Legendary star

Chapter 250 The first round of the playoffs

On April 2001, 4, after a two-day break, the Spurs ushered in their first opponent in the playoffs at home, the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Timberwolves lineup this season has undergone considerable changes compared with last season. Since Garnett's contract is too big, and the team owner is unwilling to pay more, after the end of last season, in order to save salary space, the Timberwolves sent away the team's important rotation player Joe Smith. After Bobby Jackson's contract expired, the Timberwolves also chose not to renew the contract and gave Bobby Jackson to the Kings for nothing. Now Bobby Jackson is already an important rotation player and sixth man for the Kings, and the team Malik Healy, another veteran player, chose to retire directly after the team determined that he would not renew his contract.These 21 players are all players who can contribute 3+ points per game, and the Timberwolves did not make any reinforcements while losing these 10 giants, so the decline in the team's strength is inevitable.

In this case, the Timberwolves are now Wang Xiaoer's Chinese New Year is not as good as a year, and as Garnett's salary is getting higher and higher, the Timberwolves will have more role players to leave.Although Garnett is quite critical of the team's behavior, there is no way anyone can make your contract bigger than O'Neal's. Now Garnett's salary alone has reached one-fifth of the team's salary cap. 5.And Minnesota is not a big city like New York and Los Angeles, and the owner of the Timberwolves is still a famous miser.Therefore, this season the Timberwolves are very reluctant to enter the playoffs, but facing the powerful Spurs, this season the Timberwolves are likely to be another round trip.

After the warm-up was complete, Garnett looked envious when he saw Duncan holding a basketball into his arms not far away, Meng Xu and David Robinson standing on the left and right. He was about the same age as Duncan. He entered the league two years earlier than Duncan, but now Duncan already has two championships and two FMVP trophies, and he has been empty-handed until now, and his team has always been on the edge of the playoffs. Even if it makes it to the playoffs, it can only be the first round.Especially when he saw Duncan's teammates, looking at his teammates, Garnett was a little jealous of Duncan, maybe not just Garnett, the entire league is now jealous of the Spurs.

"Erwin, do you think there is any suspense in the series between the Spurs and the Timberwolves?" After Duncan returned the basketball in his arms to the referee on duty, Michaels, the guest commentator on the sidelines, said with a relaxed face. In the first round of the playoffs, I am afraid that the series between the Spurs and the Timberwolves will be the least suspenseful. The gap between the two teams is really big. This season, the Spurs and the Timberwolves have played four games, just like the Kings, except for the first game Because of Meng Xu's absence, the Timberwolves defeated the Spurs, and the remaining three games of the two teams ended in a disastrous defeat for the Timberwolves. Garnett can fight Duncan evenly on the court, but the other players of the Timberwolves are worse. It's a bit too much, especially the Timberwolves' bench lineup, which was blown away by the Spurs' bench group and couldn't find North.

"I personally think that Kevin should choose to leave. If he continues to choose to stay in the Timberwolves, then he will never win a championship in his life. Glenn Taylor is really too stingy. If Kevin can be matched with a few outstanding role players , then the Timberwolves will definitely be a favorable contender for the championship, but now..." Magic Johnson shook his head and did not continue.In fact, there are many owners like Glenn Taylor in the entire league. After all, not every team is short of money like New York and Los Angeles. For these owners, the NBA is also a business. Since it is a business, it makes money It is the only purpose, so they will do everything possible to keep the team's salary level below the salary cap, so that they can make some money, and several team owners will pay out of their own pockets.

Seeing that Magic Johnson stopped halfway through his words, Michaels also smiled. This problem is actually the norm in the league. Among the 29 teams in the league, only 5 teams have a salary level that exceeds the luxury tax. Line, those who exceed the luxury tax line are either big cities like New York and Los Angeles, or rich owners like the Trail Blazers and Mavericks, and even the defending champion Spurs, their salaries are now below the salary cap, not to mention Talk about small teams like the Timberwolves.

"Okay, Ervin, maybe this game will not be as easy for the Spurs as imagined." With the sound of the whistle, Garnett jumped with a small advantage in the jump ball between Garnett and Duncan. After the ball was successful, the game officially started. Perhaps Garnett's successful jump ball this time may bring good luck to the Timberwolves.

