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Chapter 121 Three-round Finals (5000-word chapter, begging for monthly subscription!)
On the first attack of the game, Davis chased Paul and broke into the Jazz's penalty area with the help of Qin Yue's screen, and then completed a one-handed slam dunk against Okur.

The two-month rest allowed Davis to get his physical condition back to its best.

But the main reason that made this "boast king" go berserk was
Or it was Mike Malone's adjustments to the Warriors' starting lineup after the All-Star Weekend, and Davis' gradual understanding of the opponent's tactical concepts.

This is different from last season when the Warriors needed Davis to control his desire to shoot, assist Qin Yue, and work with him to launch attacks on the court.

Under Malone's tactical system, the Warriors need Davis to increase their offensive desire.

Especially after Qin Yue was officially promoted to the core player.
Whether it is Artest or Davis, they can get a lot of "simple ball" opportunities on the court.

At the beginning of the regular season, Artest once thought that Malone was going to deprive him of the right to hold the ball and play one-on-one. Why did he stop crying and making a fuss as the season progressed?

Because reducing inefficient ball-holding offense never means eliminating the need for ball-holding offense.

On the court, once Qin Yue turns on the commander mode, how could he not need his teammates to charge and kill on his behalf?

Before being injured, Davis boasted to his teammates and coaches that he would be able to understand the essence of Malone's tactics in just one week. However, it was not until he was recovering from his injury that he truly understood the tactical logic of Mike Malone.

Simply put it is.
If Davis still plays the game according to the same mindset as last season.
His inefficient ball-holding offense was greatly reduced, and he not only had to roam around the perimeter for a long time, but also used his three-point shooting, which was not stable throughout his career, to provide support to his teammates.

Moreover, since Malone's tactics are mostly initiated by inside players in high positions, or by wing players on both sides through screens,
Therefore, you can fully understand that before his injury, Davis had already become a spectator in many of the Warriors' offensive rounds.

In fact, as early as December last year, Davis adjusted his condition.

Otherwise, even if his teammate is Qin Yue.
It would also be difficult for him to compete fiercely with Nash in the All-Star voting.

However, it was not until this injury that Davis deeply realized what role Malone wanted him to play.

After the star weekend.
Mike Malone promoted Troy Murphy to the starting lineup and ended the suspense of whether the Warriors should use Brown or Biedrins as the starting center.
It is through his madness that he provides Davis with unprecedented room to play.

In early February, Murphy, who had just returned from injury and cooperated well with Qin Yue on the court, suddenly gave Ma Long an extremely bold idea.

This idea kept tempting Malone, and he officially put it into action after the All-Star Weekend.

Murphy's weakness is his defense.

But for the Warriors who often use zone defense in the game, with Qin Yue responsible for sweeping
As long as Murphy can interrupt the opponent's offensive momentum by fouling in the necessary rounds, why should the Warriors be so afraid of other teams attacking Murphy's defensive weakness?

On the court, the Jazz's offensive round.

Murphy first harassed Okur in the high post, then retreated to the basket to block the position for Qin Yue, and helped the opponent grab the backcourt rebound, perfectly playing the role of a blue-collar tool man.

On the sidelines, watching Murphy who was "profiting from the conflict between the two", at this moment, the feelings of Brown and Biedrins could only be described as extremely complicated.

Back to the Warriors' turn to attack.

Murphy, who could stand in a high position to receive the ball and help the team transition, successfully liberated Qin Yue.

After moving up to the right side at a 45-degree angle to receive the ball and passing it to Davis through a hand-to-hand pass, Qin Yue, who was following up along the middle, received a pass from Davis and made a layup.

The Warriors' two offensives at the beginning of tonight's game made coach Sloan frown.

Compared to the match in early February, Sloan found that the Warriors, with all their players in place, had clearly stepped up a notch in terms of offensive firepower.

Davis is in great form.

Murphy's entry into the starting lineup liberates Qin and Yue.

Qin Yue, in turn, used his own attractiveness to create "easy ball" opportunities for his teammates.

Mike Malone has quietly, through experimentation and adjustment, built this Warriors team into the most powerful offensive team in the current era.

