The godfather of basketball started from conquering the NBA

"It turned out to be the Thunder, I thought I would meet the Spurs."

"After all, they have the new MVP Derrick Rose. The old arms and legs of the old guys in the Spurs really can't stand up to these young people."

After winning the Lakers, the atmosphere in the Timberwolves team was still very relaxed. The game between the Thunder and the Spurs was after them, and they also watched the game seriously.

"Whether he is the new MVP or not, I will blow him up." Westbrook seemed a little dissatisfied with Rose's ability to win this season's mvp, and felt a little resentful in his heart.

He and Rose are rookies in the same year. The difference is that Rose is the No. [-] pick, and he is under the spotlight as soon as he enters the league. From the moment he stepped into the league, he never stopped questioning. Fortunately, he met Xu Xiao and perfected himself. The style of play, came to the Timberwolves, and followed the Timberwolves to gradually grow up to today.

"No, Russell, don't try to compete with Rose, the victory will prove everything." The assistant coach is still urging Russell not to go up.

"The most critical point for the Thunder is not Rose, but Harden."

Because today's Thunder does not have Durant and Westbrook, but has replaced Rose and Horford with non-overlapping positions, so Harden also entered the starting lineup logically.

Although this is Harden's third year, he has been given enough possessions to allow him to grow, so his growth rate is much faster than before.

It was originally trained according to Ginobili's model, carrying the bench and training the organization.

But now, in this lineup, Harden first has to share Rose's offensive pressure, and then organizes, because Rose, as a point guard, does not have outstanding organizational skills, so a lot of the Thunder's possessions are with Harden.

In the past three years, Harden's data has also been much better than before. This season, he averaged 19 points and 7 assists per game. He is the absolute second in command of the Thunder.

"Harden's partnership with top guards has always been very effective, but later generations always look at Harden with colored glasses, thinking that he is a big core with the ball and must not be compatible with top guards, but in fact Harden has always been A guy with a high IQ who has been successful with Westbrook, Paul and Irving."

Moreover, the Thunder are not only strong on the outside, but their interior is also not weak. The combination of Horford and Millsap, you must know that the two men were at their peak, but the core interior of the 60-win Eagles is nothing more than young. It's not at the peak yet.

But that's it, the old Duncan was still eliminated. After the Thunder and the Spurs this round of the series, there were a lot of comments saying that Duncan was old.

Especially this season, both the Lakers and the Spurs have been eliminated. The era of Duncan and Garnett has passed, and a new era is coming.

On May 5, the much-anticipated Western Conference Finals officially opened at the Changhong International Arena in Minnesota. The two teams were the Timberwolves and the Thunder.

Especially before the Thunder's Rose grabbed the mvp of the season from LeBron James with the data of 25.1 points and 6.7 assists in the regular season.

The Timberwolves guard Russell Westbrook is a guard with the same style as Rose. This game is highly anticipated.

"No. [-] point guard? Let's talk about getting an mvp first, don't touch porcelain."

"There will be mvp in the future, but I'm curious, if you lose this round of the series, won't your mvp be hot to hold?"

"Ross got the MVP for real. As for you, how dare you loan the MVP and win this round of the series at the same time, you big sharks."

"Westbrook was playing in the Western Conference finals last year. If James Johnson hadn't lost his mind, we would have entered the finals last year. But you guys, do you know where to enter the Western Conference finals for the first time?"

"Hehe, I don't need to say more about why he fell behind so much in the last game of the Western Conference finals last year. It wasn't that Westbrook got sick in the first half, and he wouldn't blame a role player in the end."

"Just shut up, forget about how to kill you in the regular season."

"I suggest giving you an award as well, it's called the Blast MVP Award."

"You guys are arguing. The number one point guard in the league now must be the "God of Point Guard" Paul. The two are still far behind. If any one of these two is replaced by Paul, there is no suspense in this round of the series. Why don't you want to let Paul go to the Lakers? Isn't that because you are afraid of Paul's strength."

There were two groups of people who had been arguing before the game, but they miraculously reconciled after Paul appeared, and the guns began to be unanimous.

"Excuse me, where is the "God of Point Guard" you mentioned playing now? I'll go and see."

"We are discussing the guards in the Western Conference Finals. The guards who have not been in the Western Conference Finals in their careers will automatically withdraw."

Before the game even started, the fans were already arguing.

But there is indeed harmony in the arena.

Before the game, Ross took the initiative to find Xu Xiao, and had a friendly chat with Xu Xiao. Ross himself didn't know why, but he just had an inexplicable intimacy with Xu Xiao.

But Xu Xiao himself is very clear. He gave Rose a health card at the beginning of this year's playoffs. He knows that this year's playoffs will be the beginning of his downfall for Rose.

Rose was Xu Xiao's favorite star in his previous life, especially in the game where Rose scored 50 points. That was the first time Xu Xiao was moved by an NBA player.

So in this life, when Rose may be about to suffer a serious injury, he decisively gave him a health card. At least 15 years ago, Rose was absolutely healthy.

Later, Xu Xiao also gave him some suggestions in the conversation with Ross, telling him to protect himself, try to change some styles of play, practice shooting, and especially emphasized to him, that is, remember that you must Hanging frame, this is very important.

Rose is well-known in the league for dunking and doesn't like hanging on the frame, which leads to his knees without any cushioning. If this happens for a long time, this is an iron knee, and he will have to play it bad.

Xu Xiao knew that Rose really changed a lot later on, and he really improved his shooting. Although it was after Rose experienced ups and downs, and now Rose is still at the peak, I don't know if he will listen to Xu Xiao's words.

