The godfather of basketball started from conquering the NBA

In the third game, the Spurs removed the starting McDyess and replaced Matt Bonner. It can be seen that Popovich wanted to adopt Xu Xiao's previous thinking.

Take advantage of sufficient space to make up for the lack of height inside.

And the only space-based high fort on the Spurs side is Matt Bonner.

Doing so is undoubtedly leaving all the defense of the inside to Duncan alone.

"I have to say that old thief Bobo is lucky to meet such a rare genius like Duncan." Xu Xiao glanced at the opponent's lineup, and Xu Xiao sighed in his heart. It's a pity that he can't coach Duncan in this life.

Otherwise, he really wants to get Duncan over. With such a reassuring inside cornerstone, this lineup is simply not too good to match.

The Timberwolves still use the previous lineup. Westbrook and Roy partner in the backcourt, Josh and Ibaka partner in the frontcourt, and Oden is the center.

At the beginning of the game, Duncan first helped the Spurs get the ball.

The Spurs' first offense here was also given to Duncan.

This time the Spurs did not grind their position, but quickly completed a mid-range shot, but missed, and the rebound was accepted by Ibaka.

On the Timberwolves side, Oden and Josh played a high and low position. As soon as Josh got the ball, he directed Oden to go straight. , can only end the offense with a small throw.

But under Duncan's interference, he also missed. Ibaka grabbed a rebound, but the rebound was still taken by Batum.

In the first round of the opening round, neither side took advantage, just when everyone thought that this game would be a defensive-oriented battle.

The Spurs fired first.

Parker quickly advanced across the half, found Afflalo, who had played early and quickly, and easily scored 2 points.

"Just push the fast break? Isn't that like the Spurs' style?"

But the Timberwolves did not sit still. Westbrook came back and used a three-pointer to blow the Timberwolves' offense.

Not to be outdone, Bonner returned a three-pointer, but the referee decided that he had stepped on the line.

After that, Josh and Batum each hit a three-pointer, and Ibaka's powerful Bonner scored 2 points under the basket.

After that, Afflalo hit a three-pointer.

In the opening two and a half minutes, both sides hit four three-pointers.

Oden took the ball and wanted to beat Duncan, but facing the old Duncan's defense, Oden also had a little difficulty. He happened to see Josh who was making an air cut and directly stuffed it.

"Focus on Bonner, as long as Duncan is not allowed to protect the frame, the Spurs' inside line will be a vacuum."

The Timberwolves' three outsiders had the same idea in an instant.

Afterwards, the ball was given directly to Oden, and he wanted Oden to use offense to attract Duncan's defense.

This time Duncan obviously had some concerns when defending Oden, which gave Oden an opportunity to hit a small hook directly under the basket.

After that, he hit 2+1 hard for Oden.

Fortunately, Duncan also dunked successfully at the basket, which didn't let the score open.

But the Timberwolves found the key to victory. Oden was hitting the basket. This time it was replaced by Ibaka's air cut, and Oden shook his hand.

But obviously the passing quality of the ball was not high, and Bonner interfered with all his strength, almost destroying the ball.

It's a pity that Ibaka's arm is too long, but he still saved the basketball and raised his hand to put the ball into the basket.

After that, Batum assisted Duncan to put in the basket. The Spurs were only 14 points behind 16 to 2 and entered an official timeout.

"The Spurs' tactics are different today. They also want to make changes. They want to speed up and play offensively. In this case, let them see our offense."

"Come on guys tell these old guys, now is the time for our young people, these old guys should abdicate." Assistant coach Tyronn Lue also encouraged everyone.

Back in the game, the Spurs' outside firepower remained undiminished. After Ginobili came up, he directly cheated the young Matthews into a foul from outside the three-point line, and made all three free throws, allowing the Spurs to take the lead again.

But soon the Timberwolves counterattacked. Oden assisted Josh and made a layup. After Josh blocked Parker, Westbrook directly counterattacked and assisted Josh to score another two points.

After that, Westbrook missed a layup, but Gibson grabbed the offensive rebound and assisted Matthews in the corner again to hit a three-pointer.

The Timberwolves played 7-0 and once again mastered the rhythm of the game.

But Ginobili didn't give the chance at all. Parker quickly served the baseline ball.

"Since you insist on attacking and playing fast, then we will fight to the end."

Josh made a long fall from the baseline, and Matthews received the ball in the frontcourt. He didn't wait for his teammates to pass halftime, and directly shot a three-pointer.

Since it's an open seat, why don't I vote?Matthews' psychological quality is really strong, and he will never miss an opportunity.

Hit a three-pointer steadily.

The score was stretched to 7 points again.

