Junior Basketball says

Chapter 315
At the beginning, the addition of Brewer greatly increased the pressure on the Spurs' inside line. After all, to some extent, they have to face a two-on-three situation, and there will always be an irresistible feeling.But who is Duncan?Two-time MVP, three-time FMVP, has been selected to the best team more times than the entire Minnesota Timberwolves team combined, and the rush is only temporary for him.

However, Duncan, who has a very high golf quotient, will not continue to play singles in the paint with the ball. He chose a more efficient way, which is to pass the ball.Two-on-three inside means three-on-two outside. Although Brewer can constantly go back and forth between inside and outside the three-point line with his moving speed, the player's speed can never match the speed of basketball. The Spurs still get a lot of opportunities on the outside. .

This time it was Jefferson who stood out this season. This season, the small forward who was once one of the "Troika of the Nets" averaged only 11 points and 3.8 rebounds per game, but he had a 44% three-pointer. sub-projection.Parker and Ginobili greatly restrained the Timberwolves' perimeter defense, which allowed Jefferson to often appear in the gaps outside the three-point line.

At this time, Duncan's pass will be given to him in time. Jefferson will either break through with the ball and score a throw, or directly shoot a three-pointer. weakened.

McHale can only respond with a wry smile. Yes, the Timberwolves have the potential to become a good or even great team, but at least at this point in time, they are still far behind the Spurs, a veteran team with a deep foundation.Among other things, Popovich has a lot more cards than McHale, and he dares to use people, which McHale cannot do.

In fact, Popovich's confidence still comes from the strength of the Spurs themselves. Any mid-range team would not dare to play like this, especially in the more competitive playoffs.Now McHale is caught in a dilemma: should he hoard a heavy force inside to block Duncan and let him pass the ball, or should he follow the previous matchup and be blown by Duncan?
These two are undoubtedly dead ends, but McHale is also a firm-minded person, and he quickly made up his mind.Jefferson's outside shooting may not be able to maintain such a high level throughout the game, but Duncan is definitely capable of overwhelming the inside. Instead of letting Duncan score close to the basket, it is better to simply let him give the ball to the outside. Forget it.

However, McHale still made some adjustments. He asked Xu Hao and Ellington to pay more attention to Jefferson when defending, and when necessary, they can constantly change positions to interfere with the opponent's shooting.Such requirements are not unreasonably high, that is, Xu Hao and Ellington are young and aggressive, and have excellent defensive capabilities, so McHale is confident and bold in using troops like this.

But it was still a bit difficult for Xu Hao and the others.Although Jefferson's data this season is terrible, the lean camel is bigger than a horse, and he still has skills and awareness. It is basically wishful thinking to interfere with him with a large number of running positions.Xu Hao and Ellington are actually doing their best, and if the rotation is not in place, they can only pray silently.

Although the Spurs did not score an astonishing 40 points in the third quarter, they were almost the same, and 36 points was a rare high score for them.During this quarter, Jefferson made 4 three-pointers, each of which pierced into the heart of the Timberwolves general like a knife. None of them thought that Jefferson, who had no sense of presence, would suddenly break out.

Just when McHale hoped that the players would regroup and fight the Spurs to the death in the fourth quarter, the Spurs showed their strength as a strong team. It felt like they took a nap in the first three quarters, and now they are serious.

Under Xu Hao's defense, Parker continued his stealth mode, but Ginobili was like a poisonous snake, always attacking the Timberwolves' basket from places that were easily overlooked.He used the European step very skillfully, and Jordan, who was guarding the basket, was either directly swayed, or accidentally paid for a foul, which made him feel very depressed.

Ginobili's sharp breakthrough quickly revitalized the Spurs' offense. Popovich even replaced Bonner, known as the "Red Mamba", to strengthen his three-point shooting, allowing Duncan to move to the center position.In this way, the Spurs have four pitchers on the outside, and one of them is a 2.08-meter tall man like Bonner. Love doesn't know whether he should withdraw or expand.If he doesn't pull out to defend, no one outside the Timberwolves can interfere with Bonner's shooting.

Maybe Xu Hao can, but he still has to entangle with Parker. Besides, Bonner's body is a solid inside player. No matter how strong Xu Hao is, it will be difficult for him to break through the weight limit.McHale also saw the problem, but he could only scratch his head helplessly on the sidelines. This is the first time Popovich has come up with such a strange lineup this season, and he doesn't know how to deal with it.

Facing the tide of the Spurs' offensive, Xu Hao felt that it was difficult for him to resist alone. However, the morale of the team is very low now. Unless he can forcibly help the team reverse the adverse trend, it is possible to activate his teammates.

This kind of scene made Xu Hao think of the Lakers in the first round of the playoffs last year, which is a team with a longer history and more glorious than the Spurs, but in Xu Hao's eyes, the Zijin Army is far inferior to the Silver and Black Army So perverted.

To some extent, the strength of the Lakers is equivalent to that of Kobe. As long as he can play at a normal level in the game, the possibility of the Lakers winning will be greatly increased. The team wins.Perhaps this is why the Lakers like to recruit multiple stars in team history and then go to the championship.

As for the Spurs, they are more like an army than a team.Although there are players like Ginobili on the roster who do not follow the rules, their entire team is still well-trained and will implement Popovich's decisions without compromise. Their super discipline makes The Spurs look relatively rigid, but they are definitely strong enough.

It's a pity that Xu Hao can compete with the Lakers on his own, but he can't deal with the Spurs when his teammates can't help.Although he scored 14 points in the last single quarter, the Timberwolves still suffered their first loss in this round of the series with 97 to 110.Xu Hao felt very helpless about this, but he couldn't criticize his teammates, could he?

However, he knew very well that McHale would not let this situation continue to happen, and the Timberwolves were not strong enough to fight back against the Spurs. It can be said that it was just an accident when they were beaten by the opponent in the second half and then lost.

(End of this chapter)