First in scoring

Chapter 537 536. Two Unbeatable Teams

There was no need to worry about attacking during the regular time, which meant that Durant had one less physical constraint! And it was the heaviest one!
They had not anticipated this situation when they were preparing for the game. The strategy that Kobe helped to develop, which was based on limiting Durant and restricting the Warriors' offense in regular time, was largely useless!
When Zhang Yang was watching the video himself, he didn't see Durant release the ball so early.

In other words, Steve Kerr did not treat Durant as one of his own in previous games, but used him as a mere beast of burden.

Zhang San: Wait...are the Tsunami band imitating us?

He suddenly reacted and decided not to try to be too aggressive during regular time and not to use any point to the fullest. If Harden was restricted, DeRozan would come over. If DeRozan was also restricted, he would come over.

There are so many capable players, and they play in the 'Spurs system'. Sharing the pressure is basic operation, but Kerr may not be able to think of it with his ability. But the coach is dead, the players are alive, and the Warriors have no shortage of players with high basketball IQ. It is normal to notice and learn this when studying them.

The game had just begun, and they seemed to have already lost the strategic initiative.

Zhang Yang felt that this was really... exciting!
Since the established defensive strategy has failed, let's just go with our gut feeling. The response strategy is also simple.

attack!
As the team leader, Zhang Yang took the lead in the charge!
The other players of the Lakers were a little confused at first because the opponent launched an attack that they were not prepared for at the beginning, but under the leadership of Zhang Yang, they put aside all distractions and attacked with all their strength!

As for the Warriors, they attacked with all their might from the very beginning.

The Warriors players didn't think about how to defend when they were preparing for the game.

The Lakers ranked first in the league with 115 points in the regular season, which was higher than the Warriors' average of 113 points per game. The Lakers' offense continued to be hot in the playoffs, averaging 114 points per game against the Trail Blazers in the first round and a terrifying 121.5 points per game against the Clippers in the second round.

The Compton Big Three had a relationship as good as brothers both on the court and in private. They were all willing to sacrifice for each other just to play the best team cooperation. Even Duncan, who didn't care about statistics, playing time, and personal performance in his fourth peak period, and only cared about the team's GDP, was not as good as these three brothers.

Everyone is saying that the Spurs in the 15-16 season, Duncan's last year, pushed the "Spurs system" to the top, but in the eyes of the Warriors, the Compton Big Three really brought the concept of the Spurs system to the extreme and were simply undefensible.

Therefore, the Warriors players focused all their energy on offense during the preparation stage.

DeRozan received the ball from mid-range and made a fadeaway jump shot. Curry responded by sliding to the baseline to receive a pass from Green and making a backhand layup.

Zhang Yang received the ball while running and passed it again, Nance Jr. cut to the basket to receive the ball, and scored two points with an alley-oop dunk; Curry launched an attack with a pick-and-roll, broke through the elbow area and passed the ball directly to the basket, and Pachulia received the ball and dunked to score.

DeRozan missed a three-pointer, Green grabbed the defensive rebound and passed it to Durant, who rushed into the paint with his long legs to attract the defense, and passed the ball back to the top arc. Curry followed up and hit a three-pointer. Looking back, Harden suddenly passed the ball to the right while advancing. Zhang Yang suddenly squeezed Thompson and stepped to the three-point line. He received the ball and ignored Thompson who flew over. He jumped up and shot a three-pointer. In the positional battle, he hit a three-pointer in response to Curry...

The offensive and defensive play between the two teams was crazy. The scores kept rising and the hit rate was frighteningly high. The fans at the scene were cheering wildly.

Players from both teams dared not relax at all. As the first and second strongest offensive teams in the league, they all knew that in this situation, if they were not careful, they might be left behind by the opponent.

After entering the rotation time, the offensive firepower of both teams did not decrease at all.

At least two of the Compton Big Three stayed on the court, Harden rested, and Clarkson, one of the best backup point guards in the league, played;

DeRozan rested, and Louis Williams, one of the best shooting guard substitutes in the league, came on;

Zhang Yang was resting and Bojan played instead. He was hailed as a rookie better than the best rookie, but his playing time was not enough and his statistics were not as good as the Suns rookie Brandon Ingram. In the massacre against the Clippers, DeRozan had less playing time and Bojan got a lot of playing time, averaging 47.3 points per game with a hit rate of 45.4+15.5%. He made 4 of 22 three-pointers in 10 games, becoming famous in one battle and making the Lakers management and coaching staff no longer so worried about the high probability that Louis Williams would pursue a big contract.

