The King of the NBA

"Snapped!"

The referee threw the ball into the air, and Pekovic and Ibaka jumped at the same time. In the end, Pekovic touched the ball first and sent the ball to the backcourt. Rubio took the ball and started to advance.

Today the Timberwolves will start with Pekovic, Love, Brewer, Martin, Rubio; the Thunder will start with Perkins, Ibaka, Durant, Sefolosha, Wes Brooke.

Rubio advances upcourt and puts the ball in Love's hands.

Afterwards, the Timberwolves began to run, interspersed back and forth from the outside, crossed positions, and pulled people away. Then Love singled Ibaka, and took two steps back to make a turnaround jumper.

Swish!

The goal was scored, and the Timberwolves made the first move.

But turning around, the Thunder immediately returned one. Westbrook faced Rubio's defense with continuous cross-steps, and then accelerated suddenly.

From the very beginning of this game, both sides attacked very resolutely. The Timberwolves' Love frequently killed opponents in the low post, and Martin and Brewer also scored from the outside.

On the side of the Thunder, they rely on Westbrook and Durant. Both of them feel good today. Westbrook played very aggressively and actively. With his skills and physical fitness, Rubio can defend him very well. It is difficult to restrain Westbrook, even with teammates to help defend.

There is also Durant, who played a few minutes in the first quarter. He didn't take many shots, but he had a high rate of hits. He made 3 of 4 shots, including a three-pointer, and scored 7 points in a few minutes.

"ball."

Durant wanted the ball, lowered his center of gravity, put the ball under his feet, shook his shoulders twice, and then suddenly started, an accelerated breakthrough from the right, Brewer moved quickly to keep up with his footsteps.

But at this moment, Durant suddenly took a step back, jumped on one foot, and leaned back slightly. In addition to his height and long arms, Brewer had no choice but to watch.

The next moment, Durant flicked his wrist.

Swish!

The goal is another two points.

At this time, six and a half minutes into the first quarter, the Thunder led the Timberwolves by 4 points at 17:13.

The point difference is not big, but in terms of momentum, the Timberwolves feel a little under the pressure of the Thunder. They can score, but it is not easy, and there is no way to overtake the score.

"Request a timeout."

Adelman called a timeout, replaced Pekovic with Dieng, and then spread out the tactical board: "We must strengthen our defense and not allow the opponent to score easily, especially Westbrook and Durant. One point, let me keep an eye on them, and once they play singles with the ball, double-team me."

"In addition, we must play more aggressively on the offensive end, and let the opponent see our determination." After Adelman finished speaking, he put away the tactical board, "Let's go."

Not far away, the Thunder also made a substitution, replacing Sefolosha and replacing Reggie Jackson.

After this substitution, the Timberwolves strengthened their defense, especially against Westbrook and Durant. Currently, most of the Thunder's points come from them.

In this way, there are some restrictions on Durant and Westbrook, but the defensive end has improved, but the Timberwolves have encountered trouble on the offensive end. The Thunder have also strengthened their defense, especially the interior defense. Push Love to the outside line, but at this moment Love does not feel good on the outside line.

As for Dion, his role is mainly reflected in defense, and offense is not his specialty.

There was Martin on the outside, but Martin was also targeted by the opponent's defense. As soon as he saw that he was about to play singles, the Thunder immediately helped defend and double-teamed, forcing him to pass the ball.

"The defense is strong, but the offensive firepower is weak." Adelman frowned. It is not an option to go on like this. It is difficult to have both defense and offense, and a trade-off must be made.

"Ning." Adelman shouted, "Get ready."

Originally, Adelman intended to let Ning Yi play during the suspension just now, but at that time, it was necessary to strengthen the defense, and it was obviously not a good way to let Ning Yi replace Brewer, so he gave up.

But now it seems that blindly strengthening the defense will not work.

"Yes." Ning Yi stood up, his eyes glowing, he knew exactly what he should do, and he would definitely not make much progress on the defensive end. After all, the opponent was Durant, and what he had to do was to score.

At this time, Rubio fouled.

"Go." Adelman asked for a substitution, replacing Brewer with Ning Yi.

It was still the Thunder's possession of the ball, and the sideline ball was given to Westbrook. Westbrook glanced at the situation on the field, flicked his wrist, passed it to Durant, and then motioned for everyone to pull away.

"This is to let Durant single out Ning Yi."

"If I change it, I will do the same. Durant will definitely have an advantage against Ning Yi."

In the auditorium, Thunder fans chuckled.

On the court, the Thunder players pulled away. Durant singled Ning Yi, lowered his center of gravity, crossed continuously, and then sank his left shoulder, called a kick on the floor, and broke through to the left.

"Left." Ning Yi retreated immediately.

But at the next moment, Durant suddenly changed direction again. The ball changed from left hand to right hand. past.

Behind, Dion kept staring at Durant, saw him passing Ning Yi, and rushed over immediately, but he still couldn't stop Durant after all. Durant took advantage of the trend and took three big steps instead of going straight to the basket Instead, he paused in the air, and a horseback archer came, who easily avoided Dion's defense and scored the ball.

Dion looked at Ning Yi.

"It's okay." Ning Yi shook his head, calm in his heart. His role is not reflected in defense. It is not terrible to be passed by Durant, as long as he also scores a goal.

The Timberwolves fought back.

After Rubio arrived in the frontcourt, he made a pick-and-roll with Dion, and then passed the ball back to Dion. Dion took the ball and was about to return it to Martin, but Ning Yi ran back and rushed over here.

Dieng moved in his heart, turned slightly sideways, made a cover for Ning Yi, and then passed the ball to Ning Yi hand-in-hand.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Ning Yi threw away Durant. After taking the ball, he didn't shoot directly, but took advantage of the trend to make a breakthrough and took three big steps.

"Hmph." Ibaka snorted coldly and rushed forward.

However, Ning Yi didn't really hit the basket, but took three slow steps. The steps were not big. After two steps, he lifted the ball and flicked his wrist.

"Hey!"

People were surprised that Ning Yi's action was exactly the same as that of Durant just now. They were both horseback riding and archery after three big steps. Is this intentional?

Ibaka was also taken aback. He raised his arms in the air, but failed to touch the basketball. He only heard a soft "swish" sound from behind. He knew that the ball had scored!