G1 Grizzlies vs Timberwolves is the kind of game that commentators like to like — and all the situations you imagine have happened. Overturning the main points of the Grizzlies, the Timberwolves have done more than half, and there are some subtle small details that affect the game and change the balance of strength.
I've written about the Grizzlies three times in the past month, whether it's a muscle story, a Western story, or a first round preview, all starting with Adams. Adams is in the Grizzlies, probably the 6th or 7th star, not yet in the junior sequence, but it's a man who could change the course of the series. Although the center is the position that makes the least money at the moment, the experience of the playoffs over the past many years has proved that who the center is, the impact on the playoffs is particularly important, and various famous cases of reversals, the next game, are more or less related to the center, such as:
The Warriors removed the center and swung the death five small to change the direction of the series;
Nuggets center aligned to complete the Clippers, completed a big reversal on the next gram;
Valanciunas was blown up by the Cavaliers' five-shooter lineup, and the East Raptors were swept away;
Gobert was hit Mann's career night, and the Jazz missed a great opportunity to move into the West.
There are many such examples. Although Adams did not catch up with these famous games, he was not beaten up in the first round of the playoffs in 19 years. In the 20-year series with the Rockets, he was -50 plus-minus, the first in the team, and the team won 5 points when he was not there. These are all memories that are not long ago. This season, the Grizzlies have played the Timberwolves four times, Adams has played three times, played 65 minutes, and the team lost 45 points.
Putting these situations together actually illustrates one thing — the Grizzlies have to think about how to play without Adams in the playoffs. G1 Adams played 24 minutes, and before Russell could even fire, Hanako and Towns had already rubbed him up, losing 13 points while the Grizzlies ended up losing 13 points.
(Adams' defensive side effects are just that, this game has 0 front boards, 0 points, 0 shots, and the offense has no sense of existence.) ）
Would Jenkins not know about this kind of thing?
He couldn't have been unaware. The Grizzlies coaching staff must have looked at more footage of the two teams' regular season games than I did, and there were other reasons why they couldn't cut Adams' time.
That's the second gist of the game – Jalen Jr.'s foul numbers.
The Grizzlies have two key players who are regularly in foul trouble, Dillon and Jalan Jr. The former defends too fiercely, while the latter, as a radical defensive player and a rough offensive player, both offensively and defensively foul. For the Grizzlies, both foul numbers are crucial, and for this series, the latter is particularly important — Adams is not good in this series, Jarren Jr. is committing too many fouls, so how will the Grizzlies' interior line swing?
This was the case in this game, where Jalen Jr. played only 24 minutes for foul play. Although the Grizzlies didn't stop the Timberwolves when he was there — Hanako solved the problem directly at every turn — the power of his 7-cap basket, the Timberwolves must have tasted it. When Jaren Jr. isn't there, Adams is sucked in or freed by Towns, and the Grizzlies can't stop the Timberwolves.
The Grizzlies' defense is different from the fans' impression of them. The Grizzlies have a strong ability to make mistakes, and they seem to be the gods of defense, but they are not. The Grizzlies are not a small ball defensive style in the full basket card reasonable collision zone, and The scale of Jalan Jr.'s defense is not small, but others will not be too fierce in the bottom corner, and Jenkins is very concerned about the opponent's bottom corner three-pointer. If you don't shrink early and don't let your opponent in, then once your best basket protector is gone, something will happen to players like Downs and Hanako.
The Grizzlies were originally the dominant side, and they knew this, such as the opening Game's little Jalen deliberately trying to intimidate Vanderbilt, and also wanted to take advantage of this advantage. But now there is not enough time to play on the inside, and it is difficult to say who has the advantage, which not only affects the defense, but also affects the attack.
In the whole game, the Grizzlies only grabbed 8 front boards, which is simply an incredible number for this team, and their own strengths, met the weaknesses of the Timberwolves, did not play effectively. While there is one reason, Morant made 20 free throws, the Grizzlies made 43 free throws, and there were more free throws and fewer chances to grab the board. But excluding this reason, the Grizzlies still grab less front board. There's contingency, and one reason is that in some cases, the Grizzlies aren't big enough, and even in some cases, the Timberwolves are crushing the Grizzlies with a body ball.
