NBA: Duncan feels uneasy coaching Warriors

Chapter 178 The Spurs Can't Keep Up
Intermission is over.

The two sides officially started the third quarter of the game.

Among the home fans in the stadium, some old fans are already feeling a little uneasy.

Originally, there was nothing to worry about about the Timberwolves team, but now they are playing like this.

The scene they wanted to see Duncan blowing up Giannis Antetokounmpo didn't happen, or even Ibaka.

The analysis of the pick-and-roll between Parker and Duncan before the game showed that the Minnesota forward team could not parry, but this scene did not appear.

Since the beginning of this season, the Spurs have been going smoothly without any challenges.

Whether it was the beginning of the season or ending with the league's first record.

In the first round, they swept the Grizzlies, who had beaten them before, and easily eliminated the Thunder led by Durant and Westbrook in the second round.

Timberwolves, but judging from past resumes.

In terms of experience, it is not as good as the Grizzlies eliminated in the first round.

Even when it comes to the talents of young people, they are far inferior to Thunder.

The gold content of Durant and Westbrook's dual core is not comparable to the dual core of the Timberwolves today.

But this is how the Timberwolves, relying on team basketball, played against the Spurs like this.

This is the Spurs' home court, and losing their home court would be a big blow to the Spurs.

In the third quarter, the Spurs restarted their old tactical system, and no longer insisted on playing Duncan and Parker.

The Spurs wanted to play a tactical system, but Su Chen was even less panicked.

The Spurs' tactics evolved from the Princeton system.

In general, the current Spurs are Duncan supporting the ball, but no longer attacking.

Instead, it is the opportunity to mobilize outside players to run without the ball, various counter-running and switching positions, and keep running out of open positions.

Of course, unlike the traditional Princeton, outside players can also make breakthroughs with the ball.

To put it simply, the Spurs' offense is constantly covering, breaking points, running without the ball, and high and low post coordination, but the most powerful point is that the Timberwolves, who have high and low post coordination in the first half, rarely have a chance to defend.

This makes the Spurs' system, even though it has many tactics, the lack of core points also makes the tactical system lose a lot of threats.

Moreover, although overly complicated tactics will make it difficult for the Timberwolves' defense to keep up, overly complicated tactics themselves will lead to more mistakes.

Although Popovich is a famous coach, his on-the-spot reaction was not bad.

But the current situation, for the Spurs, is out of control.

The strength of the Timberwolves exceeded previous estimates.

After playing for a while, Popovich saw that such frequent running tactics would not work, so he simply simplified the tactics.

This made the Spurs start to become more individual singles.

The Timberwolves' defense against Duncan is to double-team infinitely and not play for Duncan.

It's a bit like Su Chen's BOX-1 tactic against Curry before, just don't hit Curry, and Curry takes the ball to target all kinds of things.

At this time, the defense of the rest of the Spurs will not face too much intensity.

They all adopt a single defense mode.

Popovich saw this, so he simply let Leonard and Parker attack with the ball more.

After complicating the tactics, Popovich simplified the tactics all at once.

However, Leonard's current strong ability has not reached the level of later. Su Chen directly asked Iguodala to defend Leonard alone, which made it difficult for Leonard to attack with his talent.

At the same time, for Parker, Su Chen either asked Butler to match up or Beverly to match up.

The Timberwolves' offense is not very good, but their defensive resources are almost overflowing, and they are not afraid of the Spurs relying on the ability of their stars to overpower them.

Even Duncan's singles ability is difficult to defend alone, but Giannis Antetokounmpo and Ibaka can both sweep and sweep insiders. Their speed is fast enough to double-team Duncan and carry out defensive rotations without losing their positions.

Of course, the fetters of the striker also contributed a lot.

As the Timberwolves of the striker team, basically the strikers present, the fetter attributes are all in effect.

Seeing that the score is still so deadlocked, the veterans of the Spurs are beginning to lack physical strength, and Popovich is also very restless on the sidelines.

Under such circumstances, Popovich arranged some aggressive tactics.

But during the pause, Su Chen saw it directly with eagle eyes.

