CHAPTER 1337: CHAPTER 536: TWO UNSTOPPABLE TEAMS

He himself is a ’Space Management Master’ originating from the Spurs, with Gentry as the offensive assistant coach, Mike Brown as the defensive assistant coach, and Kobe assisting as well. Even though they lost control of the game right from the start, their own offense was playing amazingly well, and the opposing offense was unstoppable, yet when they gathered together, they still found areas to improve.

The Lakers underwent ’reconstruction’ last summer, and there’s no possibility of luxury tax for this season and the next. Due to the two 1-year short-term contracts split from last summer’s mid-level exception, and with only two years left on Ed Davis’s contract, if managed well, they won’t have to pay taxes even the season after next. Little Buss and Kupchak spent heaps of money on the ’Coach Team’, with the head coach plus offensive and defensive assistants’ total annual salary being 13 million.

Returning after the break between quarters, Zhang Yang went on court with Clarkson, DeRozan, Nance Jr., and Zubac.

On the opposing side, Thompson, who played the entire first quarter, went to rest, and the dual Point Guards Curry and Livingston went on, together with Durant, Green, and McKie at the frontcourt.

The second quarter started, and the Warriors attacked first.

Livingston received the ball and advanced to the frontcourt before passing to Durant.

Eventually, Durant must grab the ball and take over the primary attacking role, and Zhang Yang continued to defend him.

Durant changed direction and charged into the interior. Facing Zhang Yang blocking the middle path and Zubac double-teaming from the baseline, his choice was...to pull up for a contested shot against Zhang Yang’s interference!

It goes in! And he drew a shooting foul on Zhang Yang!

In the first quarter, transformed into a luxurious, fully-equipped version of Barnes, Durant played 8 minutes, most of which was spent playing off the ball, simply cutting in to catch passes and quickly breaking on fast-breaks. His stamina was excellent!

If the defense couldn’t be shaken off, then don’t shake it off, just play tough!

Shooting without considering the logic, and it goes in without any reasoning!

Watching Durant and Curry, Livingston high-fiving and then stepping up to the free-throw line, Kobe on the sidelines covered his head, another prediction mistake. When predicting others, there’s usually no problem, even Curry’s and Thompson’s performances align with his expectations, but Durant, every time leaves him bewildered.

Durant made the free throw, too, making it 36 to 37, the Warriors narrowed the gap to 1 point!

Transitioning between offense and defense, Clarkson dribbled and distributed the ball at the top arc, Zhang Yang cut in after running backdoor, pulled off the Euro step to fake out both Durant and McKie, moved to the other side of the basket, rose straight up, and dunked the ball with one hand, returning Durant’s recent 2+1 play.

That Euro step by Zhang Yang, the Warriors’ players felt it was nonsensical as well. A continuous change of direction and stride, and still completing a dunk!

According to the current rules, if the Center doesn’t stand in position in advance, they can’t move forward to apply body contact, otherwise, it results in a foul at the slightest touch.

A seasoned fan with about ten years of experience watching games often marvels when they see Zhang Yang’s Euro step dunks making it to the Top Five or Ten plays, lamenting that Ginobili and Wade were born in the wrong era. Although Ginobili isn’t as fierce as Zhang Yang, he’s more skillful, while Wade isn’t as skillful but fiercer. Both aren’t as balanced as Zhang Yang, but they’ve taken a specific aspect to its extreme; from a practical perspective, it’s hard to say who among the three is better, but in terms of watchability, those two are even a bit ahead of Zhang Yang.

Placing the two in today’s mobile network era, their popularity would definitely be higher than back then.

Durant and Zhang Yang fired the first shots, and the two teams continued their offensive battle.

The Lakers’ Coach Team’s defensive strategy again had little effect. Even when executed well, Durant could still rely on personal ability to make shots, forcing the Lakers’ interior to extend outward prematurely. There’s no real way around it, not that the strategy was incorrect, but the opponent was simply too strong.

However, the slight adjustments on the offensive end were indeed effective, avoiding some areas that weren’t done well in the first quarter, rendering the opponent’s defensive adjustments futile.

Zhang Yang strengthened his attacks to the basket, and the Warriors had no choice but to drop their defenses down, otherwise, they could only watch as Zhang Yang pummeled McKie and the rotating Pachulia.

DeRozan and West, who came off the bench, had better opportunities for Mid-range Shots, while Harden and Louis Williams, who also came off the bench, had better chances for long-range shots.

As Ian Clark, the Warriors’ substitute swingman, hit a wide-open three-pointer, and with the first half of the game concluded, the Warriors took the lead over the Lakers in the second quarter by relying on that three-pointer, 34 to 32, surpassing by two points!

This quarter, it was Durant who took off, playing the entire quarter, hitting 4 out of 6 shots, and with two free throws made out of three, he achieved the highest scoring in a single quarter thus far tonight with 10 points.

The Warriors’ shooting percentage slightly dipped compared to the first quarter, 22 shots making 14, among them 2 out of 5 three-pointers, and 4 free throws made out of 5...with shooting percentages of 63.6, 40, and 80 respectively.

It was purely the case of the wing role players’ shooting percentage slipping down as their stamina drained and the effect of the confrontation increased.

After Durant activated his ’illogical’ mode, the overall shooting percentage of the tsunami trio was actually higher than the first quarter.

On the Lakers side, Zhang Yang played for 10 minutes in this quarter, playing longer and attacking more fiercely, yet his scoring wasn’t as much as in the first quarter, making just 2 out of 5 shots, no three-pointers out of one attempt, plus making both free throws, garnering 6 points.

However, his impact was truly significant, assisting Harden, DeRozan, and Louis Williams to also score 6 points each, as he cut inside, providing the wings the opportunity to run out open spaces by borrowing screens.

Furthermore, when he cut in and received the ball, if he passed the ball out and then pulled outwards, often two players would follow him out of the interior, blocking him. If the ball recipient had passing ability, they could always pass it again to a teammate cutting in with the momentum, creating excellent scoring opportunities.

In this quarter, you could intuitively see the different playing styles of Zhang Yang and Durant. Zhang Yang, during regular times, enjoys tormenting the opponent’s overall defense, making everyone focus on him, creating better opportunities for his teammates to receive passes.