NBA: Duncan feels uneasy coaching Warriors

Chapter 185 What is a Famous Commander?

The morale of the Spurs camp is low, and Popovich is not roaring at the team as before.

Before the game, the Spurs were the dominant side, and Su Chen was the one who had to consider solving the problem.

But how to solve the problem of Duncan and Parker not matching each other, Su Chen has already made countermeasures.

The first time to solve the problem allowed the Timberwolves to win G1, and the second time to solve the problem allowed the Timberwolves to win G3.

Although Popovich won G2 by solving the problem, that game was at home, and Su Chen's strategy made Popovich not even think of a countermeasure for a while.

At least in this entire game, Popovich did not think of a countermeasure that could really solve the problem.

Although Popovich used his rich experience to make some adjustments in details, it is still difficult to match the intensity of the Timberwolves without changing the general direction.

Popovich didn't say anything and walked out of the player tunnel.

The same goes for other Spurs players.

For the Spurs, this game was a bigger blow than the G1 loss.

In G1, the Timberwolves solved the problem, and then they were on the same starting line as the Spurs.

Although the advantage before the game was targeted by Su Chen's strategy, the Spurs were able to fight back in G2 with their seasoned experience.

But in this game, the Timberwolves made it clear that they would let Duncan play.

Duncan is the key tactical role of the Spurs. Many of the Spurs' systems are launched with Duncan as the axis.

The opponent's defense needs to focus on Duncan. For others, the defensive resources are naturally not so sufficient to deal with it.

Not to mention that Parker and Ginobili are not bad at their peak offense, which makes the Spurs always the reason why they are among the top teams in the league.

This is why, some players who don't play so well in the league can play explosive seasons in the Spurs.

With the existence of peak GDP, many role players only need to complete some three-pointers or layups without confrontation or light confrontation.

Now Parker and Ginobili have fallen a lot. If they want to play efficiently, they need to rely on Duncan's influence like other Spurs role players.

In the current GDP, Duncan is the one who really has some peak strength.

Tonight, Duncan has all the ball possessions, and the opponent doesn't double-team Duncan at all. When Duncan is double-teamed, it is when Duncan's physical strength has dropped a lot.

Duncan did not contain other defenses for the Spurs, and there were actually two options for the Spurs.

One is to give up Duncan's restraint and forcefully play team basketball.

Also, tonight Popovich chose to let Duncan punish the opponent and force Duncan's restraint.

Even the 38-year-old Duncan is actually not an existence that most insiders in the league can fight against, but the Timberwolves' defensive resources are stunned to withstand Duncan's strong singles.

The Timberwolves have a lot of people. Even Muscala, who fell out of the rotation, can really fight Duncan for a while regardless of fouls.

This is also the reason why the morale of the Spurs players is currently low.

They all know where their team is strong, and they can't break through the opponent if they are strong, so this is not the same starting line as the Timberwolves.

Duncan, who is usually calm, faced the staff handing the towel, and Duncan took the towel and threw it on the ground.

It can be seen that Duncan's mood is not as stable as before.

Duncan's attitude towards winning or losing has actually been relatively normal. If he loses the series, he will continue next season.

But the 38-year-old Duncan is also very clear that this season is the best opportunity for the Spurs in recent seasons.

"The Timberwolves won again, are they really going to the finals?"

"You know, they were still spectators outside the playoffs last season. Isn't it too outrageous to go straight to the finals this season?"

Johnson sighed.

"Such a tactic, among the Spurs' past opponents, they didn't even think about it."

"Let Duncan play unlimited singles, Duncan will really educate and arrange this tactical guy, and at the same time Parker and Ginobili will support Duncan."

O'Neill held his head and said.

"But now it's difficult for Parker and Ginobili to support Duncan. That guy Butler did a great job of defending Parker, and he even controlled a great foul under such a high-intensity defense. frequency."

"At the same time, Iguodala is also very strong. Ginobili's speed has dropped a lot now, and Ginobili's signature breakthrough is not easy to use against Iguodala."

Kenny Smith analyzed it.

"Well, I wasn't optimistic about the Timberwolves at all before the game, but now guys."

