The Warriors G1 loss may not be too surprising. The Kings are home and return to the playoff opener after 17 years, but if the Warriors can't suppress the Kings' momentum early, with the Kings' offensive level and key ball ability this season, it will be difficult for the Warriors to hold them down after they get up. In the third quarter, Fox shot consecutive mid-range shots and scored 14 points in a single quarter, and the home atmosphere ignited, and the Warriors' situation was very passive.
It seems that how to defend against Fox, Cole has a headache. DiVincenzo doesn't have much advantage in height or speed, and he took it against Fox only because the Warriors didn't start Wiggins. During the regular season, Kerr tried to chase dreams against Fox, breaking Fox and Sa Jr. with a change. I said in the foresight that such a hidden danger cannot be used as a sustained full-field strategy.
The Warriors' most suitable counterpoint is, of course, Wiggins. Since Wiggins had time constraints and couldn't start, and Kerr didn't want to disrupt the rotation schedule, he held back in the third quarter and didn't bring him up. Payton is another defender who can defend against Fox, but Payton is short and can only be blindfolded for his mid-range shots. Kuminga, who can be covered by his figure, has limited time and greater offensive problems, and it is impossible to use it with Chasing Lu.
Another scenario is that Wiggins' offense manifests itself as a barometer of the situation. In the first half, Wiggins made a solid basket and used 12 points early, 1 of 6 from three-point range in the second half, 1 of 8 from three-point range in the second half, and missed a big open three-point position in the bottom corner that could help the team win the game at the end of the fourth quarter. Of course, he can't be blamed for this, except for not shooting three points, Wiggins' performance in all aspects today is not faulty, he just came back to play like this, which is completely acceptable. It's just that Wiggins' X factor just became the two key elements for the Kings to win:
Wiggins couldn't start more than 30 minutes, and the Warriors never had the best fit for Fox;
The King grabbed the Splash Brothers to save the basket and bet on the other Warriors players to be inaccurate in three points. In this game, Wiggins + Payton + Kuminga + Dream Chasing combined 1 of 13, and the Kings completely gambled to win.
If Wiggins adds up his playing time and feels back to normal, the Warriors will be able to regain their theoretical advantage. Of course, Hult and Keegan Murray will not be 0-of-8 per game, and Sa Jr. is uncomfortable this round, and 5-of-17 is also exaggerated. The Kings will have players who are in form and it won't be easy for the Warriors to win on the road.
Outside the base set, the bench winners on both sides also completely fell to the King's side. As mentioned in the preview, the timing of the line between Poole and Monk is important. The strength of the Warriors and the Kings is compared, the starting advantage is in the Warriors, the transition section is in the Kings, if Poole's time against Monk is not too bad, the gap between the two sides is narrowed or even erased, this round of the series Warriors will be very stable. As a result, Monk scored 32 points in G1, and Poole's 17 points were not enough.
It's no surprise that Monk played like this, and it's not the first time he's hit the Warriors. I deliberately emphasized in the preview that Cole has to find someone to limit him, because you can't develop a whole defensive plan specifically to pinch a substitute, so it is necessary to have a higher quality of the defender. Monk eats the right position, while the Warriors have a weakness in the opposite position, and when Kerr puts Curry and Poole together, Curry will give Poole a second easiest match against a King player who has worse offense or less ball play (Michelle, Keegan Murray).
The problem is that the king's second easiest counterpoint in some periods is not simple, such as:
No. 1~4 is Monk + Mitchell + Barnes + Lyles, Barnes can play the ball, Lyles is too big, Curry and Poole can't play against the two of them, they can only face Mitchell and Monk respectively. Poole really can't prevent Munch. There were some rounds in the fourth quarter, and it was suspected that Poole went to the right Lyles, and it is not known if this was an adjustment made by Cole. If so, we'll have to see if Brown responds later. If Lyles starts eating Poole low, I'd like to call it Sledgehammer II, a warrior's nightmare.
Single-Pur hours should always be safe, right?
However, it happened that at this time the king placed Monk + Fox + Hult + Lyles, and Poole and Hult's no-ball could not keep up, and he defended any of them was a problem.
In this game, the Warriors lost from the beginning of the transition, and Monk and Lyles brought a matchup problem, the former cut points, the latter made four three-pointers, became the key to killing the Warriors. These two may not break out every game, but if Cole doesn't do it properly, it's hard to say.
