NBA: Duncan feels uneasy coaching Warriors

Chapter 134 Brooks' doubts

Only Durant himself understood the extent of Iguodala's influence on him just now.

Durant has played so smoothly recently, almost to the point of being unstoppable.

From the previous consecutive scoring champions to now, the real-time MVP ranking is far ahead of No.2 by a large margin.

Durant wants to score, and almost no one in the entire league stops him.

But today's Iguodala surprised Durant very much.

It's not that the Thunder haven't played against the Nuggets before, but that was only in the regular season. The Nuggets didn't let Iguodala, who is so different from him in stature, go against him.

Occasionally, Iguodala didn't defend him like this at the time, and he also adopted the league's conventional defense method against him.

For Durant, Iguodala is an unimpressive defender, but the moment just now really made Durant feel the feeling of losing control of the shot.

And this time the Timberwolves have the ball.

For the Thunder, Gobert chose to face Giannis Antetokounmpo.

And I really believe in Gobert's defense, and I didn't let the wing players do any double-teaming of Giannis Antetokounmpo.

There are not even ordinary delays, fake defenses and other strategies.

Scott Brooks almost made it clear that he thought Gobert could guard you against Giannis Antetokounmpo, depending on whether you took the move.

The Timberwolves did not have a tradition of letting the team boss play at the beginning. After all, the Timberwolves do not have an orthodox team boss.

Although Giannis Antetokounmpo is the established core, he is only a rookie after all.

Giannis Antetokounmpo seemed a little hesitant, but at this time Su Chen on the sidelines yelled to pull away.

Originally, for the first ball, the Timberwolves wanted to play tactics.

After Su Chen shouted and pulled away, everyone dispersed to make room on one side.

This made Giannis Antetokounmpo feel a little grateful. He didn't expect Su Chen to break the tradition of strictly playing tactics for him.

Su Chen on the sidelines shouted to pull away, then continued to watch quietly.

Although he has deliberately reduced the rounds of players' singles, even when Giannis Antetokounmpo and Butler want to make a breakthrough, they will move along with the team's tactics.

Unlike the Thunder, most of the time it is a team where Durant and Westbrook rely on their individual abilities to play singles.

But this does not mean that everyone else has set up a relatively weaker set of matchups, and Su Chen still rigidly does not allow players to play this matchup.

Even Gobert at his peak couldn't defend Giannis Antetokounmpo well.

Gobert's speed and sensitivity are far behind Giannis Antetokounmpo. What Gobert can do most of the time is to raise his arms and try to make Giannis Antetokounmpo's layup more difficult. .

With Gobert's agility, it's easy to be beaten by Giannis Antetokounmpo's direct six fouls.

And it's just the rookie Gobert.

And Giannis Antetokounmpo is 80% of the peak Giannis Antetokounmpo after [fixed ability value].

Su Chen is happy to accept this matchup.

But after all, Gobert has played with Giannis Antetokounmpo for so long, and he is more familiar with Giannis Antetokounmpo's ball. Let Gobert interfere.

Giannis Antetokounmpo is playing team tactics most of the time, and he is a little uncomfortable with the singles privilege all of a sudden.

The ability value has reached 80% of the peak, but in terms of mentality, it is still the mentality of rookie Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Su Chen didn't blame Giannis Antetokounmpo, the most important thing for a rookie is confidence, and this fight against Gobert is a good confidence builder.

Thunder offensive round.

Westbrook controlled the ball across the half, and at the same time, when one side crossed the half, he also signaled the team to continue to pull away.

After pulling away, he gave the ball to Durant.

Westbrook's idea is very simple, that is, Durant failed to score in singles just now, and it was a bit embarrassing.

This ball directly made everyone pull away, saving Durant's face.

Gobert originally wanted to come up to pick and roll Durant, but Westbrook waved him directly and made him squat back to the basket.

When giving the ball to Durant, Westbrook also gave Durant a look, signaling him to hit back.

Westbrook's kindness was hard to stop, and after Durant received the ball, he could barely continue to play singles.

In fact, when Durant saw Gobert coming over just now, he was already thinking about how to find opportunities through Gobert's pick-and-roll.

But he watched Westbrook helplessly, and directly scolded Gobert back.

He couldn't call Gobert back again.

Although Gobert is a rookie, he is not treated like a toy by the second young master, and is called around.

let's hit!

