Junior Basketball says

Chapter 367 Fighting Thunder Again
As expected by the Timberwolves general, after they swept the Nuggets to advance, the Thunder also defeated the Clippers with a score of 4-2 to advance to the second round.The two young guards met in the Western Conference semifinals for two consecutive seasons, which made all sports media in the United States feel like they were on stimulants, and they sent senior reporters to Oklahoma and Minnesota for interviews.

Under their exaggeration, the Timberwolves and Thunder have undoubtedly become the new generation's mortal enemies in the Western Conference. They are both young and powerful, and the core combination is also composed of three people. They seem to be evenly matched.Most people feel that as long as they are given enough time to grow, the future of the Western Conference will definitely belong to them. If not speculated at this time, when will it be speculated?
For the hype of the media, both teams are very low-key. Whether it is the Timberwolves who want to go further or the Thunder who are eager for revenge, it seems that they don't care about the outcome of this round of the series.In the interview, they just repeatedly emphasized that the team is ready for this round of the series, and the part where the melon eaters want to watch each other's harsh words did not appear. On the contrary, they both maintained enough respect for each other. Respect and recognize the strength of the other party.

Of course, among everyone, Xu Hao was the only one who dared to tell the truth. He told reporters: "I know what you all want to hear from us, but I want to say that this is just a series. , does not have such a profound meaning. We and the Thunder are both very young teams, far from being called rivals. Moreover, many players in our two teams have a good relationship in private. For example, I and I Harden, Kevin and Westbrook..."

The reporter who came to interview him is in a bad mood, please, will you die if you cooperate with the hype?If everyone, like you, not only does not cooperate but also dismantles our platform, then who else will read our articles?Isn't this a way out?

However, Xu Hao's remarks were recognized by the fans of both sides. Although they did not like each other, they were unwilling to let the team they supported be affected before the series started. Xu Hao's words undoubtedly cooled the media hype.

More importantly, Xu Hao is not just fooling around, but speaks with facts. He, Harden, Love and Westbrook are all college alumni and have fought side by side in the NCAA.Although each has its own master now, private communication has never stopped. Even if the Timberwolves eliminated the Thunder last year, it did not damage their friendship.

However, cooling down is cooling down, and the game still needs to be carefully prepared. No one wants to lose in this round of the series.In contrast, the pressure on the Thunder is even greater. Last year, their record was better than the Timberwolves, but they still lost the game. This year, their record is not even as good as the Timberwolves. Be eaten to death.

The Thunder have also completed certain reinforcements this season.In addition to retaining the core combination of the Big Three and Ibaka and Sefolosha, they replaced Collison as the starting center with Perkins and signed Fisher, the Lakers' championship point guard.But this is the Thunder's main rotation lineup, and the others are basically just soy sauce in the game.

This is the characteristic of most young teams. Because the average age is not old, they can stay on the court as long as possible. Anyway, they are physically strong enough to contribute to the team as much as possible.Moreover, the Thunder's three young players have top talents at the same position. It is absolutely correct and reasonable to give them more playing time. Any head coach will do this in all likelihood.

However, the Timberwolves are completely different from them. This may have a lot to do with McHale's experience as a player.Although he, Bird, and Parish were the core combination of the Celtics back then, they also had outstanding players such as Maxwell, Danny Ainge, and Archibald around them. Later, they acquired Dennis. Players such as Johnson, Bill Walton and Gilmore.It can be said that team basketball has always been engraved in the hearts of every Celtic. For them, the main force does not exist. In McHale's eyes, the importance of role players is actually no less important than the main force.

It is precisely because of this kind of thinking that the Timberwolves have a lot of outstanding role players with different functions. McHale can arrange more tactical routines, and the main players can also get enough rest during certain periods of time.This is a good thing for the team and players, and it is precisely because of the deep bench depth that the Timberwolves can rank second in the Western Conference this season.

That's why McHale wasn't afraid of the well-known Thunder Thunder. Not to mention that the Timberwolves' troika was also outstanding.

Therefore, before the start of this round of the series, what McHale mainly did was not to familiarize the players with tactics. After a season of running-in, everyone is familiar with the basic tactical moves. Now the most important thing is physical fitness.He simply gave everyone a day off, and there were no restrictions on them except that they could not go to bars and nightclubs and engage in activities that might cause injuries.In McHale's view, letting the team rest and decompress is obviously more reasonable than training.

In order to prevent "arena mice" like Xu Hao from sneaking up to give him extra training, McHale simply locked the door of the arena and forced the players to rest. Even playing games is better than coming to the arena many.

But Xu Hao couldn't be bothered, he just kept playing virtual matches with Thunder in the system.After several seasons of hard work, the system has lifted the limit on the number of virtual games, but the time is adjusted to be synchronized with reality, which means it takes 48 minutes to play a game.As long as you have enough time, it doesn't matter if you play 100 games in a row.

Thanks to the help of the system, Xu Hao has been immersed in the virtual game all day long. What makes him happy is that his Timberwolves have more wins and less losses, which at least means that their strength is slightly better than the Thunder.Although the outcome of the game depends on the state and performance of the two teams on that day, the Timberwolves seem to have a certain advantage.

For Xu Hao, the Western Conference Finals is no longer his goal this season, and the Finals is the stage he wants to go to.Besides, Xu Hao doesn't think the Timberwolves have a chance to win the championship this year, so what if they are young?Being young also has its advantages.The Bucks successfully won the championship in the third year of building the team, which also gave hope to countless young teams.If the previous Young Guards can't do it, then let the Timberwolves come, and if they can touch the O'Brien Cup, they will die without regret...

(End of this chapter)