Junior Basketball says

Chapter 314 Magnificent Stone Buddha
While McHale was teaching Xu Hao and the others face-to-face, Popovich was also busy arranging the tactics for the second half in the locker room.The old man has always been confident in his trump card backcourt, but he also has to admit that Xu Hao's offensive ability is too strong, especially in this game, Parker and Ginobili combined are not as good as him.

Of course, Xu Hao's focus on scoring will inevitably make him less concerned about the organization. Fortunately, Love has assumed part of the organization's responsibility, and there is no need for McHale to send Sessions on the field.The previous experience of playing organization center tactics allowed the Timberwolves to constantly switch between the two modes, and it was no problem for Xu Hao to strengthen his offense.

Popovich is very clear that it is impossible for Parker and Ginobili to let go of the offense. Xu Hao and Ellington are both excellent defensively, and their physical fitness is also considered to be in the upper reaches among players in the same position. The starting backcourt rarely gets suitable opportunities beyond the three-point line, and even the number of breakthroughs is greatly reduced, which is a kind of harm to the team.The old man can only focus on the inside. At this time, the most reliable Spurs are actually the real core Duncan.

In the first half, Duncan easily contributed a quasi-double-double of 21 points and 9 rebounds, which fully proved his advantage in the face of the Timberwolves' two young insiders.And Duncan's shooting rate is also very high, hitting 11 goals in 8 shots. His state in this game is really good. It seems that it is not impossible for one person to carry the team's offense.

However, Duncan's consumption was not small. After returning to the locker room, he took two bananas and ate them, hoping to fill his stomach temporarily so that he could continue to exert strength in the second half.Popovich walked up to him, patted him on the shoulder condescendingly, and said, "Tim, in the second half, I need you to score more points inside. Can you complete the task?"

Duncan paused, nodded silently, and took out a third banana from the nearby plate.Popovich nodded slightly. He was not surprised by Duncan's attitude. Although this big man is the core of the team, he has inherited the usual reticence of the core players of the Spurs. It will definitely be completed.

After explaining to Duncan, Popovich went to order a few words for the other main players of the Spurs, asking them to maximize the space for Duncan and provide more support.Especially Splitter, as the main center of the team, he has a very heavy responsibility. He has to work harder to defend, and then he has to do a good job of protecting the frame and grabbing rebounds.

After a short intermission, players from both sides returned to the field, and there was no change in the lineup.McHale's previous speculation quickly became a reality. The Spurs did not continue to attack from the outside, but kept giving the ball to the low post for Duncan to play singles.Duncan's position is actually not important now, everything within the three-point line is his field.

Pulling up to the high position and hitting a large two-pointer, facing the basket forcibly breaking through and scoring, textbook-like post-up singles and then turning around for a layup, grabbing an offensive rebound and then a Dianabol dunk... Duncan's face was calm, and his hand The job was done beautifully, and every time he got the ball from his teammates, he tried his best to send the ball to the basket, continuously helping the team to increase points.

Seeing Duncan's calm and paralyzed face, Xu Hao felt that the nickname "Stone Buddha" given to him by Chinese fans was indeed too appropriate.No matter how loud the noise was at the scene, there was no expression on his face, as if everything was taken for granted, but in fact he was almost unbeatable at the basket. When Love and Jordan faced him helpless.

But soon Xu Hao realized another meaning of "Stone Buddha", which is as firm as a rock.Under the instruction of Popovich, the Spurs players forced Xu Hao to choose more breakthroughs on the outside with high-intensity fighting and physical confrontation, and then bumped into Duncan's iron wall. More importantly, this line of defense was completely He supported it alone.

Jordan has only a few scoring methods on the offensive end, and he will not score at a certain distance from the basket, so there is no need to defend him excessively.So Splitter pulled out to follow Love and let Duncan sit under the basket. No matter who breaks through here, Duncan will use his most impeccable way to make the opponent feel ashamed.

Fortunately, Xu Hao, under the defense of Duncan, still got out of the block in time and hit a few layups, but the air-cutting Ellington and Brewer were miserable. Their finishing ability at the basket was far behind. Far inferior to Xu Hao, facing Duncan's defense is even more scalp numb.Although I seldom eat hot pot, it is certain to be disturbed, and there are often embarrassing situations of missed layups.

Relying on Duncan's dominance on both ends of the offense and defense, the Spurs regained the lead. They beat the Timberwolves 20-12 in half a quarter. It looked like they were going to score 40 points in this quarter. This is very scary for the Spurs .However, anyone with a discerning eye can see that it is not so much that the Spurs' firepower has increased, it is better to say that Duncan has started to exert force. Of the 20 points scored by the Spurs, he alone accounted for 13 points, and also had 4 rebounds and 2 points. Second block, the state is very hot.

McHale is very helpless. With Duncan's current state, even if the Timberwolves take turns sending them inside to encircle and suppress him, they may not be able to limit his performance.Love and Jordan are already the most powerful insiders on the team. They can't handle Duncan even if they focus on defense, let alone the others. However, they can still consider hoarding heavy troops inside to contain Duncan.

If this is the case, then Brewer will have to take on more responsibilities. After all, he is a 2.06-meter forward.Thinking of this, McHale called a timeout, arranged the next strategy for the players, and specially called Brewer to explain the key points, and asked him to go inside to fight more.

Brewer is a little embarrassed. Every Timberwolves player has an exact understanding of how strong Duncan is, and he is not sure whether he can contribute to the team after entering the paint.But now there is no one in the team who is more suitable than him. Whether he can take on this responsibility largely determines whether the team can restrain Duncan and make a comeback.

Facing McHale's expectant eyes, Brewer gritted his teeth and said: "Coach, I'm not sure if I can meet your requirements and help the team regain the advantage inside, but I will try my best to do it after the game restarts." .”

(End of this chapter)