basketball dreams

Chapter 27 What Are They Doing?
When the Timberwolves game started, Yunchen just came home from the bar, but Yuan Junjie hadn't played yet as a substitute.

I have to say that the Timberwolves are indeed very strong on paper.

The first position is Jeff Teague, the head guard of the Eagles in the past few years, and he is also a player who has been selected as an All-Star. The second position is the former Bulls star Jimmy Butler, and the third position is Andrew Wiggins. The top pick in the draft, a quasi-All-Star player, his draft template is James!Karl-Anthony Towns, the No. 2014 pick in 2016, is one of the strongest centers in the league who was just selected as an All-Star in 2018.

On the bench, they also have the 2008 No. 2018 pick Rose and the [-] league's best sixth man Jamal Crawford. Although the state of these two is not as good as before, they can still provide good firepower. support.

So logically speaking, such a team should do a lot in the playoffs.

But last year's playoffs, they lost to the Houston Rockets in the first round, and they didn't play to the level they should have at all.

And this summer, they have almost no reinforcements, and the team remains the same.

So now Yunchen can only think of three words to describe this team, that is a fake strong team.

They gave Yunchen a bit like the Rockets when Howard and Gao Fushuai were still in Houston a few years ago.

The lineup is strong on paper, but when they hit a strong team, various problems are exposed. The reason is that Yunchen believes that the players in the team have not adapted to their system.

Everyone was playing in their own world, unconnected and sometimes didn't even look like they were on the same team.

Just like today's game, it's been 6 minutes since the game started, 9-14, and the Timberwolves trailed the Portland Trail Blazers by 5 points in the away game.

Today, Wiggins and Towns seem to have fallen into a swamp, failing to make shots repeatedly, and the same is true for Butler. They both seem to be forcing themselves to shoot in positions that they are not good at.

Moreover, without cooperation, the team has only 2 assists so far.

On the other hand, the Trail Blazers on the opposite side, after Lillard came up, he opened fire, and the Timberwolves who scored 2 consecutive three-pointers were stunned at the beginning. McClemore did not show any weakness. He broke through, made mid-range shots, drew fouls, and scored differently It's completely bombardment, everyone is running, and the shots are almost always open.

Their performance today even made Yunchen feel that these two are the Splash Brothers of the alliance.

This situation lasted until 7 minutes after the opening, Timberwolves coach Thibodeau finally couldn't sit still and called a timeout.

At this time, the score came to 9-17, and the point difference was about to reach double digits.

"Huh, there are too many stars on the field, the ball will not be distributed, and there is no tactical system like Kerr and Gentry to pass the ball. If Thibodeau can really coordinate the Timberwolves' offense, the Rockets will not win last season. It's so easy." Yun Chen sneered at this.

He doesn't appreciate the head coach Thibodeau very much. As the former Bulls coach, this man has always been known for his iron-blooded defense.

But it is precisely because he is too focused on defense, so the offensive tactics are obviously weaker than others, and it is easy to mess up when there are too many stars.

At the Red Bulls, there were few stars, but Rose and Butler's playing time each season has always been among the top few in the league, fully exposing the characteristics of the head coach's lack of offensive tactics.

Only an incompetent head coach would be so dependent on a player's personal ability, Yun Chen understood that.

In this timeout, Thibodeau took the point guard Teague, Rose came off the bench, the shooting guard was replaced by Crawford, and the power forward was Yuan Junjie.

Gibson's performance in the past few minutes can't be said to be bad, but he has made no achievements. The replacement at this time is considered a normal rotation.

As the game continued, Yunchen was actually skeptical about this substitution.

Because even if you don’t talk about Yuan Junjie as a rookie, Crawford and Rose alone are difficult to be compatible. They both like to attack with the ball, not to mention Downs and Wiggins on the field. It's simply not enough to play.

"If you can fight well, it will be a ghost..." Seeing this, Yun Chen couldn't help but taunt, but before he could finish the taunt, a scene that surprised him appeared.

