Junior Basketball says

Chapter 241
The Timberwolves VS Trail Blazers was the latest game to end today, but the result was beyond most people's expectations.Before the game started, many experts and fans believed that the Trail Blazers would successfully qualify for the playoffs, but the Timberwolves abruptly snatched the last playoff spot from the Trail Blazers. Made it to the playoffs for the first time.

You must know that even Garnett failed to lead the team back to the playoffs in the last few years here, and there are no real stars on the Timberwolves roster this season.Perhaps Love, Jordan and even Xu Hao are likely to become top players in their respective positions in the future, but they are young rookies with little experience, and they are proud enough to achieve such a record.This kind of performance also made the team owner very satisfied, and he thought it was worth the money he spent.

Of course, he will not expect the Timberwolves to reach higher heights this season. Reaching the playoffs has exceeded expectations. For this reason, he has decided to spend a sum of money as an extra bonus for the players, and praise the team management for their efforts. The operation of the season.

The Timberwolves players were overjoyed when they heard the news, and the excitement of the bonus kept them awake at night.Fortunately, according to the league's schedule, the playoffs will not start until two days later on April 4, and the Timberwolves game is scheduled for the next day.The only bad news is that their opponents are too powerful, and the complete Lakers are not easy to deal with.

Yes, this time Xu Hao has to face his master Kobe Bryant again, and the pressure faced by the Timberwolves is far greater than that in the regular season.They did defeat the Lakers at that time, but it can be said that they tried their best and did not hide their weaknesses at all, but the opponent was missing Bynum, the starting center.Known as the "Little Shark", if he is on the court, the possibility of the Timberwolves winning will be very small. His dominance in the interior is not comparable to that of Odom, who is more suitable as the team's sixth man.

In the second half of the regular season, Bynum, who was injured and underwent surgery, successfully returned. After a brief downturn, he once again showed the momentum of the Sharks, averaging 17.2 points, 11.3 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game. The performance was enough to help Kobe.More importantly, his shooting percentage at the basket is as high as 76.8%, ranking fifth in the league. The offense is also very exciting.

For this round of the series, the entire Timberwolves team did not take it lightly. The defeat of the Lakers did not explain anything at all. The state of many teams in the regular season and the playoffs is completely different. The defense comes against you.What's more, the Lakers successfully won the championship last season. This time they definitely want to defend their title, and Kobe can't tolerate failure even more.

During these two days of rest, Xu Hao did nothing but prepare for the game. During the day, he went to the training ground to maintain his shooting touch, or went to the gym for strength training. At night, he eagerly watched the Lakers game video this season. , and then went to the system to constantly fight against the Zijin Army, trying to find something that could be used from the continuous failures.

But Xu Hao was very disappointed. The Lakers who welcomed Bynum back hardly had any fatal flaws, and even if they had, they were not something the Timberwolves could catch.In several consecutive simulations, the Timberwolves have suffered disastrous defeats. It can be seen that the difference in hard power between the two teams is not small. It can even be said that the Timberwolves have no chance of winning. If they do not come up with countermeasures, they are very likely to be defeated by 4 0 sweep.

After thinking for a long time, Xu Hao gave up silently. He did have a thorough understanding of the team's tactics, but coming up with new tactics was not something he, a rookie, could do. He could only look at the coaching staff headed by McHale. Is there any way.

However, McHale didn't come up with any good solution. During the journey to Los Angeles with the team, he just repeatedly told everyone to play at their own level and style in the game, and not to be overwhelmed by the opponent's momentum.Under normal circumstances, when the head coach says this, it means that he has no confidence in the outcome of the game, so he just asks everyone to do their best.

On the night of the game, when the Timberwolves walked into the stadium at the Staples Center, there was an overwhelming booing from the audience, hitting everyone's ears like a tsunami.It can be seen that the Lakers fans are still worried about the Zijin Army losing to their opponents in the regular season. Now that the two sides meet again in the first round of the playoffs, they firmly believe that Kobe can lead the team to easily eliminate the Timberwolves.

The game started amid boos all over the sky.The fans in Los Angeles are actually very picky, and they have unimaginable pride, which greatly affects both sides of the game. The Lakers players are constantly attacking the Timberwolves' defense like crazy.The young Timberwolves players felt tremendous pressure from the first second of the game. They felt like a small boat in a storm, and they might be smashed to pieces by the opponent's surging offensive in the next second. .

Xu Hao tried to defend Kobe with Ellington, and he was even willing to let go of Fisher, who can also hit shots from beyond the three-point line.But Kobe, who would choose to pass the ball during the regular season, is now going straight up. It seems that for him, there is not much difference between double-teaming and opening. Ellington hit hard.

It doesn't matter even if Kobe doesn't make a shot, the inside combination of Gasol and Bynum has the upper hand in the three-second zone.The inside configuration of the Timberwolves is actually quite good. Love mainly attacks Jordan as the main defense, but Gasol and Bynum can both make contributions on both ends of the offense and defense at the same time. It can almost be said to be anything and everything.

McHale's continuous deployment of troops was unable to stop the Lakers' powerful offensive. He could only rely on Love's inside singles and Xu Hao's three-point shooting to score piecemeal.This is obviously not enough to help the Timberwolves compete with the Lakers. They fell behind by 12 points in the first quarter, and the point difference reached 20 points at halftime. Judging from the momentum of both sides, a reversal is only theoretically possible.

At the beginning of the second half, Xu Hao fought back vigorously. He hit 3 consecutive three-pointers and barely helped the Timberwolves narrow the point difference to 14 points. Hard to grab.

The enraged Lakers worked hard and turned the last six minutes of the fourth quarter into garbage time. In the end, they easily won 6-108 and got the series off to a good start. For them, a 95-4 sweep was the first. wheel for the best results.

(End of this chapter)