Junior Basketball says

Chapter 458 Super Car
Losing at the Target Center is actually not a big deal. Countless strong teams have bowed here this season, but the old man Popovich made a bold statement.He said bluntly in the press conference after the game: "I know this is the devil's home court, and the Timberwolves' home record this season is also the best in the league, but I have the confidence to take my players to conquer this arena. I know The players in the Timberwolves are very good, they won the championship last year, but we are not bad either!"

Soon what Popovich said spread to the locker room of the home team. The players who hadn't left looked at each other in blank dismay. They didn't know how confident the old man had to say such a thing.Xu Hao was also very puzzled. He never underestimated any opponent, but in his opinion, the Spurs really couldn't compete with the Timberwolves. Do they have any secret weapons?
After a brief discussion, everyone went back to their respective homes to find their own mothers. Xu Hao also returned to his apartment full of doubts and began to fall asleep.Of course, he still went to the system to play a simulated game against the Spurs as always. It is always good for Xu Hao to accumulate more experience and have more opportunities to find the opponent's loopholes.

A day later, the second game of the Western Conference Finals continued at the Target Center. Popovich, who had been very arrogant before, rarely kept a low profile. He said to reporters: "Our players will go all out in this game and strive for a better team. Winning? Of course this is our ultimate goal, but this process is very difficult, and we will try our best to do our best."

The Timberwolves players were relieved by the old man's change of attitude. It seemed that the Spurs were just bluffing, but Xu Hao didn't think so. Although he didn't know what kind of trick Popovich had thought of, he was known as "Zhuge Weiqi" in China. The legendary coach will never be aimless, he will definitely come up with something different in the game.

Sure enough, after the start of the game, the Spurs began to concentrate on Parker. This was indeed very common in previous games, but what is not common is that Parker hit the basket very resolutely every time he held the ball, using his iconic With a 180-degree turn and a small throw, the defense line composed of Love and Jordan was smashed by the French sports car.

It stands to reason that Rubio is going to defend Parker, but he faced Nash and Lawson very easily in the first two rounds of the playoffs. He actually couldn't keep up with Parker's footsteps. His starting time is too short, and his speed is amazing. , often a negligence, he only left a taillight for Rubio, and he could only follow behind to eat ashes, watching Parker helplessly for a layup.

In less than half a quarter, Parker had scored 9 points and 3 assists, and the Spurs also led 20-12, which is unacceptable for the Timberwolves.Seeing that Rubio was going to be completely beaten by Parker, McHale simply replaced him with Ellington and let Xu Hao play point guard, but it was Ellington who was responsible for defending Parker, and Xu Hao only needed to assist from the side.

In fact, Ellington's speed is only on par with Rubio's, maybe a little slower, but his body is stronger, and he is a full-time defensive player. Before Kirilenko joined the team, he was the Timberwolves' outside defensive vanguard .McHale sent him in the hope that he could limit Parker's endless breakthroughs and create opportunities for the team to overtake the score.

It's a pity that McHale's wishful thinking came to nothing. Parker seemed to be possessed by God tonight. Even if Ellington used all his skills, he only needed a sprint to leave him behind. Whether to score or assist was only in his mind. between.

It's not that Xu Hao didn't try to help defend, but Parker can often break out before he and Ellington's encirclement closed. Originally, he was just eating car exhaust alone, but now he has become two people. This feeling is undoubtedly very bad .

McHale was also scratching his head. Parker's lethality in this game far exceeded other previous games. Timberwolves' guards were no different from wooden piles in front of him. The Spurs also maintained their lead under his leadership. .Originally, McHale planned to let Xu Hao mark, but now he has given up this idea. If Xu Hao can't guard Parker, and he doesn't have more energy to organize and score, then is it necessary for the Timberwolves to fight?
Taking advantage of Parker's free throw opportunity, McHale called Xu Hao to his side to teach him the opportunity. He said seriously: "Chris, now we need you to score. It is best to get more points than Parker. You know what to do. Bar?"

Xu Hao nodded. The coach's instructions obviously hope that he can complete the exchange with Parker and make up for the points lost on the defensive end on the offensive end. This is what the Timberwolves do most often when facing super scorers.As the team's top scorer, Xu Hao is usually entrusted with important tasks at this time. This time he is still the hope of the team.

After the game restarted, Xu Hao also consciously strengthened his offense with the ball. Anyway, his backcourt partner is Ellington, who doesn’t occupy the ball very much and only shoots three-pointers from the bottom corner. The frequency of singles is too high. Big problem, as long as he can guarantee a high enough scoring efficiency.However, it seems that Parker beat him to death. Leonard, who has been in charge of defending Xu Hao, suddenly played a DPOY (Defensive Player of the Year) level. Although he did not complete a steal or block, his pair of big hands seemed to be everywhere. , which greatly compressed Xu Hao's space, forcing him to continue to forcefully shoot.

Such an offense naturally dragged down the entire team. The Timberwolves still failed to recover from the decline in the second quarter and fell behind 51-67 at halftime.Such a critical situation made the fans on the sidelines spare no effort to send cheers, hoping to help the Timberwolves regain their confidence, but the Timberwolves players had no time to pay attention, and walked into the player tunnel with solemn expressions.

Although McHale gave his players a lot of chicken soup during the intermission, they still had nothing to do with Parker, who had exploded in the small universe in the second half, and they were still behind their opponents by double digits at the end of the third quarter.Although the Timberwolves fought hard to catch up in the fourth quarter, it was too late. In the end, they lost 93 to 102 at home, and the big score was equalized by their opponents.

The hero of the Spurs' victory in this game is naturally the extremely efficient Parker. He scored 23 points on 14 of 34 shots and sent out a team-high 7 assists.This made Xu Hao and the others feel embarrassed, but the fact is that they were blown away by Parker at home, and they can only wait until the next game to save face.

(End of this chapter)