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Chapter 357 Dual Control or Dual Guns?

The sharp offense shown by the Timberwolves in the preseason has attracted many people's attention.Last season, this small-market team frightened many pundits and fans by rushing to the Western Conference Finals. Are they going to do it again?
To be honest, the Timberwolves' operations in the offseason are not optimistic. Welcome Rubio is barely a highlight. Other than that, is it to replace Sessions and Brewer with Barea and Wesley?No matter how you look at it, it looks like a deal made by the management to increase their presence.According to expert predictions, the Timberwolves should only be ranked sixth in the Western Conference, which is very optimistic about them.

However, this group of wolf cubs gave people the feeling of going forward in the preseason. Under the guidance of the two potential guards Xu Hao and Rubio, the team's offense has been able to give people a pleasing feeling, and more importantly, it is quite power.Their backcourt combination looks young, but Xu Hao has proven his strength, he just needs to gain more experience; as for Rubio, he is the strongest point guard of the new generation in Europe, not even one, and his age is not Can't explain the problem.

Although the intensity of the preseason can not be compared with the regular season, but the Timberwolves did not come up with a full lineup, it seems more like a show for their young guards to show themselves.During the game, McHale didn't even call a timeout. All the team's tactics were discussed and decided by Xu Hao and Rubio on the court, which was a bit scary.

Originally, Xu Hao alone caused a headache for every opponent of the Timberwolves. His performance on the court did not look like a young man at all.Coupled with a young and mature Rubio who is also very smart, they really don't know how to limit the Timberwolves' offense.Do we need to stock up on a bunch of outside defensive gates?In this case, who else will score?

However, the media soon released news that Rubio focused most of his energy on shooting practice during the training camp. There is reason to believe that he is not used to shooting in the intensity of NBA-level confrontation.In the end, the author implicitly stated that if you want to kill the Timberwolves, you can consider starting with Rubio. After all, this guy has no long-range shooting ability.

Of course Xu Hao also saw the news, and he had to lament that in the United States, media reporters are really pervasive.You must know that although their training camp is not strictly confidential, it is not just that anyone can come in and take a peek. I did not expect that Rubio's practice of shooting with all his strength was exposed, and was even regarded as a weakness that could be used by the Timberwolves.

But soon Xu Hao closed the message window, and an unpredictable smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.Even if Rubio can't practice shooting, he will not be the weakness of the Timberwolves. The backcourt combination should have a variety of forms of existence.

In the history of the NBA, there are countless famous backcourt combinations. There are Bill Sharman and Bob Cousy in the Celtics' 11-time championship period, and Thomas and Duke in the "Bad Boys" of the Pistons are a little closer. Mars, Kidd + Carter, Parker + Ginobili and Billups + Hamilton in the 21st century are all very classic backcourt combinations.

If it is the kind of scoring ability of both sides is very outstanding, it will generally be called double guns in the backcourt.But Xu Hao feels that the combination of himself and Rubio has never been two guns, they are dual control, and the ultimate goal is to control the situation of the audience.

Does Rubio's unreliable shooting matter?It is important to say that today when offense is king, a pure organizer is out of date. Not every player is Rondo, let alone there are three giants around him.

But it’s really not important to say that it’s not important. Let’s not mention that Rubio is just starting to practice. Even if he is really just a pure organizer, aren’t those wild passes enough to dismember the opponent’s defense?Besides, the Timberwolves are not without scorers. He Xu Hao counts as one, as well as Love, Ellington, Barea, Pekovic...

So Xu Hao didn't take this news to heart at all. He felt that he and Rubio could definitely coexist and give full play to each other's strengths.If anyone doesn't believe it, try it out in the regular season.

The first one to weigh the Timberwolves was their opponent Thunder in the Western Conference semifinals last season. They were also in the Northwest Division because of that round of the series. Friendship is even more embellishment.It can be seen from this that the staff of the league responsible for arranging the schedule are really well-intentioned.

However, Xu Hao didn't intend to thank him for his good intentions. Lei Ting was not an easy opponent to deal with.The only good news is that the Timberwolves are playing at home in this game, and they just need to wait for their opponents to arrive at the target center.

In the first two days of the game, the tickets have already been sold out, and countless Timberwolves fans are looking forward to seeing the best performance of this new team at home.At around 4 p.m. on the day of the game, fans have already entered the field one after another. They are wearing Timberwolves jerseys with various numbers printed on them. Among them, Xu Hao, Love and Rubio, who has just arrived, are the most popular.Soon the auditorium was full, and everyone was excitedly waiting for the game to start.

The entire Thunder team was well prepared for this game, but they gradually fell into a disadvantage starting from the middle of the first quarter.Brooks still habitually asks Sefolosha to defend Xu Hao. This was the Thunder's defensive strategy in the playoffs last season. Westbrook only needs to keep an eye on Rubio. Brooks believes that this can limit the Timberwolves.

However, Rubio's weird pass quickly tore through the Thunder's defense. Xu Hao frequently found gaps and made shots under the cover of his teammates.Although he only sent 2 assists in the first quarter, he scored 14 points, all of which came from Rubio's assists.At the same time, Xu Hao didn't just pursue scoring points for himself. His great deterrence on the outside made the Thunder dare not unscrupulously shrink the defense line. Love also got a lot of opportunities inside, and the whole system started to work.

Although Durant is also working hard to score points, and Harden is also working hard to send the ball into the basket after coming off the bench, but the liberated Xu Hao cannot easily compete.Except for tying the score in the second half of the second quarter, the Thunder did not get any chance to overtake the Timberwolves in the whole game. It can be said that they lost almost without fighting back.

Such a result caused an uproar in the outside world. Have the Timberwolves grown to this point after a summer?Anyway, the Thunder still played against them last season. Such a rapid growth rate is simply a monster!
(End of this chapter)