In the interior, one of Nance Jr. and West is always on the court, responsible for helping with the outside pass and reception.

At the center position, Blake, Zubac, Nene, and Ed Davis will play as needed. When facing a meat shield like Pachulia, use the fast Blake and Ed Davis. When facing McGee, use Nene or Zubac, focusing on creating dislocations on the offensive end.

Of course, such a center rotation will inevitably create a mismatch attack opportunity for the opponent, but there is no way. They don’t have a big center like Gasol and Aldridge who can stand firm in the interior. This situation is inevitable, so it is better to make the most favorable offensive choice. Besides, the opponent has fewer centers than them, only two.

On the bright side, there are also advantages to having the center position filled with role players. You can use whoever is in good shape without having to wait for the star players to find their form or consider their face, etc.

On the Warriors side, Curry and Durant, the two outside ball-holding offensive initiators, took turns to rest. Thompson has always had a very high playing time in the playoffs, and Kerr used him most smoothly.

Green and Josh Smith took turns playing. This once top-notch all-around forward, who was signed by the Warriors with a one-year minimum salary, played well this season. In the playoffs, he averaged 18 minutes per game, scoring 6.2 points, 3.6 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 0.9 steals and 1.1 blocks.

Livingston and McCaw, who came on as substitutes, also performed well.

Especially Livingston, when he fell into a positional battle and was given the ball to play one-on-one, even Harden couldn't defend his back-to-the-back jump shot.

At 11 minutes and 32 seconds into the first quarter, the score between the two teams was 34 to 33, the Lakers were leading by 1 point, and the Warriors were on offense.

The current lineups of both teams are: Lakers: Harden, Louis Williams, Zhang Yang, West, Zubac; Warriors: Curry, Thompson, McCaw, Josh Smith, McGee.

Curry advanced to the frontcourt with less than 20 seconds left, and he chose to waste time.

He played for more than 7 minutes in the first quarter and rested for 4 minutes before and after the official timeout. He made 4 of 3 shots, including 1 of 1 three-pointers, plus 1 of 1 free throws, and scored 8 points and 2 assists, with an incredibly high efficiency!
Curry used up only 6 seconds of the offensive time and started to act when there were only 10 seconds left in the first quarter. McGee followed the instructions he received when he served the ball and went up to block Harden. Curry took advantage of the screen and shot directly at Zubac for a three-pointer... It missed!
The Lakers' defensive strategy worked! Tonight, Harden defended Curry in a way that allowed him to break through with the ball and cut in without the ball, but didn't allow him to shoot three-pointers in a positional battle. Curry only threw a three-pointer after more than 3 minutes, and didn't take any other three-pointers. The force of this shot was obviously too strong!
Zhang Yangfei rushed into the basket, grabbed the rebound before Josh Smith, turned around to avoid Josh Smith's attempt to steal the ball, and launched a counterattack!

Thompson and McCaw tried their best to catch up, but failed to block him. Zhang Yang was one of the fastest players in the forward and guard line. McGee went out for a screen. Josh Smith had bad defensive habits and there was no center to block him in the first time. He was rushed by Zhang Yang and the two could not keep up.

After Zhang Yang rushed across the center line, only Curry, who was outside the three-point line, retreated.

Curry saw Zhang Yang slow down after passing the center circle and knew what the opponent wanted to do. He retreated to the three-point line and pounced on him again. If he could delay the shot successfully, the opponent might not have enough time to shoot!

But Zhang Yang dribbled past him from behind!
As one of the 'three kings of behind-the-back dribbling', Curry knew what Zhang Yang was going to do when he saw him turn his shoulder, but he had no way to stop him because his control of rhythm was no worse than his and his physical fitness was even better than his.

When he turned around, he just saw Zhang Yang dribbling behind his back, grabbing the ball, taking a step to the right side of the top arc and jumping. The whole movement was smooth and flowing.

He did not count on luck. Sure enough, the ball Zhang Yang threw seemed to be positioned, going straight into the basket and hitting the target!
As Curry missed the three-pointer thrown directly from the center circle after receiving the ball, the score at the end of the first quarter was 37 to 33, and the Lakers led by 4 points!
Zhang Yang looked up at the data on the big screen. It was so outrageous!
They and the opponents were trying their best to retreat and slow down the tempo to avoid being counterattacked or shot-open by the opponent.

