NBA: Duncan feels uneasy coaching Warriors

Chapter 182 The Role of Muscala

Even Splitter was a little surprised. Ibaka ran a three-pointer?

Popovich on the sidelines also had a confused expression.

He thought that Su Chen might innovate tactics or something, but he didn't expect it to happen in such a way.

Ibaka is shooting 38 percent from three this season, which at first glance seems okay.

But these three-point shots are basically fixed-point shots, the balls he hits when his teammates create a three-point open.

And yield is also an issue.

In the regular season and the playoffs, Ibaka maintained his three-point shooting rate at around 38%, but in the regular season, Ibaka averaged about 3 shots per game.

But in the playoffs, Ibaka's shot production declined, only averaging about 2 three-pointers per game.

Popovich admitted that Ibaka had a three-pointer, and he didn't deliberately let Ibaka go throughout the series. For Ibaka, he was still in a defensive mode that interfered with shooting.

But running off the ball three-point tactics is not the same concept as fixed-point three-pointers.

This is equivalent to the difference between 3D and shooter.

Shooters usually practice high-speed moves after catching the ball, training shots under interference, and difficult shots.

3D players usually don't practice these at all, because their tactical status is to shoot fixed-point three-pointers and practice those instead of practicing defense.

Ibaka belongs to the defensive inside line with space, which is similar to 3D in essence. Naturally, he usually does not practice those difficult off-the-ball moves.

But at this time, Splitter was surprised, but he still kept up with Ibaka's running position, but not to prevent the shooter's defensive strength.

Splitter even took it easy to get around a Giannis Antetokounmpo screen.

He wants to see if Ibaka will choose to make a difficult shot immediately after receiving the ball.

Sure enough, even after Ibaka ran the screen, there was a time difference for the first time to have a three-point shot.

But Ibaka didn't shoot right away, but chose to stand firm and see if the defense couldn't get over it.

If Splitter still doesn't come over, Ibaka will choose to shoot when he stands firm. This is basically the rhythm of fixed-point shooting.

Of course, Splitter didn't let go of Ibaka completely, bypassing Giannis Antetokounmpo's screen or blocking it.

Ibaka pretended to click, but Splitter ignored Ibaka at all and just stretched out his hand to interfere.

Ibaka's ability to make such a slight interference ball is considered to be Ibaka's strength.

But at this time, Lol Deng, who was on the flank, suddenly jumped out.

Immediately after Giannis Antetokounmpo set the screen, he leaned in Luor Deng's direction.

Luol Deng caught a Giannis Antetokounmpo pick-and-roll and immediately ran to the three-point line.

Since Duncan didn't come out, he chose to squat inside. The ball directly blocked Danny Green by Giannis Antetokounmpo.

After Luol Deng received the ball, he directly chose to shoot.

brush!
With no interference from the ball, Luol Deng made a three-pointer.

Timberwolves 3:2 Spurs.

Popovich frowned. Popovich knew this tactic very well. It was one of the three-point tactics that Su Chen liked to use last season.

But how to put it, the Timberwolves have no elite shooters, and Popovich didn't pay much attention to these tactical deployments.

Even Middleton, who has the highest hit rate, is just a pseudo-elite shooter, and there is still a long way to go from a real elite shooter.

It's just that the Timberwolves' sudden style change made the Spurs a little uncomfortable.

But Popovich didn't pay much attention.

The Spurs' offensive round continued.

This time the Timberwolves still adopted a single-defense strategy on the defensive end, but the difference is that Ibaka's defense in the last round has now been replaced by Giannis Antetokounmpo to defend Duncan.

As for the Timberwolves' offensive end.

Still start to run some three-point tactics, or use the three-point tactics as a bait, and make a variation when Duncan comes out of defense.

The ball holder can choose to take Giannis Antetokounmpo's pick-and-roll and shoot a mid-range shot. When Duncan comes out of the defense, he will pass the ball to Giannis Antetokounmpo when he is assisted by the defense.

After Duncan came out of the defense, Leonard was also defending the perimeter, and Giannis Antetokounmpo's scoring efficiency in the interior also suddenly increased.

After playing for a few minutes.

