vertical and horizontal point guard

Chapter 87
Chapter 1: Siege the Wolves
The Spurs are the slowest team in the league. At the beginning of the season, you don't think how strong and threatening this team will be!
At the beginning of each season, ESPN will select the ranking list of the 30 teams in the current season. The San Antonio people seem to be not very popular on this list. Whenever this authoritative list comes out, they are far away on the list. There must be no Spurs on the team.

But no one will ignore this old Quds Legion. As long as they have a GDP combination in their team, as long as their coach is Popovich, they will be one of the most threatening teams in the league.

This season, this slow-warming team has played much more difficultly. The competitive pressure in the Western Conference this year is not ordinary. With the new stars, and those Mesozoic superstars who are eager to seize power, the situation of the Spurs can be said to be not easy.

However, fortunately, the regular season is a long marathon, and the leader does not mean that you can maintain your advantage all the time. You must always be alert to the pursuers behind you.

For the young Timberwolves, even though they are already ranked seventh in the West, they cannot relax their vigilance, because neither the San Antonio Spurs nor the Oklahoma City Thunder behind them are easy opponents.

The Spurs are the one with the greatest threat index!
In tonight's game, the Spurs played very steadily. Every offensive and defensive coordination coincided with the tactical concept that Popovich is good at. This Holy City team is probably the best team in the league.

none of them!

Their player lineup can be seen everywhere with veterans who have played for eight or nine years. In terms of tactical guidance, Popovich is a rare tactical master in the league. Once the game encounters a crisis situation, this veteran coach from the Air Force Academy will be the first. Change tactics at all times, formulate effective targeting strategies, and interrupt the opponent's momentum at the first time.

It is also because this team has a large number of veterans with rich game experience, and their execution of tactics is also the highest in the league. Maybe they are slow and weak in jumping due to the passage of time, but their understanding of tactics is not. Losing half a point due to the passage of time will instead make you better at playing due to the accumulation of time.

It stands to reason that in the fourth quarter of the game, the young and talented Timberwolves should have an advantage. In tonight's game, fierce defense and a lot of running positions are not uncommon. The players are fighting for the front line. Fight for opportunities.

In such a high-intensity and high-consumption game, the San Antonio people should be the most uncomfortable side, but when the game really reached the fourth quarter, things did not evolve as expected.

The Timberwolves, who originally had an advantage due to their youth and strength, are now evenly divided with the Spurs veterans, and even faintly at a disadvantage.

This game was not like the Celtics. Lee Se-ho used his personal ability several times in the fourth quarter to find good offensive opportunities from the tightly defended Spurs defense and wanted to sound the counterattack horn.

But the old Spurs did not let the Timberwolves do this easily. The old Spurs are old, but they are not soft. These old veterans still gave the young Timberwolves several offensive and fierce counterattacks in the fourth quarter. It gave the Timberwolves the idea of ​​trying to overtake.

The Spurs are indeed very good at playing, and the team is full of veterans, but the Spurs obviously know how to use their advantages better than the Boston Celtics. Although the Celtics are better in terms of strength, but how to play correctly, The Spurs are clearly the smartest bunch of guys in the league.

From the very beginning of the game, the Spurs generals had already thought of excessive physical exertion at the end of the game. It was precisely this that they noticed. The physical strength distribution of the Spurs veterans was very reasonable, and they did not waste their strength in vain.

Not only that, but the wise Spurs veterans also added a little "seasoning" to the game, which made the game a little bit more difficult.

The young Timberwolves felt this in the first quarter of the game. Small moves, some powerful defensive moves, and even some foul moves that should be whistled were easily avoided by the referee's vague eyes.

This is the home of the Spurs tonight, and this is the small town of San Antonio. The young Timberwolves obviously played a bit aggrieved, but they could only grit their teeth and stand firm.

No way, home field advantage is a factor that exists in the league. This also exists in Minnesota. Players who play in this league understand this and cannot change it. They can only adapt.

Although the young lads of the Timberwolves are young and energetic and have much more physical strength than the old Spurs, they cannot withstand the "fresh condiments" brought by the old Spurs when they experience high-intensity game pressure. Some couldn't bear it anymore, and their physical strength was exhausted.

The disadvantages are beginning to become apparent. The Timberwolves do not have a reasonable and deep bench lineup. This season, the Timberwolves can achieve an amazing team record. Obviously, most of the credit is due to the stability and tacit understanding of the starting lineup.

But the barrenness of the bench is obviously covered by this glamorous record.

In this battle with the Spurs, the weakness began to be revealed, and it even became a little fatal.

The young lads of the Timberwolves began to show signs of exhaustion. First of all, Ryan Gomez, this kid made a lot of three-pointers tonight, and his concentration on the defensive end is also high enough. The huge physical exertion is reasonable. thing.

Then there is Marc Gasol. Gasol’s energy consumption may be the highest in the team. Because of his height, the calories consumed by each step on the field is not easy for inside players. What’s more, Gasol’s defense in tonight’s game The focus is on the experienced Stone Buddha Duncan.

In terms of defense, Gasol Jr. in the Timberwolves is indeed better than Kevin Love in this respect, and the team's inside defensive gate is now placed on Gasol Jr.

The last quarter of the race is like the last lap of a 500-meter long-distance race. When both teams have reached their last gasp, the fight is about who has more experience and who can last the longest.

Li Shihao can still hold out at this time. He has always maintained the habit of long-distance running and exercise. This is how his endurance is trained. When the NCAA was in March Madness, facing the strong opponent University of Connecticut, Syracuse University was defeated. In the six overtimes, Li Shihao, who is the core of the team's outside line, put in a lot of energy on both offense and defense, but they were the ones who had the last laugh.

But tonight's opponent is obviously a team of seasoned hunters who want to hunt down their group of young wolves.

At the end of the quarter, when everyone was exhausted, Li Shihao gritted his teeth and resisted the team's offensive banner. He relied on his personal ability to hit repeatedly and scored 8 points in a row, but it was still difficult to stop the Spurs' stable offensive and defensive rhythm. .

The opponent is like a chariot with every part outdated but running stably. Without absolute power, it obviously cannot stop their progress.

Finally, when the final whistle sounded, the bright red score of 112:101 over the arena made Li Shihao and Love feel a little lost and lonely.

Losing, losing without temper, the strength of the opponent's team is not much different from them, but the game experience is too rich, they are far better at playing than their own.

It's a massacre, the young wolves are besieged by the old San Antonio hunters!
(End of this chapter)