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Chapter 125 The Impatient Defending Champion (Additional chapter 2/2 for the East Street Old Cat Alliance! Please subscribe!)
Warriors head coach Mike Malone changed the team's defensive setup in Game 5.

Relying on Qin Yue's rim protection ability and Brown and Artest's height and defensive ability, the Warriors, who no longer focus on double-team defense, caused great damage to the Nuggets' offense from the outside, who were trying to gamble with three-pointers.

George Karl's crazy experiment suffered a heavy blow this night.

Under the current defensive standards, coupled with the fact that this year's playoffs already allow for more aggressive defensive strategies, unless the opponent keeps playing zone defense in the game,
Otherwise, the Nuggets will inevitably face a very realistic problem in the game - how can they complete more than 40 three-point shots under the opponent's high-pressure defense?

Perhaps in the eyes of bystanders, Malone, who did not make adjustments until the fifth game of this series, reacted too slowly.

But given that the Warriors were eager to win this series with minimal losses before the game,
Therefore, in the previous four games, they always adopted a zone defense to deal with Carl's crazy experiments, which is understandable.

Moreover, the Warriors lost the third game only because they underestimated their opponent. How could they have expected that all the Nuggets players would cheat in the fourth game?
During the timeout, Billups hoped that the Nuggets could speed up actively. The main purpose was to find gaps for three-point shots in a faster game rhythm.

This proactive adjustment helped Al Harrington find an opportunity for a three-pointer from the outside after the timeout.

On the right side of the court, Harrington received the pass from Billups and shot a three-pointer without hesitation.

Harrington's three-pointer gave Carl hope to continue the experiment.

But when the Nuggets wanted to complete the shot in the same way, Qin Yue, who rotated to the outside line at the first time, almost caused Anthony, who had just received the pass from his teammate, to make a mistake.

On the court, seeing that there was no space for a three-point shot, Anthony held the basketball firmly, shook Qin Yue's center of gravity with a probing step, cut to the other side with the ball, and confidently completed the shot in the two-point area at the baseline.

This is Anthony's signature offense, and it is also the premise for Karl to conduct this crazy experiment - the high-frequency impact of the young version of Melo on the basket and the no-dead-angle shots in the long two-point area can always force the opponent to retreat to the defense line.

However, at the moment when Anthony finished shooting, the huge monster suddenly appeared in front of him.
But it made Anthony shudder subconsciously.

The "DPOY" title that Qin Yue won last season was indeed compensatory in nature.

However, this season, Qin Yue, who has always been obsessed with becoming a top defensive player, is no longer the same person he was last season.

It was true that Anthony had just deceived Qin Yue's center of gravity, but before Anthony shot, Qin Yue still used his extremely fast speed and amazing agility to cause strong interference to the opponent's shot.

Swish!
Anthony, who luckily made the jump shot, frowned immediately - as early as last summer's "God's Chosen Training Camp", Anthony had felt the horror of his good brother when he was defending seriously.

And, unfortunately for Anthony,
Qin Yue is probably the player in the league today who knows his playing habits best.

Because while "Melo Teacher" taught Qin Yue his offensive skills without reservation, he also indirectly taught him his offensive logic and even his weaknesses.
Tell Qin Yue everything.

In this defensive round of the Warriors, it was no accident that Qin Yue rotated in front of Anthony.

But after the previous four battles, Qin Yue knew very well that if he wanted to contain Anthony, he would have to go into battle himself.

This is another defensive arrangement that the Warriors changed tonight by adjusting their offense.

That is, increase the firing rights of Davis who is in hot form, so that Qin Yue can devote more energy on the defensive end.

The Warriors have the ball. Davis uses Qin Yue's screen to break into the inside and makes a reverse layup against Ben's assist.

Looking back, looking at Qin Yue who had taken the initiative to rotate in front of Anthony again, Billups' expression became more solemn.

Billups has been an observant point guard throughout his career.

In his eyes, compared to Qin Yue's well-known offensive influence
The most troublesome thing is the improvement shown by the opponent after fully devoting themselves to the defensive end.

A more active defense will certainly lead to a decrease in Qin Yue's offensive output.

But if Anthony cannot give the Warriors a corresponding response on the offensive end, it means that the Nuggets will lose their main source of offensive firepower.

In the game, try to increase the difficulty of the Nuggets' three-point shots as much as possible, reduce their three-point shooting frequency, and sacrifice some of Qin Yue's offensive abilities in exchange for effective restrictions on Anthony.

The adjustments made by the Warriors on both offense and defense have already pushed the Nuggets into a desperate situation.

Of course, basketball is not a math problem, and in reality the Nuggets may also hit unscientific three-pointers like they did in Game 4.

