What's the secret to the Nuggets' two-game winning streak? The Timberwolves have a crisis and a chance

Little Little Chick MJ

2024-05-14 15:11Posted in Beijing Sports Creators

A brief talk about Timberwolves vs Nuggets G4.

The Nuggets have undergone a very big change in the perimeter pick-and-roll and the back-line rotation -

It can be seen that in addition to retaining the original first-line delay after encountering Edwards' ball-handling cover, the Nuggets have increased pressure on the ball carrier and long-arm interceptions on the ball carrier itself; The aim is to choke a direct pass from the front.

And that's not all—

The Nuggets have overhauled their rotation strategy. From the beginning of the first round until now, the Nuggets have been using a rotation on the near side after a pinch or delay aimed at the offensive strong point: we have said this many times, or clockwise or counterclockwise to replace the defensive position to fill the bottom corner pitcher on the far end.

But in this game, Malone changed the logic of the rotation of the back line, especially on the 2 to 2 on the flanks - giving up the original need to move 3 positions [to make up for the passing speed with running speed], but only scheduling one position -

Porter Jr., McDaniels' counterpoint, is "right but not guarded" to fill the gap under Gobert's basket; Plus a small number of Gordons (very rarely). As a result, the Nuggets' whole set of defensive logic of less local defense and more defense has shifted from the original strong side to the far end; It has become a strong side that only aligns the original counterpart, and only uses the form of empty non-space points at the bottom corner of the weak side to protect the basket.

As shown in this round above:

Edwards holds the ball and picks it up, Jokic makes a save, here because Edwards moves to the near side of McDaniels, Gordon goes to fill in the interior line, and dismantles the Timberwolves' first offense; Then he grabbed another block, Jokic pounced, and the starting area was in the center axis, giving Porter to fill in; Grabbing Gobert with a slight help to the basket gave Jokic time to slow back.

It's the same thing for this round, Edwards grabs the screen, Jokic spreads out, Porter empty McDaniels, and waits for Jokic - first protect the basket, and then give Edwards space to play alone.

This is another interesting point. The Nuggets played Edwards with the ball in this game, not a cover bag; And didn't flank with as many strong sides, especially with the flanks cleared.

The logic is the same as what we just said, especially when facing a heads-up on the flank on the clear side, if the defender wants to flank the attack, then it must be a strong side flank; It will be very difficult to do what McDaniels just said. (Unless the Nuggets have a predetermined position when they fall into position and insert a defender at the free-throw line in advance)

Therefore, if you want to flank in this situation, it is nothing more than the difference between the position from the bottom line or the top line. In the face of this kind of situation, the Nuggets adopt the method of not pinching, and only set up assistance defense and swiping cards on the breakthrough route to interfere as much as possible. The principle is still the same as above, protect the basket as much as possible.

Huazi is quite powerful, he broke every kind of counterpoint that the Nuggets arranged for him-

Pop defense: use physical fitness and explosive power to fight the body first, and then eat strongly;

The Nuggets later changed Gordon's alignment: then use the advantage of flexibility and speed, the Nuggets want to use the same superb physical fitness against Edwards, and Huazi uses skill.

Harms.

Let's go back to the deep impact of Malone's defensive strategy -

There are two main purposes:

As I said last time, the strength of the Timberwolves' offense lies in the fact that after encountering a strong side pinch shot, the shooter he placed on the near side (i.e., Conley) is accurate enough, and has the area where the second-hand pass is accurately delivered to the basket or the weak side; This can directly revitalize the wolf's position to attack.

At the same time, Downs caught a lot of misalignments in the first few games, especially when we said that under the infinite change of defense at the 1-4 position of Ma Long, Downs played Murray very well, so happy. However, after the defensive rotation caused by the lack of a near side pinch shot, the opponent is changed; The Timberwolves' conventional routine, Edwards and Towns on the two wings, Huazi blasted to change the defensive position, and Towns' advantage of grasping defensive misalignment no longer exists.

This is a very important point, and it is a piece of content that the Nuggets mainly want to cut on the offensive end.

