Chapter 414: Desperate Situation
Li Feng's performance has now aroused the anger of Lefou, and he has returned to the Knicks' position, playing more fiercely and running more diligently.
Lefu was criticized by the older generation of players for not being aggressive, and now that he is determined, he feels a little different from the first half.
With a strong body, nimble feet, and perverted bounces, the Knicks are in a lot of trouble.
The pressure on Monroe here has also become greater all of a sudden, his ability is not as good as Lefou, and he can only play a black hand, which is his way of survival.
So when Lefu was in the position, Monroe decisively reached out to put Lefou's arm.
Although this is the home court of the Knicks, Love is also a superstar in the league, and if others are allowed to foul the star so unscrupulously. Then there was still a star whistle there, and the referee immediately gave Monroe a foul.
In the opening game, Love gave Cousins and Monroe a foul each, adding to the foul count in the first half.
Cousins has already committed three fouls, Monroe has also had three fouls, and the Knicks have both had three fouls.
At this time, the Knicks' interior defensive pressure has invisibly increased. Monroe and Cousins both fouled three times, and the defense will definitely be a lot more cautious after that, and many times they can only hold back. In this way, it can't be very well limited to Lefou!
Love is not restricted, and the Timberwolves are bound to have more opportunities on the outside.
It's no wonder that the Timberwolves are always very good at playing the half, and with a monster like Love, the first half will inevitably create enough damage for the opponent, and as long as this kind of damage accumulates in the second half, the team will inevitably get more chances.
Monroe fouled again, but the number of Knicks fouls in the third quarter had not yet arrived. The Timberwolves reopened the ball on the sideline.
The Timberwolves had played very patiently before, but this time the Timberwolves threw the basketball out, and Brewer received the basketball and immediately threw a trademark three-pointer.
Brewer has a three-point shot. Very special, Brewer likes to catch the ball when he runs towards the line, and when he catches the ball, he suddenly rolls over towards the baseline and shoots a three-pointer. This turning action, others do it under the basket, and he does it on the three-point line, which shows how difficult it is.
If you shoot three points in such a difficult move, others will have a lower shooting rate, but Brewer is very accurate in shooting three points with this hand.
As Brewer rolled over, the three-pointer went into the net, and Monroe, who followed him, was completely unresponsive.
Monroe is a player of this kind of agility. There's really nothing he can do.
The Timberwolves scored 5 points in a row at the beginning, and Love made two fouls from the Knicks. In the second half, the Timberwolves were really different.
Li Feng was in this mountain, he was straight-tempered, and he only saw the 5 points he lost, but he didn't expect that his teammates had committed three fouls.
When coming over, Li Feng came over and hit the low post, and then saw Dragic and Monroe covering, and he passed the ball directly to Dragic.
If it was the first half, Monroe would definitely be dishonest. Make it hard for the other party, so that the quality of the cover will be surprisingly high. Dragic's offensive chances will be much greater, but now that Monroe has committed three fouls, he doesn't dare to go too far.
In this way, there is a difference in the quality of cover. Dragic took advantage of Monroe's defense and didn't get too good a chance, and the mid-range shot was interfered with by Baibrewer and missed.
The Knicks missed a shot in one round, and Love immediately hugged the rebound in his arms under the basket.
The Timberwolves snatched the ball back. Then unhurriedly got to the Knicks' half again, the pace of the Timberwolves is not fast, but it is not slow! Their rhythm is just tepid. Keep pulling out the killing machine.
The Timberwolves' players just fell to the Knicks' position, and the Timberwolves suddenly made another strange move.
Love dragged up to get into the Knicks' half, and Nils immediately transferred the basketball to Love.
After Lefu actually took the ball, he attacked with his own frame, and directly dribbled up and threw a throw towards the center of the rebound.
Love suddenly came to this light, which made the Knicks completely unexpected. When everyone was very shocked, they saw that Lefu missed his shot and smashed the basketball to the center of the rebound.
Although the shot missed, the rebound rebounded straight back, and Lefu got up directly and grabbed the rebound in the front court.
Love missed his own shot, grabbed the rebound again, and at this time his position was still under the basket. Suddenly, the Knicks' players rushed up from all sides to wrap up Lefou.
Lefu is also a core player, and understands that his role is like whether it is due to the flesh and bones of a wild dog. The main role is still temptation, so the person who saw the Knicks pounced, and he immediately passed the ball to Rubio outside.
Rubio didn't shoot three-pointers in previous seasons and his shooting was quite inconsistent. has become a very weak role for the Timberwolves, but since the beginning of this season, Rubio's long-range shooting has improved a little.
This is obviously related to Rubio's hard work behind the scenes, and some of Adelman's reasons for seeing him as his godson can be guessed. Adelman is a big fan of hard-working players, and Rubio must be very hard off the pitch despite his brainless performance on the pitch. Otherwise, he would not have reversed his style of play and changed from a crazy breaker to a crazy shooter now.
Rubio shot from a distance at this time, really stabilized, received the ball, and scored three points!
