Grab Curry at the start

Chapter 340 The Biggest Obstacle

On April 4, the Timberwolves played against the Thunder at home. This is a game they attach great importance to.

In the current Western Conference, the only one that deserves more attention from the Timberwolves is the Thunder. The strength of other teams is still a notch lower.

This has nothing to do with the regular season rankings. The Timberwolves can be said to have secured the No. [-] spot in the Western Conference ahead of schedule.

It's just that Zhang Sixin regards the Thunder as the biggest obstacle for the Timberwolves to rush out of the West, so he naturally needs to know more about it.

After Milicic returned, the starting lineups of the two teams naturally became the most commonly used one.

The Thunder is also particularly interested in the Timberwolves, but the Thunder is also wary of many teams.

They are now second in the Western Conference, but they have not achieved very good results in the playoffs, so their goal is not just the Timberwolves.

Before the playoffs, except for the playing time of the core players, they will basically follow the playoffs level.

The two teams will try each other out. Of course, as long as there are reservations, there will definitely be a difference from the playoffs.

But due to fear of injury and other reasons, this is also something that can't be helped.

Before the game, Zhang Sixin talked in detail about his defensive strategy against the Thunder's three young men.

Among them is to pinch Durant, or lock Westbrook and Harden two plans.

The first is actually to let Westbrook play more, and the other is to cut off Durant's connection with other Thunder players and let him fall into a solo fight.

In fact, there is no fixed routine for how to do it. It depends on the respective states of Thunder Thunder's three young masters, and it has been the time for the three to merge.

When the three of them didn't go together, they naturally had more cautious defensive methods.

In fact, defense is the same as offense, and there will be many plans, which will test the head coach's on-the-spot reaction.

In the relatively simple basketball game in the eyes of fans, the coaching staff has a lot to do.

Even those teams that have been complained by fans for having no tactics at all have actually done a lot of similar work.

In fact, if the tactics are not suitable for the team, or if it is difficult for the players to execute the tactics, some tasks will not be effective, or even counterproductive.

It is very important to adapt measures to individual conditions, and it is also important to know how to adapt to changing circumstances.

Zhang Sixin felt that he was relatively good in this aspect. After all, he didn't become famous by relying on a set of tactics, and then thought that his tactics were the best, and he had to stick to them no matter what the situation was.

Thunder coach Brooks must have a lot of preparations, but he has a small characteristic, that is, he likes to concentrate the ball, which will be a flaw for the Thunder at critical moments.

In fact, it is not a shortcoming, but it is easy to be targeted.

Some coaches can't design suitable tactics for several leading stars, so they can only favor one of them, or like the Thunder, create singles opportunities for the stars. Everyone takes turns, and whoever is in good condition will play.

I can’t say no, it’s just that things like good form are sometimes relatively subjective and difficult to implement. The Heat encountered this kind of problem last season. Spoelstra’s more advanced handling methods are a bit overturned.

At the beginning of the game, the Thunder put on a strong offensive posture, and Durant and Westbrook took turns to shoot.

They all have strong singles efficiency, the difference is that Westbrook has a stronger impact and Durant has a more stable shot.

But Westbrook is the No. [-] position. Sometimes he will shoot with confidence when the ball is in his hands, which leads to Durant, who is more efficient, sometimes takes fewer shots.

If the Timberwolves' defense is deliberately guided, it may be easier to control the rhythm of the game.

After all, after Harden's strength has improved, it is still not enough to pinch Durant, so the Timberwolves' defense must be smarter.

And the Timberwolves with a neat lineup are also capable of doing these things.

The Timberwolves had a selective attack on Durant in the first quarter, allowing Westbrook to attack more, and then locked the role players.

The purpose of not completely flanking Durant is to lock up the Thunder's role players, so that the role players who don't participate much in tactics can directly disconnect from the Thunder's main attack point.

As expected, Westbrook was not as accurate as last time, and Zhang Sixin was very satisfied.

He boldly predicted on the basis of the data that if they had to play six games with the Thunder in the playoffs, Westbrook would be accurate to two games at most.

Of course it's not that he doesn't score. Even if Westbrook is not allowed to score 20+ in the main attack, it is still okay. This is a powerful All-Star player.

But that scoring efficiency is not high, and the Timberwolves can win the game.

So the defense is not to completely lock the opponent's players, but to help the team win.

Winning and statistics certainly cannot be completely equated.

The Thunder also made a defensive attempt today, also locking role players.

Because it is too difficult to lock all the players of the Timberwolves, the Thunder also took advantage of the regular season to test.

Curry was naturally not polite, and scored consecutively when he came up.

This is expected by the Thunder, and they can bear it. In fact, Westbrook's more offensive is not entirely due to the impact of the Timberwolves' defense. The Thunder also want to use this trick to consume Curry.

They intend to lock the role players of the Timberwolves first, and then look for opportunities to target several main attack points.

However, what the Thunder didn't want to see happened, that is, they didn't fully withstand the inside line.

The All-Star interior combination of Love and Milicic made the Thunder's two interior fouls a bit early.

This is difficult. Problems with the inside rotation will not only affect the defense of the Timberwolves inside, but may also give the Timberwolves outside players like DeRozan more opportunities to hit the basket.

But it has already happened and there is no way. Thunder coach Brooks also asked the players who went up to pay attention.

In fact, the young people of the Thunder also have a lot of fighting spirit and want to beat the Timberwolves, but sometimes they are not sure about their fighting spirit and are prone to make mistakes.

Fortunately, the team's twin stars are fine, and the Thunder's basic set is still there, so the opportunity will not be lost.

No problem, that's how the influence of stars is played, especially for teams that use more star tactics.

For the Thunder, as long as the doubles are fine, other players will be adjusted accordingly.

The Timberwolves are very satisfied with the performance of the players, they pay more attention to details.

Zhang Sixin believes that in a duel between strong teams, a role player may also be able to affect the final outcome.

The Timberwolves did not take full advantage of the opponent's early fouls this time, because the Thunder's substitute insider Collison performed very well, so sometimes don't think that one move is useful, the coaching staff must have many backup plans.

Lost in the East and gained in Sangyu, the Timberwolves did not take advantage of the interior, but during the rotation, the Thunder's sixth man, Harden, felt average and was restricted to death by the Timberwolves. They still made money.

Zhang Sixin couldn't help but smile, "If you prepare in several ways, you can always gain an advantage from one aspect, and we are one of the teams with the highest success rate in turning our advantages into winning opportunities."

Thunder, maybe it's not that difficult to deal with.

(End of this chapter)