Chapter 147: Curry VS James

Curry then approached Hickson, took a large step back with a two-back movement, and raised his hand to hit a super long three-pointer, which made the quick loan center, which was boiling against Yingtian, quiet down.

After one of the goals was scored, Curry chewed his braces and bounced back to the Warriors half. He didn't have the domineering James just now, but he made the audience silent.

Zhang Yu smiled with satisfaction, his hard work over the past few years has not been in vain.

In his previous life, Curry did not master the step-back three-pointer proficiently in the first few years of his career, his confrontation ability was very mediocre, and his movement and control skills were also limited.

But now, after Zhang Yu's guidance, Curry has been on the right path. Since his freshman year, he has targetedly improved his confrontation ability and technology, and developed ultra-long three-pointers and step-back three-pointers.

In three years of university, his strength has already surpassed the level of his previous life as a rookie.

After Brand Payne's training, Curry's confrontation ability has been greatly improved, and various technologies have further matured.

Especially in the field of three-pointers, Zhang Yu and Brand Payne jointly formulated Curry's training plan, carefully crafting his retreat three-pointers.

Zhang Yu told Curry bluntly that the three-pointer step back will be his most important offensive method in the future.

For Curry, who only has the size of a point guard, the fallback jumper is not a threat. Only a three-pointer with a step back can infinitely increase the scoring output at low cost.

This is the inspiration Zhang Yu got from Harden in his previous life.

Harden was able to score a crazy stat of 36.1 points per game in a single season, relying on the infinite heads-up supported by the step-back three-pointer.

So in this summer, while maintaining the basic three-point training, Curry worked hard on the step-back three-pointer.

Although the time is short and he has not yet reached the level of perfection, he is already extremely proficient in this skill. With his movement and control skills, he is a great offensive threat.

After Curry made a three-pointer, James immediately responded, using his iconic tank assault to get the basket.

James' goal really couldn't be called a layup - the basketball in his hand was like a large marble, and it was gently put into the basket. If Biedrins didn't obstruct it, the ball would definitely be a dunk.

In the round conversion, Curry played a pick-and-roll with Biedrins outside the 45-degree three-point line on the left, and other Warriors players cross-screened on the weak side.

Mike Brown waved his hands and shouted from the sidelines:

"Defend out, return after a big delay, don't give No. 30 space to shoot!"

Hickson strictly implemented Mike Brown's arrangement, stepped forward with his teeth and claws, covering Curry's sight, and then returned behind Biedrins after Monta Ellis squeezed through the screen.

The Warriors failed to make a pick-and-roll this time, but Azubuike on the weak side ran out of the opportunity.

He first came out of the inside, made a cross screen with Matthews, disrupted the Cavaliers' defense, and then ran back and cut into the inside.

When Curry got the ball, when Azubuike ran into the penalty area, he threw the ball hard. After receiving the ball, Azubuike took three steps and easily dunked.

Mike Brown shook his head in frustration. The Cavaliers' offense is not a big problem, but there are too many weaknesses on the defensive end, the tacit understanding is not enough, the defensive system has not been established, and the defense line is prone to loopholes.

After this ball, the duel between Curry and James never appeared again.

James still resolutely attacked the frame, taking over a lot of the Cavaliers' possession of the ball in the second quarter, only missing a little bit from his fingers to Monta Ellis, and frequently succeeded at the basket.

The Warriors played more overall. Curry reduced the number of shots, passed more to his teammates, and bombarded Monta Ellis and Jamison's retreat, with great results.

At the end of the first half, the Warriors trailed the Cavaliers by 62 points 64:2 and entered the intermission.

Zhang Yu is very satisfied with this score. Being able to bite the score when James starts scoring mode is a victory for the Warriors.

In the narrow locker room of the visiting team in the Quicken Loans Center, Zhang Yu faced the players and arranged tactics:

"Everyone did a great job in the first half. We faced No. 24 in the league and we didn't lose at all. As long as we persist for another [-] minutes, we have a great chance to win! Continue to play like this in the second half, but the defensive end needs to be improved. Certain adjustments—shrink the inside, double-team James, don't give him any chance to shoot, you can let other Cavaliers shoot, but you must not let James rush into the penalty area, understand?"

"Understood!" Everyone responded loudly, their voices were like thunder.

The fierce battle in the first half made them feel that the Cavaliers are nothing more than that, so what about the little emperor, although we can't guard you, the Cavaliers can't guard us either!

In the locker room of the home team, Mike Brown's tactics are very simple and clear:

"Continue to give the ball to LeBron in the second half... LeBron, you decide whether to pass or shoot according to the situation. You have unlimited firepower. The defensive end pays attention to strengthening the defense against Curry..."

