On May 19, the first game of the Western Conference Finals between the Warriors and the Mavericks started at the American Airlines Center.

After the pre-match activities, the referee blew the whistle to signal the starting players of both teams to come to the center circle and prepare to jump the ball.

The lineup sent by the Warriors is: Morrow, Sun Yi, Battier, David Lee, Chandler.

The Mavericks did not make personnel adjustments and sent out a starting lineup of Kidd, Stevenson, Marion, Nowitzki, and Dayao.

In the jump ball session, Yao easily defeated Chandler and gave the Mavericks the first opportunity to attack.

Kidd dribbled the ball forward, came to the frontcourt to organize the offense, and directed his teammates' movements.

Nowitzki understood this and ran towards the mid-range area on the right, taking away his defender and emptying the penalty area.

Dayao immediately came to the low post on the left side, leaning against Chandler and reaching for the ball.

The Mavericks' offense was very clear, taking the lead to open up the situation from the inside.

After Kidd saw that Yao was trying to get a good position, he quickly lobbed the ball over.

Dayao received the pass and saw that other Warriors players did not step forward to help defend against the double team. He pushed his back a few times to the left edge of the penalty area, pushed away Chandler, turned over and hit a jumper.

The Warriors quickly hit the baseline and launched a run and gun.

Teams with Yao Yao on their team cannot engage in positional warfare and must speed up their offensive pace.

Sun Yi dribbled the ball to the top of the arc, continuously changed directions, shook Marion away, and broke through into the penalty area.

The Mavericks players who returned from defense immediately retreated towards the basket to defend.

After Sun Yi attracted the defense, he distributed the ball.

Morrow received the pass in the left corner and immediately took off to shoot.

"when!"

The basketball bounced out of the frame and missed!

Resting for a long time has indeed affected the condition of some players.

Yao rushed back to the basket to grab the rebound and passed it to Kidd to advance.

After Kidd caught the ball, he kept his pace and waited for his teammates to run into the frontcourt and get into position.

Dayao once again ran to the left and blocked in the low post to reach the basketball.

At the same time, Sun Yi quickly retreated into the penalty area and stepped forward to help defend and double-team Dayao.

Facing a double team, Yao calmly handled the ball and passed it to Kidd who stepped forward to respond.

Kidd received the pass and immediately passed it to the right corner.

Marion received the pass and hit a three-pointer.

Under the basket, Chandler picked up the basketball on the floor, quickly exited the baseline, and quickly sent the ball out.

After catching the ball, Sun Yi accelerated toward the frontcourt, reached outside the three-point line, picked it up, and threw the basketball in his hand.

The basketball flew out of the basket and missed!

"The whole Warriors team didn't feel good at the beginning. It seems they are in trouble."

In the live commentary box, gold medal commentator Mike Breen analyzed the situation on the field for the fans.

On the court, David Lee rushed into the penalty area, grabbed an offensive rebound under the attack of Dayao and Nowitzki, and then passed the ball out.

Sun Yi followed up and received the pass. When the Mavericks players failed to defend in time, he made a jump shot and broke the scoring drought.

In the next few rounds, the two sides fought back and forth.

The Mavericks mainly played inside, allowing Dayao to ravage Chandler in the low post again and again.

Eating, sleeping and beating Chandler really deserves his reputation!

The Warriors had long anticipated such a situation and decisively double-teamed Dayao.

The Mavericks also anticipated that the Warriors would do this and formulated a game-breaking plan before the game.

When Dayao encounters a double-team, Kidd will step forward to respond in time, while other Mavericks players quickly move without the ball.

Through the transition of Kidd, a passing master, he can always pass the ball to the best position.

Facing the Mavericks' powerful offensive firepower, the Warriors simply couldn't defend themselves, but their offense was not affected.

The Warriors mainly used run-and-gun tactics in this game. Taking advantage of the Mavericks' unsteady foothold, they took decisive shots whenever an opportunity arose.

If they fail to use run-and-gun tactics and fall into a positional battle, the Warriors will switch to singles tactics.

Morrow and Shane Battier moved outside to open up space for Sun Yi.

David Lee is ambushing in the mid-range area, always ready to catch the ball and shoot.

Chandler ran outside the three-point line and cooperated with Sun Yi in a pick-and-roll.

After Sun Yi bypassed the pick-and-roll, he broke into the three-point line and either directly played in singles, or attracted the defense and then shot the ball to assist his teammates to score.

The Mavericks also struggled to limit the Warriors' scoring.

In this way, both sides launched an offensive, but no one took advantage.

After the first quarter, the score on the big screen was 25-28, with the Mavericks temporarily leading by 3 points.

After the start of the second quarter, the Mavericks continued the style of play in the first quarter, except that Nowitzki replaced Dayao in singles.

Good guy! This is the rhythm of one person playing one quarter!

Sun Yi looked at the Mavericks' solid lineup with envious eyes.

It’s so cool to have two bug-level single points!

The Warriors still had no choice but to attack and hold on to the score.

Just like that, the half ended and the Mavericks led by 8 points heading into the second half.

After a short 15-minute intermission, the second half of the game began.

As soon as the game started in the third quarter, the Warriors increased their defensive intensity and strengthened their physical confrontation.

This adjustment did pay off and did not allow the Mavericks to score as easily as they did in the first half.

But the Warriors dropped the ball at the critical moment, collectively misaligned on the perimeter, and missed a good opportunity to chase points.

In fact, the Warriors rely heavily on outside three-pointers. If the outside is not open, it will affect other offensive tactics.

In this way, in the third quarter, the shooting percentages of both teams dropped, and the baskets were banging.

Players from both sides turned into "basket quality inspectors" and presented a hearty ironing feast to the audience in front of the TV and the fans at the scene.

At the end of the third quarter, the Warriors recovered 2 points and fell behind by 6 points entering the fourth quarter.

Not long after, the inter-quarter break ended and the fourth quarter began.

The Warriors still maintained their defensive intensity in the third quarter, consuming the energy of the Mavericks players.

When the game lasted for about 6 minutes in the fourth quarter, Sun Yi thought that Nowitzki, Dayao and others had almost exhausted their physical energy, and it was his turn to take over the game.

But what Sun Yi didn't expect was that the hot man suddenly broke out.

Nowitzki, who only scored 16 points in the first three quarters, exerted his strength and showed his terrifying scoring ability as the king of the final quarter.

In the remaining 5 minutes or so, he was on full fire, scoring 10 points in a row, helping the Mavericks maintain a slim lead.

On the Warriors' side, Sun Yi was also unstoppable, scoring 12 consecutive points like a chopping machine.

But they couldn't prevent the Mavericks from scoring, so they couldn't take the lead.

The Warriors immediately made adjustments and stepped forward to double-team Nowitzki.

At this time, the old guy Kidd came out again to attack in series and successfully suppressed the Warriors' counterattack.

The Mavericks relied on Nowitzki's superb performance at critical moments and Kidd's coordinated attack to drive the team's offense, maintaining their lead until the end.
Chapter completed!