Accept the sweep! Two major advantages turn into disadvantages, Timberwolves: You just take the bonus after all!

The Timberwolves and the Thunder's G2 came to an end, and the same plot of G1 was staged again. At the end of the first half of this game, the Timberwolves were only 8 points behind when they scored 9 points less than the Thunder. Such a score difference is nothing in today's small ball era, and it was even recovered within half a minute. In the second half, the Timberwolves frequently hit the inside and received free throws. As I said, the score difference was quickly narrowed to 4 points, and there was still a game to play. However, in the second half of the quarter, the Timberwolves collapsed offense and were scored 25-6 by the Thunder. At the end of the third quarter, the Thunder had already led by 24 points. The Thunder is not a team like the Knicks, the Celtics, and the Cavaliers. They have balanced offense and defense, and have also experienced the tiebreak test of the league's number one Jokic. It is impossible for you to complete a 20+ score turnaround in one quarter! Looking back at the whole game, the game progress is very similar to G1. In the first half, the Timberwolves were able to play back and forth with their good three-point performance and defense, and even gained a certain advantage! However, when the Thunder increased their offensive and defensive strength in the third quarter, the Timberwolves could not match up with the final collapse!

According to statistics, the G1 Timberwolves made 15 of 51 three-pointers, with a three-point shooting percentage of only 29.4%. The key third quarter three-pointers were 33-pointers, and the Thunder scored 32-18 in a single quarter, from 4 points in the halftime to 10 points behind the end of the third quarter; at the G2 Timberwolves made 11 of 39 three-pointers, with a three-point shooting percentage as low as 28.2%. He made 0 of 6 three-pointers in the third quarter, and was scored 35-21 by the Thunder in a single quarter, from 8 points behind in half to 24 points behind. We all know that the Timberwolves are a team that relies on three-pointers. Once this team cannot open the three-pointer, they will easily fall into a dilemma and lose two games in a row because they do not shoot the three-pointer to the level they should have. Except for Randall, the entire G1 team has no star goal outside the three-point line. Although McDaniels, Divinchenzo and Walker made 9 three-pointers in G2, Randall, Edwards and Reed made a total of 17 shots outside the three-point line in the three-point line. On the other hand, although the Thunder's three-point shooting rate is not high, with 9 of 33 shots in the whole game, in their 7-player core rotation lineup, except for Harten, all the other six players have three-pointers, and the offensive points distribution is more balanced!

2 major advantages turn into disadvantages!

Friends who are familiar with the Timberwolves should know very well that this team has two core lineups since the playoffs. The first set is Gobert with four outside shooters, and the second set is to replace Gobert with five outside lineups with Divinchenzo. When facing the Lakers and Warriors, even if the three-point shooting rate is not high, the Timberwolves can rely on their height advantage to play their rebounding advantage to control the game. In the first round, G2 can win 5 of 25 three-pointers against the Lakers because they suppressed the Lakers with their strong inside advantage. In the second round, facing the Warriors' lineup, the Timberwolves had the lowest three-point shooting percentage of 42% in three games! This is the main reason why they can easily advance in the first two rounds. However, when they came to the Western Finals, the Timberwolves' two lineups were completely ineffective in front of the Thunder! Gobert had no choice but to throw the free throw line against Harten, and could not prevent Alexander and Jaylenway from playing big. Facing the inside combination of Homgren + Harten, he could not play the advantage of rebounding, so the Timberwolves' large lineup was ruined!

Come to the small lineup, the Thunder has the same five small lineup. The worst thing is that Edwards can't find a good way to misalign himself against the Thunder's small lineup. Alexander and even Jaylenway can easily crush Divinchenzo with their physical talents. I can't remember how many times Divinchenzo was eaten by Alexander in the first two games. The competition between small lineups is 1v1 or unlimited defense replacement strength. No one can easily hit the opponent, otherwise it will cause the opponent to shoot three-pointers. Obviously, compared with the Thunder, the Timberwolves do not have the ability to replace and limit Alexander in 1v1. The big lineup has no advantage, and the small lineup is restrained. This is the fundamental reason why the Timberwolves were taken away by the Thunder in two consecutive games! The series has reached a 0-2 behind, and there is not much room for the Timberwolves to adjust. When they return to home, their only way out is to find a way to regain their three-point touch, and they need to explode, otherwise they will have to accept the fate of being swept. These two lineups were the Timberwolves' advantages in the first two rounds of the series, but now they have become disadvantages!

Timberwolves: After all, you just took the bonus!

The Timberwolves have the ability to shoot high-speed three-pointers, but it is harder to shoot 4 high-speed three-pointers in the remaining six games than the Pacers' turnaround of the Knicks yesterday. Looking back, the Timberwolves just took the bonus of the absence of the Lakers and Curry! In the first round of the Lakers, Gobert can play O'Neal's dominance at the peak. Everyone knows how weak the Lakers team is, and Redick G5 dares to give it to you for nothing without a center. In the second round, facing the Warriors without Curry, the Timberwolves had no reason to lose. If Curry was not absent, the Timberwolves might not be able to live with the Warriors. What the Warriors lacked was Curry's contribution per game of nearly 25 points. Without Curry, the Timberwolves themselves did not have Edwards. After G1 ended, many people were angry and thought that the Timberwolves had just suffered losses in the penalty, but you can see that G2, none of the Timberwolves' main players encountered foul trouble, and they were also ahead of the Thunder's free throws, but they still suffered a big defeat!

The same thing, the Timberwolves can play to the Western Conference Finals, which means they will play against the Lakers in the first round and encounter the Warriors who Curry is absent in the second round. The Timberwolves' upper limit is three-pointers. The number of games they can withstand depends on how many games they can shoot!