The Minnesota obviously believed this, so they all came to the stadium in the opening game of the playoffs, hoping to witness the team win the game. You should know that since 2004, they have not tasted the playoffs for 12 years.

After a brief warm-up, the scene quickly entered the opening introduction stage. When the Timberwolves started, especially when Towns was introduced, there was an excited roar on the scene.

Like the regular season, the Timberwolves is the partner of Rubio and Laven on the outside, the No. 1 pick Wiggins on the front line, and the partner of Towns and Cole Aldridge in the inside.

If this lineup was placed a year ago, it would definitely not be noticeable at all, but with the rise of Wiggins and Towns' internal and external double guns this season, coupled with the iron-like defensive system of Thibodeau, the competitiveness shown is incomparable to last year.

The Lakers also continued the lineup at the end of the regular season. The inside was Noel and Gasol's partner, the small forward was Ruerden, and the backcourt was Tang Shuai and Batum's partner.

After the final warm-up, players from both sides appeared one after another.

"Do you want to win?"

"Yes, I want to win!"

At this moment, Tang Shuai heard Noel lower his head and talk to himself, pounding his chest with his hands to cheer himself up. He walked over and patted his shoulder. The two looked at each other, and then walked onto the stage together.

"Gentlemen, ladies, let's cheer for our team with the maximum volume!" the scene shouted after the players from both sides came on the court.

The scene suddenly thundered and the fans drove away the chills of Minnesota with their crazy shouts.

Towns and Wiggins reached out to signal to the audience, and the cheers at the scene became even more intense.

The ones who jumped the ball were Towns and Noel.

The moment the referee's whistle sounded, Towns pushed the ball back to the Timberwolves' backcourt with his arms.

The Timberwolves got the chance to take the lead in attacking!

There was another burst of cheers suddenly burst into the scene, and the excitement of returning to the playoffs had already made the Minnesotan feel tired.

Rubio took the ball to the frontcourt, invited his teammates to run, and saw the opportunity to give the ball to Wiggins, Wiggins was suspended to the inside, and Towns directly chose to play Gasol on his back.

After Gasol returned from injury, his condition declined a lot. Towns used his strength to press him in and took two steps, followed by a beautiful side, and then turned around and directly hooked the shot.

Gasol was pressed tightly at this time, and the interference was limited.

"Bang!"

Towns' hook hit the basket, and rolled it straight into the basket.

There was a burst of cheers at the scene.

Towns won the Timberwolves' first point in the playoffs in more than a decade!

“ns!ns!”

A deafening shout followed by another sound of deafening shouts at the scene.

Tang Shuai pushed forward with the ball and went to the frontcourt to greet Noel with a pick-and-roll.

However, just when his pick-and-roll was just started, Wiggins and Towns directly wrapped it out, quite decisive, and the two of them had a tacit understanding to block the vision behind them.

Under pressure, Tang Shuai was forced to pass the ball to Batum on the outside.

From this defensive arrangement alone, you can see Thibodeau's ability. He started out in defense and is definitely one of the best in this regard.

After Batum asked Gasol to get in, he hit him with one strike. Gasol hit Aldridge with his back, and he shook his opponent with a few beautiful moves and had to hook the ball at close range.

At this moment, Towns flashed from the side, without saying a word, and directly gave him a big shot.

The basketball slammed down and landed in Gasol's hand. Gasol pushed it in and wanted to get up again.

"Bang!"

Aldridge, who was passed by him, poked the ball in his hand away.

The ball fell into Laven's hands and the Timberwolves launched a defensive counterattack.

The Lakers quickly retreated to defense, and Rubio made an incredible pass. He passed the ball without looking at people. After the basketball flew out of his hand, it passed through Batum's crotch and went directly to Laven's hand. After Laven took the ball, he went straight to the gods and sent the ball into the basket with a heavy splash with one hand.

The cheers at the scene went up and the home team's continued performance had completely ignited the entire arena.

In the Lakers' offense, Tang Shuai pushed forward with the ball. At this time, he looked at his teammate's reaction. Gasol's expression did not change, but Nol and Batum were already a little nervous involuntarily. Even Deng seemed to feel at a loss.

It is obvious that the Lakers players who felt pressured before the game have obviously affected their mentality.

Tang Shuai took the ball to the frontcourt and took a look at the Timberwolves' defense.

It's like the joint defense of 212, but it's not that targeted, it's like a net that can shrink and open at any time.

He called Gasol to the free throw line to support him, and he handed the ball out and cut into the basket.

But just as he entered, the Timberwolves' defensive center of gravity directly contracted towards him.

His hand that was about to reach out for the ball was retracted. He focused on defending his condition without the ball, and Thibodeau was really cruel.

Gasol saw that the Timberwolves' defense center of gravity was brought over by Tang Shuai. He hit Aldridge, who was defending him, and turned around and picked the basket behind him.