After Rose advanced to the frontcourt with the ball, he chose to break through as usual, and it was an excellent breakthrough position, but when he could score, he even split the ball.

The ball was given to Towns, who was in a better position inside, and the latter dunked. 11-17.

"Huh...it's not like Rose's style!" Yun Chen was dumbfounded. If the former Rose would have passed this ball directly, but today he passed it very simply.

"Occasionally..." Yun Chen rubbed his chin, thinking it was just an accident.

But in the next round, the Blazers missed a shot and the Timberwolves counterattacked, but Rose surprised Yunchen again.

Because of the fast counterattack, Rose took the lead and had already reached the basket. There was no defense around him, and it was a perfect empty basket.

But Rose chose to pass the ball again, and gave it to Wiggins who followed up behind him, who made a dunk. 13-17.

"Is it true or not? This isn't a layup?" Yun Chen's eyes widened. Is this the Ross he knows?
That Rose, who likes to fold for layups and dunks in the air, voluntarily gave up scoring opportunities?
At the peak, Rose averaged 8.2 assists per game, which is definitely not alone, but he would definitely not choose to pass the ball if he had an offensive opportunity. Today, Rose gave him a feeling of Chris Paul!
I don't know if it's because of Rose's change. The Timberwolves, who were still attacking dystocia before the timeout, seemed to have suddenly opened up, and the attack became smoother after a while.

Rose assisted Towns to score inside, Rose passed the ball to Wiggins, Wiggins then passed it to Crawford for a mid-range shot, Rose made a fast break and assisted Wiggins to catch an empty catch...

Yun Chen: "..."

In the remaining 5 minutes of the first quarter, Rose seemed to be the team's lubricant, connecting the attacks of the other four just right, allowing the teammates who were originally fighting independently to form a complete system at once, and the score behind Gradually catch up.

Soon, the first quarter ended, 26-27, and the Timberwolves were only one point behind.

"It's fake... Rose has less than 4 assists in half a quarter..."

Yunchen didn't expect Rose's change, but Yunchen didn't expect another person's change either.

Yuan Junjie, the leading scorer in the Las Vegas Summer League, did not score a single point in this quarter. He only scored 1 offensive rebound and 2 defensive rebounds, almost becoming a blue-collar player.

Even, he didn't even make a move.

"Didn't the coach design offensive tactics for him?" Yun Chen frowned. He could understand Rose's change, and it was because of the smoothness of the team's offense, but Yuan Junjie seemed very strange.

The coach sent him to play for a long time, and it was impossible not to have a separate offensive tactic, but he almost gave up all offensive opportunities.

"What's going on? Are you nervous for the first time?" Yun Chen made a guess, which is the only reason that can be explained so far.

But after the start of the second quarter, Yuan Junjie's performance broke Yun Chen's guess.

As soon as the second quarter came up, Gibson returned to the court, probably because of the influence of his teammates, so he felt a little better. He scored 4 points on 3 of 2 shots in 4 minutes.

Timeout, Yuan Junjie replaced.

After playing, he seemed to have been unsealed. He made 3 of 3 inside and outside shots, 1 of 1 free throws, scored 5 points in 7 minutes of playing time, and directly stopped the Blazers.

He seemed to have turned back to the Yuan Junjie who had no solution to attack.

Originally, Yunchen thought that he would not be nervous after adjusting his mentality, but in the remaining 3 minutes of this section, he stopped shooting again.

Even if Rose has fed the ball into his hands and the inside is empty, he will choose to pass it to his teammates.

It's like... trying to suppress myself.

"What the hell are you doing?" The expression on Yun Chen's face at this moment can only be described as wonderful.

Yuan Junjie deserves to be Rose's fanboy, even the style change has to be synchronized with the idol!

But thanks to Rose's change and Junjie's brave performance, at the end of the halftime, the Timberwolves led the Blazers by 56 points 53-3.

"What the hell are they doing?"

(End of this chapter)