I’m Really Playing Basketball

On May 18, 2022, the home of the Golden State Warriors, the God of Basketball Arena, at this time, the players of the Warriors and Lakers had finished warming up and walked to the court.

At this time, the starting players of the two teams were also shown on the big screen.

For the Lakers, who are playing away, the starting lineup for this game is center Jokic, forwards Lowe, Siakam, guard Leonard, and point guard Paul George.

The Warriors' starting lineup is center Chen Xiao, forwards Marvin Barkley, Wiggins, guards Herbert Jones, and Klay Thompson.

This year's Western Conference Finals is the fourth consecutive year that the Warriors and Lakers have met in the Western Conference Finals.

In the previous three years, the Warriors finally lost to the Lakers.

Therefore, the two teams are very familiar with each other.

Therefore, the Lakers did not use Lowry or Wade in the starting lineup, while the Warriors also did not use Morant.

Let's put it this way, for the Lakers, it is actually understandable not to be a point guard. After all, Lowry is now older, and Lowe's current strength is indeed worthy of being a starter and worthy of the Lakers' starting system.

The key is that the Warriors did not start Morant, which was unexpected.

After all, Morant is the second in command of the Warriors.

And this season, Morant has demonstrated his outstanding ability on the defensive end and excellent control of the game in the duel with his destined opponents Curry and Trae Young.

This season, although Morant's ability has not increased much, his control of the game has indeed improved greatly.

But obviously, in the Western Conference Finals in the past three years, between the Warriors and the Lakers, Morant was indeed a very disadvantageous point for the Warriors.

Morant's characteristic is that he can attack, break through, and impact.

But Morant's shooting ability is not stable enough.

But against the Lakers, such a surprise attack is actually useless, because the Lakers will not give you any space to break out.

Jokic was guarding the basket, surrounded by Siakam, Leonard, Rowe and Paul George. There was simply no small guard in the world who could defeat the Lakers' defense with a breakthrough.

It doesn't matter if it's Morant, James Harden, Rose or Westbrook.

Facing the Lakers, you must have everyone with good enough and stable shooting abilities.

For the Warriors, when playing against the Lakers, offense and outside shooting are the lifeline of the team. If the offense cannot be opened and defense is used, no one can beat the Lakers.

The classic finals between the Lakers and Bucks last season, the final result was 4-2. How did the Bucks defeat the Lakers?

Is it about defense?

No, it depends on the offense. The offense of the team's Big Three, Durant, Antetokounmpo, and Curry, the three of them scored 40+ times in six games.

Yes, Antetokounmpo, with Durant and Curry in check, used a breakthrough to break through Paul George and Siakam.

Coupled with the great power of Durant and Curry, the defense of the Lakers, the strongest defensive team, was directly crushed by the Bucks' offense.

Morant cannot be like Antetokounmpo. This is still on the offensive end. On the defensive end, Morant is further behind Antetokounmpo.

In last season's Finals, Antetokounmpo could guard five Lakers players by himself, and he was everywhere on the defensive end.

But Morant may not be able to guard any of the five Lakers players.

Therefore, Morant is very accepting of his substitution, and Cole did not lie to him. The victory or defeat of the Warriors in this series does depend entirely on the rotation he leads.

To be honest, even if the Warriors arrange such a starting lineup, Cole has no confidence in whether he can beat the Lakers in the starting lineup.

It should be said that there is a high probability that the Warriors will not be able to compete in the starting lineup.

In this case, the rotation of Morant, Poole, Alexander, Michael Porter Jr., Anthony, PJ Tucker, and Jeff Green becomes extremely important.

By the way, PJ Tucker should not be counted in the rotation. He will rotate with Herbert Jones and Wiggins.

The three are very important to the defense of Paul, George and Leonard.

It doesn't matter whether they can defend it or not. What matters is consumption, consumption of the two of them, making it impossible for them to help Lowry and the Lakers during the bench rotation stage.

As long as these two cannot maintain an efficient 40 minutes in a game, the Warriors have the opportunity to use the time when they are away or unable to maintain efficiency to play their own lineup advantage.

This time the Warriors play the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals, what they are fighting for is the thickness of the lineup.

Let's put it this way, this Lakers is one of the teams with the thickest lineup that Chen Xiao has ever played for. The reason why it is not the thickest is because the Bobcats back then were also very thick. The two teams should be It's almost the same.

So, after clarifying these things, it will be clear how the Warriors should play in this game and this series.

Therefore, as soon as the game started, the Warriors' starting lineup directly faced the Lakers.

When defending, Chen Xiao was even wrestling with Jokic.

