Chapter 81: The opening showdown

If the Timberwolves want to win this game, the only breakthrough is the offense, and only by playing a stable and efficient offense can they have a chance to beat the Celtics tonight.

Although head coach Frank Vogel was full of confidence before the game, the real situation in his heart is not much better than that of the young players of the Timberwolves.

Although in terms of offense, the Timberwolves are much better than the Celtics in terms of positional warfare and fast break, but Frank understands that the chance to win this game lies in the fast break, and the Timberwolves can only defeat the aging Celtics in one fell swoop by playing a mercury-like offense like the Suns, or even take away a wave of streams.

In the face of the Celtics' tough defense, the young Timberwolves will only lose themselves in the game little by little, unable to find the direction of victory, and finally be devoured by the Celtics little by little, and there is not even a bone residue left.

If you want to win tonight, you can only use fast offense to disrupt the Celtics' offensive and defensive rhythm, more running, faster counterattack speed, and speed up the pace of the game, so that the aging Celtics will consume more physical strength at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends, once it drags on to the fourth quarter, the aging Celtics' physical strength will drop to the freezing point, and the Timberwolves' chances of winning will be greatly increased!

But head coach Frank Vogel did not tell Li Shihao carefully about this before the game, he knew that even if he didn't say it, Li Shihao understood what he meant, as the team's brain on the court, he could see the most essential thing behind the game, but seeing it does not mean that he could do it, the Celtics' offensive and defensive rhythm has always been controlled by Rondo, this young point guard is very old, not at all like a young player, learning and growing under the wings of the Big Three, and now it has become a force to be reckoned with.

Rondo can now be said to be a more defensively strengthened version of Nash, although his shooting ability is not good, but he can master the breakthrough pass very well, the timing is very accurate, and more importantly, there is a big three standing behind this young point guard.

Once the game enters a scorching state, I am afraid that the Big Three will stand up and take over the game as soon as possible, so if you want to win this game, it will ultimately depend on what kind of energy Li Shihao can burst out tonight, and whether he is strong enough to subvert this game!

this game. The Timberwolves need to play fast and keep an efficient offense, and rebounding inside will be a big problem.

In previous games, the Timberwolves have been well controlled in rebounding, averaging 11 more per game than the opposing side. 2 rebounds, with such a huge rebounding advantage, the Timberwolves can reverse and win even if they fall behind in the early stage against many strong teams, which is one of the reasons why they can achieve such an excellent record this season.

However, against the Celtics tonight, it remains an unanswered question whether Marc Gasol and Kevin Love can continue their excellent rebounding performances.

Kyle Love is a rising star on the inside that the Timberwolves have unearthed in the past two seasons, with a strong monster-level rebounding ability, whenever a rebound is freshly baked, this young white interior can always easily grab rebounds from the crowd, averaging nearly 15 rebounds per game per game, which has made many people in the league notice him.

According to this trend, Kevin Love is very likely to compete for the rebounding title of the year with Howard, the monster who dominates the East, and this game will be a time to test his rebounding ability.

Real gold still needs to be tempered by fire!

This match is both a test for Lefu and an opportunity to make a name for himself quickly.

The Timberwolves have been practicing fast-break tactics in the past few days, and during the team's exercises, Li Shihao led the substitute team, constantly using the fast break to impact the main team where Lefu is located, and the tactics played by Lefou's main team are the Celtics' current tight defensive tactics, and the Timberwolves' move is to study how to use fast attacks to break through the Celtics' solid defense.

Blitzkrieg is to use lightning speed to attack and break through, break up the opponent's defense, and make the opponent tired.

If this tactic can be implemented, it's hard to believe that the Celtics, who are a year older this year, will be able to hold up until the fourth quarter!

The Celtics' main lineup actually has a very big flaw, that is, Rondo and Perkins do not have excellent shooting ability, Rondo may also have the ability to break through, which can make him have a little presence on the offensive end, but Perkins has no ability, he is a complete blue-collar worker, a level of sand monks, and there are only two ways to score - close-range layups and dunks, shallow and pitiful, and the pace is frighteningly slow, and often even teammates can't bear to complain, Parsons like this tend to be a point of absence on the court during the game.

Maybe there is also a three-point shooter in the team, Ray Allen, who may provide some firepower support for the Celtics, but this season, due to the change of ball possession, there is a gap between the Big Three, and there will be some friction from time to time, and Ray Allen is the biggest victim.

This season, Ray Allen's ball possession has decreased sharply, and there is no trace of the majesty of the Big Three, his status on the court is becoming more and more marginalized, and there are no stable shooting opportunities, resulting in Ray Allen's tactical status in the Celtics has dropped again and again, and even the young point guard Rondo in the team is much more important than Ray Allen!