And Harden himself is also a person with a good personality. After exchanging greetings with his friend Westbrook, he saw Rose come up to say hello, so he also came up to chat with Xu Xiao.

"Believe me, as long as you are not obsessed with Kardashian, you will be the league's number one guard in the future, and your upper limit is even higher than his." Xu Xiao pointed to Rose quietly with his hand.

But Xu Xiao's words made Harden dumbfounded. Isn't Kardashian Odom's girlfriend? What does it have to do with him? Harden walked away with a confused face, and Xu Xiao could only help here.

After that, Harden went to look for Westbrook again. I have to say that the relationship between the two is really good. Both of them are from Los Angeles, and they met in the training camp. According to the normal script, the two should go together Thunder, Westbrook voluntarily gave up the "Ross Clause" in order to keep Harden, but unfortunately things backfired in the end.

But joking off the court is just joking, but on the court, both sides are still very serious.

As soon as the match started, the Thunder Guns fired at full force.

Rose faced Westbrook's two most violent point guards directly. Rose's signature non-slowdown disguised, although he couldn't completely shake Westbrook, it gave Rose room to attack.

After Westbrook got the Billups bonus, he had a perfect grasp of the defensive position, and he was not thrown away by Rose, but Rose didn't stop at all, and directly pulled the bar to the limit in the air.

"Beautiful tie rod." Even the Timberwolves' home commentator couldn't help admiring the ball.Rose's layup opened the scoring for the Thunder.

And Westbrook is definitely not the one who swallows his anger.

Immediately responded, accelerated in a straight line, and took off directly. The Overlord bowed hard against Rose and Millsap who defended and scored the ball.

"Answerball"

Westbrook responded to Rose with actions.

This game is not only the competition between Westbrook and Rose, but also the inside competition.

The competition between Oden and Horford began in the NCAA. In the NCAA Finals that year, Oden played against Horford and Noah's inside twin towers. That game directly created a basketball game ratings record.

It is higher than the NBA finals or all-name games over the years.

That game has always been a regret for Oden. Now facing Horford, what to say, just do it. This time, Noah will fight for him. With Horford's body, there is really nothing he can do about Oden. .

Previously, Noah was on the defensive end against Oden, and Horford was in charge of flanking. On the offensive end, Horford used his dexterous mid-range to continuously attack and score. Under such circumstances, Oden still scored 25 points, almost blowing up Horford and Noah with one hand, which is why so many people who boasted about Oden in the previous life did have this capital.

But now it's not what it used to be. Oden already has a reliable helper around him, and he is fully healthy. Now it's time to face Horford one-on-one.

As soon as Oden took the ball, he pushed it in directly, and put the ball in directly through Horford.

Don't look at Horford's defense against Embiid in his previous life has always been good, but Embiid is also more technical, unlike Oden who has such strong lower body strength, healthy Oden's overall strength is even stronger than Bynum, Horford Can't stand it at all.

Faced with such a powerful and impactful inside line, Horford can only sigh. You must know that Warcraft Howard has the highest efficiency and the peak playoff performance against Horford's Eagles.

What's more, there is Oden, who is more powerful and impactful, and has exquisite skills. Looking at Yao Ming sitting on the bench, Horford wants to die.

Oden also successfully grabbed the show, not only dominating the inside on the offensive end, but also a giant on the defensive end.

Rose's breakthrough layup was directly blocked by Oden, Westbrook launched a counterattack, and Josh followed up with a dunk.

Millsap followed Rose's pick-and-roll and went down the roll. After catching the ball, he faced Oden, who was almost two ends taller than him. His mind was also buzzing and confused, and he was blown away by the referee.

When Oden came back, he caught the ball in the low post again and hit it hard. Horford had already taken two steps away, and when he turned around, he dunked.

At this time, the Thunder is already in a bit of a mess. After all, it is the first time to play in the Western Conference Finals. The team is relatively young and has little experience.

The Timberwolves are not the old guys of the Spurs, and it is difficult for the Thunder to overwhelm the Timberwolves with speed like the Spurs.

Fortunately, Harden led the second team to chase points in the second quarter, otherwise the halftime might have been spent.

But let the Timberwolves seize the lead, and the opponent will suffer, especially if it is a young team like the Thunder.

At the beginning, they were able to pass the Spurs' level entirely by relying on the performance of the two guns, but now, the Timberwolves' defensive resources are obviously superior to the Spurs'. Whether it is speed or defensive position, it is difficult for the Thunder's two guns to play.

Harden is okay. After all, he still has one-handed shooting and touches, but Rose is really uncomfortable. Now he suffers from unstable shooting. The Timberwolves' inside line is simply a flying iron wall.

Ibaka, Josh, and Oden have Yao Ming, Gibson and Jimmy Butler on the bench. This frame protector allows Rose to use difficult layups to complete the offense, but this kind of layup itself is very difficult. Naturally, it cannot be high.

Although every goal can meet the requirements of the fans and win applause and cheers, but today, Xu Xiao taught Rose a lesson.

Applause cannot win victory, but the winner must win applause.

In the whole game, Rose made 19 of 7 shots, 9 of 7 free throws, and scored 23 points inefficiently. If it weren't for Harden's 16 of 9 shots, 8 of 8 free throws, 29 points and 7 assists, the Thunder's first game will be washed with blood.

And Westbrook did not fight against Rose in the game. Except for the response ball at the beginning, Westbrook has been controlling the game according to the team's rhythm. He scored 10 of 7 in the game and scored 15 points and 10 assists. The insiders killed the Quartet, scored 26 points, 19 rebounds and 5 blocks, allowing the Timberwolves to easily win the first game 111 to 100.