NBA: Duncan feels uneasy coaching Warriors

Chapter 177 Fighting with the Old Spurs
The first quarter is over.

Spurs 23:23 Timberwolves.

The game was tied in the first quarter.

The Timberwolves mainly rely on mid-range offense. Butler and Iguodala made a lot of mid-range shots through execution tactics.

Even Giannis Antetokounmpo, when given a chance in the mid-range, didn't catch the ball and shoot it.

In fact, the efficiency is not very high, but the victory is easy, which allows the Timberwolves players to save more energy and energy on the defensive end.

The Timberwolves only scored 23 points in the first quarter, but they let their opponents only score 23 points.

Rotating defense and double-teaming these tactics in advance can cause the Spurs to make some mistakes or not have a good chance during the offensive time.

But this kind of defense is a test of concentration and defensive tacit understanding, and there is no way to miss some open positions.

But 23 points is an acceptable score for Su Chen.

"Keep your focus. As long as the offense gets an open shot, whether it's a three-pointer or a mid-range shot, you can make a firm shot. It doesn't matter if you don't make a shot."

"On the defensive end, I want to see the 100% concentration of each of you. If anyone can't withstand such a high-intensity defense, he can rest for a while off the court, but he can't rest on the court."

"We're on the right track, keep it up and we're going to win this game."

During the break between festivals, Su Chen squatted on the bench and said to everyone.

The tactics to be arranged have already been arranged, there are simulated glasses and the latest props and tactics notes, so there is actually no need to talk too much about the tactics.

Anyway, what Su Chen conveyed was that everyone must maintain high-intensity concentration on the defensive end.

No matter how many offensive shots he missed, as long as he remained focused on the defensive end, then Su Chen said he would not be replaced.

The second quarter begins.

Timberwolves and Spurs still continued the rhythm of the first quarter.

However, with the decline in the physical strength of the players on both sides, the efficiency has declined.

Halfway through a single quarter, both sides fell into a low tide of offense.

Spurs 32:31 Timberwolves.

Who would dare to believe that these two teams, which are not considered to be very offensive on the offensive end, scored a score of 9 to 8 in the half of the second quarter.

This is hardly like a basketball score, like a penalty kick score in football, or like a snooker overall score.

It's not like basketball anyway.

It is not easy to score such a low score in a basketball game.

"The defense in this game is simply hard to see in this day and age."

Johnson said with some surprise.

After the league revised some rules this season, the number of rounds has increased significantly, and players' scoring has also increased significantly.

However, it still hasn't really entered the small ball era.

The rules of the small ball era are not revised in a certain season, but the tone is set after several seasons and continuous revisions.

Although Su Chen led the Warriors to win the championship ahead of schedule and promoted changes in the rules, it still hasn't reached the real small ball era.

Especially now in the playoffs, it happens that the referee's whistle is relatively loose, and the defensive intensity of both sides is relatively high.

That's why the two sides scored this score in this game.

"Speaking of which, the last time I saw such a score was the season when the Pistons won the championship, and the opponent also happened to be the Spurs."

O'Neill said after recalling.

In the season when the Pistons won the Five Tigers championship, they only scored 1 points in G69 against the Spurs.

Even among them, Billups scored 25 points, the Pistons rotated 8 people, and 5 people scored in single digits.

Those like Hamm who play for one or two minutes are not counted in the rotation. It is the Lakers coach Hamm.

"Didn't you go on vacation when you were eliminated by the Pistons that season, and you actually watched the Pistons game that eliminated you?"

Barkley ran on O'Neill.

"Of course we have to look at our opponents. Shouldn't we beat them to win the championship next year?"

Olney also responded back.

beep!
Popovich called a long timeout.

This kind of tug of war with the Timberwolves is unacceptable to Popovich.

It's not that Popovich looks down on the Timberwolves because of his arrogance. He feels that a tie with the Timberwolves is an insult to the Spurs.

Popovich has the professionalism of a coach. He just thinks from the development of this game that the Spurs cannot compete with the Timberwolves like this.

why?
Because the Timberwolves' rotation is not shorter than that of the Spurs, and the Timberwolves' players are generally younger than the Spurs.

