Champions Creed

Chapter 333 332: This is the last piece of the puzzle (please give me a monthly ticket!)

Tim Duncan only scored 9 points in the game against Marcus Camby in college. This was certainly not Camby's credit alone, but he was undoubtedly the one who contributed the most.

As a player who regards Duncan as his biggest competitor, Marcus Camby has studied Duncan very carefully and he knows the habits of this great No. 21 very well.

So even if Camby was defending alone, Duncan couldn't have his way under the basket.

In that defensive round just now, Marcus Camby didn't get any data.

No blocks, no rebounds, nothing, just like his defensive style with the New York Knicks.

Although he didn't get any statistics, he found the true joy of defense.

Good defenders are always indifferent to statistics. You can't be tempted by statistics. You have to remember that your mission is to protect the basket behind you. Even if the ball is at hand, as long as you are not sure of success, you'd better not take the risk of stealing it.

This is even more true in the interior. When an outside player is passed by, there are still inside players to help clean up the mess.

But if an inside player loses his position, the basket will be completely exposed to the opponent.

Therefore, an inside player has a very low tolerance for error when defending, which is why players who can both get defensive data and effectively complete defense are so valuable.

Marcus Camby doesn't know if he can get stats while defending Duncan. He just wants to protect the rim.

He believed what Mutombo said, that as long as he did what he should do, honors would surely follow.

Gary Payton was a little panicked. The reason he joined the Spurs was because the Spurs were the closest to the championship among all the teams that needed him.

But now the team is 6 points behind the Warriors in the first quarter, and Duncan can no longer do whatever he wants.

Can the Spurs still get close to the championship?
Afterwards, Parker immediately used a layup after a breakthrough to help the Spurs narrow the gap to single digits, giving the Spurs a shot in the arm.

Parker scored the goal easily. He almost passed Stephen Jackson in one step, then turned around and walked to the basket, pulled up the ball to avoid Camby's block, and successfully made a layup to score.

Tayshaun Prince was able to defend Parker because he possessed flexibility that was inconsistent with his height and wingspan. In addition, Parker's shooting ability at this period was almost negligible, so Prince only needed to let Parker take a step, and with the blocking of his long arms, it was enough to make the French sports car obey the speed limit.

But Stephen Jackson was not that threatening to Parker, who easily broke through him, and the Frenchman's finishing rate at the basket was comparable to that of a center.

Just as the Spurs players had taken a breath, Roger increased the score difference to 10 points again!
In this round, after Roger broke through Bowen, Ginobili immediately came up to assist in defense, but Roger simply ignored Ginobili and continued to accelerate by relying on him.

Compared to Payton, Ginobili's confrontation is worse and his defensive timing is not as accurate as Payton's.

In short, the Argentine's defensive support posed no threat to Roger.

Facing this Argentine, with Bowen chasing him, Roger has attracted two defenders.

With the addition of Duncan, the Spurs now have a total of three people chasing Roger.

Roger made a back pass in the crowd, and this back pass was directly into the air.

When they saw Roger pass the ball, the Warriors fans at the scene had already stood up to welcome the exciting moment that was to come. They all knew that the moment that was to come would not disappoint them.

After being completely left open by Ginobili, Jason Richardson cut in along the baseline, caught the basketball in the air, and performed a 180-degree turn and a one-handed dunk!
There's a saying going around the Oakland Coliseum: When you leave Jason Richardson open in the corner, it's not the corner 3 you have to worry about.

This natural dunking artist will cut in along the baseline and give fans a dunk contest-level performance.

After Richardson scored the goal, he pointed at Roger and said, "Thanks, boss!"

"You should turn one more circle, this is too easy." Roger replied. It was only because Basketball Fire had not been filmed yet, otherwise he would have to let Jason Richardson see how embarrassing his dunk was.

Jason Richardson's performance was certainly brilliant, but Roger was 90% responsible for the success of this offensive round.

He easily attracted three defenders, and unless Roger was blind or a cancer, his teammates would get easy opportunities.

This is the disadvantage of letting Manu Ginobili play. Parker is not good at defense. If Ginobili plays at the same time, the Spurs' perimeter defense can only rely on Bowen.

But when he meets a real superstar, Bowen alone cannot defend him.

So when the Spurs let Parker and Ginobili play together, if the Spurs' offense can't kill others, they will be killed by others.

Unfortunately, Ginobili's next shot was swatted away by Stoudemire and flew out of the baseline.

