San Antonio.

AT&T Center Arena.

Whether the Spurs can still pull back a game at home and continue the suspense of the game is very important for both teams.

Su Chen did not relax his requirements for the team just because he held the match point in his hand.

In fact, Su Chen was more strict with the players in the previous games.

Su Chen is not a stern coach in normal times, but the current Su Chen has a champion temperament after all, and at the same time he is still in power.

The Timberwolves, whether they are old players or young players, dare not disobey Su Chen, because once they disobey Su Chen, they will turn against the entire team management.

In the past, big-name stars dared to contradict the coach, and that was because the management needed to weigh whether the coach was important to the team or the big-name star was important to the team.

This is also the confidence of those who dare to defy the coach's big-name stars.

But the entire Timberwolves are led by Su Chen, and from the beginning of the season, it was clear that Su Chen really had the courage to press down the disobedient player.

Although Su Chen's contract is only signed with the Timberwolves for one year, as long as Su Chen is willing, the Timberwolves will definitely offer a big contract.

After all, now that he has tied the best record in team history, he has further broken the best record in team history, which is all the progress made by Su Chen when he came to the Timberwolves.

Su Chen stood on the sidelines, lecturing the players on the field from time to time, and it could be seen that Su Chen attached great importance to today's game.

Although Su Chen is not angry now, because of Su Chen's honor and power, Su Chen has a feeling of not being angry and arrogant.

For this game, Su Chen is bound to win.

It's not easy to eliminate Spurs 4-1, but it's even harder to eliminate Spurs 4-2.

Now that the weakness of the Spurs is obvious, Su Chen has pointed out the weaknesses of the Spurs, and if Popovich can still find a way, then the Spurs will be relieved.

The spurs that have eased up, it will be difficult to clean up.

If you lose this one, then the Spurs, who have recovered from the next game, can also take advantage of the victory to chase after it.

Playing a tie-break with the Spurs at home is already a big disadvantage for the Timberwolves.

The momentum of the whole team will be smoothed out by the Spurs.

The Timberwolves didn't look relaxed at all, but so did the Spurs.

Years of experience in a strong team have made them very resilient and have the ability to play against the wind.

Chasing three games in a row is difficult for the Spurs.

But it all depends on whether Popovich can solve the problem set by Su Chen.

The members of the gold medal commentary team also have different opinions on this game.

"Can the Spurs win, with the strength of the Spurs, how strong is the Timberwolves if they want to eliminate the Spurs 4-1?"

Johnson said, taking a look at the situation on the field.

"The Spurs want to win and see them solve the problems they are facing, and if Popovich hasn't figured out how to deal with it, then this Timberwolves will take away this series."

Barkley has a different view.

The same is true of the other Kenny Smith and O'Neal, both with different opinions.

"The Timberwolves may win this series, but it's too hard to win."

"The Spurs are going to fight this game, and for the Timberwolves, who already have a match point, they can actually consider slowing down and avoiding the Spurs, the strongest edge."

Kenny Smith also feels that with the strength of the Timberwolves, they should not eliminate the Spurs with a big score like 4-1.

"Avoid the strongest edge of the Spurs, but the edge of the Spurs in the next game may not be weaker than this one."

O'Neal and Spurs have a lot of experience playing against each other, and O'Neal feels the same way for Spurs.

Spurs are a very resilient team, they have a lot of experience in the team and will give the best fit when the time is right.

"For the Timberwolves, this is really the best opportunity, while Popovich hasn't figured out how to deal with it."

Barkley thinks so, too.

However, their pre-match analysis is just an analysis.

It's still about the game.

Spurs starting lineup: Thiago Split (C), Tim Duncan (PF), Kawhi Leonard (SF), Danny Green (SG), Tony Parker (PG)

Timberwolves starting lineup: Sergi Ibaka (C), Giannis Antetokounmpo (PF), Lore Deng (SF), Andre Iguodala (SG), Jimmy Butler (PG)

The two sides have played so far, and there is nothing changed from the lineup.

Basically, both sides are already familiar with each other.

The most important thing is to see the change in the strategy of both sides.

