Chapter 305 The Second Battle of the Eastern Finals
The best thing about the Warriors' lineup is that most of the players are both offensive and defensive, with no particularly obvious shortcomings.
When most players defend well, it doesn't matter if one or two players who are strong in offense and weak in defense come up.
On the contrary, the Lakers are different. Those who can attack cannot defend, and those who can defend cannot attack!
With the Lakers' defense, even if you can't score, even if your shooting percentage is very low, you just need to defend your opponent.
But once you can't guard against your opponent, you'll be in trouble!
In the same way, with the Lakers' offensive strength, as long as they maintain a high shooting percentage, it doesn't matter how good their opponent's offense is.
But once the opponent's defense is very good and the offense is also very good, it will become annoying!
The Lakers can't guard against the Warriors' offense, but the Warriors can limit the Lakers' offense very well!
This is the difference between the two teams!
Falling behind by 30 points in the third quarter was the result of paying a very heavy price.
No matter how you look at it, the Lakers don't have much hope.
At the beginning of the fourth quarter, the Lakers put on an extremely small offensive lineup: Kobe, Fisher, Jordan Farmar, Vujacic and Artest.
Artest plays center!
Fisher, Kobe and Artest all played for a long time in the third quarter, but they had to fight hard to chase points!
Returning to Los Angeles with a big score of 0:2 is not a good thing!
Artest's strength is very good, so it's no problem to hit him in the paint.
Although Artest's three-pointer is not great when someone interferes with it, he is still reliable in wide-open three-pointers!
With the center on defense, Artest will definitely have a lot of open opportunities!
The average height of the Lakers lineup is very short, but they are very fast and have very strong shooting ability!
I also worked hard to catch up with Zen Master!
In the third quarter, they played defense throughout the quarter and even defeated Laga Bell, but the score difference still did not narrow.
In this case, all we have to do is attack!
The Warriors replaced Livingston, Belinelli, Azubuike, Radmanovic and DeAndre Jordan.
This is the Warriors' regular bench lineup.
There is offense and defense, inside and outside. Although it is not as strong as the starting lineup, it can be said to be both offensive and defensive.
The heavy responsibility of defending Kobe still falls on Azubuike.
Kobe is 32 years old, Fisher is 36 years old, and they haven’t played for a long time!
Azubuike is only 27 years old, and of course there is no problem with his physical fitness.
In order to defend, Deng Fang specifically asked Jordan to expand near the three-point line.
Just two steps away from Artest and stretch out your hand!
Of course, it doesn't mean he won't jump. Artest made three shots and Jordan could jump to block the shot once.
The specific number of times is up to Jordan to decide.
As long as Artest can't guess it anyway!
The defender is standing not far in front of you. He is a tall center with full athletic ability. Do you know if he can jump this time?
It's not like Jordan never jumped. He still used all his strength when he jumped to block shots. How could you guess what he would do this time?
As long as you murmur in your heart, that's enough!
Azubuike's task is to stalk Kobe, while Jordan and others can help defend him at any time.
Once Kobe breaks through and scores the ball, he relies on switching positions to cover the ball.
Although the defense of this Warriors lineup is worse than that of the starting lineup, the problem is not big.
Good physical fitness, young, full of firepower, and tacit cooperation, that's enough!
What's more, the Warriors also caused pain to the Lakers on the offensive end.
With a small lineup, rim protection is a problem.
Livingston and DeAndre Jordan pick and roll, how do you defend them?
Jordan didn't think about anything else, he didn't care whether Livingston passed the ball or not, he just walked to the basket as long as he blocked people.
When you get to the free throw line, jump up and make an alley-oop!
The Lakers' lineup can only switch defenses.
Artest switches to Livingston, and the only one who can defend DeAndre Jordan is Jordan Farmar.
Let Kobe guard Livingston?
Wouldn't that tire Kobe to death?
In the first start, Kobe was guarding Curry. He and Gasol kept flanking Curry and had to go back to cover.
Most of the ball rights on the offensive end are also in Kobe's hands, and he often faces the Warriors' defense of three or four people!
Kobe is human too!
But Jordan Farmar's athletic ability is far behind Jordan!
Jordan completely ignored Farmar’s existence!
Livingston is also very annoying. As long as the Lakers switch defense, he doesn't care whether Jordan is under the basket or not, he will throw the basketball near the basket every time!
I just bullied you for not being tall enough and not jumping enough!
I told you not to play center!
Farmar could only use a foul to block Jordan's alley-oop.
In just three minutes, Jordan Farmar received 4 fouls.
In desperation, the Lakers had no choice but to let Kobe Bryant guard Livingston.
Fortunately, the Lakers are very strong from the outside today, and Jordan's free throw shooting is not good either.
After 5 minutes of play in the fourth quarter, the Lakers recovered 8 points!
The score became 113:91, and the Warriors led by 22 points.
Deng Fang called a timeout.
After the timeout, the Warriors changed their starting lineup.
Curry, Belinelli, Azubuike, Prince, Lopez.
Five three-point shooters!
This time the Lakers didn't even dare to help defend at all!
Curry and Lopez used a pick-and-roll, and the Lakers chose to switch defenses.
Without the big center, Artest still has no problem switching to guard Curry.
Even if there is some speed disadvantage, Artest can still limit Curry with his rich defensive experience.
However, Curry did not choose to go it alone, but instead lobbed the ball to Lopez.
The Lakers use a small lineup and want to play fast. Shooting three-pointers from outside is exactly what the Lakers want.
We just have to play slow, play inside, draw fouls, and grind down the position!
Although the Warriors can also let Lopez play in singles in the low post, the Lakers can then flank and switch defenses.
Never give the Lakers such a chance!
Move and hand the ball to the inside!
Even if I ask you to assist in our defense, we can’t do it!
Although Lopez is not as athletic as Jordan, his offensive skills are much better than Jordan!
Compared to Kobe who switched defenses, Lopez's advantage was no worse than Jordan's.
More importantly, Lopez's free throws are great!
Whether it is Farmar or Kobe, as long as he fouls Lopez, it is equivalent to giving away points!
Lopez's three-point shooting percentage is about 36%, and his free throw shooting percentage is as high as 80%!
The Warriors' offense is better, and the defensive end is not much worse than before.
The game lasted another 4 minutes, and the point difference did not change, still 22 points.
There are less than 3 minutes left before the end of the game.
Kobe has played 43 minutes!
A lot of energy was put into both offense and defense, and Kobe was panting from exhaustion.
Seeing that there was no hope of recovering the score, the Zen master had no choice but to call a timeout and surrender.
After the timeout, both teams put on substitutes.
The Lakers' starting lineup is good, and their substitutes are much better than the Jazz's, but they are still worse than the Warriors.
Finally, the referee blew the whistle and the game ended, with the score fixed at 124:107!