Both sides also tried their best to avoid mistakes through very good team cooperation. In the entire quarter, the two teams made only 3 mistakes in total.

But the hit rate...

勇士队21投14中，其中三分球9中4，罚球也有6中5，66.7+44.4+83.3的全队命中率！

上场9人，除了3板2助攻1盖帽的格林得分吃蛋，其他8人都有得分。

5投3中、其中三分球2中1、加上1中1的罚球拿到8分的库里全队最高，其次是汤普森和杜兰特的6分。

不过他们这边命中率更夸张，20投14中，其中三分球6中3，加上8中6的罚球，70+50+75的全队命中率！

In the first quarter, they had 11 players on the court, 10 of whom scored. Only Bojan, who was highly expected by the media before the game, did not score.

But it's not that he shot badly, but because he was defended very tightly by the Warriors. Kerr used Thompson to defend him. He averaged 45 three-pointers per game with a hit rate of 2.5+ in the second round, which made Kerr ready to strangle him from the beginning and prevent him from losing his shooting touch.

This also allows the Lakers to maintain sufficient control when Zhang Yang goes down to rest, and Harden and DeRozan can continue to have an excellent environment for organizing offense.

The player who scored the most points on the Lakers side was naturally Zhang San, who made two three-pointers. He also had a dunk at the beginning of the game, and after resting for a while, he came back and went straight to the basket, causing McGee to foul. He made one of two free throws. He made 4 of 3 shots and scored a game-high 9 points.

This fierce fight made Zhang Yang feel that he had no confidence in tonight's match, and he was very...

...

"You said you found it exciting?"

During the intermission, DeRozan felt terrible when he heard Zhang Yang describe his feelings about the first quarter.

The first quarter was so tense and thrilling, and this guy actually found it exciting?

He looked at Harden, and Harden nodded repeatedly.

Ronaldinho: Joining forces with you is the most exciting choice in my life!

Although...but...it was indeed quite exciting.

Not to mention, after learning about Zhang Yang and Harden's feelings about the game, DeRozan was not so nervous anymore.

After the players had recovered for a while, Budenholzer called together the players who were going to start in the second quarter to make adjustments on the details.

He himself is a "space management master" from the Spurs. His offensive assistant coach is Gentry, his defensive assistant coach is Mike Brown, and Kobe is there to help. Even if the game was out of control from the beginning, his own offense was amazingly good and the opponent's offense was undefensible, they gathered together and still found areas for improvement. The Lakers "rebuilt" last summer, and there is no possibility of paying luxury tax this season or next season. Since the middle class last summer was split into two one-year short contracts, and Ed Davis' contract has only two years left, if things go well, there will be no need to pay taxes next season or next season. Buss and Kupchak have spent a lot of money on the "coach team", and the total annual salary of the head coach + offensive assistant coach + defensive assistant coach is 1 million.

After the intermission, Zhang Yang played with Clarkson, DeRozan, Nance Jr. and Zubac.

On the other side, Thompson, who played the entire first quarter, went to rest. Curry and Livingston were the double point guards, and Durant, Green and McGee partnered in the frontcourt.

The second quarter began with the Warriors attacking first.

Livingston received the serve and advanced to the frontcourt to pass it to Durant.

Durant eventually had to take over the ball and attack, and it was still Zhang Yang who defended him.

Durant changed direction and rushed into the inside. Facing the defense of Zhang Yang blocking the middle and Zubac double-teaming him at the bottom, his choice was... to make an emergency stop and shoot facing Zhang Yang's interference!

Hit! And it also caused Zhang Yang to commit a foul!
In the first quarter, Durant turned into a luxurious and fully equipped version of Barnes. He played for 8 minutes and played without the ball for most of the time. He simply cut in, responded, and counterattacked quickly. Now he is in good physical condition!

If you can't get rid of the defense, then don't try to get rid of it, just force it!
There is no logic in the shooting and no reason in the scoring!

Watching Durant, Curry and Livingston high-five and walk to the free throw line, Kobe on the sidelines covered his forehead with his hands. He made another XX prediction error. There was nothing wrong when he predicted others, even Curry and Thompson's performances were within his expectations. But Durant gave him a headache every time.

