The strongest champion puzzle

Chapter 479 Strength Performance
As far as personal feelings are concerned, Jimmy Butler also hopes to win against Zhang Xiaotian.

At the beginning, both of them were doing rough work in the team. Jimmy Butler was trained by the team as the core and thought he was a big step ahead of Zhang Xiaotian. Unexpectedly, Zhang Xiaotian won consecutive championships and played an important role in every team. .

Last season, Zhang Xiaotian returned to the Spurs and won the championship again. His life was almost complete, but Jimmy Butler was kicked out by the team. What he has to do now is to prove himself.

If Leonard is with him, he will really be a little entangled. Now Zhang Xiaotian is alone. He doesn't think Timberwolves will lose, he will win. He is so hardworking in Xia Tian.

In fact, the Timberwolves started well, and Butler also proved his ability.

It's just that he wanted to prove himself too much, and got too entangled with Zhang Xiaotian, so he didn't integrate well with the team.

Jimmy Butler's singles often use physical fitness to bully people. He could really bully Zhang Xiaotian before, but now it is not so convenient.

Teague's offensive desire is not strong, and the Timberwolves are Butler, Towns and Wiggins taking turns to play.

He played decently, but was still overwhelmed by the Spurs.

In fact, personal ability is fine, but the team's offense and defense are not satisfactory.

Tom Thibodeau has a good way of training defense. Obviously he hasn't brought the Timberwolves out yet, but he doesn't have many offensive routines.

It may also be that the Timberwolves lineup has changed a lot, and the running-in problem has yet to be resolved.

Zhang Xiaotian didn't play as well as he did in the playoffs, but he scored and assisted with ease, and he felt like a star of another level.

The season has just started, the main force will not play for a long time, and the rotation period is also particularly important.

Crawford still played well as a sixth man, but he was the only one on the Timberwolves' bench.

For the Spurs, Evans and Ginobili are both good.

McGee and Gerald Green are also performing normally. This is still the case when Parker and Leonard are absent. You must know that Murray and Danny Green, who are performing well on the main lineup, may also be good after the lineup is complete. Part of the rotation.

In fact, the biggest surprise is Evans. The team is still a little worried about this kind of player with a history of injuries. Now it seems that things are developing for the better.

This kind of player is afraid that his mentality will change after being injured, and everyone will soon disappear.

Evans is still very determined to prove himself in the center of gravity. He also performed well in the summer. The Spurs don't need him to go up the front line. The customized plan for him is to slightly reduce weight and further enhance the long-range shooting ability.

And he doesn't need to play too long to play the sixth man now, and he can slowly bring his body back to its peak.

When the time comes to gain the trust of the team, Popovich will need him to take on more responsibilities.

In short, the Timberwolves suffered a disadvantage during the rotation period.

In the face of the Spurs' incomplete main lineup, they did not take advantage of it at all.

Jimmy Butler felt a little awkward. Before the playoffs, he felt that the current team was still strong, but now he was suppressed by the Spurs with an uneven lineup.

In the second quarter, he played more aggressively. He hoped that he could push the Spurs back with his strength, starting with him pressing Zhang Xiaotian.

The idea is good, but he chose the wrong person for Zhang Xiaotian.

Like Towns and Wiggins, neither of them are strong points against the Spurs, and they play much more comfortably.

The Spurs took the lead in the first half, not by a lot, but obviously played better than the Timberwolves.

Jimmy Butler thinks the team can play harder,

Although he spent several seasons with the Bulls studying with the prince, his fighting spirit is still good.

In the locker room, he wanted to say a few words, but when he first arrived, Jimmy Butler was not very easy to speak.

He is not the kind of natural leader. He will definitely be at the core level tactically when he comes to the Timberwolves, but the status of the team is hard to say.

On the Spurs side, Popovich has not trained people for a long time. During the intermission, he also carefully pointed out the team's shortcomings and asked the team to do better in the second half.

The team that won the championship is different from the team that is used to being big. The Spurs players are full of confidence.

In order to gain momentum, Jimmy Butler came up in the second half and said viciously: "Zhang, I want to beat you."

Zhang Xiaotian smiled slightly, "Jimmy, I will give you a chance, but I want to win this game."

Butler is really no match for trash talk, and soon began to speak with a straight face and actions.

It's just that at this time, only Teague is still honestly connecting with the Timberwolves, and Butler, Towns and Wiggins are all doing their own thing.

On the Spurs side, Zhang Xiaotian connected the team with ease.

Although the nominal No. [-] Murray is now a pure pitcher, the team's efficiency is not bad.

Parker and Leonard are not here, and only Zhang Xiaotian can organize the main lineup.

On the side of the bench, Ginobili and Evans both have organizational skills.

The Timberwolves fell behind in the score, so they started to play one big and four small ones.

Their small lineup is also interesting, directly abandoning Teague, who has the strongest organizational ability, to Crawford.

Ever since, on the offensive end, the Timberwolves have become whoever has the ball in their hands and throws it away.

Thibodeau doesn't know what he thinks. The Spurs are afraid of being unreasonable, but the Timberwolves' all-star level is not enough. Only the top all-stars can tear apart a strong team defense.

Without Leonard, the Spurs' defense may have been slightly affected, but it is still much better than most teams in the league.

The Timberwolves' offensive lineup did not catch up with the score. Instead, in the fourth quarter, Zhang Xiaotian took a few shooters and extended the team's lead in a few minutes.

It didn't help the Timberwolves to go to the point-chasing lineup, so they could only surrender obediently.

After the game, the Timberwolves players lamented that they were fooled by the outside world. They were not as strong as others said, while the defending champion Spurs were really strong.

The performance of the Spurs made other teams more vigilant. As the defending champions, they were a thorn in the side of each team. As a result, they played extremely well with an uneven lineup. The title of Public Enemy will definitely not escape.

Zhang Xiaotian also joked with Leonard after the game, saying that the old man decided to let him take a long vacation.

A good start is a good start, but it doesn't explain everything. There are more surprises at the beginning of the season.

The Spurs' second game was also a team with a big change in lineup, which happened to be the Bulls.

Playing away games at the beginning of the season is not so tiring. As the defending champion, the Spurs are still attracting a lot of attention.

As the focus of attention, Zhang Xiaotian is very used to this kind of treatment, and he didn't hide it when facing reporters. The goal of the Spurs is to defend the title.

(End of this chapter)