Chapter 141: Behind every strong team stands an efficient and mature coaching team
At eight o'clock in the evening, the Bankers Life Arena was packed, and more than [-] fans were waiting for the game between the Warriors and the Pacers.
What is different from the past is that the arena is no longer dominated by Pacers fans. There are almost ordinary fans wearing Bulldogs blue jerseys or championship T-shirts, shouting the names of Zhang Yu and Curry.
This shouting sound reached its peak when Curry entered the court.
DJ still introduced the away players in the most flat tone, but when Curry entered the field, the lights suddenly dimmed, and the DJ shouted passionately:
"Inviting - 2009'30" No. [-] pick in [-] from Charlotte, N.C., point guard who brought two titles to the Butler Bulldogs - #[-] Stephen Curry!"
The spotlight fell on Curry in response, causing the fans to cheer. Even the pure Pacers fans gave Curry applause.
It is a pity for the fans at the scene that the NBA does not have an entrance ceremony for coaches.
But after the Pacers players entered the arena, the camera was specially aimed at Zhang Yu, and there was a burst of warm and long applause in the arena.
Indiana is the land with the most enthusiastic basketball atmosphere, but it has been too long since I tasted the taste of a championship. Zhang Yu is not only the champion coach of Butler University, but also the champion coach of Indiana. They will never forget Zhang Yu's exploits.
According to the "Indianapolis Star" report, after Butler University won two consecutive championships, many people's prejudice against Chinese Americans has been greatly reduced because of Zhang Yu, and the living environment of Chinese Americans in Indiana has improved a lot.
In today's Bankers Life Arena, there are many Chinese Americans who come to cheer for the Warriors.
In this rather weird atmosphere, the game began.
The Warriors still sent regular starters-Curry, Azubuike, Butler, Varejao, Biedrins.
The Pacers' lineup is point guard TJ Ford, shooting guard Brandon Rush, small forward Danny Granger, power forward Dengtai Jones, and center Roy Hibbert.
格兰杰是步行者队的核心,上一个赛季为球队出战67场, 场均能得到25.8分5.1篮板2.7助攻, 能够以40.4%的命中率每场投进2.7个三分球.
He is far and wide accurate, comprehensive in technique, and integrated in offense and defense. He is one of the most popular small forwards, but his vision is a bit narrow, and he plays more singles, and he still has some shortcomings in connecting teams.
But it is also this defect that makes Granger only an end point, with limited influence on the game. In addition, the Pacers' lineup is lacking after all. This tough veteran team has not entered the playoffs.
From the beginning of the game, Granger showed a strong singles ability. Butler, who was still immature, was almost powerless against Granger, and he scored 6 points in a row against Granger.
Seeing this, Zhang Yu decisively instructed Azubuke to double-team Granger boldly.
This pinched the Pacers' weakness. Although Granger's ball under the double-team was steady, it was not fast enough. His teammates could not form an effective partial 4 on 3, and had to reorganize the attack.
Although Granger was able to score points toughly in the face of double-teaming, his efficiency dropped a lot. The Pacers' sharpest spear was restrained by Zhang Yu.
This is not all due to Zhang Yu, Ron Adams, who is meditating on the sidelines, is the biggest contributor.
The Warriors under the old Nelson did not pay enough attention to defense, the players' defensive habits were very poor, and the few draft picks who joined the team rarely received systematic defensive training.
Ron Adams expended a lot of energy, demonstrated in person, and explained repeatedly, which greatly improved the defensive awareness and skills of the Warriors players.
He also designed several sets of defensive tactics to deal with different situations according to the characteristics of each player, and did detailed training.
Although Azubuike seems to be simply double-teaming Granger, his double-team timing, Butler's position to induce Granger to dribble to the sideline, and other players double-teaming Azubuike At the same time, blocking the passing routes of Granger and other players... These have been practiced repeatedly, otherwise the Warriors' defense will become full of loopholes if they double-team rashly.
Behind every strong team stands an efficient and mature coaching team.
Modern basketball is no longer the era when "Cardinal" Auerbach and "Daddy" Chuck Daly overshadowed the sky, said one thing in the team, and one person could support a team.
Even for champion coaches like Phil Jackson and Popovich, they can become top coaches, and they have a large part of the credit for the coaching team.
The triangle offense that Phil Jackson is famous for is not a tactic he created. The founder of this tactic, Tex Winter, as Phil Jackson's assistant coach, carried forward this tactic and made him famous.
In Zhang Yu's previous life, the name of the "Spurs" coach resounded throughout the league. Cole led the Warriors to win the championship, the Bucks under Budenholzer also successfully reached the top, and Brown also brought the 76ers back to the playoffs.
Only then did people know that Popovich's success was not only due to his resourcefulness, but also the credit of his assistant coach.
