lcionline Chapter 481: A Strong Sense of Targeting from the Start
Chapter 481: A Strong Sense of Targeting from the Start
The starting lineups for both teams have been announced.
The Clippers' starting lineup, playing at home, consisted of Jia Fei, Beverley, George, Gallinari, and Olynyk.
This starting lineup has remained very stable, from the regular season all the way to the Western Conference Finals, without any changes.
The Warriors' starting lineup for the away game is Curry, Klay Thompson, Durant, Green, and Zaza Pachulia.
The match between these two teams is truly a topic of much discussion.
The feud between Jia Fei and Durant's former teammates, the MVP competition between Jia Fei and Curry, the rivalry between Jia Fei and the Warriors that started during their time with the Hawks; the clash of "passionate basketball" between Beverley and Green's "Dog Brother" and "Chasing Egg"; the question of who is more "pure and innocent" between Olynyk and Pachulia; even the head coaches of the two teams have a story, in the 2014-15 NBA Finals, Kerr's Warriors lost to Budenholzer's Hawks.
Amid cheers from the fans, the starting players from both sides took to the field.
Green came on the court with a big laugh, showing off his muscles to the Clippers and even displaying the leg he used to kick Adams in the balls back in the day.
For the Clippers, Patrick Beverley made a timely and ruthless move, unleashing a torrent of trash talk without a second thought. When it comes to being ruthless, who has Beverley ever been afraid of?
Zaza and Olynyk kept a low profile, not saying a word, and stood near the center circle, ready for the jump ball.
Zha Zha was serious, while Olynyk's lips curled up; they both saw themselves reflected in each other's eyes.
Zaza tightened his shoelaces, and Olynyk stretched his arms; both had "illustrious achievements." Zaza had crippled Kawhi's knee, and Olynyk had broken Love's arm. In terms of ruthlessness, both were experts, practically evenly matched. Their earlier actions were, in fact, a disguised form of "flexing their muscles." You have your Plan X, I have my Plan Y. You just made a move, and I'm ready to retaliate. Want to try?
When everyone possesses nuclear weapons, the most likely outcome will not be mutual destruction, but rather that no one dares to attack, and all parties live in peace.
The jump ball started quickly, and Zaza won the jump ball against Olynyk. I don't know if it was because he was tying his shoelaces earlier, but he jumped really high.
The Warriors gained possession of the ball on their first possession, and Curry dribbled the ball across half-court.
Curry has the ball and runs a pick-and-roll with Green.
The Clippers immediately switched their defense.
Curry, facing Gallinari, dribbled the ball repeatedly, used a behind-the-back crossover, and drove in to pass to Klay in the corner!
Klay received the ball and faced Jia Fei, choosing to force a shot – the ball went straight in!
After scoring, Clay gestured a "3" to Jia Fei, symbolizing universal blessings and equality for all!
Jia Fei smiled slightly. He liked this feeling. If you weren't good enough, he would feel less passionate.
Beverley dribbled the ball over, and Jia Fei came out to receive it.
Jia Fei dribbles the ball and faces Klay Thompson; Olynyk comes up to set a screen!
With Olynyk's screen, Jia Fei was delayed by Zaza, who deliberately tried to sabotage Jia Fei!
Olynyk immediately realized the situation and, when the jerk deliberately bumped into Jia Fei, he also deliberately bumped into Clay!
Both Jia Fei and Clay's center of gravity were affected!
The two scoundrels' dirty tricks were so subtle that even the three referees on site didn't see them.
Only the four of them know what happened!
Jia Fei quickly recovered and took the opportunity to change direction and squeeze inside!
The slow-moving Zha Zha couldn't recover and could only watch helplessly as Jia Fei charged in from the middle lane!
Green came over to help defend, Jia Fei made a quick stop, accelerated, cut to the basket, and scored with a layup!
3-2, both sides scored at the start of the game, both goals were so beautiful, and the fans in the stadium immediately cheered.