Durant got all the balls, and his teammates pulled him away, so he had to play if he didn't play.

And Durant is going to fight for MVP this season, how can he be shrunk by a player of Iguodala's level!
But this time Durant played a lot smarter.

He wanted to use the threat of shooting to break through directly.

But Iguodala had already received Su Chen's instructions before the game, and he must be locked in Durant's foot.

Iguodala didn't care about Durant's shooting, anyway, he withstood Durant's foot.

If Durant wanted to shoot a jumper, Iguodala would have to stop him.

I want to break through, but Iguodala can't beat Iguodala, and I can't squeeze through.

It took more than ten seconds to play Iguodala alone, which made Durant feel a little embarrassed, and he made a breakthrough and pulled back and pulled it out.

But Iguodala didn't hesitate at all, he still stood against Durant's foot, and then blocked Durant's face to defend.

After Durant threw the ball, he fell to the ground and looked at the referee to signal that Iguodala had fouled.

But the referee also saw clearly that Iguodala didn't move forward after the hit against the top.

Durant's shooting cylinder was not violated, and Iguodala's face cover was not Battier's more dangerous close-up face cover, but a farther face cover.

clang!
The ball strikes iron again.

Durant fell to the ground, still about to foul.

But the Timberwolves seized this opportunity to play more and play less.

Giannis Antetokounmpo strode the fast break with unstoppable momentum.

At the same time, the Timberwolves players supported in different positions, allowing the Thunder to make defensive choices.

The Timberwolves are all on the fast break, but on the Thunder's side, Gobert runs slowly and Durant is still on the ground.

It's like a five-on-three frontcourt.

Giannis Antetokounmpo sprints in, draws the defense, and passes the ball to Iguodala who follows up.

Iguodala did not attack by himself, but threw the ball into the sky.

boom!
Ibaka followed up and directly completed the empty dunk.

Sefolosha wanted to complete the block, but was directly knocked to the ground by the former teammate.

Sefolosha's defense was not bad, but there is a tonnage gap between him and Ibaka.

beep!
The referee's whistle also sounded, and it was still a 2+1 dunk.

Ibaka walked to the free throw line and made the free throw.

Timberwolves 3:0 Thunder.

beep!
Scott Brooks called a timeout.

Generally speaking, even in the playoffs, it is rare to call a timeout after the first few rounds.

But Scott Brooks really saw the problem this time and had to call this timeout.

At the time of the first ball, he also thought that Durant didn't feel good and didn't make the shot.

But judging from the ball just now, Durant didn't miss the shot because he didn't feel good, but really didn't make the shot because of defensive problems.

After all, it stands to reason that Durant chooses to shoot the first ball. If the opponent does not cause interference, then Durant can still choose to shoot the second ball.

The difference in size between him and Iguodala cannot be disturbed once, nor can it be disturbed the second time.

But in the second round, Durant obviously resisted the way of standing and pulling. He chose to dribble and break through for more than ten seconds and did not break through.

Although that shot was a forced choice that couldn't break through, in fact, Iguodala still didn't block Durant.

But Durant still didn't make it.

Scott Brooks said that he is a chicken soup coach, but sometimes he is more like a nanny coach. He knows the players very well.

He is well aware that this is not Durant's normal state.

So there was a problem with the offense, and Scott Brooks also felt that he needed to call this timeout to reorganize the team's problems.

At the same time, it was also because Ibaka, a veteran player of the Thunder, had just completed the action of raising momentum like a dunk, and calling a timeout was also to disrupt the opponent's momentum.

The commentators were also a little surprised by the bout shown at the beginning.

"Let me make sure, the Thunder didn't play back-to-back games today, right? Didn't they take a day off?"

"Durant's state is simply indescribable. Is there a defender in front of him?"

Johnson said with some incomprehension.

"Haha, did Durant go somewhere to indulge at night, and didn't slow down?"

O'Neill joked.

"Maybe his former teammate Harden introduced him, but is there any fun nightclub in Minnesota when it's so cold?"

Barkley also said with a smile.

"That's not the case. If you look at the return defense carefully, you will find that Durant's shooting action is actually a bit awkward."

And this time, Kenny Smith told what he saw.

Although Kenny Smith's NBA achievements are not as good as theirs, the two championships were also won as role players.

But Kenny Smith was born as a shooter, and he has a keen sense of shooting hands.

Although O'Neal's achievements are high, but O'Neal who can't make free throws clearly, don't expect him to be able to do such careful observation.

