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Chapter 77: Crush the Inner Demon! (1.5 words updated per day, please subscribe!)

Last summer, Deron Williams and Chris Paul, selected by the Hawks and the Jazz respectively, have become two major variables in the Eastern and Western Conference's fight for playoff tickets this season.

With Deron, the Hawks no longer have to worry about whether they should use Tyronn Lue or Royal Ivey at the No. 1 position.

There is no doubt that Deron's joining the team is like replacing the top-notch engine in a muscle car that already has excellent configuration.

Since Deron joined the team
Atlanta fans found that Josh Smith was flying, while Al Harrington and Joe Johnson were able to use the mismatches they created on the court to punish the opponent's stupid and slow defense on the offensive end.

As of the All-Star Weekend, the Hawks are currently ranked seventh in the Eastern Conference.

If it were previous seasons, Hawks fans would definitely complain about Deron Williams, who averaged 14.8 points, 7.4 assists and 3.9 rebounds per game in his rookie season. (Note ①)

Because of this Deron.
He is not even worthy of being included in the discussion for this season's NBA Rookie of the Year.

However, not only are the Hawks fans unwilling to speak up for Deron, but even Deron himself has long lost interest in the Rookie of the Year award.

Same with Deron.

Paul is also not interested in the Rookie of the Year award.

Before the All-Star Weekend, under the coaching of veteran coach Jerry Sloan, Paul averaged 15.1 points, 8.5 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 2.8 steals per game for the Jazz.

There is no doubt that Paul's performance in his rookie season was outstanding and excellent.

Because after he joined the team, the Jazz, an old sports car that only won 19 games last season, also successfully soared this season.

Currently, they are ranked seventh in the Western Conference.

But even Paul is like this.
He is not worthy of participating in the discussion of this season's NBA Rookie of the Year.

To be honest, if Stern didn't want to violate NBA tradition, he would have sent this year's NBA Rookie of the Year trophy to Oakland as soon as possible.

Because this year's best rookie, Qin Yue, has emerged out of nowhere, so how can there be any suspense?
Deron and Paul have indeed both played outstanding performances this season, but who can blame them for competing with the regular season MVP level?

After the All-Star Weekend, Qin Yue led the Warriors to Atlanta, starting a new round of away trips for the Warriors.

Philips Arena.

Facing the first opponent in this round of away games.

Faced with the uncertainty of the Eastern Conference playoff ticket caused by himself, Qin Yue's performance of 28 points, 14 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 blocks and 1 steal successfully reminded the Atlanta fans of the most hated and shameful memory.

"Shady! Shady! Shady!"

All night long, as long as Qin Yue was on the court with the ball, the Eagles fans would use their way to express their dissatisfaction with the NBA.

Eagles fans certainly have reason to be unhappy.

Because last summer, in order to get Qin Yue, they almost endured a whole season of torture.

In the game, as long as there are signs of winning at home, every fan at the scene will immediately shout loudly to stop the players' whimsical attempts.

"We don't want to win! Throw the damn basketball to the other side!"

But even though the Hawks desperately handed in an 11-win season, David Stern, that Jew who deserves to be burned alive, did not give last year's No. pick to Atlanta.

Originally, as time went by, Eagles fans had gradually forgotten this memory.

but.
Why? Why is the Messiah not ours? Why did Stern insist on having him save the Warriors? What's so good about Oakland? What's so good about the Bay Area? One day, the omniscient and omnipotent God will send down a fire and burn that damn California to ashes!

On this day of this year, as Qin Yue led the Warriors to a 110-101 away victory over the Hawks, Atlanta fans also sent their most vicious curse to the entire California.

However, in Qin Yue's eyes, this curse was simply impossible.

Because until he traveled through time, California, as the only major state in the United States that adopted fire safety building codes at the junction of wilderness and urban areas, had a good reputation for fire protection even in major newspapers and magazines in China.

So, fires fell from the sky and burned California to ashes?