In this round, Ginobili wanted to attack Roger, so he broke through immediately after receiving the pick-and-roll from Duncan.

But Roger quickly bypassed the screen, Ginobili staggered into the inside against the Middle East, and then suddenly stopped and leaned back.

The basketball passed over Roger, but Amare Stoudemire behind Roger arrived at the right time, jumped high and blocked the shot again!
Warriors fans can't remember how many times the team has defended the opponent in the interior today. Mike Breen only knows one thing: "The Warriors' once extremely weak interior has now become impregnable!"

When Amar'e Stoudemire is no longer a rookie and Marcus Camby is no longer a stat-gapper, the Warriors' inside defense has finally become what Hubie Brown and Roger have been looking forward to for a long time!

Roger grabbed the basketball and launched a counterattack again.

In the encirclement, Roger jumped up and passed the ball behind his head to Jason Richardson who was 45 degrees outside the three-point line.

The latter did not rush into the crowd again, but directly took a three-point shot.

Jason Richardson is a dunker, but also an efficient shooter. In Roger's opinion, he is more like a low-profile version of Vince Carter, or Carter in his twilight years.

In his twilight years, Carter's dunks are still amazing and his three-pointers are still killer, but because he is not fast enough, his offense with the ball has degenerated to the point where he can hardly play one-on-one. This is the Jason Richardson now.

Although he has top-notch explosiveness, Jason Richardson's offense with the ball is terrible because his combination with the ball is not good enough. That's why in his highlights you can see countless dunks after he receives assists, but rarely dunks after he breaks through with the ball.

So on the Warriors, Jason Richardson only focuses on doing two things: catch the ball and shoot three-pointers, and catch the ball and dunk.

Because he loves dunking performances, Richardson's condition will change with the number of dunks.

If he doesn't have a dunk opportunity in the entire game, he will play in a daze.

What if he just dunked? Then his three-point shooting might be ridiculous.

Jason Richardson, who had just completed a dunk in the previous round, did not miss this ball. He made a steady three-pointer and Roger made another assist, leading the team to expand the score difference to 13 points!
"I knew you could see me, boss!" Jason Richardson likes playing basketball with Roger because Roger can always pass the ball when he needs it most.

Roger gave Jason Richardson a thumbs up and clapped his hands: "Lock up these bastards!"

Jason Richardson, who had a great show by scoring 5 points in a row, also became serious on the defensive end, coupled with Roger, Stephen Jackson and the reborn inside line.

The Spurs players even felt that they were facing a fortress!
The ball was given to Duncan, and after being double-teamed, he passed the ball to Malik Rose who took the opportunity to cut in and the latter went straight to the basket.

But the highly mobile Marcus Camby immediately moved to protect the basket, and with his top athletic ability he easily blocked Malik Rose's layup.

The basketball fell into Duncan's hands, and he quickly threw the ball into the basket. As a result, Camby jumped twice almost without delay, grabbed the basketball directly, and completed two consecutive blocks!
"San Antonio's inside attack failed again. The entire league wants to get the upper hand in the Warriors' inside. Now is the time to end this fantasy!" At this moment, Mike Breen truly saw the potential of the Warriors to win the championship.

To be honest, after defeating the defending champion Pistons in the opening game, Mike Breen believes that whether the Warriors have the strength to compete for the championship remains to be seen.

But after today, he is sure that the Warriors are the biggest favorite to win the championship!

After completing the steal, Marcus Camby quickly handed the ball over. To be honest, he did not expect this result. These two blocks were easier to get than the intentional blocks.

All these accessories will really reward you at the right time. Popovich looked at the out-of-control score difference and Roger who attacked again, and shouted in panic on the sidelines: "Stop him, don't let him score again!"

Roger felt wronged because he had been passing the ball in the past few rounds.

Since you want to see me score so much, I'll grant your wish.

Roger called for a pick-and-roll, letting Stoudemire come out to cover and take Malik Rose out.

Bowen chose to grab the screen from the front, but failed and was hung by Stoudemire.

Roger broke through easily, facing Malik Rose, and dribbled past him with a Sam Gold dribble.

With almost no hindrance, Roger ran into the penalty area at top speed and jumped up to dunk.

At this point, Roger's dunk was unstoppable. If you were a smart person, you would choose to watch Roger get these 2 points silently. If you were an extremely smart person, you would have already been on the way to a fast break.

But Duncan is a "stupid" person.

He walked to the basket and raised his arms high, but it was too late for him to jump.

