warrior godfather

Chapter 744 Unprepared
"Di-"

As the referee blew his whistle, the game officially began.

Antetokounmpo overwhelmed Capela, successfully jumped the ball, and the Warriors won the ball for the first attack.

The Warriors' starters are Curry, Jaylen Brown, Wiggins, Antetokounmpo, Looney, and the Rockets' starters are Paul, Harden, Ariza, Anderson, and Capela.

Curry dribbled the ball halfway, and Paul came up to him and stopped one step in front of Curry.

Now no team dares to put Curry on a three-pointer. No matter how far he is from the three-point line, he must be posted to defend, otherwise he may suddenly make a murderous ultra-long three-pointer.

Curry stopped the ball at the top of the arc and raised his hand to direct his teammates to move.

Antetokounmpo mentioned the position at the top of the arc to cover for Curry, Jaylen Brown stood at the corner on the strong side, and Looney screened for Wiggins at 45 degrees on the weak side.

All of a sudden, the Warriors' strong and weak players were moving, which involved the Rockets' defense.

Facing the Warriors' complicated moves, the Rockets reacted very quickly. Anderson stepped forward to delay Curry, Paul squeezed the screen, Capela retreated, ready to help defend Antetokounmpo at any time, and Ariza chased around the screen Wiggins.

When Klay and Leonard were both in the past, D'Antoni would never dare to let the Warriors shoot three-pointers like this. The Warriors only need two screens, and the inside must follow, and the penalty area will be cleared. Antetokounmpo can directly Get a chance to hit the frame.

But now, D'Antoni is not afraid of Wiggins and Jaylen Brown's three-pointers. Except for Curry, he is still strictly guarding, and he can let everyone else go.

Facing delays and chasing defenses, Curry had no room to shoot. With a flick of his wrist, he threw the ball to Wiggins who ran out of space.

Wiggins was very decisive, shooting the ball as soon as he caught it, Ariza jumped up to interfere, but he was a step slower, and a three-pointer hit the frame, 3:0.

clap clap clap!
"pretty!"

"Andrew, you are the best!"

There was a loud applause and cheers from the audience, celebrating the Warriors' first goal of the season.

Wiggins grinned, enjoying his first regular-season game as an official starter.

The round changed, Harden slowly passed the half court with the ball, and Wiggins greeted him.

This is an active dislocation defense. Jaylen Brown is too young and Harden is too old. Zhang Yu directly asked the experienced Wiggins to defend Harden to avoid being fouled by him.

Harden glanced at Wiggins, with a calm expression, and waved, Capela came up to cover, Looney retreated to defend, and Wiggins squeezed the cover to chase.

Harden didn't shoot three-pointers directly. Since last season, he has seldom shot three-pointers directly through screens, and more often after dribbling to find rhythm, he will shoot three-pointers.

He stepped forward, led by half a body, stuck Wiggins, entered the three-point line, and advanced to the basket.

Looney fought and retreated, staring at Capela who was going down, and had no time to take care of Harden. Wiggins wanted to speed up to catch up, but Harden pouted his hips and was completely stuck. He just wanted to squeeze hard , suddenly remembered Zhang Yu's instructions before the game, and could only watch Harden stroll into the penalty area in a leisurely court, and easily made a successful throw, 3:2.

"Andrew, you must pay attention to controlling your movements. You are the most suitable person to defend Harden, and you are also the most important attacker on the front line. You cannot easily lose fouls for defense..."

Zhang Yu told Wiggins in every possible way before the game that he should not foul easily. He also specially emphasized Harden's good at lifting hands and arms, creating rear-end collisions, kicking and hanging people, etc., which made Wiggins pay special attention.

Just now Wiggins was almost rear-ended by Harden. Fortunately, he has a strong ability to control his body. At the last moment, he remembered Zhang Yu's advice and stopped.

Wiggins looked at Harden who was slowly retreating, and wiped the cold sweat off his head.

Defending Harden is really a kind of torture. He will make fouls in various ways, his acting skills are superb, and he will be deceived if he is not careful.

The Warriors attacked, Curry and Antetokounmpo played pick-and-rolls. At the same time, the weak side Wiggins and Jaylen Brown crossed positions, Harden and Ariza switched defenses, and did not give the Warriors any open opportunities.

Curry saw that the weak side did not have a chance to run, and lobbed the ball to Antetokounmpo who was running down.

Capela, who had been prepared for a long time, immediately let go of Looney and came up to help defend.

Antetokounmpo advances with the ball, first takes a small step, as if to go to the right, then suddenly accelerates, strides forward, makes a big change in front of the body, passes the ball to his left hand, passes Capela, and breaks into the One-handed dunk in the restricted area, 5:2.

Capela froze in place, and D'Antoni on the sidelines also looked surprised.

