NBA: The God of Basketball Begins with Precise Scoring

Chapter 15 Jinzhou and Yancheng, Second Battle: Key Points of Cole's Tactical Change!

Donovan Mitchell suffered a severe low right ankle sprain on April 17, 2021, in a game against the Pacers, causing him to miss the final month of the regular season.

Fortunately, there was no structural damage, so he had expressed a strong desire to return when the playoffs started, but the medical team did not let him play in Game 1 out of caution.

But now, without him, the team suffered a heavy defeat at home and desperately needs the return of its core player to turn the tide. He felt he couldn't wait any longer.

If the Warriors manage to win again tonight, leaving us down 0-2 on the road to their home court, then this series could be in serious jeopardy.

Meanwhile, in the Warriors' meeting room, after confirming that Mitchell would return tonight, many people's faces showed a solemn expression.

Li Xingchen was also lost in memories. He remembered that in the 2021 season of his previous life, the Jazz's playoff journey ended in the second round with a loss to the Clippers.

In the first round, Game 1 was lost to the Grizzlies due to Mitchell's absence, but after Mitchell returned, they won four consecutive games and finally won the series 4-1.

Now, it seems we've reached the same point again.

Can the Warriors go further than the Grizzlies?

Li Xingchen was still very confident.

One reason is that the Warriors have a superstar like Curry who has won three championships and two regular season MVPs, while the Grizzlies only had a group of rookies led by Morant.

Secondly, because the Warriors have him, Li Xingchen.

"Averaging 26.4 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 5.2 assists per game this season, leading the team to the top record in the Western Conference, Mitchell has evolved again this season."

"Wiggins, you'll be primarily responsible for guarding him."

Cole proceeded with the evening's tactical arrangements methodically in the conference room.

Making arrangements is one thing, but whether the actual execution is reliable is another. The Jazz are a three-point shooting team this season, with their three-point production and accuracy ranking among the top in the league.

Therefore, the impact of Mitchell's absence is not simply that the team has lost a scorer who averages more than 20 points per game. Without his offensive distraction, the team's other reliable three-point shooters cannot find good shooting opportunities, which is a chain reaction.

Although they won the first game of the series, the series is far from over, and both sides have many tough battles ahead.

……

Soon, we arrived at the competition venue.

Even during warm-up, the cheers from the Jazz's home fans were deafening.

The reason is simple: their key player, Mitchell, after more than a month of recovery from injury, finally chose to return to the court at this critical moment for the team.

The king has returned!

Even during a warm-up, every goal he scored elicited cheers from the fans in the stadium.

In the other half, Curry's performance was equally impressive, hitting three-pointers from far away and making them with flying colors.

Fans who had just started watching Curry play were still admiring his artistic shooting.

Old Curry fans have already started covering their faces and shouting.

"That's it, they hit those long three-pointers during the warm-up, looks like we're going to miss this game!"

"Haha, it's okay, relax. With Mitchell back in the game, the momentum is all on the Jazz's side. Getting back to home court 1-1 is already pretty good..."

The game officially began, and the Warriors did not change their starting lineup for the time being, still consisting of Curry, Bazemore, Wiggins, Green, and Looney.

—Actually, the Warriors also have injured players. Kelly Oubre, who was originally in the starting lineup, suffered a torn ligament in his left wrist and a fractured hand in early May while playing with an injury. Although the injury did not require surgery, the pain was obvious, and the team doctor did not allow him to risk playing.

There is still a lot of uncertainty about when he will return. At the very least, it is certain that he will miss the entire first round, and in severe cases, he may even miss the entire playoffs. This will depend on the subsequent injury assessment.

However, compared to Mitchell, the team's star player, Oubre's injury has received relatively less attention. But to be honest, his absence has a significant impact on the Warriors. After all, he is the team's third-leading scorer after Curry and Wiggins, and his 15.4 points per game is no joke.

Moreover, he performs very well on the defensive end, possessing both speed and size advantages, and his rebounding and stealing abilities are also quite good, averaging six rebounds per game.

After Oubre's absence, although Kerr promoted Bazemore to the starting lineup, there was still a significant gap in scoring ability between the two. The Warriors' offensive burden fell more heavily on Curry's shoulders. Fortunately, he held on at the end of the season and managed to drag the Warriors into the playoffs with his scoring title performance.

Fortunately, the emergence of Li Xingchen, a player with both 3D and D attributes, has effectively compensated for the Warriors' shortcomings in their roster.

The outcome of the upcoming series remains to be seen.

On the Jazz side, with Mitchell's return, they returned to their most familiar starting five: Conley, Mitchell, Bojan, Gobert, and Royce O'Neale.

Apart from Gobert, everyone in this lineup is a good three-point shooter. The pick-and-roll between Mitchell and Gobert, the pick-and-roll between Conley and Gobert followed by a pass, or Gobert cutting to the basket to finish are all powerful offensive weapons.

Compared to the Jazz, the Warriors' Bazemore and Wiggins, while both can be considered spacing players, are significantly less accurate in their shooting. Moreover, with Green and Looney on the court, who are not spacing players, the Warriors' spacing is far inferior to that of their opponents. It can be said that if the Jazz can keep their eyes on Curry, they have already won half the game.

In the first quarter, Curry's offensive form remained good, mainly relying on his individual ability to quickly score seven points with drives and outside shots.

However, with Mitchell on the team, the Jazz's offensive space has indeed opened up considerably compared to the previous game. Although Wiggins has done a good job guarding Mitchell, limiting him to only one goal so far, there have been relatively gaps in other positions. Even though Green is trying his best to help defend, he still can't completely contain the opponent.

The score went back and forth, but the Warriors were still at a disadvantage overall. Finally, with four and a half minutes left in the game, the Jazz had a five-point lead of 14-9 over the Warriors.

Because the Jazz had just scored on two consecutive possessions, Kerr called a timeout.

With his keen eye, he could certainly see that the Warriors' current lineup and tactics were completely inferior to their opponents, and the reason why the score hadn't been widened immediately was simply because Curry's individual performance had held them off.

But such performance is obviously not sustainable. You can't expect Curry to put up 7 points and 1 assist every four minutes, can you?

Even if Curry were to give up, the Warriors are still behind, not to mention the time Curry has to rest, which makes it an even bigger problem.

Therefore, the lineup must be adjusted.

As soon as the referee blew the whistle to stop the game, Kerr's eyes were fixed intently on Li Xingchen on the bench!