Let's talk about this game of Huyong G2.
First of all, before the article begins, I must very strongly express my point of view - I am very averse to two points of view about competitions:
The first view is to attribute everything to the referee, "control the field";
Another view is to always emphasize some so-called "unspoken rules", such as "the Lakers feel that one game is enough, this one is not up to the intensity".
Of the two views, the first is one-sided; The second is completely subjective nonsense.
What I want to tell you is that while the impact of refereeing scale, the trouble of foul trouble, is real, but it's not all about the game, and focusing only on penalties will make you lose sight of a lot of really important things - like this game, where is the real focus of the two sides? For example, what are the intentions of the opening offensive and defensive actions of the two sides? For example, how does foul trouble arise? And what are the responses and further adjustments of the two sides after the foul trouble appears?
The past can't be changed, and only by understanding these things can you really understand the game, how to adjust for the next game, how to avoid foul trouble or how to deal with it better.
Let's move on to parsing.
The G2 focuses on adjusting the program
We directly wrote some [key adjustments] of the two G2 teams at the beginning in the form of a program, so that everyone can understand.
warrior
1. The starter won Wayne Rooney, increased Jay Mike Green's playing time, improved the overall space, and downgraded the Lakers' contraction.
2. Increase the high blocking instigated by Curry earlier, emphasizing not to block and shoot like G1, but to emphasize passing to the inside, increasing the impact on the inside, and trying to improve the utilization of space;
3. The early change of formation in the second quarter, so that Kutangzui was all present, storming the stage when the Lakers Davis was not there, forcing the Lakers to take Davis - this is the most critical adjustment of the game and the real "killing" of the Lakers.
Lakers
1. Predict that the opponent will pinch Davis, change the offensive focus and Davis offensive style: the guard group and James are the main attack points, and Davis quickly completes the shot after blocking and receiving the ball, not giving the Warriors the opportunity to pinch (while protecting Davis' physical fitness).
2. After being unable to withstand the Warriors' attack at the beginning of the second quarter, he did not choose to adjust his defensive strategy, but chose to adjust - take Anthony Davis in advance.
3. In order to keep Davis on the court after he got into foul trouble, he chose to change his defense in the third quarter, allowing Davis to delay more and leave the task of interior rim to LeBron.
The above adjustments, there are right and wrong, good and bad, we will analyze them for you one by one.
Offensive adjustments
Let's start with the opening offensive adjustments of the two sides.
First, it's the adjustment on the Lakers' side.
After G1 Davis' killing on the inside, all Earthlings will know that the Warriors G2 will strengthen their defense on the inside - and Davis must be the first thought that pops into most people's minds.
So how to deal with the pinch to Davis? The Lakers made [early adjustments] and gave their countermeasures.
The first is to shift the main offensive point to the outside - G1 their secondary attacker group has done a very good job of attacking Curry, so strengthen the proportion of offense in this point.
Second, James also needs to be more involved in the offense (do more, which we mentioned in the comment section of the G1 public account article)
Third, after blocking and receiving the ball, Davis used his technical characteristics to quickly and directly complete the offense, without giving the Warriors a chance to wrap up. (This is also predicted in the comment area of the public account)
Take a look at the Lakers' first six offense openings.
On the first attack of the opening game, Reeves attacked Curry and missed a mid-range shot by blocking it.
On the second attack, James turned his back to Wiggins and missed.
In the third attack, Russell and Davis blocked, and Davis received the ground pass and threw it directly from a distance without dribbling.
In the fourth attack, Russell and Davis blocked, and after the Warriors switched defenses, Russell did not try to find Davis' misalignment, but directly pulled out a three-point by himself.
In the fifth attack, James and Russell blocked, and James pulled directly from outside the three-point line.
On the sixth attack, Reeves hit Curry and made a quick stop.
One or two offenses may not explain the problem, but Davis' offensive participation in the first six offense of the Lakers' opening game is very low, which is a good indication of what kind of offensive arrangement the Lakers emphasize today.
The same is true for the next offense:
Russell challenged the Warriors' two best defensive players to choose his own difficult mid-range shots — and this set of blocks, he challenged not once, but twice (the first time was blocked by Green).
