Champion Creed

For Matt Barnes, tonight's experience was nothing short of magical.

The enchantment was akin to suddenly receiving a text message inviting you to work at the White House as the President of the United States.

Before this game, Matt Barnes could only secure around ten minutes of playing time each night and was harshly schooled by the team's star player during practice matches. Based on his previous experiences of being cut from teams, he always had the possibility of packing his bags and leaving.

And the result? The assistant coach started actively guiding his jump shots, and he was included in the main rotation during a crucial game, successfully defending Kobe Bryant in his very first play and drawing an offensive foul from him.

He had a premonition that his life would completely change from tonight onward.

This street gangster's debut tonight was indeed impressive, with Al Michaels commenting: "The Los Angeles Lakers' possession was robbed, yes, robbed, that's the feeling Matt Barnes and the entire Golden State Gangsters give you. They snatch the ball away from you like the most ruthless street thugs, using brute force and aggression!"

The Warriors' defense gives off such an impression because the team has excellent perimeter defense resources.

Whether it's Jason Richardson, Tayshaun Prince, or Matt Barnes, they all excel at carrying out high-pressure perimeter defense, continuously putting pressure on Kobe and Nash.

This kind of perimeter defense effect is something that even last season's champion Warriors didn't possess.

Last season, Allan Houston was a diligent defender but wasn't adept at pressure perimeter defense.

And last season, Jason Richardson wasn't as matured on the defensive end as he is now.

The visual effect brought by the Warriors' continuous high-pressure perimeter defense looks like a gentleman walking into the wrong neighborhood and then getting completely robbed by the local street thugs.

The name Golden State Gangsters began to shine, with Al Michaels predicting that the Golden State Gangsters would sooner or later become a renowned name like the Detroit Bad Boys of the '80s.

After the Lakers players experienced a "robbery," Roger turned around and reached out to help Matt Barnes up.

Matt Barnes' brain short-circuited at that moment because he had never truly been part of any group growing up.

After he fell, he always knew to get up on his own and swallow the blood back down.

In his concept, no one on the basketball court could truly back you up; you must become strong on your own.

Matt Barnes has always been puzzled why the environment in this country is like this—just because he is neither white nor black, even with outstanding performance, he can't integrate into any group? After all, it's about basketball, not birthright.

But in the Golden State Warriors, this team was trying to accept him.

Just as Matt Barnes was about to reach out, Roger, who had waited too long, withdrew his hand and grumbled unsatisfied: "Ha, you really have personality. Doesn't matter, as long as you can stick to Kobe until the game ends, you don't need to show any friendliness to me."

In the end, Matt Barnes still got up by himself, just like throughout his more than a decade-long basketball career.

But he knew deep down that everything was different now.

This team did not exclude him; they didn't care about his skin color, his resume, or his draft order.

They cared about only one thing—whether you are desperate to win and can help the team achieve victory.

Matt Barnes liked such a team, it was just his cup of tea.

The game continued, and Stephen Jackson, in this round, ran through a screen from Stoudemire to get a three-point opportunity. But when he shot, Shawn Marion's long arms still provided severe disruption, and the basketball ultimately bounced off the rim.

Roger chose to pass again in a double-team for the second consecutive round, indicating that Matt Barnes's presence was indeed dragging down the team's offense.

The Lakers' reserve center Chris Mihm grabbed the rebound and handed the ball to Nash. Nash quickly advanced with the ball, preparing to find a fast-break opportunity, but soon discovered that the entire Warriors team had astonishingly retreated back to their half of the court.

The Warriors' transition defense speed was incredibly fast; from Roger to Stoudemire, all five positions had strong athletic ability, and fast transition defense is precisely the foundation to curb this fast-paced offense.

The Lakers couldn't execute an easy counterattack and were forced to grind a half-court set against the Warriors, where scoring in the set offense is bound to be several times harder than fast-break.

Sure enough, as soon as Kobe crossed the midcourt line, he was again tightly guarded by Matt Barnes, and he had to struggle through every possession.

Yet, he is still Kobe Bryant.

If Matt Barnes could easily lock him down, he wouldn't be considered one of Roger's strongest opponents in the West.

After suffering previously, Kobe controlled his temper this round, avoiding obvious elbowing actions. He used an off-the-ball screen and counter-run to shake off his defender, finally receiving the basketball outside the three-point line.

After receiving the ball, Kobe bit his jersey with his mouth. The No HandCheck rule prevented Matt Barnes from directly pulling the number 15 jersey. Even though the rule had been relaxed somewhat due to Roger's perverted performance in his first game, reaching out directly was still not allowed.

Kobe approached Barnes slowly, extending his left foot in preparation for acceleration. But as soon as Barnes moved with him, Kobe lowered his center of gravity while stepping on the three-point line, made a large-arced crossover move, lost the misjudged Barnes, and then did a pull-up jump shot, scoring!