After getting the ball in this game, Timberwolves All-Star point guard Terrier Brandon quickly drove the ball across the half court. After seeing Garnett reaching for the ball below the free throw line, Terry Earl Brandon also turned sideways to Meng Xu, squeezed out a bit of room to pass the ball, and then handed the basketball to Garnett, whose back was facing Duncan.Under the coaching of Philip Sanders, the current Timberwolves basically have no tactics at all. With a player like Garnett, the Timberwolves are now resolutely implementing the superstar tactics with Garnett as the core. Most of the team's offense is to hand the basketball to Garnett first, and Garnett will play singles in the interior. After Garnett can't start the game, he will hand the basketball to his teammates.Originally, when Philip Sanders took office, he also wanted to create a combination of internal and external tactics in the Timberwolves, but the technical characteristics of a small forward like Garnett's power forward are not suitable for this tactic at all. How can an insider who can't stay still be competent in the combination of inside and outside tactics?So after trying more than a dozen games, Philip Sanders gave up thinking about it. Anyway, the team's management doesn't have any requirements for the record, and as long as Garnett is there, even X**D can enter the season Playoffs, so the current Timberwolves are also the most resolute team in the league to implement X**D tactics.

After receiving a pass from Trier Brandon, Garnett tried several times in a row, but after having no good chances, Garnett also handed over the basketball with some helplessness to get rid of the ball through an air cut. Sean Elliott's Szczerbiak.The Spurs' defensive rotation is very good, but Sean Elliott and Mario Ellis are both very old, and they often can't keep up with each other. Fortunately, in the Spurs, whether it is Meng Xu or Duncan , and the ability to assist defense and fill positions is very good, so just after Szczerbiak received the ball, without even a chance to adjust, Meng Xu appeared in front of him with his big hand outstretched.

Szczerbiak, who received the ball now, also has a sad expression on his face. Meng Xu's defense is too good. Whether it is single defense or assist defense, he is now the top in the league, and he is not the kind of physical talent. A player who can rely on his body to force Meng Xu, so every time he faces the Spurs, every time he faces this good friend of his, Szczerbiak will play very uncomfortable, and this time is no exception. After Zerbiak protected the ball for more than 2 seconds, he passed the ball back to Timberwolves point guard Terrier Brandon again.

"The Spurs' defensive strength has directly improved by a level compared with the regular season." Looking at the first round, it has been more than 20 seconds, and the Timberwolves have not found a suitable shot. Michaels in the commentary is also full of face Unbelievably, the Spurs' defense in the regular season is already good enough. It has been three consecutive years that the average control points per game has been kept below 3 points. The Spurs have always been the best defensive team in the league, but they have not Thinking of the playoffs, the Spurs' defensive strength can be even stronger.

"El, this is the intensity of the playoffs. The playoffs will always be a stage for superstars." After Magic Johnson finished speaking, he looked at the Spurs center in a serious manner. The former star David Robinson, originally According to David Robinson's performance, there is no problem in entering the top 50 in history, but David Robinson has always been criticized as soon as he reached the playoffs, which directly caused his historical status to drop by more than one grade .

Seeing that the Timberwolves were about to violate the 24-second rule, Anthony Peeler had no choice but to throw the basketball in his hand towards the basket. The 24-second time for this attack was over as soon as the basketball was released.

After seeing the excellent defense in this round, Popovich nodded with satisfaction. From the second half of this season, Popovich began to artificially control the game state of all the Spurs players. First adjust their game state to the trough, and then slowly adjust after entering the playoffs. After two rounds of series adjustments, the Spurs players' state will be stimulated by the time of the Western Conference Finals, and In this round of the series with the Timberwolves, the state of the Spurs players is precisely in the stage of slowly rising from the trough, and this state has been well demonstrated in the team's training game today, except for Duncan After being able to control his game state freely, other Spurs players, even veterans like Mario Eli, are a little out of shape, let alone young players like Xiang Mengxu and Derek Anderson.

Therefore, under such circumstances, in order to ensure the victory over the Timberwolves, the Spurs, in addition to continuing to adjust their game state, also directly increase their defensive strength, and defense has always been the Spurs' strength.

　Thank you for the monthly pass for cowardice, thank you.

　　Thank you Brother Hou for the two monthly tickets in 2016, thank you.

　　Thanks to Li Bai for the monthly ticket that may not be too white, thank you.

　　Thank you for the two monthly tickets of Taro Huihui, thank you.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)