The Timberwolves' schedule this season is quite painful. There are two back-to-back games in the first 6 games. The second one played back-to-back for three days, then beat the Warriors, and after playing against the Warriors, there were two more days of rest before they faced the challenge of the Portland Trail Blazers at home.

The Trail Blazers showed signs of rising last season. If it weren't for Oden's reimbursement, they would have joined the playoff team competition last season.

Although Oden has heard bad news again this season, the Trail Blazers still achieved a record of 5 wins and 4 losses at the beginning.

The core lineup of this team is very young, Roy, Aldridge, including this year's No. 25 rookie, and Batum from France are all in the starting lineup.

As a player-type coach, although McMillan has no outstanding skills in skills and tactics and on-site command, he is very good at establishing a good locker room relationship because of his own player experience.

Like most player-type coaches who came through the 1980s and 1990s, McMillan is also a coach who likes to emphasize defense, which is somewhat similar to the head coach Whitman who just fired from the Timberwolves.

However, relatively speaking, McMillan has better popularity and is better at dealing with players.

Although this Trail Blazers are young, under the guidance of McMillan, they are a team that is based on defense.

Especially Brandon Roy, nicknamed "Huang Mamba", was selected as the All-Star in the second grade and is considered the best shooting guard in the West except Kobe.

Roy's style of play is very calm. Although his physical fitness is not outstanding, he is particularly good at using rhythm changes to break into the inside to score.

Moreover, his organizational ability and defense are both top-notch among shooting guards, and half of this Trail Blazers' offense is supported by Roy.

The Timberwolves lost to the Trail Blazers in the last game because of Roy's stable performance on the offensive end. He not only scored 24 points, but also sent 6 assists, which made the Timberwolves' internal and external lines uneasy.

At the beginning of this game, Roy had a great momentum to replicate his performance in the previous game. His score was not much, only 6 points.

However, his personal singles are very purposeful, just to drive other teammates.

Brewer, who suffered losses, was helpless in the defensive end when facing Roy. He was crushed and rushed into the inside several times by him, and then created opportunities for other teammates.

The point guard of the Trail Blazers is Steve Blake, a white player with mediocre physical fitness.

Blake's style of play is also very stable. The Timberwolves wanted to speed up several times, but due to the opponent's excellent retreat and few mistakes, they were forced to fight a positional battle with the opponent.

After the half-quarter, the two teams temporarily tied 13-13.

"James," McHale looked at Percy, "You take over Corey."

Percy nodded, then stood up from the bench and took off his training shirt.

Needless to say, Percy also knew what his purpose was to play.

The boy wearing No. 7 on the opposite side caused a lot of trouble to the team on the offensive end in the last game, but Percy's performance was not good in that game. Not only did he make no contribution on the offensive end, but he even had good defenses easily penetrated by Roy.

After that game, many media questioned that the Timberwolves were trying to die for such a large pension contract for Percy.

It is obvious that after the Celtics won the championship last season, Percy has put his defensive instincts on Boston.

Although Percy has been used to the saliva of the media in his professional player experience over the years, as a strong player who has absolute confidence in his defensive ability, it obviously also makes those unscrupulous media shut up.

When Li Rong saw Percy with a frosty face, he knew Roy was in trouble.

As the main defensive player of the Heat in 2006 and the Celtics this year, Percy has been famous for defending the opponent's arrows over the years.

In 2006, he defended Novizki alone, and in this year's finals, he defended Kobe alone, and Percy had completed the defensive tasks given to him by the coaching staff.

Speaking of the best role players in the league in defense: Bruce Bowen, Laga Bell, Ruben Patterson, Sean Bathier…

But you can't forget James Percy.

Percy did not have Bowen's "unscrupulous" defensive end, but with his experienced experience and accurate judgment, he could even defend a power forward who was 3 inches taller than him without his physical advantage, posing a considerable threat to offensive players holding the ball.

Yes, Percy's defense can cover three positions, whether it is a shooting guard, a small forward, or a power forward, Percy can bother the opponent's arrow characters.

His physical fitness is not outstanding, but his long arms can always cause timely interference to the other party, and he rarely takes fake moves and almost never fouls.

Percy is one of the most unwilling opponents to meet in the league's top scorers.

McHale signed James Percy for the team to make up for the team's lack of real defensive core in the backcourt.

Although Li Rong's defense is good, he is trapped in his footsteps and has better defense against the opponent's third and fourth positions, while Percy's defense is more inclined to the outside.

These two people, plus Billups, the Timberwolves' outside line can now be said to be bitter.

However, McHale also knows the principle of using good steel on the edge, so in the regular season, he still holds the principle of letting these veterans rest more, and the playoffs are the stage for them to play.

So as soon as McHale took the position of head coach, he talked to Percy alone and asked him if he would like to play as a substitute.

Percy immediately stated that he was willing to take any position as long as the team needed it.

After Brewer took over Percy's start in the last game, the Timberwolves really made a dazzling attack.

But today, when encountering the defensive team Trail Blazers, especially the Trail Blazers lineup, there is an absolute offensive strength point, and Percy's role is immediately reflected.

After he got on the court, he started defending Roy all over the game, not giving him a chance to touch the ball easily.

Even if Roy can catch the ball, his offensive time will be consumed a lot.

Then Percy began to show his single defense skills again. After all, Roy is a player who plays on rhythm. However, when he meets Percy who has experienced defensive experience and starts to take the game seriously, he feels very difficult.

No matter how Roy changes the dribble rhythm, Percy stays in front of him like his shadow, ensuring that he can interfere with his shot at any time.

Percy's appearance on the defensive end liberated Li Rong. When Brewer was on the court just now, Li Rong could only help out. Now Percy can cover Roy alone, and Li Rong can finally let go and help others.

Percy's playing effect was immediate. In the remaining half of the quarter, Roy only made 1 of 3 shots, and never gave an assist to his teammates again.
Chapter completed!