From toppling the defending champions to falling behind 0-2 at home! Where did the Timberwolves lose? 5 big defeats are too eye-catching

Pot basketball

2024-05-25 15:36Posted in Liaoning Sports Creators

On May 25, Beijing time, the NBA West Finals continued, the Timberwolves, who were 0-1 behind, sat at home to face the Mavericks, and the two teams were entangled at the beginning, until the end of the first quarter The Timberwolves relied on the change of formation to open the score, and once stretched the difference to 18 points in the second quarter, as a result, the situation changed suddenly in the second half, and Irving took the lead in the final quarter, slashing 13 points in a single quarter to chase the difference to 2 points, and then Edwards made a fatal mistake, Doncic faced Gobert with a step-back three-point shot to kill the game, The Mavericks 109-108 Timberwolves, taking away the 2-0 score from the road.

From the defeat of the defending champion Nuggets in the previous round to the 0-2 deficit in the first two home games of the Western Conference finals, where did the Timberwolves lose? 5 big defeats are too eye-catching.

Reason 1: Coach on-the-spot deployment

In the seven-game series, the coach's ability to adjust is crucial, and judging from the first two games of the series, the Timberwolves Finch's on-the-spot adjustment was completely blown out by Mavericks coach Kidd.

Finch's ability to adjust from court to court was good, and in the first half, he directly pushed Li Kaier to the No. 1 position, which solved the team's shortcomings of difficulty in combining height and space, and also allowed the team to establish an 18-point lead in the second quarter.

As a result, when the Timberwolves were in full swing, Finch exposed one of the common problems of old-school coaches, pinching the table and replacing Lee Kyle with Gobert, the space of the Timberwolves was quickly compressed, and the silky offense immediately became sluggish, giving the Mavericks a chance to breathe and counterattack.

In the second half, Finch again exposed the lack of on-the-spot adjustment ability, with the in-form Reed playing only 31 minutes and Lee Kyle only 20 minutes.

At the decisive moment, compared to Kidd, who had to arrange different lineups in the offensive and defensive rounds, Finch actually left Gobert on the court and exposed it to Doncic, creating a chance for the latter to kill in disguise.

Reason 2: Edwards is locked up

Compared to the Brave in the previous round, Edwards' dominance in the West against the Mavericks dropped significantly, because unlike the top offensive team Nuggets, the Mavericks' defensive configuration and performance after the mid-season trade far exceeded expectations.

Doncic on the outside can keep up with Edwards on the outside, Jones Jr. and Washington also make Edwards unable to take advantage, plus there are Gafford and Lively on the inside, which directly locks Edwards.

Reason 3: The Timberwolves lack a reliable offensive system

According to the abilities of Towns and Edwards, as well as configurations like Reed, Maddan, Lee Kyle and Conley, the Timberwolves have unlimited offensive imagination, but the Timberwolves, as a defensive team, lack a reliable system on the offensive end.

On top of that, when Gobert is on the floor, the Timberwolves don't have room to attack, Edwards can't shoot inside at all, and he doesn't have a reliable mid-range finisher, so he can only force three-pointers, and he's not a high-volume three-pointer.

This series of predicaments first caused Edwards to stop the ball at the free throw line at a critical moment and did not try to shoot, but directly missed the pass, and then gave up shooting a three-point shot in the final moment, dumping Reed next to him, who missed a three-point shot, and the game ended.

Defeat Factor 4: Doncic and Irving are too inexplicable

As mentioned above, the Timberwolves are a defensive team, and it is impossible to solve the problem with the Mavericks, so they can only hope for defense.

As a result, the Timberwolves' defense in the first two games was completely dismantled by Irving and Doncic, and G2 Doncic hit another 30+ triple-double, and Irving scored 13 points in the final quarter.

It's not that the Timberwolves don't defend well, it's that Doncic and Irving's offensive methods are too comprehensive and decisive, and the Timberwolves, as a passive side of defense, can only resign themselves to fate.

Cause 5: The inside line was accidentally exploded

The Timberwolves have three centers inside, Towns, Gobert and Reed, and as a result, so far in the series, rebounds have been suppressed by the Mavericks, and this game is still the same, with the Mavericks grabbing 44 more rebounds than the Timberwolves 40.

Such a performance caused Gobert to be a huge injury to the Timberwolves every second he was on the court, because he was a complete side effect on the offensive end.

As a result, in the decisive stage, Finch still believed in Gobert and gave up using Towns, and the result can be imagined, Edwards, who was already seriously consumed on the defensive end, was very uncomfortable in the face of the bag on the offensive end, if it weren't for Reed's magical three-point shooting of 7 of 9, the Timberwolves would have collapsed in the second half.

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