Bishop of the Abyss

Chapter 12 12. Unstoppable: Perfect debut;

Back in the second quarter, the two sides changed sides and fought again.

The depth of the Sonics lineup this season is not bad. Daniels and Radmanovic on the bench have averaged double figures in scoring.

With the addition of Fordson, Collison and others, this is enough to make the Sonics' second team very competitive, at least definitely surpassing more than half of the league's teams.

Throughout the second quarter, the Sonics gradually narrowed the score by relying on the performance of the bench lineup. After all, the real strength of the Timberwolves lies in the starting lineup.

If you really want to talk about overall strength, then the Timberwolves can only be said to be not bad, but there is still a long way to go from being very strong.

However, in the first half of the second quarter, when Garnett and others left the court to rest, "Madman" Sprewell stood up and led the team strongly.

And since Karl Malone replaced Eddie Griffin in this game, the combination of Timberwolves' substitute insiders will be Eddie Griffin and Divac.

This combination, one capable of passing and the other capable of dunking, is still very threatening.

In addition, the Supersonics fell behind the Timberwolves by double digits in the first quarter, which led to the Supersonics' substitute lineup coming up and playing timidly on the offensive end, without the usual god-blocking and killing. aura.

Because if the team is in the lead, then the substitute players can let go to play, but when the team is behind by a large score, every shot of the role player will bear huge psychological pressure.

This point will always be an unchangeable law in the competitive sports of the NBA.

After all, when a role player starts to have the decisiveness of a big heart, then he can no longer be called a role player.

As the "madman" took over the game in the first half of the second quarter, although the Timberwolves failed to expand the score during this period, the double-digit lead was maintained.

Finally, after the main players returned to the game, the Timberwolves once again held the initiative of the game in their hands.

At the end of the half, the Timberwolves still held a 16-point lead. In this strong dialogue between the high-level Western Conference, they pressed the Supersonics to the ground and were unable to turn over.

"It's hard to imagine that this is a contest between No. [-] in the West and No. [-] in the West. In this game, I didn't see anxiety at all, but what I saw was a unilateral slaughter."

"The Supersonics are one of the few shooting-oriented teams in the league. In fact, the team's offensive range basically covers half the court, which also makes it difficult for other teams to completely lock the Supersonics' offense."

"But in this game, the Sonics were choked on the offensive end. The Timberwolves have been switching defenses infinitely, which makes it difficult for the Sonics to run a perfect shot."

"So if Coach Nate still can't find a way to crack the Timberwolves' defense in the second half, then I think the game can end here." During the intermission, the famous commentator Conifleck said.

"Yes, the Timberwolves did a good job of limiting the Sonics' shots. It may even be the best game I have ever seen."

"And Lu has been guiding on the defensive end, guiding the Supersonics to hit the ball more to the basket, so that the Supersonics cannot complete the offense in their comfort zone."

"What's more, the inside line with Kevin and Carl is enough to be called a solid wall."

"In my opinion, no matter what adjustments the Supersonics make in the second half, I'm afraid they won't be able to stop the Timberwolves from winning seven consecutive victories." After hearing Flake's words, his partner Tom Horvath also responded immediately.

After returning from the second half, Supersonics coach McMillan's face was not very good.

Obviously, McMillan has no good solution to the almost unsolvable defensive style of the Timberwolves.

After all, the real strength of this Timberwolves team is not in how subtle the tactics are, but in Garnett's ability to switch defenses and pick-and-rolls to the extreme.

In other words, Garnett's presence is the biggest bug for the Sonics' shooting.

This year is McMillan's fifth season coaching the Sonics. In the previous four seasons, McMillan's performance in leading the Sonics has been very good.

Not to mention that they are favorites to win the championship, but at least they can occupy the playoffs all year round.

And when it comes to McMillan, his entire coaching career can be summed up in one word, that is "stable".

Two words are "very stable", three words are "very stable", and four words are "stable as an old dog".

But now, even McMillan, who has always been stable like an old dog, feels a little hopeless, because since coaching the Sonics, McMillan has never seen any team that can completely block the Sonics' outside shots like the Timberwolves.

In the past, other teams would at most double-team when Ray Allen or Lewis felt good. At the very least, it was the first time that McMillan had seen this "block and change" method.

As for the reason for McMillan's pale face, it's not because he will lose to the Timberwolves in this game. After all, winning or losing a game is not that important to McMillan.

What really makes McMillan desperate is that I am afraid that after this game, when other teams meet the Sonics, they will follow the example of the Timberwolves and come up with this kind of closed defense.

Even if other teams don't have a freak like Garnett, this defensive style is still a very big threat to the shooting-oriented Sonics.

Originally, the Sonics didn't have a reliable penalty area finisher in the interior. If other teams restrained even shooting in the future, then McMillan felt that his position under him might be lost.

In the end, the whole game was over, and the Timberwolves relied on their down-to-earth and stable performance on both ends of the offense and defense. After all, they beat the Sonics by 23 points at home.

It won this "strong dialogue" that Luke had been looking forward to for a long time, but was very disappointed in the end.

Originally, Luke wanted to use the fourth-ranked Supersonics in the Western Conference as a sharpening stone to see how far the current team is from other strong teams.

But the ideal is full, but the reality is very skinny.

In fact, not only did the Supersonics not pose any threat to the Timberwolves, but they were pressed on the ground by the Timberwolves and frantically rubbed against each other throughout the game. From the first quarter to the fourth quarter, they did not maintain a lead in one quarter.

Luke was very disappointed with this result, even though the Timberwolves won another victory, raising the winning streak to 7 games after the start...

Throughout the game, the Timberwolves' best performance was naturally "Wolf King" Garnett.

Even fans of Garnett's "stable as an old dog" explosive performance began to feel visual fatigue.

Because in the eyes of the fans, Garnett played well, which is really a normal thing.

Maybe when Garnett's performance is very dismal, that can barely raise the fans' interest.

本场比赛，由于比赛早早就进入垃圾时间，所以加内特在登场31分钟的情况下就轰出22分16篮板6助攻3抢断以及2次封盖。

It is still an impeccable performance on both ends of the offense and defense. Not to mention the fans, now that Garnett has such a stat, even the head coach Luke can't feel the surprise.

A little more arrogant, Luke feels that Garnett can become stronger!
In addition, Karl Malone, who ushered in the Timberwolves' debut in this game, is also close to perfection.

在被卢克开始负荷管理，个人仅登场23分钟的情况下，马龙在进攻端一共10投6中，其中罚球线上3中2，用一份14分7篮板2封盖的数据完美迎来首秀。

It is worth mentioning that under the defense of the twin tower combination of Karl Malone and Garnett, Supersonics center Jerome James only scored 3 points in total.

This also means that Karl Malone's personal score has really reached three times that of Jerome James, so according to the bet, Malone won the bet.

And Luke may really spend a lot of money this weekend.

(End of this chapter)