So, I said in the preview that if Cole is going to use Payton to catch Monk, he must pinch this point first. The king has one less breaking point, and he can't keep up with the warriors. But for a variety of reasons, Cole didn't insist on doing so. Not surprisingly, Wiggins' time is limited, and the use of Payton will be more focused on Fox. Second, as the defending champions, the Warriors (mentality is not a dog), will follow their own logic more in rotation, forcing their opponents to follow their own pace. If Cole sticks with his current approach to staffing, he will have to count on Poole to deliver offense that is enough to compensate for the loss of defensive blood. This season, facing the Kings five times, Poole has generally failed to prove that he can do it, and it is not known whether there has been any change since the 6th.
Brown's win over G1 wasn't just as simple as 1-0, he figured it out:
The king doesn't have to rely on Sama to play. The Kings have two guards who can play with the ball, another off-ball guard Hult can't be casual, and forward Barnes also has the ball. The three-guard lineup of Fox + Monk + Huerte + Barnes + Sam Jr., which Brown finally closed, gave the Warriors too much opposing pressure. This three-guard lineup is also mentioned in the preview, the way the Kings and Warriors desperately fight.
How is Cole going to respond?
One note to the game was that the Kings led 17-9 in front court rebounds. To be honest, considering Looney's presence + the fact that the Kings could be pinned down by Curry on the upper line + that the Kings are not crazy rushing teams, I didn't expect the Warriors to lose so much in rebounds. Of course, the front board landing point itself is random, and the Warriors only lost by 5 points in the second offensive score, but this incident may remind Kerr that the 3-guard and 4-guard lineup is risky.
You think I'm going to say that Cole is stupid to swing a lineup?
Actually, no, I want to say helplessness.
After Tang couldn't defend the backcourt strong, the Warriors lost an important advantage in the playoffs, which was also mentioned in last year's playoffs. The previous article "The Characteristics of Champions, and the Differences and Gaps Between Them and Champions" even listed as one of the highlights of the strengths and weaknesses of champion teams. However, last year's opponent, the Nuggets did not have an outside main attacking point, the Grizzlies only had Morant an outside ball holding strong point, although the Lone Ranger had 2 and a half, but the Lone Ranger's center position was not a threat, and there were 2 3D that could not play the ball, so the dream could be taken against Bronson. The Celtics had multiple points of possession, but Kay didn't have a defender who had enough to break through the threat, and the splash could be right.
But with both Fox and Monk on the floor, the Warriors need to come up with another defensive point besides Wiggins that can play against a breakthrough guard. Cole removed Looney later in the fourth quarter. Maybe there are Looney 5 offenders to protect, but the more likely reason is that the Warriors can't play against the Kings' three guards, so take Payton up and join Wiggins against Monk and Fox.
In other words, from a counterpoint perspective, the Warriors are most suitable for defending the Kings' three-guard lineup, which is precisely Curry, Towns, Payton, Wiggins, and the three guards of Dreams. It's not clear to me why Cole didn't try to dream of Fox and Towns' vs. Barnes in the end, maybe Cole wasn't happy with the results of this set of matches in the regular season rematch, or Fox was on a three-point accuracy today, and Cole felt that it didn't make much sense to be so defensive.
Cole has to learn from G1 - Sa Jr. is the pivot of the axis, Fox is the core of the sharp knife, Huert and Murray's three-point killing, Barnes also has his unique value, these Cole have all been arranged, except for the problem of preventing Fox from Wiggins' playing time, everything else has also worked. However, you really can't miss Monk, the details make the difference between success and failure, and you can't miss a little in the playoffs.
It seems that you did not buy this payment.
The other three will not be written first. There are two games that were originally not in suspense, and the plots of the 76ers and the Nets, Knicks and Cavaliers can be referred to in the preview. Kaiying's script is slightly different from the preview, if G2 has something to watch, then let's talk together.
On the first day of the playoffs, except for the Kaihawk game, which did not explode, the winning side was the side that played better on the board. The 76ers, who usually don't rush the rebound, exploded the Nets' rebounds like this, which is really too thin for the Nets. The warriors were also exploded, and they were inseparable from the small. And the Cavaliers were blasted by the Knicks because the inside line is thin and the outside line is small, which can be described as thin and small.
Summary of the first day of the playoffs:
Okay, little dog.