But at this time, Towns came out from the side again and almost blocked his attack.

"Bang!"

Gasol's move jumped out of the basket under the interference of Towns, and the rebound was caught by the latter.

With two consecutive rounds of defense against Gasol's attack, Towns' progress this season is definitely a jumping style.

The Timberwolves got the ball again and arrived at the frontcourt. Wiggins took a step back and made a jump shot.

They played the Lakers 6-0 at the beginning.

Billups stood on the sidelines with his chin in his hand. When Tang Shuai dribble passed by him, he suddenly shouted at Tang Shuai, and then made a killing gesture.

Tang Shuai nodded and advanced to the frontcourt. This time he did not let Gasol reach the free throw line, but directly let him reach the three-point line.

When Gasol held the ball, he ran from the right wing three-point line to the left wing three-point line, and then greeted him.

Gasol passed the ball directly, and after receiving the ball, Shuai Tang flew to chase him, Rubio, who was shaking and rushed to the basket.

When he was almost at the basket, he made a layup.

"Bang!"

His layup was blocked by Aldridge's foul, and the foul action was a bit harsh.

Shuai Tang glanced at Aldridge.

Aldridge was teammates with him in the Clippers before, but he didn't expect that he would be merciless now.

Even though he thought about it, he didn't react much. That's it. Not every former teammate can become a friend. There are few funny leagues like Stephenson.

He took a deep breath and walked to the free throw line.

A crazy noise was made on the scene. He calmed down and made two free throws under pressure to help the Lakers win the first point.

In the next few rounds, Tang Shuai gave up the main attack with the ball at the instruction of Billups, but instead used his teammate's pass to rush to the inside to cause damage, and continued the team's points with the penalty.

However, these scores are a drop in the bucket compared to the situation on the court. The Lakers players are really too nervous and are afraid of their performance on the court. Even veterans like Batum can cross the bridge with their empty baskets after receiving the ball.

After entering the rotation in the first quarter, the Timberwolves played home momentum and led by an absolute advantage of 21-9.

The players' eyes were dull after they left the field, and they obviously didn't understand why they played so badly.

"The young men from the Timberwolves were not at all stage frightened. I suddenly felt that they could even steal 2 to 3 wins under the Warriors." Commentary guest Chris Webber couldn't help but praise after seeing the Timberwolves' performance.

After both sides came on the bench, the Lakers' substitute group did not gain much advantage. Belica, Shabaz Mohamed and others were full of impact. After the first quarter, the Lakers were already behind 19-37, with a score of 19 points, and even set their lowest score of the season.

During the timeout between the quarters, Billups made some adjustments to the lineup. He sent all players such as Mike Dermott, Landry and Bynum, who were not on stage, were sent out. Among the five, except for Shuai Tang and Gasol, the other three were sitting off the court.

Mike Dermot once played under Thibodeau and dared to take action on such occasions, let alone Landry. Although these people are a little less capable, they are brave enough to fight. Under the leadership of Tang Shuai and Gasol, they are much better than they played at the beginning.

After Tang Shuai and Landry blocked it, Landry broke the ball and went astray. Tang Shuai gave it to him with one strike. Landry directly scored against Pekovic's defense.

When the defensive round was over, Mike Dermott chased from the three-point line to the inside line when he was already out of place, and finally gave Mohammed a block.

This offense and defense made Thibodeau, who was standing on the sidelines, feel moved.

It was led by this momentum that the Lakers launched a crazy counterattack at the beginning of the second quarter. By the time they were halfway through the second quarter, they had already chased the score to 30-43.

However, Thibodeau obviously would not let the Lakers play so smoothly. After seeing that the team suffered losses in offense and defense, he directly put Towns on the court.

The effect of this move was immediate. Towns was very threatening on the defensive end, and the attack at the low post made people vaguely see the shadow of Shibu Duncan, and the attack was super stable.

The Lakers' lineup is much weaker on the court. When the Timberwolves switch it back one after another, the score difference was quickly widened to 32-50, and their behind score has returned to 18 points.

In one cooperation, Shuai Tang passed the ball to Mike Dermott, who made a free three-pointer. Towns grabbed the defensive rebound and launched a fast break. Wiggins successfully made a layup again, widening the gap to 20 points.

After seeing that his teammates were not in shape, Tang Shuai also took the initiative and chose to fight hard regardless of the Timberwolves' double-team.

Thanks to his first-class strength, either shooting or free throws, from the 4 minutes to the end of the second quarter, he turned into a scoring maniac, snatched 12 points from the inside and outside shots.

However, even with his crazy scoring show, the Lakers were still 15 points behind 44-59 at the end of the half.

At the end of the half, Tang Shuai couldn't help but look up at the score on the field, and then looked at his frustrated teammates.
Chapter completed!