NBA: The God of Basketball Begins with Precise Scoring

Chapter 78 Coach Lu shouts from the sidelines, unable to hold on any longer, adjusts the lineup!

On the other side, the Warriors' offense wasn't as smooth as it was in the first half.

The referee's whistle was lenient in this match, but it was basically balanced, allowing physical contact without calling fouls on either side.

As the game progressed, the physical contact between the two sides intensified, the defensive intensity increased dramatically, and the offense became increasingly difficult.

In addition, the high-intensity competition naturally consumes physical strength faster, and without the buffer of free throw time, both sides' physical strength declines significantly, so it is only natural that their offensive efficiency decreases.

However, the Warriors fared better. Curry successfully tapped Morris and drove to the basket for a layup; Wiggins also hit a mid-range jumper after backing down Reggie Jackson in the low post when the pass-and-cut play failed to create an opportunity.

In four possessions, the Warriors scored on two separate possessions.

On the other hand, the Clippers failed to score a single point in five consecutive possessions after the start of the second half...

The key point is that they didn't make any mistakes; they just simply couldn't score!

As the number of possessions increased and the Warriors repeatedly thwarted the Clippers' offense, more and more people understood the true purpose of Kerr's defensive matchup strategy.

"I understand! I understand!"

"To put it bluntly, the Warriors are still protecting Curry, their weak defensive link! Having Curry guard Royce O'Neal in the final game of the first round was the same reason they're doing it now, and having him guard Batum is for the same reason!"

"Batum may appear to be 15 centimeters taller than Curry, and could seemingly easily overpower him with his physicality, but in reality, his role with the Clippers has shifted to that of an efficient receiver, with very little ball-handling offense!"

"Curry's defensive awareness is excellent; his help defense and steal rate are both high. It's just that his physical limitations often make him look vulnerable on defense. However, since Batum isn't good at driving to the basket, Curry only needs to use his agility and defensive awareness to keep up with Batum's off-ball movement, disrupting his catch-and-shoot attempts, to effectively limit Batum's efficiency as an off-ball shooter!"

"Unless Batum successfully receives the ball in the low post or elbow area, he can't use his height and wingspan to gain an advantage over Curry in the paint. Posting up or pulling up for a mid-range jumper is no problem."

"But the key point is that the Clippers' tactical core is Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. As a role player, Batum rarely gets these kinds of low-post isolation opportunities, and they are even opportunities that the Warriors are willing to give to him."

"Can the Clippers really expect Batum to dominate the paint and score 40 points in a single game to lead the team to victory?"

"What's even more outrageous is that the Warriors actually took precautions against this. Didn't you see Looney constantly camped out under the basket, ready to help defend the rim?"

"Morris was completely left open by the Warriors in the second half, and he had two wide-open three-point opportunities, but he missed both!"

"That's why the Warriors dared to have Curry guard Batum. Batum can't handle the ball-handling offense on the perimeter, and the Warriors have Looney to help defend inside."

"The reason why Looney dared to leave Morris wide open and collapse under the basket to protect the rim is because the Warriors had already figured out that Morris was not shooting well today."

"This is not only a strategic decision, but also a psychological game!"

"Clearly, Kerr's move was successful. You can tell from Morris's last shot; because he'd been missing so many shots today, he'd started to hesitate when shooting. And the more he hesitated, the less likely he was to make a shot!"

"On which level is Kerr at this time?"

As Curry hit another floater, Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue finally called the first timeout of the second half.

The score is 74-70.

The Warriors took a four-point lead, achieving their largest lead of the game.

Li Xingchen had already scored twelve points in the first half. Although he didn't score any more points during this period, he was still quite excited.

When I watched or played matches before, my level wasn't high enough, so I never really understood the "tactics" on the field.

All he ever sees are star players, hard-hitting solutions, and awesomeness.

This is also because during his recent shooting training, he also studied and practiced a large number of offensive and defensive tactics.

Furthermore, after playing so many playoff games with the Warriors and gaining real-world experience, he truly realized that in high-level games like the playoffs, there is so much room for strategic maneuvering on both the offensive and defensive ends.

What seems like a simple, even slightly abstract, adjustment to the defensive matchup can achieve such immediate results!

No wonder NBA coaches can earn tens of millions of dollars a year just by talking from the sidelines; they really do have some skills.

As for why Cole proposed changing the defensive matchups at halftime, the overall reasons and thinking are actually quite similar to what the fans have analyzed.

It's not hard to understand if you think about it carefully, but who would think of such a magical move as having Curry deliberately mismatch Batum?

The reason why this defensive strategy was so effective but was only implemented in the second half is because a crucial part of it was that Rooney left Morris open and collapsed under the basket to protect the rim.

After observing the players' performance in the first half, Kerr determined that Morris's three-point shooting was ice cold today, which is why he dared to leave him wide open.

Given Morris's past performance, characterized by alternating periods of brilliance and erratic shooting, his cold shooting form will likely continue into the second half.

Otherwise, all five Clippers players on the court are shooting options that must be closely guarded, and the Warriors really don't know how to defend them.

Of course, Tyronn Lue, also a coach with a multi-million dollar annual salary, is not just sitting in his position without contributing.

Although he had some memorable moments where he used all the timeouts to give James a rest, and even had Rondo draw up plays during timeouts...

But at least against simple defensive matchups like those by Kerr, he can still respond effectively.

You can tell this by looking at what he shouted from the sidelines after the timeout.

"Call for a pick and roll! Pick and roll! Make them switch!"

"Nikolai! Go up and provide cover! Hurry!"

"Is your cover made of paper? Hold on tight!"

"Take it apart! Take it apart! All you can do is block it, not take it apart!"

"Everyone else has already pushed their way through! You're just blocking your own people!"

"Shift! There's a mismatch! Pass the ball to Paul right now!"

It must be said that Tyronn Lue's shouts did have some effect.

Morris's pick-and-roll is now meaningless because he's completely open, so if he sets a screen for his teammates, he'll only draw double teams to them.

Therefore, the Clippers' responsibility for pick-and-roll plays will now mainly fall on Batum.

Both Paul George and Kawhi Leonard wanted to run pick-and-rolls with him, either with or without the ball, trying to get Curry to go one-on-one.

But the Warriors aren't stupid either. Because Batum's ability to create his own offense isn't strong, just like in the first round, Curry can easily make a strong delay and get back into position, giving Wiggins or Green time to squeeze through or go around the screen.

Of course, Batum is definitely stronger offensively than Royce O'Neal in the first round, so the Clippers were still able to score some points through pick-and-rolls.

But compared to the fluid attacking play in the first half, it was still far from satisfactory.

The biggest problem actually lies with Morris. The Clippers' starting lineup was originally a perfect five-outside lineup, but because he had a bad shooting night, he was left wide open, which caused serious problems for the team's offensive initiation.

Looney collapsed under the basket to help protect the rim, effectively shutting down most of the Clippers' interior offensive possibilities; Curry was then able to switch in front of Batum, allowing the defense at the other three positions to be upgraded across the board, making it impossible for anyone to score comfortably...

Kerr's move was brilliant!

Within minutes, Tyronn Lue couldn't hold on any longer and opted to call in reinforcements.

Since the starting lineup isn't working well, let's see if any surprise players emerge from the substitutes!