Chapter 162: Hehe, Popovich did it too!

15 minutes passed quickly, and the two teams returned to the court to continue the second half of the game.

Zhang Yu made adjustments. He replaced Azubuike with Lowry.

Compared with Azubuike's chaotic impact, the Warriors need Lowry's ball handling and organization more. Although he sometimes can't change his habit of mindlessly attacking the basket, as a point guard, the overall situation is better than A Zubuck is still a lot stronger, and can serve as the team's second organizational point when Curry is strictly guarded.

Curry also changed his style of play under Zhang Yu's instructions. He no longer obsessed with playing pick-and-rolls, but combined with and without the ball. In fact, he switched to the post position.

With the Warriors lacking inside support points, Curry wants to play off the ball, so he can only play double point guards. Biedrins, Varejao and other insiders do not have the support ability of Gasol. Top deal, even if Curry runs to death, he will not receive a few passes.

After Curry turned off the ball, the Lakers couldn't defend him very tightly. Kobe is a standard swingman, not as flexible as Curry, and the rest of the Warriors are not capable of passing the ball, but they can play as a cover. But one is worse than the other, repeatedly keeping Kobe behind.

This is the training content specially arranged by Zhang Yu. In the Warriors, everyone has to train how to cover for others, including Curry, and no one can be an exception.

During training, whoever smokes in the bottom corner, stares blankly at his teammates running, and does not run or cover himself, can immediately enjoy the baptism of the "Ronan brand" hair dryer, and what follows is Extra practice.

For blue-collar insiders like Biedrins and Varejao, it's okay to say that cover is a compulsory course for insiders. As long as they practice a little, they can master it well, but limited by their size, the quality of cover can't be the best. , but also as best as possible.

Needless to say, Curry and Butler have integrated the awareness of cover into their bones when they were in college.

And for everyone else, cover?Isn't that an inside job?

Under Zhang Yu's roar, these outside players barely have the awareness of running and covering for teammates, especially for Curry.

But Phil Jackson has long given instructions to the players—no matter how the Warriors play, they must guard against Curry, switch defenses whenever they pick and roll or screen, and can force him to the inside. The Lakers have Bynum and Gasol on the inside. , but we must not give him a chance to shoot a three-pointer!

Under this almost extremely targeted defensive strategy, even if Curry runs without the ball, he still struggles. The Lakers' defensive discipline is too good. The players' attention is all on Curry, and they switch defenses every time they are screened without hesitation. , not giving Curry room for a three-pointer, but allowing him to score a few points piecemeal through air cuts.

Phil Jackson looked at Curry struggling on the court and smiled.

Since Popovich did this first, he didn't hold it anymore.

Who doesn't know that as long as Curry is pressed against the Warriors, more than half of the victory is won, but the other head coaches have not really paid attention to Curry, and still treat him as a rookie and will not double-team him.

This is not their arrogance. In Zhang Yu's previous life, Curry had not been double-teamed in the first few years of his career. Even in 2016, he often had a single-block screen and had a chance. 402 three-pointers.

It wasn't until he met Tyron Lu that people knew what "Ludu Laman" was...

Although Curry is still just a rookie, his performance is really outstanding, so good that it can be compared with the top ten superstars in the league.

Of course, this is inseparable from Zhang Yu's guidance. He asked Curry to switch to point guard as a freshman, which saved a lot of detours. In the three years of college, he trained targeted three-pointers with the ball, control skills and passing ability. Far beyond the Curry of the same period in the previous life.

More importantly, Curry accepted Brand Payne's guidance in the summer.

Under Zhang Yu's introduction, this Queen's trainer in Curry's previous life met Curry three years in advance.

Under his guidance, Curry focused on training his core strength and hand-eye coordination, carefully polished his skills, and further improved his shooting ability. His strength is already comparable to that of Curry, who has worked hard in the NBA for three or four years in his previous life, and he doesn't have to worry about injuries. troubled.

Based on strength, combined with a style of play that is beyond the times, and with unreasonable three-pointers, Curry came to the top three in the NBA scoring list.