But if low-probability events happen every day
That miracle shouldn't be called a miracle.

On the court, Anthony, whose intention was discovered by Qin Yue, missed the shot. Davis, who got the rebound, immediately launched a fast break.

Qin Yue quickly followed up and slammed the ball with one hand after receiving the pass from Davis.

Immediately after
In the subsequent confrontations with Qin Yue, Anthony also exposed another weakness of his.

Why can't Anthony, whose offensive skills are so comprehensive that they can even be described as gorgeous, radiate the entire court like Qin Yue?
Because everyone knows that Anthony's three threats are actually only two threats.

Moreover, Anthony, who has long played without the pass button, can still pass the ball.
Most of them are based on simple breakthroughs and passes.

Therefore, once Anthony can't use his skills to get rid of Qin Yue and get an easy shot, he can only gamble.
He can make those difficult jump shots, and can put the damn basketball into the hoop in the Warriors' penalty area despite Qin Yue's defense or Brown's help defense.

This kind of difficult attack will inevitably reduce Anthony's scoring efficiency.

After all, no matter how strong the impact of the young version of Melon is, he is not the kind of guard player who will only give the opponent a small chance to play big even if Qin Yue switches defense.

So, at the end of the first quarter, the score was 17 to 29.

During the intermission, Karl was seen yelling angrily at the Nuggets' outside players whose three-point shooting attempts were far from meeting the target.

But in response, Billups gave Karl a "sneak peek".

"Shut up! Don't you realize that it's not that we don't want to shoot three-pointers, but that the Warriors blocked our three-point shooting angle?"

Karl, who was criticized by Billups, immediately responded: "Then why can the Warriors do it? They can take nearly 30 three-pointers in every game?"

Billups, who felt that Karl had lost his mind because of madness, sighed: "Because the Warriors can always force opponents to use zone defense in the game."

The next second, Carl gradually recovered from that crazy state.

Billups hit on the key point.

In the current era, the reason why the Warriors can break the limitations of three-pointers brought by defensive standards is that they can always force their opponents to use one-on-four combos in the game.

Since one-on-four defense is essentially a zone defense
That's why the Warriors' outside shooters can enjoy the good life with Qin Yue all day long.

Now, it's not just Billups who feels Qin Yue's historic dominance.

After recognizing the reality
George Karl gradually realized why he thought the Warriors were very similar to the Bulls team of that year.

Because of Qin Yue's existence.
This means that no matter what tactical adjustments you make, they will be subject to corresponding restrictions.

This is another manifestation of Qin Yue's ruling power.

Nuggets bench.

Calming down, Karl took out the tactical board and rearranged the Nuggets' offensive tactics. How to describe the Nuggets who adjusted their offensive tactics?
Simply put, even the future Rockets team known for "Xia Ji's dominance" had a well-organized offense compared to them.

However, Karl's tactical adjustment, called "Shaggy Domination", was fully recognized by Billups.

Because.
The only possibility for the Nuggets to win right now is to defeat the master with random punches.

"What the hell, which bastard said that this Warriors team is a 'single-core' team?"

On the sidelines, Carl, who had made a desperate attempt, thought indignantly.

Are the Warriors a single-core team?

of course not.

After all, which single-core team can be like the Warriors, who not only have a top ball-handling core, but also a super guard who can break through the opponent's defense at any time on the court?

Baron Davis's superb form since recovering from injury has undoubtedly greatly liberated Qin Yue.

And
Artest before his offense declined and Richardson who can kill you at any time when he gets crazy, can finally create a giant again.

Add to that the Warriors' bench, which is as good as any other team in this era.
"Humble LeBron" was not wrong before
This Warriors team is truly a super team.

However, Qin Yue's own brilliance makes this Warriors look like a single-core team.

On the court, the Nuggets' desperate fight ended in failure.

90:110.

The Warriors returned to Oracle Arena and won the crucial Game 5 under the witness of the never-ending golden wave on the scene.

A day later, the two teams' sixth game moved to the Pepsi Center in Denver.

Before the game, the Nuggets fans who were hoping that the team could continue to perform miracles after returning to their home court could only be described as wailing.

Even a date with his female fan Scarlett Johansson couldn't stop Qin Yue from going berserk in the sixth match.

In the game, facing Big Ben in the low post, Qin Yue even played the same famous scene as Yao Ming did back then - when "Big Ben" was driven away by Qin Yue's extremely tough back-to-back impact, at that moment, Big Ben just wanted to say, why is it always him who gets hurt?
With the referee's special care, Anthony's touch improved in this game, and he scored a total of 33 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists.

