NBA: The God of Basketball Begins with Precise Scoring

Chapter 41: The Jazz's strategic adjustment leads to a complete shift in offense and defense fo

That was an extremely aggressive steal.

Throughout the entire process, none of Li Xingchen's Warriors teammates provided any help on defense.

He single-handedly guarded the opponent's offensive core, Mitchell, not only keeping him completely shut down and preventing Mitchell from even getting a chance to shoot, but also making a one-on-one steal and establishing stable ball control to advance the fast break forward.

Curry, also a backcourt player, rushed to the frontcourt as quickly as possible.

Li Xingchen knew that Curry had been on fire since the start of the game, so he didn't try to steal the spotlight and instead passed the ball to Curry.

Curry did not disappoint him. With the team and the home crowd already in high spirits, Curry did not choose the safe option of scoring under the basket. Instead, he took aim from beyond the three-point line and hit a three-pointer, completely igniting the home crowd!

Less than a minute and a half into the game, Curry scored eight points in a row, giving the Warriors an 8-0 lead.

"Beep—"

Snyder finally called a timeout.

One and a half minutes in, the Jazz are called to a timeout!

Warriors fans at Chase Center cheered and shouted, releasing all the emotions they had been holding back since the previous loss.

In the first three possessions, Curry's offense and Li Xingchen's defense provided them with an unparalleled visual feast!

In the domestic live stream rooms, the barrage of comments was also pouring in.

"Holy crap, that's insane! Who said Li Ling couldn't defend against Mi Qiu? Who said that? Who said that?"

"The first attack completely covered the opponent, forcing them into a mistake; the second attack was even more outrageous, directly breaking the opponent's defense right in front of them. I can't find the words to describe it."

"Wait, why do I feel like Lee has evolved again? His defense has always been good, but it's never been this bad. Even Mitchell can't beat him at all?"

"Curry is amazing, he didn't forget his shooting bag today. He scored eight points in just one and a half minutes, it's absolutely terrifying."

During the pause in the live broadcast, the director also showed a replay of the highlights from the previous part of the match.

There weren't even enough seats, because the previous rounds were all incredibly exciting.

Watching the slow-motion replay, Yang Yi said earnestly, "His footwork and reaction time are incredibly fast; he didn't lose his position even slightly. Mitchell clearly wanted to call a pick-and-roll, but the moment he lost focus, the ball was stolen. I think this should be today's best defense; it was truly outstanding."

Wang Meng didn't pay much attention to the replay, but just kept praising: "The Warriors' start is too strong. Curry is on fire today. He made all three of his shots in just over a minute and has already scored eight points."

"Li Xingchen completely blocked both of the Jazz's offensive plays. Now the Warriors have gained momentum."

"Now, let's see if Snyder can make some effective adjustments after the timeout!"

……

The Warriors' bench at the game.

During the timeout, many team members were all smiles, giving Curry and Li Xingchen high-fives in celebration.

Curry's offensive performance may be more dazzling to the audience, but as professional players, they all care more about Li Xingchen's terrifying performance on the defensive end.

"Li, how did you do that? Two rounds in a row, you didn't give Donovan a single chance!"

"I had my doubts about you at the team meeting yesterday, but now it seems I was wrong. You're the best player to defend Donovan!"

"My God, he forced him to make mistakes in the first two rounds. I think Donovan is probably questioning his life right now."

"That's good! If he loses confidence because of our defense, this game will be much easier for us..."

Because the Warriors currently hold a significant lead, they do not need to make any adjustments to their strategy or tactics.

During the timeout, the players mostly chatted and joked.

Of course, the topic still revolved around Li Xingchen's exaggerated defensive quality in the previous two rounds.

Some teammates even bluntly stated that they felt Li Xingchen's defensive effectiveness was better than Wiggins'. Wiggins, standing to the side, didn't seem to mind, just grinned broadly.

He wasn't as petty as Poole, and of course, it also stemmed from his confidence in his own abilities. After all, he was the number one draft pick, and he would be a starter no matter which team he joined. He didn't need to worry about not getting playing time like Poole did.

Even more surprisingly, Brother Mouth pulled Li Xingchen aside and whispered to him about his experience in defending Mitchell; the two seemed to have become good buddies.

……

The pause ended quickly.

The game returned to the court, and the Jazz had possession of the ball.

This time, they dared not let Mitchell fight Li Xingchen one-on-one again.

Firstly, Mitchell himself wouldn't dare, and secondly, Snyder would never agree to him continuing to do so.

So in the new offensive possession, the Jazz started running their pick-and-roll plays honestly, trying to find opportunities for Gobert to score in the paint or for others to have open shots on the perimeter.

However, because Mitchell was completely marked by Li Xingchen, he completely lost his former ability to break through defenses.

On the front line, Wiggins and Bazemore are basically comparable in size to Bojan and Royce O'Neale, so the Jazz can't really create any good offensive opportunities for the time being.

Ultimately, the Jazz passed the ball to Gobert, attempting to get him to score under the basket.

But Gobert is a center who mainly focuses on scoring and defense. Asking him to score in the paint using his individual skills is just asking him to do something difficult.

Gobert isn't particularly good at scoring techniques close to the basket, such as hook shots and floaters, or footwork under the basket. Then he had to face Draymond Green, a defender with both defensive intelligence and no moral compass. You can imagine how tough it must have been for Gobert.

In the end, Gobert struggled under the basket but couldn't get in, and could only manage a missed hook shot.

Draymond Green held his position, Wiggins grabbed the rebound, and passed the ball to Curry to advance it up the court.

Two minutes passed, and the Jazz still hadn't scored a single point.

On the defensive end, they also made strategic adjustments.

When Curry executes a pick-and-roll, they no longer dare to stick to the strategy of only having O'Neal chase and defend him. Instead, they require another defender to help defend or delay the play strongly, and if necessary, they can even switch on defense directly to prevent Curry from getting an open shot.

In the last game, Mitchell was on fire offensively, which gave other Jazz players more opportunities; while Curry had a poor shooting night, failing to draw help defense and double teams, and thus unable to create space for his teammates.

In today's game, the offensive and defensive roles were completely reversed.

Mitchell's two consecutive turnovers mired the Jazz's offense in a quagmire.

On the defensive end, when the Jazz started to focus on Curry's offense and invest more defensive resources in him, their defense against the Warriors' other positions became full of mistakes!