The Cleveland Cavaliers lead the Boston Celtics by a score of 2-0.
After playing two away games, the Cavaliers returned to Cleveland. The next two games will be played at their home court, and for them with a lead, once they can win the match point at home, there will be almost no suspense in the final game.
Sweeping the Celtics won't be a problem at all then.
In the East, the match between the Toronto Raptors and the Philadelphia 76ers is also going on. The same situation as the Cavaliers, the two teams also tied with a 2-0 record. The Raptors showed a crushing attitude and defeated the 76ers.
Although the 76ers have talented players such as Joel Embiid, JJ Redick, and Ben Simmons, they actually lack "wolf nature" behind their seemingly luxurious appearance. After realizing their talents, these young people I didn't think about going further, or in other words, I didn't make any substantial efforts.
Once they encounter some "hard-fought" teams, the 76ers' luxury lineup will be ineffective and they will fall into a passive situation.
Therefore, the 76ers always had problems in the second half of these two games. No matter how vigorous their performance was in the first half, they would eventually be caught up by the Raptors.
Such a talented lineup has achieved such a record, which really disappointed many fans.
In the West, the Golden State Warriors played the Portland Trail Blazers 2-0.
The Trail Blazers' performance this season is still good, especially Damian Lillard's record-breaking performances in the regular season. However, after the playoffs, his state gradually became a little unstable, especially against the Warriors. In the team's second game, he only scored 11 points in the game.
For a team's super core, such a score is obviously unqualified.
The team's other core player, CJ McCollum, also didn't perform well enough. Although he scored 22 points, he was completely unable to restrain Klay Thompson in the matchup, so much so that he let the opponent get on top of him. Scored the second-highest 30 points in the game.
In addition, Kevin Durant once again became the biggest killer in the game. Every time he got the ball, he bombarded the Trail Blazers' basket. What's more terrible is that this kind of In this case, no one on the Trail Blazers can limit him.
In the end, Durant scored a game-high 33 points and led the Warriors to defeat the Trail Blazers in one fell swoop.
The Warriors scored 2-0 on one side, but the match between the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Houston Rockets on the other side was extremely anxious.
Both teams are very strong. Needless to say, the Timberwolves have no need to say more. Although Zhao Feiyang is gone, Zach LaVine, Adrian Ennis and others have grown up. Not only have their skills become more mature, but they have also become more competitive with each other. The cooperation between them is becoming more and more tacit.
The Rockets are not weak either. The combination of James Harden and Chris Paul is a huge threat to any team.
The two sides scored 99 to 100 in the first game.
The Timberwolves only lost by 1 point.
Paul assisted Harden at the last moment, and Harden used a floater to help the Rockets complete the victory.
In the second game, the Timberwolves worked together and concentrated the ball in the hands of LaVine, who had a hot touch from the first quarter.
After LaVine led the team to take the lead, Derrick Rose stepped up to dominate the situation in the second quarter.
His breakthroughs are not as explosive as those of the past, but as the youngest regular season MVP, Rose relies on more than just speed. In the match against Paul, Rose also made breakthroughs that Paul was unable to guard against.
With Rose's strong output, the Timberwolves continued to lead in the second quarter.
When the time came to the second half, the Rockets seemed to have regained their form. Harden immediately shot a three-pointer after the start of the third quarter, followed by Paul who also scored a three-pointer under Rose's interference.
In the first half of the quarter, Harden and Paul's cooperation completely prevented the Timberwolves' backcourt from being in shape. Fortunately, in the second half, Adrian finally had an explosive performance.
He repeatedly used his footsteps in the paint to succeed in singles, and also grabbed key rebounds to assist his teammates. It only took half a quarter to widen the point difference that had been overtaken by the Rockets again.
When the time came to the last quarter, Dwight Howard finally played his strongest game of the season. Originally, he was dissatisfied with Harden and others because of his unhappiness with the Rockets. Now that the team and the Rockets met in the semifinals, Howard finally let out the anger he had been holding in for a long time.
In the last quarter, he scored consecutively with LaVine, ended the battle with dunks many times, and blocked Harden and Paul's layups respectively. All these wonderful performances were simply wonderful and attracted the attention of the people inside the Target Center Arena. Timberwolves fans are excited.
In the end, the two sides ended the game 109 to 107.
The difference of 2 points is not much.
The Timberwolves came back with a narrow win.
In this game, James Harden scored 40 points and Chris Paul scored 23 points and 10 rebounds. The entire Rockets scored most of their points.
On the other hand, for the Timberwolves, LaVine scored a team-high 27 points, Rose scored 19 points and 10 assists, Adrian performed well in the paint and scored 18 points and 13 rebounds, and Howard scored 14 points and 11 assists. A rebound.
The Timberwolves' balanced performance became the key to victory.
Compared with the Rockets' over-reliance on Harden and Paul, the Timberwolves are not over-reliant on any one player to a certain extent. Even if LaVine has played the longest time as the core, Rose can still play after he leaves the court. Take control of the situation.
Adrian can also become the team's offensive firepower, and Howard can also perform amazingly.
Although the two sides tied 1-1, after these two games, many people in the industry began to be optimistic about the Timberwolves and believed that they could go further.
Timberwolves fans are also hopeful for the future.
However, more and more fans are mocking and criticizing the team management.
The better the Timberwolves players perform, the more the fans hate the management's bad operations! Even in ESPN's live broadcast, Barkley and O'Neal, who were in charge of commentary, expressed their agreement with this matter.
"I have to say that the Timberwolves management is stupid. Judging from Zhao's recent performance, if they did not make random transactions, the Timberwolves' game would not be so difficult..."
"I still can't understand it! What are the management people thinking? Are they reluctant to give Zhao even a little time to recover?"
"If the Cavaliers win the championship this season, I would really like to see what the Timberwolves management will say..."
