Wang Zelin and Bo Gite jumped the ball. The latter was very self-aware and was unwilling to even make a symbolic struggle. When he saw the referee throwing the ball up, he immediately turned around and participated in the defense.
Just as Curry was retreating to the top of the arc, waiting for Lillard to advance, a big man who rushed like a tank flew past him!
"Gift crab!"
Curry hurriedly chased after him, Wang Zelin came down quickly!
Fortunately, BoGt kept staring at Wang Zelin and blocked him, and together with Curry, they formed a double attack on Wang Zelin who was off the ball.
But Wang Zelin's side is just a cover. Batum, who is coming down from the left, is the real end point. Lillard receives the ball and passes it to Batum, who cuts in from the left side of the lake!
Green had already retreated to the basket, blocking Aldridge who was also going down quickly, and not giving his opponent a chance to attract the defense and feed the cake. Thompson went up to help Barnes stop Batum who received the ball.
At this time, Barton quickly ran from the center line to the right corner. Batum passed the ball to Barton, and Barton received the ball and shot a three-pointer...
As one of the top players in active duty, the Trail Blazers players' adaptability is also among the best in active duty.
Seeing the trick, Button ran out of the open space and hit a three-pointer in the opening game. The Trail Blazers took the lead and led 3:0!
With this shot, Curry felt that he was in big trouble on the defensive end.
According to convention, shouldn't Trail Blazers No. 36 be the first to attack the basket at the start? Why did he play a supporting role as a containment point tonight?
In fact, this is exactly the change that Coach Terry specifically asked Wang Zelin to make in the past few days in order to target the Warriors.
After all, the Warriors are not an ordinary strong team. Under normal circumstances, if Wang Zelin does not break out, it will be difficult to defeat the Warriors on his own.
Therefore, Coach Terry asked Wang Zelin to make changes in the first game of the Western Conference Finals, giving up part of the ball and allowing his teammates to participate in a large number of offenses from the start.
As for him, the work he needs to do in the first three quarters tonight is very simple, that is, support and defense; the real time to exert force will be left to the last quarter.
According to Coach Terry's judgment, this series with the Warriors cannot be as easy as winning the first two rounds. They must be prepared for a protracted battle.
Once there is a protracted game, he is not very worried about the combat effectiveness of the three core players Wang Zelin, Lillard, and Aldridge. Instead, he is most worried about how the role players can maintain their offensive firepower in a long series.
After negotiation, Wang Zelin quickly stated that he agreed to give up some personal data in exchange for greater benefits for the team.
This made Coach Terry very happy.
…
After the game started, Wang Zelin suddenly switched from the main attacker to the defensive gate and high-position beacon. This change caught the Warriors off guard and made Curry feel a little uneasy.
Playing first, Curian endured his inner uneasiness, received the serve and pushed forward at a controlled pace.
When they arrived in the frontcourt, Curry made a tactical gesture, Green came out of the paint area to take the ball, and then observed his position on the court.
At the same time, Curry without the ball cut into the wing and created an off-ball pick-and-roll for Thompson on the same side, forcing Lillard and Patton to switch defenses.
After switching defenses, Green dealt the card to Thompson on the left side of the free throw line. Facing Lillard, who was obviously shorter than himself, Thompson took the ball and shot confidently. The opportunity came out, but he missed the first shot.
Wang Zelin grabbed the rebound and saw the Warriors retreating like a tide. He gave up the fast break and handed it over to Lillard to advance steadily.
In fact, the Warriors are not only one of the best fast-break teams currently active, but they are also one of the best teams at defending their opponents' fast breaks.
Facing such an opponent, the coaching staff decided to give up some slightly risky fast-break tactics after discussing before the game, and chose stability as the priority.
Arriving at the scene, Lillard held the ball at the top of the arc to organize, and Wang Zelin moved under the basket. Seeing that Green and BoGt were about to double-team, he quickly pulled back to the high position, and after receiving the pass, he turned to use a back attack to deal with BoGt.
The reason why I choose to do this is that firstly, I can avoid the opponent's interference method and guard against the opponent's steal; secondly, I can use the wide field of vision to pay attention to the movement of my teammates and be ready to deliver cannonballs at any time.
However, Wang Zelin still underestimated his influence on the game. The extremely fast Green squatted on the left side of the free throw line, and BoGt pushed him behind him... This is so evil!
The terrifying scoring ability of nearly 40 points per game in the playoffs made the Warriors particularly fearful. Kerr gave the team a fatal order before the game: Blazers No. 36 must not be allowed to score easily!