Russell dared to take such an offensive choice, on the one hand, because of self-confidence, on the other hand, it was clear that the coach had emphasized before the game to focus on him and make him more aggressive.
And the next Lakers' athletic game goal, or Russell playing Curry:
This time, he sat directly on his back, rolled over and hit back.
At this point, the offensive arrangement and offensive focus of the Lakers' opening game have been reflected very clearly.
So let's see how the Warriors' offensive end adjusts.
Warriors offensive adjustments
After the last game, both Kerr and the Warriors players complained that they made 53 three-pointers and didn't attack the inside more — and before the game, Kerr stressed that they needed to do a better job of impacting the box.
So how to do it better? The Warriors made two changes this game:
First of all, it is the starter to take Wayne Rooney, take Jermichael Green, and better open up space.
Secondly, it was the opening game that allowed Curry to hold the ball more, launching a high block, and attracting Davis to play after delay. (On the other hand, G1, Curry was more focused on no ball in the first three quarters, and he shot more himself after blocking)
In addition, if the Lakers give very much space, Chasing Green directly tries to break through the layup, the main purpose is to kill Davis.
Pre-match adjustments, regardless of the outcome in the opening stages, are very obvious.
Let's take a look at the Warriors' opening offense:
After trying Wiggins to cover mid-range (also to enrich the offensive layering) in the opening game, the Warriors began to let Curry advance from the backcourt from the second round - you know, this is extremely rare in the first game:
The Warriors' second attack is Curry's high blocking with the ball - Lakers fans may not know, but Warriors fans should know that Curry began to block with the ball high, which is a sign that the Warriors are beginning to enter the "second form".
And this round, after Vanderbilt was blocked, Reeves came up to wrap Curry, so the Warriors' change of [space upgrade] played a role - Curry shot Jay Mike Green, because of his projection threat, Davis did not dare to fully sink, so Green was able to steal an empty cut to score.
Keep looking:
The next round of the Warriors' offense was also an attempt to play to their space advantage — James wanted to move closer to the box like G1, but Green decisively dealt Jermichael Green with a three-pointer.
Is it a good opportunity? No. But the meaning of the intention is quite clear - knock on the mountain and shake the tiger.
"Old Zhan, we're a pitcher standing here today, don't think about shrinking the frame in."
This immediately had its effect:
Within two rounds, Curry once again held the ball and launched a high block - he blocked, thick eyebrows of course had to delay the defensive shot, and Curry did not choose to perform a small big shot against Davis, but decisively distributed the ball to Green. So the three-point shot from the last round came into play — LeBron hesitated on the scale of contraction, and Green successfully scored an empty basket.
Next, Curry continued to implement their game plan - even if Vanderbilt was pressed all the time, he would dribble through the half - Green stopped in the position of high cover, representing that they had the intention to do high cover, but this round Curry did not borrow cover according to his own judgment, but used his personal ability to step back and hit a three-point shot.
This shot is not only a three-pointer, but also a signal released by the Warriors and Curry to the Lakers - Curry is going into offensive mode, the Lakers you should delay and delay, pinch shot.
The court is like chess — it's a strategy game between Kerr and Curry, Hamm and Davis.
Keep looking:
In the arena, often what happened in the previous round quickly has an impact on the next round - why is Davis slow to retreat this round?
Because he wants to improve his defensive position and prepare for Curry and Green's high blocking in advance.
Davis wasn't wrong in his choice, but he miscalculated the Warriors' intentions.
When Green was flat again in front of him, Green did not stop the ball and draw his sword like G1, but directly lowered his head and killed in the box - Davis was startled, and when he wanted to chase Green, he was blocked by Curry - Curry's round is not trying to borrow Green's cover shot, but is covering Green.
The whistle sounds, fouls.
With 8:30 left in the first quarter, Davis received his first foul. The warriors' painstakingly planned layout, at this moment received the results they wanted.
And that's just the first big factor that affects the game.
In the next half of the quarter, there was no difference in the content of the game between the two teams, just the difference between entering or not entering:
Curry still constantly launched the ball-holding block, brought Davis out, hit the ground to the inside of the downstream, and then to the outside shooter (to improve space utilization), Jermichael Green made two three-pointers, Wiggins made a three-pointer.
