Snapped.
On the court, the referee threw the ball high. Anthony Davis of the New Orleans Pelicans took the first shot of the basketball. The ball fell into the hands of the Pelicans. Guard Jrue Holiday advanced with the ball.
The game officially begins.
The atmosphere in the Smoothie King Center was instantly ignited.
When the ball passed halftime, the Pelicans had no extra tactics at all. Defender Holiday threw the ball directly into Davis' hands.
Davis was playing singles outside the penalty area, and he was being marked by Gorgui Dieng. The two bodies collided. Davis tried to force a collision, but failed to find a suitable shot, so he handed the ball directly to the basket. DeMarcus Cousins.
Cousins did not hesitate to receive the ball, and he suddenly pushed away Gorgui Dieng who was guarding him and hit a dunk.
boom.
The basketball hit the basket steadily.
Cousins' dunk caused the fans in the audience to cheer and scream.
The start was so aggressive, which somewhat gave Pelicans fans a glimmer of hope.
Soon, it was the Timberwolves' turn to counterattack.
The man holding the ball is Ricky Rubio.
Rubio dribbled the ball across half court and organized the team's offense at the top of the arc.
The players who came off the bench did not become afraid because the opponent was all the main players. Instead, they were all as excited as if they had been pumped. After not being able to play for a long time, they finally encountered such an opportunity, and naturally they did not want to miss it.
Snapped.
Rubio gave the ball to Adrian on the wing, and Adrian tried to make a one-on-one raid, but Davis kept an eye on his steps and would immediately stick to him and interfere with his body as soon as he got close.
Adrian, who couldn't score, quickly gave up the idea. He transferred the ball to his teammate Brandon Rush. Brandon held the ball and shook away the defender in front of him and sprinted towards the basket. Unfortunately, he almost broke through. At the basket, he was interfered by Cousins who came up to defend.
Snapped.
Brandon gave the ball away again.
This time, the ball returned to Ricky Rubio. He didn't hesitate any longer. Seeing that the attack time was about to end, he decisively chose to throw the ball.
Uh-huh.
A crisp three-pointer was scored steadily.
The Timberwolves bench burst into cheers, and Zhao Feiyang stood up in person to lead others in applauding his teammates on the court.
Although the Timberwolves' offense didn't look that smooth, and it even took them all the offensive time to make a shot, at least they were not intercepted by the opponent and finally scored the ball smoothly.
That's enough!
Not every strategy needs to be perfect.
The Pelicans continued to fight back.
This time, his teammates assisted Davis, the thick-browed brother. Davis broke into the basket with the ball, threw the ball, hit the backboard and popped out. Cousins jumped high again and threw the basketball with one hand. Unfortunately, due to the intensity of defense, the basketball he threw out only hit the basket.
boom.
The basketball bounced out.
Adrian stepped up to get in front of Davis, the thick-browed brother, trying to grab the rebound in one fell swoop. However, the moment he jumped up, the powerful thick-browed brother Davis grabbed the ball directly. After landing, he jumped up immediately and smashed the ball into the basket with a two-handed dunk.
boom.
The ball went in.
Davis, the thick-browed brother, made another dunk that made the whole audience scream.
The opponent played so strongly, but the Timberwolves' bench lineup was not affected. Rubio continued to advance with the ball. One second he was slow, and the next second he accelerated and sprinted out.
By the time the Pelicans players caught up, Rubio had almost rushed outside the opponent's penalty area.
After pretending to take a shot to attract the opponent's attention, Rubio suddenly threw the ball behind him. Adrian, who followed up, reacted quickly. Under the interference of Davis, the thick-browed brother, he turned the dunk action into a layup and avoided the opponent with his right hand. Interference gently pushed the ball into the basket.
Uh-huh.
The offensive and defensive performance of both sides really surprised the fans.
I thought that the Pelicans' main lineup would perform like a crushing performance when facing the Timberwolves' bench, but after the actual encounter between the two sides, everyone discovered that the Timberwolves' bench was not that bad.
Their inside line is indeed not good, but they do not struggle with the inside problem with the main force of the Pelicans. Instead, they take advantage of the situation and use long shots and breakthroughs to score. In short, they reduce the possibility of direct confrontation with the opponent's main force and focus on what the Pelicans are not good at. Go attack.
This style of play also allowed the Timberwolves to hold on to the score, so by the end of the first quarter, the Timberwolves, who were all substitutes, were only 4 points behind.
34 to 30.
The bench performed better than expected.
Among them, the best performers were Rubio and Adrian. One of them sent out 7 assists and scored 9 points. The other even grabbed 5 rebounds under the restriction of Davis, the thick-eyebrow brother, and scored 8 points at the same time. point.