Xu Xiao on the sidelines also understood that Popovich was about to break the boat. The two losses before made him understand that there is no chance of winning if he blindly presses the rhythm and fights defense.

I am not a trailblazer, and I don't have such good forward resources. Except for Duncan, everyone else's inside height is not enough.

There is no trump card like Durant.

If you only defend, you will only be smashed by Westbrook and Josh, and it is difficult for this group of old arms and legs to play fast rotations like the Blazers.

And the most terrible thing is that the pick-and-roll tactics of the Timberwolves cannot be defended by the Spurs. Each of these people has shots and can go down. If Xu Xiao remembers correctly, the Spurs in the previous life were eliminated by a pick-and-roll like the Suns. 4, the kind with no suspense at all.

So this time Popovich changed his strategy and wanted to use offense against us like he eliminated the Suns in 05.

"But it's a pity that the Duncan of today is not the Duncan of five years ago."

During the conversation, Duncan hit a small drop shot, which was not easy to score, but what was even more terrible was that Duncan's retreat was obviously not as fast as before.

Westbrook also seized the opportunity and directly pushed the speed from the bottom line.

Before the Spurs' defense was in place, Duncan was still at the free throw line, and Westbrook rushed up.

Duncan could only chase desperately from the side, and Westbrook stopped the ball and threw it.

Josh, who followed up, caught the ball from the free throw line and passed the defender with one step. Although Duncan consciously made up for it, he was not in the defensive position and did not cause too much interference to Josh at all.

It was still easily scored.

Batum made a mistake in his busy schedule and made another mistake. Westbrook was making a transition and assisted Matthews to hit a three-pointer.

森林狼开场16投12中，31比21比分也被拉开到10分。

Popovich quickly called a timeout, replaced Parker and Bonner, and replaced two rookies. One was Darren Collison, who played well this year, and the other was this year's second-round pick, Jerebko. Bonner, too, is a high fort.

Back from the timeout, the Spurs' defense still hasn't improved much, and Outlaw also hit a three-pointer. The Timberwolves made 6 of 6 three-pointers in the start, which is unbelievable for Popovich's team.

Although there is a problem with the defense, the offense of this lineup can be said to be the strongest in the Spurs.

In the last 2 minutes of the first quarter, the Spurs also blew the horn of counterattack with offense.

First, Duncan caused Gibson's foul and made two free throws. Then Duncan, who broke through the bottom line with Ginobili's signature, made a backhand layup and caused Hayes' foul.

Originally, Duncan scored 5 points in a row, which helped the Spurs narrow the point difference to 8 points, but the Spurs made consecutive mistakes at the last moment.

First, in the defense, Westbrook easily broke through and succeeded in a layup, and then made a serve error, allowing Gibson to dunk directly under the basket.

The most terrible thing is that in the last 3.8 seconds, Westbrook rushed to the front court and hit a layup, and at the same time caused a foul by his senior Collison, scoring 2+1.

In just 44 seconds, the Timberwolves scored 7 points in a row and once again expanded the score to 41 to 26.

In the second quarter, the Timberwolves lost their three-pointers and missed two consecutive three-pointers, giving the Spurs a chance.

Ginobili and Parker, the two old partners, will take on the main task of transitioning when Duncan is absent.

The duo did not disappoint. Ginobili first hit 2+1, and then Parker used the pick-and-roll to break through twice. Facing Hayes, Parker's signature small throws succeeded repeatedly, and the score was narrowed to 8 points.

"Old man, it's still up to you." Parker clapped Ginobili again after hitting the second throw.

The momentum on the offensive end made the Spurs work harder on defense. Outlaw came out and made another three-pointer. Uduka tried his best to block it, causing the Timberwolves to miss three consecutive three-pointers.

But the rebound was taken by Hayes, and the Timberwolves organized an offense again. Gibson singled McDyess toughly under the basket, and scored two points with a layup under the basket, breaking the scoring drought for the Timberwolves.

After that, Gibson successfully interfered with Ginobili's layup on the defensive end, but the ball still belonged to the Spurs.

"The other party also understands that Oden is the only high point on our side. If Oden goes off the court, our inside line will be like the other party, but they are older and we are young and inexperienced." Xu Xiao on the bench watched quietly. The situation on the field changes.

He has already been thinking in his heart that he must get a backup center next season. Although Hayes is very good now, he has offense and defense, but his height is his blemish.

Under his own system, Hayes is doomed to be difficult to make a big difference, and he is not the card he wants.

While talking, Hayes scored two points at the basket, but McDyess also hit the inside when he came back.

Dragic came back for an offensive foul and put the game into an official timeout.

