I’m Really Playing Basketball

This year's Warriors' regular season record is no longer so unfavorable, so in this year's All-Star voting, the Warriors did not have that many players selected for the All-Stars.

In addition to only one starter, Chen Xiao, the All-Star substitutes also only have thick eyebrows. Luo Ge, Wade, Clay and Devin Booker were not selected for the All-Star game.

Only two players were selected for the All-Star Game. This is the worst All-Star voting result since Chen Xiao came to the Warriors.

However, this is actually normal. It is abnormal for a team to always have five or even six players selected for the All-Stars. When your record is no longer outstanding, you can only accept this result.

Compared with other dynasty teams, the Warriors are actually pretty good. After winning four consecutive championships, they are still motivated and have not yet experienced internal conflicts.

In fact, there are no conflicts within the Warriors now. The players have either lost their fighting spirit and pursuit, or simply due to various reasons, the players are not in such good condition.

Of course, this is an internal matter within the Warriors. No Warriors player will tell these things to outsiders. Even if they say it, most people will not believe it.

Of course, these reporters and experts who like to make trouble will report such news from other more popular angles.

For example, after the 24-man All-Star roster came out, reporters and media continued to report on the internal conflicts of the Warriors.

For example, players such as Klay and Devin Booker are planning to leave because they cannot have higher development space in the Warriors.

These messages are mixed in truth and mostly false.

For example, the real thing is Devin Booker. The whole world knows that it will be difficult for him to leave the Warriors next season.

This is true, and almost everything else is false.

But I can't stand it. The logic of these people's statements is very clear and very convincing.

The Warriors did only get two All-Star players this year.

At the same time, the Warriors' hopes of winning the championship this season are slim, and will be slim in the future.

Chen Xiao and Wade Ron Howard can wait to retire after becoming famous, but those young players of the Warriors are still very young, they still have a lot of time, and they can have more and higher pursuits.

There is really no need for them to follow old guys like Chen Xiao and wait for the years to disappear in the Warriors.

Just like Rose, Rose can actually wait for the years to pass with the Bobcats. After all, he is a player who has completed a dynasty.

Even if Rose retires directly with the Bobcats, he will definitely be inducted into the Hall of Fame, and he will definitely be able to retire his jersey and become a legendary player in the entire NBA.

But did he do so?

Instead of doing so, he chose to leave the Bobcats where he had become famous.

The Bobcats are already waiting to make money and sell tickets, but Ross is not short of money, and he doesn't want to be a mascot to make money and sell tickets.

Similarly, how many young people are willing to die for Chen Xiao and the other three ‘old men’ when they are young and at their peak?

No matter how good Chen Xiao Wade and Ron Howard are, no matter how much they support young people, people are still mainly selfish.

What's more, Rose has had a good life since leaving the Bobcats. In the Heat, Rose led the Heat this season to overpower the Bobcats and other strong Eastern teams, ranking among the top three in the Eastern Conference. Rose even ranked second in the MVP rankings. Curry, Chen Xiao and James ranked fourth.

And Jimmy Butler, who left the Bobcats in a conflict before Rose, also had a very good life with the Spurs.

In this case, the drama of the Warriors' internal strife and disintegration seems so real.

As for such rumors, no one from the Warriors team came out to refute the rumors.

As a team that has won four consecutive championships, the Warriors are the target of public criticism. When you can't stop others from saying something, then don't say anything.

Otherwise, no matter what you say, others will find new reasons to create a bigger topic, and in the end you will only be hurt.

At this time, the team only needs to be silent and say whatever they want.

They can think whatever they want to think.

Returning to the NBA regular season, due to the injury to Big Eyebrow, the Warriors' already somewhat stretched team's strong immediate combat capability actually suffered a loss.

Regardless of the month when Big Eyebrow was injured, the Warriors had a record of 12 wins and 1 loss, the best record in a single month this season.

Such victory actually comes at a price.