Kerr still remembers that in G6 of last year's Western Conference Finals, he deliberately allowed his players to defend one-on-one to No. 36, only to be beaten by No. 36, who scored the first 65 points in playoff history!
That painful lesson left a shadow in his heart. Anyway, beating him to death would not give Trail Blazers No. 36 another chance to play one-on-one.
In this way, Aldridge was left open. He pulled to the left wing of the paint area to receive the pass in the low post. Green rushed over to defend, but was slow and made a jumper near the basket, missing the two points.
At the beginning, Aldridge felt a little cold.
But it doesn't matter. Wang Zelin relied on his absolute power to hold BOG behind him, and found the right opportunity to directly make up for the dunk.
"Adelaide's choice this time is quite reasonable. He has to shoot when he is open. Anyway, with Zelin on the rebound, he is not afraid of losing it! Besides, a star like him cannot always be so tough. As long as he can seize the open opportunity, the Warriors will
Zelin’s double-teams would not dare to be so bold and bold.”
Zhang Lili shouted.
"Maybe it's because I didn't warm up well enough, my hands were still a little cold, and I didn't see any big open space on the first ball!" Yu Jia said with a smile.
"Fortunately, the king has a rebound. Being able to be a teammate with a rim protector like him is definitely the greatest luck for every shooter!" Xu Jicheng, sitting between the two, agreed.
Looking back, Thompson took advantage of his boss's library to run out of the open space, and the three-pointer hit the net.
If a top shooter like him fails to seize open opportunities, it is almost equivalent to a crime!
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! At 5:3, the Trail Blazers are still in the lead.
Next, Aldridge took another open shot, but unfortunately missed.
This time Wang Zelin failed to grab the offensive rebound. Barnes, who was inserted in the air, protected the backcourt rebound and the Warriors attacked.
"Adelaide's touch is not very good today. You can't always rely on the king to make up for the dunks, right? This is unrealistic..." Teacher Yu Jiajia complained.
At this time, Curry's gravity reappeared. Curry caught the ball in the corner and made a fake shot. He hit Lillard and then cut into the basket, instantly attracting two players from the Trail Blazers to attack. Green at the top of the arc was empty and received the return pass.
Raising your hand is a three-pointer
6:5, the Warriors took the lead by one point.
Perhaps the various highlights of the game in the future affected Wang Zelin's judgment of Green. He just saw Green receiving the ball at the top of the arc and subconsciously slowed down. After Green took the shot, he even planned to turn his head to grab the board.
As a result, he was slapped in the face this time.
In fact, Green's season was definitely the peak period of his career. In the regular season, he went 14, 9, and 7 times and was close to a triple-double. In the playoffs, his scoring and rebounding improved, and he reached a double-double, becoming a proper All-Star level insider.
Even though Green's three-point shooting percentage dropped from 38.8% in the regular season to 36.5% due to the increased defensive intensity in the playoffs, his production has not decreased but increased.
From the regular season average of 3.2 shots and 1.2 hits per game, it increased to 4.5 shots and 1.7 hits!
All the above are enough to prove that Green is definitely a threatening outside shooter at this stage, and he has the ability to open up space for the Splash Brothers.
Wang Zelin admitted that he underestimated Green a little too much.
Fortunately, it's not too late to wake up now.
Next, he plans to inject 100% of his energy on the defensive end.
After adjusting his mentality, Wang Zelin turned into a defensive expert inside the three-point line in the latter part of the first quarter. He sent two big shots in a single quarter, one to Green and the other to Thompson.
On the offensive end, Wang Zelin followed the coach's tactical requirements and used his own restraint to frequently send exquisite passes to his teammates.
But it's a pity that Aldridge really didn't feel good tonight. Maybe there was a physical problem, or maybe he was tired after resting for too long. In short, his condition declined significantly, and he took the first four open shots.
Zero hit.
Later, he still managed to score two points by attacking the basket and drawing fouls.
But his performance caused the Warriors to intentionally or unintentionally leave Aldridge open and focus more defensive attention on Wang Zelin.
He couldn't score anyway, so Green double-teamed Wang Zelin even more resolutely.
After the first quarter, the Trail Blazers trailed by 6 points.
Coach Terry anticipated all the possibilities before the game and thought of countermeasures. But he never expected that Aldridge would be like this tonight.
The so-called plan is not as good as change, that's roughly it.
