Beep.
The sound of the timer stopping sounded.
The first half between the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Los Angeles Clippers came to an end. The two sides tied 66 to 61.
In the second quarter, the Clippers relied on their stable performance to narrow the score gap. Although they still failed to take the lead, at least they were not opened too much. It seemed that the situation was still under control.
For the Timberwolves, Isaiah Thomas' appearance undoubtedly adds many variables.
His playing style was particularly uncomfortable for his bench teammates.
Firstly, he needs to hold the ball a lot, and secondly, he needs more cover. Both of these points require other people to cooperate closely around him, otherwise he will not be able to achieve very good results.
When the style changed, the tactics naturally changed. With the support of head coach Eric Stotts, Thomas continued his previous style of play and also occupied a lot of the ball in the second team.
However, his touch is not very good, and his cooperation with his teammates is not tacit enough.
Despite taking a lot of shots, he only scored 13 points in this quarter and made 4 turnovers, which further reduced the team's original lead.
"Isaiah, there is no need to put too much psychological pressure... You just came to the team and you will be fine as you gradually adapt..."
On the way back to the locker room, Coach Eric was afraid that Thomas would be under psychological pressure because his performance was not good enough, so he walked up to him to comfort him.
Unexpectedly, Thomas didn't have any psychological burden at all, and he didn't even think there was any problem with his performance.
"Coach Eric, I need more time...Give me more chances to play in the second half!"
"I think it shouldn't be a problem for me to score 30 points in this game!"
There was a little confidence in Thomas's tone.
Coach Eric looked at Thomas leaving in confusion, and for a moment he didn't even know what to say.
The break ends quickly.
The second half comes.
In order to allow Thomas to integrate into the team's main lineup in advance, coach Eric decided to give it a try. After the start of the third quarter, he put Thomas and LaVine on the court to match up, and he also paired a technical striker like Adrian inside.
call out.
The referee whistle sounded.
Timberwolves offense.
Snapped.
Thomas Jr., who got the ball, held the ball across half court.
After arriving at half court, Thomas organized the team's offense, and LaVine on the wing was ready to respond. Although he doesn't like Thomas very much off the court, on the court, his attitude is still relatively positive, and he takes the initiative to run after receiving instructions from Thomas.
However, Thomas did not pass the basketball to LaVine. After LaVine started running, he still chose to isolate the defensive player and then took a three-pointer.
boom.
The basketball bounced out of the basket.
It was just a possession of the ball. Although LaVine was a little unhappy, he didn't care about Thomas.
Soon the opponent took off the rebound and counterattacked.
After the ball passed half court, Blake Griffin rushed to the front. The Clippers transferred the ball to him during the run. Griffin caught the ball and jumped high to dunk.
When it was the Timberwolves' turn to attack again, Thomas also held the ball for a fast break. This time LaVine was faster than him and rushed to the half court earlier.
"here."
LaVine shouted to Thomas while running, but the latter seemed not to see it and continued to choose to dribble the ball across the half court.
Seeing two Clippers players coming up to double-team, Thomas should have passed the ball out in this situation, but he didn't. Instead, he forced a shot under the double-team of two defensive players.
Snapped.
Thomas's layup encountered a big block.
Raven, who had already distanced himself from the side and was ready to respond, shook his head in anger when he saw this scene.
"Damn it!"
"Why don't you pass the ball like this?"
In the next few minutes, the Timberwolves' offense was a complete mess. Thomas seemed to be deliberately holding a grudge. He was particularly stubborn in cooperating with LaVine. Not only did he occupy the ball but did not cooperate with LaVine, he also ignored his attempts to get the ball many times.
In this way, with 6 minutes and 31 seconds left in the third quarter, the Timberwolves were finally overtaken by the Clippers for the first time.
Head coach Eric had to call a timeout.
After the Timberwolves players returned to the team bench, a dissatisfied LaVine also had an argument with Thomas.
"Why don't you pass the ball?"
"Man, the position you ran out of is not good! Do you know how to move? If not, I can teach you..."
"Ridiculous! Do I need you to teach me? When Zhao was still there, all of us cooperated very well..."
"So what? Now he has left the team! If you want to catch the ball, you have to cooperate in my way... Young man, do you understand?"
"You want me to cooperate with a guy who only talks big words? Without a system, do you think you are still an All-Star player? Oh! Stop joking!"
The quarrel between the two quickly attracted the attention of all the fans, and the live camera also gave a close-up of the two.
While there were screams of exclamation at the scene, other Timberwolves players also quickly pulled the two away to prevent them from further conflicts.
Head coach Eric had to make a decision in this situation.
"Zach, Isaiah, you all go down and rest first!"
Considering that Thomas had just arrived, coach Eric still did not favor anyone, but put both of them on the bench.
"Derek, you and Ricky partner up in the backcourt!"
"Now that the opponent is ahead of us, we can't make any mistakes in the remaining time..."
After Coach Eric readjusted the lineup, the timeout also ended. After the referee's whistle sounded, the Timberwolves players appeared again.
The effect of the substitutions was almost immediate. In the remainder of the third quarter, the Timberwolves quickly once again played the tacit cooperation they had only in the first quarter.
The score that was overtaken before was also recovered again due to the counterattack of Rose and others.
At the end of the third quarter, the Timberwolves took the lead again without any surprise. Although this time they only led by 4 points, it was enough for Coach Eric to see some problems.
The last section.
Coach Eric did not hesitate and chose to let LaVine continue to cooperate with the main lineup, while Thomas was temporarily put off the court to rest.
The result was not as expected by Coach Eric. The Timberwolves performed very well in the last quarter, and even had a 7-0 spurt. Especially LaVine, who scored two key goals at the last moment. , established the team's victory in one fell swoop.
When there were only 30 seconds left in the game, the score on the field was already 119 to 106. The 13-point gap made this game no longer suspense.
