Volume 5: Unmatched — Chapter 755: The Trade-Off
Since Stevens wanted to gamble, Zhang Yu was willing to play along. To contain Curry and Antetokounmpo, Stevens did not hesitate to leave the other three open. He was going all in, completely abandoning perimeter defense. In the first quarter, Jaylen Brown, Wiggins, and Markkanen had been cold, but Bogdan, who came in later, had found his touch and hit a three. When the second quarter began, he continued his excellent form, taking Antetokounmpo's pass and knocking down another three. Stevens firmly believed his strategy was correct. With the Warriors' roster downgraded, they could no longer rely on role players to win games. Since the opening tip, the Warriors had been attacking the paint, looking to exploit Antetokounmpo's physical advantages. Zhou Qi could shoot threes too, but he was far inferior to Markkanen, and his defense was not even as good as Looney's, so Zhang Yu might as well go straight to a small-ball lineup. This was a head coach's trade-off. Aside from the Warriors of the previous two seasons, whose offense and defense had both been invincible and who could have it both ways, most teams had more or less obvious flaws in their rosters and could not cover every base. In the second quarter, Zhang Yu sent in a new batch of shooters, and the Warriors caught up. Stevens brought on Butler, but that only maintained the deadlock. The one difference was that Stevens placed extreme importance on Curry and defended him very tightly. The Bulls' Big Three, meanwhile, were all perimeter players. They lacked a direct threat inside, were not particularly good three-point shooters, and needed repeated drives before they could attack the opponent's restricted area, making it even harder to alter the defense. Zhang Yu went along with