The Warriors' offense continued with the Curry-Cheershaw pick-and-roll, with the ball ending up in Green's hands. The Clippers continued their switching defense, with Beverley guarding Green and Gallinari guarding Curry.
Green passes the ball from the top of the key to Durant on the weak side!
Durant, holding the ball and facing Paul George, unleashed his signature crossover dribble followed by a mid-range jumper that went in!
The Warriors started the game in a very strong manner, leading 5-2!
The Clippers are on offense. Jia Fei has the ball and, facing Klay Thompson, chooses to drive straight to the basket!
The Warriors' strategy for defending Jia Fei is the same as their strategy for defending Running Man: focus on one-on-one defense until he gets close to the three-second zone, then double-team him, and then have others cut off passing lanes.
The difference is that Running Man's mid-range shot isn't accurate enough, so he often chooses to drive to the basket. Jia Fei, on the other hand, has a reliable mid-range shot, which will put the Warriors' defense to a greater test. Last season in the Western Conference Finals, they were completely overwhelmed by him and had to resort to double-teaming.
Klay's defense was still very good; Jia Fei couldn't shake him off immediately.
However, Jia Fei's step-through was a feint. He dribbled behind his back while moving and went straight to his left hand!
Klay's attempt to pounce was too late!
Jia Fei made a clean shot from mid-range after a sudden stop! 5:4!
Warriors offense, Green was left wide open at the top of the arc by Beverley, and missed a three-pointer!
Olynyk grabbed the rebound and passed it to Jia Fei to push the ball up the court!
Jia Fei advanced, made a crossover run, and then suddenly turned and passed the ball to Olynyk at the top of the arc!
Olynyk unleashed a powerful three-pointer—but missed!
But Jia Fei grabbed the offensive rebound and drove hard to score over Green!
5:6, Clippers' Jia Fei was on fire from the start, his touch was off!
"Jia Fei has a strong offensive drive at the start of the game. It seems he has a strong desire to win today!" Wang Meng said.
Yang Yi nodded: "Jia Fei is still holding back a lot of energy after being defeated by the Warriors in last season's Western Conference Finals!"
Warriors are on offense, and Zaza's screen resulted in a foul!
Beverley dribbled the ball over and then passed it to Jia Fei.
Jia Fei has the ball and passes it to Pao Jiao.
Paul George dribbled the ball and attempted a turnaround fadeaway jumper against Durant, but missed!
But Beverley grabbed the offensive rebound, and then, like a prized possession, passed the ball to Jia Fei!
Jia Fei gestured from the top of the arc to slow down the pace!
With a single glance, Olynyk reached the bottom corner, and Jia Fei delivered a one-handed pass directly to Olynyk in the right bottom corner!
The scumbag was clearly stunned. By the time he realized what was happening, it was too late. Olynyk unleashed a three-pointer—and it went straight in!
5:9, the Clippers came out firing on all cylinders, Jia Fei scored, Jia Fei assisted his teammates to score, Jia Fei was serious.
Clippers head coach Mike Budenholzer on the sidelines clapped and nodded gently, looking pleased. This was indeed one of their strategies: letting Jia Fei handle the ball from the start, knowing the opponent would definitely guard him one-on-one, letting him dribble against Klay Thompson, constantly setting screens to target Zaz, and fully utilizing Olynyk's ability to shoot three-pointers.
The Clippers use a five-outside lineup. Although the Warriors have the Splash Brothers, the three best shooting trio in the league, one of their two big men has absolutely no three-point ability, and the other seems to have lost his three-point shooting skills at some point. This makes their offensive spacing less than perfect.
The Clippers can give Green three-point opportunities and completely ignore Zaza's shooting. They only need to focus their defensive attention on the Splash Brothers. Fortunately, they have the best perimeter defensive trio in the league - Jia Fei, Gou Ge, and Paul George.