NBA: Duncan feels uneasy coaching Warriors

Chapter 237 It’s worthy of you
At this time, the Timberwolves players also entered the stadium.

Compared with the regular season, when the Timberwolves players came up to greet Su Chen, there was no such thing in this playoffs.

In the playoffs, the two teams are in a fighting state. Unlike the regular season, professional players will still maintain their basic attitude.

Even if you want to chat, it will be after the series is over.

As the Timberwolves players entered, so did the current head coach of the Timberwolves, Doc Rivers.

After entering the venue, he first took a look in the direction of Su Chen.

Obviously, Rivers is quite concerned about this guy who stole his job.

After the former owner of the Clippers traded him to the Clippers in the first round, the new owner actually gave up on him directly in order to please Su Chen.

This is not a simple comparison issue. I would rather lose a first-rounder than get him. Doesn't this mean that he is more than one level lower than Su Chen?

This is simply an insult!
Rivers is now unhappy not only with the Clippers, but also with the Timberwolves.

Now that the two teams meet in the playoffs, this is his chance to prove himself!

The game is broadcast live across the United States.

As the game with the most gimmicks in all series, the gold medal commentary team will naturally not let it go.

"The confrontation between these two teams is really interesting. Rivers is the former coach of the Clippers, and Suchen is the former coach of the Timberwolves."

"After exchanging coaches, the direct dialogue between the two teams was really exciting."

Johnson took the lead and said.

"The Clippers have a strong momentum this season. Perhaps it can be said that the team coached by Su Chen has always had a strong momentum."

"We have commented on Su Chen's games in the playoffs for three consecutive seasons. If Su Chen can advance to the finals, then we will comment on Su Chen's games in the finals for three consecutive seasons."

Buckley said with a smile.

"The last time it was probably the Heat, but unlike the Heat, Su Chen was not with one team but three different teams."

O'Neill added next to him.

"Three consecutive championships for a team is the establishment of a dynasty, but what does it mean to win three consecutive championships with three different coaches?"

Kenny Smith asked at this time.

Because Barkley brought the topic to the question of whether Su Chen would reach the finals, Kenny Smith took advantage of the situation and thought about Su Chen winning his third championship.

Kenny Smith's words stunned the three of them.

How does this count?
In the long history of the NBA, it is possible to change three teams without a coach and then win the championship for three consecutive seasons.

And let alone coaches, even players probably don’t have one. This condition is too outrageous.

Even if you switch to a super strong team in three seasons, the super strong team may not be able to win the championship, and it is difficult to replicate it deliberately.

Moreover, Su Chen did not take the initiative to join a super team in his three seasons.

The Splash Brothers of the Warriors in the first two seasons have not reached their peak yet and are not considered a super team.

The Timberwolves last season were not a super strong team from the start of the season to the championship.

With a combination of rookies and some fringe All-Stars, it's hard to call this a super strong team.

The Clippers were rated as a super team this season, but Su Chen didn't join on his own initiative!
When Su Chen joined the Clippers, the Clippers were easily eliminated by the Thunder in the second round last season and can only be said to be a strong team in the middle of the first line.

The Clippers' super team title was created by Su Chen himself.

Even at the beginning, due to the weakness of the center position, the Clippers with only George and Lillard were not optimistic at all.

The team's odds before the season were not even close to being a first-tier team, let alone a super first-tier team.

It can be said that the Clippers' super team was run by Su Chen through his own coaching and draft trading.

Of course, this is not a super strong team that Su Chen took the initiative to join.

"It's really hard to say what it is."

Buckley hesitated and said.

"Can it be considered the Su Dynasty?"

O'Neill touched his bald head and said.

puff!
Several people laughed out loud when they heard O'Neal talking about the Su Dynasty.

The Su Dynasty and so on are too outrageous.

"There is indeed nothing like this in history, but Su Chen hasn't won three consecutive championships yet, so I don't think we need to discuss this issue yet."

Johnson came out and said, intending to stop the topic first.

Several people nodded after hearing these words.

Instead of worrying about how to calculate Su Chen's personal dynasty, it's better to first see if Su Chen can really achieve that kind of achievement.

If Su Chen can't win his third consecutive championship, there will be no discussion about this dynasty.

Changing teams and winning consecutive championships, Su Chen can be said to be very good, but the discussion of greatness is still almost meaningless.

