Basketball boy, starting to shine from the slam dunk

"Shh!"

With a slight click, the ball went in.

The Lakers scored first, and the score became 2:0.

The Warriors attack.

Curry dribbled the ball to the frontcourt, and Zhuang Yu quickly stepped forward to face off against Curry.

This was Coach Scott's arrangement. He didn't let Deron defend Curry because he couldn't do it.

Curry is not just a three-point shooter, his dribbling skills and breakthrough ability are also excellent. Deron is already in his 30s and his speed cannot keep up with Curry. If he is asked to defend Curry, he may not only be unable to defend Curry's breakthrough, but also his shooting.

As the Warriors' star player and a superstar in the league, Curry's strength is naturally unquestionable, and defending him is also of utmost importance.

In the current Warriors lineup, the two biggest offensive threats are Curry and Durant.

Of course, Klay Thompson is also very capable in scoring, but compared to Curry and Durant, he is more like a pure shooter, and his scoring needs to rely on the cooperation of his teammates.

Maybe in a certain game he can score more than 50 points, or even more than 60 points, or even or points, but it is difficult to maintain high scores in multiple games.

Some people think that Thompson's scoring ability is no worse than Curry and Durant. That's obviously because they haven't watched enough games and have too few samples to summarize.

It can be said that Thompson is one of the league's top three-point shooters, but certainly not one of the league's top scorers.

In the 14-15 season when the Warriors won the championship, Curry averaged 23.8 points per game and Thompson averaged 21.7 points.

In the 15-16 season, Curry averaged a career-high 30.1 points per game, while Thompson still only averaged 22.1 points.

This season, many people believe that with the addition of Durant, Thompson's tactical position and ball possession have been squeezed.

But this is not actually the case.

This season, Thompson's average shots and points per game are almost the same as in the previous two seasons.

In the previous two seasons, his average number of shots per game was around 17, and this season it was 17.6, even slightly more than the previous two seasons.

This season, his average points per game is 22.3, which is similar to the past two seasons.

This season, Curry's average scoring per game is 25.3 points, and Durant's average scoring per game is 25.1 points. Both of them averaged slightly less than last season.

Judging from the data, it was not Thompson who was affected by Durant's joining, but Curry and Durant themselves.

Before the 14-15 season, you could say that Thompson was still in the growth stage, but after the 14-15 season, Thompson's average shots and average points per game remained almost unchanged for three consecutive seasons, which is enough to show that he may have reached his ceiling.

In terms of scoring ability, he is obviously not as good as Curry and Durant, and his offensive threat is not as great as theirs.

But from another perspective, his average points per game has remained at around 22 points for three consecutive seasons, and his average number of shots per game and shooting percentage have hardly changed. This in itself is a very scary thing, which shows that Thompson is really too stable.

Compared to Curry and Durant, he may not be the one that gives opponents the most headaches, but he is definitely someone that opponents dare not ignore.

But it is obviously impossible for the Lakers to limit Curry, Thompson and Durant at the same time.

They have to make trade-offs.

So Coach Scott asked Zhuang Yu to defend Curry instead of Durant because Zhuang Yu was at a height disadvantage against Durant.

Zhuang Yu is responsible for defending Curry, Deron is responsible for defending Thompson, and the other three positions remain unchanged.

When Curry saw that it was Zhuang Yu defending him, he couldn't help but raise his eyebrows, but it was not surprising, as he was mentally prepared for this.

Immediately, Curry called a pick-and-roll, trying to get rid of Zhuang Yu, but failed. He turned around and passed the ball to Draymond Green, and then he ran quickly.

In the Warriors' lineup and tactical system, Draymond Green is the one responsible for organization.

This season he averaged 7.0 assists per game, ranking first on the team.

Green stood at the top of the arc, holding the basketball with one hand and waving with the other, directing his teammates to move. Curry and Thompson each walked to the bottom corners on both sides, pulling the players away. Draymond Green passed the ball to Durant, then walked to the other side, also taking the players away, so that Durant could play alone.

At this time, Curry was outside the left three-point line, Thompson was outside the right corner three-point line, Draymond Green was outside the right 40-degree three-point line, and Pachulia was at the left elbow. Several people took the Lakers players away, leaving enough space for Durant to play one-on-one.

Durant took a tentative step with the ball and lifted it up.

Gerald Green was not fooled and always maintained his defensive position with one hand raised and did not jump easily.