So far, Curry has shot 45.7% from the field, averaged more than 10 three-pointers per game, scored 4.6 three-pointers, contributed to the craziest shooting performance in NBA history, and has excellent production and efficiency. Is the league's most terrible shooter.

In this case, Popovich only treated Curry as a superstar after playing more than a dozen games, and blatantly double-teamed Curry.

He is an extreme pragmatist, he will only choose the most useful tactics for victory, and will not consider factors other than the game such as face, just like he will not give Duncan any preferential treatment just because he is a superstar, Unlike some coaches, kneeling and licking the stars of the team.

After Popovich made this precedent, Phil Jackson no longer had any scruples. After Curry showed the momentum to break the record at Staples, he copied Popovich's tactics.

Hehe, Popovich did it anyway, and it's not his turn to lose face!

After Curry was tightly double-teamed, the Lakers played steadily, and the triangle offense played well. The role players gradually recovered their touch and gradually opened up the score.

Fortunately, after Kobe was restricted by Curry, his offensive desire was inexplicably weakened by more than half, and his presence on the offensive end was not high, otherwise the Warriors would fall even more behind.

...

brush!

Facing the Warriors' double-team, Gasol gave the ball to Fisher on the outside, who didn't shoot, but gave it to Kobe.

Kobe faced Butler's defense and hit his iconic fadeaway jumper.

At this time, there were only 5 minutes left in the third quarter, and after Kobe made this goal, the score came to 79:89, and the Lakers led by 10 points.

With Curry being choked to death, the Warriors have only scored 14 points so far in the third quarter, including 4 points that Curry stole.

Lowry tried to hit the basket, but the restricted area guarded by Bynum could not be splashed with water and needles could not be inserted, which made him fail many times.

And he didn't have a breakthrough, the offensive threat dropped, and the Warriors' offense stagnated.

In the next round, Curry tried to run without the ball, but the Lakers' defensive attention was all on him. Lowry was put two steps away. Fisher was ready to defend Curry at any time, and the others switched defenses. Give Curry space to shoot, and Lowry can't find a chance to pass the ball.

In the end, he tried a three-pointer himself, but the basketball hit the front edge of the basket with a "bang", bounced out, and the rebound was grabbed by Bynum.

On the sidelines, Zhang Yu looked at Lowry who missed a three-pointer and sighed softly.

If you play Lowry, you have to bear the crowded space; if you play Azubuike, the team lacks a second ball-holding point.

The Warriors' lineup usually looks very good, with full impact and a lot of shooters, but when facing a top team like the Lakers, it showed many flaws.

Looks like a mid-season trade is needed...

"Di-"

Just when Zhang Yu's inner thoughts were tumbling, Kobe's single hit caused a foul by Butler and he stood on the free throw line.

Zhang Yu didn't think too much about it, and took advantage of the dead ball to replace Lowry with Azubuike.

The Warriors haven't run in well yet, and Lowry's passing still needs to be practiced, not as mature and mature as later. Curry actually ran a few fleeting opportunities, but he didn't pass the ball in time and stayed on the court. It's purely dragging space, so it's better to go to Azubuike and let him charge, maybe it will have a miraculous effect.

While the Warriors were making substitutions, Butler stood on both sides of the penalty area, looked at Kobe who made the first free throw, put his hands on his knees, recalled his foul, and a strange color flashed in his eyes.

Just now, Kobe broke through the frame face-up, stopped near the free throw line, and raised his hand to make a shot. He jumped up to block the shot like a frightened bird, but Kobe took the ball back again, and after he jumped into the air, he fit up. As soon as he leaned on, he threw the ball casually, and the referee whistled.

Naturally, Butler didn't object to the foul. He was deceived by Kobe's realistic fake moves and violated Kobe's cylinder after taking off. It's strange that the referee didn't blow it.

He just felt that what Kobe could do, he seemed to be able to do it.

Butler has never been a person who is satisfied with the status quo. He practiced defense and three-pointers hard in college. Although he is not talented, he has become a top 3D player in the NCAA with his absolute efforts.

After entering the NBA, while further improving his defense and three-pointers, he wanted to increase the training of offense with the ball.

