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Chapter 313 Young People's Fight
Neal, who has been a long-time spectator off the court, is very excited about Popo's decision, and he can't wait to get on the court to match up with the Timberwolves guards.However, he has been influenced by the atmosphere of the Spurs for a long time, and he has controlled such thoughts well. What he has to do is to use this as the driving force of the game, rather than messing things up completely.

The reason why Popovich put Neal and Hill together was because he liked that one of them was a scorer with a soft touch and good at shooting, and the other was a mature and prudent commander.That is to say, these two guys have not fully fulfilled their talents, otherwise they would be enough to start in some weaker teams in the league.Letting them play against Xu Hao and Ellington at this time is a seemingly reliable decision. Popovich intends to see the effect first.

According to the coach's instructions, Hill and Neil started to fight aggressively after they came on the field, but they also wisely did not choose two people to go up to steal at the same time, but one person faced up to the position, and the other delayed to make up for the omission. It can minimize the possibility of the opponent breaking through the defense line, so as to prevent Xu Hao or Ellington from directly attacking the inside line.

I have to say that their defense still caused some trouble for Xu Hao. After all, he is the master of the Timberwolves, and Ellington is just a side effect.But their impact was nothing more than that. Xu Hao quickly adapted to their brown sugar-style marking, and he still had the energy to send assists to his teammates. The Timberwolves' offensive firepower never stopped.

Looking at the situation on the court, McHale thought that Popovich would call a timeout to make targeted arrangements, and he might even make a substitution directly, but what he didn't expect was that the old man was still sitting firmly on the Diaoyutai, making it seem that the Spurs are now leading 20 points for the same.In his opinion, any head coach would feel anxious when faced with such a situation, but Popovich acted as if nothing had happened, and still let Neal and Hill, the two stunned youngsters, be used by Xu Hao on the court. Way to ravage.

In fact, Popovich was also a little anxious, but he knew very well that he couldn't show his anxiety on his face. If even he couldn't hold his ground, the psychology of the Spurs players might be greatly affected.Moreover, Popovich also has confidence in his backup backcourt combination. Young people, as long as they have the drive and the idea of ​​​​not admitting defeat, they will not be far behind.

Popovich's trust was quickly rewarded. Hill and Neil were like dry sponges, quickly absorbing experience in the continuous matchups, and Xu Hao gradually felt that he was struggling a bit.Of course he saw that he had become a sharpening stone for Popovich to train rookies, but he didn't care. The knife is not so easy to sharpen in the game.

In terms of talent and physical fitness, Xu Hao will undoubtedly crush the Spurs' young guard combination, so his choice is to forcibly eat alone, trying to destroy the opponent's confidence.This is inappropriate in normal times, but this is a life-and-death playoffs. The purpose of both sides is to kill the opponent, and it is no big deal to hit the opponent's confidence. After all, everyone is a professional player.

Since his return from injury, the frequency of Xu Hao's singles has been gradually increasing, and it was not until this time that he faced the Spurs' defense that he was fully fired.Previously, Hill thought that he could adapt to Xu Hao's offense, and he was full of confidence to help the team limit the Chinese, but he soon discovered that Xu Hao hadn't played his best before, and now is his strongest state .

Xu Hao didn't need to play tricks at all. With his body, he could forcefully carry Hill into the interior, either attacking the basket successfully, or attracting the defense and passing the ball to a teammate in a better position.Every time Hill tried to defend, Xu Hao always easily tore through the line of defense, and sometimes it was too late to make a foul, which made him very frustrated.

His emotions also affected other teammates on the field. The Spurs failed to score in the sports game for 3 consecutive minutes in the middle of the second quarter, but were overtaken by the Timberwolves in one go.At this time, Popovich must call a timeout, otherwise the right to speak on the court will be completely controlled by the Timberwolves. It seems that it is not impossible for the Spurs to lose the first game at home.

Popovich encouraged Hill patiently, but he also said that he could not always give these two young people a chance.Although losing does not mean losing the entire series, it is undoubtedly a heavy blow to the morale of the team.

What happened to Hill made Popovich a painful experience. He understood that the current Spurs' regular rotation did not have enough players to support the perimeter defense, so he simply let go of the perimeter defense and tried his best to deal with the Timberwolves on the offensive end.It is the right choice to replace Parker and Ginobili at this time, after all, they can bring stronger offensive firepower to the Spurs.

With the final three minutes remaining in the second quarter, Popovich returned to the starting lineup for the game, hoping to regain the edge before halftime.But it seems that the time is a bit late. The morale of the Timberwolves is high at this time, and the shooting rate of the whole team is astonishingly high. Even if GDP scored crazy points with personal ability in these few minutes, the Timberwolves still ended the first half with a 3-point lead. field.This result made Hill and Neil even more disturbed.

McHale sees the Spurs' strategy clearly. He doesn't think the opponent can beat the Timberwolves in this way. After all, the opponent is better at defense, and no one on the team has scored more than 20 points this season.In terms of scoring ability, even the Timberwolves are inferior. If the two sides abandon everything else to fight for offense, the Spurs may not yet have the upper hand.

Of course, McHale would not be complacent because of his slight lead in the first half. The Timberwolves were still on the weak side in terms of overall strength, but it was only because of Xu Hao's explosion that the team took the advantage.If this situation is taken for granted, the Timberwolves' advantage will be ruined very quickly, which is very dangerous for them.

Therefore, during the intermission, McHale once again solemnly told Xu Hao to continue to strengthen the outside offense in the second half, and not allow the Spurs to regain the lead by virtue of the inside advantage.Xu Hao fully agreed, he didn't think that Parker, Ginobili, or even Hill and Neil could pose much threat to him on the defensive end, and maybe he would be more troubled by fighting against each other.

At the same time, McHale also asked Ellington to give Xu Hao more help from outside the three-point line. This 3D player patronized defense in the first half, and the three-pointer feeling can only be described as cold. Fortunately, Brewer More or less filled the gap.This is obviously not enough. Ellington averaged 11.2 points per game this season. If he can find the touch, McHale will have greater confidence.

(End of this chapter)