The next moment, Durant dribbled the ball between his legs, switched the ball to his left hand, lowered his left shoulder, and pretended to break through to the left. Then he made another large change of direction and switched the ball to his right hand, and dribbled forward one step. Gerald Green's heart jumped, because Durant's change of direction was too large, he couldn't move sideways to block the position, so he could only retreat and turn sideways to avoid being completely passed.

But Durant did not choose to pass him and rush to the basket. After changing direction, he only dribbled forward one step and then made a quick stop jump shot.

Swish!

Also scored, score 2:2.

"It seems that KD is in good form today."

"He was in excellent form throughout the playoffs, averaging 24.5 points per game in the first round and 28.5 points per game in the second round. He obviously couldn't show his true scoring ability during the regular season, so the playoffs are his stage."

"Yes, his scoring ability is too strong and unstoppable."

In the audience stands, the home fans were discussing excitedly.

At this time, the Lakers had already launched an attack. Deron advanced with the ball. After reaching the frontcourt, he passed the ball to Zhuang Yu. Or should Zhuang Yu initiate the attack?

Thompson opened his arms and stared at Zhuang Yu. He was an excellent defender and was often responsible for defending the opponent's ace players in the Warriors. He also knew Zhuang Yu very well. Zhuang Yu made two fake moves in a row but failed to fool him.

"Klay's defense is still very strong." Zhuang Yu said to himself, dribbling the ball between his legs while adjusting his steps, spreading his feet, lowering his left shoulder, and accelerating suddenly.

"Left." Thompson judged Zhuang Yu's intention to break through, and quickly moved sideways and retreated, blocking the breakthrough route first.

His reaction was very quick and his response was correct.

But at this moment, Zhuang Yu suddenly stopped, swung his shoulders, and pretended to change direction, which made Thompson's heart tremble and subconsciously adjusted his center of gravity. But at this moment, Zhuang Yu did not change direction, but accelerated again, making an emergency stop and start.

This time Thompson had no time to get into position again and was passed by Zhuang Yu in one step.

"It was passed."

"Reinforce defense..."

People shouted, alerting the Warriors players.

Pachulia, who was standing in the inside, hurried forward to make up for the defense, but Zhuang Yu did not stop. He hit the ball to the right with his left hand. Pachulia quickly moved sideways and stared at Zhuang Yu closely, but he did not notice that after switching the ball to his right hand, Zhuang Yu put the hand holding the basketball behind his back as he took a step forward.

At an angle that Pachulia couldn't see, Zhuang Yu used his wrist to swing the ball, and the basketball flew out from behind him, passed by Pachulia's side, and flew towards the basket.

The pass was so covert that Pachulia didn't notice it at all. He only heard a cry of surprise from the audience. He looked at Zhuang Yu, only to find that the ball in his hand was gone.

Where's the basketball?

"Bang!"

A loud bang came from behind him, which made Pachulia alert. He turned his head subconsciously and saw Lopez with his hands hanging on the basket, obviously he had just completed a slam dunk.

He suddenly understood. No wonder the ball in Zhuang Yu's hand disappeared. It turned out that he passed the ball to Lopez. But when did he pass the ball?

At the same time, there were bursts of exclamations from the audience.

“This ball was passed beautifully.”

"Yeah, the pass was so good and so hidden that it completely fooled Pachulia."

On the court, Pachulia was still a little confused.

As for Curry and others, after seeing what happened just now, Curry shook his head and called out to Pachulia to serve the ball from the baseline.

After getting the ball, Curry immediately advanced and faced Zhuang Yu in the frontcourt. He passed the ball to Draymond Green, and then he made a run along the inside line, and then suddenly ran back to the three-point line in the right corner.

At the same time, Draymond Green passed the ball to Durant.

Durant made a one-on-one stance, attracted the defense, and then passed the ball to Curry, who ran back and returned to the three-point line. Curry received the ball and shot a three-pointer directly.

Zhuang Yu had already caught up, but failed to block the shot.

Swish!

Three-pointer made, score 5:4.

When the three-pointer was hit, Coach Scott on the sidelines frowned. What he feared most were Curry and Durant. First Durant scored one, and then Curry hit another three-pointer. The situation felt a little bad.

Zhuang Yu also frowned slightly.

Curry, Thompson, and Durant, it is impossible to defend all three of them, so the Lakers chose to focus on defending Curry and Durant.

It’s just that Curry and Durant’s personal abilities are there, and their scoring ability is too strong. It would be difficult for the Lakers to defend both of them at the same time. But if they want to defeat the Warriors, they have to defend at least one of them.

At this time, Durant and Curry scored successively, which was obviously not a good thing for the Lakers.

As the team's star player, Zhuang Yu knew he had to do something.