"I think the Timberwolves will continue to defend the home court. They should be 3-1."

Barkley began to support the Timberwolves at this time.

"I also think so. The Spurs may not be able to cope with Su Chen's strategy in the next game."

Johnson is even more sloppy, and he arrived at the Timberwolves camp in minutes.

They are all professionals in the industry. Although they didn't feel it before the game, they can see the general idea after three games.

The 38-year-old Duncan can't punish the Timberwolves' strategy, so the Spurs' tactical system will be greatly reduced.

The Spurs' tactics still need to be played around Duncan. Although Parker and Leonard are the Spurs' second and third scorers, one has fallen too much and the other has not yet polished their offense.

As the starting point of the tactical system, the two of them are still almost meaningless.

Both sides have conducted closed training recently.

The game started again.

target center.

It is still the home of the Timberwolves.

All the members of the Spurs showed complicated performances, with different expressions.

From their expressions, it can be seen that they obviously haven't found a real solution.

And in fact it is.

Timberwolves starting lineup: Serge Ibaka (C), Giannis Antetokounmpo (PF), Luol Deng (SF), Andre Iguodala (SG), Jimmy Butt Le (PG)

Spurs starting lineup: Thiago Splitter (C), Tim Duncan (PF), Kawhi Leonard (SF), Danny Green (SG), Tony Parker (PG)

The two teams didn't even change their starting lineups.

In the last game, Popovich actually asked Diaw to try to partner with this lineup.

But the effect is very general.

Diaw is a very versatile player on the offensive end. He has a good three-pointer from beyond the arc and a soft hook in the penalty area.

He also rebounds well, and he has strength and quickness.

But in fact, this is when compared to the opponent's bench lineup. Diaw will appear very strong on the offensive end.

But when he was starting, Diaw wanted to face Ibaka or Giannis Antetokounmpo, but he couldn't play the effect.

His characteristic is that he bullies those who run faster than him, and those who are stronger than him are not as fast as him.

But whether it's Giannis Antetokounmpo or Ibaka, both of them are stronger than him and faster than him.

So when Dior is paired with the starters, he can actually only serve as a three-pointer to open up space on the offensive end. At the same time, he is much worse than Splitter on the defensive end.

Popovich also thought about it for a long time, and felt that there was nothing to adjust the Spurs' starting lineup, which was basically this lineup.

This game continued the momentum of the previous game.

Although Popovich made a lot of fine-tuning, the general direction strategy of the Timberwolves was correct, and the Spurs scored some points through fine-tuning.

But still no match for the Timberwolves.

Parker wanted to break the situation by breaking through and drawing fouls, but the Timberwolves had a bunch of strikers inside, and Parker rushed in too few whistles.

This bunch of strikers, Su Chen is not Baitun.

Under the new defensive rules, size is very important in defense.

At the same time, the Timberwolves are a bunch of big-sized breakthrough players, even Danny Green, who has a good defense, is at a disadvantage.

Not to mention Parker's occasional shock.

The Spurs did not lose in this game, but they still lost.

With the whistle for the end of the game.

Timberwolves 99:87 Spurs.

Big score: Timberwolves 3-1 Spurs.

The Timberwolves won the match point first, and the fans at the Target Center were very excited.

You know, in the history of the Timberwolves team, they have never reached the finals.

Now the Timberwolves are only one victory away from reaching the finals and creating the best record in team history.

Originally, Timberwolves fans thought that the team would develop steadily step by step, and first make it to the playoffs.

Then came the second round, the Western Conference Finals.

But last season's Timberwolves were still a spectator in the playoffs, and they underwent reconstruction during the offseason.

The team's number one star Love was traded, and at the same time the team's second pick Williams was also traded, and even Rubio was used as an extra to trade Iguodala.

During the offseason, many fans directly chose not to buy season tickets, or sold the booked season tickets at a low price.

Now those fans feel that it is too worthwhile to add money to buy high-priced tickets.

The reconstruction is almost to the finals, do we still have to rebuild directly to the championship?

For the Timberwolves, who are perennial playoff spectators, this is too outrageous.

