Chapter 312 The Third Battle of the Western Finals (7)
The defense of the Warriors' regular starting lineup is still very good.
Lopez blocked shots in the paint, Laga Bell, Azubuike and Prince were all three locks on Kobe Bryant, wandering around. Coupled with Curry's quick hands to steal the ball, it was very difficult for the Lakers to attack.
Once the Warriors do not lose to the Lakers in terms of speed, the disadvantages of Odom and Artest's poor shooting will be exposed.
Lopez almost didn't care about Odom, he stood on the edge of the penalty area, three meters away from Odom!
It's up to you, Odom can vote whatever he wants, I'll admit it!
Prince is fast enough and his wingspan is long enough. Although Artest's three-pointer is better than Odom's, Prince is also two meters away from Odom!
If other teams were so defensive against the Lakers, they might really be shot to death by Odom and Artest.
Warriors are not afraid!
Why?
Because the Warriors have strong offensive firepower!
No matter what, you just can't guard against me!
Odom and Artest may occasionally eat dumplings, but they can't be perfect every time!
Even if you two shoot accurately, you can only compete with us!
If you two can't shoot correctly, the game will be over!
Who is afraid of whom!
This is the benefit of strong offensive firepower.
Odom made two shots and missed one.
Artest was pretty good, hitting two of three shots.
Artest's touch was really good today.
But when Prince got closer to Artest, Artest couldn't shoot.
His shooting speed is slow, and it’s not that he can’t make big open shots. This is Artest’s trouble.
Just like the first quarter, Kobe had to return to the mode of working alone.
Under the pursuit and interception of Laga Bell and the other three, Kobe's shooting percentage was very unsatisfactory.
On the other hand, it was much easier for the Warriors to score.
The Lakers have been unable to crack the pick-and-roll between Lopez and Curry.
Curry must be flanked, and it is impossible to let go of Lopez.
But if you want to do these two things at the same time, you have to give up one of the Warriors' outside shooters!
This is also a painful choice.
Laga Bell, Azubuike and Prince's three-pointers are equally terrifying!
It is impossible to rely on supplementary defense.
This is also why the Warriors dare to let Odom shoot three-pointers.
No matter how accurate your shooting is, can it be better than the three shooters of the Warriors?
In just four minutes, the Warriors scored 16:9, and the point difference widened again.
At the end of the half, the score became 70:61, with the Warriors leading by 9 points.
The first half of the game was very intense, with both teams working hard on the defensive end.
Even so, both teams still performed well on the offensive end and scored a lot.
One reason for the high scoring is that the Lakers use more smaller lineups, are faster, and have more outside shots.
If the Lakers play like this, the Warriors will certainly not object.
This is the foundation of the Warriors' success and the Warriors' greatest advantage!
Although they are still behind, this is already the smallest trail the Lakers have trailed among the three games in the series.
The halftime score of the first game was 88:59, and the Lakers were 29 points behind!
The halftime score of the second game was 78:50, with the Lakers trailing by 18 points!
The halftime score of today's third game was 70:61, with the Lakers trailing by 9 points.
The point difference has been shrinking, from close to 30 points to close to 20 points, and now to less than 10 points today.
The Warriors' scoring has been declining, while the Lakers' scoring is generally on the rise.
This shows that the defending champion is really strong.
There is nothing that can be done about this for the Lakers.
The road to defending a championship is never easy, why?
Because you are in the light and others are in the dark.
You are the defending champion, which proves that your path is right, your lineup configuration is reasonable, and your style of play is right.
It is for this reason that the defending champion will not change his lineup and style of play easily.
The winner remains the same, this is a universal rule.
But it is precisely for this reason that everyone will regard you as a key research object and come up with various ways to deal with you.
Not only that, every team will be at their best when they meet you.
We beat the defending champion!
What does this mean?
It shows that we are capable of fighting and have the possibility of winning the championship. Our team has hope!
For humans, hope is more important than anything else!
Therefore, the road to defending the championship has never been easy.
Unless you are much stronger than your opponent, your competition will always be fierce.
The Lakers are the defending champions, have a well-organized lineup, are strong, and work well with each other.
In terms of strength, the Lakers are the top player in the league.
The Lakers are fine against most teams.
But the Warriors are not among them.
The Warriors have a stronger lineup than the Lakers.
The Lakers have twin towers, and the Warriors' twin towers are not bad physically, and they are younger in age!
Those in the Lakers formation can attack but cannot defend, those who can defend cannot attack, and there are very few who can do both offense and defense.
The Warriors have several players who can attack and defend.
The Warriors' twin towers can defend against the Lakers' twin towers, but when both teams use the twin towers, the Lakers cannot defend against the Warriors' off-ball tactics.
The Warriors' bench strength is equivalent to many teams' starters.
The Lakers' bench is a true bench.
The Lakers have Kobe and the Warriors have Curry. Likewise, Curry is still younger!
For many rookies, the first year is very painful, and they need to continue to learn and grow slowly.
But Curry doesn't have these worries.
Curry is most worried about injuries. As long as he is not injured, he will not have a problem adapting.
Shooting is his most outstanding talent, and this is the gene engraved in Curry's blood.
And shooting is the essence of basketball.
Without worrying about injuries, and with Deng Fang carefully selecting teammates for Curry and matching them with a lineup that suits him, Curry's performance is certainly outstanding.
Some people are stuck in the mud and can't hold up the wall, and some people are lone heroes with outstanding strength, but they suffer from not having good teammates, let alone Bole.
Two fists are no match for four, and a hero cannot stand against a crowd.
There are Bole in the world, and then there are thousand-mile horses. Thousand-mile horses always exist, but Bole does not always exist.
Deng Fang and Curry can be said to be a perfect match!
Without Deng Fang, it would have been difficult for Curry to make his mark so early.
Without Curry, it would be useless no matter how many role players Deng Fang brings in.
Although the NBA is a commercial league, superstars are not something you can just buy if you want.
In short, the Lakers are strong, but the Warriors have a complete facelift, both offense and defense, and are stronger.
In the third game, the two teams were transparent to each other. This score basically reflected their strength.
Of course, the Lakers still took advantage of some home games.
The Lakers had 10 more free throws in the first half!
But there's nothing we can do about it.
Deng Fang did not feel aggrieved by this.
At halftime, Curry scored 25 points and sent out 11 assists!
19 of those points were scored by Curry in the first quarter.
Kobe scored a lot, but his shooting percentage was not high. He took 18 shots and scored 20 points.
The best performer on the Lakers side is Artest.
Benefiting from the Warriors' defensive strategy and feeling really good today, Artest scored the team's second-highest 17 points!
In the first half of the game, Artest took a total of 8 three-pointers and made 5 of them.
