I’m Really Playing Basketball

On May 2, before the Game 1 match between the Warriors and the Jazz in the conference semifinals at home, the Warriors held a massive speech celebration for the three regular season MVP winners, Chen Xiao, Wade and Ron Howard.

The three of them also delivered a joint MVP award-winning speech on the stage in a very touching atmosphere.

Yes, this time the three MVP award-winning speeches were given together, and the title was "Us Along the Way."

The three recalled the process from when the three recognized each other and progressed together 16 years ago to playing together again this season and their mental journeys over the years.

Although the three people did not deliberately express their emotions, their words still moved many people at the scene to tears.

To be honest, for the current generation of American basketball fans, Marquette University's G3 is really a generation that cannot be bypassed.

Just like the historical Five Tigers of Michigan, if they can achieve the same achievements as Marquette and the Three Eagles in the NBA, winning 13 NBA championships in 2014, then the Five Tigers of Michigan in history will also become unavoidable in the American basketball world. A legendary existence.

It is precisely because of this that the three of them shared the honor of regular season MVP this season as expected.

It is precisely for this reason that the combination of the three people this season has such incredible legitimacy.

No team with three of the top ten players in history would have received such support as the Warriors this season.

Now, for these people, most of their expectations for the reunification of Marquette and the Three Eagles have been completed. Now only the last NBA championship is left. As long as they can win the NBA championship, then the Three Eagles The fit is truly perfect.

Therefore, after this MVP speech, the Warriors players and Warriors fans were shocked.

This made the Jazz, the away team in this game, a little incredible.

The Warriors have indeed been called the devil's home court in recent years, but they are not so devilish.

Therefore, before the game, Jazz head coach Quin Snyder repeatedly warned his players: "In this game, you must be prepared to face the impact, base your defense, and wait for opportunities to counterattack!"

For the Jazz, their goal in this series is simple, that is to create more trouble for the Warriors.

In fact, for a team like the Jazz, they finished fourth in the Western Conference in the regular season this season and entered the second round of the playoffs. In fact, they have achieved their goals.

In the end, there is actually no pressure on whether we can continue to move forward. Winning one game is actually a victory. If we cannot win one game, winning half a game or even a quarter and a half is a victory.

The gap between the two teams is so big that even the most die-hard Jazz fans cannot expect their own team to cause too much trouble to the Warriors.

Of course, although the Jazz were easily defeated by the Warriors in the playoffs last season, the Jazz still caused some trouble for the Warriors, especially in the playoffs against the Warriors last season. Ingalls of fame.

Because of his outstanding performance against the Warriors in the playoffs last season and his outstanding performance against Klay, Ingles has secured his starting position with the Jazz this season.

In this game, the Jazz's starting players are also center Yi Jianlian, power forward Ilyasova, small forward Gordon Hayward, shooting guard Ingles, and point guard DeAndre Jordan.

The Jazz's starting lineup for this game was four forwards and one defender.

Millsap, the starting big man in the regular season, came off the bench in this game.

It can be seen that the Jazz are preparing to use the starting lineup to give the Warriors speed and intensity. From the beginning of the game, they will increase the intensity of the game.

As for the Warriors, the starters are center Chen Xiao, power forward Nong Mei, small forward Wade, shooting guard Klay, and point guard Ron Howard.

Because the Jazz do not have a good enough offensive center, during the regular season, either Yi Jianlian or Millsap played the center, and no matter which one they played, Chen Xiao had the advantage, so in the face of Against the Jazz, the Warriors' starting inside line was the combination of Chen Xiao and Big Eyebrow, not the combination of Jokic and Chen Xiao.

It is not difficult for the Warriors to beat the Jazz, but the strength of the Jazz is also obvious to the entire NBA.

The Jazz have a very strong team of players, seven of whom average double figures in points per game. The Jazz's offense is very scattered, and basically everyone has enough offensive ability.

In this case, as long as the Jazz really beats them, they can really beat any team.

So for such a team, even the Warriors need to be cautious.

On the court, Yi Jianlian and Nongmei jumped the ball, and Nongmei successfully got the first offensive opportunity of the game for the Warriors.

The Warriors are slow to warm up. The reason why they are slow to warm up is because no one of the Warriors' starting players has enough athletic ability to set the pace.

Ron Howard, Klay, Wade, Big Eyebrow, Chen Xiao.

