Grab Curry at the start

Chapter 157 The Real Weak Link

"I like this kind of offense, but unfortunately the team can only play it occasionally." Zhang Sixin said.

"Which team can play such an exaggerated offense all the time, even the Suns can't do it. It's hard to reproduce the showtime era now." Ron Adams said hehe.

Zhang Sixin smiled wisely. Ron Adams was right to a certain extent. In the super empire era of the Lakers in the last century, many teams in the league were relatively weak, and the strength and weakness of the team were too unbalanced.

But super offense can still appear. The era of small ball is coming, and offense will become the main theme of the league. Zhang Sixin has seen it before.

Although the Timberwolves are not following the path of the Suns, they still have the opportunity to play a super offense.

Waiting for Curry to reach his peak and add some very good supporters may not be without opportunities.

Of course, there is no need to deliberately pursue offense, what Zhang Sixin wants is always victory.

The Timberwolves led by three points, but at the critical moment before the end of the first half, they still used the most skilled high pick-and-roll to stabilize the advantage.

Curry and Love hit successively, and then the team defended Kobe's three-pointer at the buzzer, and entered the intermission with the lead.

"See, as long as we can play our own rhythm, we can get the lead."

"As for how to play your own rhythm? It's already the Western Conference finals, what we have to do is to seriously implement the tactics and play the game and go all out."

"It's okay to be tired and want to rest. After the playoffs, everyone has a lot of time to rest. Now, we have to work hard in every game. We are not easy to mess with!"

Zhang Sixin must use his skills in the locker room to boost the morale of the team.

It's hard to say how much morale has to do with tactics, but the morale of a playoff team is really important.

"The Lakers are behind, Kobe will definitely continue to take a lot of shots, our defense can't have problems."

"Coach, don't worry!" a player yelled.

What Coach Zhang said is definitely true. The coach has led the team to win so many games and put so much effort into it. As players, all they can do is follow the coach's words and go all out.

Most of the Timberwolves' players now have this mentality, and the team atmosphere is very good.

As for the Lakers, a group of people are reflecting on their defense in the first half.

The Lakers' defense today is a bit like picking sesame seeds and losing watermelon.

In order to limit the inside of the Timberwolves, the Timberwolves have more opportunities outside.

Originally, their inside defense was pretty good, and there was no foul problem. As long as the Timberwolves defended some three-pointers, they should have taken the lead in the first half.

It is useless to say anything now, only to correct it in the second half.

In fact, if the Lakers have no foul problems inside, they can be a little more calm.

From the first two games of the series, they can take advantage of it a little bit.

Still, the loss in the first half made the team a little out of proportion, and now they realize that the Timberwolves are still a stronger team from the outside.

The Timberwolves have a lot of outside offense, and Love often shoots from the outside. Their strongest inside is actually rebounding, not scoring.

In the third quarter, Kobe went crazy when he came up.

Moreover, the Lakers also stepped up their defense against the Timberwolves' three-pointers, and the game caught up immediately.

It's not that the Timberwolves take it lightly, but that the two Lakers stars are too strong.

Zhang Sixin knew that the Lakers would exert force in the third quarter, so they flanked Kobe at the beginning of the second half.

But Kobe still scored, he pulled up directly, and pulled out from outside the three-point line, and he made a fucking hit.

Gasol is still outstanding on both ends of the offense and defense. He may not be as conspicuous as Kobe, but his success lies in his stability. Both CIC and defense have created great difficulties for the Timberwolves.

The Timberwolves' All-Star players are still young. Although they can explode in many cases, they are indeed not as stable as others. If the Timberwolves had more players, this series would not need to be played at all. The gap is too big.

In this case, the Timberwolves can only find a way from the inside.

Although there are many and complicated tactics, in the final analysis it is either playing outside or inside.

The Timberwolves tried low-post singles, and the striker cut inside, including Love.

Not all of them play like this, and they will still shoot decisively if they have a chance from the outside.

You can't attack alone, the opponent's defense is ready.

Playing more inside, Bynum had two more fouls, one each on Jefferson and Love.

In fact, Bynum only fouled once in the first half. He paid attention to it today. The Timberwolves didn't play so many inside shots in the first half, and adding two more fouls now is not too much.

In fact, when the Lakers are chasing points at this time, it is okay to keep Bynum on the court.

But the Lakers still habitually replaced this buddy, after all, he is about to go down according to the rotation.

After Odom came up, the Lakers naturally paid more attention to perimeter defense. Now that Gasol and Odom can defend, the Lakers are also worried about the Timberwolves' backup shooter lineup.

But the Timberwolves are not in a hurry, they still play inside first.

Zhang Sixin will not go directly to the shooter. The defense of the substitute shooter lineup is still a bit weak. Now that Kobe is scoring various points, he still has some concerns.

Since that lineup is only used during the rotation period, it is natural that the weak link is more obvious.

When to use it is actually very particular.

Zhang Sixin feels that it is better to try to disrupt the opponent's defense with an inside attack first.

In the third quarter, the Timberwolves' inside efficiency was better than that in the first half, but it still did not reach the level of playing.

He should have played at a super-standard level on the court. The inside line is the same as the outside line. There are also times when things go smoothly. The Timberwolves' inside players haven't had a smooth shot today.

After Odom came up, the Timberwolves' inside advantage must be greater.

It's just that Kobe couldn't stand it and pulled it up directly.

Zhang Sixin sighed: "Just relying on defense is still not enough. Kobe plays like this, we must also attack from the outside, otherwise the situation will be bad."

The Timberwolves also began to rotate, and the shooters all came up and swung around to see if anyone was still hot.

But under the strict defense of the Lakers, the Timberwolves' rotation lineup played averagely.

In this case, if Kobe continues to go crazy, the game will be over.

Fortunately, at the beginning of the last quarter, Kobe could hit the three-point line without facing the defense.

The Lakers got some chances on the outside line, but it was useless. They couldn't make a shot at all.

Only then did Zhang Sixin feel relieved, "Fortunately, it's back to normal. Let's say that Kobe's previous offense was too exaggerated. It seems that our luck is not so bad."

Kobe didn't score, and the rest of the Lakers didn't score either. Wouldn't the Timberwolves take the lead again?

So the real weak link of the Lakers may be that it is difficult for Kobe and role players to play together.

In this way, they are not invincible.

(End of this chapter)