Grab Curry at the start

Chapter 44
"The Hornets wanted to make a surprise attack today, but you successfully stopped them. We just have this ability, see every move, and then counter them."

"In short, remember that the defense should not be relaxed at any time. This will make the game easier. The offense must be decisive. The more decisive, the more able to tear apart the opponent's defense."

"What we usually practice is very useful. On the field of competition, your task is to show what you have practiced, so that the goddess of victory will naturally favor us more."

The Timberwolves players are very happy, they feel that they have seen through the strength of the Hornets.

But the Hornets have no intention of giving up, especially Paul.

Paul is extremely competitive and has a strong understanding of the game, as well as his temper.

In college, he was the villain on the NCAA field. He was not tall, strong and aggressive.

Curry performed well in the first half, which made Paul very unhappy.

He doesn't like to lose. In the locker room at halftime, Paul took the initiative to discuss tactics with the coaching staff, hoping to beat the Timberwolves in the second half.

"We need to be tougher and not let them score easily."

At the beginning of the second half, Paul set an example and guarded against Curry.

After Paul went all out, Curry suffered a bit, and the same went on the court.

One is the experience gap, and the other is the physical gap. Although Curry is taller, he is not as tall as Paul. Paul dunks much easier than Curry.

The Hornets played their most familiar rhythm again in the third quarter, but it was tougher.

Not just Paul, but the Hornets don't want to just lose.

In this game, the referee whistled a little looser, and some physical confrontations did not sound the whistle.

So when the intensity of the second half came up, the scoring efficiency of both teams dropped.

However, Curry also has some experience in confronting Paul.

He doesn't get entangled with Paul much. The offensive end is called a screen, and he shoots when he has a chance, otherwise he passes the ball.

In this way, his scoring efficiency decreased, but overall he played better than last time.

At this time, the Hornets' own offense was also average. In order to break the Timberwolves' defense, Paul was a little deliberate in finding teammates, but West didn't play out in this game.

The confrontation between him and Le Fu turned out to be a bit of a disadvantage. Le Fu, the little white fat man, now has much better confrontation ability than after losing weight.

On the offensive end, Love also played better.

Therefore, in the first half of the third quarter, the Timberwolves were a little uncomfortable, but they stabilized.

However, when the game entered the rotation lineup, when the main lineup and the substitute lineup were alternating, Stojakovic, who had been inactive after the rhythm slowed down, suddenly hit two consecutive three-pointers.

Then, Thornton, who had just played, hit an unreasonable three-pointer against the defense, and the Hornets caught up with the score all at once.

Zhang Sixin quickly called a timeout. He is not a coach who sees that the situation is wrong and wants to let the players play back.

If the opponent starts to move, no matter what the reason is, it needs to be interrupted.

Besides, the Timberwolves don't have a level star who can stabilize the situation.

They are doing pretty well now, mainly because other teams don't know the young Timberwolves.

It is also because of this that Curry and Love can play more.

And Curry didn't continue to be amazing after two highlights at that time, and it was also because the opponent's defensive attention to him increased.

Whenever the opponent's defense against Love also improves, Love will not be as easy as it is now.

Of course, Zhang Sixin also has a solution. The Timberwolves are useless without a player. The main players attract defensive attention, and others can also score.

After the timeout, Zhang Sixin simply asked the team to cooperate with the Hornets to press the rhythm, directly slower, and locked the opponent's three-pointer.

If you rush to speed up, the current Curry is still a bit unsafe, so we have to do the opposite.

In this case, let alone hit a three-pointer, Stojakovic, who has old arms and legs, will never even think about making a phone call.

The Hornets coach also wanted Stojakovic to come in two more while the feel was good, but it turned out that it didn't work at all.

And when Paul went down to rest, the Hornets' offense was completely paralyzed.

The Timberwolves were a little bit unable to attack, but Jefferson still hit one.

Now the Timberwolves player rotation is still being adjusted. In fact, it has been adjusting all the time. Zhang Sixin wants to find the optimal solution.

Curry, Love, and Jefferson have all led the bench lineup. Up to now, Jefferson has gone to rest first, the team speeds up, and both Curry and Love are on the court.

Then Curry and Love rested, and Jefferson led the team to play both inside and outside.

Stagger the team's three scoring points so that they can all maintain enough possession of the ball.

After all, when all the strengths are there, Jefferson's low-post singles are much less than last season. Simply arranging some low-post offenses in the rotation time can also solve some organizational problems of the Timberwolves' rotation. After all, singles do not need such good organizational skills.

As for the weakness of the team's organization, after Love returned from injury, Zhang Sixin has also tried to let Love participate in some organizational work to make up for the lack of Curry, and now it is beginning to be effective.

Zhang Sixin doesn't know what the Timberwolves will look like in the playoffs.

Paul re-entered the game after resting for more than three minutes, and Curry also entered the game at the same time.

The two avoid it for a while, but face each other most of the time.

Zhang Sixin hopes that Curry can adapt faster and feel like fighting against the league's top No. [-] position.

Of course, Curry still rested for a few more minutes, and Zhang Sixin will ensure Curry's rest time.

Curry still suffered a disadvantage in the confrontation, but Paul couldn't score many points with some personal advantages.

This is the problem with pure point guards, they sometimes can't directly score.

And whether the teammates can hit the passed ball or not, they can't control it.

Paul might have been in trouble for the Timberwolves if he had been better at scoring, but he hasn't.

Therefore, the defense was further upgraded in the final quarter, and Zhang Sixin deliberately slowed down the team's rhythm, and the game became a defensive battle.

The current Hornets do not pursue defense, but it is a pity that they are dragged down by the Timberwolves.

Halfway through the last quarter, the Timberwolves took a slight lead, which looked like a ball.

The Hornets want to attack very much now, and have already played a small lineup, withdrew Okafor and let West play five.

Zhang Sixin has not followed the opponent to change to a smaller lineup for the time being, he still wants to play inside.

With the Hornets lineup, both Love and Jefferson can play inside.

However, the Hornets obviously will not give a chance, and Jefferson's action rate is a little slower.

In two consecutive opportunities, Jefferson didn't put the ball in neatly, and only got one free throw opportunity, but it was a pity that he only made one of two free throws.

On the Hornets side, Collison finally hit, and the Timberwolves' lead was only 1 point left.

Zhang Sixin stroked the stubble on his chin and sighed in his heart, it seemed that he still had to change the lineup.

(End of this chapter)