The Lakers are still multi-possession and James, and after James hit his second 3-pointer of the game, the Warriors called a timeout.
After the timeout, Curry was almost about to go into the break, and the Warriors added some cover shooting tactics for Klay (a lot in the first game), and the effect was still good (I talked about Reeves' problem with cover in the preview and the first game, and he chased Klay has not been effective).
The Lakers, on the other hand, still chose to fill Davis' playing time in the first quarter, which allowed them to build some lead in the first quarter.
In order to save traffic for everyone, I won't analyze it round by round, and look at a few shots that I think better reflect the offensive arrangement of the two teams:
Davis received two more balls after a timeout and didn't finish his first athletic goal until four minutes left in the first quarter — and as with his first catch, he also chose to throw from a long distance on both rounds. That is, his three shots in the first quarter were all long-range throws.
Why we chose this offensive style has been explained above - to avoid falling into the Warriors' pocket, but also to allow Davis to save energy (the first quarter did not let Davis carry the ball to attack, whether in the frame or back basket).
I personally don't think there's anything wrong with this offense — it's actually one of Davis' best offenses, and if you don't do it and don't play with Davis' off-ball and throwing characteristics, the Warriors will really pinch you.
This is just a "minor adjustment" and is not a deciding factor in the game.
Let's take a look at the Warriors' defense this time:
Hachimura's second three-point shot came from DiVincenzo completely shrinking in front of Davis.
Now that he knows that his opponent will strengthen his defense, I don't think there's any problem with Davis choosing something that he is also good at and that avoids physical exertion and offensive fouls – in fact, G1 Davis also has a lot of mid-range and throwing hands. It's just the difference between in or out.
While we want Davis to be more aggressive – we also have to take into account the opposing team's defense, physical problems and foul troubles.
And the Warriors' side can embody the ball that emphasizes their offensive focus today, I think it is this:
DiVincenzo was determined to break through and was not afraid of Davis' choice for a layup. This is something that the Warriors lacked in the first place — after being interfered with by Davis a few times, the Warriors were completely intimidated by Davis in the second two quarters and even completely lost the idea of attacking the box. This seriously hurts their sense of offensive layering.
And this one they obviously adjusted for that.
Remember what we said? The strategy at the beginning was just the first step, and the Warriors' real game-winning adjustment came in their second quarter.
Warrior winning strategy
In this game, although Jermichael Green was the Warriors' most "obvious" adjustment and the results were quite good, I think what really won and best reflected the change in the Warriors' strategy was the adjustments they made in the second quarter.
As the saying goes, the warrior is strong, and the strong is in the brave three madness - the warrior's power period is normally in the third quarter. But in the last game, the Lakers successfully broke the Warriors' third-quarter period by pulling Davis to the full playing time in the third quarter.
So this time the Warriors made a bold adjustment - they moved the power period to the second quarter.
What is the sign of a warrior's change of power?
It is Thompson and Rooney's playing time - G1, the Warriors early in the second quarter is Curry to lead, Thompson rests, inside selection is Jermichael Green.
In this game, they changed to Curry, Thompson, Wiggins all on the floor, and Rooney was chosen inside.
The intention of this rotation adjustment is too obvious, right?
The trident of the library, soup, and mouth is exhausted, and the attack is full; Rooney came on the court and stepped up his interior impact and rebounding threat.
All of this is a message from the Warriors to the Lakers that we're targeting you when Davis is off.
Watch the game:
The Warriors' first attack in the second quarter was Curry's blocking with the ball and shooting himself — I repeat, Curry's increased personal possession and aggressiveness is the first important difference between the Warriors and Game One.
Curry's possession of the ball attracted the Lakers to defend the two, and Gabe was going to face Wayne Rooney, so Wiggins, who cut in, grabbed the offensive rebound and scored under the basket.
Then in the second round of the Warriors, it was Curry who still had the ball — no matter how much pressure the Lakers defended, they had to let Curry hold the ball — because junior physics taught us: pressure is mutual.
After Curry attracted Gabe's co-defense, he let Rooney catch the ball deep enough, and Rooney played very tough and determined - not thinking about passing or anything else.