After Popovich's timeout, it was the same as before, but the Timberwolves guessed the tactics and counter-suppressed.

"Hawkeye's skill is really not too much for an S-rank."

At this moment, Su Chen was also a little amazed.

Without this skill, it would be impossible for him to guess the Spurs' ever-changing tactical system.

The Spurs have eight tactical systems, each of which contains multiple sets of tactics, and Popovich personally operates them.

Even if the coaches of the league want to make a prediction, seeing that the opponent is Popovich, they give up the prediction and choose to make step-by-step arrangements.

But speaking of it, this eagle eye skill was basically used for challenge playback and the like from the beginning.

However, the current alliance has not issued challenge rules.

Marking the opponent's tactical board belongs to the magical method Su Chen found, and forcibly turned a B-level skill into an effect comparable to S-level.

Although due to the huge consumption of mental power, it only takes two or three times in one game.

But these two or three times, if you use it well, you can directly hold down the opponent's counterattack.

Press twice more, and the opponent's morale will drop rapidly.

The Spurs were also due to two consecutive deployments. Not only did they fail to achieve the desired effect, but they were also given a fast break by a mistake by the Timberwolves.

This is a big blow to the Spurs players.

Although the Spurs players are experienced, they are still athletes at heart, and they will be discouraged by some negative emotions.

Moreover, there are also young players among the main players. Leonard is okay. His mentality on the court has always been boring and he will not easily put his emotions on the surface.

But Green seemed much more irritable. Green became impatient and wanted to get it back through his three-pointer.

But this happened to fall into the trap of the Timberwolves. Green's point was targeted by the Timberwolves.

After several times in a row, Popovich saw that the scolding was useless to Green, so he put Green directly on the bench.

Green, a high-quality shooter, also brings young players with defensive attributes. The aging Spurs will find it even more difficult to keep up with the Timberwolves' offensive and defensive rhythm.

At the end of the third quarter.

Spurs 59:68 Timberwolves.

The Timberwolves seized the opportunity and not only overtook the Spurs, but also led the Spurs by 9 points.

The Spurs have always played with a very clear mind, but this game highlights a groggy.

From coaches to players, they don't know what they are playing anymore.

It's very strange.

Obviously only the Timberwolves, it is almost recognized by the industry that the Spurs can solve their opponents in five games and six games.

To embarrass them so much.

The Spurs are very experienced in educating young people.

But now, instead of using their experience to teach the young people, they were exhausted by these young people because of their age.

"The Spurs shortened their rotation in the third quarter, but this did not help them lead the score, but they were given the lead by Forest."

Johnson said on the commentary stand.

"The most important thing is that the Timberwolves are obviously younger, but their main players get more rest time than the Spurs."

"It's incredible, how did Su Chen do it?"

Barkley said with some surprise.

If this score is, the Timberwolves overdraw their starting physical strength and lead by 9 points.

So for the Spurs, this game is still under control.

But now it's the other way around, and it's even more difficult for the Spurs.

The 9-point difference is actually not considered backward for many other strong offensive teams. For the Warriors, Curry Thompson made three three-pointers.

But for the Spurs, their three-pointers have never been their strong point. At the same time, Green, the team's three-pointer master, was put off the bench because of emotional impact.

In other words, if the Spurs want to chase the 9 points, they need to successfully attack the inside for 5 rounds.

At the same time, in these 5 rounds, the Timberwolves have to lose a point.

In the first half, the Timberwolves' mid-range pitcher didn't feel good.

The Spurs' mid-range shots are not pure mid-range shots, and interference is still there, but it is not as strong as the defensive strength of the inside and three-pointers.

But Butler gradually found his touch and rhythm. Even with the Spurs' interfering mid-range shots, Butler's shooting percentage increased.

"Other people in the Spurs need to help Duncan. The Timberwolves' defensive resources are all deployed on Duncan, just like all the defensive resources of the Warriors are aimed at Curry."

"Parker and Leonard face their respective defenses, and it is difficult to play an outstanding efficiency. The time for the Spurs to trust Ginobili."

Kenny Smith analyzed it.

really.

After the start of the last quarter, Ginobili played again.