Facing the carnival of the Timberwolves fans and the excited celebrations of the players, Su Chen seemed much calmer.

After all, last season, when he was an acting head coach, he was still behind by points when he took over the Warriors.

The Spurs won that game and went straight to the cut.

Besides, Su Chen is also the coach of the championship, and he has seen a big scene. If you are happy, you are happy, but Su Chen is still very calm.

Facing the post-match interview, Su Chen was not too excited.

"We haven't won the playoffs yet. You know, the Spurs are a very tough historical team."

"We still need to stay focused, grab the rebounds, and do every defense."

Su Chen said in front of the camera.

What Su Chen said in the interview actually calmed down the Timberwolves players and fans.

They really haven't won the game yet.

It needs to win another game from the Spurs to be the best record in team history, and the Timberwolves can really enter the finals once.

The situation of the Eastern and Western finals.

Pacers 1-3 Heat.

Spurs 1-3 Timberwolves.

No. [-] in the East and No. [-] in the West have both become the lagging side.

This is still quite surprising.

Last season, when the Pacers faced the Heat, they reached the tiebreaker.

Hibbert's decline is the key to this round of the series.

Relying on Hibbert's performance last season, the Pacers fought the Heat in seven games.

But this season Hibbert's decline is obvious, and Hibbert even scored 0 points in a single game.

With such a decline, even if the Heat did not perform well, they still scored a three-to-one score.

Of course, the real surprise was the Timberwolves.

Before the game, experts in the industry were hardly optimistic about the Timberwolves.

The Timberwolves are second in the Western Conference. During the regular season, they were often said to be hydrated.

Winning the Blazers in the first round also means that the Blazers themselves are not strong, and they rushed up from the spectators in the playoffs last season just like the Timberwolves.

Even though the Warriors were the defending champions, it was said that it was because Su Chen knew the Warriors' tactics too well.

Moreover, the new coach of the Warriors, Cole, has not proved his own ability, which makes people feel that the Timberwolves have not encountered any real strong opponents all the way to the promotion.

As a perennial strong team, the Spurs have also won the mighty Grizzlies along the way, as well as the Thunder with both minors.

Not to mention that the Timberwolves lead the Spurs [-]-[-], the two teams are tied [-]-[-], which is surprising enough.

This round of the series has aroused heated discussions among many fans.

"What's wrong with Popovich? Facing the challenge of a newcomer, he is so embarrassed?"

"Is this still the Spurs in the past? Just looking at it like this, it seems to be similar to the Trail Blazers."

"The Timberwolves seem to be able to forcibly pull their opponents to the same level as them, and then rely on their rich experience to defeat their opponents."

"Leaving aside the Blazers for the time being, the Warriors' offense was very smooth when they advanced in the first round, as if they couldn't attack anymore."

"The Spurs have the same feeling. The Spurs' system was so smooth in the past, but when they met the Timberwolves, they became unsystematic."

"The Timberwolves' offense is actually very poor. They ranked second in the West in the regular season, but their offensive efficiency is in the middle of the league."

"But the Timberwolves' defensive efficiency has been almost stable in the top three in the league throughout the season, and they have a lot of aggressive defensive moves. Maybe they can rank first in the league in defensive efficiency."

"The Timberwolves team is unstable both offensively and defensively. In fact, their defensive strength will drop suddenly but their offensive strength will increase, and then they will score against the opponent."

"I have to say that Su Chen is still capable. The Warriors won the championship last season because of him."

"Speaking of which, Su Chen's contract is signed for one year. Will he continue to be in charge of the Timberwolves next season, or will he consider going to other teams?"

Fans mainly revolve around the content of the two sides' games.

At the same time, there are also fans of other teams who find it very interesting to coach Su Chen.

After learning that Su Chen's contract is due to expire this season, many fans have already left messages on their home team's official website.

Especially for some teams whose coaches performed poorly, those fans who complained about the current team coaches were even more emotional and asked the management to sign Su Chen over during the offseason.

The head coach rebuilt a championship-level team, which is quite amazing in the entire history of the league.

(End of this chapter)