RNP Chapter 79: First Experience with Tough Defense, Referee Control Leads to Key Moment!
Chapter 79: First Experience with Tough Defense, Referee Control Leads to Key Moment!
Five and a half minutes into the second half, the score was 82-75, with the Warriors leading by seven points.
In the third quarter alone, they went on a 14-5 run.
Tyronn Lue had no choice but to adjust the lineup.
Morris is completely ineffective on the court. On offense, he can't make three-pointers, so he loses his spacing threat. On defense, the Warriors don't have a center with the ability to create their own offense that he needs to defend in the low post. As for switching to the perimeter to defend guards, he often suffers, which is a complete side effect.
Therefore, from both offensive and defensive perspectives, the Clippers had reached a point in this game where they had no choice but to bench Morris.
Since we can't win on offense, we should further strengthen our defense!
After the timeout, Coach Lu fielded a chilling lineup.
Point guard Patrick Beverley is a tenacious perimeter defender with exceptional defensive mentality. He excels at chasing down and tenaciously defending smaller guards like Curry or Poole, and his nickname "Mad Dog" is truly well-deserved.
Terrence Mann, a dynamic young wing player at the shooting guard position, possesses excellent physical attributes and a proactive and tenacious defensive attitude. He is an indispensable part of a fast-paced, switching defensive system, especially effective against passing and cutting offensive systems like those of the Warriors.
Paul George, the Clippers' perimeter defensive spearhead at position three, possesses exceptional flexibility in switching on defense and has been selected to the All-Defensive Team four times, including two All-NBA First Team selections.
Kawhi Leonard, the power forward, is a top-tier perimeter anchor and an all-around defensive anchor for his team. He possesses strength, wingspan, and anticipation. In the last eight years, he has been selected to the All-Defensive Team seven times, including three First Team selections, and has also won the Defensive Player of the Year award twice.
Nicolas Batum, the center, possesses extremely high defensive intelligence. His performance in the first round against Luka Doncic, the Mavericks' offensive linchpin, was remarkable, demonstrating his immense defensive value.
This incredible defensive lineup is practically tailor-made for the Warriors.
The Clippers were already playing a small lineup by having Morris at center, but now they've replaced him with Batum, making it even smaller!
However, this also completely eliminates the so-called slow-footed big men on the Clippers roster who are targeted by guards, allowing them to switch on defense without limit.
Beverley and Mann, who were substituted in, are both known for their speed and energy.
Their defensive rotations are extremely fast, and they are particularly resistant to the Warriors' passing and cutting offensive system.
However, this Clippers roster also sacrifices their offense and rebounding to some extent.
Without Reggie Jackson's ball-handling and playmaking, the Clippers' offense basically relies on Leonard and George's head-to-head one-on-one battles, which are not only exhausting but also have a low success rate.
After all, they were matched up against Green and Wiggins, and in terms of defensive ability, these two were certainly not to be outdone.
Another disadvantage is their height, as the Clippers' tallest player is Batum at 2.03 meters, making it easy for Rooney to dominate the rebounds in the paint.
That's just how small lineups are. The Warriors used Green as center for a long time in the first round, and the tallest player on the team was only 1.98 meters. Didn't they still manage to beat the top seed in the West and advance?
But Kerr's reaction was indeed quick enough.
As soon as he saw the Clippers' lineup on the court, he immediately started giving instructions from the sidelines.
"Shoot with confidence! Shoot whatever you want! Shoot with all your might! You'll get the rebounds!"
"Rooney, take advantage of their lack of height and get ready to grab the rebound!"
"It's obvious they've run out of offensive options, so they're resorting to a defensive strategy that could take us both down with them!"
"Our shooting percentage will inevitably drop, so we must fight for offensive rebounds in this situation to have a chance to score consistently!"
Hearing Kerr's shouts from the sidelines, the Clippers players' expressions grew increasingly serious, especially Tyronn Lue on the sidelines.
Clearly, Kerr succinctly revealed the purpose of their roster adjustment and provided the best solution with great precision.
But since things have come to this, we have to give it a try.
If the results are indeed unsatisfactory, then we'll have to bring in more people...
The Clippers' defensive possession.
Beverley bites at Curry, Mann guards Li Xingchen.
George closely followed Wiggins, while Leonard seemed to completely ignore Draymond Green, focusing instead on Curry's position, ready to help defend or double-team at any moment.
Batum, meanwhile, stayed in the paint, guarding against the Warriors' passes that would give Looney an easy basket. At the same time, if Draymond Green suddenly decided to attack the basket, Batum could also provide some interference.
Of course, this is just normal alignment.
In actual offensive possessions, the Warriors will still use pick-and-roll screens to force the opponent to switch.
However, without a slow-footed big man like Morris to target, the Clippers can switch on defense at will without worrying about being outmatched, so the value of the Warriors' screens has indeed decreased considerably.