Spurs lineup: Tim Duncan (C), Boris Diaw (PF), Kawhi Leonard (SF), Manu Ginobili (SG), Tony Parker (PG)

Minnesota lineup: Serge Ibaka (C), Giannis Antetokounmpo (PF), Josh Smith (SF), Andre Iguodala (SG), Jimmy - Butler (PG)

In the last section, GDP is all on the stage.

With Dior and Leonard at the same time, this lineup clearly shows that the Spurs are still relying on personal ability to come back.

On the Timberwolves side, Covington and Luol Deng were not included.

Covington's defense performance tonight was very good, and Luol Deng was also remarkable, but neither of them played.

Su Chen stood on the sidelines, he naturally had his own plans.

The Spurs lineup basically has offensive capabilities in every position.

In particular, don't underestimate Dior. Dior has been nominated for the best sixth man many times in his career, and he has also averaged 15 points per game in his career.

When GDP is on the court, Diaw often faces the weaker point of the opponent's defense, so he can play well with the restraint of other Spurs.

Strictly guard against the Spurs' GDP, but being scored by Diaw, there is a feeling of being stolen.

His offensive ability is not so good against him with ordinary small forwards.

Josh's defensive performance in this field is good. His height, wingspan and athletic ability are also restrictive against Dior.

Giannis Antetokounmpo can defend the opponent's five positions. This arrangement is relatively safe to prevent the Spurs from chasing points.

Back after the game.

The Spurs really started to focus on offense.

Parker and Duncan made a false containment, Leonard played a secondary offense, and the real offense fell on Diaw and Ginobili.

Also the Timberwolves have enough defensive resources.

If it is placed on other teams, it will already consume a lot of defensive resources to defend against GDP, and basically all defenses are good against GDP.

If there is another defense that passes, there must be a two-choice defense between Leonard and Diaw.

After all, not all teams are frontline teams like the Timberwolves, and they all defend well.

Generally speaking, even a strong team will have one or two weak points in defense.

The current team structure usually still needs point guards and shooters.

Shooters and point guards generally don't have many strong defenses, and it's not bad for both shooters and point guards to have a good defense. If both of them defend well, the team has picked up a treasure.

Another thing is, whether it is Dior or Leonard, their size is difficult to match.

For example, the two brothers Paul and Rondo, who are better defensively among the point guards, really want to face the misplaced Diaw. If they still cut inside, the two brothers may not be able to defend together.

The Spurs fell into the rhythm of singles offense.

But whether it's Dior or Leonard, even if they cut in, they will face either Iguodala or Josh.

This made the Spurs' offensive efficiency still not improve.

Although Josh doesn't hold the ball on the court, he can cooperate with Giannis Antetokounmpo to perform double pick-and-rolls for Butler.

Then after the double pick and roll, you can also conduct a dismantling attack.

Although Josh's three-pointers are relatively poor, his mid-range shots are still barely passable.

The Spurs didn't dare to really let Josh open up the shot.

As a result, the Spurs' offensive efficiency did not increase, nor did their defensive efficiency.

The point difference is still slowly being opened.

"It seems that the outcome of this game has already been divided."

Su Chen looked at the situation on the field and smiled.

But he just smiled lightly, and immediately took it back without being caught by the camera.

The Spurs' physical strength couldn't keep up.

And at this time, Su Chen directly gave Butler, who played the most minutes, a stamina drink.

This directly makes Butler's offense more secure.

Usually this is for Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Giannis Antetokounmpo is not being used as a bull by Su Chen tonight, so there is no need to give Giannis Antetokounmpo this energy drink.

He will be a blue-collar worker, supporting Butler.

But this didn't wrong Giannis Antetokounmpo. After all, Butler became ruthless, and he could lead the team in a bad way.

This night, Butler has a strong sense of presence on both ends of the offense and defense, which caused a lot of trouble for the Spurs.

Popovich was also a little helpless seeing this situation on the field. The Timberwolves' physical reserves were obviously better, and the physical strength of the old Spurs had begun to decline significantly and could not keep up with the strength given by the Timberwolves.

(End of this chapter)