For great coaches in history, building a dynasty is just the threshold to greatness.

The question of whether a person's dynasty is greater than a team's dynasty, at least for now, does not need to be added to the dialectic.

These dialectics will only be added to the argument after Su Chen really wins this championship.

The focus of the game is once again on the court.

Today, if Su Chen wants to join the great discussion, he still needs to win the game in front of him.

There is a saying that there are no underdogs in the playoffs, but that is not necessarily true.

Just like in the Eastern Conference now, some teams with a low winning rate still entered the playoffs and were easily swept away.

If the teams in the first round still have some bad records, then the teams in the second round can fit the description of no weaklings.

Even if the Clippers are regarded as a super strong team, can they really be better than the Timberwolves?
No matter how you say it, the Timberwolves are a team that advanced to the second round, and they were the championship last season. The defending champion team still needs some respect.

The game is about to start.

The starting players of both sides also entered the court at this time.

Clippers starting lineup: Nikola Jokic (C), Nicolas Batum (PF), Jeff Green (SF), Paul George (SG), Damian Lillard (PG)

Timberwolves starting lineup: Giannis Antetokounmpo (C), Serge Ibaka (PF), Jimmy Butler (SF), Andre Iguodala (SG), Patrick Bay Foley (PG)

The Clippers' lineup has almost no changes.

The Timberwolves' lineup has changed.

Rivers adjusted Giannis Antetokounmpo to the center position. Obviously Rivers knew that Ibaka couldn't match Jokic at all, so he moved Ibaka to the power forward position.

Although Giannis Antetokounmpo has declined a lot this season, his physical talent is there after all, and he will not be like Ibaka, who has been withdrawn by Jokic because of his weak lower body strength.

At the same time, Butler, who was originally playing guard, was moved to the small forward position to face Jeff Green.

Let last season's FMVP and the Timberwolves' top lock go against George.

Although from a tactical standpoint, George has gradually become the team's third leader, George's occasional pull-ups from outside the three-point line and occasional breakthroughs with the ball are also a reliable scoring point in the Clippers system.

As for Beverley, Rivers still plans to continue using him.

Rivers still doesn't want to use the pick-and-roll strategy. Of course, it would be better to let Beverley start chasing Lillard without the pick-and-roll.

And Paul Rondo, who Rivers has coached for a while, is still more accustomed to using this kind of small man to defend.Both sides jumped the ball at this time.

Giannis Antetokounmpo jumped to possession for the Timberwolves.

After Beverly took the ball and advanced past half court, he gave the ball to Butler.

At this time, Giannis Antetokounmpo came to pick and roll Butler. After borrowing Giannis Antetokounmpo's screen and roll, Butler directly chose to take a mid-range shot.

This shot caused some interference by Jeff Green, and Butler's opening attack failed to make a shot.

The team coached by Rivers has a habit of playing a simple pick-and-roll or screen tactic at the beginning. Regardless of how the opponent responds, they just use a simple tactic and take quick shots.

Rivers' idea is actually very simple, which is to use a simple attack to disrupt the opponent's rhythm.

But Su Chen has watched many of Rivers' games, and Su Chen knows his habits at this time.

These are all arranged with the players.

Rivers' opening routine has changed since the 76ers, and now Rivers is still playing very well.

In fact, Rivers is really not difficult to guard. Even when he got to the 76ers, Rivers made changes at that time and it was not difficult to guard him.

After Rivers arrived with the 76ers, he began to copy the tactics of coaches such as D'Antoni and Spoelstra.

Rivers is essentially a chicken-soup coach.

A chicken soup type coach is very dependent on the stars. His entire system is built based on the star players in the team.

And it also depends on what kind of assistant he has. If the assistant is great, he will be great.

For such a chicken soup type coach, Su Chen felt that it was quite easy to deal with.

In addition to Rivers, such coaches include Brooks of the Thunder and Tyronn Lue of the Cavaliers.

However, Rivers knew that the Clippers were able to push fast breaks very quickly, so after playing a simple tactic, everyone immediately returned to defense without grabbing the board.

After Jokic collected the rebound, he wanted to pass the fast break player, but after observing and seeing no chance, he dribbled the ball past half court.

Originally, Jokic wanted to find Lillard first.

But at this time, Lillard was being defended like a mad dog by Beverley regardless of physical strength, preventing Lillard from catching the ball.