The same is true for the current Warriors. Zhang Yu mainly grasps the general direction of the team's offensive and defensive tactics, builds the team lineup, and makes adjustments on the spot. Silas and Ron Adams are mainly responsible for filling in specific tactical details and team training. .
Zhang Yu is the head coach standing under the spotlight, but every tactic he deploys cannot be separated from the meticulous crafting of Silas and Ron Adams, otherwise he would not be able to appear in the NBA.
In this game, the Warriors relied on exquisite defensive execution to separate Granger from the Pacers as a whole, effectively containing the Pacers' offense.
They have been looking for ball-handling points other than Granger, but with little success. The biggest gain is the injury-risk TJ Ford, but he plays with speed and cannot organize the Pacers' offense.
The Warriors continued to launch fast breaks through defensive counterattacks, and aimed at the Pacers' weakness in retreating slowly, quickly established a lead and widened the point difference.
Roy Hibbert is a good frame protector, but he can only run back and forth on the court, half exhausted, but it is useless at all.
After the first half, the score was 64:53, and the Warriors led by 11 points. This is the result of the Pacers' efforts to control the rhythm of the game, otherwise the Warriors would definitely score 70 points.
The 15-minute intermission gave Pacers coach O'Brien plenty of time to adjust. He replaced Roy Hibbert and gave Solomon Jones and Tyler Hansbrough two small insiders a lot of time.
But their mobility is only stronger than that of Roy Hibbert, and it is actually not enough to deal with the Warriors' fast break.
Moreover, when Curry saw Hansbrough, an old acquaintance, he was very enthusiastic to "reminisce" with him through the pick-and-roll, and once again dealt a heavy blow to the Pacers, consolidating the Warriors' lead.
And O'Brien couldn't put out a lineup that could keep up with the speed of the Warriors, and he didn't have the courage to remove the inside and put in a completely small lineup-although this may not be useful, the Pacers can only look at the point difference getting bigger.
In the end, the whole game ended, and the Warriors beat the Pacers 101:83, getting a good start in the five consecutive trips in the Eastern Conference.
Five Warriors scored in double figures. Curry scored 34 points and 27 assists in 12 minutes, Butler had 14 points, Azubuike had 18 points, Biedrins had 14 points and 12 rebounds, and substitute Matthews had 12 points. The offensive end is completely open.
On the Pacers side, Granger scored 27 points and 7 rebounds, but his shooting percentage was only 41.2%, and his three-point shooting percentage was 34.7%.
In addition, Earl Watson, who came off the bench, scored 16 points, and Dengtai Jones scored 13 points, which is an important contributor to the game not entering garbage time too early.
But the Pacers had the most assists with Earl Watson's 3. If their lack of organization is not resolved, they will not be able to make the playoffs.
Although the Pacers lost the game, there were not many people booing the Warriors in the Bankers Life Arena. Instead, many fans cheered for the Warriors' victory.
Pure Bulldogs fans don't care about the Pacers' win or loss at all, and those Pacers fans can see clearly that the home team's days of losing are still long, it's not bad to boo this game, and Zhang Yu won only this time in Indiana , must seize this only opportunity to express their support for Zhang Yu.
Expecting the Pacers to win the championship, I don't know that it will have to wait until the Year of the Monkey, but the two championships that Zhang Yu brought to Indiana are real.
After the game, few reporters cared about the game, and Coach Z's return to Indiana was the big news.
The interview scene turned into a reminiscence of Zhang Yu and Curry's time in the Bulldogs. Many local media reporters were fans of the Bulldogs.
Zhang Yu had a lot of "reminiscing about the past and the turbulent years". After coming out of the banker's life arena, he received a call from Stevens:
"Ronan, congratulations on your victory. Unfortunately, I'm in Louisville, so I can't treat you to dinner."
"Even if you are in Indiana, you can't invite me to dinner. I have to fly to New York tonight, and the game against the Knicks is the day after tomorrow." Zhang Yu sighed.
It's not just Butler who hates flying, he's also sick of living almost in the air.
"Isn't this the NBA life you've been thinking about? Why, regret it?" Stevens joked.
He is so familiar with Zhang Yu, he can hear his mood from Zhang Yu's tone.
"No, as long as I can win, I am willing to live on the plane every day." Zhang Yu said.
"Then I wish you keep winning. Don't forget to buy a private jet and make it more luxurious." Stevens laughed.
Zhang Yu ignored his teasing:
"Brad, I'm about to get the Warriors into the playoffs, can you lead the Bulldogs to the championship?"
"The season has just started, where do you have the confidence?"
"You know, I only say what I'm sure of."
There was silence on the phone for a while before Stevens said:
"Of course, I will lead the Bulldogs to win the championship, and then I will go to the NBA. You won the NCAA, but I will win the O'Brien Cup before you!"