As far as the Warriors' starting lineup is concerned, the one with the most athletic ability now is the 35-year-old Wade.

For a team like this, it's hard for you to reap the benefits of transitioning between offense and defense.

A team like this needs to be in position from the first round to play.

As for the Warriors' opponents, because they were facing the Warriors, they were very tight at the beginning of the game and fought very hard.

When your opponent's defense is tight and they fight fiercely, your positional players will encounter some trouble no matter how capable they are.

Therefore, facing the opponent's defense, the Warriors' starting lineup lacks enough speed to tear apart the opponent's defense or play fast offense and defense. There are some problems with the Warriors' offense from the beginning.

Generally speaking, the Warriors' offense at the beginning of the first quarter is basically Chen Xiao, Wade or Ron Howard creating opportunities for their teammates through their own singles.

Although Chen Xiao, Wade and Ron Howard are very capable in one-on-one singles and create many opportunities, the chances created by such one-on-one singles after falling into the position cannot be as high as those offensive and defensive opportunities no matter how high the hit rate is. The conversion efficiency is high.

However, if the opponent cannot attack quickly, the Warriors' slow start is not that slow.

In the Warriors' first offense in this game, the ball hit Chen Xiao, who was in a key position inside.

Facing Chen Xiao's singles against Arab League, the Jazz did not attack from the beginning.

Now the whole world knows that when playing against this Warriors team, there must be no double-teaming.

Just unlimited defense changes.

Just like what Houston did to the Warriors in history, unlimited defense changes and betting on the isolation efficiency of Warriors players.

On our side, we try our best to send forward players who are fast, good at defense, and long in length to rotate against each other.

This is the case for the Jazz in this game. They took Millsap off just to prevent their starting lineup from having a singles black hole.

It's just obvious that for Arab League, defending Chen Xiao one-on-one is a huge test. Although he is taller than Chen Xiao, his strength and athletic ability are not as good as Chen Xiao.

Coupled with Chen Xiao's technical ability, the Arab League is still under great pressure to defend Chen Xiao in the low post.

Of course, compared to Chasing Green, who was beaten by Chen Xiao in last year's finals, Ah Lian also has his own advantages. His height allows him to cover Chen Xiao, and he can use his height advantage to let Chen Xiao go a little bit instead of chasing him. Like Meng Green, he is not as tall as him, not as strong as him, not as good in every aspect, he can't guard breakthroughs, he can't guard shots, he can't guard anything.

Therefore, despite the fact that the UAE's defense is not on the same level as that of Dream Green, the UAE's defense against Chen Xiao may be better than that of Dream Green.

However, this time, Ah Lian was still unable to block Chen Xiao's positional singles. After Chen Xiao hit behind the back of three consecutive baskets, Ah Lian tried to step forward and continue to block after being pushed away by Chen Xiao. At the same time, Chen Xiao quickly turned his back to break through, and then hit a one-handed dunk!

"This style of play..."

Seeing Chen Xiao's offensive style this time, Maizi sitting in the commentary box on the sidelines was a little confused about what to say.

"It's a typical Barkley style of play."

Chris Webber said with a laugh.

That's how Barkley played back then.

After Chen Xiao gained weight this season, although his butt is still not that big, his strength is huge.

Now the league's average insiders really can't stop Chen Xiao's deep steps.

Turning around and dunking after a deep step, this Barkley style of play has become Chen Xiao's current specialty.

For fans, Chen Xiao's style of play is very beautiful, just appreciate it.

But for Chen Xiao's former opponents and teammates like Maizi and Weber, Chen Xiao's style of play is too incredible.

Because when Chen Xiao was young, he was one of the top five guards along with Mai Zi, Kobe Bryant, Carter, and Iverson.

Although Chen Xiao is also ranked among the top five forwards along with Duncan, Garnett, Webber and Driver.

But to be honest, at that time, Chen Xiao's power forward style was still very outside-oriented, so every time he met Duncan, Chen Xiao would have a very difficult time.

The only championship in the past 14 years that did not involve Marquette and Three Eagles was when Duncan stepped on Marquette and Three Eagles with the Magic. He stepped on Chen Xiao at the power forward position and won the championship.

Let's put it this way, although Chen Xiao was very strong at power forward at that time, Chen Xiao did not have any dominance in the interior.

