Beijing time on April 21st, the first round of the NBA playoffs officially started. Timberwolves faced Suns at home. As the two teams met three times in the regular season, the Suns swept the Timberwolves 3-0, and in the last game of the regular season, It was the Suns that defeated the Timberwolves to move up to sixth place, and at the same time pulled the Timberwolves to third place. Therefore, the outside world is generally optimistic that the Suns, with their three super offensive giants, will defeat them. This season, the Timberwolves' defensive efficiency ranks first in the league, and the two teams are the strongest. The battle with the shield is full of spectacle.
The Suns started away from home and continued their good form against the Timberwolves in the regular season. The Timberwolves relied on defense and rebounds to hold on to the score. At the end of the first quarter, the Suns led 28-27 by one point.
html In the second quarter, as the intensity of physical confrontation increased, the Suns' touch dropped rapidly. Coupled with constant mistakes and lost rebounds, the Timberwolves took control of the situation. At the end of the half, the Timberwolves led 61-51 by 10 points.Change sides and fight again. Durant once joined hands with Bill to chase the point difference to 4 points. Then the team misfired. The Timberwolves opened the point difference to more than 20 points in one breath. The game lost suspense early. In the end, the Timberwolves won 120-95. The Suns got off to a good start in the series, leading 1-0.
1. The defense and rebounding were overwhelming
The Timberwolves used the intensity of this game to tell everyone that the playoffs have begun, and the playoffs are completely different from the regular season.
Facing the Suns, which swept them in the regular season, the Timberwolves displayed terrifying defensive suppression and confrontation intensity. At the same time, they outscored the Suns in rebounding. The Timberwolves led the Suns in rebounds 52-28.
The Timberwolves grabbed 13 offensive rebounds, while the Suns only had 3. This means that in terms of offensive rebounds alone, the Timberwolves attacked 10 more rounds than the Suns.
2. The stars are not inferior either.
The young Edwards proved himself. He made 14 of 24 shots from the field and scored a game-high 33 points. He also added 9 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals, with a plus-minus value of +19.
Facing Durant's counterattack in the third quarter, Edwards directly attacked Durant. After hitting a three-pointer, he directly spat trash talk at Durant, who smiled slightly.
It is worth mentioning that Durant is Edwards’ idol, so reporters interviewed the two after the game about this scene.
Edwards said: "KD is my favorite player of all time, he is my idol, this feeling is great!"
Then Edwards praised KD and said: "We were 15 points ahead, or 18 points. , and then kd scored 4 or 5 goals in a row, and it was like nothing happened to him. At that moment I became his fan, and I was thinking, my God, he is so strong, he is the best ever. A strong player, he is a goat."
3. Durant is alone.
Durant was not dissatisfied with losing and being trash-talked after the game, but said: "This is all about basketball, which makes him excited to play. "
Durant made 11 of 17 shots and 2 of 2 three-pointers. He scored a team-high 31 points, plus 7 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal and 1 block.
With this performance, Durant has scored 30+ points for the 76th time in the playoffs, surpassing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (75 times) for fourth place in history.
Unfortunately, the teammates around him performed poorly, especially Booker, the core of the team, who was completely lost in the game. He only made 5 of 16 shots and scored 18 points, 2 rebounds, 5 assists and 1 steal.
In addition, Gordon on the bench was also terrible. He made 0 of 5 shots from the field, did not score, and only got 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal and 1 block.
Faced with the performance of the two, Vogel responded successively after the game, saying frankly that he was not worried about the status of the two.
When talking about Booker, Vogel said: "We need to find better shooting opportunities for him. He is one of the best scorers. We are not worried about him."
When talking about Gordon's 0 for 5, Vogel bluntly said that he is this type of player. He is 0-for-5 in this game and may be 5-for-5 in the next game.
4. The Big Three responded to the fiasco
Booker himself took the initiative to admit his mistake after the game, saying that he made the mistake too early. It was the time to find the rhythm and the team needed to adapt to such physical confrontation.
Bill's response was more direct. He admitted that the Timberwolves were very smooth in switching between zone defense and man-to-man marking, which caused the team to be confused for a while. Next, they must do better and be more focused.
Durant said: "This is a league where you win if you make a shot, and you lose if you don't. If you want to win, you have to make the ball."
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