Although he is definitely not one of the top coaches as a head coach, he is sincere and honest, has a very good relationship with Xu Xin, and has a very harmonious relationship with the players, and plays a vital role in the maintenance of the team's locker room. .
Finch also made substitution adjustments, playing five ups and five downs.
Replaced with Barea, Shved, Budinger, Cunningham and Amundsen.
Xu Xin looked at the players on the court and felt a little sorry for the Timberwolves fans. The starter is not good, and the substitutes are even less good.
The Rockets are often at their weakest when they are not led by Harden and Butler, but they still have the upper hand against the Timberwolves' substitutes.
The three outsiders of the Timberwolves are all white players, and their defensive abilities are very average. On the inside, Cunningham and Amundson have good athletic ability, but are too short to effectively protect the frame.
It doesn't matter if one-on-one defense doesn't work, nor does coordinated defense. Livingston made two consecutive air cuts to the basket, but none of the five Timberwolves players on the field noticed.
Ariza's shortcoming is his offense with the ball, but facing his former little brother Budinger, he can actually break through one-on-one and forcefully kill the basket to tie two plus one.
After the fans at the scene experienced the "happy time" of shouting about lack of oxygen for a few minutes, they began to feel bored.
Without Garnett, just watching the home team get beaten, what's there to be happy about?
However, the fans did not remain silent for too long. Before the buzzer sounded in the first quarter, Barea caught the ball in the backcourt and ran two steps forward quickly, pushing the ball out with both hands.
With the whistle, the basketball flew from the backcourt to the basket with a beautiful arc.
"Uh-huh!"
The basketball went hollow into the net, and Barea flew out of the sky and scored the most exciting goal in his Timberwolves career.
The scene was filled with exclamations, followed by warm applause.
At 36:24, the Timberwolves ended the first quarter trailing by 12 points.
Although there aren't many interesting substitutes in the home team's lineup, Barea is one of the few bright spots.
After Puerto Rico left the Mavericks, he got a big contract, but he also tasted a lot of losing.
Fortunately, his fighting spirit has not been wiped out, and he is still the most diligent one on the court.
Timberwolves fans often joke that if they lose the game tonight, only Barea can leave with his head held high.
When the Heat visit the Target Center, that's when Barea is most popular among fans.
Whenever James gets the ball, the fans at the scene will shout Barea's name in unison. Later, it has become a scenery in the league.
After a short break, players from both sides returned to the court in the second quarter.
Unexpectedly, McHale continued to use the lineup for the last two minutes of the first quarter, without sending Harden and Asik who had been off the court for half a quarter.
McHale has his own thoughts on this. The Timberwolves' bench strength is too weak, and it is okay to let Harden rest for two more minutes.
On the court, Livingston served as the main attack point. He first scored from the mid-range for the Rockets in the first sports game of the second quarter.
Then he received the ball with a back from the high post, beat Shved behind, and turned over and shot a jumper to add two more points.
Then he broke through and found Tucker in the bottom corner. The latter made a move from outside the three-point line and hit his first three-pointer in the game.
In two minutes, the Rockets hit a wave of 7:0, 42:24, and the score difference was 20 points.
Finch frowned on the sidelines. Just now, he thought that the omission of Garnett's explosion was the reason for their disadvantage on the court. Only now did he realize that this was not the reason at all.
Even if Garnett doesn't break out or even play, they don't have the strength to compete with the Rockets.
But after all, it's home court, so we can't lose too badly.
Finch called a timeout and adjusted the lineup.
With Love and Derrick Williams on the court, the team needs at least one who can score and defend.
McHale also made substitution adjustments, replacing Livingston, who was in recovery, and Greg Smith, who was new to the game and was not afraid of tigers.
Bring Harden and Asik on the court after taking a long rest.
He couldn't do this without making this substitution adjustment. Including the intersection, Harden has already rested for ten minutes. In the cold Minnesota, his body is already cold.
If he hadn't been staring at the spinning bike from the side, there would be a risk of injury when he goes on the court now.
The top players from both sides came on stage and the game became exciting.
The Timberwolves attacked, and Love and Barea started a pick-and-roll.
Beverley chose to go off the line to bypass, because except for a fairy ball, Barea's other shots ended in blackouts.
This time, he wanted to test Barea's touch.
The latter faced an open opportunity and took decisive action.
"Uh-huh!"
The three-pointer hit the net at 42:27.
After the ball was scored, Barea raised his arms and shouted, exhaling a breath. He had a hunch that he could stand up and save the team tonight.
The Rockets attacked. Beverley brought the ball to the frontcourt and handed it to Harden.
Harden didn't rush to make any moves while holding the ball. He first observed the movement of his teammates.
I just happened to see Ariza move into the penalty area with the help of Asik's lower screen, and there was an open opportunity.
Harden flicked his wrist and passed the ball directly to Ariza with one hand.
Ariza is ready to catch the ball and has already thought about his layup action after receiving the ball.
Suddenly, a figure flew out from beside him, cut off the basketball first, then accelerated, running towards the front court at lightning speed.
Upon closer inspection, it was a mountain in Puerto Rico that accurately determined Harden's passing route.
Beverly's reaction was half a beat too slow. Even if he tried to catch up with all his strength, he could not catch up with Barea. He watched the latter easily layup and score two points, 42:29.
Beverly sighed, this little man is really fast.
Then he dribbled the ball to the frontcourt again and handed it to Harden. Harden became more cautious in organizing the offense this time.
Facing Budinger's defense, Harden took a step back after three threats, shook Budinger's center of gravity, and threw the ball towards Budinger.
The latter was unavoidable in the air and violated Harden's cylinder.
The referee saw clearly, "Beep!" There was a shooting foul, and Harden made three free throws.
Harden showed a winner's smile and hit all three free throws, 45:29.
Barea saw everything, and after Harden made the free throw, he took the initiative to catch the ball, advanced to the frontcourt, and once again asked Love to play a high pick-and-roll.
This time Beverley didn't dare to neglect and went to the line to grab the screen and squeeze through.
Seeing the trick, Barea made a short breakthrough, passed through the gap between Asik and Beverley, accelerated into the penalty area, faced Tucker's defense, and hit again with a small throw.
45:31.
Xu Xin saw clearly from the sidelines that this is the fighting spirit of a championship member. He may not be in good condition and may have injuries of one kind or another, but as long as he is on the court, he will work hard because he has the heart of a champion. !