"Mike, let me defend Curry." James suddenly interjected.

Mike Brown nodded without hesitation:

"No problem, then Curry will leave it to you."

As long as it is James' opinion, Mike Brown will adopt it. This is his foothold in the Cavaliers.

The outside world criticized him for having only one tactic, which is to give the ball to James, but Mike Brown ignored such remarks.

When you have a James on your team, it's hard not to rely on him. His versatility is extremely rare in NBA history.

Except for long shots, James is almost omnipotent, offense, organization, single defense, assist defense... He can solve most of a team's problems, even including tactics.

As a head coach, all you need to do is hand the ball to James and be a mascot on the sidelines.

The half-time break passed quickly, the starting lineups of both sides returned to the field, and the second half began.

The Warriors had the ball, and Curry dribbled to the frontcourt and found James standing in front of him.

Yang Yi said in surprise:

"The Cavaliers changed their matchup and let James defend Curry. The size gap between the two is a bit big. I don't know how the effect will be."

Zhang Weiping said:

"This arrangement is still very reasonable. James is the best defensive player all year round. His defensive ability is obvious to all. As the best defensive player in the Cavaliers, James is very suitable for defending Curry."

Facing James, Curry was calm and called Biedrins to come up to cover.

No matter who guards him, he's looking for O'Neal and Jamison.

Biedrins ran to the top of the arc and stood on the right side of James. Curry dribbled there, but James' shoulders sank, and with a strong force, Biedrins was carried away, and he squeezed through the screen. Keeping up with Curry's pace, there was no change of defense.

Curry frowned, and tried to play the pick-and-roll with Biedrins again, but was still chased by James in time.

Curry looked up and saw that there was not much attack time left, so he could only wave his hands to signal his teammates to pull away and single James.

James was waiting for this moment, with his hands open, his muscular body feeling extremely oppressive, his eyes stern, standing next to Curry, who was thin and calm, the contrast was very strong.

A photographer on the sidelines had an idea and pressed the shutter to freeze this scene forever.

This has also become the best footnote of this game.

Curry kicked it off with seven seconds left on the shot clock, taking small steps, crossovers and frontal changes of direction, trying to trick James into changing his focus.

But James was unmoved at all, standing in front of Curry as firmly as Mount Tai, only his footsteps changed from time to time following Curry's movements, and his tense muscles showed that he was fully prepared.

Curry continued to test James with small steps + rhythm changes, and then suddenly made a sharp change in front of his body and handed the ball to his right hand. James had to take a step to the left to block Curry's breakthrough route.

Curry leaned to the left, dribbled the ball behind his back, and handed the ball to his left hand from behind.

But Curry followed up with another dribble behind his back, passed the ball to his right hand, and at the same time took a big step to the back right, creating a huge shooting space!

How sharp James's reaction was, he didn't even think about it when he saw it, he used his feet to pounce on Curry, and raised his hands to interfere with his shooting.

But Curry's shot speed is extremely fast, he seized the fleeting shot opportunity, and in the blink of an eye, he raised his hand and threw a three-pointer!

James could only watch helplessly as the basketball flew past his fingertips, spun extremely fast in the air, crossed a nearly perfect parabola, and fell straight into the net!

After landing, James tried his best to control his figure so that he didn't jump on Curry, otherwise it would be a 3+1.

After the goal was scored, the Cavaliers fans who yelled "defence" were quiet. They did not expect that Curry could score such a wonderful goal when facing James.

Curry didn't do too many celebrations, he just habitually patted his chest and pointed to the sky, but it attracted everyone's attention.

His statistics were displayed on the big screen in due course - 20 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds and 1 steal.

James looked up at the big screen in mid-air, and easily blocked Jamison's serve.

Did the baby face get so many points just after get off work?

This game belongs to his declaration battle, not Curry's. He must win this game, and Curry cannot be so arrogant anymore.

James came to the frontcourt, reached out and signaled Monta Ellis to come forward and make a screen.

Monta Ellis was taken aback for a moment, but still quickly ran towards the top of the arc.

Seeing James' actions on the sidelines, Zhang Yu couldn't help frowning.

Has James started using roll call tactics now?

He shouted aloud:

"Squeeze the screen, squeeze through, don't switch!"

Butler followed Zhang Yu's instructions and tried hard to squeeze through the screen, but Monta Ellis fought against his old club and resisted Butler with all his strength.

Seeing this, Curry could only turn the big delay into a defense change and came to James.

James did not choose to break through, but carried Curry with his left arm to the three-point line, turned his body, and turned into a back attack.