warrior godfather

The second of the four guards with the most traffic in the league today, ushered in a head-to-head confrontation in the Western Conference Finals.

This is a golden age of guards, Curry, Rose, Harden, Westbrook, Paul, Irving, Wall, Thomas Jr., Lowry, DeRozan, Lillard...

Stars shine on the back line, but Paul, Lillard, Westbrook, and Wall have already been eliminated. Rose is still fighting the Cavaliers in the second round of the Eastern Conference. The Bulls are 2:3 behind, and the situation is precarious. The stars of DeRozan and Thomas Jr. are slightly dim.

The encounter between Harden and Curry represents the pinnacle duel on the guard line this season. Harden, the lone hero who leads the team with a single core, challenges Curry, the devil who has ruled the league for the past 5 years, which is the fan's favorite drama.

It's a pity that it wasn't Westbrook who entered the Western Conference finals, otherwise it would be a contest between the most extreme individual heroism and the most powerful team, which is even more eye-catching.

However, Harden is only slightly inferior to Westbrook, and his statistics are also shocking. The Rockets have a better record than the Thunder, and they also attract many new fans.

People are attracted by Harden's strong personal ability and that unyielding temperament.

In the regular season, Harden has played strong performances at critical moments many times, breaking the deadlock, and even led the team to reverse and win. He is an out-and-out Mr. Key.

In contrast, because the overall strength of the Warriors is too strong, Curry often clocks in three quarters. Even if he plays in the fourth quarter, he has established a lead of more than ten points early, and the game is rarely dragged into a critical moment.

This makes Curry's critical moment data very ugly, scoring very few points, and it seems that he will disappear when the critical moment comes.

And fans are forgetful. Curry hasn't saved the team's performance in a desperate situation for a season, and he has forgotten the performances he played at critical moments before, those gods.

And Harden's amazing performance in one season has conquered many fans.

Whether it is a newly promoted or a veteran, Harden fans are looking forward to his continued performance in the Western Conference Finals, proving to the world that he is the strongest scorer.

A powerful warrior is a dragon, and Harden is the one who dares to challenge the dragon.

But they neglected that it is rare for a brave man to defeat a dragon, so it will be passed down as a legend in the world.

It is the normal state of this world for powerful evil dragons to crush brave men who dare to challenge themselves.

……

In G1 between the Rockets and the Warriors, Harden showed his best form. He hit two step-back three-pointers as soon as he started, and he felt hot.

At this time, the Warriors hadn't entered the state yet, and their hands were a little cold. They attacked 3 times in a row and were beaten 6:0 by the Rockets.

The few Rockets fans in the Chase Center suddenly fell into ecstasy.

This is a good sign!
They remembered Harden's two 76+ triple-doubles against the Knicks and the 50ers. Is he going to repeat this miracle in the playoffs?
Westbrook faced the Clippers in the first round of G2 and scored a super triple-double of 51 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds. He can do it, but Harden can't do it?
It's a pity that the mvp voting has ended, otherwise, with Harden in such an excellent state, what can Westbrook compete for?

While Harden fans were still regretting, the Warriors gradually woke up and launched a counterattack.

Since the start feels bad, then reduce the shot.

Zhang Yu made adjustments, and the Warriors began to hit the ball inside. Curry's breakthrough after a high pick-and-roll, Antetokounmpo's low-post singles with Anderson, and Leonard's mid-range singles with sticks became the Warriors' main tactics.

This is the third consecutive round in which the Warriors have not passed and cut.

Even during the regular season, Antetokounmpo and Olynik only dealt cards when they abused the food. As long as they encounter a strong team, Zhang Yu's tactics will turn into ball-handling tactics centered on the star's personal ability .

In the past when the Warriors were weak, Zhang Yu had to carefully design tactics and arrange rotations. Now that the Warriors have four stars, of course he wants to enjoy the feeling of leisure.

The three stars Curry, Leonard, and Antetokounmpo worked together, and the Warriors quickly overtook the score and quickly opened up the point difference.

Curry frequently finds Anderson through pick-and-rolls, passing in one step, hitting the Rockets penalty area in a row, or completing the finish directly, or attracting Capela's defense and then sending out the ball, and the offense is successful again and again.

Defense is not Anderson's strong point. This type of insider is also a cash machine for Curry. It is normal for Curry to blow him up.

In Zhang Yu's previous life, the Warriors and the Rockets met in the Western Conference Finals in 2018, and D'Antoni didn't dare to use Anderson at all.

Finished the first 6 games.The Warriors fell behind 2:3.

G7 was held at the Toyota Center. After the first half, the Rockets led the Warriors by 54 points at 43:11, taking the lead.

Prior to this, the Rockets' rotation had been shortened to the extreme, and Paul was injured again. D'Antoni really had no one to use, so he could only send Anderson, who had never played before, on the field.

Afterwards, Curry specifically grabbed Anderson to fight.

When he faced Anderson and hit an extremely critical step-back three-pointer, narrowing the point difference to 69:72, Paul on the sidelines slammed his chair hard and was furious.

D'Antoni hurriedly replaced Anderson, but this risky substitution allowed the Warriors to catch up with the point difference, paving the way for the final failure.