Just like PJ Tucker defending Durant, your athletic ability, height and jumping are not as good as your opponent. The only thing that can fight is ferocity. Of course, casual ferocity is not enough. You need to rely on defensive skills to support it. PJ Tucker, leopard print It's all such a defensive approach.

Therefore, Chen Xiao, who has now lost his bounce and sufficient explosive power, needs to have enough intensity to consume these big centers when defending tall insiders like Jokic.

This is the defensive end, and on the offensive end, because Jokic did not dare to defend, the Warriors can all shoot, so it is five on four outside. No matter how strong the opponent's defensive rotation is, there is still a chance. Chen Xiao faced West Asia Cam, Leonard, Paul George, Lowe's one-on-one defense, it is not easy to beat any of them alone.

But as long as you cooperate a few times and pass the ball out, you can find teammates who are slightly open.

As long as these teammates are decisive enough when attacking, they can seize this opportunity.

Therefore, this requires sufficient confidence in one's own shooting. If it is Morant, as long as he is not confident in his shooting, the Lakers' defense will be able to rotate in place, and then the Warriors' offense will not be able to play.

This is the defensive strategy of the Warriors in this game and this series. On the defensive end, they must defend alone regardless of physical strength and exhaustion. On the offensive end, role players must take decisive and confident shots after receiving Chen Xiao's pass.

Only if you take action will you have a chance to advance. If you don't take action, you will not advance.

As for how well the Warriors' starters will perform in the end, we can only wait and see what fate dictates.

If the starting pitch is open, the game is won.

If you can't shoot, try not to lose too much, and the bench lineup can still catch up.

Of course, the Warriors have prepared very well for this series and know the Lakers very well. Likewise, Kobe and the Lakers don't know much about the Warriors.

Therefore, the key to the Lakers winning this series is also very simple.

On the offensive end, in isolation, Jokic used his height to single out Chen Xiao, while Paul George and Leonard used pick and rolls to single out the Warriors' soft persimmons.

Siakam and Rowe, on the other hand, used their athletic ability and rebounding ability to make crazy air cuts to find opportunities to seize the second offensive opportunity.

Let's put it this way, the Lakers' three-man singles and two-man rebounding tactic for the second attack was specially prepared for the Warriors who did not have a big center or a high inside line.

In the past three years, the Lakers have used this trick to kill the Warriors for three years.

This time, the Lakers will definitely use this trick.

After all, this trick is so useful.

On the defensive end, the Lakers are also simple, that is, Leonard, Paul George, Siakam and Rowe, run faster and don't give the other Warriors players the slightest space.

Finally, let the Warriors put their offense on Chen Xiao, and let Chen Xiao face the defense of Leonard, Lowe, Siakam, and Paul George, and a crazy strong shooting offense.

Therefore, for the Lakers, the goal of this series is simple, on the offensive end, steal, on the defensive end, run!

Therefore, when these two teams that know each other so well meet again in the playoffs, this series is like accelerating.

Because there is no room for adjustment in every game, experts and fans will not expect any adjustments from the two teams.

The two teams have this set to finish the series.

In the first game of the Western Conference Finals, the Lakers players worked hard on the defensive end. On the offensive end, Siakam and Lowe also beat Marvin Bagley and Wiggins after Jokic suppressed Chen Xiao. , the Lakers defeated the Warriors 118-110 on the road.

In this game, the Lakers did an excellent job both offensively and defensively, especially on the defensive end.

For example, Robert Williams blocked four shots on the defensive end in this game. You must know that the Warriors players were decisive enough when receiving Chen Xiao's pass, but they were still blocked four times by Lowe. How quick his defensive rotations are.

In this game, the Warriors actually lost because the offense didn't open up and the defense couldn't grab it. It was foreseeable.

And against singles, the Warriors also defended very well. Leonard made 10 of 24, Paul George made 7 of 17, and Jokic made 8 of 16. These are actually acceptable.

Wiggins, Herbert Jones and P.J. Tucker all did a good job defensively, and Clay's defense was even more surprising.

Clay's athletic ability has declined, but his defensive skills have become even better. Leonard went crazy looking for Clay to fight in this game, but Clay is strong and not bad in height. Plus Leonard His athletic ability is not that strong. Facing Clay, who has excellent defensive skills now, his singles effect is average.

Therefore, in G1, the Warriors lost because of the starting offense. Wiggins made 5 of 15, Klay was 6 of 14, Marvin Bagley was 3 of 12, and Herbert Jones was 2 of 6.

Except for Chen Xiao, the other four people did not open the offense.

