Capítulo 1345: Chapter 538: The New ‘Green Formula’ (Part 3)

In the 80’s, although he also faced discrimination due to his skin color, it was a time when the basketball world was completely inhospitable to Asians. Yet, he managed to stand out and become an NBA player, climbing his way to the top of the league. At least after he became famous, reports related to his childhood all emphasized how tough it was for him, and overall, the evaluations were positive.

He and the him from the timeline of 10 are not the same.

In these societal issues, his struggles and cries had no use; he could only passively accept them.

Looking on the bright side—at least he gained a ‘golden buff’ of a prodigal son returning home.

In the afternoon, the Lakers held a preparation meeting and a simple tactical running practice.

The Three Giants had a ‘brand new way of playing’, and the actual combat results were astonishing. Budenholzer naturally had to follow up and make good use of it.

Mainly, this ‘brand new way of playing’ didn’t conflict with the team’s original system, or rather, Zhang Yang thought of it as a contingency plan based on the team’s existing system.

Of course, after staying up late last night to discuss, Budenholzer, Gentry, Kobe, and others felt that the existing system and the brand new way of playing weren’t a perfect fit. The Three Giants were somewhat accommodating the system, or rather, accommodating the role-playing interior players. There’s considerable room for improvement in the overall playstyle. They could reconstruct the system on the existing foundation, truly detaching their system from the ‘Spurs system’ and turning it into the ‘Budenholzer system’ or ‘Three Giants’ system…but that’s something for the future.

For now, they could only do their best under the current conditions!

In the evening, the Eastern Conference Finals commenced, with the Cavaliers defeating the Celtics by 50 points, 130 to 80. James scored 52 points, 8 rebounds, and 8 assists, setting a new personal best for single-game playoff scoring. Yet, the post-game discussions still didn’t surpass the heat of the Western Conference Finals’ first game, even after 24 hours.

The Little Assassin was out for the season; he was second in the league with an average of 29 points per game in the regular season, only behind Westbrook. With an average of 3.2 three-point shots made, he ranked fourth in the league behind Curry, Zhang Yang, and Thompson. Averaging 6.2 assists, he was first within the Celtics, and even his 46% shooting accuracy was the highest among Celtics’ perimeter players…With their star player missing, it wasn’t surprising for the Celtics to lose so poorly.

After losing by 50 points, the hottest topic related to the Celtics—could they break James’s 7-year dominance in the East if Paul joined?

7 years, even a dragon should have been born by now, and Paul was seen as that dragon egg.

This popular topic since the second round somehow affected the Celtics’ morale. Paul already stated he wouldn’t give up Bird Rights, which means he had to be signed and traded; just Isaiah Thomas alone probably isn’t a sufficient bargaining chip; they’d need to include a young talent. Who dares to say it won’t be themselves?

…

After a day’s rest, on May 28th, the Lakers and Warriors clashed in the second battle at Staples Center.

In the first quarter, Curry took the lead and launched a fierce attack.

How to limit the opponents’ Three Giants? With only 1 day of rest, the coaching staff had no idea, and as a player, he couldn’t think of a way either.

Then start with offense; the night before, Durant played his heart out and scored 41 points, narrowly surpassing Zhang Yang’s 39 points. However, his most ferocious period was only the second quarter and the first 10 minutes of the third quarter, unlike Zhang Yang who could sprint the entire court.

Regarded by Zhang Yang as a ‘perfect teammate’, Curry indeed did what a ‘perfect teammate’ should do, although he also felt that the opponents’ Three Giants’ playstyle couldn’t be replicated, and he and Durant couldn’t truly cooperate like role players with the opponent, yet some ideologies could be borrowed, such as the spirit of high sacrifice.

Curry chose to bear the regular time himself!

In the first quarter, Curry hit 5 out of 8 shots, including 2 out of 4 three-pointers, plus 2 out of 2 free throws, playing the entire quarter and scoring 14 points, leading the team to a frenzied 38 points on 21 shots, the best quarter even surpassing the best-performing third quarter of Game 1’s score by 1 point.

The Warriors had an unbelievably strong start, while the Lakers, instead of playing as aggressively as in the second half of Game 1, chose to play steadily and surely. Zhang Yang scored 6 points in 8 minutes in the first quarter, DeRozan scored 9 points in 10 minutes, and Harden scored 3 points in 7 minutes, with the whole team scoring 32 points on 20 shots.

Though the Lakers trailed by 6 points in the first quarter, their teamwork ran smoothly under the lead of the Three Giants. In the second quarter, as soon as the Three Giants came on, they led the team to a 12-7 run against the Warriors, narrowing the gap to 1 point at 44-45!

During this period, Zhang Yang hit 3 consecutive shots, including a three-pointer, a driving layup, and a high-post turnaround shot for a 2+1, scoring 8 points back-to-back! Scoring even 1 point more than the whole opponent’s team!

However, the Lakers couldn’t immediately pull out the advantage this time; Durant took over the banner, shouldered the Warriors’ offense, and continued to battle the Lakers intensely.

In the second quarter, the Lakers scored 37-31 and entered halftime tied at 69 with the Warriors.

In the third quarter, Curry and Durant unleashed a fierce streak, scoring 11 of 13 combined, including 2 for 2 on three-pointers, plus 4 of 5 free throws, fiercely scoring 28 points!

The two of them scored more points than Harden’s 10, Zhang Yang’s 8, and DeRozan’s 7 combined!

But in terms of responding, the Warriors didn’t do as well as the Lakers; besides Curry and Durant, the rest of the Warriors combined scored just 7 points. After playing 45 minutes as one of the giants the previous night, Thompson’s performance tonight returned to normal. Though not bad, he scored 4-5 points in each of the first three quarters, accumulating 14 points, unable to provide as much help to Curry and Durant as the previous night.