And compared to last season.
Qin Yue, who was never satisfied with being just a data brush, used his obsession with defense to make Sloan feel the progress he had made on defense.

In the first quarter, Qin Yue, who was facing Boozer, did not increase the intensity of his defense every time.

Fighting and retreating is certainly Boozer's label.

But in fact, Boozer's main scoring method is to use pick-and-roll to fall into the low post and then put the ball into the basket with solid basic skills.

Throughout his career, Boozer's finishes at the basket accounted for 40% of his shots.

This season, the proportion is close to 50%.

Therefore, in the process of Boozer's frequent promotion to high positions, Qin Yue would often only interfere.

Even if the opponent could punish his defensive strategy with his signature shoulder shot, Qin Yue would remain unmoved.

Only when Boozer tries to fall into a deep low position to launch an attack, Qin Yue will immediately confront him and suppress Boozer's attack with his talent.

This is exactly the defensive technique that Qin Yue learned from Marion.

That is, the main purpose is not to defend the opponent to death, but to disrupt the opponent's overall offensive rhythm by limiting the opponent's comfortable scoring on the court.

On the court, facing Qin Yue in the low post four times, Boozer earned a total of two free throws, blocked Qin Yue's two shots, and missed a shot due to Qin Yue's strong interference.

Under Qin Yue's defense, Boozer not only played extremely uncomfortably in the first quarter, but also after his best offensive style was repeatedly resolved by Qin Yue, Boozer's subsequent shoulder-mounted shots to a high position were inevitably affected.

In a basketball game, every player has his or her best way of scoring.

Throughout his career, Boozer's long two-point shooting percentage is around 41%.

As for Boozer's production of long two-pointers, once he is unable to use the offensive method he is better at and which is also his main source of scoring to obtain stable points in the game, he will not be able to kill the Warriors with long two-pointers alone.

Of course, the reason why Qin Yue was able to put so much energy into the defensive end tonight was also related to the fact that Davis beat Paul half to death.

In the game, Paul learned some tricks from Stockton, but in the face of Davis' violent breakthrough, he was completely powerless, or at least he was overwhelmed.

Davis, who is able to defeat Paul with his strength, can crush all of Paul's tricks in an instant as long as he finds a breakthrough space with the help of Qin Yue's cover.

Just like in martial arts novels, no matter how many moves Huang Yaoshi has, he still has to use all his internal energy to fight with Hong Qigong who uses the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms.

As long as Paul doesn't have this true energy, he will definitely be defeated by Davis.

In addition, it must be stated on Paul's behalf that
Historically, even in that series where the Jazz eliminated the Golden State Gang with a big score of 4 to 1, Deron Williams could only be beaten by Davis, the violent motorcycle.

At that time, facing Davis, who averaged 50 points per game for the Warriors with a hit rate of nearly 25%, Deron, whose overall shooting percentage was only 38.7%, was lucky enough to get through by relying on his brothers.

If Qin Yue remembered correctly, the reason why the Warriors lost to the Jazz in that run-and-gun battle was mainly because Stephen Jackson's overall shooting percentage was less than 30%.

Influenced by the Jazz's overly transparent presence and their own overly low profile, Andrei Kirilenko, who was only selected to the All-Defensive Team three times in his entire career, was the real winner of the series for the Jazz.

In that series, Kirilenko, who averaged 3.2 blocks per game, not only turned the famous "Martial Saint" into a useless thing that anyone would want to kick to death.
Moreover, he even has enough energy to help Boozer and Okur complete the mopping-up work that they are not good at.

However.
Compared to that crap Stephen Jackson.

Due to Qin Yue's presence, Kirilenko was unable to help his teammates through assisting defense as he usually did.

therefore
Chris Paul tonight
How can it be described with just one word "miserable"?
After the first quarter, the scoreboard showed 24 to 32.

Paul made 4 of 1 shots and scored a total of 2 points and 3 assists.

Davis, who played against him, scored 12 points, 3 rebounds and 4 assists.

As we all know, in the NBA, even if the positions on the court are the same, during the actual game, the players in the same position on both sides do not necessarily face off.

Because many teams will switch defense
To ensure that the core players of their team can avoid the opponent's offensive core on the field.