There is absolutely no such possibility!

"I totally understand how the Eagles fans feel because I honestly believe that my rookie season was just that good."

After defeating the Hawks, the Warriors, who had no time to rest in Atlanta, rushed to the next away game without stopping. It was not until mid-March that they officially arrived at the end of this journey that lasted more than half a month:
--Salt Lake City.

Before arriving in Utah, the Warriors had a record of 41 wins and 21 losses.

As the fifth team in the league to win 40 regular season games this season, they are still ranked fifth in the Western Conference.

It is worth mentioning that the Jazz are only 0.5 wins behind the Nuggets.
So even though they only had 33 wins before the game against the Warriors, as long as they can beat the Warriors tonight, they will immediately jump to third in the Western Conference.

That’s right, this is the stupidest thing about the system that requires the division champions to be in the top three in the East and West.

Because no matter how hard the Warriors try, the current Pacific Division leaders, the Phoenix Suns, will never give up their top spot.

Before the game, coach Jerry Sloan deliberately dragged his increasingly slow pace to the Warriors' half.

Compared with the Sloan who was so powerful without being angry in the 90s
Although he is still in charge of the Jazz, his expression is more peaceful and calm at this moment.

"I've watched quite a few of your games, and I really like your style of play. It's a pity that you don't play for us."

It's a pity that you don't work for us.

This is definitely the sentence Qin Yue has heard the most since entering the league.

At this moment, looking at Sloan who turned and left after saying this, Qin Yue asked in confusion: "He came all the way here just to praise me?"

Upon hearing this, Dunleavy Jr. rolled his eyes at Qin Yue and said, "Legendary coach Jerry Sloan has just given you the highest praise."

After a pause, Dunleavy added: “People often say that the quality of a pick-and-roll is often the key to whether an offense is successful.

And you who have been praised by the 'Pick and Roll King' Jerry Sloan are undoubtedly the 'Pick and Roll King' among today's NBA players.

Even your senior Tim Duncan never received such an evaluation from Jerry Sloan. "

Being stubborn and inflexible is indeed the stereotype that Jerry Sloan left for many fans in later generations.

But in history, when that Golden State gang broke through Dallas and rushed to the Utah plateau, how many people still remembered that it was Jerry Sloan who waved his hand, raised the banner of run-and-gun basketball, and completely destroyed that Warriors team with offense?

Although it is a remnant of the old era, it does not mean that Jerry Sloan does not understand the beauty of the new era.

This season, the Warriors players' interlaced running around Qin Yue's pick-and-roll on the court is a beauty that belongs only to them in Sloan's eyes.

Sloan is looking forward to the game against the Warriors.

This has nothing to do with the importance of this game.

In the center of the field, after the jump ball, the game officially began.

On defense, Boozer and Okur stayed near the baseline on the left and right, while Kirilenko was responsible for leading the defense on the outside.

Paul and Harpring respectively blocked Davis who was holding the ball, and Artest who was preparing to set up a check on the left side.

This is a standard 2-3 zone defense.

Seeing this, Qin Yue stood directly at the free throw line facing Kirilenko in the middle.

The next moment, the Jazz's double team defense collapsed.

On the sidelines, Sloan saw this scene and said with admiration: "His understanding is indeed far beyond that of ordinary people."

Why did a simple free throw line assist to break the double team defense make Sloan praise Qin Yue so much?
Because Sloan noticed that Qin Yue read through the Jazz's defense almost immediately, and by moving in advance, he was ready to break the double team defense.

In the NBA, since all zone defenses cannot exert their original power, most of the time, NBA teams' zone defenses will be mixed with man-to-man defense.

In other words, it is entirely possible for the defender to confuse the attacker through certain positioning.

You think others are playing zone defense, but in fact they are probably playing man-to-man defense.

What Sloan just praised was Qin Yue's reading of the Jazz's defense.