"But Iguodala didn't violate his cylinder?"

O'Neill asked with some doubts.

O'Neill also knew that Kenny Smith was a professional shooter, so O'Neill still asked questions that he didn't understand.

"I don't know too well, but it should be the take-off confrontation, which deformed Durant's shooting action."

For this question, Kenny - Smith can not give an answer.

After all, for so many years, Durant has given the impression that there is no solution.

Whether to enter or not to enter depends on his own feel.

"How could it have such a big impact if it was disturbed during the take-off?"

Barkley said incredulously.

O'Neill also had an incredible expression on his face.

Because whether it is Barkley or O'Neal, their basketball career is a strong macho player.

That level of confrontation, to them, is like scratching an itch.

Now Kenny Smith told them that Durant was so tickled by the confrontation that he even distorted his shots.

This is beyond their cognition.

Kenny Smith was also speechless and didn't know how to explain it to them.

After all, O'Neill has two or three people on his body, who can still complete dunks, can he understand this when you tell him?
A normal mineral water bottle is like an oral liquid in his hands, so how can they understand the world of ordinary people.

But this time the suspension is over.

Kenny Smith doesn't have to continue to talk about this hard-to-explain issue with them.

Thunder possession.

After passing the timeout just now, the Thunder did not continue to force Durant to play this time.

Scott Brooks also learned from Durant just now how he really feels.

Regarding this weakness of Durant, Scott Brooks actually knows something about it, but few other teams in the league target this weakness of Durant's lower body, so he doesn't care.

He didn't even think about it.

Some of the Thunder's main playoff opponents have not studied Durant's profound targeting plan.

A rebuilding team like the Timberwolves, okay, isn't it idle to come here to study Durant's plan?
"Could it be that Su Chen is not only very confident about making it to the playoffs, but is even researching his opponents in the playoffs in advance?"

Thinking of this, Scott Brooks glanced at Su Chen on the other side.

Is this a little too arrogant?

Shouldn't the Timberwolves first consider whether they can make it to the playoffs?
Even if it is to enter the playoffs and consider winning the regular season, you should study some opponents who are stuck in the game.

The Mavericks, Grizzlies, and even the Trail Blazers, the second-tier teams in the West, should be the opponents that the Timberwolves should study more, not the Thunder.

The Thunder are obviously a team in the first echelon, and it is obviously not worthwhile to spend so much effort to win a game or two against the Thunder.

Scott Brooks really couldn't figure out, Su Chen had nothing to think about how to target Durant and what purpose.

And this is a plan that many teams didn't come up with, but it was figured out by Su Chen.

This made Scott Brooks dare not let Durant hold the ball too much to face Iguodala this time.

Not afraid of Timberwolves.

It's because the Thunder's main opponents this season, the Spurs, Clippers, and Warriors, will understand this trick.

Now there are only two rounds, an ordinary regular season, even the video analysis may not be able to analyze this.

This time it was Westbrook holding the ball.

Westbrook pretended to be casually watching the position of the team, then a sudden change of rhythm, and a direct acceleration.

Butler didn't actually feel bad, but Westbrook's absolute speed is just that fast.

Carrying Butler's defense, Westbrook scored the goal.

Timberwolves 3:2 Thunder.

Butler did a good job defending the ball. Su Chen nodded on the sidelines without making any adjustments.

The two players, Durant and Westbrook, are future MVP players no matter what, and now their strength has reached the peak, but the data is poor to win the MVP.

After all, this is Westbrook's sixth season, and Durant's seventh.

However, the Timberwolves' defense has not really increased its strength.

Su Chen plans to change the defensive system later, and now it is man-to-man defensive strategy.

The Timberwolves have the ball.

The Thunder are still guarding Giannis Antetokounmpo with Gobert.

During the timeout, Su Chen asked Giannis Antetokounmpo to attack more resolutely, and he could consider making more fouls by Gobert.

Gobert's agility is too bad, unless he hides from the defense, Giannis Antetokounmpo's desire to foul Gobert is still achievable.

But for this ball, Gobert did not foul.

He raised his hands high, but Giannis Antetokounmpo charged at him, which made Gobert subconsciously block the shot.

But at this time, Giannis Antetokounmpo relied on his sensitivity to dodge, and then went back to the basket.

Timberwolves 5:2 Thunder.

(End of this chapter)