When watching the live broadcast, I felt that the Suns were playing stupidly, and there were many rounds that I didn't know what to do at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends.
When watching the video, I found that the experience of watching the live broadcast was still conservative. The Suns' chaos is outrageous, and it's no wonder they're the league's worst fourth-quarter net inefficient. The opponent came up with a change, the sun immediately fell into confusion, the score was slightly pulled away, the defense immediately dispersed, the offense became more and more chaotic, and there was a sense of losing the next hand. Let the 2K computer have the number of the sun, I'm afraid it's better than the sun itself.
At 6:38 in the third quarter, Booker blocked and hit a three-pointer with the ball on top of Conley's head. 63-60, the Suns led by three points. Finch asks for a timeout.
Compared to G1, the Timberwolves didn't play well this time. Downs committed three fouls in the first quarter, and the offensive and defensive options during the period on the floor were also difficult to describe. Before the middle and late stages of the third quarter, Huazi was very uncomfortable by the strict defense of the Sun. Reed's feel is also not online. The Timberwolves relied on a few low-play players on the offensive end to give punishment, such as Jaden, Walker, and Gobert, and this game was acceptable for the Suns.
The Suns didn't play easily on their own offense, and they also injured Allen in the third quarter. Normally, the Suns are missing a starter, which is basically the same as sending, but this situation is special because the old Gordon, who had been dormant in the second half of the season, has been resurrected, and he has filled in Allen's role. And Eubanks, who has always been abstract, was actually still sane for a while before he completely stopped being a man in the fourth quarter. The Suns weren't as shocked today as G1.
At this point in the game, the outcome was unpredictable.
Finch adjusted the lineup after the timeout, taking Gobert and playing the inside combination of Downs + Reed.
We discussed the possibility of Fincher's "field bogey horse race" in the preview, and found in G1 that because the transition period is long enough, Finch may not deliberately adjust, and there will be space to restrain Nurkic and Gobert to clean up Eubanks. Now that Finch came up with a two-space interior midway through the third quarter, it's up to Vogel to respond.
Vogel must not say that he was unprepared. If you are serious about preparing for the series according to the configuration of the Timberwolves, you have to have a plan for the interior combination of Towns + Reed, otherwise the situation where Nurkic is wrong to everyone is likely to cause the Suns' defense to collapse completely.
There is also the situation that the Timberwolves have a lineup without a true point guard at this time. The three outside the two inside lines are Huazi, Walker, and Jayden. Conley's defense suffered and had to rest, Lee Kyle was injured and couldn't play, and Finch didn't use Morris or the little bald head at this time. If Vogel reacts quickly, he should cut the joint defense at this time. Even, just like some coaches who change their tactics, after the opponent comes back from a timeout, he can defend the ATO for a round, and he may take advantage of the situation to solve the problem of who Nurkic is suitable for.
A more risky approach would be to sacrifice the quality of the alignment, with Nurkic versus Jaden and O'Neal defended Reed – since you're already on O'Neal at this point, what's the point of letting him defend Walker?
Vogel didn't choose this either. His adjustment was Nurkic defending Reid and going to the three-point line. Down O'Neal, up Gordon to guard Towns, and let Durant defend Jaden and protect the basket.
The only advantage of this combination is that Durant may be more likely to make up Jaden at the three-point line than Nurkic while protecting the basket, but in fact, the most likely result of this forced balance is that he can't prevent anything.
It's just that I didn't prevent it during this period. The Suns' offense was simply outrageous. The Timberwolves used Towns to defend Nurkic, while the Suns' Big Three were all on the floor. With a high-quality cover wall with a four-shooter lineup, three ball-handling shooters, and no Gobert on the opposite side, when will it be better not to catch Towns at this time?
The Suns were in that hand-to-hand call, and Nurkic and O'Neal didn't know what to do. The whole team played grinding, and after thinking about it, let's make a strong hit:
In this lineup on Finch, all the advantages are played, and the weaknesses are not exposed at all.
At 3:10 in the third quarter, Edwards singled out Durant and hit his best step-back jumper. The score was rewritten to 70-63, and the Timberwolves led by seven points before Vogel took a timeout.
In three minutes, the Timberwolves outscored the Suns by 10 points.
In this league, a 10-0 game in three minutes is not a big deal. Seven points down away is nothing either. But at this time, it is time to enter the transition period, Eubanks and O'Neal on the Suns, and the Timberwolves take Gobert back, and you know what will happen without me saying.
In fact, after the mid-distance throw in the form of Huazi's declaration, the sun seemed to be taken away, cut off in one breath, and completely lost concentration and thinking in the back. Look at the two rounds:
The upper and lower lines are stunned as a woodcock's anti-blocking and dismantling;
Bill couldn't beat Gobert, didn't have much time to attack, returned Booker, and made a cover for Booker, and sent Gobert to Booker - Bill still trusts Booker, and if he thinks he can't beat, Booker must have a way. And Booker was not fooled, and returned the ball to find Bill.
In this series, Gobert's defensive ability has caused huge problems for the Suns' Big Three. Durant has lost his explosiveness, and Booker may still be in Sage Time, so it's no surprise that they can't hit this dislocation.
But that shouldn't be a reason for a team with a big three to stall in attack. Gobert switches to A, and A can stay at the three-point line to take Gobert away, and give the ball to B or C to start again. It's just that if you want to fight like this, you need to be targeted and clear, so as to avoid wasting too much time in the link of changing guards.
In fact, the Suns are habitually wasting offensive time, and the Big Three seem to be observing, thinking, and maybe just thinking about life, such as a round like this, when they really launch an offense, there is not much time left, and the Wolves are just a slight sign of putting pressure on the ball carrier, and they are going to dump the blame on the role players.
That's not going to work.
G3 take another look. If the Suns still haven't made any reasonable adjustments, this team will really be speechless.
Thinking about the fact that they changed a few back-and-forth first-round picks, the operation of the Suns was simply suffocating.