I fell in love with Toutiao and became the GOAT.

Chapter 85 New Joint Defense System

"Chris Paul punched Stephen Curry awake, who racked up 42 points, 9 assists, and 3 steals, leading his team to revenge!"

"Cannon Fist only received a technical foul? Not even an ejection? Is CP3 biased towards CP3?"

"The most satisfying episode: Stephen Curry gets a warning punch from the cannon, then turns around and brutally beats Chris Paul to complete his revenge."

Chris Paul explains why he got angry when his head was patted: "Only elders can pat my head."

'

The following day, Curry dominated the headlines of major media outlets, and Lin Bei had to admit that he was somewhat envious.

If all these headlines were attributed to him, that would be wonderful.

"A potentially valuable headline has slipped away just like that, sigh—"

During a break from regular training at the Warriors' training facility, Lin Bei slumped in the rest area, constantly scrolling through his phone screen, repeatedly refreshing the homepages of authoritative online media outlets such as ESPN, Yahoo Sports, and BR.

Curry, who had just finished practicing a set of dribbling, watched him for a long time before finally unable to hold back: "You've been scrolling through these headlines the whole time, are you just laughing at me?"

Lin Bei immediately looked up and quickly denied it: "How could that be?! Am I that kind of person?"

Curry narrowed his eyes slightly: "Honestly, I took that punch for you."

Upon hearing this, Lin Bei immediately sat up straight and hurriedly defended himself: "You can't say that. I was just standing up for you, wasn't I?"

Otherwise, would I have stood in front of you? And afterwards, weren't I helping you the whole time?

Curry pondered for a moment, then nodded in agreement: "Without your help defense, I really couldn't beat that CP3."

But then he narrowed his eyes, his whole being ignited with a strong competitive spirit: "Just crushing him in one match is far from enough. Next time we meet, I'll beat him again."

Lin Bei reached out and put his arm around Curry's shoulder, looking very loyal: "I'll help you out next time!"

Curry gently pulled his arm away, his face radiating extreme confidence: "Next time we meet, I won't need anyone's help. I can handle him myself—"

Lin Bei glanced at him sideways, finding it amusing: "Fine, that's arrogant enough. Next time, I'll just watch the whole thing and won't interfere."

Curry shrugged indifferently and didn't continue arguing about the topic.

Lin Bei withdrew his gaze, his eyes slowly sweeping over his teammates in the training hall, each performing their duties and training individually. Suddenly, he thought, "To be honest, it seems like we're missing a teammate similar to Charles Oakley."

This time, Curry took a punch, and Lin Bei hesitated for a moment before rushing forward to separate Curry and Paul.

After that, although both teams rushed at him, if Lin Bei wanted to, he was absolutely capable of returning the punch to Curry on the spot.

But Lin Bei didn't want to, or more accurately, he didn't want to be banned from the competition.

In this shortened season, his goal is to win Rookie of the Year.

Having already been suspended for three games, he could theoretically miss a few more.

But if he really retaliates with that punch, it won't just be a matter of missing a few matches; it would be at least a five- or six-match suspension, and possibly even more.

In addition, Lin Bei and Curry set a goal of "rising up this season".

The Warriors, who are currently able to establish themselves in the wild Western Conference playoff zone, rely heavily on Lin Bei's defense.

It's safe to say that if Lin Bei is suspended, the Warriors will likely experience a sharp drop in performance during the suspension period.

Lin Bei is indispensable to this Warriors team.

Lin Bei hoped that one of his teammates would step forward and return the blow for him and Curry.

But at the time, almost all of his teammates were just watching the show.

David Lee and Clay are both rather introverted, which Lin Bei can understand.

Dorell Wright, a player who seems very outgoing, actually behaves quite aloof within the Warriors team and doesn't have deep relationships with anyone.

In the face of such a conflict, one cannot expect him to stand up.

Lin Bei's other friend, Xiao Tudou, is a lively person who is very helpful.

The problem is that, on the one hand, he was off the field at the time and couldn't get up immediately.

On the other hand, even if the 175cm tall potato comes up, its fighting power is far from enough.

After careful consideration, Lin Bei felt that the team really needed a silver coin teammate like Bodog or Zaza Pachulia, or a hothead like Metta World Peace or Julius Randle.

His role is to protect himself, who is unable to shoot, and Curry, who only lets basketball speak for itself.

Curry paused for a moment after hearing Lin Bei's remarks, then nodded in deep agreement.

But soon, Lin Bei let it go, shrugging lightly: "Forget it, these kinds of team recruitment and roster building are not things that we players can interfere with."

He knows exactly what's important.

Suggesting that head coach Mark Jackson adjust tactics and introduce a zone defense system is just a reasonable discussion among players about the team's tactics. It may be a bit presumptuous, but it's not a big problem.

However, if he were to ask General Manager Bob Myers to bring in a specific type of player, he would be completely overstepping his bounds.

Unless he is a player like LeBron James, given his previous status on the team, he is far from qualified.

Speaking of zone defense, after defeating the Clippers at home, Mark Jackson put his prepared zone defense tactics on the table.

篮球场上的联防体系万变不离其宗，核心无非2—3联防、3—2联防、2—1—2联防等几种基础阵型，但不同球队的战术侧重、防守取捨天差地别。

For example, during the time Lin Bei traveled to, the Thunder were dominating the NBA. They had a group of strong one-on-one defenders, and their main strategy was pick-and-roll switching defense. They focused on limiting the opponent's penetration and leaving the opponent's relatively inefficient three-point area open. In the paint, they relied on Chet's rim protection.