但在秦岳的45分11篮板7助攻3封盖1抢断面前，安东尼依旧只能俯首称臣。

After the game, Qin Yue, who had to rush to another date, said in an interview: "I don't care who our next opponent is. I only care that we have successfully found ourselves after passing the first round of the playoffs."

In this series against the Nuggets, Qin Yue unexpectedly lost two games due to underestimating the opponent and the opponent's runaway form, but this was not a bad thing in his opinion.

Overall, the Warriors, who were forced to play two more games, gained valuable lessons from it.

As for the physical loss that playing two more games will cause to the Warriors?
Excuse me.
The Warriors, who eliminated the Nuggets with a big score of 4-2, are the team that made it through the first round of the Western Conference playoffs this year with the easiest effort.

The Suns' over-investment in the regular season has greatly affected their playoff journey this year.

The first six battles are over.
The Suns and the Jazz, who have each won three games, will face the Jazz in a game seven at the US Airlines Center.

The Supersonics, who were leading 3-1 but were tied 3-3 by the Lakers, made the same mistake as the Warriors.

As I said, in competitive sports, the so-called underestimation of the enemy does not mean that you can do so just because you want to.

Because humans can never be as emotionless as robots.

Next, the Supersonics will play a tiebreaker with the Lakers at KeyArena for another semifinal ticket.

On the other hand, the Texas civil war between the Mavericks and the Spurs also went to the seventh game.

Although the Mavericks were completely defeated by the Warriors in terms of playing style, they were indeed a top team in the Western Conference during this period.

Moreover, Kidd, who was traded to the Mavericks in advance, was always able to stop General Johnson from replacing Nowitzki with Josh Howard at critical moments.

This year, except for the Warriors vs. Nuggets series, the other three rounds of the Western Conference playoffs in the first round will all be decided in seven games.
Therefore, compared with the lessons learned from the first round of the playoffs, the physical loss the Warriors suffered in those two extra games is nothing at all.

"After one of the most brutal game days in history, the West will stage three Game 7s at the same time this year!" - ESPN News Express

“在令人无比信服地以4比0的大比分淘汰奇才后，勒布朗-詹姆斯用他场均30分8篮板8助攻的完美表现，对吉尔伯特-阿里纳斯的赛前评论做出了强有力的回应。”——《克利夫兰老实人报》

"Gilbert Arenas said that the Wizards are indeed inferior this year, but that doesn't mean that LeBron James' buzzer-beater last year was not a traveling move.

The Wizards star said that in the NBA, no one can defend a player who can run around the court with the ball in his arms." - The Washington Post

"In the face of the Pistons' strong defense, Dwight Howard doesn't seem ready to lead the Magic in the playoffs.

After being eliminated with the Magic with a score of 0-4, Dwight admitted that he still needed Patrick Ewing to teach him more offensive skills. "-Orlando Sentinel

"Pat Riley, who led the Heat to a 4-0 win over the Bulls, said that if it weren't for Jermaine O'Neal's timely return, the Heat would have been the team that was swept.

"We were within five points of the Bulls in every game, and Jermaine was definitely the key to our four-game winning streak." - Miami Herald

“德隆-威廉姆斯在第六战为鹰队砍下的25分5篮板10助攻，令他们以4比2的大比分淘汰了猛龙。

After the game, Deron said in an interview, "I am very happy to advance to the semifinals with the team. This is definitely the most wonderful night in my life." - TNT TV live interview

Messiah, who was photographed by reporters dating Scarlett Johansson, denied that he was in a passionate relationship with her and said that he and her were just ordinary friends.

'We just played Texas Hold'em together all night.'

Scarlett Johansson said that Messiah's Texas Hold'em skills were obviously better than she thought. In addition, when asked whether she would start a passionate love affair with Messiah, Scarlett said: "We are really just ordinary friends." - The Sun

Qin Yue never expected that he, who just wanted to find a "card-playing friend" to practice "card skills" with, would be targeted by the famous "Sun".

And most importantly, the other party openly spread rumors that he wanted to fall in love.

For Qin Yue, who only wanted to be a playboy in this life, this undoubtedly greatly damaged his reputation.

So, while waiting for the Warriors' next opponent.
Qin Yue decisively contacted Brooklyn Decker, whom he had met when shooting the cover of Sports Illustrated, and restored his good reputation in the industry through the dating photos of them that were again photographed by The Sun.

In this regard, The New York Times described the new GOAT as follows: "The Messiah, who has been keen on Texas Hold'em recently, is enjoying an extremely leisurely time.

This undoubtedly reminds other Western Conference opponents who need to play a seventh game to decide the winner.
You have to hurry up, the defending champions are getting impatient."

……

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(End of this chapter)