Junior Basketball says

Chapter 327

Any head coach in the league will have a headache facing a player like Durant. This is a monster with the height of the inside, the speed and skills of the outside, and a precise shot. It is difficult for players to defend him one-on-one.At least there is no such person in the Timberwolves' starting lineup, and neither Brewer nor Ellington can do anything about him.

McHale couldn't help turning his eyes to the bench, he hoped to find someone to deal with Durant.After inspecting the circle, he fixed his eyes on Webster, a swingman who was traded from the Trail Blazers in the offseason last year. Although he is not as dynamic as Ellington and Brewer, he has far more experience. far surpass them.

Since Webster came to the Timberwolves, McHale has been using him as the team's sixth man. This season, he averaged 23.8 minutes per game, scoring 9.8 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.9 assists. 1 game.But McHale trusts him very much, and he is also the player with the highest scoring average on the Timberwolves bench.

Webster's steals and blocks are not eye-catching, averaging less than 1 per game, but he is very experienced on the defensive end.Seeing that Brewer can't cope with Durant's offense now, McHale hopes to try to replace Webster.

Soon McHale replaced Brewer with Webster, specifically responsible for marking Durant.He also has a precise three-point shot, and his three-point shooting rate this season is as high as 41.7%. The only regret is that he only takes 2.9 shots per game.

Before going on the court, McHale gave Webster another opportunity to face-to-face: "The main purpose after you go on the court is to entangle Durant, don't let him catch the ball easily, and don't let him get close to the basket. , You can choose to commit a foul, but it must be a smart one, and it cannot be a senseless foul. I believe you can grasp this scale well."

Webster nodded and said, "Coach, don't worry, I can handle him, just watch my performance!"

After he came on the court, Durant didn't take it seriously at all. When the Thunder attacked, he still asked for the ball in his familiar position.However, Webster did not intend to make it easy for him. Instead of defending behind Durant, he tried to squeeze in front of Durant to prevent him from receiving the ball, which is the so-called defense around the front. There is no doubt that It is a double-edged sword.

If the defense is good, it will be difficult for the opponent to receive the ball, which acts as a restriction; but if it cannot prevent the opponent's defender from hoisting the ball into the inside line, as long as the opposing player receives the ball, he can face it directly as soon as he turns around. The basket can be described as flat.So there is a lot of risk for Webster to do this, but he has to admit that this is the best choice at present.

Originally, it was easy for Westbrook to pass the ball to Durant, but Xu Hao would not make him so comfortable. He was also constantly harassing, making it difficult for Westbrook to pass the ball to Durant accurately.In desperation, Westbrook could only choose other scoring methods, which meant that Xu Hao and Webster teamed up to lock Durant in this round.

In fact, if Brewer wants to go around the front and defend, it is also possible to succeed, but he is relatively thinner and not as strong as Webster in terms of strength. Naturally, it is difficult to keep Durant behind him.Of course, there is still some gap between Webster and Durant's strength, but Webster is very experienced and always blocks Westbrook's passing route.

For the remainder of the first quarter, Durant felt very uncomfortable with Webster's presence. No matter whether he received the ball, passed the ball, broke through, or shot, he always felt that the opponent was hovering beside him like a shadow, squeezing him greatly. out of his space.

Durant, who scored 8 points in the first half of the quarter, only scored 13 points in this quarter and his shooting percentage was just over 40%. This was all caused by the pressure put on him by Webster.McHale is very satisfied with Webster's performance. He plans to continue to play Webster after Durant comes on in the second quarter, and let him block this tall and long-armed monster.

At the beginning of the second quarter, Brooks did not put him in the starting lineup, but asked Harden to play with the bench lineup.This is the Thunder's regular rotation time. Although they do not have more young talents, Harden's presence can allow the team to continue to maintain strong firepower. When he is on the court, Westbrook and Durant can both be on the court. Take some extra rest.

At this time, Xu Hao was also left on the court by McHale, and the game became a duel between the two Arizona State players.However, when both sides are attacking with all their strength, it can be clearly seen that Xu Hao is still better than Harden. His shooting percentage is higher than Harden. If it weren't for the Thunder's good rebounding, the Timberwolves would have overtaken .

Nonetheless, the Timberwolves' advantage on the field also made Brooks anxious. Seeing that the point difference between the two sides was gradually narrowing, he had to change to the starting lineup early. This was not the time for substitutions he was accustomed to.But now Brooks has no choice. If he doesn't make a substitution, the Timberwolves will definitely seize this opportunity to overtake the score, which will be more of a loss than a gain.

Seeing the Thunder's substitution, McHale also made the decision to substitute, and he continued to let Webster play to defend Durant.This time Durant changed his strategy. After Westbrook brought the ball across the half court, he went directly to catch the ball outside the three-point line. Now you can't go around the front to defend, right?Anyway, Durant's ability to break through with the ball is completely comparable to that of a guard.

However, Webster stepped forward decisively to stick to him, constantly harassing Durant with small movements in places where the referee could not see, preventing him from easily adding up his speed.The threat of Durant, who couldn't rush up, dropped a lot in an instant. He could only slowly dribble the ball to the free throw line sideways, intending to use his precise shooting to teach this opponent a lesson.

But Webster didn't like Durant's fake moves at all, and looked at him as if he was watching a monkey, which made Durant furious.He was going to make a shot regardless of where he was standing, but he didn't expect that when he lifted the ball up from the waist, Webster, who had quick eyes and quick hands, cut it off directly, followed by a very standard fast-break counterattack layup.

Durant's face was black, he didn't even turn back, but stared at Webster fiercely, as if to tear him to pieces.For Durant's anger, Webster didn't pay attention to it at all. To him, completing the tasks assigned by the coach and helping the team win the game is the most important thing, and he doesn't care what Durant thinks of it!
(End of this chapter)