Durant also made the free throw, 36 to 37, and the Warriors narrowed the gap to 1 point!
In the offense-defense transition, Clarkson dribbled the ball from the top of the arc and passed the ball. Zhang Yang ran back and cut in to receive the ball. He used the European step to shake off Durant and McGee, came to the other side of the basket, jumped up on the spot, and slammed the ball into the basket with one hand, returning Durant's 2+1.

The Warriors players also felt that Zhang Yang's Euro step was unreasonable. He could dunk after changing direction continuously!

According to the current rules, if the center does not get into position in advance, he cannot press forward to engage in physical confrontation, otherwise he will be called for a foul.

I am an old fan who has been watching basketball for more than ten years. Every time I see Zhang Yang's Euro-step dunk being listed in the top five or ten plays, I sigh that Ginobili and Wade were born at the wrong time. Although Ginobili is not as fierce as Zhang Yang, he is more sexy. Although Wade is not as sexy as Zhang Yang, he is more fierce. Both of them are not as balanced as Zhang Yang, but they have developed one aspect to the extreme. From a practical perspective, it is hard to say which of the three is better, but in terms of viewing experience, those two are better than Zhang Yang.

If we put the two of them in this era of mobile Internet, their popularity would definitely be higher than it was back then.

Durant and Zhang Yang opened fire first, and the two teams continued to attack each other.

The defensive strategy of the Lakers coaching team did not work. Even though the defense was in place, Durant was able to score the ball with his personal ability, forcing the Lakers to expand their inside line early. There was really no way to deal with this. It was not that the strategy was wrong, but that the opponent was too strong.

However, their fine-tuning on the offensive end was still useful, avoiding some poor performances in the first quarter and making the opponent's defensive adjustments useless.

Zhang Yang stepped up his attack and the Warriors defense had to press down, otherwise they could only watch Zhang Yang smash McGee and Pachulia who was rotating in.

DeRozan and West's mid-range shots, and Harden and Louis Williams' long-range shots all had better opportunities.

With the Warriors' backup forward-guard swingman Ian Clark hitting an absolutely open three-pointer, at the end of the first half, the Warriors relied on this three-pointer to overtake the Lakers by two points in the second quarter with a score of 34 to 32!
It was Durant who took off for the Warriors in this quarter. He played the entire quarter, made 6 of 4 shots, and 3 of 2 free throws, scoring 10 points, the highest in a single quarter so far tonight.

勇士队这一节命中率对比首节有些许下滑，22投14中、其中三分球5中2、外加5中4的罚球……63.6+40+80的命中率。

It's simply that the hit rate of wing role players has declined as their physical strength has been depleted and the confrontation effect has increased.

After Durant turned on his unreasonable mode, the overall shooting percentage of the Tsunami trio was actually higher than in the first quarter.

On the Lakers side, Zhang Yang played for 10 minutes in this quarter. He played longer and attacked more fiercely, but his points were not as many as in the first quarter. He made only 5 of 2 shots, including 1 of 0 three-pointers, and scored 2 points with 2 of 6 free throws.

However, his role was very strong, helping Harden, DeRozan and Louis Williams to score 6 points each. He cut inside, and the wing had the opportunity to run into open space directly with the help of the screen.

Moreover, if he passes the ball after cutting in and then pulls out, two people who are blocking him in the interior will often be taken out together with him. If the person who receives the ball from him has passing ability, he can always make a second pass to the teammate who cuts in and creates good conditions for a steal.

In this quarter, we can clearly see the difference between Zhang Yang and Durant's playing styles. Zhang Yang is very happy to torture the opponent's overall defense during regular time, making everyone look at him and helping his teammates create better conditions for receiving the ball.

Durant, on the other hand, prefers to do it himself and likes the feeling of carrying the team on his shoulders.

It seems... Zhang Yang is more stubborn. He will often create difficulties even if there are no difficulties.

不过，20投12中、其中三分球7中3，加上6中5的罚球……60+42.8+83.3的命中率，在张杨带领下的湖人队，命中率依旧和勇士队不相上下！
At halftime, 69 to 67, the Lakers lead the Warriors by two points!
...

During the halftime break, when the players were resting, disagreements arose among the Lakers coaching team.

The current situation is basically out of their control. In the two quarters of the first half, except for the adjustments in the opening stage, the rest of the game basically relied on the players' independent performance. Long and short timeouts and official timeouts only served the purpose of substitutions.