After the game started, the Spurs didn't look for Duncan as a strong point.

Even if the Timberwolves deliberately used Ibaka to defend against Duncan, Duncan did not feel that Ibaka could not prevent him and forced him to play as he did in previous games.

The Spurs turned on a long-lost team offensive mode.

It seems that Popovich has also figured it out, even if Duncan is a strong point for the Spurs, but when the Timberwolves have figured out a way to target Duncan.

Relying on the 38-year-old Duncan to turn the tide is an incompetent approach for him as a head coach.

This Popovich also devised a lot of tactics to allow everyone in the Spurs to play on the offensive end.

Such a strategy is not very clever.

Especially for Popovich.

However, when Popovich had no way to crack it for the time being, he did not force the previous games to arrange the same grand strategy and make some detailed adjustments.

Popovich was in this game, adjusting the general direction.

The Timberwolves were a little uncomfortable with the Spurs who suddenly changed their rhythm at first, but Su Chen immediately called a timeout and rearranged the defense.

Although these coping strategies are basically not played in ordinary times, with the blessing of two props, simulated glasses and tactical notes, players are still quickly familiar with this set of strategies.

After the timeout, the Timberwolves quickly adjusted.

The Spurs' offensive efficiency began to decrease.

In fact, this is not a problem for ordinary coaches.

After all, the tactics that the Spurs are playing now basically do not use Duncan as a containment force, and Duncan is used to initiate it.

Duncan's tactical system for the Spurs has become a mid-range pull-up point and a setter.

This is not a new tactic devised by Popovich, this is a tactic that the Spurs play a lot.

It's just that in normal times, Duncan can even be used as a space puller and setter, but because of Duncan's huge threat, he can also contain a lot of defense.

But look at the Timberwolves' defense.

Faced with Duncan receiving the ball in a more dangerous position and organizing the attack, Ibaka didn't even focus on defending Duncan.

He's also juggling to limit Duncan's passing lanes.

It can be said that this is a provocation to Duncan.

Put on an expression that Duncan just didn't dare to hit him.

Duncan saw Ibaka's expression of owe so much, even though he knew that it was provoking him, but Duncan was still a little angry.

A guy who has been educated by him many times in the playoffs, why does he look so arrogant?

But Duncan also knew that if he was going to fight Ibaka, he would fall for the Timberwolves' strategy.

The Spurs' defensive end has also made some changes.

The entire Spurs' defense began to shrink within the free throw line, preventing the Timberwolves' offense from easily rushing to the basket.

For such a joint defensive defense, Su Chen also arranged some three-point tactics.

When the Warriors won the championship last season, he relied on three-point tactics, and it was not difficult for him to deploy three-point tactics at all.

Popovich's idea is actually quite shrewd.

The Spurs' offensive and defensive arrangements are all trying to beat the Timberwolves for an unskilled.

Especially this season for the Timberwolves, in the long regular season, in addition to scoring points for McCollum, they will rarely deliberately arrange three-point tactics.

After the trade, the Timberwolves are basically a breakthrough team.

After putting on the joint defense, Popovich just wanted the Timberwolves to play in an unfamiliar way.

"This Popovich is really calculating, but with analog glasses and tactical notes, it's easy to be proficient in arranging a new tactic."

Su Chen couldn't help but smile when he saw the overall offensive and defensive strategy of the Spurs.

Originally, it was played according to the previous strategy, and then some fine-tuning, and then Duncan went crazy, and this one was really difficult to win.

But Popovich deliberately leaked some weaknesses in an attempt to make the Timberwolves play in an unfamiliar way, which made Su Chen even less afraid.

With analog glasses and tactical notes, you don't have to worry about whether the tactics are unfamiliar at all.

Then the weakness that the Spurs deliberately exposed, that is the real weakness, just grab and play.

Sure enough, the competition process was the same as Su Chen thought.

In the first half, the Spurs missed too many three points because they had to defend the joint defense.

The three-point tactics arranged by Su Chen were specially used to break the joint defense.