Their opponent, the Spurs, employs a similar defensive strategy. However, when facing tall ball-handling stars, they switch to a zone defense, with Wabanjama anchoring the center to block drives through the middle and allow shots from the sidelines.

This joint defense system is destined to involve some trade-offs.

The Thunder used inefficient three-pointers, while the Spurs used their wings.

The core logic of the zone defense that Mark Jackson brought up was very clear: David Lee anchored the paint to defend, while Lin Bei was responsible for help defense, sweeping up and filling gaps.

However, one of the Warriors' core perimeter players was a defensive liability, and they couldn't handle the kind of switch-heavy defense that the Thunder and Spurs used in later eras.

Fortunately, the point guard strategy is not yet prevalent in this era; otherwise, the Warriors would have to find another way to hide Curry on the defensive end.

Besides Curry's issues, David Lee is also a problem. Limited by his height and wingspan, his rim protection is actually quite average.

Sitting under the basket, you can only defend the low post, not provide truly effective rim protection.

To address these two issues, Mark Jackson's zone defense system opted to use traps to lure opponents into pre-arranged pitfalls.

Specifically, it means—

"The perimeter defenders only need to tightly control the driving lanes on one side, guiding and forcing the opponent to advance towards the sideline and baseline dead zones, and finally hand it over to Best to help defend and sweep."

When Mark Jackson described the Warriors' tactics as above, Lin Bei's first thought was of the Lakers team that won the championship in the bubble in later years.

His role is somewhat similar to Anthony Davis on that Lakers team; he is the absolute core of this system.

But in fact, Mark Jackson's zone defense system was inspired by the Spurs in 2005 and 2007, and Lin Bei was actually Tim Duncan's role.

Compared to the zone defense system that the Lakers later adopted, Mark Jackson's system had many shortcomings.

For example, Lin Bei's position, which needs to protect the rim, is too far inward, which may leave gaps in the mid-range.

Even with its flaws, Lin Bei was still very satisfied.

In this zone defense system, his help defense can protect Curry, who is weak in one-on-one defense, and his position is not far from the basket, so he can also protect the rim.

More importantly, this zone defense system solidified his core position on the team's defensive end.

"We need to practice this defensive strategy as soon as possible and try to make it effective in actual games."

At the end of the tactics lesson, Mark Jackson slammed his hand on the tactics board to emphasize the point.

However, with the shortened season and tight schedule, the Warriors only had one day of practice time after playing the Clippers.

Mark Jackson had just put this zone defense system on the table, and the Warriors hadn't even had a chance to practice together before stepping back onto the court.

At Oracle Arena, the Warriors welcomed the Rockets for a home visit.

The current Rockets team focuses on bench depth and a balanced approach where everyone contributes.

The starting lineup consists of Kyle Lowry, Kevin Martin, Chandler Parsons, Luis Scola, and Samuel Dalembert.

The substitutes are Goran Dragic, Courtney Lee, Chase Budinger, Patrick Patterson, and Jordan Hill.

In the starting lineup, Lin Bei's opponent is Dalembert, a blue-collar center who has played 11 seasons in the league.

He averaged 10+10+2 at his peak and was voted 13th in the Defensive Player of the Year poll that season.

But time waits for no man, and this season's Dalembert is no longer at his peak. His physical fitness and explosiveness have declined significantly, and he doesn't have much fuel left in the tank.

Facing Lin Bei, who possesses explosive physical attributes and full of offensive power, he appeared powerless and suffered repeated defeats from the very beginning of their matchup.

Although Mark Jackson's zone defense system was newly implemented, for this game, Jackson decided: "We'll use the game as practice!"

So in reality, the Warriors have already started using this zone defense system.

The Warriors players frantically swarmed the perimeter, leaving Lin Bei to completely defend the mid-range and even the area near the basket.

In the early stages, the players' coordination was a bit rusty, with several communication errors and untimely cover-ups, but the overall defensive framework did not collapse, and the effect far exceeded expectations.

The reason is that this Rockets team is already playing what's known as "Moreyball".

The "Moreyball" style emphasizes three-pointers and inside scoring, while abandoning mid-range shots.

This unorthodox playing style is Mo's "ingenious idea".

As a result, in this game, the Rockets ran headfirst into the Warriors' still-developing zone defense system.

At the start of the game, the Rockets' shooters were completely disrupted by the Warriors' high-intensity perimeter defense and pressure, and their three-point attempts kept missing, leaving them with a cold shooting touch.

Unable to break through with three-pointers, the Rockets had to change tactics, attacking the basket with all their players in an attempt to score. However, this adjustment fell right into the Warriors' defensive trap.

Lin Bei stood at the angle between the baseline and the sideline, facing Lowry and Kevin Martin who came to his doorstep, and delivered two consecutive blocks.

Mark Jackson didn't expect that this joint defense system would start working so soon after it was put on the table.

"Is this defensive strategy really that effective?"

Mike Malone, standing nearby, laughed and said, "That's the charm of Best Lin. It's hard to imagine that we picked him up from the free market."

Mark Jackson shrugged: "I was just thinking, why the hell didn't I think of building a zone defense around Best?"

If Lin Bei hadn't reminded him, he really wouldn't have thought of this.

But on the court, Lin Bei knew very well why the Warriors were able to defend so well against the Rockets.

The Rockets don't even shoot mid-range shots, so they're easy to defend, right?