In this regard, Budenholzer, who is under Popovich, thinks that it is better to play like this, step by step, and wait for the opponent to make mistakes first.

There was a time when old Bickerstaff was his assistant coach and he also liked to be adaptable. Those weird ideas that came up out of nowhere were really attractive.

But after old Bickerstaff retired with two rings, none of the assistant coaches who followed had the same adaptability ideas as old Bickerstaff that could make him shine, so he returned to Popovich's inherent style.

Mike Brown supports Budenholzer's idea. After all, when he was the head coach, he didn't have much say on the court. To put it in a positive way, he is also a coach who can respond to changes with the same attitude.

Kobe and Gentry felt that they couldn't just stand there and watch, and they had to come up with some way to help their players.

Budenholzer can understand both of them. Gentry is good at running and gunning, and he always thinks about how to suppress the opponent on the offensive end. He can't stand this state of having no offensive advantage. Kobe has played under the Zen Master for many years and is used to actively thinking and responding when encountering problems. Naturally, he supports Gentry's ideas.

However, the idea proposed by Gentry was not a safe one - speeding up and catching the opponent off guard.

If the role players don't have a good touch, with the Warriors' ability to retreat and double-team, they might collapse first.

After Zhang Yang finished peeing, he returned to the locker room and heard three coaches and guest stars arguing. He surrounded them as a spectator...but was pulled over to be the referee.

After listening to the opinions expressed by Budenholzer and Gentry, Zhang Yang thought for a while and responded, "I also think we should make some adjustments. If we continue to play like this, we will actually suffer more. Our inside players who can pass the ball are not as good as the opponent. We can see it from the mistakes. The opponent only had one mistake in the first quarter, while we had two. In the second quarter, the opponent had two mistakes, while we had four. Almost all of them were mistakes in the connection between the inside and outside lines."

Kobe's mouth curled up when he heard that. As expected, Zhang Yang stood on his side.

But Zhang Yang didn't finish his words: "But I don't support speeding up. Positional warfare is our advantage. No team's lineup is more suitable for running than the Warriors... I think we should change our positional warfare style. It's very simple, like this, like this..."

After hearing Zhang Yang's ideas, the four coaches had different reactions.

Mike Brown: It has nothing to do with me.

Gentry: It would be better not to ask you to be the referee. It would be better to continue playing it safe. The head coach will definitely not agree.

As soon as this thought came to his mind, he saw Budenholzer's eyes lit up!

Budenholzer: This is the kind of workaround I was looking for that would make my eyes light up!
Ignoring the two assistant coaches and guest stars, Budenholzer pulled Zhang Yang aside to discuss the details of the response. After two minutes of discussion, he called Gentry over to provide ideas for interspersed running and coordination. After all, Gentry is responsible for the tactical running. Stars can adapt to the situation, but for role players, their running habits must be taken into consideration.

Kobe was silent for a long time, and then took the initiative to participate... Although the situation was different from what he expected, Zhang Yang at least supported the change.

But it's so unpleasant to have no decision-making power! He has only been retired for less than a year, and when it comes to deciding the direction of the game, no one cares about him.

It is impossible for him to make a comeback as his body has become slack after a year and it is impossible for him to return to the state before retirement. He is glad that he took a break for more than half a year after the All-Star Weekend in 13. Although the surgery caused his running and jumping abilities to decline, at least he was not unable to train due to injuries to key parts such as his Achilles tendon, cruciate ligament, rotator cuff, etc. which were almost broken at the time, which led to the waste of both his body and skills.

This time when he came back to help the team fight against the Warriors, he found that he really couldn't leave the court. Even though he could no longer be a player, he still wanted to be involved.

Being a head coach? He is very good at this. He knows that his thinking on the court has never been separated from the players' state.

He decided to work as an assistant coach to gain experience and lay a solid foundation before seeking the position of head coach. This pragmatic approach was more in line with his personality, but he couldn't bring himself to do it.

Old Blacksmith: How about I also raise money to buy a basketball team?

Unfortunately, the golden period for buying a team has passed. Now the broadcasting fees have skyrocketed and the prices of NBA teams have increased many times. Unless I sign a contract to sell myself, I can't get that much money.

But you can invest money in the consortium that buys the team and become a shareholder, and get a position of real management or real consultant? Gather a few years of experience and coach the team yourself?
Kobe, who has been exploring entrepreneurial ideas since his retirement, couldn't stop after coming up with this idea...

(End of this chapter)