Butler is not reconciled to only being a role player throughout his career, he also wants to become a star.

When he told Zhang Yu this idea, he was very disturbed.

He has self-knowledge, knows that his talents are limited, and is worried that the boss will not agree with him to focus on defense and three-pointers.

But to his surprise, Zhang Yu agreed with his idea very much, and asked Curry's trainer Brand Payne to formulate a training plan for him, allowing him to systematically improve his ability to hold the ball.

Butler still remembers what Zhang Yu said to him at that time:

"Jimmy, the Warriors are a young team and a very immature team. There is only Steph as a ball-handler. The NBA is different from the NCAA. A single-core team can't go far. The team needs another team. Ball handler, I have never regarded you as a pure role player, your hard work is your most powerful talent! Practice hard, I hope that one day, you can become the second ball-handling core of the Warriors !"

Butler never thought that the boss had such expectations of him.

He didn't say anything, and even his expression didn't change much, but he had already made up his mind in his heart that he must practice holding the ball well and never disappoint his boss' expectations!

Since then, Butler has devoted all his energy to training, strictly following the plan drawn up by Brand Payne for him, and has never let up for a day.

Although the effect is definitely not as good as that of Curry who was personally guided by Brand Payne, he can make up for his shortcomings with diligence. He will never go out of the arena if he does not complete the task. He has to train for more than 10 hours a day.

Miraculously, his body did not have any problems under this high-intensity training, and even the muscles were growing day by day, making him stronger.

After the training camp started, Zhang Yu looked at Butler's physical test data, and after learning about his summer training, he sighed:

"As expected of a man who can stand up to Xibo's ruthlessness..."

After such hard training, Butler's ability to hold the ball has also taken shape, and the effect in the training game is also good.

Zhang Yu once wanted to give him the ball to play singles, but after seeing Curry's ball handling, he felt that his ball handling skills still needed to be honed, so he didn't agree, and wanted to continue to hone it before taking it out.

But today, after Butler was fouled by Kobe, the idea of playing with the ball emerged from his mind, and it became more and more intense.

In training games, he often caused fouls by his teammates, and he is very talented in this technique.

Butler didn't do it on purpose, he felt as if he was born to find confrontation, and it was easy to create physical contact when attacking the frame.

brush!

Just when Butler's mood was fluctuating, Kobe made a steady second free throw, 79:91, and the point difference widened to 12 points.

The Warriors had the ball, and Curry dribbled the ball just over halftime, and found Butler reaching out for the ball 45 degrees to the left of the three-point line.

He was a little surprised, because Butler has hardly ever attacked with the ball since he was his roommate in college.

Curry turned to look at Zhang Yu. Zhang Yu didn't arrange Butler's singles tactics, and Curry didn't dare to make his own claims.

Zhang Yu has strict requirements on the execution ability of players, and never allows players to do things beyond their authority on the court.

Zhang Yu naturally also saw Butler reaching out for the ball, his thoughts changed sharply, and finally nodded to Curry, indicating that he could give the ball to Butler.

Regardless of whether Butler was stimulated by Kobe or felt that holding the ball could help the team break the deadlock, Zhang Yu would not stop him.

As he said to Butler, he never saw Butler as a role player, but hoped that he could be the Warriors' second ball-handling core.

To develop an attack with the ball, you must go through the training of the game. Although Zhang Yu really wants to win this game, if you can use this game to exercise Butler's ability to hold the ball, let him take the first place with the ball. Even if he loses the game, Zhang Yu is willing to do so.

Curry passes the ball to Butler after getting the nod from Zhang Yu

Ke Fan said in surprise:

"Butler is taking the initiative to ask for the ball. Does he want to single-play Artest? This is not a good choice. After Butler joined the Warriors, he has never played a single."

The live broadcast room is also full of doubts:

"Coach Z asked a role player to single-play Artest? This is DPOY!"

"Is the Warriors in a hurry? Is there anything we can do on the offensive end?"

On the court, Butler naturally didn't know what others thought of him holding the ball. He faced Artest with a determined face.

Butler thought a lot just now, but in the end he decided to hold the ball and do it himself, and since he has decided, he must do it with effect!