Grab Curry at the start

Chapter 152 The Key to the Competition

During the rotation period, both the Timberwolves and the Lakers' bench players played in a mess.

Including Odom, so it can be considered that the Timberwolves have taken advantage.

After Bynum had a foul problem, Odom was more responsible. He did not perform well, and the Timberwolves must be more relaxed.

Both sides did not let the rotation players play for a long time, but the substitute players who meet the tactical requirements can still stay on the court for a little longer. After all, not all players have the physical strength to fight for nearly the whole court.

In order to help defend Kobe and fight against the inside of the Lakers, Brewer got more opportunities besides Milicic.

For pure shooters like Frye and Belinelli, it is difficult to stay on the court without the touch, and their effect is not that great if they don't speed up.

On the Lakers side, Fisher alone couldn't consume Curry well. The Lakers made a different choice from the regular season, allowing Shannon Brown, who has better wingspan and height, to defend.

In terms of organization, let Kobe do it concurrently. Anyway, Fisher just dribbles across the half court.

Farmar couldn't guard Curry and was basically given up.

Of course, Shannon Brown also got more chances because Bynum made another foul after he played in the second quarter, otherwise the Lakers' six-man rotation would be able to handle it.

The poor feel of the rotation lineup seems to have spread to the starting lineup, and both teams have played a lot in the second quarter.

In fact, it is not surprising under the high defensive intensity. The Lakers also rely on Kobe to play in front.

In the second quarter, Kobe missed several direct shots from outside the three-point line, which also affected the team's offense.

Kobe's confidence on the offensive end is too high, and when he feels good, he will kill the gods when he feels good, but many times his shooting percentage will be affected by the relatively difficult shots.

The reason why many people have a deep impression of Kobe's iron strike is that Kobe's shots are so difficult.

In fact, his hit rate is higher than many people, but other people don't take as many shots as he does.

In addition, the Lakers' scoring problems are also due to the lack of role players. When Kobe scored the ball, Odom, Artest and Brown also hit the iron outside the three-point line.

The Lakers also played like this in the first two games, but at that time their role players had a much better shooting percentage.

On the one hand, the Suns' defense is becoming more and more targeted. On the other hand, it is also because of the atmosphere of the away game that the shooting percentage of players who are not good enough in psychological quality will definitely drop.

On the other side of the sun, the hit rate is also decreasing.

Everyone has been fighting very fiercely since the beginning, and their physical strength has also declined rapidly. It is impossible that there will be no changes.

However, Curry is still stable, and he has grasped all the opportunities that should be grasped.

The other is the inside of the Timberwolves. It is really elated to return to the home court. Taking advantage of Bynum's inability to play, he crazily bullied Odom.

Under the training of Zhang Sixin, the three main insiders of the Timberwolves are still very tough.

Whether it is Love, Jefferson, or Milicic, they all seized some opportunities in the penalty area this time.

This also gave the team a chance to take the lead in the second half of the second quarter, causing the Lakers to be a little anxious, taking more outside shots, and the offensive end became a little chaotic.

Their head coach Jackson didn't say much. After all, the Zen master was even more pretentious than Popovich when he commanded on the spot.

Of course, it is also because the Lakers are ahead in the series, so the Timberwolves will not be in a hurry for a temporary advantage.

"The inside advantage finally came out, and Kobe couldn't hit the fairy ball all the time." Zhang Sixin said with a sigh of relief.

Is he really worried that Kobe still ignores the defense, which will prevent the Timberwolves' advantage from turning into a lead, and the players will really be discouraged.

Now, the young Timberwolves have rekindled their high morale.

With Kobe missing a three-pointer at the buzzer, the Timberwolves finally took the lead at halftime and entered the intermission, which was the first time in three games.

Back in the locker room, Zhang Sixin high-fived the players as usual.

When leading, he can feel more energy from the players.

"Did you feel it? We played resolutely and calmly today." Zhang Sixin said loudly.

"I said that we have been getting better. We returned to the home court and finally became the leading side. As long as we continue to do a good job in the second half, the game will have a good result."

"In the first half, we restricted the Lakers' three-pointers very well. In the second half, they will definitely find opportunities to shoot. We must pay attention to these areas."

Zhang Sixin took the tactical board and drew a few circles.

In fact, many tactics on the basketball court have similarities. The triangle offense is to create opportunities for stars to play singles, but the pivot support, role players, three-pointers and inside cuts are actually similar to Princeton, but the triangle offense focuses on stars, while Princeton focuses on opportunities.

Because the triangle offense needs to find a star, Kobe is placed on the Lakers, and there are traces to follow.

Any tactic is the same, as long as you study it thoroughly and have suitable defensive players, you can crack it.

To what extent it can be cracked depends on the strength of the players on both sides.

The Timberwolves' defense focuses on Kobe and three-pointers. This is almost the basic point of Zhang Sixin's defensive tactics. Every series will have a similar arrangement.

Now that the Timberwolves are leading, as long as the third quarter can be stabilized, Zhang Sixin is sure that [-]% of Kobe's last quarter may be in personal attack mode, and only the basket is in his eyes.

This is not a question of golf quotient, but a question of player temperament and spirit.

As a superstar, at that time Kobe would not be flinched even if he knew he was being targeted.

Perhaps many times this will lead to losses, but Kobe can reach this height because of this.

Therefore, the head coach of the Lakers, Jackson, usually warns players to follow the tactics and not play singles directly with the ball, but he will support Kobe at critical moments.

This is a conspiracy, and both parties know it well, so it depends on whether it can be done.

In the first two games, the Timberwolves did not push Kobe and the Lakers to that extent.

Moreover, even if the opponent is pushed to that extent, Kobe has a probability of playing Wushuang. This is the real difficulty faced by the Timberwolves in the series. The probability of winning the Lakers who are going all out is small.

But now that they have the opportunity, the Timberwolves must try their best.

In the Lakers locker room, it was much quieter than the Timberwolves.

Bryant is not a rowdy person, and Jackson Jackson is also different from Popovich.

Jackson is talking with the main players, especially Kobe, and he needs the players to consider how to improve efficiency.

"Our mentality has changed. Now we need to go back to the previous two games. We need to make rational choices when attacking. We need defense to balance offense..."

"When we get back to normal, we'll be able to keep winning games."

The third quarter is very critical for the Timberwolves.

This is related to whether there is a chance to win this game, and it is also related to whether there is still suspense in this series.

They were the dominant side in the first two rounds, and now they are going to fight on the other side.

(End of this chapter)