How did the Warriors get defeated by former general Rollins?

Rollins, who is he?

Selected by the Warriors with the 44th overall pick in the second round of 2022.

It is conceivable that as a second-round pick with a thin body of 191cm, it is difficult to get a chance to play in a Warriors team that has no shortage of guards or rookies and has just won the championship. Sure enough, Rollins only played 12 games for the Warriors throughout his rookie season, averaging 5.2 minutes per game. He spent most of his time in the Development League and was ended early for the season due to a fracture of his right foot in February.

In the summer of 2023, Rollins was sent to the Washington Wizards as an addition in the deal between Poole and Paul. In theory, he will get more opportunities. But things went counterproductive. Before being waived by the Wizards on January 9, 2024, Rollins only played 10 games, averaging 6.6 minutes per game.

Surprisingly, on the 12th, just three days after being laid off, Rollins was accused of stealing items from a Target store multiple times. According to a police document, Rollins shoplifted from a Target store seven times from September 9 to November 9, 2023. The stolen items included groceries, shower gel, and candles. I really don’t understand why such a nice young man has such weird quirks.

Fortunately, this episode did not affect Rollins' re-employment. On February 19, the Bucks signed him with a two-way contract. In the remaining season, Rollins played 3 games on behalf of the Bucks, averaging 4 minutes per game. He is still in a state of disappearing from the league at any time.

Things took a turn for the better in the 24-25 season. This season, the Bucks were short of major generals in the backcourt. Rollins was able to play in 56 games, and even got the starting opportunity in 19 of them. He averaged 6.2 points, 1.9 assists, 1.9 rebounds and 0.8 steals in 14.6 minutes per game, shooting 48.7% from the field and 40.8% from the three-point range. Especially in the starting games, he averaged 10.2 points per game and shot 45.2% of three-pointers.

Such performance impressed the Bucks management, and they won themselves a three-year, 12 million contract extension this summer. Of course, the average salary was only slightly higher than the base salary.

But Rollins' good luck continued. In the first game of the new season, original starter Porter Jr. injured his ankle and left the field. So Rollins was put into the starting lineup by Rivers from the second game on, scoring 13+5+2, 14+4+8 and 25+2+4 respectively, and contributed at least 3 steals in each game.

Until we faced today’s opponent—the Golden State Warriors, who had just defeated the Grizzlies and Clippers back-to-back and achieved 4 wins and 1 loss. Before the game, Antetokounmpo announced a truce due to injury. The game seemed to have little suspense, but Rollins didn’t think so and was ready to give his old club a little shock.

Cole placed Kuminga in front of Rollins at the beginning. You know, this is currently the number one defender in the Warriors' starting lineup. This shows that the uniform staff gives Rollins enough respect. But Rollins didn't care about that, he hit Kuminga with a strong layup. It is worth noting that Chasing Dream on the breakthrough route at this time simply swiped the card and did not block it forcefully.

For the second goal, Rollins and Turner completed a simple handover and hit a three-pointer. Not only did Kuminga not squeeze out the ball, but the slow-footed Post also did not catch the ball immediately, giving Rollins an opportunity to take an easy shot.

For the third goal, Rollins directly faced Dream Chaser and forced a layup to score 2+1 during the transition. From here, it can be seen that Rollins' confidence has increased.

So for the fourth ball, Rollins took a hesitant step and made a difficult layup amid the encirclement of Kuminga and Dream Chasing.

Rollins, who scored continuously, gradually gained traction, and his breakthrough even led Dream Chaser to let go of Turner instead of filling in. So Rollins accurately distributed the ball, and Turner hit a three-pointer. Of course, the better choice for this ball is to chase Dream to cover the frame and protect the frame. Kuminga takes over Kuzma in the pick-and-roll, and then Moody goes to cover Turner. It can be seen that the Warriors' rotation today is indeed half a beat slow.

On the next ball, Rollins broke through inside and Horford filled in, leaving Portis with a big gap.

Copy and paste the same tactic again. The difference is that Richard and Hilde were already prepared for this ball and defended it at the same time, but Portis, the high-powered turret, ignored it and hit it again.

Rollins, who has fully found his senses, has no fear when facing Jimmy. If you retreat, I will directly hit the mid-range shot; if you stick, then I will step up and down for a layup. Taking everything he asked for, he scored 14 points and 5 assists in the half to revitalize the team.

Change sides to fight again, Rollins and Turner pick and roll, but Jimmy and Dream Chaser did not take the initiative to meet, allowing Rollins to easily hit the first three-pointer of the second half.

During the transition, Rollins accelerated past Richard and hit a layup. Counting Richard, Rollins almost beat up the Warriors' defensive giants today.

When the Warriors chased the point difference to only 3 points, after the Bucks collected offensive rebounds, Rollins hit the only catch-and-shoot three-pointer of the day.

Still 3 points difference, another conversion, Hilde was useless, Rollins easily scored another 2 points.

In the last 4 minutes, the Warriors finally narrowed the gap to 2 points with Curry's three-pointer, and were about to get their heads out of the water. Rollins came over to pick and roll with Turner, forcing the cook to change defense, and directly retreated for a three-pointer. In fact, this was the shot that killed the game. Since then, the Warriors have never come close to scoring.

As for the last three-pointer that met Jimmy two steps away from the three-point line, it can also be regarded as a tribute to Curry in another sense..

After the game, Rollins scored 32 points, 4 rebounds and 8 assists, with only 1 turnover. His shooting percentage exceeded 60% and his three-point shooting percentage exceeded 70%.

First of all, I must praise the young man for playing well, having a clear mind, and decisive operations. The entire Bucks team also has high morale.

Secondly, as Cole said, the team is mentally and physically exhausted, especially the absence of Letters, which may make the Warriors breathe a sigh of relief. However, the operation of the Warriors' offensive and defensive system is based on everyone on the team needing to maintain sufficient focus and execution. Once this is lost, the team will show a loose state with high offensive errors and no intensity in defense.

After the game, Cole said that in the past few years, the Warriors had 0 wins and 12 losses in games where the opposing stars did not play. Whether this statistic is accurate or not is not important, but for a team like the Warriors whose core players are relatively old and have won several championships, there is nothing they have not seen before. It is also very difficult to maintain a consistent and sufficient driving force in the long 82 regular season games. Especially for Ku Chai, he loves the waves when he is loose and loves the bar when he is loose. Playing such a game is really not surprising.

So far this season, I have won against the Lakers, Nuggets, Grizzlies, and Clippers, but lost against the Trail Blazers and the Bucks without letters. I can only say that this is very real and very warrior.