Timberwolves 12:13 Spurs.

Compared with the previous defensive battles of the two teams, the scoring efficiency of this game has both improved, and the offensive and defensive rounds of the two teams are more than before.

beep!
It was Popovich who called a timeout first.

Obviously from the scene, the Spurs are the leading side.

Just after the Timberwolves scored a goal, the Spurs still owned the ball, and the Spurs could have continued to chase.

But Popovich saw something.

Because the Spurs' 13 points were all scored by Duncan alone.

You must know that Duncan averaged only 16 points per game in the playoffs. Before halfway through the first quarter, Duncan was about to average points per game.

This is outrageous.

The Timberwolves' defensive strategy is also very simple, which is to defend Duncan alone.

Ibaka was the main defense most of the time, and then Giannis Antetokounmpo and Ibaka mainly rotated defenses, and even Luol Deng went up to defend Duncan for a round.

The other positions of the Timberwolves are all guarded, and they don't give the Spurs a chance to move.

Duncan was overwhelmed inside, but the other Timberwolves players didn't even help defend Duncan.

In other words, there is assisted defense, but it is just a fake assisted defense. If you interfere with Duncan, he will go back immediately.

That made Popovich see something.

At the same time, the Timberwolves' offense also made Popovich see what he was planning.

The Spurs adopted Duncan to defend Giannis Antetokounmpo alone, and then Leonard went to focus on the secondary offensive point. In the last game, he blocked Butler who played well in G1.

After Butler squatted in the bottom corner this time, Leonard went to guard Iguodala, but Iguodala also squatted mostly in the bottom corner.

However, after Luol Deng scored some points, Popovich asked Leonard to guard Luol Deng on the sidelines.

But immediately Butler and Iguodala stopped squatting in the bottom corner, but chose to hold the ball and took over Luol Deng's position.

Luol Deng took Leonard to the bottom corner.

Butler and Iguodala tried their best to catch Parker and beat Danny Green if they couldn't catch Parker.

"Defense against Duncan alone, and attack against Leonard."

Su Chen's arrangement has been seen by Popovich.

But at this time, even if Popovich could see what Su Chen was playing, it was not so easy to deal with.

This is another question Su Chen gave Popovich.

Now Su Chen acknowledged Duncan's strength, but let Duncan play, and the others didn't want to use Duncan to attract double teams and run out of opportunities.

"I don't know if Popovich can solve this game."

Su Chen stood on the sidelines thinking.

To deal with this kind of top insider, not only the top offense, but also the top organization.

This is very difficult to defend.

It is actually a good way to let this top insider fall into singles.

In Su Chen's memory, on the way to the championship, Jokic lost a lot of games because the opponent let Jokic play singles.

Jokic can play singles casually, but he cannot connect teams.

When Jokic was caught in singles, he didn't establish a connection with his teammates. It was obvious that Jokic was a little impatient.

The same goes for the Spurs.

And it will be more effective against the Spurs.

Duncan is the core of the Spurs' tactics. With Duncan as the axis, many of the Spurs' tactics will have the greatest effect.

The Spurs' tactics are not invincible, and the Spurs' tactics still rely on the ability of the core players.

After GDP retired, Leonard left again, and the Spurs quickly became a big team.

So targeting Duncan is a very good choice.

Moreover, Duncan is 38 years old, and Jokic can still break through with his excellent foundation and the help of his helpers.

If Duncan is young, let Duncan fight like this, Duncan can still win.

But the 38-year-old Duncan faced up to take turns to exhaust him physically, and then went to play with Duncan on the offensive end.

For Duncan to be forced to participate in defense, or to quickly shrink the basket, this is all consuming Duncan's energy.

Treating the 38-year-old Duncan, the Timberwolves still showed respect for the recognized number one power forward in history, finding Duncan to consume them both offensively and defensively.

And the Timberwolves have more players who can defend against Duncan.

The ability to defend here is not really able to defend Duncan, but it can be slightly restricted.

"You go up and guard Duncan."

During the pause, Su Chen said to Muscala.

Muscala stood up without any hesitation.

Before the game, Su Chen had actually told him to go beat Duncan for a while.

As for whether it can really withstand it, it doesn't really matter.

