The Timberwolves got their first offensive possession.

There was no doubt about it, and James personally faced Giannis Antetokounmpo.

So far in the Timberwolves game, Eric Spoelstra and his assistant coaches basically believe that only James is worthy of Giannis Antetokounmpo in the Heat lineup.

Maybe from the game between the Warriors and the Spurs, Giannis Antetokounmpo's point doesn't seem to be that important.

In contrast, Butler has a certain ability to break out from mid-range and make free throws.

In addition, the starting Lore Deng and Iguodala are also former All-Star level forwards.

Even Ibaka, he has a certain offensive ability.

Giannis Antetokounmpo is not not excellent, but it just seems that there is no gap between him and the other points of the Timberwolves.

But the Heat coaching staff found that when the team can match Giannis Antetokounmpo, then his presence is not so strong throughout the game.

For example, the Warriors have Green, and the Spurs have Leonard and Duncan.

But look at the regular season.

When the opponent can't match Giannis Antetokounmpo, he will use his unique talent to break up defenders who can't match him.

The defense is not up to the point of Giannis Antetokounmpo, and he will really give you a face, grab that point and hit it hard.

Therefore, it is also very necessary for James to defend Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Giannis Antetokounmpo was not surprised to see that it was James who came to defend himself, after all, according to the coach's arrangement, this point was to follow the coach's arrangement.

Giannis Antetokounmpo not only didn't shy away from James, but he also went to the low post to ask for a position, looking as if he was going to hit James.

The point of defending Giannis Antetokounmpo is to push him out and not let him squeeze in.

While the two were tangled in the low post, the Timberwolves played a three-man play in the middle line, with Lore Deng and Ibaka making a three-point run for Iguodala without the ball.

But in fact, in this block, Lore Deng's block is fake, and he cut inside directly when the cover did not have contact.

Bosh didn't follow at the first time, so he had to let Lewis follow.

Lore Deng was unimpressed by Lewis's chase defense and went straight to catch the ball.

Giannis Antetokounmpo's pass was not too difficult, because it was originally tactically designed, and he had a wide passing vision.

Lore Deng received the ball and went straight to the basket.

Lewis wasn't known for his defense when he was in his prime, let alone Lewis who is now older.

The current Lewis was originally joined by the Heat with a base salary, and he is a base salary player, how demanding can he be?

His shooting skills are still superb, and if he still has a defensive hand, the Hornets won't cut him outright.

Previously, when Lore Deng was the main attacker in the Bulls, he struggled very much in the face of James Battier's forward defense.

But against Lewis, Lore Dunton played with the offensive strength of a superstar.

Timberwolves 2:0 Heat.

Seeing that the tactics were played so smoothly, Su Chen on the sidelines smiled lightly.

Even a base-salary player like Lewis is used to play as a starter, and the Heat really don't have enough rotation.

Seeing that the goal was scored, James looked a little helpless.

He didn't even want to say anything more to Lewis.

People are the ones who come to mix the championship with the base salary, and they are still invited by Ray Allen, and it is already very reluctant for him to let the base salary player play the starter.

This team has reached the point of letting the base salary play the starter, and James also has mixed feelings about this team.

But after all, this is about his own championship honor, and when he served the baseline ball, James directly signaled to ask for the ball.

After James got the ball past half court, he saw Iguodala who was already ready to defend.

James didn't think too much about the question of who would defend him for the Timberwolves, and no matter who defended him, he needed him to charge.

Now what is going on with the rest of the Heat, James simply knows too well.

Iguodala didn't take a three-point shot from James, he just took a half-step away.

Putting a distance of half a step is a direct shot for a shooter.

But for a breakaway striker with some projection ability, it's not a good shot.

And Iguodala's hand was still dangling in front of him, ready to interfere after he got into a shooting position.

After James arrived at the Heat, the three-point development became more and more certain, but that was when the other party let him go.

Three-point top shots are generally done when they are tired of breaking through.

