The second battle of Wolf Brave: Awakening Randall, the sleeping young wolf king?

Warriors 93-117 Timberwolves

Facing the Warriors, who were about to miss at least three games, the Timberwolves' second game obviously changed the lesson of being targeted by the opponent in the last game. At the beginning of the game, the focus was obviously different from the previous game, making it difficult for the Warriors, who had greatly reduced offensive ability, to gain an advantage, and eventually lost by a large score, and will return to the home court of the Bay Area in the next game.

Although he won, Randle's recovery in this game and Edwards' continued downturn also sounded a red flag for the Timberwolves' subsequent games and laid a dark line for the subsequent series.

"When Randall showed this performance, we could succeed on the field and create many excellent and high-quality mobile phone opportunities."

-Chris Finch

Compared with the second-tier assisted defense of Butler and Green in the last game, Cole tried his best to use Post in this game, which gave Randall more opportunities to misplace singles. The former, in the premise of not being a mobile inside line, hid the situation of the Warriors' missed defense in the last game. At the beginning of the game, Randall played very aggressively.

However, while his offensive condition was excellent, Randall was a little addicted to personal singles, completely ignoring the multiple passes and cuts that coach Finch kept emphasizing in the pre-match interview and the requirement of pushing the game quickly. He kept taking the victory or defeat of a round on his shoulders alone, and the slow return to defense after defeating the singles was found by the Warriors. In the middle of the third quarter of the game, the Warriors set off a frenzy of chasing points, mainly because Randall returned to defense too slowly and the inadequate communication between the defense exchange and Gobert. Randle was then replaced by Finch, but he didn't seem to think it was his own problem. Instead, he had a fierce exchange with the coaching team on the bench.

Finci chose to replace Reed, but he still failed to solve the turnover problem. Instead, the team's offensive space was repeatedly hit by Edwards' sluggish jump shot, and was blocked by the opponent's defense. The helpless Finch could only choose to believe Randall, the second breakthrough point in the team, and when he returned to the court, he immediately responded.

Whether it is the first long pass after the successful defense or the external attracting assisted defense and passing the open shot, it is even rare to see him play the role of assisted defense in the second line in the subsequent round, directly cutting off the Warriors' breakthrough space for the long drive in the middle. After Randall changed to a team-type play, many Timberwolves' shooters began to find the shooting feel, and kept maintaining patience to get the opportunity to pass and cut from the outside, seizing many open positions on the outside.

In an interview at the beginning of the season, head coach Fincher told reporters that for Randle, he is the most comprehensive person who can play nearly triple-double data, and is the best role that allows the Timberwolves to go further.

From this game, this is indeed the case. Compared with the singles reckless Randall, who has used 33.3% in the first half and scored 16 points and 4 assists for a long time, the all-around forward with 8 points and 7 assists with a usage rate of 22.9% in the second half is the role that the Timberwolves need most.

Compared to Randle, Edwards, who had hit the Warriors' penalty area in this game but frequently failed, obviously has not yet emerged from the slump of the previous game.

Referring to the Timberwolves facing the Lakers in the first round, when the opponent rarely switched defense strategies, Edwards and Gobert were able to make jump shots on the periphery just before the double-teamed. However, when facing the Warriors, Kerr strongly advocated switching. The team also had Butler, Kumingga, and Payton Jr. waiting for the extremely aggressive defensive sharp knife in the periphery, Edwards' jump shot was difficult to find a comfortable shooting rhythm and shooting space, resulting in a large number of breakthroughs being completed directly against Green's frame protection. Edwards's situation in these two games was also quite bad, and even if it caused a foul, it was not difficult to complete a simple 2+1.

The offensive end was restricted many times, which affected Edwards' unactive defensive end. His characteristic of going off the line in the face of screening habits was also used by Cole as an opportunity to create a shooter's open position.

Considering that the Timberwolves players and Gobert are not suitable for the offense of the Warriors' switchover, and the Warriors players' ability to cover the screen is generally excellent, the Timberwolves currently mainly use a small ball lineup outside the five-for-one ball to liberate Edwards' breakthrough ability.

And Edwards, who has proven that he has the ability to judge his opponent's defense, can regain the finishing touch as soon as possible with the support of his teammates on the outside, which will be the key to whether the Timberwolves can grasp Curry's absence in the game and quickly establish the advantage of the series.

Highlights of the subsequent series

Kumingga frequently relies on empty cuts and ball-holding attacks in this game, and he will likely get more playing time in the next game. In this case, assisting defense in the penalty area will become a problem that the Timberwolves must face.

Personal perspective, when using a five-small lineup, McDaniels may be able to defend Green, so that this large wing can assist in protecting the frame by timely throwing the opponent. There have been several rounds in this game where you successfully defended in this way, which is a model that you can focus on in subsequent games.

Of course, these are all secondary, and the main point is that Edwards can wake up as soon as possible.