Because he quickly read the Jazz's defense and took the free throw line in the first place, Qin Yue created a great opportunity to attack the basket for Richardson by passing the ball almost the moment he got the ball.

Then, Richardson rushed into the basket and completed the attack with a one-handed dunk.

At this moment, Sloan was very sure that compared with the first confrontation between the two teams, Qin Yue's ability to read the game had reached a higher level.

This was an incredible improvement in Sloan's opinion.

Because in the world of basketball, the ability to read the game is also an attribute that is difficult to improve.

In fact, even if some players have played in the NBA for 10 or 20 years, they cannot react as quickly as Qin Yue did after understanding the Jazz's defensive intentions.

Sloan knew very well that mediocre players who had to hold the ball at the top of the arc and spend several seconds or even more than ten seconds of offensive time observing the opponent's defense were the norm in the NBA.

And people like Qin Yue.
Generally speaking
They are all rare geniuses.

Back to the Jazz's offensive round.

The Jazz's pick-and-roll is also difficult to defend against.

Because pick-and-roll refers to more than just the cooperation between the player with the ball and the player without the ball.

Although Sloan's pick-and-roll tactics often produce this kind of effect, in fact, before the pick-and-roll occurs, the offensive side also has a lot of preparation to do in order to make a good pick-and-roll.

Such as this time.

Near the Warriors baseline, Kirilenko suddenly cut in with the help of Okur's screen. At the top of the arc, when Paul and Boozer were performing a pick-and-roll, Qin Yue had to make a decision in the first place.

Should he delay Paul for Davis, or go to the baseline to block Kirilenko who had been lost by Artest?

In this defensive round, Qin Yue chose to believe that Brown could buy back the defense time for Artest by assisting in defense.

However, at the moment when the Jazz completed the high pick-and-roll, Paul found another passing route that was ignored by the Warriors.

Paul passed the ball to Harpring, who took the opportunity to cut into the basket with Kirilenko's cover when Qin Yue expanded to the outside to complete the delay.

On the court, after receiving the ball, Harpring easily hit the backboard for two points.

Although in basketball games, no tactic can be 100% successful.

But like the cooperation of the Jazz just now, as long as it is successful, it will definitely be a world-famous painting.

It's a pity that in the NBA, this kind of exquisite cooperation that requires tacit understanding among the team is not as direct as those tomahawk dunks, so it is often easily forgotten and ignored.

For example, in the next twenty years, even if Nikola Jokic has become famous all over the world, how many people really know how to appreciate Jokic?

On the court, the Warriors have the ball.

This time, the Warriors successfully launched the Flex tactic, and through subsequent derivations, Qin Yue found Artest who was lurking on the outside.

Then, Qin Yue added an assist while Artest opened his scoring account with a three-pointer. In the NBA, passing and assisting is that simple.

Because you just need to install the pass button and find an open teammate to get an assist.

But in the NBA, passing assists can sometimes be difficult.

Because no matter how many assists you have made in your career, if you don't have the ability to quickly observe and read the opponent's defense, and then pass the ball to your teammates through command or a great pass, then you don't have it.

On the Jazz bench, Sloan sighed: "A mediocre organizer will wait for his teammates to run into open space before passing the ball.

Advanced organizers will use passes to lead teammates forward.

But the real legend often has already envisioned the entire picture of an attack before it is launched."

Sloan couldn't imagine how far Qin Yue would grow if he was given a few more seasons to grow.

future?

In this era, no one can compare with Qin Yue in the future.

Because he is the future.

That night, the shock Qin Yue gave to Sloan continued.

Maybe in one of the Warriors' offensive rounds, he just completed a seemingly insignificant pick-and-roll.

Maybe, he is just the flag used by the Warriors for a feint.

Maybe, when completing the offense, the basketball may not even pass through his hands.

But as long as Qin Yue appears on the court, the Warriors' offense will give people a unique sense of beauty.

"It's a pity that their head coach couldn't fully utilize his tactical value."