The Spurs are actually a long-rotation team. After all, the core GDP is old, and they can't always let the GDP play the full game.

Among the main players of the Spurs, Parker Duncan played more than 30 minutes, and Ginobili played about 10 minutes.

Although Green is young, he is not capable enough to play so much time. The only one who can really play the whole game for the Spurs is Leonard alone.

The Spurs are a whopping nine-man rotation.

Even someone like Belinelli can play for about 20 minutes, which is the nine-man rotation that really enters the rotation.

But the Timberwolves have almost a nine-man rotation.

Although the Timberwolves are playing high-intensity defense, they have sufficient rotation personnel.

Basically, Su Chen saw who's defensive strength dropped, and replaced him to rest for a while, and then continued to make up when someone was tired.

Even Muscala, the tenth man of the Timberwolves, occasionally comes up for a 2-minute walk through the motions.

The Timberwolves are younger overall, and the current Spurs are no longer the Spurs that could compete with the Pistons for defensive strength ten years ago.

Popovich, who was on the bench, looked very angry.

After talking about the tactics, they all roared to let the players improve their competitive status.

After resuming the game, the Spurs returned to the All-Stars again.

As for the Timberwolves, there is no change, and the watch rotation is still going on.

Giannis Antetokounmpo happened to be on the court. Although he did not become the core of the Timberwolves' offense on the offensive end in this game.

But through screens, defense, and organization, Giannis Antetokounmpo's effects in this game are still positive.

I originally thought that the matchup between Giannis Antetokounmpo and Duncan would be an educational matchup.

Duncan would tell Giannis Antetokounmpo, the future is yours, but the present is mine.

However, the education game between Duncan and Giannis Antetokounmpo simulated by the media before the game did not appear. On the contrary, from the perspective of overall contribution to the team, Giannis Antetokounmpo did not lose to Duncan at all. .

Popovich's changes didn't work either.

The Spurs' offensive ability has always been like this, with Duncan and Parker, the two original advantages, unable to attack the Timberwolves.

Relying on the overall Spurs, the Timberwolves are worthy.

The Spurs' offense is very holistic, but the Timberwolves' defense is more holistic, and there is no defensive weakness in the whole team.

And it's not just single defense, but assist defense is what the Timberwolves are better at.

Giannis Antetokounmpo, Covington, and Ibaka are all master defenses.

The two swept inside, and Covington was responsible for filling the gap on the outside.

When the three of them are on the court, the Timberwolves' defensive system will not be bad.

With these three top defenses, Butler and Iguodala Beverly are also top defenses.

Luol Deng and Josh have excellent single-defense abilities.

If I have to say that there is something almost interesting, it is Middleton, but his defense is also between the second-rate and the first-rate. It is not a cost-effective move to call him by name.

Anyway, as long as the score cannot be opened, Su Chen will not make active adjustments.

Just like the Spurs.

Halftime is over.

Spurs 39:38 Timberwolves.

The defense of both sides has reached an extreme.

When seeing this score, the Spurs fans at the scene felt very confused.

The Spurs' current offense is actually not weak, especially after the rule changes this season, the Spurs have broken [-] points a lot.

Such a pure defensive battle, let alone the small ball era, even in the first two or three seasons.

These are scenes that only appeared in defensive battles ten years ago.

The expressions of the coaches on both sides are also quite interesting.

Su Chen seemed very satisfied with the score, and was still applauding to encourage the players.

On the other side, Popovich looked very angry, yelling at the players constantly.

There is of course a reason for this.

In this match, Su Chen focused on the old man's tactic.

The Timberwolves are younger overall, so they ran and defended with the Spurs.

Don't look at the Timberwolves' constant rotation of defense, the players are tired from running on the court, but also prolonging the offensive and defensive time is also quite exhausting for the Spurs.

It's just that as an offensive side, the Spurs' offense should consume a little less, but not too much.

After all, the Spurs are a team offensive tactic, and the entire team must cooperate. It also requires a high degree of concentration to maintain no mistakes.

Among them is because the Timberwolves' too high-intensity defense caused the Spurs to make mistakes without paying attention.

