NBA: The God of Basketball Begins with Precise Scoring

Chapter 75: Steve's ball-handling efficiency declines, but he still has a backup plan!

During the timeout, Tencent's live stream thoughtfully provided a slow-motion replay of Draymond Green's incredible airball attempt.

It amused the Warriors' haters and made the Warriors' fans both angry and amused.

"Sometimes I really wonder why Draymond Green hasn't been waived by the Warriors yet."

"Haha, he's the Warriors' defensive anchor, even the 'pivot' of their offensive system. Curry is the system player, you know?"

"Oh dear, Pigeon is going to give Iron Bull poisoned wine again!"

"It's going to be another Green fight today. Let's just lock him and Durant in the octagon for a duel!"

(I have pictures to prove it, but I don't know if it will pass the review...)

……

The scene of the game.

Li Xingchen didn't care too much about Draymond Green's extremely abstract floater. Firstly, it didn't end up being a bad result; in fact, Curry managed to score two points with a putback. Secondly, even if someone wanted to point out Draymond Green's problems, it was definitely not Li Xingchen's place to do so.

In contrast, he was more interested in how Draymond Green had made the right decisions on the defensive end.

During the break, he asked Draymond Green about this issue.

"Draymond, why did you tell me to leave Morris wide open for a shot? He made seven three-pointers in the last game. How did you know he'd miss if I left him wide open?"

Upon hearing this, Draymond Green looked astonished.

"Damn it, how would I know? He just hasn't tried a three-pointer today, so I'm just testing his touch."

Because Li Xingchen has always been humble and often deferred to others for credit during interviews, he is well-liked both on and off the court. Therefore, Draymond Green did not treat him badly, much less punch him like he would have done with Poole.

Green was willing to answer Li Xingchen's questions.

"For players like Morris, we can't just look at his stats; we have to consider his specific performance on the court."

"His shooting is like a rollercoaster, sometimes he's a god, sometimes he's a monster. Think about it, he made 7 of 9 three-pointers in Game 7, so why did his three-point percentage drop to less than 40% for the rest of the series?"

Li Xingchen nodded thoughtfully.

He roughly understood what Draymond Green meant.

"Therefore, he won't have an efficient shooting performance every game, so we don't need to put on high-intensity defense against him right from the start. Instead, we can give him some space and see how his shooting touch is today before deciding whether we need to increase the level of defensive focus on him?"

Draymond Green nodded and added:

"Of course, doing this is just a last resort."

"The main reason is that the Clippers' entire starting lineup does not have a single absolute shooting weakness, so when the opponent sets a screen and we switch, we are always forced to leave an open shot on the opponent."

"Compared to Kawhi Leonard and Paul, who have more consistent shooting accuracy, letting go of the inconsistent Morris is definitely a better choice."

"It seems we have the advantage tonight, especially since Morris missed his very first outside shot!"

Li Xingchen nodded seriously; he really had to try hard to hold back his laughter.

As the Warriors' offensive black hole, Draymond Green is someone opponents can leave three meters away from when he has the ball at the top of the key, especially after his recent airball floater. It's really hard to believe that "the opponent's starting lineup has no shooting weaknesses."

The opponent indeed has no shooting weaknesses, while our biggest shooting weakness is none other than you.

Every time, it was because he was always left wide open by his opponents that Curry, and even Li Xingchen, suffered so much help defense and double-teaming.

Faced with his opponent's openness and disregard, Draymond Green's response was this eye-watering floater that missed the target completely...

Not to mention.

Of course, Li Xingchen wasn't so lacking in emotional intelligence as to bring these things up to Greene's face; at most, he would just mutter them to himself.

After getting the answer he wanted, Li Xingchen felt that he had gained new insights into matchup and help defense, and he could summarize them properly after the game.

He immediately thanked her and left.

The timeout is about to end.

Green muttered to himself on the side:

"This child is quite polite..."

……

Back on the field, neither side made significant adjustments to their strategies.

Overall, the offense is mainly based on the main attacker holding the ball. Either they use screens to switch defenders and then score one-on-one, or they draw the opponent's help defense and then pass the ball to their teammates.

Li Xingchen also achieved a remarkable stat line of eight points and two assists in just three minutes of gameplay.

But gradually, he also found that his ball-handling offense was becoming unsustainable.

On the one hand, the opponent adapted to his offensive rhythm very quickly, and on the other hand, attacking with the ball does consume a lot of his physical energy.

As a result of these two factors, his ball-handling offensive efficiency naturally declined rapidly.

This is quite normal. Curry's ball-handling offense only lasted for a little over four minutes before he started missing shots frequently. If it were Li Xingchen, he could last for three more minutes, which is already quite remarkable.

Fortunately, the Clippers' offensive success rate is also declining, but their overall situation is still better than that of the Warriors.

The reason is simple: the Warriors have Looney and Green, two spacing black holes who can be completely left open on the perimeter, so the Clippers' defense can naturally provide more help defense and double-teams for the shooters.

Conversely, the Warriors cannot do this, because no matter who they allow an open shot, they are likely to be severely punished.

So overall, the Clippers' scoring speed was slightly better.

With three minutes remaining in the first quarter, the Clippers had already taken a 28-24 lead over the Warriors.

Today's first quarter was truly exceptional, a high-scoring offensive battle unfolding under intense defensive pressure.

With both sides executing their defensive rotations effectively, the two teams combined for over fifty points in just nine minutes, with virtually no questionable free throws. It was truly a thrilling game to watch.

With the team trailing by four points again, Kerr called a timeout.

The ball-handling and shooting tactic couldn't continue indefinitely, something Kerr had anticipated. In fact, after Curry's efficiency declined, Li Xingchen was still able to provide the team with three more minutes of efficient ball-handling and shooting offense, which was already a pleasant surprise for him.

But if that's all he has to offer, then all that research he did during the previous few days of rest on the Clippers would have been for nothing.

With his ball-handling offense becoming less effective, Kerr certainly has other options.

Once back on the court, the Warriors' offensive strategy underwent a significant change!