After a cross screen between Li Xingchen and Curry, Beverley, who was originally responsible for guarding Curry, switched to guard Li Xingchen.
During the subsequent movement, Li Xingchen truly experienced what it felt like to be "torn apart".
Even when he's off the ball, Beverley will put a hand on his waist.
Although there seemed to be no extra movements, Li Xingchen could actually feel a hidden force coming from his waist every time he started.
In Li Xingchen's past playing experience, he had never experienced anything like this.
So when he was first shoved by "mad dog" Beverley, he even lost his balance and almost fell to the ground.
Looking back at the motionless referee, Li Xingchen felt somewhat confused.
Doesn't this even count as a push foul?
If you insist on putting your hand on my waist, fine, go ahead and do it. But what's with secretly pushing me hard when we start moving?
At first, Li Xingchen thought it was because the opponent's movements were very subtle, so the referee might not have noticed.
He later realized he was naive; the absence of the whistle made the opponent's defense increasingly unrestrained, eventually turning into a brute-force attack.
Sure enough, there's no such thing as a small guard with exceptionally top-tier defense in the world.
With your physical attributes limited, lacking the size of a forward, expecting to achieve top-tier defensive results is simply a matter of the referee's whistle favoring you...
Li Xingchen was already extremely annoyed after only experiencing a few slight pushes and pulls during startup.
Then I remembered how Curry had maintained such incredible offensive prowess under this level of defensive intensity year after year...
That's absolutely terrifying!
(Image: Live text commentary of a match, from bottom to top)
To deal with this kind of persistent, tenacious defense, we still need to learn a lot from Chris Paul.
Look at how they use the classic long loop to draw fouls and punish these defensive tricks.
However, whether due to their actual skill level or the referees' favoritism, the Clippers' defensive lineup ultimately achieved good results.
Kerr was also worried that the key players would be too exhausted, so he did not continue to give the starters the full minutes as he did in the first quarter, but instead made appropriate rotations with the substitutes.
Perfect. Since the Clippers' defensive lineup, which they specifically set up, is countering our passing and cutting offense, let's switch to a simple one-on-one tactic with our forwards.
Anyway, the team is still in the lead, so the task during the transition period is simply to avoid dropping points.
The first half of the third quarter and the second half of the fourth quarter were basically spent with a lot of substitute players rotating.
The battle of wits between the two head coaches was quite exciting, as they both tried to find a way to counter the other's lineup. It was a back-and-forth affair.
On the Warriors' side, Jordan Poole and Kyle Oubre, who had just returned from injury, both made contributions after entering the game, scoring eight and ten points respectively in limited playing time, bolstering the Warriors' bench firepower.
But they still couldn't beat the Clippers' bench...
This Clippers team has just too many players with unpredictable, erratic playstyles.
Every day, it's either this outbreak or that outbreak.
Morris had a terrible game today, but Terrence Mann, who only got more playing time in the second half, had a breakout performance.
From the middle of the third quarter to the second half of the fourth quarter, he played for only fifteen minutes, yet he scored sixteen points with a combination of inside and outside shots, almost single-handedly carrying the Clippers' offense. Anyone who didn't know better would think he was the core player, while Kawhi Leonard and Paul George were just role players.
Ultimately, with the referees' intentional or unintentional manipulation of the game, the first game of the second-round series between the Warriors and the Clippers finally went into the crucial moments.
There are two minutes left in the game.
The Warriors lead by two points, 110-108.
The score looks pretty high, but you have to know that almost 70% of the points scored by both teams came in the first half.
The defensive intensity increased further in the second half, and with the players' stamina declining, the total points scored in the entire second half were only equal to those in the first quarter.
This makes the sixteen points that Terunsu Mann suddenly scored in the second half all the more precious.
Even someone as strong as Li Xingchen has only scored four points so far in the second half.
Adding the twelve points he scored in the first half, he reached his sixteen-point limit.
Because the team is currently leading by two points, the Warriors players are not too nervous yet, and they can chat and joke during timeouts.
Wiggins smiled and patted Li Xingchen on the shoulder:
"Hey buddy! I just checked the stats, you've already got sixteen points today, so is it impossible to score any more?"
Well, these fans are making memes so popular that even "Mouth Bro" (a nickname for a popular online personality) knows about them.
But the problem is, Wiggins, you're the originator of the "point control" meme, okay?
Li Xingchen replied irritably:
"Andrew, I see you have 18 points already. Can you score any more?"
Brother Mouth patted his chest and said confidently, "Of course I have no problem!"
Li Xingchen retorted, not to be outdone, "Then I have no problem with that either!"
He really is fine.
Don't forget, after completing the previous task, the system rewarded him with an active skill—before each match begins, he can choose any stat to allocate points to.
Before the match began, Li Xingchen chose to add points to the statistic: scoring!