Junior Basketball says

Chapter 375
With a score of 3-1, the Timberwolves returned to their own territory, and they received a warm welcome from the fans as soon as they got off the plane.Although they also reached the Western Conference finals last season, they relied on their age and physical advantages to defeat the Spurs. However, this time they are within easy reach of the Western Conference finals, and they relied entirely on their own hard power.

Looking at the excited expressions on the faces of the fans, every Timberwolves player's heart was ignited with fierce fighting spirit. Even for the fans who supported them, they must win the fifth game at the Target Center and let the Thunder To hell with it!

Originally, McHale wanted everyone to take a good rest, but unexpectedly everyone said that they did not feel tired at all now and only needed half a day to rest before they could return to training.This attitude makes McHale very satisfied. If he can maintain such high morale in the fifth game, defeating the Thunder will almost be a certainty.

For this reason, McHale did not force the players to go back to rest, but complied with their request to take half a day off, and let everyone regroup on the training ground.Although they have now won the match point of the series, there are not no teams in NBA history who have been overturned with a 3-1 lead. They must do more to advance.

When they arrived at the training ground, every one of the Timberwolves players looked as if they had been pumped. It was completely impossible to tell that they had just had two fierce battles with Oklahoma City and the Thunder.McHale and his coaching staff had to ask everyone to take it easy and not to have too fierce confrontations in training. If they injured themselves before the start of the game, it would be more gain than loss.

Of course, the Thunder players are also actively preparing for the game, they don't want to be eliminated just like that. 4 to 0 is called a sweep, and 4 to 1 is not too far behind. Their goal is the finals. Is it necessary to stop here?
Especially Durant, he was completely blocked by the Timberwolves in the fourth game. He only scored 16 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists, and made as many as 7 turnovers at the same time. factor.This time in the away game, he also gritted his teeth and wanted to play a better performance, helping the Thunder give the Timberwolves a hard blow, and then win the game.

With this mentality, Durant was the most active in the team's training. He even practiced shooting for himself after the training. It seemed that he wanted to avenge himself on the offensive end.Brooks did not stop him, but was happy to see the success. Durant is the bellwether of the Thunder. As long as his performance is good enough, the Thunder will win the game with a high probability.

The well-prepared two teams finally met at Target Center.Timberwolves fans will not have much pity or pity for the Thunder who came from afar, they will only express their hostility with the biggest boos.In their view, it is best for the team to eliminate the opponent at home and advance, so that they no longer have to worry about whether the team will be overturned by the opponent.

This time Brooks had no choice but to let the Thunder's three young players start at the same time, which reduced the team's defensive strength to a certain extent. Harden's talent on the offensive end is indeed strong enough to overflow, but he is still not as good as Sefolosha in terms of defense.

McHale did not continue to maintain the starting lineup of the previous game, but resumed the regular starting five.His idea is very simple, that is to completely crush the Thunder through offense, and it is best to directly kill the game with a three-pointer.

Both sides have similar ideas, and both want to open the situation by attacking first, so it depends on who has the better skills.

Among the cheers of the home fans, the Timberwolves took the lead in launching the offensive.Xu Hao and Rubio easily tore through the Thunder's defense, forcing them to shrink to protect the basket, so that the outside shooters got a lot of shots.In addition to Korver, Love is also constantly pulling outside to shoot, and he also has the advantage of height.

The Thunder originally wanted to block the Timberwolves' three-point shooting, but the speed of the opponent's passing the ball was too fast, and they stretched out their hands but only caught the air.At the same time, Xu Hao continued to break through Harden's defense and hit the inside. It is impossible to open the inside because of fear of the Timberwolves' three-point shooting, right?The Thunder players didn't know which side to focus on first.

The Timberwolves players were very hot tonight. With 4 minutes and 11 seconds left in the first quarter, they had scored 28 points.At this time, McHale came on as a substitute. Brooks just wanted to breathe a sigh of relief, but immediately tensed his nerves.If the Timberwolves' starting lineup is the Tigers, then their substitutes are at least hungry wolves, especially Barea, a little man who shuttles through the Thunder's defense like an elf, messing up the situation, and then being messed up by him. won.

In the first quarter, the Timberwolves scored 41 points, while the Thunder scored only 30 points. The double-digit point difference caused the morale of the two sides to ebb and flow.McHale waved his hand, indicating to the players to continue to strengthen the attack, and must completely defeat the Thunder.

Such a decision made him continue to change formations in the second quarter, and let Barea and Xu Hao partner in the backcourt. The two were like two sharp knives, constantly interspersed back and forth in the Thunder's defense, and became riddled with holes. As soon as the teammates come, they get more shots.Although Barea is a master of chaos, it's not that he can't pass the ball. After all, he is the leading star of the Puerto Rican men's basketball team. When it comes to the World Series, he only knows how to understand the organization.

At the end of the half, the Timberwolves had opened up the point difference to more than 20 points. Before the game, people thought that this would be a close game. Unexpectedly, it has become one-sided now, which makes people feel against the Thunder players. .

But the Timberwolves players don't have time to pay attention to the mood of the opponent. They only know how to attack, attack, and attack again.

The Thunder's morale seemed to have fallen to a trough. In the second half, they were unable to organize an effective counterattack. Xu Hao also consciously lowered the team's rhythm. He played steadily in every round, striving for success rate rather than speed.For them, as long as they can control the situation on the court, there is no need to further widen the point difference. This is enough now.

To the cheers of the home crowd, the Timberwolves advanced to the Western Conference Finals with a 123-101 victory over the Thunder at Target Center.If it is said that they reached the Western Conference finals last season and many people thought they were lucky, then now they have proved that they are strong enough.Since the Thunder can be eliminated strongly, it is not impossible to reach the finals.

What they have to do now is to wait for work, and wait for another group of semi-finals to decide the winner.

(End of this chapter)