Last season, Antetokounmpo would only take three steps directly with the ball, and he has never shown the ability to handle the ball in a small space like today.

Zhang Yu nodded in satisfaction. This is the result of Antetokounmpo's hard training in the summer. He did nothing else this offseason, but practiced attacking and passing with the ball. His skills have improved a lot, and he is close to his peak level. .

The Rockets looked at Antetokounmpo from the perspective of last season, and immediately suffered a disadvantage.

Looking back, Paul dribbled the ball halfway, Harden took the initiative to walk to the weak side, stood with his hips on his hips, and let Paul attack.

Paul and Capela pick and roll, Rooney sinks back, Jaylen Brown squeezes the screen to chase Paul, and Wiggins also shrinks to the middle to help defend Paul.

Paul didn't mean to push the ball forward, he just dribbled two steps forward, and threw the ball onto the basket. Capela took a step ahead of Looney, flew up, and dunked the ball heavily into the basket with his right hand first. 5:4.

The sound at the scene was stagnant, and Zhang Yu frowned.

Looney tried his best to keep up with Capela, but his explosive power and experience were lacking, so he was still a step behind, and Capela completed the alley-oop on top of his head.

Looney defended Harden and Capela's pick-and-roll just now. If he wanted to defend Capela's alley-oop, he couldn't take Harden's breakthrough into account. Wiggins was stuck again, and Harden's throw did not interfere. Scored easily.

It seems that it is still a little bit reluctant to let Kevin play the starting center...

Zhang Yu thought to himself, got up and came to the sidelines, clenched his fists, raised them up, and shouted:
"Pay attention to defense!"

The Warriors players saw his gesture, understood it, and nodded.

This is the meaning of shrinking the frame. Zhang Yu can no longer let the Rockets score easily in the penalty area.

On the court, the Warriors attacked, and Curry continued to pick and roll with Antetokounmpo.

With the departure of Clay and Leonard, only Curry and Antetokounmpo are left in the Warriors, and the tactics have changed accordingly.

Chuanche completely bid farewell to the Warriors. The Warriors only have Curry as a super shooter. Others can also shoot three-pointers, but they can't support the Warriors' offense just like the Tsunami brothers.

Allowing Antetokounmpo to pass and cut is also a waste of money. In the past, the biggest advantage of the Warriors was the outside line, which could create empty cutting opportunities for Antetokounmpo. Now Antetokounmpo is the Warriors’ advantage. It is his turn to create opportunities for the outside line. up.

Only the pick-and-roll can give full play to the advantages of Curry and Antetokounmpo at the same time, creating opportunities for Curry to play small and big, and also create space for Antetokounmpo to rush up and play.

But the Warriors' offense is not just a duo between Curry and Antetokounmpo. Looney's ability to drag space is there. If he stays at the basket, he will only block the penalty area.

When Curry and Antetokounmpo initiate a pick-and-roll, Looney will also screen for his teammates on the weak side and involve the opponent's defense.

If there is an opportunity on the weak side, both Curry and Antetokounmpo have the ability to pass the ball and can distribute the ball to open teammates in time.

If there is no chance, Curry and Antetokounmpo directly launch a misplaced attack to attract the opponent's defense and create space for teammates.

Although Zhang Yu stopped passing and cutting, his tactical goal has not changed. He prioritizes creating open spaces, and secondly creates dislocations. Only when he has to or at a critical moment will he play singles.

In the last offensive round of the Warriors, Antetokounmpo unexpectedly passed Capela. In this round, Antetokounmpo received a pass from Curry and passed down. Capela moved ahead of time to help defend and completely emptied Looney. .

Antetokounmpo achieved his goal of attracting the defense and immediately passed the ball.

Looney was unattended around him, and he even had time to adjust, and he made a steady hit in the mid-range shot, 7:4.

In the next round, Harden singled Wiggins and missed a three-pointer with a step back.

The Warriors attacked, Antetokounmpo hit Anderson with a low back, and ran to the basket. Capela hesitated, and the attack was a step slower. Antetokounmpo turned around and hit a layup, 9:4.

D'Antoni frowned, pacing back and forth on the sidelines.

Antetokounmpo's explosion was unexpected. He didn't expect that Antetokounmpo, who was only a blue-collar player last season, changed his body and played the core of the inside attack.

After the opening, the Rockets' defensive focus was all on Curry, but before Curry started scoring, Antetokounmpo hit
Open, which completely disrupted D'Antoni's game plan.

In desperation, D'Antoni can only let the team shrink the frame and strengthen the defense against Antetokounmpo.

In the next round, Harden singled out Wiggins and hit a three-pointer with a step back, 9:7.

Round conversion, Curry and Antetokounmpo pick and roll, Anderson and Capela both shrunk ahead of time, and joined forces to stop Antetokounmpo.