Because of the defense against Duncan, if it consumes Duncan, it must be more aggressive.

Although there are quite a lot of people taking turns defending Duncan, the number of fouls will increase relatively quickly.

Muscala's defense is fairly qualified, and giving him the right to foul to defend Duncan can at least cause some trouble for Duncan.

Let Muscala go up, it is used to defend Duncan for fouls, and he commits six fouls.

Pause back.

Popovich would have made adjustments.

But seeing the young man named Muscala from the Timberwolves go up at this time, Popovich was very puzzled.

It has been a long time since Muscala played in the rotation time of the Timberwolves playoffs, but now it is so critical that Muscala is allowed to play.

Minnesota lineup: Mike Muscala (C), Giannis Antetokounmpo (PF), Khris Middleton (SF), Andre Iguodala (SG), Jimmy - Butler (PG)

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

Muscala took Ibaka's place, and because Luol Deng played a lot just now, and his hand feeling was not good, Su Chen asked him to replace him to rest.

The Spurs did not go to Splitter, but to Dior.

Obviously, Popovich wants Diaw's offensive and organizational skills to help Duncan share some pressure.

Originally, the Spurs' tactics gave Dior some tactical status, but seeing the Timberwolves' defensive matchup directly surprised the Spurs.

Everyone in the Spurs thought that Muscala's rookie, who fell out of the rotation, came up to defend against the Spurs insider Splitter or Dior, but Muscala took the initiative to face Duncan.

Isn't this too disrespectful to Duncan?

Popovich roared directly from the sidelines at this time, signaling for Duncan to play.

Originally, Parker didn't want to launch tactics for this ball, and wanted to give it directly to Duncan.

The Timberwolves used a rookie who fell out of the rotation to guard Duncan, which is too contemptuous.

Duncan also looked a little angry.

Originally, he planned to rest for a while and not fight for the time being.

But Su Chen seemed to have expected that he would not fight, so he used a rookie to defend him.

If this was Su Chen's aggressive method, then this aggressive method worked.

Even Popovich was inspired by this aggressive method.

At this time, Duncan has already got the ball in the low post.

With the ball in hand, Duncan takes a look at the defense, specifically Giannis Antetokounmpo's position.

In this round of the series, Duncan already knew Giannis Antetokounmpo, a young man with great speed.

Duncan still pays attention to his defense.

This rookie named Muscala looked like a bait thrown by the Timberwolves. Perhaps the Timberwolves were waiting for Duncan to concentrate on playing and suddenly double-teamed him and missed him.

But Duncan thought too much about this ball.

Giannis Antetokounmpo was staring at Diaw, not Duncan at all.

At most, after Duncan made a shot, Giannis Antetokounmpo came in to collect the rebound. As for the assist defense, Su Chen didn't draw the tactical board.

Naturally, Muscala couldn't defend against Duncan. Facing Duncan's back attack, he was beaten back and forth.

However, throughout the confrontation, Muscala tried his best to collide with Duncan, sparing no effort at all.

After all, for him, what he needs is playing time. He has a lot of physical strength on the bench and usually only plays in garbage time.

Of course, there is a gap in strength between the full-strength Muscala and Duncan, and Duncan cannot be guarded.

But when Duncan kicked it, Muscala rushed over directly.

Muscala took off directly. If he can catch the ball, he is naturally risky. If he can't catch the ball, he won't let Duncan take the ball without pressure.

Duncan turned over and hit the board, and was directly defended by Muscala's whole body.

Muscala failed to catch Duncan's ball, but he hit Duncan's wrist, causing Duncan to crooked when he shot the ball.

beep!
Such an obvious foul, the referee naturally caught it.

And Muscala also raised his hand directly, without explaining at all, indicating that he had fouled.

Duncan walked to the free throw line and made two free throws.

Timberwolves 12:15 Spurs.

Seeing this defensive round, Popovich also knew why Su Chen wanted to play Muscala.

"You should upgrade that kid's skills, he obviously didn't go for the ball."

Popovich yelled at the referee on the sidelines.

Obviously, the Timberwolves went to Muscala to let him use fouls to consume Duncan.

(End of this chapter)