Roger bumped into Duncan, all his strength concentrated on his arm.

Goodbye Tim, the 99 championship is my only gift to you.

"BOOM!!"

"Tim Duncan was dunked on by Roger, and the Warriors widened the gap to 15 points! Oh my God, the first quarter is not over yet! This is an absolute victory for the Warriors!"

Roger landed, looked at Duncan on the ground, then looked at Payton who was already dumbfounded on the sidelines, and then spread his hands down: "Gary, don't tell me you're counting on him."

Payton already wants to retire, and as long as Roger is around, he feels like he will never get the ring on his finger.

Popovich suspended the game again and the main players of both sides went off the court to rest.

This is an opportunity for the Spurs, and next is Ginobili's home court.

However, what made Popovich uncomfortable was that the Warriors' sixth man, Mobley, also performed well.

The Warriors' transition lineup couldn't defend against Yao Dao, and the Spurs' transition lineup couldn't defend against Lao Mao.

One thing that is particularly impressive about Old Cat this season is that he has a 39% three-point shooting percentage, and under the influence of Roger, he is shooting three-pointers with the ball more and more frequently.

This greatly increases the probability of Lao Mao making a magical shot.

The Spurs failed to rely on the sixth man to effectively close the score and entered the second quarter with a 14-point disadvantage. However, when Duncan and the Admiral played at the same time again in the second quarter, the African mountain that had already rested stood in front of him again.

As soon as he came on, Mutombo shook his finger at Duncan like an unsatisfied old woman: "Tim, you are not going to stop for a moment today!"

After the game, Popovich concluded that the Warriors' lineup was complete.

With a big man on the outside, a sixth man, a superstar, and a solid inside defense, they have all the conditions to win the championship.

In the following games, the Spurs were once within 6 points, but that was all they could do.

The rotating defense of Stoudemire, Camby and Mutombo made last season's MVP miserable. He could still score points, but he was unable to lead the team to launch an offensive campaign that would be enough to overtake.

Roger's trinity of offense, passing and defense laid the foundation for the Warriors to win.

In the last two minutes of the fourth quarter, when Roger assisted Stoudemire to make a mid-range shot, the score difference had reached 26 points, and Roger had already scored 41 points, 11 assists and 4 rebounds!

After this goal, the game basically entered garbage time.

In the end, the Spurs lost to the Warriors 86-109 on the road.

The Golden State Warriors finally broke the Spurs curse that lingered over everyone's heads!

After the game, everyone returned to the locker room and celebrated the victory wildly, jumping around Roger and splashing water on him.

Marcus Camby sat in front of his locker and smiled. He wanted to join in the celebration, but considering his relationship with his teammates, especially Roger, he finally decided to sit alone.

Halfway through the celebration, Roger saw Camby sitting alone in the corner, so he walked out of the crowd and said, "Marcus, where are your stats today?"

"Ah?" Camby was a little confused by the question.

"Where's the data sheet? How much data did you get today?"

"I'm not sure." Camby himself was surprised by the answer. He usually cared about data the most, but today he didn't pay attention to his data at all.

Roger turned to Spoelstra: "Eric, do you have a stat sheet?"

Spoelstra handed the stats to Roger, and Roger found Camby. His stats today were 5 points, 6 rebounds and 2 blocks.

Not to mention scoring, the biggest gap between Camby and top superstars is scoring ability.

Then, because he focused on protecting the basket instead of standing in an advantageous rebounding position, most of the rebounds went to Stoudemire.

Apart from 2 blocks, his statistics are really not that good, even not as impressive as Payton's 11 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists.

Camby also looked at his own data, then shrugged: "It doesn't matter, I don't care. I believe in Dikembe, those rewards will appear sooner or later."

"Do you want to get the biggest reward?" Roger asked.

"The biggest reward?"

"Yes, the biggest reward. Keep it up and you'll get it. You have my word, Marcus."

After saying this, Roger turned and walked away, but after taking a step, he turned back.

"By the way, Marcus, I have one small request."

"You said."

"Please join us in the celebration. You are a member of the Golden State Warriors. You are our teammate. This is not Pokey's team, nor is it my team. This is our team, and you are one of 'us'."

Camby was stunned for a few seconds. In New York, where he had given everything, no one had ever said anything like this to him.

Hubie Brown was smiling as he packed up his tactical information.

Is interior defense the final piece of the Warriors' puzzle for success?

No, it's not.

Now this is the real last piece of the puzzle.

(End of this chapter)