Maybe it was Popovich who made relevant arrangements. When he came back, Batum saw through Roy's pass and directly stole a one-stop dunk.

The Timberwolves made a mistake when they came back, and Efflalo missed a three-pointer, but the Spurs grabbed rebounds like crazy.

He grabbed three offensive rebounds in one round, but in the end Oberto still failed to make up and was destroyed by Outlaw.

Seeing this, Xu Xiao knew that he couldn't pretend to be aggressive, so he quickly replaced Westbrook and Auden.

"Popovich's on-the-spot adjustment ability is indeed very strong. Every time he comes back from a timeout, the Spurs can make corresponding adjustments, while Xu Xiao has almost no adjustments here, but the overall strength of the Timberwolves players is still very strong." "Objective Evaluation"

Xu Xiao was already in a cold sweat.

"I didn't expect that there was such a big gap between me and the top coaches."

Xu Xiao himself admitted that if it wasn't for the bad cards on the Spurs side, if it wasn't for Duncan who had just recovered from his injury, and if it wasn't for their age, he would really only be played around.

After that, Afflalo hit a three-pointer again. The advantage of more than ten points just now is now only 4 points.

Afterwards, the Timberwolves took advantage of an offensive foul. This time Xu Xiao was really anxious, and roared at the referee:

"This is an obvious dive!" But the referee ignored it.

In an instant, Parker scored two more points.

If Josh hadn't come back and completed a 2+1 in time, the Timberwolves might have fallen behind.

But at this time, the Spurs' defense suddenly became stronger, the Timberwolves made another mistake, and Parker instigated a counterattack.

If it wasn't for Josh's timely pursuit, Afflalo would have to hit 2+1. Afflalo made two free throws, and the point difference was only 3 points.

At the critical moment, Westbrook once again possessed Billups, and a three-pointer that stabilized the morale of the army gave the Timberwolves a sigh of relief.

In the first half, the two sides began to back and forth, and the point difference has been hovering between 3-6 points.

The Spurs couldn't catch up, and the Timberwolves couldn't pull away.

But the turning point came in the last 2 minutes of the first half.

Roy, who hadn't played much in the first half, stood up, first hit a three-pointer, and then snatched back the ball that the Timberwolves almost made a mistake. Taking advantage of the chaotic battle between the two sides and no defensive formation, he scored two points for a layup.

After that, he assisted Ibaka for a layup, and he scored two points by rushing all over the court.

If Efflalo hadn't hit a three-pointer against the defense, the Spurs would have had to let Roy open the score alone in the first half.

However, the Timberwolves still opened the point difference to 9 points with Roy scoring and assisting 12 points at the last moment, and ended the first half 66-54.

"Your defense is like the road in the early morning. The opponent really breaks through casually." During the intermission, Popovich yelled in the locker room.

"They are too fast and too accurate. We can't compete with them anymore. We have to use zone defense." Only Ginobili dared to speak out when Bobo was furious.

And it turns out that he was right.

At the beginning of the second half, the Spurs started a zone defense and replaced Bonner, who had performed poorly in the first half, with a younger Jerebko. Seizing the opportunity, Parker and Batum even scored 4 points.

But the main lineup of the Timberwolves is not like a rotation.

Roy continued the state at the end of the first half, with an air cut layup and a three-pointer around the screen, keeping the point difference at [-] points.

In the third quarter, the Timberwolves once again found the feel of the first quarter, and Oden also hit a positive three-pointer.

"The shooting ability of the Timberwolves is terrible. Although Xu Xiao is not a good coach, he is definitely a good manager and a good boss. He has trained too many good players. I still remember it. In his first year in the NBA, Oden was a foul master who knew nothing but dunks.

Now being trained by Xu Xiao, he has even practiced three-pointers, which is really rare in the league. "

Just now, he was still flattering Bobo's commentary, but in an instant he started to flatter Xu Xiao again.

"There is also Josh, a talented man. He was just a jumping man in Atlanta for so many years. Now he is a top playmaker in the league that is not weaker than James. He has even practiced the shooting and defense that have been criticized all the time. Yes, it's still at the top level in the league."

After Josh singled out Duncan for a mid-range hit, the score came to 82 to 66.

At this time, the Timberwolves had firmly grasped the rhythm of the game. Just when Xu Xiao thought that the game would be won without any risk, the Spurs started their counterattack again.

In the fourth quarter, Ginobili used all his life's knowledge to create opportunities for the Spurs in various ways. He scored 41 points in a single quarter, but unfortunately, it was still one step away in the end.

In the end, the Spurs narrowly lost to the Timberwolves by 111 to 117 by 6 points. A failure that was not like a Spurs game almost declared the death penalty for the Spurs.