Adrian Ennis's trash talk did have a certain effect. In the first half of the second quarter, Kevin Durant almost lost his mind because of his words. Every move seemed to be deliberately angry. Meaning, there was even an inappropriate defensive foul.
But when the second half of the second quarter arrived, Durant quickly adjusted his mental state.
When he attacked with the ball again, Adrian suddenly found that his attack became ineffective, and only Durant's silent counterattack greeted him.
Golden State Warriors serve.
After the ball passed half court, Livingston lobbed the ball into Durant's hands. After getting the ball, he stood on the right side and held the ball with one hand.
Two people one on one.
Durant pulled away and pretended to change direction, but in fact he suddenly turned around and rushed into the paint. Gorgui Dieng, who was standing under the basket, saw this and came out to defend, but Durant still took the ball in the confrontation after jumping. Throw with force.
Uh-huh.
A two-point field goal was scored.
Gorgi and Adrian's double-teaming was already in place, but even so, their restrictions on Durant had no effect.
Soon the Minnesota Timberwolves serve.
Zach LaVine held the ball at the top of the arc and observed the direction of others. When he saw Gorgi standing up inside to ask for the ball, he immediately transferred the ball to Gorgi.
Gorgi was playing singles under the basket, and Zaza Pachulia came in to mark him. The two faced each other. Gorgi turned around and took a shot. His hook successfully avoided Pachulia's interference. Unfortunately, it was just a little bit short, and the basketball hit the edge of the basket and popped out.
Snapped.
The rebound was taken away directly.
Durant rushed to the basket and grabbed the ball. Instead of passing the ball out, he held the ball and sprinted towards the half court.
Adrian followed him closely, and the two of them arrived at the half court one after the other. As a result, just when Adrian was about to swoop up to interfere with Durant's layup, Durant directly hit him with both hands. A dunk ended the fight.
boom.
Adrian was pushed away by Durant during the collision and almost fell to the ground.
The whole crowd cheered.
The Warriors' home fans cheered for Durant's dunks and went crazy for his sustained and powerful output.
For the rest of the first half, Adrian's defense against Durant was almost completely ineffective. No matter how hard he tried, he would be beaten by Durant's singles in most cases.
This also makes the Timberwolves' suppression of Durant useless.
Beep.
The timer sounded, the first half was over, and both sides entered the locker room to rest.
On the electronic scoreboard, the score between the two sides showed 57 to 51, with the Timberwolves trailing the Warriors by 6 points. During the entire second quarter, Durant scored 17 points alone, which can be said to have fully supported the entire Warriors' offensive firepower.
"Guys, don't be discouraged, it's our turn to counterattack! We still have enough chances... Zach will go with Zhao in the second half, Derek, you take a rest first... Striker Get on Adrian and team up with Andrew..."
"The task of the two of you is to restrict Kevin, and restrict him at every opportunity..."
"Zhao goes to keep an eye on Stephen, and Zach's task is to interfere with Clay..."
"Our offense is very good, but we still need to work harder on the defensive end..."
The team's head coach Eric Stokes analyzed the tactics while assigning tasks. At his request, the players readjusted their mentality and soon ushered in the second half in an excited state.
Beep.
After the start of the third quarter, the Warriors temporarily put Durant down to rest, and Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson appeared again. This time they replaced Andre Iguodala at the third position.
In response to this situation, the Timberwolves also temporarily adjusted and asked Andrew Wiggins to mark Iguodala.
call out.
The referee's whistle sounded and the game started again.
Curry sprinted with the ball as soon as he came up. After halftime, he relied on Draymond Green's pick-and-roll to open up space, avoiding Zhao Feiyang's shot and scoring a three-pointer.
The Timberwolves were not to be outdone, and Zhao Feiyang also took the initiative to get the ball in his own hands.
After passing half the court, he pretended to be playing singles with the ball, deliberately distancing himself from Curry. In fact, the two met each other. He suddenly changed direction with the ball and rushed out. After getting rid of Curry, he rushed into the penalty area. Before the Warriors players could react at all, he jumped high and dunked over Green's head. Fly up and over.
boom.
The ball went in.
Such an explosive play also made many fans at the scene exclaim, and even Green, who was dunked, was a little confused.
"Why does this guy feel a bit like Westbrook?"
After landing, Zhao Feiyang did not forget to use trash talk to disturb Green, and said proudly to him, "Draymond, I told you I would dunk on your head!"
"Damn it!"
Green cursed and responded, "Wait to be blocked! You bastard!"
The Warriors continued to attack.
This time Curry dribbled the ball to two zones, and after being double-teamed, he chose to give the ball to the wing. Iguodala held the ball and broke through to the basket in the face of Wiggins' interference. At the critical moment, Ibaka stepped up to fill the position. Iguodala, who was afraid of being blocked, once again transferred the ball away.
The basketball was given to Thompson on the outside. After receiving the ball, Thompson took a decisive shot. Unfortunately, the moment he threw the basketball, he was affected by LaVine's hand.
Snapped.
The basketball bounces off the rim.
Ibaka picked up the rebound. He only glanced at it and threw a long pass to the half court. Zhao Feiyang, who got the ball, pulled the lever and threw the ball in before Curry could catch up.
Snapped.
The basketball board falls into the basket.
The battle between the two sides in the third quarter was very exciting. Both Zhao Feiyang and Curry showed their own characteristics and led the team to launch a wonderful counterattack. With only one-third of the time left in the third quarter, the Timberwolves not only failed to be pulled away, but actually caught up with the Warriors.
The point difference between the two sides also narrowed to 2 points.
Until Durant was replaced by coach Cole again.
With Iguodala gone, Durant once again became the Warriors' offensive firepower. After playing for so long, Curry simply gave up the ball and allowed Durant to hold the ball in singles outside the three-point line.
Wiggins and Adrian double-teamed according to the previous tactics. Unfortunately, Durant did not intend to fight at close range. He swayed away from the three-point line and directly forced the shot. A crisp three-pointer made the two of them The double team is completely useless.
It was precisely his style of play that when the third quarter of the two sides came to an end, the Timberwolves, which originally had only a 2-point gap, were once again pulled apart.
As a result, the problems of the Timberwolves were completely exposed.
They can interfere with Curry and affect Klay's shooting percentage. Ibaka can even contain Pachulia in the paint. Adrian can also put pressure on Green. But when it comes to defending Durant, regardless of Neither Wiggins nor anyone else can come up with an effective method.
