The result of Thaddeus Young being sent off the field did not change.
After he argued with the referee, the Timberwolves players eventually pulled him away. Head coach Philip Saunders also asked him to take a rest and sent someone to the hospital for examination in advance.
Without Thaddeus Young, there was a gap in the Timberwolves' forward line. In order to make up for this gap, head coach Philip Sanders replaced substitute striker Justin Hamilton.
At this time, the Timberwolves' internal problems have not yet been exposed. After all, there are less than 3 minutes left before the end of the first half.
Soon, the referee's whistle sounded, and the first half of both sides came to an end.
At this time, the point difference between the two sides was not too wide. Although the Warriors were in the lead, there was only a 7-point gap. Far from being enough to threaten the Timberwolves.
The break is over and the second half begins.
In order for the team to catch up with the lagging score as soon as possible, Zhao Feiyang specially continued to play in the third quarter.
After he came on the court, he naturally attracted Stephen Curry. In order to avoid any accidents, the Warriors had no choice but to replace Stephen Curry, who had not had enough rest.
Despite this, Zhao Feiyang did not plan to take too many shots, but continued to organize the team's offense and let newcomers like Zach LaVine and Andrew Wiggins play.
However, as time passed and starting in the second half of the third quarter, the Timberwolves' internal problems were gradually exposed.
In the past, Thaddeus Young was responsible for restricting Draymond Green. His defensive effect was pretty good and he could always interfere with Draymond Green's shots.
However, this time he left, and Draymond Green began to take advantage of this opportunity to continuously score and take shots under the basket. In particular, his constant picking off rebounds made the Timberwolves lose the possibility of chasing points and tying the score in a short period of time.
The Warriors attack.
As the ball passed half court, Stephen Curry passed the ball to Harrison Barnes on the wing.
Harrison Barnes broke through and sprinted towards the basket, and quickly rushed into the penalty area. Before Andrew Wiggins came up to defend, he threw the ball in advance with a throw.
Snapped.
The basketball hits the rim.
Draymond Green, who was under the basket, jumped up first and used his keen judgment to grab the rebound. Justin Hamilton, who was guarding him, was slightly slow. By the time he rushed to interfere, Draymond Green had already made up the ball first.
Uh-huh.
The basketball fell steadily into the basket.
The Warriors fans outside the court cheered. Draymond Green also swept away the previous gloom and kept beating his chest to show his pride.
The Timberwolves fought back.
Zhao Feiyang held the ball on a fast break, and Zach LaVine helped him fend off Stephen Curry.
Just when Zhao Feiyang entered the basket, Draymond Green swooped up to block his shot space. Zhao Feiyang took advantage of the situation and threw the ball to Justin Hamilton standing behind Draymond Green.
However, the opponent did not have enough tacit understanding. Not only did they fail to catch the basketball thrown by Zhao Feiyang, they also watched the ball fly out of bounds.
call out.
The referee whistle sounded.
The ball fell into the hands of the Warriors.
Zhao Feiyang obviously didn't understand such a scene.
"Dude, what are you doing?"
"You have to think about catching the ball at any time! You are an NBA player...I don't need to say more about this..."
Justin Hamilton looked apologetic.
"Sorry, my question..."
Zhao Feiyang didn't blame him anymore. He knew very well that players like Justin Hamilton were tall and big, so if it was a positional battle, they would indeed have an advantage.
But if the pace is fast, a big man like him will undoubtedly be slower in action, and the original advantage may become a disadvantage.
Unfortunately, the Timberwolves don't have a better player to replace Thaddeus Young, so this problem cannot be solved in a short time.
The Warriors serve a sideline kick.
After the ball was released, Stephen Curry once again passed it to the basket. This time Draymond Green seized the opportunity to take the lead.
Although he failed to score the first shot, he used his flexible body to jump up again to tip in the ball.
Justin Hamilton is tall, but he can only watch the opponent take away the ball and score again.
call out.
The referee whistle sounded.
For the Timberwolves, head coach Philip Sanders finally couldn't stand it anymore and made a substitution gesture to the referee.
Justin Hamilton was replaced and replaced by another substitute Adrian Payne.
Compared with the former, although Adrian Payne is not that tall, he is faster and more flexible in his movements.
The reason why head coach Phillip Sanders replaced him was because he hoped that he could limit Draymond Green's performance at the basket.
Unfortunately, substitutions did not solve the Timberwolves' problems.
With the end of the third quarter and the arrival of the fourth quarter, the Warriors not only took the lead, but also continued to use the inside to expand the score gap under the arrangement of coach Steve Kerr.
Not only Draymond Green played a role, but Andre Iguodala and David Lee on the wings were also put inside.
Their presence makes the Timberwolves' already weak inside line even worse.
When the game entered the fourth quarter with 1 minute and 39 seconds left, the Minnesota Timberwolves had been opened up to a 16-point gap by the Golden State Warriors.
100 to 116.
This is the score between the two teams.
At this point in the game, everyone knows that it is only a matter of time before the Minnesota Timberwolves lose, even they themselves understand.
The Warriors did not relax because coach Steve Kerr still sent Klay Thompson to lead the team on the court.
Seeing that the situation had deteriorated to this point, Timberwolves coach Philip Sanders finally chose to give up.
He personally replaced Zhao Feiyang, who had played nearly 36 minutes, and asked him to sit back on the bench to rest.
"Go sit down!"
"We still have a chance..."
Coach Philip Sanders patted Zhao Feiyang on the shoulder to express comfort.
The latter also understands that the problem inside is too big, and there is really no other way but to choose to acquiesce to the fact of losing like this.
When the Warriors saw Zhao Feiyang go down, they also knew that the Timberwolves had finally given up, so they also replaced the main players and let the substitutes come up to play the final garbage time.
"Oh! It seems that the game is over. Zhao scored a game-high 39 points today... This guy's performance was not bad at all... It's a pity that the team has too many problems Already..."
"Stephen Curry scored 26 points and 7 assists, Klay Thompson scored 21 points and 3 rebounds, and Draymond Green's statistics were also very good. He scored a season-high 24 points... The performance of these three people was a key factor in the Warriors' victory..."