Gorgi's performance is also pretty good. He is not Cousins's opponent in a head-on confrontation, but he is great because he knows how to use cleverness to resolve the opponent's strong attack.
Therefore, with his keen judgment, Gorgui often helped the Timberwolves pick up missed shots on the court. Even sometimes, when his teammates failed to score, he took advantage of the opponent's loopholes to make up for the ball.
call out.
The referee's whistle sounded, the first quarter was over, and players from both sides left the field.
On the Timberwolves side, when the bench players came down, Zhao Feiyang stood up in person to make room for everyone. He also took the initiative to shake hands and high-five every substitute player who came on the field.
"Good job man!"
"Damn! You guys played so well! I'm starting to get jealous of you guys... This is the championship level of our Timberwolves team!"
The substitutes were happy too.
Everyone scored and were praised by the team leader. What's more important is that without the restrictions of Coach Thibodeau, they don't have to sit on the bench until the end of the game, and they don't have to hear his roaring voice on the sidelines.
At the same time, there were different opinions off the court about the Timberwolves' performance on the court.
Timberwolves fans who watched the live broadcast were very surprised. They had always thought that the substitute lineup was not useful, so Coach Thibodeau gave up using those players too much. But starting from the first quarter of today's game, the substitutes The lineup was not what they imagined.
Not only can it be used, but it can even work wonders after being used! No worse than any other team’s bench lineup!
"So, why doesn't Coach Thibodeau use substitutes? Is it really that they can't use them?"
"Cultivating substitute players is what we should do, so that a team can continue to develop... I think the Spurs have done a good job in this regard. It's no wonder that many players are willing to go to San Antonio... ..."
"As a championship team, we need to develop a strong bench lineup, but Thibodeau is not good at doing this, and is not even willing to do it... In this case, it is better to fire him! Anyway, it doesn’t look bad at all..."
The outstanding performance in the first quarter made many fans a little excited.
It was at this time that Thibodeau, who was watching at home, also watched the performance of the bench lineup in the first quarter. He is different from the fans. From the beginning to the end of the first quarter, all he showed was silence.
There was a long silence.
It wasn't until the break that Thibodeau finally came to his senses.
"Damn! Why do these guys perform so well?"
"Is it really my problem before?"
"But I really don't have the energy to train those substitutes... The fastest way to do something well or win a game is to find strong enough immediate combat power, so that we can do it in the shortest time." The best results appear…”
"Am I wrong?"
Thibodeau kept asking himself.
Soon he had an answer.
"No, I'm not wrong. As a head coach, my idea is definitely right. At least I have led the Bulls to the Eastern Conference Finals, and I have also won the league's 'Best Coach', so I am definitely not It would be wrong..."
"They only played one quarter, who knows what will happen next?"
His eyes returned to the field.
Soon the second quarter of the game between the two sides began.
This time the Timberwolves replaced the main players with a substitute lineup, led by Zhao Feiyang, with Ibaka on the inside and Wiggins on the wing as assistants. After Howard was reimbursed for the season, the team is indeed short of players at the fifth position. After all, no team can tolerate the loss of a strong All-Star.
LaVine, who previously played the No. 1 position, is recovering from injury, and his absence is definitely a major loss to the team. Fortunately, like Rose, he was only temporarily injured and there is still a chance to return in the future.
Substitute defender Tails Jones took over at the No. 1 position.
call out.
The second quarter officially begins.
Compared with the Timberwolves, which changed its main lineup, the Pelicans can only replace some of the main players, allowing substitutes to replace the main players to gain more rest time for the main players.
Timberwolves offense.
After the ball passed half-court, Tails gave the ball to Zhao Feiyang, who played one-on-one at the top of the key. Without any hesitation, he feinted away from Pelicans player Tim Frazier's defense, and then used a change of direction to directly pass the opponent.
After getting rid of the opponent, Zhao Feiyang went straight to the basket.
At this time, Davis and Cousins, the thick-browed brothers under the basket, both took a rest. Without these two people, the Pelicans' substitute striker could not withstand Zhao Feiyang.
Under the shocked eyes of the fans in the audience, Zhao Feiyang jumped high as soon as he entered the penalty area, and slammed the ball into the basket with a one-handed dunk amidst the exclamations of many people.
boom.
The ball went in.
Zhao Feiyang's dunk made the Pelicans stupid.
It was also from this moment that Zhao Feiyang personally led the team to start the point-pulling mode, tying the Pelicans in a very short period of time, and began to overtake the Pelicans in a very short period of time.
When the game entered the final third of the second quarter, the Timberwolves had already opened the score to about 9 points.
For this reason, the Pelicans had to quickly replace Davis, the thick-eyebrow brother, in an attempt to interfere with Zhao Feiyang's breakthrough through his defense.
