Soul of the Golden State

Chapter 277: Soaring Strength
Before the game, the Lakers didn't pay too much attention to the Warriors, after all, they were the Warriors' sufferers.

As their own underdog, after playing against the Warriors last season, the entire Lakers team thinks they already have a good understanding of the Warriors' shooting ability.

Therefore, after understanding, they are not afraid.

But in today's game, when they played against the Warriors, they realized that they were sloppy.

The Warriors are still the same people, but the strength of the players and the team's tactics have completely changed.

In the past, their defense on the perimeter only needed to focus on Li Weisi, and the focus was still on the defense on the inside. But tonight is different. Whether it is Mullin or Curry, they can both cause a lot of damage to the Lakers on the outside. trouble.

Due to the lack of preparation of the Lakers in the opening game, the Warriors seized the opportunity and took advantage of the Lakers' missed shots in three consecutive rounds to beat the Lakers in a 11-2 slump. Now Riley couldn't sit still and quickly called pause.

The Warriors started so fiercely, not to mention the Lakers, even Riley didn't expect it.

Moreover, he also discovered that the Warriors' tactics are different from last season.

Last season's tactics were mainly Li Weisi and Ma Long's pick-and-roll at the [-]th position, combined with the off-ball running and cutting in on the upper wing, which did not put much defensive pressure on the outside.

And this season, the horn tactics were used continuously at the beginning of the game, and all three shooters can shoot from outside the three-point line, and the shooting percentage is still very high, which is really scary.

However, the Lakers are the defending champions after all, and there were no major changes to the lineup during the offseason. The overall strength is still the strongest in the entire league, not one of them.

Back from the timeout, Magic Johnson stabilized the situation by standing at the top of the arc to control the ball, and planned to start improving from the team's offense.

Of course, the Warriors' lineup is not perfect. The reason why he looks so fierce is that he caught other teams by surprise, and several major pitchers are in good condition.

In fact, he is not without problems. First of all, the problem lies in defense.

Especially when facing the Lakers, this problem of perimeter defense has become particularly prominent. No one on the Warriors' back line can match Magic Johnson.

Whether it's Li Weisi or Curry, let alone Price and Hornacek on the bench, no matter who faces the 206cm Johnson, they will all have to be short and misplaced.

Lewis, who was the only one who could match in size, was still too young at this time, and his performance in the few games since the start was very embarrassing, which made people suspect that Frank had misread it.

Facing Johnson like this, Curry, who is defending him, can only try his best to limit him. As for the final result, it can only depend on Johnson's own performance.

Fortunately, Johnson is a point guard. He always puts organizing the offense first, rather than scoring by himself.

However, in this round, the other players of the Warriors defended well and did not have a good chance. In desperation, Johnson could only choose to attack by himself.

Hitting Curry with a high back, turning over and shooting a jump shot after coming to the free throw line, the whole process was very smooth, without the slightest sloppy.

Since last season, Johnson's mid-range jumper has become more and more sure, and has become an important weapon for the Lakers in the positional battle.

However, just relying on Johnson's strong attack was not enough to catch up with the score. In the next round, the Warriors made another shot from Curry's three-point line. The ball missed, but Malone grabbed the offensive rebound. foul.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who is 40 years old this year, is in a declining state. Compared with last season, he has dropped another notch.

We must know that in the 85-86 season, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar averaged 23.5 points and 6.1 rebounds per game, but last season, it has dropped to 17.5 points and 6.7 rebounds. Since the start of this season, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has averaged 14 points and 6 rebounds per game.

The decline of the inside advantage also allowed the Lakers to shift the focus of offense to the outside. Johnson, Scott and Worthy almost contributed more than 60 points per game.

As for inside defense, the growth of AC Green still cannot make up for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's decline in status due to age.

Therefore, in this game, from the beginning to the present, this is the third time the Lakers have been grabbed by the Warriors for offensive rebounds.

In this way, the first quarter of the two teams became 38:30, and the Warriors led by 8 points.

Especially when entering the bench stage, the depth of the Warriors' lineup has already surpassed that of the Lakers. Under the dual control of Price and Hornacek, the Warriors can safely and boldly use a pure bench lineup.

In contrast, the Lakers can only choose a partial rotation, which is almost an 8-man rotation.

But even so, the Lakers still couldn't catch up with the score when using a mixed lineup, which really exceeded everyone's expectations on the Lakers.

At this point, even people who are slow to react can realize that this Warriors team has really become different, at least compared to last season's playoffs, it has grown too much.

While they were shocked, they also had a question, why did this team improve so much after only half a year?

In fact, this is a very normal thing.

The biggest reason for this is the growth of young players. After a season of training and two offseason training, the Warriors' young players have finally adapted to the rhythm of the NBA. After the season was tempered in the playoffs, everyone's strength naturally rose rapidly.

At the same time, coupled with the fact that the lineup has been running in for a year, and Nelson has chosen a suitable tactic for the team, it is difficult for the team to become stronger!
Under such circumstances, the more the Lakers play, the more frightened they become. The Warriors' defense is not good, especially on the perimeter, and the Lakers' offensive focus is on the perimeter. Therefore, it is still very easy for the Lakers to score. Yes, but the problem is that the Lakers can't limit the Warriors' offense!

What's more, a big hole was dug at the beginning of the game, plus, your side gets two points, and the other side gets three points, which is one point away from inside and outside!

If there are too many rounds, won't the point difference widen?

In this way, when the Warriors sent the main force again, even though they did not make any offensive high, the point difference was widened step by step.

The Lakers have experienced too much in this kind of game where they gradually lose their advantage in the confrontation, but every time the opponent loses the advantage, not them.

But this time, they also got a taste of it.

This feeling of helplessness is really uncomfortable.

In this way, with Mullin's mid-range jumper, the first half ended, the score was 70:57, and the Warriors led the Lakers by 13 points at halftime.

(End of this chapter)