Obviously, Malone understood a truth:

From Pope to Gordon to Braun, it is very difficult to defend Edwards alone, and there are no reasonable individual defense resources in the team; Changing the defensive strategy excessively will lead to a move on the whole body and detonate all other points. It's better to think of a way, how to control the Timberwolves' second scoring point, at least reduce the efficiency by two-

In this way, Downs, who averaged 20.3 points per game in the first three games and shot 63% from the field, plummeted to 5-of-18 and scored 13 points; Of course, he also has some problems with his own play, which we will talk about later.

This is very Popovich, the old Spurs' most classic method in the series back then, is "yes, I can't find the resources of high-quality opponent first scorer, then just pinch the second scorer and it's over."

This is the first purpose, and then the second purpose:

Many of Gobert's body movements are familiar, aren't they? - After blocking and dismantling, there is a chance to catch the ball, but the ball cannot be passed, and he shouts with his open hands; Jokic came back from the fill-in, there was no way, there was no first chance, he couldn't block the inside line, so he had to go out again to block and dismantle.

Yes, it sounds a lot like the Jazz series back then.

Gobert has a problem with this player, he can only handle pure catches on the offensive end; There are even certain requirements for the passing angle, and if it is too high or too low, there will be problems such as butter hands. And others such as small hooks, turns, and small throws are even more not; Even if you catch the ball early at the free throw line, you can dribble twice and you may see a whole picture.

The Nuggets' stronger delay is to amplify this-

Don't let Edwards' one-handed pass go straight to Gobert. Gobert's brief open spot from the three-point line to the free-throw line went straight to the Timberwolves; At this point, the ball was in Conley's hands and Potter was in place.

For the Timberwolves, they can actually play the ball to Gobert to catch this Gobert play Porter's misalignment; But I didn't dare, so I had to give up. In order to free up space, Gobert can only come out again to do a second cover. The equivalent of the Nuggets' idea is to give the mid-range position to Gobert alone; It's "jazz".

That's it, although Gobert's defensive performance in this game is still good; But the ugly scenes on the offensive end were still exposed.

In fact, for the Timberwolves, in the face of this situation, they should add some off-ball ends, especially McDaniels' air-cut runs; to interfere with some of Porter's judgment and increase the offensive threat in the mid-range area, rather than four people standing on the perimeter and Gobert alone on the inside.

Especially when McDaniels' space problems are constantly challenged.

Another very interesting point: the Nuggets actually only used strong delays on Edwards at the beginning, and Conley's pick-and-roll was a backlash; Malone wanted Jokic to pull back to directly protect the basket and interfere with Gobert's downturn. But after tasting the sweetness of Huazi, and Conley grabbing Shen and retreating by three points soon after the opening, they all followed the same strategy.

In this logic, if we look at Gordon's exchange of counterpoint, we will have a slightly different way of thinking:

As I said, Gordon's effect is not so good. For example, in the shot above, Huazi used speed to be stronger than Gordon, and it was too fast to cause Jokic's strong delay to not be in place; At this time, all the bottom baskets were removed, and Huazi could only directly attack the basket.

But after the exchange of counterpoints, there is such an interesting thing: Pope is countered to Conley, the No. 1 position in the regular lineup, and Walker, who plays the No. 1 position in the rotation lineup, so we start from the logical point above, Malone is still continuing to increase the pressure on other point pairs; In order to control 3-4 positions, let 1-2 positions explode.

Speaking of returning to the problem of Downs, his offensive and defensive problems are very big this time, mainly these three:

In the face of lower body strength, the physical fitness of the upper body is obviously stronger than his Gordon, Downs is playing hand-to-hand combat, and he is desperately backhitting and finally consuming his physical strength in vain. Get rid of it, that's the guy who went from defending Durant to James to Butler last year.

As I just said, the Nuggets' No. 1-4 position change is still there, but it has changed the rotation logic; As a result, Downs can actually catch the dominant counterpoint under non-Gordon. And in the face of these counterpoints, Downs played with a long-range shot that was not good in his hand.

It seems to be the opposite?

The poor form also appeared on the defensive end -

Downs made a number of mistakes in the second half when he was forced to delay Murray, and McDaniels, who was hanging on the screen, was in a very awkward position; Let Murray catch some good opportunities and develop a touch. That's a problem for Downs, and it's something I personally think he's able to regulate beyond tactics.

Just talking about McDaniels, let's talk about a potential adjustment that is controversial?