The core members of the Spurs are very old, and the Timberwolves are a group of young people.

Even players like Luol Deng and Iguodala are in the prime of their careers.

The Timberwolves consume a little more, but their physical reserves are still stronger than the Spurs. The Spurs and the old men are actually at a disadvantage in fighting the Timberwolves for defense.

Of course, Popovich also saw Su Chen's old man tactics, so Popovich was actually a little anxious at this time.

During the intermission, Popovich also rearranged his offensive tactics.

But the most important defensive tactics have not changed much.

The Spurs are used to such a defensive system, and they can do the best they can for the inside and three-point protection.

The middle distance has always been the place where the Spurs let their opponents shoot.

Popovich saw it, but didn't intend to change it.

First, the Spurs gave up their best defensive method and adopted an unfamiliar defensive strategy. For the Spurs, there will be a lot of discomfort.

If you are not used to it, you will make defensive mistakes. Popovich still wants to win the Timberwolves steadily, instead of taking some extreme methods.

Secondly, Popovich also knows that the Timberwolves are not really good at mid-range shooting, and it is nothing more than Su Chen's offensive plan to make the Spurs change their defensive strategy.

When facing the Warriors in the last round of the series, the Timberwolves have already shown that they are a team that is good at attacking the inside.

Not only the two young core players can rush, but other supporting players can also rush in the face of not so strong defense.

The Spurs and the Warriors actually have the same weaknesses.

That's the back line, and the Minnesota's striker team can't stand it in turn to rush inside.

The combination of Parker and Green, Green is better, Parker really can't match the Timberwolves' striker.

The Spurs have a good inside defensive strength, so Popovich is actually not afraid of the Timberwolves using the way of pulling out five outside and taking turns rushing inside in the previous round.

Then once the Spurs switch their defensive mode and deploy defense in the middle distance, then they will give the Timberwolves a way to rush to the inside.

The Timberwolves even have the ability to hit the inside line even in the substitute rotation.

In addition to Parker, the Spurs also have guards such as Mills and Belinelli.

Especially Mills, he is only 1 meters, and he can't even play in this lineup of the Timberwolves.

In Popovich's view, being able to limit the Timberwolves to this score on defense is actually quite good defense.

It was the Spurs' own offense that couldn't keep up, which made the Spurs play so passively.

At the same time, in the Spurs home arena, the Spurs fans were also talking about it. They were really surprised why the game was played like this.

Before the game, almost no authoritative media was optimistic about the Timberwolves, and they also thought so.

This kind of young team, facing the seasoned Spurs, will definitely not be able to beat the Spurs.

But how did it end up like this now?
During the intermission, several people on the commentary stage were not idle.

"This kind of defensive battle is quite cool to watch. I haven't seen it for a long time, especially after the new rules have been revised this season."

Barkley looked a little enjoyable.

"The Spurs themselves are very good at this rhythm, but have you ever thought about it, the Spurs are not the Spurs they used to be."

"The Timberwolves' defensive resources are too rich, they can defend in every position, and they are still young."

Kenny Smith analyzes the game.

"I entered the league five years earlier than Duncan. I have been a commentator for so long. Duncan is still playing on the court."

"But it is undeniable that Duncan's dominance has declined. He didn't even teach that rookie named Giannis a lesson."

O'Neill shook his head and said.

Judging from the first half alone, Giannis Antetokounmpo's performance was of great help to the team.

Duncan also has no real 1V1 opportunity to teach Giannis Antetokounmpo. The person who faces him is usually Ibaka, and then as long as he wants to play Ibaka with his back, he will immediately be Giannis Antetokounmpo. Anti-trap.

Although in the past season, Duncan has educated Ibaka who does not know how many times, but Duncan is also very aware of Ibaka's ability to face the frame.

Ibaka is only weak in lower body strength, but Duncan has never doubted his athletic ability and defensive awareness.

Duncan wants to educate Ibaka with a premise, that is to push Ibaka away first by turning his back, and then make a move.

But now the rotation of the Timberwolves is too fast. With Duncan pushing his back, the Timberwolves' double-team defense position is already in place.

Duncan wants to punch Cotton right now.

(End of this chapter)