In the first game of the Western Conference semifinals, the Timberwolves defeated the Nuggets 106-99 away, grabbed the home court advantage first, and gave the defending champion a head start. It is foreseeable that it will be very difficult for the Nuggets to pass smoothly in this series, and it can even be said that the Timberwolves have more hope of reaching the Western Conference Finals than the Nuggets, not only because Edwards is unstoppable now, but also because the overall configuration of the Timberwolves can restrain the Nuggets.
Edwards received enough praise in this game, played 42 minutes, got 43 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal and 2 blocks, breaking various records, after the game, many fans and media called Edwards the contemporary Jordan, only 22 years old, he has really completed a complete transformation this season, becoming the face of a new generation of American players, in terms of Edwards' performance in this year's playoffs, he deserves more praise. But as Towns and others have said, the success of this Timberwolves team is not just because of Edwards alone, or rather, the key reason why Edwards can have a burst is because he has a great group of teammates to back him up.
From the perspective of the whole game, Edwards' performance on the offensive end is amazing, but the Timberwolves' performance on the defensive end is even more amazing, it should be noted that under the strict defense of the Timberwolves, the Nuggets' championship duo, Jokic and Murray shot 17 of 39 in total, and the two only scored 49 points and 13 assists in total, of which Murray even had a clean sheet in the first half, Jokic was forced to shoot 9 three-pointers throughout the game, and he couldn't even get in the inside, and there were 7 turnovers.
You must know that these two broke through the Lakers' interior defense in the first round series, but in this game, they were uncomfortable defended, in fact, not only Jokic and Murray, but also Pope, Gordon, Porter, these players who are like fish in water when facing the Lakers, this game is uncomfortable against the Timberwolves' defense. The reason is very simple, the Lakers lineup is too short, and the size is completely suppressed by the Nuggets, but the Timberwolves, except for Conley, most of the players on the court are forward players, even Edwards is a heavy tank among the guards, and he does not lose the front line at all, and the Timberwolves' frontcourt is three high, which makes Jokic tired enough.
In this game, the Timberwolves took turns with Gobert, Downs and Reed went to consume Jokic, quite a bit of a three-England battle against Lu Bu, even if Jokic is brave, the whole game is consumed by three big men like this, and he is tired to gasp, and then think about the previous Lakers, they can only use thick eyebrows to fight, at most plus James and Hachimura, a defensive lineup composed of an inside line and two forwards, and the Timberwolves, a defensive lineup composed of two centers and a forward, is incomparable, which once again shows that if you want to beat the Nuggets, the best defense is to form a double-tower lineup with strong confrontation ability, to put it bluntly, the Lakers still lack a big meat shield when they have thick eyebrows。
In addition, the performance of the Timberwolves, or the Timberwolves and Nuggets in this year's playoffs, proves that the era of relying on the guard lineup has passed, and the NBA has returned to the era of size competition. Therefore, the Lakers' team-building ideas and playing style are outdated, what era is it, Ham is still playing a three-guard lineup there, and when he meets someone's all-forward combination, isn't he just waiting to be blown up? It's still strange that the Lakers don't fire Ham.
In fact, last offseason, the Lakers were targeting the Nuggets to build a forward lineup, but unfortunately the Lakers signed the forward line was either too brittle, Wood, Vanderbilt, Reddish was always injured, and the remaining Hachimura, Hayes and others were generally confrontational and not good at defense, resulting in as the season deepened, the Lakers could really rely on James, thick eyebrows and Hachimura in the frontcourt, and later, the Lakers management began to make mistakes again, looking for guards to strengthen, but they refused to sign a center, which led to the playoffs, the Lakers can only rely on the inside line of thick eyebrows, and even the problem combination of Zhan Mei partnering with three guards often occurs。 Therefore, after watching the battle between the Timberwolves and the Nuggets, the Lakers management should understand how to build a lineup in the offseason, no matter what, next season can no longer play a lineup like Zhan Mei partnering with three guards, and finding more forwards and interior lines is the best answer in this era.