Although the Grizzlies' fast attack is still online, the second offense lost to the Timberwolves by 5 points, and the total loss of the Chaos Only won the Timberwolves by 4 points, which is not enough for the Grizzlies to establish an advantage, because your one-time offensive development ability is weaker than the opposite side.
The question is, why doesn't Jenkins add insiders?
Don't use Tillman?
This is unknown. However, we also mentioned when talking about the Grizzlies before that once Adams is taken out of the game (although this inside time is less because Jalan Jr. has less time), the Grizzlies, although there is still Clark to add time, it is still inevitable not to add Tillman, or the time of the forwards (Sledgehammer, Zaire), and Tillman and the Grizzlies Forwards are generally weak in offense, which is a relatively weak ring they have configured.
Therefore, the Grizzlies do have trouble, if they can't firmly grasp the size advantage and lead the Timberwolves significantly in the chaotic war, then an attack with the Timberwolves is the situation of the three-inch battle against Lü Bu, not to mention that Morant is not necessarily Lü Bu.
In this game, Morant was accused of being somewhat wronged after the game. Although it is not interesting to take justice for the leader of the losing side after losing, I will say that although Morant's defense is not good, the main pot of defense in this game is not him. And his offense was not bad at all, when on the court, the Grizzlies offensive efficiency of 117.1, blocking and dismantling basically blew up the Timberwolves. Although the Grizzlies won and lost points in the connection section, the connection section offense was not good, and the connection section defense was better because the Timberwolves junction offense was not good enough.
Here are two key points in the game between the two sides.
The first key point is the Timberwolves' defense demolition. That's Downs' problem, and it's where I worry most about the Timberwolves before this series starts. It can be seen that the Timberwolves side also has a special arrangement, when Morant calls for cover, Downs will direct Vanderbilt to follow out, to avoid being found, this method is sometimes effective, sometimes it will be used by Morant when there is no ball to change defenses.
Most of the time, Towns still had to personally go up to prevent demolition, and the effect of his mention was really...
This kind of round, I even think, Downs is standing under the basket with his hands held high, waiting motionless to pick up the board, which is better than the effect he lifted. In the first half, Downs defended Morant from blocking basically without a clip, and was drilled by Morant from the middle.
In the second half, Downs' defensive demolitions will be a little better, with occasional successful rounds. The requirement for him is that he can force Morant to play the ball, and as for the performance of the chase, it is also difficult to say.
If you make a highlight of Downs' block breakup round, you can't figure out how the Timberwolves won. In this game, the Grizzlies did 52% of the basket shots against the sky, 37.2 of the free throw percentage, and washed out the Timberwolves paint, and the game failed to test the Grizzlies' ability to respond to the game.
But the strange thing is that although Towns' defense is rotten, his offensive strategic value is simply too great, and it is his existence that completely disintegrates the Grizzlies' defensive logic, his projection ability and the power of the basket, which can punish Adams' mobility, and can crush the Grizzlies' lack of advance to assist in defense, and he stands at a fixed point, and can punish the Grizzlies for giving up the relatively abandoned link - the arc top three points.
So, everyone is praising Huazi, but I want to praise and run like a sleigh three stupid Towns.
The second key point is the articulation segment. The Grizzlies, these second-block main attackers, playing the Defense of the Timberwolves bench may not be able to take much advantage, without Morant's time, holding the ball to develop the offense is not good. If the connecting section cannot establish an advantage, then the Timberwolves are not afraid to fight the first one.
The points that can overturn the grizzly bear, the Timberwolves have grasped. Now that the conundrum has been thrown to Jenkins' side, how to respond? The Grizzlies came up with the legendary ultimate lineup — Jarren Jr., Clark, Morant, Bane, Dillon — and while they failed to reverse the game in the end, they could see the power, but the lineup obviously couldn't play 48 minutes. To continue with Adams, or sacrifice some offense, inside and rotate, or other subtle moves, wait for both sides of the G2.
This series will not be so easy to produce results, and it must be one of the most exciting matches in the first round.