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Chapter 368 Dual Control Shows Its Power
Arriving at the Target Center, home of the Timberwolves, the Thunder generals felt quite emotional. It was here last season that they lost an entire season's hard work.Returning to the old ground this time, the Thunder hopes to defeat the Timberwolves and avenge their previous defeat.

And the entire Timberwolves team did not underestimate the Thunder who came from afar. Among other things, their talent is definitely the top in the league.The Thunder's three juniors, including Ibaka, have gradually matured, and their strength can be said to be improving day by day. They are obviously more difficult to deal with than last season.However, the Timberwolves have also improved, and the outcome of the game is not yet known.

This is the first game of the series. Neither side is in a hurry to change. The Thunder have Westbrook, Sefolosha, Durant, Ibaka and Perkins, and the Timberwolves have Rubio and Xu Hao. , Korver, Love and Jordan.McHale's idea is very simple, that is to directly use offense to destroy the opponent, and it is best to directly bring the game into garbage time.

In the previous match against the Thunder, Xu Hao, as the outside core of the Timberwolves, encountered inhumane double-teaming. Although he finally tore through the Thunder's defense and put up decent numbers, he still consumed a lot of energy.But now he is surrounded by Rubio, whose assist ability is no less than his own, so it shouldn't take too much effort.

To be honest, before the game started, Brooks was still full of hope and prepared to knock down the Timberwolves, but when he arranged the tactics, he discovered that the team now lacked outside defenders!Last year they could eliminate Ellington by blocking Xu Hao's passing route, but now that they have Rubio, they can only adopt one-on-one defense.However, Sefolosha alone would most likely not be able to restrain Xu Hao. Wouldn't that give this Asian boy a chance to score?

If so, now Brooks has no good solution, and no one is available as a substitute, so he can only pin his hopes on Sefolosha's explosive seed.Sefolosha couldn't guard Xu Hao last year, but it doesn't mean he can't guard Xu Hao this year either.

After laying out the tactics, Brooks pulled Sefolo aside and whispered, "You will be responsible for defending Xu Hao. Don't be afraid of fouls, but also control fouls. Don't let him shoot easily, understand?"

Sefolosha would like to say something about MMP, the coach's task is a bit schizophrenic!If you are not afraid of fouls, can you control the number of fouls?Sefolosha tried to defend Xu Hao last year, which is really not a human job.But now he can't refuse. This is the responsibility he must bear as the Thunder's number one outside gate. In the end, Sefolosha gritted his teeth and agreed.As for what to do in the game, he had to seize the time to think quickly.

Before Sefolosha figured out what to do, the game was about to begin.The Timberwolves jump ball is naturally Jr. Jordan, but the Thunder can only send Ibaka as the fourth position. They can't let Perkins, a tank-type center, jump the ball, right?

The result is obvious, Jordan took the ball from Ibaka's head to Xu Hao by virtue of his height advantage.Without looking back, Xu Hao just made a sideways long pass. The basketball spanned half a court and flew precisely into Rubio's hands. The latter made a three-step layup and scored.This round was so shocking that none of the Thunder players reacted at all.

When they came to their senses, the Timberwolves had already returned to defense, and everyone had a bad face.Especially Sefolosha, who was in charge of watching Xu Hao, but he didn't expect Xu Hao to pass such a beautiful pass without even looking at it, directly assisting Rubio for a layup.Originally, he wanted to try to steal, but Xu Hao moved too fast and didn't give him a chance at all.

Looking back, the Thunder's offense continued their usual routine, that is, singles with the ball, either Westbrook singles or Durant singles. It looks very imposing, but in fact it is completely alone.With Durant's personal strength, the Thunder also scored 2 points, but the tactical fluency of the two sides is significantly different, and the Timberwolves seem to be better.As long as they are willing, it is no problem to pass the ball through the hands of five people in one round, and the offense will naturally be smoother.

According to Brooks' arrangement, Westbrook and Sefolosha need to take on the heavy responsibility of blocking the backcourt of the Timberwolves. However, he soon discovered that there is no possibility of completing the instructions he issued.Although Xu Hao is good at breakthroughs and Rubio is good at passing, they are both all-round guards who can shoot and pass suddenly, and they can't choke their offense one-on-one.

After a season of cooperation, the cooperation between Xu Hao and Rubio has become more and more tacit. Under Xu Hao's guidance, Rubio's shooting has been greatly improved. His 37.5% three-point shooting rate is enough to defeat any opponent. Dare to let him go.

Seeing Xu Hao and Rubio active and playing consecutively, the other Timberwolves players were also willing to help them.Jordan is responsible for grabbing rebounds, Korver is responsible for shooting three-pointers, and Love can take care of both sides. What they have to do is to provide Xu Hao and the others with the help they can, and then wait for them to score. Just call 666 next to them. .

That is to say, this kind of thing happens in young teams. Everyone is a brother who can trust each other. Even the team's top scorer can give up part of the ball for his brother.The atmosphere in the Timberwolves' locker room is obviously very good, so when Xu Hao and Rubio took the lead in starting the scoring mode, others were willing to assist them.

From the perspective of technical characteristics, the two starting guards of the Timberwolves are all combo guards. They constantly pass the ball to each other, coupled with weird running routes, the Thunder's perimeter defense was torn to pieces by them.Before McHale came on as a substitute, the Timberwolves' starting five teamed up to score 31 points and hit a total of 5 three-pointers. The firepower was very fierce.The Thunder, which relied on Durant and Westbrook to score alone, obviously couldn't resist, and the point difference has reached double digits.

Brooks on the sidelines was dumbfounded. This season, the Thunder and Timberwolves played against each other basically in the first half of the season. Naturally, he rarely experienced the power of the Timberwolves' dual control. Now he was directly slapped in the face by the opponent.

When they were substituted, both Westbrook and Sefolosha were livid, and they couldn't stop the other party's passes and shots at all.In fact, they can't be blamed. Most teams' backcourt combinations are basically free. These two guys don't seem to need to use their eyes to see where their teammates are. A casual throw is a wonderful assist.

But Brooks is obviously more confused than them. How can he deal with the Timberwolves if this continues?

(End of this chapter)