions, Zhang Yu took the microphone handed over by the Warriors PR, and the camera on the scene was also aimed at him. The arena gradually became quiet. The fans sitting on the sidelines stood up and looked at Zhang Yu, and the fans sitting on the top of the hill were Staring at the screen in mid-air, everyone was waiting for Zhang Yu's speech.

Zhang Yu looked around, put the microphone to his mouth, and said slowly:
"Today, we won and we made it to the second round. This is the first round for the Warriors after the Black Seven in 2007!"

slam-la-

As soon as he finished speaking, applause rang out. Zhang Yu paused, and after the applause subsided, he continued:
"I still remember that when I lost to the Suns last year, I said here-next year, we will win. Today, I fulfilled my promise, and the Warriors fulfilled their promise!"

slam-la-

There was another burst of warm applause, which was also mixed with sharp whistles. Zhang Yu stopped, and after it subsided, he raised the microphone again:

"This is thanks to all the fans who support the Warriors, not just you sitting in the stadium, but also Warriors fans across the United States, China, and the world, thank you!"

slam-la-

The applause became more and more enthusiastic, and the atmosphere in the arena became more and more high. Zhang Yu finally said loudly:
"However, this is just the beginning. We are still very young. This is the second year that the new Warriors have played together. I said it when I was chatting with Yi just now-the second round of the playoffs is just the beginning, and there is still more to come." The Western Conference finals, the finals, and the championship! Please continue to support us and the Warriors, and I assure you that your love will never be let down!"

slam-la-

After Zhang Yu finished speaking, the Oracle Center’s applause seemed to overturn the roof, and people kept clapping their hands red. The eyes of an old man with white hair on the sidelines were already filled with tears. voice shouted:

"Strength in Numbers! Let`s go, warriors!"

(End of this chapter)