What does he want to tell the Lakers?
"Gabriel can't stop me."
Then in the third round, Klay got a half-switch opportunity — we know, Klay Thompson, probably the most favorite player in NBA history to pick up three-pointers when switching offense — but this round, he chose to carry Gabriel for a breakaway layup instead of pulling in front of Schroder.
The Warriors' opening three rounds of shots were all under the basket.
This layup was interfered with by Gabe, but it didn't matter.
This is they are constantly sending a message to Hamm, making Hamm gradually form a psychological cue - "The warriors are constantly attacking our inside, can Gabriel withstand it?" ”
Even more deadly was the following round, where Gabe made a mistake.
This round, Gabe was originally against Rooney, but Hachimura chose to sink when defending Curry and Wiggins blocking and took over Rooney, and Schroeder let go of the weak shooter to help Curry - at this time, normally Gabe should have changed the defense to save Di Vincenzo's three points.
But the Lakers didn't communicate well this round, and Gabe didn't change defense, allowing DiVincenzo to shoot three points.
In fact, very strictly speaking, it is not easy to say whose mistake this round was - Hachimura did not do a good job of changing defenses.
But once the seed of "doubt" is planted, a little moisture will allow it to take root and germinate - and besides, Gabriel did not throw two threes like Hachimura.
The following round, Curry again carried the ball into the box - Gabe chose to help Reeves block the left flank - a decision that was actually nothing to blame.
But the consequence, Klay, who followed up, again made a three-pointer on Gabe's head.
As the score was overtaken, Ham's accumulated dissatisfaction with Gabriel's performance in these rounds broke out - the Lakers paused, and Hamm didn't even consider adjusting the defensive method, and directly chose to replace Gabe and replace him with thick eyebrows.
At this moment, at 9:20 seconds in the second quarter, Davis took a break of less than 3 minutes after playing the first quarter.
The Warriors' deliberate tweaks to the layout were once again getting the results they wanted—perhaps even better than they expected.
From this moment on, the game was really changed and really entered the rhythm of the warriors.
See what the Warriors did after AD came on the court:
Curry bursts in with the ball — let's pay attention to Curry's technical moves here — he throws himself into the air and makes a shot after a pause, rather than making a layup or throwing as normal (if you look closely, Curry's position is also a little earlier).
What do you think he's looking for?
If you feel too sensitive, let's move on:
Or Curry broke through with the ball, dribbled a detour, and hit the ground to Rooney to attack the frame. Beaten.
Even Dream-Green holds the ball and tries to break through and throw one.
After the timeout, Poole and Wiggins blocked - Wiggins blocked the right down and received the ball directly into Davis.
The round ended up causing Davis to commit a second foul after a scramble for rebounds in the front court.
That is, after Davis came on the court early, the Warriors chose to attack the basket for four consecutive rounds - in the end, successfully caused Davis to commit a second foul.
Or is it that phrase, is one round accidental, two rounds accidental, three or four rounds in a row, or accidental?
We need to understand what the Warriors usually play - it's outside shooting, it's moving the ball, it's cutting and splitting the ball for three points. These rounds, or the entire second quarter, they weren't playing what was called "Warriors basketball."
The so-called, when things go wrong, there must be demons.
Whether Davis' second and third fouls were fouls or not - the Warriors did keep trying to attack Davis. And in the end, their attack worked.
With the second foul received in the 7th minute of the second quarter, Davis' offensive and defensive aggressiveness continued to decline on the original basis. (The original basis was that Davis came on the field early, and in order to preserve his physical fitness, he originally reserved on the offensive end).
Let's see:
Poole immediately came up with another breakaway layup that found physical contact - this ball was even visible to TX nonsense for an entire game.
And Davis didn't dare to make a move, so he could only watch Poole hit a layup.
Subsequently, in the face of Klay Thompson, Davis neither dared to get too close nor too fierce when delaying - too close is easy to be broken through, chasing the cap has the risk of fouls; And too fierce can also be fouled.
Poole broke through with cover, and Davis' defense was terrible—he didn't sink deep enough and didn't try to chase the cap after being pulled away by Poole.