With Rubio's three-point shot, Tyberdu sighed and called a timeout.
Originally, the score of the two teams was 57-53, and there was only a 4-point difference, but when they came back in the second half, the Timberwolves scored 9 points in a row, and the Knicks only scored 2 points. In this way, the gap instantly widened.
The Timberwolves led the Knicks by 11 points at 66-55, and the margin was stretched away in a short period of time, and Tyberdu had to call the timeout. And as a head coach, Tyberdeau's perspective is different from Li Feng's, and he has keenly noticed that Monroe and Cousins are much smaller on the defensive end. It had to do with the fact that they had too many fouls, so now that he called a timeout, he needed to solve two things, he had to add energy on offense, and he had to let Cousins or Monroe adjust it defensively.
Tyberdu's solution to the offensive deficiencies was simple and straightforward, going down to Ross and up J.R. Smith.
Smith couldn't beat Ross for anything else. But only the shooting is far beyond Rose.
As for who to change on the inside, Tyberdeau swung a bit around Monroe and Cousins. In the end, he replaced Cousins, because compared to Monroe's crazy forward defense, Cousins' height is still more irreplaceable for the whole team.
Tyberdu made a timeout and the game resumed.
After the timeout, the Knicks hit a sideline ball, Li Feng took the ball and used his body to press it into the free throw line area, and suddenly jumped up and passed to J.R. Smith.
Smith took the ball in the bottom corner, and the kid really had a good shot. Dribbled forward, pulled a jump shot, and easily scored two points.
The Knicks played Jr Smith and it worked well, and the team began to stabilize the score, and there was a tendency to take the initiative to fish back.
The two teams were so deadlocked until the middle of the third quarter, when others on the Knicks' side could still hold on. But Monroe, who has been fighting with Lefu on the inside, can't support it a little.
After all, the difference between the talents of Monroe and Lefu is too big, Monroe can work hard to make Lefu not be able to fly out with all his strength in a few minutes, but he can't really let Lefu have no chance. It's as if Brewer can't control Li Feng.
At this time, Monroe's physical exertion was huge. The mental pressure is also huge, and Monroe feels groggy under the double pressure.
Just when Monroe was a little slack, Lefu suddenly twisted his butt and shook off Monroe's fierce turn, and rubbed directly into the empty space under the basket.
With Lefu in such a good position, Monroe has no choice. You can only bet on a foul move to pinch Lefou's arm.
The struggle between Monroe and Lefu was already very fierce and eye-catching, and the referees saw it, but Monroe had not fouled before. Now that he had committed a foul all of a sudden, the referee immediately unceremoniously gave Monroe a defensive foul.
At this point, Monroe was fouled four times. He also sent Lefu to the free-throw line. When Li Feng realized that he had lost Monroe, his face turned white all of a sudden.
Before, he was a player playing on the pitch and didn't have much to estimate. But now it is seen that Monroe is going to end. Li Feng immediately thought that in the next game, no one would be able to defend Lefu in front of him. This is a fatal blow for the Knicks, and it is even more terrible than being 10 points behind.
Sure enough, when Monroe was forced to go, Lefu was completely liberated at once.
Without Monroe's bypass, Vucevic, who came off the bench, was not Lefou's opponent at all, and Monroe only went down in the first round, and Lefu easily threw off Vucevic and then relayed in the air.
After that, the Knicks scored 2 points, but Love immediately turned around and played a low post to create a 2+1.
Without Monroe, the Knicks completely lost control of Lefou, who scored a goal on the left and made another foul to beat the Knicks. Li Feng tried his best to wrap up Lefu in the past, but the effect was not ideal.
Lefu is a super center physique, with physical advantages, although Li Feng has the weight of an ordinary center, but in terms of height, out of absolute disadvantage, the body size is also greatly insufficient. Not having a fat body type often means that you can't squeeze in more space, and it's more difficult to get into the main position.
Seeing Love wreaking havoc in the Knicks' half, the Knicks couldn't solve it no matter how they defended.
With about two minutes left in the third quarter, the Timberwolves extended the margin to 16 points.
77-61, the Timberwolves played a high score, and the Knicks suffered even more losses. Cousins had four fouls, Li Feng had three fouls, Rose had four fouls, Diop had three fouls, and even Dragic had three fouls.
The divine beast without control is really extremely terrifying, and the trauma it brings to the Knicks is simply huge.
However, once the beast is out of the cage, it is important to know that hurting people is also the most physically demanding thing. By the end of the third quarter, the beast's physical strength was gone. Adelman could only summon the beast back.
This time was supposed to be a good opportunity for the Knicks to chase points, but the beast is gone!
But at this time, the main force on the side of the Nix, who was tossed by the divine beast, was also physically exhausted. Tyberdu can only replace the main force first and wait for the final quarter to face off with the Timberwolves.
The Timberwolves and Knicks came off the bench on the court, and the Timberwolves' luck was not so good, the Timberwolves' bench lineup was quite dependent on shooting, but at this time their shooting percentage was average. It was not possible to take advantage of the situation to open up the point difference with the Knicks.
