Some people say that Cole is crazy and that he is giving up on himself.
Some people also say that this change may put the Warriors on the line and be the most likely turning point to win the series.
Anyway, no matter who is in the basket against the Trail Blazers No. 36, it will not be good, and the Warriors are best at three-pointers. It is better to expand this specialty infinitely, so that they can still give it a try.
In short, such an exaggerated starting lineup surprised countless fans and media reporters watching the game.
Although as early as the end of last year, when the Trail Blazers and Lakers met for the first time in the season, Cole used this small lineup in the second half and caused a wave of waves, almost interrupting the Trail Blazers' 20th consecutive victory.
But in that game, the Warriors were finally defeated by Wang Zelin at the buzzer, and in that game, Wang Zelin scored 60 points, 22 rebounds, 11 blocks, 9 assists and 2 steals, a near-quadruple-double!
Against the background of such an epic explosion of data, the Warriors' short-lived five-small lineup in the second half naturally did not leave much impression on the fans.
What's more, in the last three games between the two sides in the regular season, the Warriors never used a five-small lineup. Even Wang Zelin sometimes wondered whether the "death five" was abandoned by Cole?
When it came to the conference finals, he could understand that the first game was useless. After all, the first game was more of a test by both sides. But it didn't work for two consecutive games, which forced him to have such doubts.
Tonight, when he saw the five Warriors players in front of him at Oracle Arena, he frowned in a rare way.
He has only played in the playoffs this year, and he has faced his first real challenge!
But he quickly regained his confidence and smiled. He had waited too long for this battle with the Five Death Boys who had ruled an era in the original timeline.
The player who partnered with Green in the paint last time was Iguodala, but this time it was Livingston. He is looking forward to the power of the new five small players.
After the game started, Wang Zelin easily won the jump ball with his height advantage, and the Trail Blazers made the first attack.
With such a big gap inside, Lillard played very unrestrainedly. After reaching the frontcourt, he looked at Wang Zelin's position, threw the ball into the air, and threw an alley-oop.
"boom!"
Wang Zelin drove straight to the basket from the center, ignored Green's outstretched arms, jumped up to grab the ball, and dunked head-on.
Looking at Green falling to the ground, the Warriors fans in the stands immediately let out an overwhelming boo, but this did not hinder the Blazers' opening offensive.
Take advantage of his illness and kill him!
The Trail Blazers relied on the second offensive opportunity brought by their absolute inside height advantage to beat the Warriors to an 8-0 start.
At this time, countless people in front of the TV were laughing at Cole, thinking that he was driven crazy to do such an extreme thing.
Including some Warriors fans nearby, they gradually lost confidence in Cole.
If we keep playing like this, how many points will the Warriors lose tonight?
But after returning from the timeout, the Warriors immediately took full advantage of their small lineup.
The high-mobility offense makes the pace of the game very fast. The other four positions of the Trail Blazers are fine. Only Aldridge has difficulty keeping up with the pace.
The Death Five is originally a high-intensity lineup. By constantly increasing the pace of the game, it can achieve the purpose of overwhelming the opponent.
Although after giving up the big center, the Warriors' penalty area became Wang Zelin's back garden, their entire forward group is very strong in individual defense and assist defense.
In particular, Green's unique attributes are simply tailor-made for the defense of the five small teams of Death.
He can pass 1 to 5 in single defense, assist defense, and rotation defense. He has the unique functionality of being able to defend the outside line and cover the inside line.
In the following time, Aldridge's game rhythm was completely controlled by the Warriors' ultra-fast pace, and he could only do tossing and running on the court.
When it comes to fast breaks, the Trail Blazers often face a five-on-four situation. Wang Zelin is very fast in assisting defense, but the Warriors' five small players are not slow to release the ball, and their accuracy is extremely high. Their ability to find open spaces is so strong that The Trail Blazers always miss people on the court.
In a life-and-death battle, Curry and Thompson quickly entered a fiery state from the start, hitting consecutive three-pointers and quickly overtaking the score.
On the defensive end, Green, who returned to his home court, made a lot of defensive moves tonight, and kept making small moves, but the referee always turned a blind eye. Although Wang Zelin still maintains a high hit rate, he is still annoyed by his harassment.
Relying on the mobility of the small lineup, there will always be one person from Barnes, Livingston and Thompson who will double-team Wang Zelin with Green. Generally, Wang Zelin will pass the ball to his teammates, and other Warriors players can quickly switch defenses, causing the Blazers to The effects of several other shots were not good.
Once the iron is struck, Wang Zelin has to rush for rebounds under the attack of at least three people under the basket. If he is a rebounding monster, there is no guarantee that every rebound can be protected.
Not to mention, sometimes even center Ku can't help but kick in, turning the penalty area into a meat grinder. Every time he fights for a rebound, people have to lose a layer of skin.
On the Warriors' side, no matter who grabs the rebound, they can quickly dribble across half court and start a fast break.
As a result, the pace of the game gradually became faster and faster uncontrollably.
Aldridge followed Green and Livingston for several rounds and almost vomited.
On the offensive end, it is difficult to participate in the team's offensive system, and on the defensive end, Curry has to face Curry's frantic pursuit of mismatched singles. The latter is definitely the league's first-tier small-player master.
This made his situation on the field quite embarrassing.
After the first quarter, the Trail Blazers were beaten 26:35 and trailed by 9 points in the third quarter! By the time halftime ended, we were already 13 points behind the Warriors, 49:62!
The Trail Blazers were stunned.
The Warriors players ran too fast on the court, and the speed of distributing and shooting the ball was also very fast. They all said that the Suns' "seven-second offense" shocked the league, but the Warriors' fast break was not bad at all, and even many people said that the Suns' "seven-second offense" shocked the league. After watching the first half, I had a vague feeling that the Warriors' fast break speed was even faster than that of the Suns.
"It's incredible! Steve Kerr's weird lineup worked. They led the Trail Blazers by 13 points at halftime!"
"The Warriors, who were pushed to the edge of the cliff, launched a desperate counterattack. The small lineup that was considered to be chronic suicide before the game actually played an extremely efficient offense! Are they finally going to win?"
"I have to say that Coach Cole is really a talented and courageous person! If the Warriors can reverse this series and reach the finals, then he will definitely beat everyone in the league hard after missing out on the Coach of the Year award this year. s face!"
Before the game started, people were still questioning Cole's employment, but now, the whole world is obsessed with the Warriors' five-small lineup!
(End of chapter)