Even Chen Xiao, who was forced to take a lot of strong shots in this game, only shot 10-for-25 on three-pointers when his hand was okay, and 7-for-15 on three-pointers. Yes, he hit 10-for-25 on two-pointers. 3. With Chen Xiao's mid-range ability and good touch, shooting such a shooting percentage shows how strong the Lakers' defense is in the three-point line.

When Chen Xiao makes a mid-range shot, not only is there a defender in front of him, but there is also one or even two long hands on the side to interfere at any time.

The less accurate his teammates are, the stronger the defense around him is.

It can only be said that in this game, Chen Xiao made 10 of 25, 7 of 15 three-pointers, 6 of 6 free throws, and scored a game-high 33 points. This is really his best.

In G2, the Lakers and Warriors battled again. In this game, neither team changed their playing style, and the players of the two teams almost continued the state of the previous game.

The Lakers' offense can't be opened up in singles. Even after the last game, this game is even more tightly defended. Without the players' explosive touch, the opponent is more familiar with you, so it will naturally be more difficult to beat.

Therefore, in this game, the Lakers' two singles players Leonard and Paul George only shot 9 of 20 and 8 of 20, while Jokic declined the fastest. He was so beaten by Chen Xiao in the last game. In this game, after only one day of rest, Jokic felt that he had not recovered yet. His touch was extremely poor. He only made 3 of 10 shots in the game and missed all kinds of strong attacks.

In this case, although Siakam and Rowe are not restrained by the three leaders, it is difficult to get better.

After all, your three singles main players are enough to defend alone, and naturally it is impossible to attract help defense. Wiggins and Marvin Bagley are capable of not distracting their attention and focusing on protecting rebounds.

Therefore, the Lakers grabbed 8 offensive rebounds in this game.

The offense was not open, but the Lakers still did well defensively.

The Lakers players ran without hesitation, allowing Chen Xiao to make 9 of 24 shots, 6 of 18 three-pointers, and 8 of 8 free throws. He scored 32 points with a very low shooting rate.

It is incredible that this hit rate appears on Chen Xiao twice in a row.

As for Chen Xiao's teammates, the offense in this game was even worse. Klay was 4 of 19, Wiggins was 4 of 12, Marvin Bagley was 4 of 10, and Herbert Jones was 0 of 3.

Judging from the offensive status of the two teams in this game, the two teams will definitely not score 100 points in the end.

But in the end, the Warriors defeated the Lakers 109-98 at home.

The reason is very simple, of course the rotation wins.

Morant made 8 of 14 shots in this game and scored 17 points.

Poole, Anthony and Michael Porter Jr., Alexander, combined to score 9 three-pointers in this game.

With the Warriors' main force narrowly losing to the Lakers, the rotation led by Morant greatly beat the Lakers' rotation in this game.

At their home court, they relied on a stronger lineup to tenaciously regain the 1-1 score.

However, for the Warriors, losing a home game is a very dangerous thing.

If the Lakers cannot win an away game, there is a risk of falling behind 1-3.

Therefore, the Lakers' next two home games will definitely be up for grabs.

On May 22, Staples, the Lakers' first home game, gave the Warriors a heads-up!

The Lakers players who returned home for this game were very excited and spared no effort on the defensive end. The Warriors' starting offense still failed to open up and the touch did not explode. The main force once again had to rely on Chen Xiao to attack.

The Lakers players returned to their home court. Leonard, Paul George, and Jokic all scored 25+ points in this game. The three opened up alone and directly started the offense of Siakam and Rowe.

In the end, the Lakers' main force can be said to have slaughtered the Warriors' main force.

In the final game, the Lakers defeated the Warriors 120 to 105.

When the game ended, with the Warriors trailing 2-1, the entire public opinion turned one-sided towards the Lakers.

Even Warriors fans are already a little desperate.

To be fair, G3 can be said to have magnified the Lakers' advantage to the extreme.

The Lakers' offense was fully open. The three main players opened up, and the two role players followed suit. Then Lowry on the bench performed well, and the defense also held up.

It can be said that in this game, the Lakers played everything they should play, and it seemed that it was impossible for the Warriors to win.

That’s why public opinion is so pessimistic at this time.

However, for the Warriors, things are relatively calm internally.

Because Chen Xiao smiled and told everyone at the end of the game.

"The Lakers can't be better in the next game, and we can't be worse."

Yes, when Chen Xiao said with a smile that we still have a chance, the Warriors players believed it.

Moreover, in the past three games, they were able to win one despite being so determined. This actually exceeded their expectations.

Their future cannot be worse!

"Yes, we still have a chance!"