NBA's King of Talking

Chapter 558 Five-Striker Lineup

After Bridges entered the game, the Clippers' lineup became Bridges, Jafi, Paul George, Gallinari, and Dillon – a pure forward lineup! A true "five-forward lineup"!

The Cavaliers also played a five-forward lineup back then, with Running Man as the point guard.

A lineup consisting of five wings over two meters tall is very close to the future basketball vision of Heat president Pat Riley.

The advantages of such a lineup are self-evident. It can play an infinite switching defense, and there is no obvious height disadvantage on the defensive end. It can maximize its speed and other aspects.

The downside is that because the five players are roughly the same height, pick-and-rolls are less effective than those in a standard lineup where the center and first position create mismatches. The opponent can then simply switch on defense.

Moreover, the five-forward lineup puts a lot of pressure on the ball handler. Without a qualified ball handler, the offense will be very difficult and will eventually turn into a disorganized, one-on-one attack.

Another issue is that a five-forward lineup without a good rim protector will struggle against teams that are good at attacking the paint.

Fortunately, the Warriors are not a strong team in interior offense; their strength lies in their jump shot.

The Clippers' five-forward lineup features Jia Fei as the ball handler!

Jia Fei truly took on the role of point guard on the Western Conference Finals stage!

In fact, in the past two seasons, when Jia Fei and Beverley partnered in the backcourt, Jia Fei was the real playmaker. Beverley was only nominally the point guard, responsible for dribbling the ball across half-court, while Jia Fei was the one initiating the offense.

Jia Fei's job was simply to dribble the ball across half-court, but otherwise it remained the same.

On the defensive end, Jia Fei is still the center, because he is responsible for guarding Green's groin.

"Teacher Yang, Jia Fei is playing point guard now. Is he a center or a point guard?" Wang Meng asked.

Yang Yi smacked his lips and said, "He should play point guard on offense and center on defense. That's actually feasible—handle the ball on offense and stay inside on defense. LeBron James often does that; on offense, he dribbles and organizes the offense, and on defense, he plays power forward to grab rebounds and launch fast breaks!"

Bridges' defense against Curry was surprisingly effective, even better than Beverley's. Under his defense, Curry's offensive efficiency noticeably decreased, and his shot attempts were significantly impacted.

Furthermore, Bridges controlled his fouls very well, not committing a single foul by the end of the first quarter. Compared to Beverley's constant fouling, he made you wonder if he was truly serious about defense.

In fact, he defended very seriously and the results were very good, which impressed Coach Buden and Jia Fei.

After Gallinari went out, Jeff Green came in, and the Clippers still had a five-forward lineup.

Unlike the previous two games against the Rockets, the Clippers made some adjustments to their rotation in this game, using a nine-man rotation, with Olynyk also making it into the rotation.

Olynyk's playing time was during the transition period, when Curry and Durant were both resting.

Unlike the Rockets' extreme 7-man rotation small lineup, the Warriors have a traditional 9-man rotation, with four substitutes: Looney, McKinnie, Livingston, and Jerebko.

The Warriors' second unit has declined in strength compared to previous seasons. Previously, the second unit was primarily composed of Iguodala and Livingston, but now both are getting older and their performance has declined to varying degrees. The remaining players added to the second unit seem somewhat lacking in ability.

But Kerr still insists on giving the starters ample rest, even if his team's bench players are not strong enough. This is where he differs from D'Antoni; he rarely overworks his starters.

At the end of the first quarter, the Clippers led by 6 points, with a score of 26:32.

In the second quarter, the Clippers' second unit took the lead, extending their lead to double digits.

After the Warriors' starters came on, Durant and Curry came out strong and narrowed the gap to 5 points. At this point, Jia Fei and Paul George also came out strong and widened the gap to 10 points.

After that, it was a back-and-forth battle, and at halftime, the Clippers led by 9 points, 54-63.

Intermission.

"Mr. Yang, what adjustments do you think the Warriors need to make in the second half? They're down by nine points now," Wang Meng said.

Yang Yi stroked his chin, looking somewhat troubled: "It's really difficult. The Clippers' small lineup has such good defense that it's hard to find good shooting opportunities. Actually, the Warriors played very well; many of their offensive plays were really difficult, but they all made them. I have to say that Durant and Curry are truly superstars, but even so, they're still down by 9 points, so I said it's difficult!"

The third quarter began quickly.

The Warriors took the initiative on offense, with Curry dribbling the ball across half-court.

It's still Beverly's pattern of frantically biting.

After a good rest, Beverley was fully charged, like a trolley, and came out of the game full of energy and momentum. On the defensive end, he seemed to be hanging on Curry, completely unconcerned about fouls or warnings from the referees.

Curry, taking advantage of Iguodala's screen and the moment when Gallinari was a little slow to switch on defense, suddenly fired a shot!

The ball was released so fast, it was like a "quick shot" in Counter-Strike. And it went in!

57:63, Curry hits a three-pointer!

The Clippers fans at the scene were still shaken. Curry's three-pointer was truly terrifying. This guy really couldn't be given any chance!

Clippers offense, Paul George's three-pointer misses!

Durant grabbed the rebound and then hit a three-pointer of his own!

But no!

Jia Fei collected the rebound, and his first pass to Beverley, who was making a quick run down the court, was blocked out of bounds by Green.

After Green cleared the ball out of bounds, he unleashed a barrage of criticism on Durant, the message crystal clear: you shouldn't have shot that! Curry was on fire, why didn't he take the shot? What's the rush?

Durant was also annoyed and retorted, "Who the hell do you think you are, daring to talk back to me like that?"

Green was also furious. How dare you, a traitor, talk nonsense to me, one of the original shareholders of the Iron Triangle?

Seeing that Green and Durant were about to fight, the referee and other Warriors players immediately stepped in to break them up.

Jia Fei was somewhat amused and exasperated. While Green's classic quote from his previous life hadn't surfaced, the two had still argued. This wasn't hard to understand. Deep down, Green and his team also looked down on Durant, because he was their defeated foe! Even though they won a championship together, there were still differences in their relationships. Clearly, Green was closer to the Splash Brothers, while Durant was more like a powerful mercenary to them.

Even Kerr trusts the Splash Brothers and Green more. Durant is indeed strong, but it has been proven that he is not good at leading a team. He is a top-notch killer, but he has never been an outstanding team leader.

The Clippers inbound the ball in the frontcourt. Jia Fei receives the ball at the top of the arc, faces Iguodala, and suddenly makes a step-through breakthrough!

While moving, Jia Fei changed direction to shake off Iguodala and drove straight to the basket, completing a difficult 2+1 over Green!