Beverley's physical athletic ability is not bad, and he is also considered strong among defenders. It is effective for him to prevent Lillard from catching the ball regardless of physical exertion.

Although it can't really restrict Lillard from catching the ball, it can allow Lillard to expend a lot of energy before catching the ball.

If Lillard wants to get rid of this crazy dog ​​defense, he will naturally have to expend some energy.

Jokic's golf IQ is very high, and he immediately measured how tiring it would be for Lillard to get rid of this crazy dog ​​defense.

For low-level players like Beverley, technical defense can be used in the regular season while ensuring playing time.

The playoffs are where his value really increases. The defense at this time is no longer a simple technical defense, it is really about fighting with the opponent.

Jokic thought about it again and immediately thought of the strategy laid out by Su Chen.

In the past, Su Chen would have asked Jokic to follow the tactics.

But before tonight's game, Su Chen said that he had been given more rights to play singles, allowing him to choose to play alone or organize according to the situation.

Rather than what Su Chen originally said, singles and organization have a certain proportion.

And Jokic also has some competition in his heart. After all, the person guarding him is also Giannis Antetokounmpo, whom Su Chen has vigorously trained.

He wanted to see who was better between him and Giannis Antetokounmpo, who was also vigorously trained by Su Chen.

At this time, Jokic made a hand-to-hand fake action, which was to immediately accelerate with the ball.

Giannis Antetokounmpo was really shaken, but because he moved very fast, he was not shaken away by Jokic's fake move and chased after him.

Upon seeing this, Jokic immediately switched to post-playing mode.

Giannis Antetokounmpo is still not strong enough, but Jokic is tonnage enough and still has 80% of his peak ability.

As well as the latest [low-position heavy weapon] skill that Su Chen pulled out, it was also equipped for Jokic.

Giannis Antetokounmpo was knocked back by Jokic.

After seeing the right opportunity, Jokic directly chose the hook.

Giannis Antetokounmpo was knocked away by Jokic and wanted to defend against this hook. Even though his wingspan was very long, he could only cause slight interference.

brush!
Clippers 2:0 Timberwolves.

Jokic used his solo ability to score the first goal of the game.

After scoring this goal, Jokic was also a little happy.

Not only did he score this point, but he also felt that he had a good touch tonight.

The offensive and defensive rounds between the two sides continued.

After playing for 3 minutes, the score came.

Clippers 10:3 Timberwolves.

Jokic faced Giannis Antetokounmpo's defense and played with pretty good efficiency.

But the Timberwolves' offense seemed a little unstoppable.

Rivers studied the Clippers before the game. He felt that the Clippers' weakness was their weak defense of three-pointers.

After all, Jokic basically defends and retreats, and basically relies on rotation to defend from the outside.

Three-pointers are the Clippers' defensive weakness.

But Rivers didn't think too much about it. Is the Timberwolves' three-pointer qualified to punish the Clippers?
Jokic is rarely defended, but the Clippers' rotation defense on the outside is actually not slow at all.

The threesome, bound by the strikers, can rotate the defense with extremely fast defense.

Beverley, Butler and others can only shoot three-pointers but are not strong.

And the lineup also has a three-point weakness in Giannis Antetokounmpo.

It can be said that the Clippers rotated the Timberwolves' three-point offensive strategy without much pressure at all.

"This is very much in line with Rivers' style."

Looking at Su Chen from the sidelines, he couldn't help but smile.

It's not that Rivers doesn't have tactics. In fact, Rivers has quite a few tactics, with thousands of them known to the outside world.

It's just that Rivers' tactics either don't take into account the actual staffing, or they are purely based on the stars.

Just like when Rivers was with the 76ers, Harden and Maxi were already partners.

The defense of these two people is relatively poor.

Logically speaking, these two people should be allowed to guard the defenders on both sides of the corner and protect these two people on the defensive end.

But Rivers still followed the idea of ​​​​defenders versus defenders and directly asked these two poor defenders to guard the opponent's defenders.

You know, the guards of many teams in the league are offensive-minded, allowing two poor defenders to face elite offenses.

This is also in line with Rivers' current strategy, and Rivers' coaching is like this.

It only formulated a three-point strategy for defense, but did not consider whether the players fit this tactic at all.

Okay, that's very Rivers.

(End of this chapter)