The game is over, and the difference between the two teams is still 16 points. This point difference made Adelman more satisfied. But it made Tyberdu sad.
It is said that the Timberwolves are good at playing the half, and now the Knicks finally know what the Timberwolves will be good at playing the half. The damage caused by Lefu in the first half is accumulated in the second half, which will inevitably cause huge problems for the opponent, and the Timberwolves' combination of inside and outside tactics especially requires skillful coordination and the ability to seize the opportunity. Only by fighting with the other party for a while and feeling the pulse of the other party can the Timberwolves exert their powerful abilities.
Now the Knicks have been beaten very miserably by the Timberwolves, but at this time, the Knicks are not without the capital to turn the tables.
Although Monroe has committed four fouls now, if Monroe can hold on in the fourth quarter, the Knicks will not have no chance.
Li Feng also sat on the bench panting heavily. Lefu is in too good shape today, coupled with the opponent's solid skills and good body, almost all of Li Feng's defensive methods have very little effect, and there is no effect at all. His ability on the defensive end has been greatly reduced, and the hard resistance Lefu has no advantage in height and size, and they play a combination of inside and outside the players who pounce on the Timberwolves, and they don't give themselves a chance to be close to each other at all. Such a game made Li Feng feel that he couldn't use his strength.
Begin. Tyberdu's old trick was repeated to let Li Feng play in advance.
At this time, the Timberwolves were all bench players on the court, and Li Feng came up to live up to expectations, closing the score to 12 points in about 2 minutes, and by this time Adelman did not make the mistake made in the second quarter. Immediately seized an opportunity to change all the main players to the court.
The Timberwolves immediately went to LeFou, and Tyberdu saw the horror of Lefou, so he immediately replaced Monroe and Cousins, and carefully instructed the two of them before sending them out to play, asking the two of them not to foul.
I have been seriously entrusted. Tyberdu just got the two of them on the court, and it was the Timberwolves who came back with the ball.
At this time, the Knicks were very cautious. The Timberwolves are also very cautious, and the Timberwolves came back from the opening game with a big open and close cooperation.
Lefu drove out from the touchline and immediately covered his teammates on the upper line, after Lefu made two screens in a row in the high post. Suddenly ran towards the inside line, and at the same time the body stuck the position of the inside line.
At this time, Cousins and Monroe did not defend with relatively large moves, but the more they shrunk, the more Lefu was under pressure, and in the case of low pressure. Love took the ball directly and turned around, and smashed the ball directly at the heads of Cousins and Monroe very strongly.
Love bullied Monroe and Cousins and didn't dare to let go of the defense and go directly to dunk, Cousins sometimes likes to calculate, sometimes he is very aggressive, at this time Cousins only thinks about how to win, but the relatively honest Monroe can't stand it at all.
Monroe has been on the court for so long, and now Lefu is so bullying, he can't be indifferent, and he comes up and reaches out very hard to jump and reach out to intercept Lefou.
At this time, Monroe's actions were explained very cleanly, and he was not suspected of fouling at all. But Brewer, who was next to Monroe, bumped Monroe's waist and eye while running, making Monroe's body look a little off.
When he jumped up, he touched Lefou's upper limbs, and this action was not enough to foul at all, so it can only be said that there are some suspicions of fouls.
But at this time, the referee didn't know what kind of wind he was pumping, and he actually blew the whistle and gave Monroe a foul. At the same time, Lefou's dunk also hit!
Monroe suffered this loss in vain, and suddenly Monroe quit and rushed over to reason with the referee.
The referee didn't pay attention to Monroe at all, and Monroe was furious and his mouth was not clean. At this time, the league is purifying, the referee is catching this kind of thing, Monroe is hitting the muzzle, Monroe opened his mouth, and the referee immediately gave Monroe another technical foul.
Now Monroe is finished! Two technical fouls, six fouls were full, and he couldn't play the next game.
Monroe is not on the court, and Love will immediately lose control, what kind of effect is that, which has already been experienced once in the third quarter.
At this time, Tyberdu was also in a hurry, jumped on the court and began to yell at the referee without words.
Tyber Dooko is also a very strong figure, and he is absolutely unwilling to suffer.
Monroe was so wronged, how could he rush out and curse angrily. Is Monroe now a matter of life and death for the Knicks?
The head coach of the Knicks side began to go berserk, and the referee was the absolute authority on the court, and he immediately gave Tyberdu a technical foul.
Tyberdu is angry face turned blue, and he could only endure it! The Timberwolves were sent to the free-throw line, and Brewer hit all four of them.
The score between the Timberwolves and the Knicks was pulled to 16 points by such a fuss. And, more crucially, Monroe, who the Knicks relied on to interfere with Love catching, was gone. This is the real biggest blow, and not being able to interfere with Lefu means that the entire Knicks will be exposed to Lefou's firepower.
At this time, the Knicks' will to fight was at its lowest, and the entire Madison fans were booing the referee at the same time, their hearts were trembling. Now their team is in a desperate situation due to the most difficult situation. (To be continued......)