Should Finch swap his position with Huazi, and then put Huazi in front of Murray. At present, the effect of Huazi grabbing cover is stronger than that of Maidan; But could this be a potential trap set by Malone:

Judging from this game, Potter's offensive role has dropped significantly. Outside of the two turns, Malone is clearly increasing Gordon's heavy ball handling and shooting percentage; This is obviously a gamble, especially for Gordon, who threw the worst three-pointer in the past three years in the regular season this season, Malone is gambling by giving him a lot of rights to shoot from the weak side.

But Malone bet right, this time Gordon was 11 of 12, and 5 of 7 in the last game; Even G1 and G2, which lost, were 4 out of 6 and 8 out of 14 respectively; 8-of-12 three-pointers for the entire series.

Very bold; But in a way, this is something that the coach has to accept about the game. Just as Finch clearly encouraged McDaniels to make more decisive breakthroughs in the second half, because the Nuggets' defensive strategy gave him a lot of room to deal with it; The efficiency of the Maidan is okay, the output is not enough.

Similarly, there is the Mavericks' all-out and misplaced PJ Washington, who averaged 25.7 points per game in three games and shot 48.3% from the field, becoming the third big man.

Malone did more than that, increasing the proportion of Gordon holding the ball through the half; It freed up the possibility of Murray being frantically pressed and physically exhausted in the backcourt. This is also a response to G2's famous scene where Murray was bitten.

Speaking of returning to the potential reversal of Huazi and Maidan? The worst-case scenario is that Potter's low hand pins down the Maidan; And Huazi's defensive consumption countered the offense.

Let's talk about a very interesting and probably the most anticipated adjustment after Finch:

The Timberwolves once again had a crisis at the No. 1 bench position. With Conley plagued by foul plays, Walker, who played the No. 1 spot, and Lee Kyle, who often played as a playmaker during the regular season, played a mess.

Walker's 39 percent three-pointer in the regular season was basically a career-best performance; 5-of-19 three-pointers in the series. 6 assists and 7 turnovers;

Jokic was even misplaced to switch defenses against Walker, who was empty in the bottom corner for a while.

Lee Kyle played 6 minutes and had a plus/minus of -18; All 5 items of data are listed with 0.

Under this kind of coincidence, the three-tower configuration adopted by Finch in the middle of the second quarter has reaped miraculous results. On the premise of retaining Edwards' ball-side blasting defense and pulling the defensive line, Reed's size when he was placed in the No. 3 position, as well as his projection ability and breakthrough speed under that size, were greatly amplified; Instead, he rushed out of a space.

In the general direction of Malone shrinking the interior and protecting the basket, the author is very curious whether Finch will increase the time of the three towers to re-challenge the Nuggets' interior protection?

In this game, Finch didn't handle well when he was the first to connect the lineup in the second quarter - when Towns and Huazi were not there, Reed led led the team to play a small lineup and the Nuggets' Gordon 5 small games, and was beaten 2-12......

Make a small summary -

So far, the series has been a fierce battle under the influence of the core and X factors of both sides; What the coaches of both sides can do is to liberate their own core and how to limit the opponent's core. As for the X-factor, let's go for TMD......

In Gordon's 11-of-12 game, the space factor was attributed to the Timberwolves' defensive gains and losses, and if they want to control Jokic better, they will have to lose something. The Nuggets' response with such a strong response is a testament to their quality as the defending champions.

To say something magical, it may be that at the end of the third quarter, Malone's extreme garbage space lineup of Jokic + Gordon + Braun (logically) was supported by Jokic one by one heads-up and Gordon Bryant-style pull-back jumpers;

This kind of magic is a bit similar to G1 Gobert's long-range throw-and-hit goal that sealed the game.

These are all factors that are not expected by the coaches of both sides in terms of the established strategy.

What the two sides are striving for is still the state of the four cores; Those so-called strategic games of wits and courage also revolve around this. In the first two games, Murray's poor form left the Nuggets with no choice; In the last two games, Murray's legs looked noticeably more flexible.

In this game, Jokic moved left and right, testing back and forth, avoiding the assistant defense, and single-handedly holding the three towers one-on-one; Edwards has also shown his strength. But Downs pulled down with such a strategy and didn't play smartly, so it didn't help.

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