In the eyes of Jerry Sloan, Mike Montgomery has become the biggest flaw of the Warriors.

But so what?

The fact that Montgomery can coach Qin Yue is enough to explain everything.

上半场比赛，在斯隆精心设计的防守面前，出手不多的秦岳总计拿到了8分9篮板9助攻2封盖1抢断。

This was a half that made Sloan both happy and desperate.

Fortunately, because of Qin Yue, Sloan enjoyed almost every offensive and defensive round.

The desperate thing is that because of Qin Yue, after these offensive and defensive rounds, Sloan had already foreseen the future of this Jazz team.

However, isn't struggling in despair time and time again the most realistic portrayal of Jerry Sloan's entire coaching career?
Salt Lake City is very small, so small that almost no NBA stars are willing to come here to play.

The Jazz have a very low presence, so low that even if they have a chance to make the playoffs this season, no one cares about their life or death.

But Jerry Sloan is undoubtedly a true warrior.

Because no matter how many times he fails, no matter what kind of despair awaits him ahead, he will hold his head high and straighten his chest in the next second.

For example, this night.

For example, his coaching career was full of failure and unwillingness.

In the second half of the game, Chris Paul successfully hit a key mid-range shot for the Jazz to overtake the score with 4.7 seconds left.

That's right, it was just a key mid-range shot.

Because after the timeout, in front of Kirilenko who was shouting "Ura", Qin Yue hit the buzzer-beater that plunged the entire stadium into silence.

With one shot, he jumped vertically, balanced vertically, and then used a soft touch to shoot the basketball into the basket with a wonderful arc. He made a jump shot from the free throw line to win the game.

The scoreboard said 101 to 102.

The Jazz are just one step away from jumping into third place in the Western Conference.

But that didn't happen.

On the court, looking at Qin Yue who was surrounded by his teammates, Jerry Sloan turned around and helped up Chris Paul who was squatting on the sidelines.

"Chris, this won't be the first time you go through this in basketball, or in life.

But this is where the most interesting thing about life and basketball lies.

Sometimes they make you unwilling, sometimes they make you painful, sometimes they make you toss and turn
But as a new day begins, hope appears with the first ray of sunshine in the morning.

We lost tonight but we have a game tomorrow."

Hearing this, Paul, who knew that the Jazz would continue to play at home against the Nuggets tomorrow night, slowly stood up and said to Sloan: "Tomorrow, I will definitely not lose. Not only that, we will definitely not lose!"

After the game, Qin Yue and Paul did not choose to get together.

Because the Jazz still have to prepare for their more crucial positioning battle with the Nuggets.

The Warriors need to return to Oakland, rest and move on.

……

On March 3, returning to the long-missed Oracle Arena, Qin Yue, in great form, finally changed his career record against his senior to 17 to 1.

This season, the Warriors, who were nearly swept by the Spurs in the regular season, have the ability to fight back no matter who they face, except the Suns and Spurs.
It was the chasm that they had found difficult to overcome before this game.

In private, Anthony had complained to Qin Yue more than once about the extremely harsh environment in the West.

"Qin, do you know who our four opponents are in the first week of January? Spurs, Mavericks, Rockets, Suns.
To be honest, when I saw the schedule, I had the urge to kill someone.

That bastard LeBron hiding in the East has no idea what kind of hell we both live in!

It has to be said that after staying in the West for too long, the "melon" will inevitably become a "bitter melon".

But fortunately, before the end of the regular season, Qin Yue successfully led the Warriors to break their inner demons.

This victory is called:

As long as I can beat you the first time, I can beat you countless times in the future!
In this game, the Spurs' tactical arrangement did not change much from the previous match against the Warriors, but Artest and Qin Yue exploded in the game.

In the first half alone, Artest scored 27 of his 21 points for the game.

In the second half, Qin Yue scored 31 of his 24 points in the game.

The Warriors' two main players exploded in succession, and even the Spurs' iron bucket formation could not trap the Warriors on this night.

