Today, the Pacers and Mavericks have successively pulled the total score to 1-1, but the Suns, who have the "Big Three", have lost away again, with a score of 93-105 It seems that they only lost by 12 points, but in fact, when the difference reached 17 points, there was not enough time, and there was still garbage time in the last 2 minutes and 17 seconds.
There were two consecutive garbage hours in the playoffs, which may have been completely unanticipated by the Suns.
With a 25-point loss in the first game and an 18-point run in the third quarter, the Suns made some adjustments in Game 2 that seemed to be paying off. But why is it still up to 19 points behind, and it is difficult to avoid garbage time?
Because there was one key link that they didn't address, and that was Gobert. Based on the results of three big wins in the regular season, and the usual way people deal with the Timberwolves (formerly the Utah Jazz), using a guard with strong ball-handling ability and sharp attack to "name" Gobert works very well. However, those two games Gobert left the Big Three — especially the two guards, Booker and Beal — suffering enough and being blinded.
Didn't he just step back at the slightest name? Wasn't he left behind at the slightest sudden? How did Goebel change?
Yes, Gobert has changed, at least for these two games. Gobert is not afraid that you will surprise him, so he stands firmly in front of Booker or Beal, so close to you. As a result, Booker and Beal suddenly did not dare to shoot, and after four quarters of the game, the two of them combined for 12 of 30 and scored 34 points, compared to the first game of 26 and 11 of 26 scored 33 points, nothing has changed, and it was not enough for Booker to take it alone.
Not only that, but because Towns committed three fouls in the first quarter, he didn't play in the second quarter, which gave Gobert plenty of room to play, scoring 18 points, nine rebounds, and three steals.
Once faced by the Suns' shrinking defense and not having the opportunity to dunk directly, Gobert often distributed the ball to his teammates, and although he only had two assists, those indirect assists made 3D Mike Daniels and allowed him to score a career-high 25 playoff points.
It was an atypical Timberwolves win, and it was a completely different win than the first one. As Edwards matured, his attacks and scoring became more and more fundamental to the team. However, G2 Edwards suffered a tight block, scoring only 15 points on 3-of-12 shooting, however, the Timberwolves still won by a big margin.
In response to the chaos of the first game, the Suns G2 made adjustments in three aspects, and the results were obvious:
First, limit Edwards' breakthrough to avoid being blown up by him alone. As long as Edwards breaks through with the ball outside the three-point line, the Suns will have two people come up to block, once he successfully breaks through the first line of defense, another person will come up behind him to form a three-person encirclement, so his 15 points are more than half less than the 33 points in the first game;
Second, try to grab rebounds to make up for the disadvantage of being far from equal in height to the Timberwolves. The rebounds in this game were 41-39, which also surpassed the opponent, including 11-10 rebounds in the frontcourt, while the rebounds of the G1 Suns were 28-52;
Third, defend the three-second zone with a lot of combo defense and restore Eubanks' playing time to normal during the rotation phase. Eubanks played 17 minutes and scored 8 points and had a team-high plus/minus of +9. For the efforts to defend the three-second zone, they scored 40-48 in the three-second zone, which was much more effective than G1's 34-52.
The main reason is Gobert's change: whether Booker and Beal hit him by name, or Towns made three or four fouls, Gobert was unflustered and calmly, as if he was prepared for the Suns.
Obviously, the Suns were not prepared for such a Gobert, because the last game of the regular season pulled the Timberwolves to third, and Gobert was still the original Gobert at that time.
Why does Gobert seem to be a different person, is it that the regular season was all pretended before? Just before the start of this game, ESPN reporter McMahon revealed a brand new story -
It turned out that although Gobert got a big contract from the Jazz, his experience in the NBA playoffs can be said to be very unsuccessful, and after being abandoned by the Jazz, his first year with Towns was also very unsmooth. In addition, there are many people in the NBA who look down on him and always make fun of him. To that end, he went to ask Elon Rodgers, an NFL football star and quarterback with the Green Bay Packers for 18 years, at the end of last season, to show him a clear path.
Rogers introduced him to a method of locking himself up in a small dark room for three days and figuring everything out. It turned out that there was such a psychotherapy service in the United States, and Goebel spent money to rent it for three days and stayed in it for 64 hours straight.
This little dark room has nothing but a bed, a sink and a toilet. The walls were painted black, and when the lights were turned off, I couldn't see my fingers. After being locked in the small black room, first turn on the light to let you see where the bed is, where the sink is, where the toilet is, and understand the approximate location, the light will be turned off, he can only go to bed in the dark, wash his face and brush his teeth in the dark, and defecate in the dark; three meals a day, open a hole in the door, and hand it in.
For three days, Goebel did nothing, except for some push-ups and stretching, and spent most of the time either sleeping or meditating. There is no TV, no mobile phone, no books, and even no light in the small dark room.
has been playing in the NBA for 10 years, so many good things, bad things and embarrassing things in his career, a rush of brains came to his mind, Gobert was in the small dark room for 64 hours, except for sleeping, just thinking about these things, good things, bad things, embarrassing things have been in his head.
What should be understood is understood, and what should not be understood, knowing does not need to be understood. The purpose of such a special spiritual journey is to allow a person to search the inner world, to gain peace, and to remain unmoved when encountering external disturbances.
When the lights came on and out of the little dark room, a brand new Goebel appeared. But apart from his teammates, no one knows about his changes.
Now, after two playoff games, the Suns' Big Three also know that this Gobert is not the previous Gobert, he is not easy to deal with, and he is not afraid of you.
It's Booker and Beal's turn to think, in the face of such Gobert, what choice will they make in Game 3?
Durant watched coldly from the side. Although the ball played for 41 minutes, he only made 15 shots. Durant knows that if Booker and Beal don't change, it won't be useful for him to score more points.
The fate of the Sun's triumvirate, G3 has reached the moment of life and death.