There was no slot when grabbing the rebound, allowing Dream Green to point the rebound to Klay from behind.
We can clearly see that after receiving the second foul, Davis' defensive aggressiveness has dropped sharply - and the world knows that the Lakers' defense is strong because of Davis' in-house involvement.
While Davis was on the inside, the Lakers could only watch as their defense was pierced by the Warriors — and that's how the 41:23 in the second quarter came about.
And the defensive end did not dare to exert force, let alone the offensive end, Davis in the second quarter except for a catch, both shots were jumpers outside the box.
To make matters worse, even though Davis had protected himself in this way — he received his third foul late in the second quarter.
As a result, the Lakers' defensive "collapse" continued into the second half.
In the second half, the Lakers' problems only needed four charts to summarize.
It was said in the outline - in order to avoid Davis being charged on the inside and leading the fourth foul, the Lakers asked him to execute more strong delays, leaving the task of guarding the frame to LeBron.
But you know, this time the Warriors put on an inside and four outside lineup, James contracted, and Jermichael Green on the outside was a big open position.
It's the same if someone else shrinks:
Russell contracted, and Wiggins in the bottom corner received the ball empty in front of the sea, and came in to cause a foul.
The way Davis left the interior and James contracted the frame defensively, we didn't think about it in the preview — but that was when the Warriors inside was Green + Wayne Rooney.
And this game, the Warriors successfully got Davis into foul trouble when Rooney replaced him with Jermichael Green, which can be said to be a "lore".
There is nothing the Lakers can do about such a situation — or rather, the complexity of the matter exceeds their ability to adjust on the spot.
In this case, the Lakers quickly collapsed in the third quarter and the game went into garbage time.
This game is basically over here, let's talk about what the Lakers should do next.
What should the Lakers do?
Through the review, we can see that in addition to the referee scale, the main winning adjustments of the Warriors in this game are the following two or three:
1. Curry holds more balls and initiates more high-post blocks.
2, Jermichael Green starts, improve the space.
2. The second quarter was full of intensity, forcing Davis to play early.
The referee's penalty scale is "uncontrollable factors", and what the Lakers need next is to do the things they can control well.
Here, the author will talk nonsense.
For example, can they step up their defensive rotation on the outside and pay more attention to the bottom corner defense when Davis delays and James fills the inside?
For example, depending on where the Warriors stand, can they change the Davis strong delay more to a weak player closing at some point?
For example, if Curry's more ball possession becomes the norm, can he adopt a defensive approach such as a four-eyed four?
At the heart of the Lakers' problem today is that they moved Davis out of the box, and they need to find as much a way as possible to keep Davis in the box while avoiding giving Curry an easy shot.
Or be a little more bold, is it possible for the Lakers to change the alignment, let Vanderbilt defend Green, Davis defends Jay Mike Green, and directly changes defense when Ku chases and dismantles, while Davis moderately shrinks, induces the Warriors to pass the ball to Jermichael Green, and then makes a defense after the Warriors come out, allowing the Warriors to beat themselves by shooting a half-open three-pointer?
In addition, I think the one adjustment that the Lakers need most and must make is:
They can no longer treat Davis as a "master key" and hope to solve everything by filling Davis' playing time.
No matter how strong Davis is, he's human, he's tired, he's going to get into foul trouble — that's what the Warriors are targeting in this game.
The Lakers can't just fill their core time, they need better rotation, better defensive arrangements, and a good "time difference" — something we emphasized in our first game review.
Now, they still haven't done anything.
And finally, I want to pour cold water on Lakers fans again: don't feel that this game is "let go", this round of the series, the longer the battle line, the more unfavorable it is for the Lakers - one is that Schroder, Reeves chasing the library, the longer the soup chases, the more tired, fatigue will affect the offense, and their offense is very important to the Lakers; Another, as we said in our preview, is that the Warriors' tiebreaker five-man group is far more intense than the Lakers (first in the league on difference).
This means that if the series is tied to seven and the main playing time of both sides is full, the Lakers' intensity is much worse than that of the Warriors.
It looks like the series score is only 1:1, but in fact, the next game is close to life and death for the Lakers.