Of course, after the game, Duncan did not forget to touch the head of his lovely junior, "I let you win this time, but I won't let you win next time."

Hearing this, Qin Yue became anxious.

What do you mean I won?

So the 23 points, 14 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 blocks you got in the game were just a joke, right?
That day, Qin Yue was completely unable to accept Duncan's post-match remarks.

But he had to admit that Duncan was much better at changing other people's mentality than he imagined.

No wonder his good brother James got anxious when he heard the words "The future is yours".

Who can really remain calm in front of Tim Duncan?
It is late March.

In a strong dialogue with the Dallas Mavericks, the Warriors successfully changed the regular season record with the opponent to 2:2, which undoubtedly gave them more confidence when facing the top teams in the Western Conference.

As Qin Yue remembered, this season's NBA runner-up.
Compared with the Suns and Spurs, the Mavericks were not as difficult to deal with as Qin Yue imagined.

Although Nowitzki was already difficult to limit him in the game.
But in the game, the defensive system that "Little General" Johnson carefully built for the Mavericks was always unexpectedly blown up by the Warriors.

For example, in this game, Richardson scored 33 points for the Warriors, and Dunleavy scored 24 points and made 6 three-pointers.

In short, the game with the Mavericks is difficult for Qin Yue to describe specifically in words.

To put it simply, whenever the Warriors play the Mavericks, all Warriors players, including him, will automatically improve their shooting percentage by 15 points, and every shot in the game will be accurate.

Now almost everyone in the Warriors believes that if the Mavericks eventually rank fourth in the Western Conference, then in this extremely cruel first round of the Western Conference playoffs, the Warriors are likely to have the last laugh.

On March 3, the Warriors faced a crucial battle at Oracle Arena.

They will face the Suns for the last time in the regular season.

Before the game, some people suggested that the Warriors should lose to the Suns and help the Suns compete for the top two in the Western Conference.

But for the Warriors players who had never defeated the Suns before, this proposal was unanimously rejected by everyone.

As for Aaron Miles who made the suggestion?
To be honest, in the upcoming playoffs, this person's name will definitely not appear on the Warriors' playoff roster.

"Since our goal is the championship, the Suns are an opponent we must defeat. How can we possibly go to the playoffs with a record of 0-4 in the regular season?" In the locker room, Baron Davis, who was so angry that his beard was almost standing up, said.

Yes, in this game, the Warriors must beat the Suns.

Because after overcoming the psychological barrier of playing against the Spurs.

The Warriors' only remaining demon this season is the Suns.

This Phoenix running and gunning team is led by Nash, Stoudemire and Marion.

……

"After winning a key spot-up battle with the Nuggets, the Jazz, who are on a roll, have extended their division lead to 4 games before entering April." - ESPN News Express

"Hey, Kobe, we know you're tired, we know you're more tired than anyone else, but the Lakers need you, Los Angeles needs you! Come on, cheer up, we have to keep our current ranking!" - Los Angeles Times

"After firing his American agent Bill Duffy, Yao Ming, with the help of Jeff Schwartz, formally applied for a trade with the Houston Rockets, shocking the entire Space City." - Houston Chronicle

"Which team is most likely to get the No. 2006 pick in 14? Now the vast majority of fans cast their sympathy votes for the Seattle SuperSonics, who have only won games this season." - Seattle Post-Intelligencer

"When asked whose playing style he most resembles, Josh Smith said he often models his game after the Warriors' Messiah." -- Atlanta News

"Can the Warriors beat the Suns tonight? In an interview before the game, Messiah said that the Warriors are fully prepared to beat the Suns." - TNT TV pre-game summary

……

PS: A total of 1.5 words are updated every day! Thank you for subscribing to my readers! (I am recovering from illness.)

Note ①: Since Qin Yue has influenced this time and space, if the original data of every NBA star is the same as before, and their growth environment is not taken into consideration, this will make A Qiao feel very unreasonable.

(End of this chapter)