In the first quarter, Curry played 12 minutes and played the full game. He made 3 of 4 three-pointers, scored 9 points, 3 assists, and 1 rebound.
Leonard scored 8 points, 2 blocks, and 1 steal. The Clippers led the Warriors by 7 points at 31:24 in the first quarter.
Min Congda sat on the sidelines with his arms folded and watched the game. To be honest, judging from the first quarter, there was nothing tactically interesting.
Both sides played relatively conservatively and followed the process without many targeted arrangements. Both sides followed the score and the situation.
The Clippers continued the new rotation method from the previous game. Curry played the entire first quarter and then rested for half of the second quarter.
Harden came on the court at the end of the first quarter and worked with Curry for a while, and then the second quarter began with Harden taking the lead.
This rotation is quite reasonable.
In response, the Warriors also replaced J.R. Smith in the second quarter. Although this player sometimes has a bad mind, his ability is really good.
His breakthrough and shooting abilities are quite outstanding, and his physical fitness is much stronger, he is strong in confrontation, and has few injuries. His brain may be down, but his body will not lose its chain. He is a player who can stand alone.
The conversation between him and Harden in the second quarter also made the game more intense and better-looking.
Because J.R. Smith has just arrived with the Warriors, his cooperation with his teammates is not tacit enough, so once he gets the ball, the Warriors' offense stagnates.
However, his personal ability made up for this. When facing Harden one-on-one, he drove to the basket twice in a row, causing the Clippers to foul the interior defense and go to the free throw line.
Then he received a pass from his teammate and hit a strong shot from beyond the three-point line. At the beginning of the second quarter, he led the Warriors to a 9:2 spurt, directly smoothing the difference between the two sides.
Tyronn Lue immediately called a timeout and gave a burst of encouragement to the players. I don’t know if everyone listened. Anyway, many times in the regular season, everyone listened to the coach’s words.
It is up to the players themselves to decide how to play.
After the timeout, Harden gathered several substitute players together and discussed how to play later.
Harden is not the kind of person who likes to take the ball by himself. His first choice is often to pass it to his teammates, and he will pass some balls that are very risky but have relatively large benefits.
Such passes are prone to mistakes, but they also tend to give teammates good scoring opportunities.
After the timeout, Harden caught the ball at the top of the arc and greeted Milicic's pick-and-roll.
The Warriors' defense drove Harden to the right, not allowing him to use his left hand, but letting him use his right hand.
As a result, Harden accelerated his breakthrough and hit the basket with his right hand. Facing the defender, he changed gears and crossed over with a cross-step. He made a layup with his left hand and hit it with a light pick!
Beautiful personal skills, Harden is in his fifth season, and Xia Tian has obviously made great progress. Before, right-hand breakthrough was his weakness. Once he is driven to right-hand breakthrough, he will be at a loss.
This season started differently. His right-hand breakthrough ability became stronger, and he did a very beautiful cross-step, showing his overlooked explosive power.
Even though Harden has a big beard, he usually runs slowly and has a little fat on his belly. In fact, his legs are very long, his calves are thin, his Achilles tendons are long, and he is quite explosive.
If Kobe and Jordan are like black panthers, they look fierce and are very powerful, then Harden is like a wild boar. He looks thin with thin legs and a fat body. He thinks he is slow but in fact no one can stop him when he rushes.
What's more, Harden has also improved his cross-step skills and can dodge under the basket more freely.
There is also the "vertical take-off" rule that comes into effect, which is also a benefit to Harden. The defender does not dare to press him and jumps straight up. Isn't it just a wooden stake?
After the ball was scored, Harden thought to himself: "Next time I just hit someone directly. I'll get a foul and a free throw. What kind of cross-step?"
Although the cross step is beautiful and powerful, it does a lot of damage to the knees. Over time, the knees can easily become useless.
Rose and Wade are both masters of cross-stepping and changing directions. However, they were reimbursed for one season and have yet to recover. One knee is missing its meniscus, and its condition will never return to its peak.
As long as Wade was at his peak in the finals last season, the Clippers couldn't win three consecutive away games and directly win the championship in Miami. Wade would have to fight hard to win.
Then, the Warriors gained an offensive opportunity under the basket through continuous cooperation. As a result, David Lee's layup was blocked by Anthony Davis!
Harden grabbed the ball and observed his teammates in the frontcourt. Butler had already rushed to the three-point line.
Harden made a super long pass to the basket that looked across the court, and passed it accurately to Butler's hands.
Butler caught the ball and made a layup, and the Clippers scored two more points.
JR Smith also tried to hit the basket, but was interfered by Anthony Davis again.
The Clippers gained the ball again, and Harden seemed to be advancing slowly, but in fact he was looking at six directions.
He was more calm, bold and confident than before. Seeing that the opponent's defense was not pressing, Harden dribbled the ball on the right side, suddenly accelerated to break through, then stepped back to make an emergency jumper, and hit a mid-range shot.
The Clippers came back and beat the Warriors 6:0, re-establishing their advantage.
After J.R. Smith's touch cooled down, the Warriors lost their offensive backbone.
JR Smith is not an all-around backcourt like Harden, he is just a finishing point.
In the summer, the Warriors let go of backup point guard Jack, and the current backup guard is Tony Douglas.
The Clippers' lineup at this time is Dragic, Harden, Davis, Butler and Milicic.
To be honest, with this lineup, it won't be a big problem for you to beat the Warriors' starting lineup, especially Harden and Butler, who have made obvious improvements.
Harden's luck control is more proficient and his organization is more comfortable. Although his style is still bold and imaginative, it is more stable than in the past.
Moreover, his personal offensive ability has been significantly improved, his weaknesses have been reduced, and he has the vague demeanor of a superstar.
Butler is stronger than last season, and his speed and strength continue to increase.
The defensive and offensive ends are still working hard. It can be seen from the fast break just now that the awareness has also improved.
It’s no wonder that Min Congda is worried about cliques and cliques appearing in the locker room, because the progress of young people and their ambitions have always been in sync.
Under the leadership of Harden, the Clippers launched a 12:2 offensive shock wave again, and the score difference between the two sides suddenly opened to 10 points.
The Warriors called a timeout and Jackson had to make some adjustments. The score between the two sides had reached 51:41.
It can be seen that the rhythm of the NBA regular season at this time is very different from that of 4 years ago.
The number of positional battles has been significantly reduced, the pace has become faster, and the ability to quickly counterattack and seize opportunities is particularly important.
The game has gone from being a tug-of-war in the past to now being easily turn-based.
In the past, you got 2 points, I got 3 points, you got 4 points, and I got 2 more points.
But now, it is often the case that if you say 10:0, I will respond with 8:1, if you say 7:2, I will respond with 13:3.
During the timeout, Tyronn Lue held the tactical board and didn't know what to say.
James Harden took over the tactical board from Tyronn Lue and began to tell his teammates: "Next, we have to try to score two goals against the opponent in the positional battle to stabilize the situation. The opponent may try to trap me on the line. Come on, I need someone to come over and take over... It’s up to you, Stephen. You’ll be on the field right away. We need to pull our cooperation front to the three-point line..."
In the second quarter, Harden acted as the commander on the court and led everything.
Li Liang was completely confused at this time. He thought to himself: "It seems that the leader of the third small group has appeared, and that is Harden!"
(End of chapter)
