Soul of the Golden State

Chapter 431 No Pressure
On April 4, the second day after the American local players announced the deadline to participate in the NBA ahead of schedule, the NBA playoffs officially started.

There are four games on the first day today, namely: the Bucks vs. the Eagles, the 76ers vs. the Knicks, the Warriors vs. the Trail Blazers, and the Suns vs. the Rockets.

Among them, the most eye-catching is naturally the game between the Warriors and the Trail Blazers. It is not how exciting this game is, but that people can't wait to appreciate this history-making team and what will happen in the playoffs performance?
As for the result, no one thinks that the Blazers will bring any trouble to the Warriors, and most even think that as long as the Blazers are not swept, they are already the winners.

It's no wonder that people simply can't figure it out. This season, they almost couldn't make the playoffs. They lost to the Warriors in six games in the regular season, and the Blazers didn't win a game. What can they do to win the Warriors?

The starting lineup of the Warriors tonight has not changed much, it is still: Li Weisi, Richmond, Mullin, Rodman and Malone.

The lineup of the Trail Blazers has been adjusted. The lineup is: Terry Porter, Clyde Drexler, Jeremy Kersey, Cardiville Jones, Sam Bowie .

It can be seen that the team center Sam Bowie, who has been absent for most of the season, reappeared in the starting lineup.

That's right, it's the 84 diamond generation who made the Blazers miss Jordan's Bowie because of him.

Frankly speaking, although Bowie is not a superstar, his strength as a team's starter is still no problem. The fault is that the person behind him is Jordan.

In addition, this old man is really desperate. Since joining the NBA, the season he has played the most is his rookie season. He has played 76 games. Since then, he has suffered frequent injuries in the Trail Blazers. Only played 25 games, it is too glassy.

In fact, after Bowie left Portland, his attendance rate was not bad. It can only be said that Tear City and the big center are really incompatible, and the Blazers veterinarian came out and was beaten.

The reason why Bowie was allowed to start is that there is no one better than him at the center position of the Blazers. Because Duckworth was intercepted by the Warriors, the Blazers always had shortcomings in the center position and were unable to play for a long time. solve.

After the start of the game, the Warriors first tested two balls and then quickly entered the game state. Malone took the lead in launching the attack.

Unlike the regular season, entering the playoffs, Malone's shackles on playing restrictions, load management, etc. have all been removed.

Facing the once talented center Bowie, Malone played whatever he wanted, and Bowie was completely unable to resist.

It wasn't until this time that people discovered that the regular season had been playing dead, making people mistakenly think that Malone, who was already old, was still so irresistible.

The reason why the Warriors let Malone attack first at the beginning of the game is also because they saw that the Blazers' weakness lies in the center. Facing this weakness, how could the Warriors not be moved?
Therefore, when Malone succeeded in consecutive singles against Bowie, the Blazers' defense inevitably began to shrink. In this way, any pick-and-roll by Li Weisi, Mullin and Richmond on the outside could create an open space.

All of a sudden, from the inside to the outside, the Warriors' offense became both inside and outside, and they all came alive.

For the Blazers, the offensive efficiency of Drexler and Kersey tonight is not bad, but this cannot make up for the loss the Blazers suffered on defense.

At the end of the first quarter, the Warriors led the Blazers by 34 points 21:13.

Compared with the Warriors' starting lineup, the Warriors' bench performance is not much better.

The Warriors' substitutes are all players who have experienced the baptism of the playoffs for many years. In addition, they are already strong, so when facing the Trail Blazers' rotation lineup, there is no pressure. How to play in the regular season, how to play now!
As a result, when the defense couldn't defend, gradually, the Blazers' offense also had a big problem. At one point, the Blazers fell behind the Warriors by as much as 20 points in the second quarter.

At the end of the half, the Warriors led the Trail Blazers by as much as 65 points 46:19. At halftime, the Warriors turned the game into garbage time.

After entering the second half, Porter's organization and Drexler's breakthrough points still tried to drive the Blazers' offense, and achieved certain results. In the third quarter, the Blazers once started chasing points, trying to catch up with the score.

At the critical moment, Li Weisi faced Porter with a strong defense, and he hit a three-pointer and a mid-range jumper in a row against Porter's defense.

In fact, with these two balls, Porter's defense did not lose his position at all, and the defensive pressure on Li Weisi was definitely sufficient. However, Li Weisi faced this situation where other people had no room to shoot, relying on the time difference and super fast shot. , just completed the strong shot and made it.

As a result, the Blazers, who had just been chasing points, were hit hard again.

This is not over yet. In addition to being able to score at critical moments, Li Weisi can also mobilize the Warriors' offense.

Unlike the regular season, after entering the playoffs, Li Weisi no longer deliberately gave up the ball. After all, the Blazers' flanks, Drexler and Kersey, are in good physical fitness, and their defensive attitude is also very serious. The defense is not weak. Rather than letting Mullin and Richmond head-to-head, it is more efficient to let them move and distribute the offensive options by themselves.

In this way, although the Blazers tried to set off a wave of counterattacks, until the end of the third quarter, the point difference between the two teams did not change at all. In this quarter, the two teams tied at 30, and the point difference returned to 19 points again.

After entering the fourth quarter, the Warriors have replaced all the substitutes, Price, Hornacek, Lewis, Schramf and Duckworth.

The Blazers still didn't give up. They left Drexler on the court and wanted to see if they could recover the score.

However, after playing for 6 minutes, the point difference between the two teams was still over 15 points. At this point, Blazers head coach Adelman ignored Drexler's dissatisfaction and replaced him, declaring his surrender.

In the end, the Warriors beat the Trail Blazers 128:108 and won their first victory in the playoffs.

Such a result can be said to have not exceeded the expectations of the vast majority of people. For them, such a difference in points is itself a manifestation of the strength of the two teams.

Drexler scored a game-high 30 points tonight, plus 9 assists and 4 rebounds. However, after the game, his face was very ugly. After shaking hands with the Warriors players with a cold face, he left quickly.

As for the Warriors, 8 players scored in double figures tonight. Li Weisi scored 19 points and 14 assists.

In this way, the Warriors won the first victory of the playoffs without any pressure.

(End of this chapter)