But most of the time, some matchups are destined to be unable to be changed by switching defenses. Take this game as an example, even without Qin Yue, the Jazz can only use Paul to match up with Davis.

Because Kirilenko, who has the strongest defensive ability in the Jazz, is 206 cm tall when wearing shoes.

No matter how strong his one-on-one defensive ability is, it is only aimed at the forwards in the same position as him, not point guards like Davis who suddenly appear and don't talk to you at all.

In the Jazz's normal games, except for encountering those bad guys, Paul has been the most reliable perimeter defensive player of the Jazz.

So Paul has no way of avoiding this confrontation with Davis.

Originally, Paul, who was beaten unilaterally by Davis, could still get back his form through offensive coordination and by relying on his brothers' thighs like Deron.

Can.
On the premise that Davis can support the Warriors' offense, Qin Yue has already tortured Kirilenko and Boozer to death in offense and defense tonight.

Historically, when Deron played poorly, the Jazz were able to defeat the Warriors with a big score of 4 to 1, thanks to Kirilenko's restriction of Jackson and the outstanding performance of Boozer and Okur.

But in the subsequent Western Conference Finals where the Jazz lost 1-4 to the Spurs, Deron, who averaged 25.8 points and 7.8 assists per game for the Jazz, had to accept the fate of failure with the team.

why?
Because the Spurs' inside line, led by Duncan, had already revealed the Jazz's weaknesses to the world through one offensive and defensive round after another - they are a team that lacks the ability to solve tough problems.

In the game, as long as Boozer faces a power forward who can reduce his efficiency, the Jazz will expose their weakness of lacking the ability to solve tough situations in crucial rounds.

Under normal circumstances, Paul can also use his rhythm to pull up and provide the Jazz with this tough solution in certain rounds.

But what can be done? Both he and Boozer met their nemesis tonight?

In the second quarter, the Warriors sent out Brown and Biedrins at the same time.

These two inside players who lacked independent offensive capabilities allowed Mike Dunleavy to enjoy the treatment of future Stephen Curry more than ten years in advance.

On the court, watching the Jazz players who always gave up on defending Brown and Biedrins and rushed straight towards him
Dunleavy didn't know what sin he had committed to deserve to appear on the stage with these two "Crouching Dragon and Phoenix".

And the most ridiculous thing is that after they hit a difficult catch-and-shoot jumper for the Warriors, these two brothers were busy taking credit.
Don’t they know that it is because they always bring people to double-team them that they were forced to complete the shot against the defender just now?
In the first half of the second quarter, Dunleavy, who was exhausted both physically and mentally, had never missed Murphy so much.

As for the Warriors bench, Malone is also ready to wait until the end of this season to readjust the Warriors lineup.

In Malone's view, in addition to adding an inside player with supporting ability to rotate with Murphy, the Warriors are destined to only be able to choose to keep one between Biedrins and Brown.

just
Due to the personal relationship between Brown, Biedrins and Qin Yue, Malone had not made things clear.

Ma Long knew very well that for a star player of Qin Yue's status, no matter what the reason was for him to adjust the lineup, he had to communicate with him in advance.

otherwise
There is a high chance that he will become a head coach who needs to find a new job the next day.

In the second half of the second quarter, Qin Yue and Davis returned to the court.

It is worth mentioning that Paul's personal collapse did not cause the Jazz's entire team to collapse.

Jerry Sloan, who had strict military discipline, wisely gave up on confronting the Warriors head-on in subsequent games.

By actively slowing down the pace of the game, being more patient in organizing the offense, and continuously improving the defensive intensity, the Jazz still had a chance to win the game until the fourth quarter.

Following last year's success in winning the championship.
This Warriors team has not only transformed in temperament, but also in playing habits, they have successfully acquired those bad habits that are very characteristic of strong teams.

The NBA has 82 regular season games a year, and no team can follow every instruction and take every game seriously like the military does.

Therefore, Mike Malone could only acquiesce to the Warriors players' behavior of "feeling uncomfortable if they don't play wildly" on the court.

However, in the fourth quarter, the Warriors relied on the last 17 points scored by Qin Yue and Davis, and finally won the game at home by "slow cooking over low heat and simmering over high heat".

The final score was 101 to 114.