At that time, D'Antoni had a small lineup available, and he didn't have to play Anderson.

But now, Anderson is an indispensable part of the Rockets' offensive end. He has hit more than 200 three-pointers this season. It is impossible for D'Antoni to replace him.

D'Antoni can only watch Anderson being trained by Curry, praying that he can come back on the offensive end and make up for the points lost on the defensive end.

But this is obviously just a luxury.

Although Antetokounmpo, like Green, has also participated in a large number of defense assistance, but relying on his unparalleled talent, he can fully take into account both defense assistance and Anderson's three-pointer.

Anderson tried a few catch-and-shoot threes, but Antetokounmpo was always quick to get back in position, interfere with his shots effectively, and even nearly blocked the three-point shot.

After hitting the iron twice in a row, Anderson didn't dare to shoot a three-pointer at will. He hesitated after receiving the ball and could only pass the ball again. The Rockets' tactics failed and the offense had to be reorganized.

Antetokounmpo's defensive ability taking into account both inside and outside also made Harden suffer.

The Rockets' pick-and-roll tactic is a one-five pick-and-roll, giving Capela a chance to end the inside line first, and giving Harden a chance to single out the opponent's fifth position by dislocation.

In response to the Rockets' magic ball style of play, the Rockets' opponents are usually the center retreating, the guards squeezing the screen, giving Harden the middle distance, and mainly defending Capela's end and Harden's three-pointer.

Harden used to often hit mid-range shots, and there was a famous scene where he hit Clay 5 balls in a row.

But after D'Antoni took office this season, Harden's style of play was completely magical, and he hardly shot mid-range.

Even if the opponent takes the initiative to give space for the mid-range, Harden will give priority to finding opportunities to score efficiently in the penalty area and the three-point line, and will never shoot the mid-range unless he is forced to.

He even specially practiced a chic and freehand close-in throw for this purpose, which is to make the shooting position as close as possible to the restricted area where the expected efficiency is higher, and avoid the low-efficiency depression in the middle distance.

Therefore, the Rockets' opponents can take advantage of this and make targeted "magic ball" defenses.

But today, the Warriors are doing the opposite.

Harden and Capela played high pick-and-rolls, and Olynyk directly switched defenses.

Klay stuck in Capela's position, and Olynyk stuck to Harden, not giving him space to shoot a three-pointer.

Capela has no chance to go down, and he can't shoot a three-pointer. Harden only has one option to break through the frame, which is also the best option.

The center posted up to defend the three-pointer, giving Harden room to break through, and Harden could easily break in with one step and reach the penalty area.

But then he will encounter the double defense of Antetokounmpo and Leonard, and the four long arms cover the sky and cover Harden, and he has no chance to make a shot.

Harden was blocked once, and after being disturbed again, he stopped hitting the iron, and broke in on the pick-and-roll, and after attracting the help defense, he distributed the ball outside.

The open three-pointer is D'Antoni's high-position dynamic offensive system. The only scoring opportunity at the end of the penalty area is given by the Warriors. Harden has no reason not to.

However, Harden used to break through and score the ball unfavorably, but this time he encountered trouble.

When Anderson receives the ball, Antetokounmpo can often return to interfere in time, but when Ariza receives the ball from the bottom corner, Leonard will not return to defense.

But Ariza couldn't grasp the precious open opportunities. His three-point shooting percentage in the playoffs was only 28.6%, which was bizarrely inaccurate and missed many open opportunities.

This is the characteristic of Ariza, he has never been a consistent shooter.

He can shoot 23% of the three-pointers in 47.6 playoff games and make great contributions to the Lakers' championship. He can also shoot 33.3% of the next season and be out in the first round.

This time, the Rockets caught up with Shenzha in the regular season and Tieza in the playoffs.

Anderson didn't have an open chance, Ariza couldn't make an open three-pointer, Capela was stuck outside the penalty area, and Harden's three-point attack was strictly guarded. The Rockets' offense was only left with Gordon's strong shot. Deng's throw before the help defense arrives.

But this is not a stable and efficient scoring method. The Rockets' offense is intermittent and often stagnant.

And D'Antoni was helpless about it.

Ariza hit the iron, he stood up, walked a few steps back and forth, and shouted a few times.

Harden made a throw, and he sat down again, looked sullenly for a while, and said a few words to the assistant coach.

Harden's pass was intercepted, and the point difference widened. He stood up again, blushing, yelled twice, and stared at the Rockets' running position.

After he took over the Rockets, he was able to use the leftovers in his hand to create a Harden ball-driven system, which is already quite good, and he doesn't have extra resources and time to create other tactics.

The Rockets rely on this set of tactics to win the world. If the opponent can't defend, they can win the game. If the opponent can defend, D'Antoni has no choice but to count on Harden to come down to earth.

But the Warriors have changed their previous unlimited defenses and strictly guarded Harden. No matter how good he is, he can play at an average level, which is very good.

Conversely, in addition to being trained by Curry, Anderson also had to suffer from Antetokounmpo's low position. The increasingly old Ariza couldn't prevent Leonard's singles.

The Warriors have the upper hand on both offensive and defensive ends, expanding their lead step by step, and the balance of victory is gradually tilting towards the Warriors.