Besides, whether the Heat can win or not is basically up to him now.

In the Eastern Conference finals against the Pacers, he was out of shape for one game, scoring seven points on 2-of-10 shooting.

That game was won directly by Paul George with 37 points.

After he was out of form and gave up his shot, Bosh scored 21 points on 9-of-21 shooting.

David West even scored 19 points on just 11 shots.

Eric Spoelstra doesn't dare to attack with the whole team now, it's just that Bosh hasn't played a low-post attack in a game for too long.

Wade is a little more efficient than Bosh, but not much higher.

And Wade is injured and can only do the work of the secondary offense, and the ball still has to be handed over to James.

And at this time, James carried Iguodala's defense and rushed in to score.

Timberwolves 2:2 Heat.

After James scored, he motioned to the referee for Iguodala to play against him.

But the referee ignored him.

Seeing that the Timberwolves were about to launch a fast attack, James hurriedly retreated.

Su Chen, who was on the sidelines, saw Iguodala's defensive style, but it was indeed a foul.

Iguodala just cut the ball a few times, and the force was very big, and Mark the bald trainer that day said that he was holding the ball with all his strength and was shocked by Iguodala twice with the ball.

Iguodala put a lot of effort into cutting the ball.

And because the force is too great, it will inevitably hit James's hand.

But this kind of action is only when James makes a breakthrough starter.

James likes bulldozer-style breakthroughs, relying on his brute force to force himself in.

Iguodala hit the ball by James while hitting him.

But when James started with the ball, Iguodala immediately put it away and the defense became clean.

In fact, this is also slowly testing the referee's whistle tonight.

If you are whistled for a foul in the starting hand, it is just an ordinary foul, and no free throws will be given.

The Timberwolves' offense continued the way Giannis Antetokounmpo pinned down James and attenuated James.

At the same time, get other people more involved in the attack.

Especially when it comes to playing Chanmos, whether it is Butler or Iguodala, when they see Chanmos, they have the right to fire.

Not to mention Lore Deng and Ibaka, when Moneymos met them, he basically had to rely on early fouls.

The defense of the whole Heat team is relatively weak now.

The Timberwolves, a team with weak offense and strong defense, actually played an offensive kaleidoscope level in front of the Heat.

James is the Heat's single defensive strongman, but James has to limit Giannis Antetokounmpo, and he has no spare time to help others.

And the offense itself depends on him, and the defense not only allows him to defend the opponent's strongest point, but also helps the whole team defend?

In addition to James, the best defense of the entire Heat turned out to be Wade, who played with an injury.

It can be seen that Wade is really fighting.

Butler and Iguodala's defense, Wade dragged and withstood it.

But Wade himself is considered to be Wade hard enough if he is not named, and for other Heat points, Bosh can barely count the single defense.

Lewis and Chanmos, whether it is anti-shooting or anti-breaking, can give too little interference to the other side.

When the Timberwolves players attacked them, they didn't score, basically because of their own feel.

It doesn't have much to do with their own defensive interference.

And the Timberwolves' defensive strategy against the Heat is also very simple.

That's the one-on-one James.

Or rather, take turns 'hitting' James.

Iguodala is the main defender of James, and Giannis Antetokounmpo will occasionally come to help, or Giannis Antetokounmpo will go to defend James alone.

The Timberwolves have Serge Ibaka on the inside, and even if Giannis Antetokounmpo goes to defend James alone, he doesn't have to think about protecting the frame.

Lewis doesn't shoot the rim, he mostly shoots threes from the outside.

Wade also has Butler and Lore Deng to take care of the rotation.

The reason why the Timberwolves can bully people so defensively is because the Heat's role players are too role-playing, and they basically rely on assists from the main offensive players.

And the scale of the blowing penalty in the finals will be loosened, and the intensity of the confrontation will be there.

Whether it's Iguodala or Giannis Antetokounmpo, the two defend James by relying on their bodies against James.

