NBA's King of Talking

Chapter 756 Clippers vs. Timberwolves First Round Matchup (Part 2)

Hua Zi remains as confident as ever. After the play-in tournament, he boasted that he is completely different from last season, so the results of last season and this season are different. He will lead the Timberwolves to a Cinderella run!

Of course, this statement immediately sparked heated discussions online. The Timberwolves pulling off an upset? That's just wishful thinking!

On April 17th, at the Clippers' home arena, Intuit Dome, the Clippers will face the Timberwolves in Game 1 of the Western Conference First Round playoffs!

The Clippers' road to defending their title has officially begun!

The Clippers' playoff tickets sold out immediately upon release, demonstrating the current popularity of their home games.

This match was broadcast live on Tencent, with commentators Wang Zixing and guest Su Qun providing commentary.

"Mr. Su, the Clippers and Timberwolves are meeting for the second time in the first round of the playoffs. Compared to last season, the Timberwolves' roster has changed a lot. Do you think the Timberwolves can compete with the Clippers with their height advantage in the paint?" Wang Zixing asked.

Su Qun adjusted his glasses and said, "This is still difficult. Although the Timberwolves have a twin-tower lineup, their offensive spacing has deteriorated. Gobert's defense is very good, but his problem is that he has consistently struggled to defend pick-and-rolls. Meanwhile, the Clippers have excellent offensive spacing, which poses a significant challenge to their defense. The Timberwolves' wing defense is also a problem. Who will guard Jia Fei? What about Paul George?"

The starting lineups for both teams have been announced.

The Clippers' starting lineup, playing at home, consisted of Jia Fei, Bridges, George, Grant Williams, and Hartenstein.

This is the same lineup that helped them achieve a 79-3 record in the regular season. It combines defense and spacing, making it highly competitive.

The Timberwolves' starting lineup for the away game is Edwards, Conley, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Anthony Edwards, Towns, and Gobert.

The Timberwolves spent a lot of money to acquire Gobert in order to improve the team's defense, and another important reason is that Towns doesn't like physical contact in the paint.

In an era where many teams are now using a lineup of one big man and four small men or even five guards, the Timberwolves' retro twin-tower configuration is truly an outlier in the league. If this were the NBA a decade or two ago, this offensive and defensive frontcourt combination would have been popular. However, today, the twin-tower setup is no longer a fashionable NBA choice. Modern NBA favors "Moreyball," emphasizing speed, spacing, and three-point shooting on offense, and rotation and switching on defense. Twin-tower lineups are inherently less adept at transition offense, slower, and less adaptable to rotations—a significant drawback.

In half-court offense, twin towers certainly have a height advantage, but if the opponent plays a small lineup, your big men can't get out to cover, and even if they do, they can't get back down, making defense a problem. Offensively, Gobert isn't good at finishing easy baskets, and Towns' three-point shooting is exceptional among centers, but using him only as a spacing point is a waste. Letting him face the basket also risks him getting help defense, preventing him from fully utilizing his potential.

Towns often has a footwork advantage when playing against opposing centers, but this advantage disappears when playing against a power forward who is just over 2 meters tall. He also doesn't have the kind of super strong ability to punish mismatches, so many teams aren't actually afraid of him taking on their power forwards one-on-one.

The Timberwolves' offense still relies on Towns and Edwards. One is a soft stretch center, and the other is a shooting guard who is prone to getting carried away and getting into one-on-one situations. The pairing of these two is not a good match. Adding a baguette with an infinitely high floor but a low ceiling, a veteran guard, and an NPC forward, the ceiling is actually just that.

Gobert and Hartenstein are preparing for the jump ball near the center circle; the match is about to begin.

The jump ball began, and Gobert won the jump ball against Hartenstein, giving the Timberwolves possession of the ball for the first possession.

Conley dribbles the ball across half-court.

Conley is 37 years old, yet he can still be a starter on a playoff team, which speaks volumes about his exceptional skills. Expecting him to be the team's core player is unrealistic; he couldn't even do that in his prime. However, when he plays as a role player, his intelligence and technical prowess shine through.

The Clippers' defensive strategy was to have Bridges lead the defense, JaVale James guard Walker, Paul George guard Edwards, Grant Williams guard Towns, and Hartenstein guard Gobert.

Conley came over to set a screen for Gobert, drove past him, and passed to Gobert who was waiting in space...

Jia Fei suddenly darted out from the side and intercepted the ball!

Jia Fei intercepted the ball and launched a counterattack, passing the ball to Bridges who was making a quick run down the court!

Bridges was too fast; Conley, with his old arms and legs, couldn't keep up and could only watch helplessly as his opponent completed the dunk!

The Clippers' transition from defense to offense was over in just a few seconds! It was incredibly fast!

"Teacher Su, Jia Fei's judgment on that ball was really good! He guessed that Conley was going to combine with Gobert for an alley-oop!" Wang Zixing said excitedly.

Su Qun nodded: "The Clippers' purpose in assigning Jia Fei to defend Walker is to utilize his help defense ability. Walker can be left to his own devices, and the focus should be on defending the others!"

Conley dribbled the ball over and passed it to Edwards.

Edwards dribbled the ball against Paul George, and with Towns' screen, the Clippers immediately switched defense, and Grant Williams came up in front of him.

Edwards took on Grant Williams one-on-one, and the latter, undaunted by the challenge, immediately responded with physical attacks!

Edwards broke through, but suddenly Jia Fei attacked from both sides!

Edwards was somewhat taken aback, and by the time he tried to pass the ball again, it was already dead!

"Beep beep beep—" The referee's whistle blew—traveling!

Edwards held the ball, his hands outstretched, looking at the referee with utter disbelief, as if asking, "Is that a travel?"

"This is definitely walking, it's almost like the Eight Steps of the Heavenly Dragon!" Jia Fei couldn't help but laugh.

"You don't even dare to defend yourself against me, so you have no right to say that!" Hua Zi retorted angrily.

"You were completely fooled by my defenses last year, you never learn!" Jia Fei teased.

"I'm not the same person I was last year!" Hua Zi said indignantly, sounding particularly immature.

Jia Fei quite liked Hua Zi; the kid was simple-minded and seemed particularly shrewd.

Clippers offense: Paul George isolates Walker, but misses the jump ball!

Hartenstein committed a foul while grabbing an offensive rebound!

It has to be said that the twin towers' rebounding is really good. Gobert's offense may not be great, but his defense is excellent, and his defensive rebounding is extremely effective.

The game continued, and Conley brought the ball over and passed it to Towns.

Towns sat in the low post next to Grant Williams, but he just couldn't get up!

The two players are more than 10cm apart in height, but Towns has no advantage at all!

Towns didn't keep arguing; instead, he passed the ball!

What?

Hua Zi is more confident and aggressive than Towns. After receiving the ball, he pulled it between his legs and shot it directly over Paul George!

But the ball didn't go in!

Gobert grabbed the offensive rebound under the basket, but his dunk attempt missed!

What?

Jia Fei retrieved the rebound and brought the ball over; Hua Zi was guarding him!