Davis played his strongest game of the season, scoring a total of 35 points, 8 rebounds, 8 assists and 3 steals for the Warriors.

秦岳轻松砍下“30+”三双，总计斩获31分14篮板11助攻3封盖1抢断。

As for Qin Yue’s good brother Chris Paul?

After the game, when the players from both teams were shaking hands and hugging each other, Qin Yue asked everyone he met: "Have you seen my good brother Chris Paul?"

In the game, Paul, who mysteriously disappeared, scored a total of 8 points, 5 rebounds and 8 assists.

As for Qin Yue's ugly post-match face, being furious and frustrated was undoubtedly the most realistic portrayal of Paul's post-match performance that night.

But Paul needn't be too sad.
Because next, in the Warriors' March journey
Baron Davis, who stabbed Kidd with a knife, killed Nash with his own hands, punched Deron, and stepped on Parker, has basically abused all the well-known point guards of the current era.

For this reason, Anthony Lester, a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, described Davis' performance since his comeback: "Baron used his actions to tell the world how angry he was for missing the All-Star Weekend due to injury."

Throughout March, Davis averaged 27.4 points, 6.8 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game for the Warriors. (The data here only includes March)

The outstanding performance of the first generation of Mr. Beard enabled the Warriors to successfully overtake the Suns and ascend to the top of the Western Conference after the end of March.

Moreover, this super guard who suddenly went berserk also threw a century-old problem to the Warriors' next opponent.

If one Qin Yue is already a headache
Add to that Davis who is in great form.
Facing the Warriors' wave after wave of non-stop, tsunami-like attacks in the game, how can we defeat them?

In April, with the world's doubts, the Cleveland Cavaliers, who dominated the Eastern Conference, arrived in Oakland under the leadership of LeBron James.

As the No. 1 team in the Eastern Conference, they will face the Warriors, who have just climbed to No. 1 in the Western Conference, in the second and final game of the regular season at Oracle Arena.

Although the two teams met last year, James and the Cavaliers suffered a complete defeat.

But the tenacious Cleveland team finally recovered from that devastating execution.

Before the game, the Cleveland Plain Dealer hyped up the upcoming East-West Conference battle by saying, "Last year's matchup is no longer of any reference value.

It turns out that LeBron just needed time to get used to his new teammates.”

Before this game starts
The Cavaliers have won 53 games, just four less than the Warriors, who are first in the Western Conference.

Although the difficulty of the Eastern and Western Conferences this season is not the same, with James leading the Cavaliers to win waves of games in the East after the All-Star Weekend, Qin Yue, another major competitor for the regular season MVP this year,
There is every reason to believe that after several months of growth, "Young James" and his increasingly tacit Kings Guards are ready to defeat the defending champions.

This is the most interesting part of competitive sports.

——Great success can always make people forget the painful past in an instant.

And
As James led the Cavaliers to fight more and more bravely in the final stage of the regular season.
After the unexpected turn of events, those bigwigs who had previously intended to build the confrontation between Qin Yue and James into the "great competition" of the 21st century also discovered
James, who always picks himself up after failure, has objectively started the "great competition" that they have been dreaming of.

After all, no matter how big the difference in difficulty is between the Eastern and Western schedules, at least the Cavaliers are first in the East at the moment, and the Warriors, whom they are about to challenge, are first in the West.

If the dialogue between the first in the Eastern Conference and the first in the Western Conference cannot be called a "great competition", then what kind of confrontation can be called a "great competition"?
The Cavaliers arrived in Oakland early on April Fools' Day so that they could be in the best condition for the top battle between the East and the West on the evening of April 4.

On the same day, after reviewing the Cavaliers' recent games, Warriors head coach Mike Malone changed the label he originally gave to this game, which was "all-out", to "casual play".

This is not an April Fools' joke.

But in Mike Malone's view
The upcoming Western Conference playoffs will be a true three-round finals.

As for breaking out of the Western Conference after three rounds of finals?

"I don't want to say that we've already defended our title just by getting out of the West this year, but I think that's the truth."

Malone said this in the last training session before the Warriors and Cavaliers game.

……

PS: 5000-word chapter, begging for subscriptions and monthly tickets!
(End of this chapter)