Resist James's impact, and then keep hitting the ball in James's hand with your hands, or sometimes just hitting James's arm.

Also James is black enough.

If it were Jokic's arm, it would have been directly beaten into a red notice now.

Su Chen, who was on the sidelines, didn't feel anything, he just made the defense more intense, and how to do it was the player's own understanding.

Besides, he didn't call Giannis Antetokounmpo to do a small foot move.

There was also Beverley in the lineup, and Su Chen didn't instruct Beverley to do those operations that were directed at people.

It's already very benevolent.

Including when he coached the Warriors last season, Su Chen did not condone Green's malicious actions.

He doesn't encourage players to do these things, but these are the guys who get contracts in the league, and he doesn't have the right to make them give them up.

Both the Warriors and the Timberwolves are just places for him to draw for the time being, and there's no need to do that.

Score on the field.

Timberwolves 18:12 Heat.

With the Heat's offense hitting consecutive misses, and the Timberwolves' offense unabated, the Heat trailed by 6 points.

Honk!

Eric Spoelstra couldn't take it anymore and called a timeout.

However, the timeout was called, but the problems that Eric Spoelstra had to face made him a little dazed.

Substitutions?

Eric Spoelstra glanced at the Heat's bench.

Old Ray Allen, Old Birdman Anderson, Old Haslem, Old Battier, Picked Up Beasley, Old Jones.

Slightly younger is Norris Cole, but he's not much different from Chanmos.

If he is better than Chanmos, then Erik Spoelstra will not let him come off the bench, but let him start.

Eric Spoelstra is undoubtedly capable.

But how to arrange the firepower like this?

Su Chen, who was on the other side of the field, also saw Eric Spoelstra's thoughts.

Su Chen couldn't help but smile.

He remembered Butler's Black Eight season, where Eric Spoelstra and Butler led the team to the Finals.

But that's the ceiling of the lineup.

Even the Celtics, who had eased up, almost came back from 0-3.

Facing the Nuggets in the Finals, it was not much better than the Timberwolves later, which was 4-1 anyway.

The Timberwolves are also eighth in the West, and the Heat are eighth in the East, in fact, this is the real strength of this Heat.

No matter how good Eric Spoelstra is, he can't change the fact that the team's ceiling is.

Although the current Heat is much stronger than the later Black Eight Heat.

But it may not be really much stronger.

James is definitely stronger than Butler, but Butler has a bunch of helpers around him that are really useful, and the helpers around James now are Wade still has some combat effectiveness.

That's the ceiling for this Heat.

On the other hand, the ceiling of this Timberwolves.

These are all selected by Su Chen, and although Giannis Antetokounmpo is still a rookie, he has 80% of his peak ability value.

Giannis Antetokounmpo's peak, how to say it, is also an MVP-level player.

The other Timberwolves players are also top notch.

Although this Timberwolves team can't be called Lamborghini, the Heat on the opposite side can be said to be a toy car after putting aside James.

If Wade is still at the top, then there will be a dozen.

Wade is really not much better than the Black Eight Heat team later.

The suspension ends.

Eric Spoelstra rearranged the lineup anyway.

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

Heat lineup: Chris Bosh (C), Rashard Lewis (PF), LeBron James (SF), Ray Allen (SG), Dwyane Wade (PG)

Su Chen didn't even adjust the lineup, anyway, it was to consume James, how long did it take.

When the physical strength of the whole team was not bad, and the score was also ahead, Su Chen didn't want to adjust much.

On the bench, there is also Josh who can come up with a top of James.

Anyway, the three of them took turns to consume James, and of course the main force was Iguodala in defense.

On the Heat's side, there is actually nothing to adjust.

That's the ceiling for the entire Heat.

Players like Battier or Anderson not only can't play the Heat's offense, but at the same time, the defense may not necessarily improve.

Battier is no longer the Battier of last season.

(End of chapter)