lcionline Chapter 317 The Team's Fundamentals
Chapter 317 The Team's Fundamentals
Back in his 76ers days, especially after Iverson left, Iguodala was being groomed as the team's franchise player. Unfortunately, neither his individual abilities nor his personality were suited to being a team's star player.
In terms of individual ability, his shooting has always been inconsistent. As a swingman, his shooting ability is lacking, and his shooting form is somewhat awkward. His ball-handling and penetration skills are also not top-tier. His strength lies in defense, but as a core player, his offensive contributions are more important than his defensive ones.
Iguodala has never averaged more than 20 points per game in his career. Although he has always been an unselfish player with a low offensive desire, the fact that he has never averaged more than 20 points per game shows that his offensive ability is indeed relatively mediocre.
To become the star player of a championship-contending team, averaging less than 20 points per game as a wing player is unacceptable. No matter how good your defense is, you still need to score to win.
The opposing team began to closely guard Jia Fei off the ball, and he had a flash of inspiration, providing a screen for Xiao Hei!
After covering, he immediately broke outwards, and Xiao Hei quickly broke inwards!
The Warriors were somewhat unprepared. They thought Jia Fei would have possession of the ball, and their wings immediately collapsed when facing Xiao Hei's breakthrough!
Xiao Hei passed the ball to Sefolosha in the bottom corner.
Sefolosha received the ball, and Curry, who was switching to defend Jia Fei, instinctively rotated to defend him!
Sefolosha then passed the ball to Jia Fei at the 45-degree three-point line on the left wing!
Empty seat!
By the time Livingston rotated back, it was too late!
A fundamental truth on the basketball court: the ball moves faster than a person can run!
Jia Fei received the ball and calmly shot a three-pointer—smoothly making the shot!
17:22, the point difference has reached 5 points!
Yu Jia exclaimed, "Jia Fei's shot was really decisive!"
Coach Zhang nodded: "That was a really good shot. You know what, it was really impressive. I just took it, and it went in! Hehe!"
Curry dribbles the ball over, and Black is on full-court defense!
Curry quickly took advantage of Speights' screen and launched a three-pointer – and he made it!
Even though Scott was ready to switch on defense, he was just a hair's breadth away from seizing the opportunity. In terms of release speed, Curry's one-shot shooting is truly unmatched.
20:22, the score difference has been narrowed to 2 points in an instant!
The Hawks fans at the stadium also felt a chill run down their spines. Curry is indeed terrifying. It seems that double-teaming him is absolutely no problem. He's too accurate!
Xiao Hei dribbled the ball over and passed it to Jia Fei.
Jia Fei dribbled the ball and faced Iguodala, and Art Mayork came up to set a screen.
The Warriors immediately double-teamed Jia Fei!
Facing a pincer attack, Jia Fei splits his attack with Art Mayok!
Near the free-throw line, Art Mayok drove in, but was intercepted by a Warriors player who swiped his card to help defend!
Warriors counterattack, Iguodala dribbles up the court and passes to Curry on the other side!
Curry attracted a lot of defenders and passed to Speights who was cutting down the middle!
Jia Fei quickly moved in to flank and assist Speights in defending!
Speights looks fierce, but his main offensive weapon is actually shooting; he's not a master of attacking the basket!
Sure enough, Speights stopped the ball and chose to shoot, but the shot was blocked by Jia Fei and missed!
Jia Fei leaped and fought with Ezeli for the rebound, repeatedly making quick grabs and using his speed to win the ball!
After getting the ball, Jia Fei dribbled forward and made a solo run down the court, drawing a foul from Livingston!
The fans at the scene were extremely excited, screaming continuously, and chants of "MVP" echoed endlessly.
Yu Jia exclaimed, "Jia Fei's series of movements just now required extremely high levels of cardiovascular endurance!"
The Warriors made a personnel change, with Curry resting and "Brazilian Lightning" Barbosa entering the game.
One of the Warriors' strengths is the abundance of players capable of handling the ball. The starting lineup, including the Splash Brothers and Green, are all ball-handlers, and even players like the North Carolina Blackhawks and Bogdanovic can manage simple ball-handling. Off the bench, Iguodala, Livingston, and Barbosa can all play point guard, ensuring they consistently have two or more playmaking options on the court. Their primary strategy is passing and cutting, and this abundance of ball-handlers is the foundation of their system.
The Hawks, too, possess multiple ball-handling options. The nickname "Eastern Spurs" is well-deserved!
The first quarter ended with the Hawks leading by 4 points, 24-28!
Jia Fei scored 11 points, grabbed 3 rebounds, dished out 2 assists, made 1 steal, and blocked 1 shot in the first quarter, showcasing a very well-rounded performance. Clearly, when double-teaming him proved ineffective and the Hawks switched to one-on-one defense, his offensive performance was outstanding, allowing the Hawks to outscor their opponents.
The second quarter began with both teams maintaining their lineups.
The Hawks made a slight adjustment to their defensive strategy at the start of the second quarter, choosing to collapse their defense more to exploit the opponent's lack of shooting ability, giving them more opportunities for three-pointers.
Of the Warriors' five players on the court, only Barbosa has a decent three-point shooting ability. Center Ezeli is a role player and has no three-point shooting ability. Power forward Speights can shoot threes, but that's all he can do, and he's the type who can be left open. Small forward Iguodala's three-point shooting volume and accuracy are average, so he can be left open. Guard Livingston basically doesn't shoot threes; his offensive methods are either under the basket or mid-range shots.
The Hawks' strategy was to have Black lead the defense against Barbosa, keeping him occupied, while the rest of the team used a zone defense to limit the opponent's passing, cutting, and penetration. If the opponent wanted to shoot a three-pointer, they would simply pass it to him.
If you miss your three-pointer, I'll grab the rebound and launch a counterattack!
The Warriors were also leaving the Hawks open for three-pointers. Anthony Davis was left wide open, but he responded; Art Mayok was also left wide open, as were Scott and Sefolosha.
However, the Hawks' overall shooting is stronger than the Warriors'. This allows the Hawks' role players to have a higher shooting percentage with the home-court advantage, giving them a significant advantage with similar defensive strategies.
The Warriors' overall shooting level was boosted by the Splash Brothers; in fact, their role players weren't that accurate. The team's core strength lies in defense and multiple ball-handlers, and these two factors made it difficult to penetrate the Hawks' well-developed, all-around defensive system.
Warriors head coach Steve Kerr had no choice but to bring Klay Thompson in to replace Livingston, who was being shut down by Jia Fei, in order to increase offensive space.
The Hawks' offense revolves around targeting the opposing big men. When Bogdanovic is on the court, they target him; when he's off, they target Ezeli, which makes things very difficult for the Warriors.
Jia Fei only launched a strong attack as a last resort, and the opponent's attrition strategy was not effective. On the contrary, his own Water Splash Brothers were worn down by the opponent.
In the second quarter, the Warriors still couldn't regain the momentum, and at halftime, the Hawks led by 8 points, 49-57.
贾飞半场得到16分4个篮板4次助攻2个抢断1个盖帽，依然是全队最稳定发挥的球员，妥妥的基本盘。