NBA: The God of Basketball Begins with Precise Scoring

Chapter 39 Curry gets off to a winning start on offense, Star Guards Donovan!

Warriors fans abroad are still cheering because Li Xingchen has been promoted to the starting lineup.

Not to mention our compatriots back home.

It should be the morning of June 1st in China right now, which is Children's Day.

The advantage of this year's season postponement is that the Finals will no longer clash with the college entrance examination, and there will no longer be the classic scene of "the college entrance examination happens every year, but the Cavaliers-Warriors battle only happens once (crossed out) twice (crossed out again) three times (crossed out again) four times".

The fourth game between the Warriors and the Jazz was a crucial one. Tencent sent the commentary duo Yang Yi and Wang Meng, who have the highest viewership but may not be the most professional, and also invited Zhu Fangyu as a special advisor.

Upon seeing the starting lineups for both sides, Yang Yi was the first to speak: "Wow, our Xiao Li is finally in the starting lineup!"

Wang Meng chimed in, "It seems that Coach Kerr has finally stopped being so stubborn after the loss in the last game."

In fact, it's clear to almost everyone in the world that Li Xingchen is more effective as a starter than Rooney, at least in this series against the Jazz. So it's not surprising that Kerr made a lineup change during the loss.

However, this is still something to be very happy about for fans in China.

It's worth noting that in all the years that Chinese men's basketball has developed, only Yao Ming has ever been a core starting player for an NBA playoff team.

Among the other domestic players in the NBA playoffs, Wang Zhizhi, who played the most games, only averaged 4.6 minutes per game, making him a marginal player.

Yi Jianlian only played in one playoff game, for about five minutes; while Zhou Qi played in three games, for a total of four minutes. It's obvious that he was only brought on during garbage time when the outcome was already decided.

Of course, Sun Yue, who didn't even play a minute but still won the championship ring, can also be considered a representative of winning the championship without even playing.

In short, it has been a full twelve years since Yao Ming in 2009 that no domestic player has started in the NBA playoffs. How can this not be considered a historic moment?

"The betting market's closed! I told you the Warriors lost the last game, and that Xingchen would definitely start this one, but some people didn't believe me. Now look what happened!"

"Xiao Li is simply the player whose status on the team has risen the fastest I've ever seen. Just a few games ago he was a benchwarmer, and now, only half a series has passed, he's already a starter. He's incredibly strong."

"You can't say that. After all, Ah Chen has been struggling in the league for two whole years, and he even couldn't sign a contract at one point. Who knows what kind of hard work he put in behind the scenes to achieve his current success? The Warriors really hit the jackpot."

"Go Chen Ge! Go Warriors! I want to see Chen Ge play a few more playoff games!"

……

The scene of the game.

Curry was determined to punish the Jazz for underestimating his offense.

For the first offensive play, he didn't want to use any complicated tactics; it was just a simple pick-and-roll with Curry.

As expected, Gobert remained confined to the paint without providing help defense, attempting to solve all the problems by having O'Neal chase Curry around screens, just like in the previous game.

Curry's eyes turned cold. Did he really think I would blow out two games in a row?

Do you really think so little of me, the greatest shooter in NBA history?

My heart was surging with emotion, but my hands remained completely unaffected.

Jump, raise your hand, and flick your wrist.

All in one go!

This is the consistency of a top-tier shooter.

Draymond Green's pick-and-roll only created a fleeting, half-open shot opportunity for Curry, but that was enough for him.

With a "whoosh," an arrow pierced the heart!

The Warriors secured a winning start in Game 4, taking a 3-0 lead.

From top to bottom, from the players to the coaching staff, and even the owner and general manager watching from the sidelines, everyone seemed to feel a jolt of unease.

Something doesn't seem right...

However, they were unaware that this was only the beginning of their nightmare that night.

When it came to the Jazz's offensive possession, Conley once again dribbled the ball across half-court and began looking for an opportunity for Mitchell.

This is a very normal strategy. Teams will definitely prioritize finding opportunities for their star players at the start of the game. If they can get their star players into a good shooting rhythm, they might just win the game.

In the past, when the Warriors wanted to limit Mitchell's performance, they might have Wiggins switch to defend Mitchell. However, the consequence of doing so was that, since the Warriors were playing a small-ball lineup, Li Xingchen and Bazemore would be forced to move to the forward positions to defend, which would inevitably put them at a disadvantage in terms of size.

This is also a key reason why, despite Wiggins' excellent performance in defending Mitchell, Kerr didn't let him switch on defense all the time. After all, he still needed to cover the defense of other positions as well, otherwise he would be neglecting one area while trying to cover another.

Wiggins only switches to defend Mitchell in crucial possessions, or he makes more frequent switches when not playing small ball.

But this time, the Warriors changed their lineup, starting with a small-ball lineup.

This has also made the audience very curious – with the Warriors starting with a small-ball lineup, who will they entrust with the task of guarding Mitchell?

The answer was soon revealed.

It's Li Xingchen!

The live stream chat immediately erupted in excitement.

"Wow, it's our Xingchen brother guarding Mi Qiuwang?"

"I thought they'd bring in Mourinho again. Can Lee handle it? I remember in the last two games when he was matched up against Mitchell, he didn't seem to have much of an advantage, but his offensive responses were really solid."

"This is also the drawback of the Warriors playing a small-ball lineup. Although their shooting ability has been greatly improved, they are clearly not big enough on the defensive end. No matter how many switches they make, there will always be some mismatches. It would be better not to switch at all, let Mouth Bro and Cup Cat play on the front line, and let Ah Chen limit Mitchell. It seems to be the most reasonable solution at the moment. I just hope Ah Chen can hold on!"

"I doubt it. Xingchen can handle guarding against players like Bojan who are small and inexperienced, but against Miqiu..."

The guy on the last floor used three ellipses because he realized he'd already been proven wrong before he'd even finished typing.

However, in order not to waste the words he had typed, he added a few ellipses before sending out the first half of his sentence.

At the competition venue, Li Xingchen stood cautiously in front of Mitchell with his arms outstretched, feeling as if he had entered an incredibly mysterious state.

It seems no different from before, yet it also seems very different.

Specifically, his brain reacted faster, his intuitive judgment became more accurate, and many defensive actions became subconscious. Li Xingchen even felt that they didn't require any reaction time at all.

Moreover, his physical functions seemed to be stronger than before, and his lateral movement speed and starting speed seemed to have become faster than before.

More importantly, Mitchell's every dribbling move, even his eye movements, became incredibly clear to him, as if they were in slow motion...

Great, is this how the system ensures that Mitchell's shooting percentage will drop by at least three points below his season average when he's matched up against him tonight?

That's terrifyingly strong.

Li Xingchen was confident that he could make Mitchell question his existence tonight!