Chen Xiao, Clay, Luo Ge, Wade, and Devin Booker all shoulder more responsibilities for the team.

In particular, the reason for the thick eyebrows is inside. After the thick eyebrows were injured, the Warriors brought up Robinson. Although Robinson got a lot of training opportunities, his offense really couldn't make any progress. So when Robinson became the starter, the rest of the Warriors The offensive pressure on the four starting players increased sharply.

The whole world knows that Robinson can only defend but not attack.

In this case, Chen Xiao and Clay would be even more tired.

Especially when Luo Ge and Wade started, Chen Xiao and Clay were more tired. After all, we can't let Luo Ge and Wade take more responsibilities, right?

Therefore, in the past month, Klay's average number of shots exceeded 20 per game.

This number of shots is actually very high. You must know that Clay also has to defend the opponent's sharp knives on the defensive end.

Now the Warriors' perimeter players have been replaced by Clay from Luo Ge and Wade to defend the opponent's sharpest players.

There is no way around this. Although Wade and Luo Ge's defensive skills are still strong, it is really difficult for their bodies to keep up with many of the faster and faster defenders in the league.

Let's put it this way, basketball in this era is indeed much faster than ten or twenty years ago.

The reason for the speed is that the guards of this era are stronger on average than the guards of any previous era.

Yes, I'm talking about average strength, not the strongest strength.

In this era, almost every team will have one or two defenders who are outstanding offensively.

This is very incredible.

Perhaps the absolute strength of these guards is not as good as Jordan, Wheat, Kobe, Carter, Ray Allen and Chen Xiao in the past, nor is it as good as Wade, Luo Ge and others later.

But these people's offense is really strong.

In the past, could you imagine that a rookie point guard like Trae Young could attack so wildly in every game?

The coach basically has no restrictions on him. He can throw three-pointers however he wants.

And that's why this league is different now than it was in the past.

Because of the successive successes of Chen Xiao, Ray Allen and Curry, all three of them played in an unreasonable style.

In this case, all the unreasonable and unreasonable playing methods in the past were washed away.

In the past, coaches would never allow shots from the center circle, but now, every team has defenders showing off midfield shots during games.

In this era, coaches are more tolerant of players' willful playing styles, which is beneficial to the performance of defenders on the offensive end.

Therefore, the requirements for defenders are higher.

In that league twenty years ago, when everyone was playing reasonable basketball, Wade and Luo's physical fitness declined, but their skills were still very popular. After all, no matter whether they were young or old, talented or Those without talent basically play while standing and cannot run.

But in this era, no matter what kind of defender he is, no matter whether he can score or not, he is still running and playing, which is very exciting.

In this case, defense has become the team's defensive sharp knife, and offense has become the team's strongest outside attack. In the past month, Clay has been exhausted.

Let's put it this way, after playing beside Chen Xiao for so many years, Clay has never been as tired as this season.

In the past, Clay had never felt that there was anything wrong with him being happy in the summer.

Because the regular season is really easy, playing next to Chen Xiao is really easy. He doesn't need to exert more effort in the regular season. Why not play more in the summer? He just needs to lose weight in the regular season.

But this season, the regular season has never been so tiring.

And this is also the biggest problem for the Warriors now.

Yes, in the past, Chen Xiao was an omnipotent player. He could play any position the team lacked.

Chen Xiao still seems to be so dominant now.

But in fact, Chen Xiao can no longer play various positions like before.

If it was ten years ago, Chen Xiao would have been able to play on the outside to relieve Clay's pressure.

But now, Chen Xiao is really powerless and can only watch Clay attack crazily and fight desperately despite his poor condition.

Of course, the Warriors don't have to care about their regular season record and ranking at all.

But the reality is that the Warriors don't care about their regular season record, but they still need to care about their regular season rankings.

You may not have 70 wins, you may not even have 60 wins, but you absolutely cannot not be among the top three in the Western Conference!

Even for the Warriors, if they were not first in the Western Conference, the Warriors would be very tired in the playoffs.

