NBA: The God of Basketball Begins with Precise Scoring

Chapter 43: Curry sets a new record, Warriors take a big lead in the first quarter!

While Mitchell was completely out of sorts and the Jazz's offense was struggling, the Warriors' offensive onslaught showed no signs of slowing down.

Curry continues his unstoppable offensive mode, even making his shots increasingly difficult and farther, yet still hitting every single one.

Later on, even without any screens or picks, Curry was able to hit those unstoppable three-pointers despite Royce O'Neal's interference.

The Jazz had no choice but to completely leave Toscano Anderson, whose shooting is relatively weak, unattended after the Warriors made substitutions, and began double-teaming Curry from halftime!

While Anderson's shooting isn't great, he can still cut to the basket and score. So Gobert is left to defend two players under the basket, which is one of his strengths, but he still has to cover both.

Therefore, after the Jazz implemented double teams, Curry started passing the ball to his teammates more often, allowing them to enjoy the four-on-three situation.

The most outrageous thing is that even when Curry is off the ball, the Jazz still dare not relax their double-teaming of him, because once the space is opened up, the ball will return to Curry's hands at any time, and then he will suddenly shoot a shot. Who can stand that?

The Jazz even preferred to rely on Gobert to defend two defenders in the paint, occasionally giving up two points, rather than giving Curry another chance to shoot three-pointers.

Absolutely terrifying!

Ultimately, when Curry was substituted to rest with nine minutes left in the first quarter, he had already racked up a terrifying 20 points and 5 assists, shooting 7-for-10 from the field and 6-for-8 from three-point range. Without any free throws, he had already scored 20 points in just nine minutes...

The Warriors also took a terrifying 24-point lead in the first nine minutes, with a score of 36-12.

During the timeout, everyone on the Jazz team, from the owner to the coaching staff, had a gloomy expression, while the players looked ashen.

In stark contrast, the Warriors' bench was all smiles, and the home fans were cheering them on enthusiastically.

In Tencent's official live stream, the commentators took advantage of a pause to start summarizing the data.

Wang Meng: "It's Curry's rest time now, he should be back in the second quarter. Let's take a look at his stats from the first quarter... He hit six three-pointers in a single quarter, scoring a whopping 20 points, could this be another new record?"

Yang Yi nodded: "Probably. There aren't many players who can score 20 points in a single quarter during the regular season, let alone in the playoffs. If I remember correctly, Curry holds the record for the most 20-point quarters in a single regular season game, right?"

Wang Meng checked the data and then said, "Let me take a look. The player with the most points in a single quarter in the playoffs... Oh, Mitchell has three. He's not in great form today. All three of those were in 2018, his rookie season. He's also the only rookie in NBA history to score 20 points in a single quarter in the playoffs. That's amazing."

"Also, Jamal Murray of the Nuggets has had it four times. He's also a well-known clutch player in the playoffs."

"And then, as Mr. Yang predicted, Curry also had four 20+ point quarters in the playoffs, which tied him with Murray for first place before today."

"After he gets his fifth one today, he will be the first in NBA history to hold this record."

Yang Yi nodded and added, "In the regular season and playoffs, the record for 20+ points in a single quarter will most likely belong to Curry in the future. In terms of scoring explosiveness, Curry is indeed second to none in history."

"But Curry didn't just score 20 points; he also had five assists. Almost every one of the Warriors' 30+ points was related to him!"

Wang Meng checked the data again and confirmed, "That's right. The closest anyone ever came to this statistic was Westbrook in 2017, who scored 20 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists in a single quarter during the playoffs. But Stephen Curry truly is the first person in history to achieve 20 points and 5 assists in a single quarter!"

Although Tencent's commentators aren't very professional, they are still much faster than the average fan at looking up data.

Before long, they even dug up Curry's previous experiences of scoring more than 20 points in a single quarter.

Three of these occurred early in Curry's career, before he won a championship. In one playoff series, the Warriors, as the sixth seed in the West, upset the third seed, the Nuggets, and Curry scored 20 points in a single quarter during one of those games.

There's also Game 6 of the 2019 Western Conference Semifinals, a classic Rockets-Warriors battle. With Durant absent due to injury, Curry, with a dislocated finger in his left hand, put on a show of scoring 0 points in the first half but racking up 33 points in the second half, including 23 points in the final quarter. From then on, the legend of "Curry single-handedly destroying the Rockets" was born.

After the two explained their performance, fans gained a clearer understanding of Curry's incredible performance in that quarter.

"Absolutely terrifying! No wonder he's considered the greatest combo guard of all time!"

"It's ridiculous, they played a great quarter and are now on record again."

"Then who is the greatest combo guard in history? Don't tell me it's Wrong Bro who hasn't even made it to the Finals yet."

"Can the commentators stop praising Curry and give us a look at our Xingchen guy? The Jazz only scored twelve points in nine minutes, who was guarding them?"

……

In fact, if it weren't for his compatriot Li Xingchen making a contribution on the defensive end, fans might not have even noticed.

Every team has such a role player who makes crucial contributions on the defensive end, in rebounding, and other areas, but is often forgotten.

What everyone remembers is always the dazzling offensive performance.

In reality, Li Xingchen deserves at least half the credit for the Warriors' current 24-point lead.

Curry's 36 points in nine minutes were indeed a result of his terrifying offensive influence; while his mere 12 points conceded in nine minutes were a chain reaction caused by Li Xingchen's defense and his ability to shut down the opponent's offensive core, Mitchell!

In those nine minutes, Curry and Li Xingchen, one primarily on offense and the other on defense, together created the miracle of a 24-point lead in a single quarter.

When the game returned to the court, Li Xingchen went off to rest, while Wiggins and Green came back on, leading Poole, Damian Lee and Rooney in the transition period.

Since Gobert is not on the court at the moment, the Warriors can switch back to their twin-tower lineup, allowing Looney and Green to be on the court at the same time.

This lineup has decent defense, but its offensive capabilities are questionable.

The Warriors only managed to score six more points until the end of the first quarter, ultimately finishing the first quarter with a commanding 42-20 lead.

At the beginning of the second quarter, the Warriors maintained the same lineup as at the end of the first quarter. After four minutes, their advantage was eroded again.

The score is now 50-32.

After the timeout, Snyder prepared to bring back all his key players, and the game went on until the end of the first half.

Seeing this, Kerr immediately prepared to send Curry and Li Xingchen back on.

Among them, Li Xingchen is even more important. In Kerr's eyes, Li Xingchen must be completely tied to Mitchell's playing time from now on.

He hadn't seen a situation in a long time where the opponent's offensive core was contained so well!

Li Xingchen's role and identity are constantly evolving in his mind.

From a wildly unpredictable player capable of scoring in an instant, to a high-quality 3D wing player who can consistently contribute over ten points on offense and is also diligent on defense, and then to a top-tier 3D player with extremely consistent offensive output and terrifying one-on-one defensive ability.

The biggest question that Kerr and the Warriors' general manager are thinking about right now is how to keep him after his minimum salary contract expires!