Antetokounmpo immediately turned around and passed to Curry. Curry swung Paul away with a counter-run, caught the ball and made a three-pointer, 12:7.

Looking back, Paul and Capela picked and rolled, and the Warriors also strengthened their efforts to shrink the frame, not giving Capela a chance to make an alley-oop.

But in this way, the Warriors are the same as the Rockets. There is an open space on the periphery. Paul points the ball to Ariza in the bottom corner. The latter catches the ball and shoots.

The two teams fell into the same situation and had to loosen control of the three-point line in order to strengthen the defense of the penalty area.

Since this is the opening game of the regular season and there is no record pressure, neither Zhang Yu nor D'Antoni is in a hurry to make adjustments.

This is also because there is no problem with the offense of both sides. The combination of Wiggins + Looney is completely unable to defend against Harden and Capela's pick-and-roll, and Jaylen Brown + Looney cannot guard against Paul and Capela's pick-and-roll. pick and roll.

The pick-and-roll between Curry and Antetokounmpo was even more unsolvable. D'Antoni didn't want to flank Curry, so he had to drink a bottle of poison. Either Antetokounmpo scored or Curry scored.

After the first quarter, the score came to 35:34. The two teams fought back and forth crazily, and no one could defend the other.

In the second quarter, after Antetokounmpo left the court, D'Antoni took the lead in making adjustments, retreating without defense, switching defenses infinitely, and deploying heavy troops on the three-point line.

Zhang Yu took advantage of the trend, Curry, Brogdon, Bogdan, and Jaylen Brown took turns to pick and roll to find Anderson and Capela, and the Warriors quickly opened the score to more than [-] points.

Anderson and Capela's ability to defend big and small is very average, while the Warriors' entire backcourt has the ability to attack with the ball, which is suitable for dislocation to attack the Rockets' inside line.

This caught D'Antoni by surprise again. Brogge's performance in the season was mediocre, and he didn't pay attention to his high scores in the preseason. Today, he showed a good mid-range level and succeeded in single-handedly defeating Anderson twice. .

Brog was only the third substitute in the first position of the Warriors last season. He rarely played the game. The preseason also focused on stability, but today he singled out Capela after the pick-and-roll and made a step-back three-pointer .

D'Antoni never expected that role players like the Warriors would play the role of stars.

Even if Curry blows up Anderson and Capela, D'Antoni can accept it, because Harden can contribute the same level of scoring output as Curry, and can also kill the Warriors' forwards and insiders. But it made the Rockets unable to match the Warriors' firepower output.

He could only replace Capela, Anderson, Tucker, and Mbah a Moute, and sacrificed five small lineups in advance.

This is D'Antoni's carefully prepared killer move for the Warriors, and it is also the most restrained Warriors lineup in his mind.

Originally, in D'Antoni's consideration, without Clay and Leonard, the Warriors would definitely have to switch back to passing and cutting, and the fifth player just restrained the Warriors' passing and cutting.

But he didn't expect that Zhang Yu had no idea of ​​​​changing back to pass and cut. Curry and Antetokounmpo's pick-and-roll became the Warriors' new ultimate move.

However, the five small lineups are still useful. No matter what the tactics are, it is necessary to create simple scoring opportunities. The five smalls' unlimited defenses can dismantle all the Warriors' screens into singles, and also eliminate the Warriors' dislocation advantage.

Facing Mbah a Moute, Ariza, Tucker, Jaylen Brown, Brogdon, and Bogdan's offense with the ball is not enough.

D'Antoni imitated the Warriors and hoarded a bunch of good strikers, which are used today.

The Rockets took this opportunity to play a wave of offensive climax. At the end of the second quarter, the score came to 71:69, and the Warriors led by 2 points.

After the Rockets replaced Wu Xiao, the two teams played in the same way. The game became a substitution, lending a cover to the opponent's singles, and desperately pushing the rhythm to catch the counterattack.

Without Capela, the Rockets can make bold substitutions. The Warriors don't have to worry about Capela's threat to the basket, and they can switch defenses infinitely.

Antetokounmpo and Looney are constantly switching to Harden, Gordon, and even Ariza and Mbah a Moute. The weak side is always ready to cooperate with the protective frame.

This is the defensive strategy that the Warriors have always implemented against teams with strong ball-holding ability in the backcourt, relying on the mobility of the outside line and the ability to switch defenses inside.

However, the current Rooney cannot take on the heavy responsibility of changing defenses, and has been trained by Harden many times.

Zhang Yu also replaced Zhou Qi. His mobility was better than Looney's, and his confrontation improved a lot, but he was still inexperienced. He got 3 fouls on Harden and had to rest.

The Warriors lost too many points in the interior, so they have been bitten by the Rockets.

(End of this chapter)