Therefore, in tonight's game, if Wolves Garnett and Paul Pierce get into a hard battle, it is very likely that the Celtics will not have a third person to step up to support the team's firepower, which is by no means alarmist, but very likely to happen.

At the beginning of the game, Mark Gasol and Garnett competed for the ball, maybe the wolf king was a year older, this ball was pulled to his team's half by Mark Gasol with a slight advantage of a knuckle, so that the wolf king Garnett was in a trance after landing, looking at Mark Gasol's tiger's back, silent, I don't know what I was thinking.

The Timberwolves' first offense was controlled by Li Shihao, and at the position of one step outside the three-point line, he began to play strongly in the face of Rondo's defense, and Garnett, who was not watching from the sidelines, came out to help defend.

Li Shihao took the opportunity to pass to Kevin Lefou, who was unrelenting, standing outside the three-point line on the right side, leaving a shoe away, jumping high, the hard-working and simple Perkins hurriedly came over to block, but Kevin Lefu had already jumped first, and his height and arms were long, and the advantage of the high battery was vividly embodied, the basketball hollow into the net, and the Timberwolves took the lead in scoring three points at the beginning.

Docs head coach Rivers on the sidelines frowned, the Timberwolves played extremely decisively at the beginning, focusing on Love as soon as they came up, and they were three-pointers as soon as they shot, which faintly made him feel a little bad, but he couldn't guess the ghost idea played by Frank Vogel on the other side.

I didn't have a thought for a while, so I had to let the game continue, anyway, it was them who had the advantage in this game, and they still had time to wait and see.

When it was Celtic's turn to attack, Rondo didn't covet the ball, and the ball was handed over to Pierce as soon as it passed halftime, allowing the latter to choose between playing alone or passing.

There is no doubt that Pierce is the boss of the Celtics, and as the leader of the Green Army who has been in Boston for more than a decade, he has a high status in the Celtics team, and he has no problem executing the first attack.

Pierce, who has been a lot slower than last season, has gained weight over the summer, and in order to cope with the growing strength of LeBron James in the East, Truth has had to work tonnage and power.

Although the explosiveness and all-round offensive means have not weakened, the slightly slower pace has undoubtedly made it easier for Brewer to defend him, at least he will not be more sure when the defense breaks through.

Pierce faced Brewer's defense with this ball, or decisively chose to break through with the ball, he understood that he couldn't shake the Timberwolves' young outside blocker once, and used three emergency stops in a row to change direction, dodged the opponent, and hit the basket like lightning, attracting the defense of Kevin Love and Marc Gasol, and threw the basketball upwards hard, and the wolf king Garnett rushed in at some point, jumped high unstoppably, caught the basketball in mid-air with both hands, and completed a powerful and heavy slam dunk.

A rare aerial relay, with a skilful interplay between Garnett and Pierce, earned the Celtics two points.

After the wolf king Garnett landed, he pulled his jersey and roared, and his right hand clenched his fist and hammered it hard in front of his chest, showing his fierce spirit.

"Truth" Pierce smiled faintly when he saw this, and raised his index finger high in the air, signaling his teammates to play steadily, not to be too anxious.

Li Shihao frowned, the Celtics have run in better this season, especially the cooperation between Garnett and Pierce, which is becoming more and more skillful, and the connection between the two is extremely powerful, and very few teams in the league can stop it.

The only way to attack is to attack!

?? Bill Wharton in the studio saw this scene and said with a smile: "Many people know that Pierce is a guy who does not accept the old, and his competitive spirit is especially strong, and now he is in his thirties and still does not accept the old, he claims that he is still the strongest No. 3 position in the league, not to mention whether this statement is correct, but it can be seen from this game that Paul Pierce's threat on the offensive end is indeed great, he stands on the field, and he is affecting the hearts of defenders all the time, he is too dangerous, as long as there is a moment of relaxation, Pierce will create attacking chances! You want to find an active No. 3 player in this league who is more dangerous than him on the offensive end, but you're afraid there isn't. ”

?? Reggie Miller nodded, and he did not refute Bill Wharton's opinion, but agreed: "That's true, Pierce can indeed be said to have all the offensive skills of the No. 3 position now, even LeBron, who is becoming more and more dominant, is difficult to compare with him." I still remember the wonderful battle between the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers in the finals last year, and the scoring duel between Pierce and Kobe Bryant was very exciting. ”

As he spoke, the camera turned to Li Shihao, who was attacking with the ball, and the audience suddenly burst into boos.

???