NBA's King of Talking

Chapter 682 Entering Garbage Time Early

The game has become somewhat one-sided. The Warriors' offense is stalled, and their defense can't contain Jia Fei, leaving them extremely passive. Clearly, their twin-tower strategy has failed from the start. Not only is their offense blocking space, but their defense is also ineffective, allowing the Clippers to maintain their dominance on both ends of the court.

The Warriors quickly made personnel adjustments, replacing the offensively ineffective Looney with the swingman Cup Cat.

Cup Cat is Jia Fei's old teammate. As a swingman, he has a certain scoring explosiveness. His defense is average but not too much of a drag. He is not good enough as a starter, but he can make do as a substitute.

After switching to Cup Cat, the Warriors are essentially playing a small-ball lineup, since Green, who plays center, is only about two meters tall.

Compared to the Clippers' small lineup, the Warriors are shorter at almost every position and are also less athletic. Their only advantage is that their shooters are of a higher caliber.

The Clippers didn't make any substitutions, seemingly unconcerned about the opponent's adjustments. This "remain unchanged amidst change" approach gave the impression of complete confidence.

The Clippers players are very confident, not just Jia Fei, but also several of their role players.

Over the past three seasons, they've won consecutive championships. These victories have instilled confidence in the players, a rare quality, especially for role players. Confidence can often provide an extra edge. It's an intangible asset, a mental attribute that many coaches constantly emphasize and hope their players will possess.

Even though Looney was off the court, the Clippers still assigned Jia Fei to guard Green. Whenever Curry and Green ran a pick-and-roll, they would immediately switch Jia Fei and Bridges to defend each other.

Olynyk, on the other hand, went to defend against the Cup Cat that had just come up.

The Warriors assigned Cup Cat to mismatch Olynyk, and while he scored a couple of times, the overall effect wasn't ideal. The Clippers' help defense was too quick, with constant card-swiping, making one-on-one situations very difficult. Furthermore, Cup Cat isn't a particularly good ball-handler; he couldn't accurately and decisively pass the ball to an open teammate when the opponent suddenly provides help defense.

Jia Fei defended Green, but Green couldn't dominate Jia Fei in the low post; he couldn't make the opponent pay for this defensive strategy. Ultimately, this team's main output comes from the Splash Brothers. Green, and Lue before him, are just offensive supports. You can't dominate the opponent's Defensive Player of the Year with just a support role, even in the game.

Wiggins was originally the Warriors' third-leading scorer, but after being one-on-one guarded by Paul George, he seemed to falter. Wiggins has never been the type of player who can score 30 points in a game. He might have done it before, but for someone who gets tired even from running a few extra steps, what's the point of scoring 3 points if it doesn't bring a raise? Besides, having him primarily guard Jia Fei has already exhausted him. Don't expect much from him on offense. Getting an average score is already exceeding expectations. Want to manipulate him into working 996? Think again. He's the MVP in slacking off; he's already met his KPIs. Do you expect me to do more? You're dreaming!

Halfway through the first quarter, Olynyk went to the bench and was replaced by Lee Kyle, and the Clippers switched to a small lineup. Against the Warriors, Olynyk and Hartenstein will definitely have less playing time, while the forwards will have more.

The Splash Brothers are under immense defensive pressure, especially Curry. When he drives in, he gets swatted up, and the defenders he faces are all at least 10 centimeters taller and have wingspans at least 20 centimeters longer than him. He feels completely surrounded, which is incredibly difficult for him.

Klay has proven he can't go back to the way he was. He's no longer the "Buddha" who could hit 11 three-pointers in a single playoff game, nor is he the "Game 6 Klay." Now he's just a very good 3-and-D player, nothing more.

The first quarter belonged to Jia Fei. He controlled the game, scoring 16 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, and 1 block in the quarter. His performance was, needless to say, absolutely explosive.

The Clippers also surged ahead thanks to his outstanding performance, leading their opponents by 13 points at 22:35.

The Clippers used a 9-man rotation in this game, with the four substitutes being Lee Kyle, Dillon, Brunson, and Hart.

The Warriors' second unit is nowhere near the strength of their championship-winning season. Not only is their overall strength lacking, but their defense is also severely compromised. Players like Puerto Rico and Cup Cat are offensively strong but defensively weak, while players like Toscana Anderson still get playing time in the playoffs only demonstrate how subpar the Warriors' current second unit is.

Brunson led the Clippers' second unit to a solid performance, even against a team led by Klay Thompson. The Warriors' offense faltered significantly when Curry was off the court. The opponent's switching defense and excellent rotations made it difficult for them to create offensive space. Kerr's passing and cutting system now lacks sufficient ball-handlers and shooters, and under the pressure of the opponent's excellent perimeter defense, it offered little beyond increased turnovers.

In the second quarter, Jia Fei did not launch a fierce attack, but instead created opportunities for his teammates. At the end of the first half, the score was 47-60, still a 13-point difference.

Intermission.

“Charles, the Warriors were down by 13 points at halftime. Can you give them some advice on what they need to do to change that in the second half?” Kenny Smith asked.

Barkley licked his lips and chuckled. "Besides calling KD back from Brooklyn, I can't think of anything else their current roster can do. Do they really need Stephen Curry to score 50 points? That might win them one game, but we all know it won't win them the next series!"

The third quarter began. Jia Fei, who seemed to lack offensive desire in the second quarter, went on a scoring spree in the third quarter, racking up 20 points in the quarter alone.

Under his leadership, the Clippers swept through the Warriors, outscoring them 39-25 in a single quarter and winning by 14 points.

After three quarters, the Clippers led by 27 points, essentially signaling that the game was over.

The Warriors' second unit failed to demonstrate the ability to close the gap, thus ending their chances of a comeback.

With just over seven minutes remaining in the game, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr pulled his starters and substituted them with a group of benchwarmers, effectively ending the game.

Even though pre-game predictions suggested a significant gap in strength between the Clippers and Warriors, making the series less suspenseful, the fact that it quickly became garbage time still surprised many. The Warriors were surprisingly vulnerable, and the once-dominant Warriors have declined so drastically. Is it simply because Durant left?

Curry is still Curry, but Klay is no longer the Buddha. Green is no longer the Defensive Player of the Year and the offensive anchor. The decline of these two is obvious, coupled with the decline in the quality of role players and Kerr's occasional baffling decisions, all contributing to this situation.