And now...

With Chen Xiao's Barkley style of play, his dominance is really impressive.

So this season, many people are talking about Chen Xiao gaining weight to play inside and giving up his outside play. They are saying: "Even if God's legs can no longer sprint, he is still an enhanced version of Barkley at his peak!"

Yes, this is not disrespectful to Barkley. The strength and playing style that Chen Xiao has shown in the NBA this season are really an enhanced version of Barkley at his peak. Barkley does not have Chen Xiao's strong shooting ability and passing ability. His ability to play the ball is naturally not as strong as Chen Xiao's ability to drive his teammates.

Of course, the Jazz are very aware of how powerful Chen Xiao is and how powerful the Warriors are.

Although they are going to get a head start in this game, just like Jazz coach Snyder said before the game, be prepared for difficulties.

Not all teams can catch the Warriors' slow start.

The Jazz should be mentally prepared to be unable to catch the Warriors' slow start and then be defeated by the Warriors.

And are the Jazz players mentally prepared for this?

Of course there is.

Therefore, the Jazz players played very modestly and coldly.

The core of the Jazz's tactical system is the 'new black and white' pick-and-roll.

The pick-and-roll between Jordan and Yi Jianlian is the cornerstone of the Jazz's tactics.

Naturally, the Jazz's first attack was the pick-and-roll between Jordan and Alian.

Especially in the matchup between Chen Xiao and Ah Lian, Chen Xiao is much shorter than Ah Lian. In this case, the pick-and-roll between Jordan and Ah Lian will be even more amazing.

However, in this pick-and-roll, Arab League and Jordan faced Luo Ge, who is one of the strongest players in the league against pick-and-rolls.

This time, the pick-and-roll between Jordan and the UAE did not complete the position change for the UAE.

In the end, Ah Lian did not face off against Luo Ge. Luo Ge succeeded in grabbing the opponent. Ah Lian still had to face Chen Xiao.

Although Chen Xiao is much shorter than him, of course Ah Lian would not want to face Chen Xiao if possible.

However, the current Arab League is indeed excellent in the stability of shooting.

Especially after winning the MVP award at last year's Olympics, the UAE is now even more outstanding.

This season with the Jazz, UAE's mid-range shooting rate is as high as 50%. This shooting rate can really rival the most powerful master driver of this style of play.

Historically, it may make many people laugh when it is said that Ah Lian resembles a driver.

In this time and space, especially this season, if you say that Arab League is like a driver, no one will laugh, but it will give people a sense of recognition.

With a swipe sound, Arab League faced Chen Xiao's defense and hit a difficult mid-range shot.

2 to 2!

After the Arab League hit the ball, Snyder next to him also breathed a sigh of relief.

The biggest fear of pick-and-roll tactics is that the pick-and-roll did not cause misalignment and did not cause double-teaming. However, this time the Jazz's pick-and-roll did not cause misplacement or double-teaming, so it did not create any opportunities. In the end, it could only rely entirely on the players' personal abilities.

And Yi's personal offensive ability is strong.

But it is obvious that Yi's personal ability resolved the crisis for the Jazz in this offense.

But the scene of Ron Howard rushing to break the Jazz pick-and-roll just now still made Snyder sigh.

One of the strongest defensive perimeter players in NBA history. This is really not a boast.

Ron Howard is just like Kidd back then, and is known as the king of pick-and-roll defense. Any pick-and-roll team that encounters Ron Howard will be really unlucky.

This time Yi saved the team with his personal ability. What about next time?

Facing God's defense, can Yi have the same 50% shooting rate as before?

The Warriors' isolation depends on individual ability.

After being choked by Ron Howard in the pick-and-roll, the Jazz finally had to rely on individual ability.

Comparing these two, personal abilities are quite inferior!

I have to say that Snyder is still very discerning.

In this game, the Warriors and Jazz played an individual singles game. In the end, the Warriors easily defeated the Jazz 116-94.

In the next three games, the Jazz scored less than 100 points in each game, while the Warriors scored more than 115 points in each game.

The Warriors easily swept the Jazz 4-0 in the Western Conference semifinals.

After taking the lead in advancing to the conference semifinals, the Warriors once again took the lead in advancing to the conference finals.

Sweep in two consecutive rounds.

A very dominant win in eight consecutive games.

The Warriors' momentum seems to be picking up.