The NBA regular season of the new season has been played for almost 2 months, and the West has entered the big brawl ahead of schedule. From the Thunder, who are second in the West, to the Rockets, who are ninth in the West, there is only a 3.5-game gap between the front and back, including the Warriors, who have won three consecutive games recently, are gradually catching up. In the second group, the more surprising teams are the Thunder and Rockets, these two teams have been rebuilding in the past few years, and after hoarding enough talent, they have relied on defense to rise rapidly this season, especially the Thunder, Alexander averaged 31 points and 6 assists per game on the offensive end, with Holmgren (17 points, 8 rebounds and 2.8 blocks per game) who seamlessly integrated into the rhythm of the NBA, and there were giants such as Jay and Dort on the defensive end, and the team performed very stable. The Clippers are back on track with an eight-game winning streak, and Harden has gradually become the real core, averaging 20 points and 10 assists per game during the winning streak, taking the entire team away.
In contrast, both the Lakers and the Suns are going through a period of struggle, the Suns lack a playmaking point, Booker and Durant are the top in the league in singles, but in terms of driving teammates, they are very amateurish, which leads to the effect of half the effort, both are tired, but the team has lost 7 of the last 10 games, and Beal has to rest for at least 2-3 weeks because of an ankle injury. The Lakers have no offense on defense, no three-point shooting to be precise, thick eyebrows play very stable, and Lao Zhan can also maintain about 25 points of output, but almost all of the Lakers' offense is to impact the basket, which is efficient but also tired, and walking on one foot will definitely suffer. But the most surprising thing is that the Western Conference leader this season turned out to be the Timberwolves! 20-5 in the first 25 games of the season, monopolizing the first place in the league! And has already thrown off the second group of big teams (and opened up three wins with the Thunder).
The Timberwolves showed competitiveness last season, but they were easy to overlook. Towns played more than 30 games last season, Gobert played with a back injury all season, Conley came to the Timberwolves after the trade deadline, and even then advanced to the playoffs, and even won the championship Nuggets! You must know that in the Western Finals, the Lakers were directly swept out by the Nuggets 4-0, and the Eastern Conference champion Heat only won 1 game against the Nuggets! The Nuggets didn't make any big moves in the offseason, giving Edwards a five-year contract with a maximum maximum salary of $260 million, a three-year, $42 million contract extension, and signing Lakers veteran Troy Brown. But the team has a 106.8 defensive efficiency this season, which is the first in the league and a cliff lead (the second-place Celtics have a defensive efficiency of 109.2)!
The Timberwolves' offense is not outstanding, and their average points per game and offensive efficiency are only ranked 17th or 18th in the league, but the way they win is to pull the opponent into their rhythm, and then use the perfect lineup framework of positional warfare to defeat the opponent! Edwards averaged 24.6 points, 5.4 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game this season, including 4.3 points per game + 60% shooting rate at key moments, and has a big heart! Downs averaged 22.2 points and 9.5 rebounds per game this season, shooting 52%+42%+90% from three! Gobert is the most easily overlooked, but he has the biggest role, averaging 12.6 points, 12.2 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game, 104.4 defensive efficiency, 10 points per 100 possessions, 11.1 interference shots per game, 4.6 cover assists per game, and 3.0 card positions, leading the DPOY list.
Of course, other role players can't be ignored, Conley's ability to control the court with a stable rhythm, averaging 11.5 points and 6.2 assists per game, and a three-point shooting rate of 45%; The key Edwards gradually adapted to the blocking and dismantling of the Twin Towers, except for losing 2 of the first 3 games of the opening game, the Timberwolves won 19 of the last 22 games! The 3 games they lost, playing the Kings, the opponent made 14 of 21 three-pointers in the half, which was outrageous; losing to the Pelicans, the Twin Towers were indeed blown up by Zion, which was indeed a natural restraint; losing to the Suns, Durant and Booker combined for 62 points, and the Suns also hit 17 three-pointers as a team.
But in addition to these 3 games, the Timberwolves have 19 wins left! Nuggets, Heat, Thunder, Celtics and other strong teams are all defeated! It must be said that this Timberwolves are the Clippers' biggest enemy. The Big Three combination of Clippers Harden + Xiaoka + George is actually not afraid of teams such as Nuggets, Suns, Lakers, and Thunder, because the Clippers themselves are the best forward combination in the league, and Harden controls the court and plays a metronome, and the Clippers can match it. But the Timberwolves twin towers, the Clippers really can't match. Not to mention that Zubac is not as efficient at eating cakes as Capela in the past, Zubac is slow to move, slow to turn, and has rough technique, which will be the biggest hole when facing Gobert. And it is not easy for anyone to match the Downs in the Ka Pepper combination, and the consumption will be very large.
Edwards' impact can only allow small cards or George to mark, and the comparison between the Clippers and the Timberwolves only wins one hand, Harden! Harden has averaged 1.4 points per game in singles this season, the first in the league. The opponent's forward line is pinned down by the Ka Pepper combination, and the opponent's guard confrontation can't eat Harden, which is also the real meaning of Harden's guarantee of the lower limit of the Clippers in the regular season: Harden He doesn't care about scoring this season, it doesn't mean that he loses his ability to score, but he has to play a backstop role as a backhand. The Clippers maintain their current state, in fact, the biggest opponent in the West is only the Timberwolves, and they are also looking forward to Harden and the Wei Shao brothers realizing their dreams this season.