Volume 4: Golden State Prosperity

He did not force the issue, merely drawing the defense's attention before passing the ball to Antetokounmpo. But that was also because, aside from Curry, the Warriors lacked other players capable of creating shots in isolation, leaving them no choice. Durant was stunned. He had left the Thunder because he was tired of endless isolation plays and wanted a more team-oriented style, yet now he had no choice but to return to his old path of ball-dominant isolation. At halftime, Kerr, as if waking from a dream, finally made adjustments. The Warriors responded with ease and did not even need to reach playoff intensity; a single tactic—switching—completely cracked the Celtics' motion offense. At this critical moment, Kerr no longer insisted on motion offense either. He called a timeout, waved his hand, handed all offensive control to Durant, and said to him, "Kevin, now it's up to you!" Looking at the Celtics, aside from Durant's size advantage, center Horford was only 2.08 meters tall, Crowder was just 1.98 meters, Bradley 1.88 meters, and Isaiah Thomas 1.75 meters. All of them were at a physical disadvantage. There was no other way. Their hopes of turning the game around rested on him, so Durant could only temporarily forget the motion offense he had practiced for over a month in training camp and return to his old trade. The Warriors' approach was simple, but effective. This had become standard procedure for every Warriors opponent: no matter how fearsome Curry's reputation was, they could not simply abandon the paint and station all their troops at the three-point line. Zhang Yu never argued against it, but year after year, he increased the proportion of isolation plays in the offensive system, taking advantage of the Warriors' abundance of stars and their superior individual ability. Kerr saw that