Popovich changed some defensive details to defend these three-point tactics arranged by Su Chen, and Popovich thought that even if the Timberwolves hid their moves, they wouldn't hide many moves.

After all, the regular season has to reach the playoffs first, and then the playoffs are a problem.

This has to be trained and some tactics have been hidden, and I feel that with the configuration of the Timberwolves at that time, it was purely thinking too much.

But after Su Chen's three-point tactics were skillfully completed by the players after the three-point tactics were laid out in one pause after another, Popovich also felt helpless.

By halftime, the Timberwolves had a 15-point lead.

"He actually hid so many tactics for the team to train but never used them."

Popovich was also surprised when he was in the locker room.

It can be said that Popovich's tactics failed.

Popovich has thought so much about it these days, and then thought that letting the Timberwolves play in an unfamiliar way should be the way to solve the problem.

After all, the Timberwolves have been rebuilding the team after all.

Last season, the Timberwolves' record was not very good, and last season's group of players were basically traded away.

How many tactics can a really new team practice?

Popovich felt that his thoughts were not open, although Duncan is a strong point, but the real strong point of the Spurs is the rich tactical system.

The Spurs have accumulated so many tactics over the years, and the GDP has always been in the lineup.

Fighting with Su Chen at the tactical level is what he should do.

But now, because of the tactical adjustments he made, the Timberwolves are still playing in a way they don't usually use, and they are still pressing the Spurs.

What is this concept?

There is a person who is very good at tennis, but everyone thinks that his strength is first-class but not very top-notch, but one day he changed his left hand and won against a player who is considered to be at the same level as him by the outside world.

It's an outrageous thing.

In Popovich's view, this is simply what the Timberwolves usually train these tactics and keep for the playoffs as a big move.

The Timberwolves' lineup focuses on three-point shooting, which is actually a loss.

Because in the entire Timberwolves lineup, there are no elite shooters.

However, they have a lot of 3-and-D players, and the teams they usually encounter rarely defend in the form of interior shrinkage.

With the Spurs actively using this defensive style, these 3-and-D players get a lot of open space.

Although there is no elite shooter, it also maintains a shooting percentage when there is plenty of space to shoot.

By the second half.

Seeing that the team was about to lose, Duncan went crazy and played on the inside of the Timberwolves.

It doesn't matter whether the Timberwolves want to take turns defending and consuming him, or wrapping him, even if he is wrapping up, he carries two people to the basket.

Duncan, who was going crazy, really got some unreasonable balls.

However, in addition to Ibaka and Giannis Antetokounmpo on the inside, Su Chen added another Josh to the front line, which held Duncan down.

Duncan doesn't have much physical strength anymore, after all, he is 38 years old.

Spurs also failed to catch up with the point difference.

With two and a half minutes left in the game, the difference between the two sides was still 17 points.

After another minute, the score difference still didn't catch up.

Popovich didn't continue to let the main team go on, after all, these are old guys who have followed him for many years, and he can't bear to let them continue to fight on the field.

In the Spurs' home arena, some Spurs fans have already left the game.

But there are still most Spurs fans who stick to the court.

These Spurs fans have mixed feelings, and this season, the GDP still has the strength to fight and the growth of Leonard and Green.

makes many Spurs fans feel that this is the season when the Spurs can still win the championship.

Although the game is not over yet, the Spurs are basically eliminated.

Lost to this young Timberwolves team.

Maybe these old guys of the Spurs are really old, and they are so embarrassed to face these young people like the Timberwolves.

Duncan, who was sitting on the bench, looked a little lost as he looked ahead.

What level Parker and Ginobili are at now, he also knows very well.

Originally, Duncan thought that he still had a bit of peak strength, and he could take these old teammates to the championship again.

Lost to the Warriors last season and Timberwolves this season.

These two defeats were difficult for Duncan to accept.

Duncan's eyes were on the sidelines of the Timberwolves bench.

Even after the winner has been decided, the man is still telling the players not to make any mistakes or the like.

It's still in a very rigorous state.

For a moment, Duncan seemed to understand a little as to why the Spurs had lost to that man for two consecutive seasons.

(End of chapter)