Grab Curry at the start

Chapter 175 Overwhelming the opponent
Winning is afraid of halftime, even if you only win by 1 point, you can't avoid the curse.

In fact, it was a joke. The Timberwolves' consumption of Kobe in the first half was considered a success.

Coming up in the third quarter, Kobe still wanted to control the audience, but he was unable to do so.

After all, Kobe is one year older, and it is impossible to always be full of energy and not care about defensive players.

"Kobe's playing is a bit simple now, and he takes too many direct shots from outside the three-point line. If he has some physical problems in the third quarter, it will be too beneficial to us." Zhang Sixin said.

When Kobe's touch fluctuates, Gasol can only stand up.

However, Gasol's efficiency cannot keep up with the rhythm of the Timberwolves' outside offense. To be precise, the three outsiders plus Love have strong offensive power.

In addition to DeRozan having to face Kobe in this outside line, Curry and Matthews are still relatively relaxed.

The Lakers' striker Artest's strength has declined significantly without major injuries.

Artest is actually a more physical player and likes to fight with opponents.

But now his physical fitness has been declining, mainly in speed and lateral movement, which means that he has problems in both offense and defense.

The original defensive gate is now only tough, and technically even Matthews can't lock it.

Of course, the increasingly flexible basketball tactics in the league are also part of the reason.

Artest can still defend against that kind of post-up singles, but he can't fight for speed.

Under the unfavorable offensive atmosphere, the Lakers also showed their defensive strength.

The Lakers aren't exactly a defensive team, but they did get better defensively this season.

In fact, it depends on the team's wishes. The Lakers' players still have the ability to defend.

When facing an opponent like the Timberwolves that needs to be serious, their defense is relatively good.

So in the third quarter, it was not so easy for the Timberwolves to play.

However, it's time for a rotation again.

During the rotation period, the two teams gave people the feeling that they were pecking at each other, not at all like a team that could face off against the top of the Western Conference in the playoffs.

The Timberwolves still have a small advantage, mainly because the Lakers' bench lineup is really miserable.

"It would be great if they were all opponents like the Lakers. The main players can train, and the substitutes can also train, and it won't affect the outcome of the game much." Zhang Sixin joked.

The head coaches on both sides can be more relaxed, unanimously giving the rookie a lot of time to rotate the lineup.

After 4 minutes of the final quarter, the two sides gradually replaced the main players to chase the outcome of the game.

And Kobe hit the iron when he came up, which was in stark contrast to Curry who hit the three-pointer again.

Kobe still doesn't feel good, which is good news for the Timberwolves.

However, Odom came to the touch, and the Timberwolves did not take advantage of the consecutive hits.

At this time, is it right to give up double-teaming Kobe? The Timberwolves' choice is no.

Kobe is a superstar, no matter how bad his performance is, he must stick to his defensive strategy.

It's like the Lakers relaxed Curry a little before, and problems would appear immediately.

Kobe didn't feel good under the tight defense of the Timberwolves, which is not to say that he can be underestimated.

If the defensive strategy is changed now, it is possible that other Lakers players will not be able to defend, and Kobe will get up again.

That way the game would be useless. Now as long as Kobe doesn't play, it doesn't matter if Odom and his like hit a few good shots. At the critical moment, the opponent will still have Kobe.

What Zhang Sixin can remind is to make players more focused on defense and work harder.

It's the last few minutes, so of course I don't care about my physical strength and go all out.

The Lakers' poor offense was also a defensive idea, so the two sides returned to the intensity of the playoffs in the last few minutes.

"Pau Gasol is really good, reliable at critical moments. Fortunately, some Lakers players are really not good. This is our opportunity." Zhang Sixin said confidently.

At the last moment, the Lakers can only rely on Gasol and Kobe.

Odom is really dead, Artest and Fisher are free.

Fisher is getting more and more difficult to adapt to the No. [-] position of strong teams. He is too old and too slow. The Lakers must find a way to maintain their competitiveness in the No. [-] position.

Under the high-intensity confrontation, Love made two mistakes.

But he recovered in terms of rebounding and offense. After Love slowly adapted to his peak state, he has indeed become stronger and stronger.

Still the same sentence, if the opponent doesn't restrain him, Love can be completely hardened.

In this game, the Lakers couldn't win any of the two inside rebounds.

Don't talk about double figures in rebounds, he has double figures in offensive rebounds.

That is to say, the hit rate is a little bit worse, otherwise it can really hit god-level data.

In fact, it is really easier for Lefu to hit god-level data, and it can be said that he is the overlord of the abuse of food.

It is not entirely accurate to say that he abuses food. He actually does not look at whether the opponent is strong or not, but mainly depends on whether the tactics and matchup are suitable for him to play.

When the time entered the last 2 minutes, Kobe made a steal and added damage, helping the Lakers approach the score.

Of course, the scores of the two teams have always been relatively close, but the advantage of the Timberwolves by a few points is solid, and it is difficult for the Lakers to see the dawn.

At the critical moment, the Timberwolves reproduced the classic cooperation between Curry and Love.

It's just one gear and one release, and then Love ends, it's so silky.

On the Lakers side, it didn't go so smoothly. Others couldn't fight, but Kobe came to fight again in person.

In the second half, Kobe was really out of shape. It seems that breaking out too early is not a good thing.

When it was the Timberwolves' turn to attack, Curry and Love served as bait and handed the ball to Matthews who cut inside. Matthews rushed up completely and hit Artest with a 2+1.

In this game, Matthews has completely overwhelmed Artest.

This is the real strength of the Timberwolves this season, and they can completely beat the defending champion Lakers.

Why, the Lakers have a weak bench.

If it weren't for the Timberwolves to train their substitute players, they would lose at most one or two games at the beginning of the season.

The difference of a few points is not much, the key is that time is running out, if the Lakers don't perform any more, the game will be won by the visiting Timberwolves.

At this time, Kobe finally hit two points, and the Lakers saw hope again.

However, this is already the last few tens of seconds of the game, and the Timberwolves have begun to control the time.

Curry tried his best to use up the offensive time before making a shot. After the miss, the Timberwolves returned to defense in an orderly manner. It took enough time, and they just need to defend well.

Kobe was not completely messed up under the attack, and now the Lakers need a three-pointer.

It's a pity that Fisher in the bottom corner barely missed a shot after receiving the ball, and the Lakers fell into an extremely unfavorable situation.

The Timberwolves once again slowly controlled the time, and the Lakers had no choice but to choose foul tactics after the whole game was fruitless.

The Timberwolves now have one foot on the threshold of victory. As long as there are no accidents, they will be able to win a valuable away game.End the Lakers undefeated.

(End of this chapter)