Soul of the Golden State

Chapter 523 Extreme Space
Since joining the Warriors, Divac received the first training content, which is to practice three-pointers.

Divac was dumbfounded when he received Nelson's suggestion.

Even though he was in Europe, he knew that the Warriors were good at shooting three-pointers, and the team had many top marksmen, but he didn't expect him to practice three-pointers as a center?

Of course, facing a new team with an unfamiliar place and an unfamiliar language environment, although Divac was puzzled in his heart, he still seriously implemented Nelson's suggestion.

But the plan couldn’t keep up with the changes. Originally, Nelson planned to let Divac practice three-pointers for a year before talking about it. Unexpectedly, Malone’s injury made Divac, who had never been able to get a chance to play, suddenly had a lot of playing time.

Fortunately, Divac is an obedient child. Although he suddenly became a backup center, he never let go of his three-point practice. He often practiced three-pointers after training with Petrovic and Matthew Leonis.

It has to be said that Divac does have two brushes in terms of shooting. In less than a season, he has adapted to the NBA three-point line and developed the ability to shoot from long distances. Although the shooting rate is not high, But it can be guaranteed that the opponent will not dare to let him go.

Such a speed of progress made O'Neill sad when he heard it, and Howard cried when he heard it. The gap between people is sometimes even bigger than the gap between humans and pigs!
The reason why Nelson made up his mind to take risks at this critical moment is that he saw the growth of Divac, which made him believe that Divac can play the role he needs to play.

Judging from the first attack at the beginning, the effect is still very good!

Then it was the Jazz's turn to attack, and this was the time to test the Warriors' defense.

Fortunately, compared to other strong teams, the Jazz's big center "Mammoth" is a silver-like pewter on the offensive end, which is not useful.

Eaton, who is 224cm tall, was selected in the fourth round of the 82 draft because of his rough skills.

A native of California, Eaton, despite his height as a kid, always preferred water polo as a teenager, and after high school he joined the Arizona Automotive Institute where he worked as an auto mechanic for three years.

During this period, he has been living with a hammer and a wrench, and never thought about playing basketball. It was not until a nobleman Tom Rubin appeared that he found Eaton while repairing a car, and then invited him to join his Cypress junior team. The college's basketball team tried out, and since then, Eaton has embarked on the road of professional players.

It can be said that before the age of 20, Eaton had hardly received any decent formal basketball training, so he had no decent offensive skills at all. On the offensive end, he could only rely on dunks and layups to score.

The Jazz obviously knew Eaton's ability, and never considered letting Eaton play singles. After all, although Divac was a head shorter than Eaton, it was not that difficult to defend a player who didn't even have three axes on the offensive end. .

In the end, with the pick-and-roll between Stockton and Malone, Malone hit a mid-range jumper and opened the scoring for the Jazz.

It was the Warriors' turn to attack again. The Warriors still played Princeton, and Divac came to the top of the arc to control the ball. This time, Eaton, who had suffered a loss, did not dare to let Divac go again, and hurried to the three-point line to defend .

However, Eaton, who was transferred out of the penalty area, had nowhere to display his defensive ability as the best defensive player. At this time, Li Weisi, Richmond and others, all kinds of screens, all kinds of counter-runs, were quickly caught by Li Weisi. ran out of chance.

Divac had sharp eyes and quick hands. Facing Eaton's interference, he actually passed the ball to Li Weisi accurately.

It wasn't until the basketball hit the basket that Malone, who came to help defend, had just arrived.

Such a layup is not too easy for Li Weisi. With his eyes closed, Li Weisi can use a hundred postures to get the ball in.

With such an extreme space, although Li Weisi has less ball power in his hands, for Li Weisi, the offensive space is larger and the efficiency is higher!

For a long time, the Warriors' tactics have always been mixed with this Princeton tactic, but because Malone and Rodman are trapped inside, these tactics can only play a supplementary role, and have never been regarded as the main tactic.

However, due to the absence of Lewis, Nelson could only put all his eggs in one basket and choose a more daring tactic. Unexpectedly, he reaped miraculous results.

Not only that, logically speaking, Princeton's tactics should pay attention to egalitarianism, but when Li Weisi gave up the organization and focused on the end, his efficiency was much higher than others.

In addition, because Li Weisi's off-ball ability is extremely strong, he can often run out of space, so that he gets more offensive opportunities.

In this way, under the leadership of Li Weisi in the first quarter, the Warriors led the Jazz by four points at 31:27.

Although the Warriors played well offensively, after the Jazz figured out the Warriors' defensive routines, their offensive efficiency soon improved, and they played no worse than the Warriors.

This is also understandable. Because Rodman spent a lot of energy on Malone, the Warriors' defense on the flanks and inside was relatively weak, and the Jazz also used strategies such as pick-and-rolls to specifically attack the Warriors' defensive weaknesses.

It can be said that just from the first quarter, the head coaches of the two teams drew a tie after a battle of wits.

After entering the second quarter, the offensive momentum of the two teams remained undiminished. The Jazz were obviously a strong defensive team, but unknowingly, they fought against the Warriors on offense.

However, relying on Malone's outstanding performance, the Jazz tied with the Warriors in this quarter, still trailing by 55 points at 59:4 at halftime.

Obviously, after falling into the Warriors' rhythm, the Warriors still didn't take advantage of it.

However, although he failed to widen the point difference, Nelson was very satisfied.

After all, this is the first time this tactic has been used in actual combat. Although there were many mistakes, the Jazz seized the opportunity, played a lot of counterattacks, and gained some easy scoring opportunities.

It is also an indisputable fact that the team's defensive ability has declined. However, the powerful offensive firepower brought by this new type of tactics made Nelson very excited.

Such extreme court space, high and low coordination, and all five players participating in the offense not only made the Jazz's defense useless, but the most important thing was to liberate Li Weisi, so that Li Weisi could not be affected by double-teaming.

During the regular season, Li Weisi did not receive many double-teams, but in the playoffs, Nelson could imagine that Li Weisi would be trapped to death. In this case, Nelson had to find another way to find a new way.

Now, Nelson feels he has the answer.

(End of this chapter)