Head coach of parallel imports in the NBA

Chapter 262 Doubt about life

On the same day as the Timberwolves game, a second-round game in the Eastern Conference was played, with the Cleveland Cavaliers playing against the Chicago Bulls at home.

But this time the Cavaliers got off to a bad start.

They lost to the Bulls 92 to 99 at home, which also lost their first home game.

The loss of this game also cast a shadow over the prospect of the Cavaliers entering the Eastern Conference Finals.

The two games of the second round of the second round of the playoffs on May 5 continued.

The Hawks, who had lost a home game, faced the Washington Wizards again this time. This time they did not disappoint the fans. The Eagles at home easily defeated the Wizards 106-90, thus rewriting the big score between the two sides to 1-1.

In the west, the Warriors sit in the Oracle Arena and start their second round of the Clippers.

The Clippers, who lost the first game, also did not continue to lose this time.

Under Paul's leadership, the Clippers defeated the Warriors 97-92, also rewriting the big score to 1-1.

The playoffs are also becoming more and more fierce. The teams that can enter the second round are not underdogs, and they are all starting to attack the final championship.

The time soon came to May 5, and the location was still at the Target Center in Minneapolis.

The second round of the game between the Timberwolves and the Rockets also kicked off on time at six o'clock that night.

The Rockets don't know how Carlisle resolved it after he went back. Howard also appeared in the starting lineup, and he even talked and laughed with Harden before the game. It's as if the infighting never happened.

Carlisle, who has been standing on the sidelines, has a serious expression on his face. He knows very well that if he fails to win this game, the pressure will completely come to the Rockets. Once they fall behind the Timberwolves 2-0, they will return to the Toyota Center for the next game. For the Rockets in the third round of the game, they could only win but not lose. Under such pressure, Carlisle was a little worried.

In fact, Carlisle is not ignorant of some of the team's problems, but sometimes he has nothing to do. He is just a head coach, and some problems cannot be solved by him, and he is also very entangled in the fact that the Rockets are prone to collapse habitually. .

However, Carlisle still has some confidence in this game. After appeasing Howard, Carlisle does not feel that he has no hope of winning.

Just to prevent the shameless guy on the opposite side from playing any tricks. Although this guy promised to fight upright, Carlisle feels that he can't fully trust this guy's character.

Just after the game started, Carlisle didn't think so at all.

This time the Timberwolves did not have any tricks, but neither the player's state nor the player's touch was comparable to the previous game. Even Howard had been entangled with Oden in the paint. Although Oden had some advantages, But it wasn't completely suppressed.

But in other positions, the Timberwolves played very strongly.

And the Timberwolves' Middleton and Lin Shuhao, who started the game, not only showed their power on the outside, but also attacked the Rockets' inside from time to time, causing damage to Howard and Jones.

Soon Carlisle discovered that Oden didn't provoke Howard anymore, but Warcraft fell into a foul trap again.

At 7 minutes and 07 seconds of the first quarter, Middleton, under the cover of Sims, went inside and took the initiative to find Howard. With the assistance of Oden, this offense not only scored the ball, Also caused Howard's foul.

This is Howard's second foul of the game.

Carlisle on the sidelines is really going to scold his mother. The Timberwolves chose this point is really too tricky. The last game was to provoke Howard's anger, so he just got it down. This time, he frequently broke through and actively confronted Howard. , Create a foul trap, this shit is staring at Howard and beating desperately.

What kind of hatred and resentment is this!

Carlisle didn't dare to neglect, and directly replaced Howard. There were still nearly 5 minutes left in the first quarter. If there was another foul, Howard would basically be useless for more than half of the game.

On the Timberwolves side, after seeing Howard was replaced by the opponent, Da Zhuang also yelled towards the court, and then made a tactical gesture at the players.

Soon Carlisle discovered the change in the Timberwolves.

After Howard left the field, the Timberwolves stopped attacking the inside immediately, but took advantage of Oden's dominance in the inside and frequently used screens. Either Oden scored directly, or Oden became a tactical turning point. Middleton and Lin Shuhao and Bennett began to frequently hit three-pointers from the outside.

Carlisle stood on the sidelines and his forehead was sweating a little. The Timberwolves really hit him and he was a little suspicious of his life.

And he also found that the Timberwolves' outside shooting percentage in this game was a bit higher than in the previous game, so the Rockets began to be slowly opened up by the Timberwolves on the court.

At 9 minutes and 42 seconds into the game, the Rockets had the offensive ball.

Facing the entanglement of Middleton, Harden used Jones' cover to enter the inside line, but was sent a big cap by Oden who had been prepared for a long time, and the basketball was followed by Middleton. get it.

Then the Timberwolves had a chance to counterattack.

Middleton threw the ball to Lin Shuhao who had already started to move forward, and he also started to accelerate forward.

Lin Shuhao quickly came to the front court with the ball, Terry has been entangled with him, and used some small moves to interfere with Lin Shuhao's rhythm in an attempt to delay the Timberwolves' counterattack speed.

But Lin Shuhao didn't have the slightest idea of ​​competing with the opponent. Instead, he handed the ball to Middleton who had come up on the other side, and he ran from the weak side to the corner of the strong side.

Terry followed behind Lin Shuhao, and Harden, who was in charge of defending Middleton, also caught up, but at this time Middleton dribbled the ball from the left side to the right side, Harden just wanted to follow up but It hit a wall, and it turned out that Bennett had already stood still.

Harden had no choice but to bypass Bennett and chase Middleton.

But when Harden was about to entangle Middleton, the opponent sent the ball to the unguarded Bennett with a ground pass.

The frontcourt at this time was obviously a three-on-two situation. After adjusting calmly, Bennett completed a three-pointer at the top of the arc.

A moment later, as the basketball accurately fell into the basket, there were warm cheers and applause from the stands.

Carlisle reluctantly chose a timeout. At this time, the score on the field was 27 to 21, and there were still 2 minutes left in the first quarter.

(End of this chapter)