Now, despite the fact that the Warriors' record is No. 1 in the Western Conference, it's actually not that stable.

So even if Klay fights fiercely, the Warriors have no other option.

No, it's not completely impossible.

During the Warriors' home game against the Lakers on February 2, the Warriors took the initiative to make changes to the team's starting lineup.

In this game between the Warriors and the Lakers, the team's starting lineup became center Robinson, power forward Chen Xiao, small forward Jaylen Brown, shooting guard Clay, and point guard Devin Booker.

Devin Booker and Jaylen Brown once again appeared in the starting lineup, but this time, the Warriors did not just train Devin Booker and Jaylen Brown like last season, but actually let the two of them replace Wade. He started in Luo Ge's position.

Yes, starting from this game, the Warriors have reached a consensus that Wade and Ron Howard will step down from their starting positions.

This is a suggestion put forward by Wade and Luo Ge themselves. As the two said, if they play as substitutes, Chen Xiao and Clay will have much less pressure in the regular season.

Jaylen Brown can help Clay defend, and Devin Booker can also help Chen Xiao attack. At the same time, Jaylen Brown and Devin Booker can also shoulder the team's offensive pressure.

At the same time, after Wade and Luo Ge go to the bench, they can also stagger stronger starting teammates. With their offensive stability and tacit understanding, their contribution to the bench rotation will definitely be more efficient.

I have to say that Wade and Ron Howard are indeed high-spirited.

Although everyone knows that it is more beneficial for the Warriors to have Wade and Clay on the bench at this time.

But knowing means knowing, and doing it is difficult.

You know, these two are among the top ten players in history!

The top ten players in history take the initiative to become substitutes, and they will also be substitutes when they play in the playoffs. To be honest, this is absolutely incredible.

It is very difficult for the top ten players in history, especially the top ten players in history, who have a major influence on the team to make such a decision.

But for the Warriors, Wade and Ron Howard were extremely firm when they made this decision.

And this also gives thick eyebrows more time to recover.

Originally, the Warriors wanted to let Big Eyebrow return to the game as soon as he recovered from his injury.

However, Wade and Luo Ge said that they hoped that the thick eyebrows could completely heal the injury. Strain injuries are easy to recur.

However, many people don't know that Wade and Luo Ge may have saved Big Eyebrow, but they don't know that their noble decision also saved Clay.

Historically, Clay was suspended this season because of Curry's injury, because Green's offense became sluggish, and because the offensive and defensive status of other veterans on the team declined, he and Durant took on more of the team's responsibility. Offensive and defensive tasks.

In the end, both he and Durant thought they were overstrained. One fell before the finals, and the other fell in the finals.

In fact, Clay is not that iron man.

It has to be said that Jaylen Brown and Devin Booker came to the starting lineup, which has an immediate impact on the Warriors' offense and defense.

Although they lost to the Lakers on February 2, they defeated the Spurs by 39 points at home 141 to 102 on February 6. In this game, Klay made 11 of 13 shots, 4 of 5 three-pointers, and scored 26 points. Not much, but very efficient and not tiring to play. Even when it comes to running and catching the ball, Jaylen Brown can even do the work of guarding Jimmy Butler for him.

The familiar efficient Clay, the relaxed and unrestrained Clay, is back.

It’s not just Klay, Chen Xiao is 9-for-13 with 28 points, Devin Booker is 7-for-12 with 20 points, everyone’s pressure is off.

The key is that in this game, the Warriors' rotation, led by Wade and Ron Howard, scored 51 points!

Everyone is fighting more easily!

And this is definitely the situation the Warriors are most willing to accept.

The Warriors really are not pursuing record this season.

But I hope to get the No. 1 ranking in the Western Conference relatively easily.

And after such a change, the Warriors did it.

Therefore, after the successful formation change, Chen Xiao can clearly feel that his teammates' expectations for this season are even higher!

Yes, the current Warriors can have higher expectations!