Preview of the Western Conference Finals: The Ace Core Dialogue in the New Era!

In the just-concluded Western Conference semi-finals, the Nuggets and the Thunder, the more impatient Thunder side in the playoffs, defeated the Nuggets with a big score to advance with a strong performance at home. Ten years after Durant left the team, the Thunder, which had a new dynasty, was finally able to return to the Western Conference Finals stage again.

After that, the only playoff experience of the Thunder Youth Army returned to zero again. Standing on the Western Conference Finals stage and facing the Timberwolves led by the same young talent Edwards, the Thunder once again became a team with better regular season record but poor playoff experience.

Referring to the regular season matchup, the Thunder and the Timberwolves fought four times, including the intensive schedule of three matches in 11 days before and after the All-Stars weekend. Both teams won one win and one loss in their respective home courts. The last two games were after Chet returned to the team after he recovered from injury. The third match in late February, the Thunder Chet and Harten played the only game at the same time, which was also a slightly more reference value. The final game was eventually defeated by the Thunder 7 points to defeat the Timberwolves.

Referring to this game, we can still see some value. After the Thunder formed the inside double towers, Dai Gnot began to find some strategies to deal with the Timberwolves' tall frontcourt. As Randle's performance in the playoffs gets better and better, in addition to having more home courts in the next Western Conference Finals, the Thunder actually does not have many advantages and faces great challenges.

When the Thunder and the Nuggets were in the heat of the playoffs, the Timberwolves defeated the two traffic teams of Hu Yong in a certain way. Without encountering almost no challenges, they seemed to gradually regain their strong momentum to reach the Western Conference Finals last season.

As the team's core scoring champion, Edwards not only significantly increased outside shooting in the regular season this season, but also tried to take over veteran Conley in the playoffs and became the team's first ball-holding organization point. This part of the growth is particularly rare, and it also allows him to still pose a threat to his opponent on the court in a situation where he feels bad at shooting.

From the Thunder side, although they hold a double tower lineup, their overall team is still relatively small. As the most difficult type of large wing that they can limit, in addition to Naz Reed last season, the Timberwolves have another Randall this season, or Gobert, who can sometimes wear the inside killer skin.

Although the Timberwolves' performance in the outside line has been fluctuating throughout the season, their overall efficiency of 35% is basically the mid-level level of the playoff team. In comparison, the Timberwolves are also better than the Thunder, with their overall efficiency of 31.9%. As the advantages of the Thunder's playoffs, strong defense, turnover conversion scores, etc., although the Timberwolves are not as good as the Thunder, they are still closely behind the Thunder and ranked second on the playoff team list, and they also have advantages in these aspects. The first two rounds made it very difficult for the Lakers and Warriors to deal with.

In addition to the slightly high turnover rate, the Timberwolves, which have similar offensive and defensive conversion advantages as the Thunder, also hold the new generation of ace ball holders, also have the ability to protect the frame in the inside and rich defensive resources. They have the ability to match the Thunder on both offense and defense, and it is even possible to pull this leading team down.

Combined with the above, in addition to having more home court advantages, the Thunder actually does not have many positive faces on the Western Conference Finals stage, and the Thunder is even a side that lacks experience in playoff games. Referring to the seven-game battle with the Nuggets in the semi-finals, we can still see many of the shortcomings of the Thunder. If you want to advance, it is mainly because you need to perform better on several sides:

head coach Dagenut's on-the-spot change speed is decisive enough;

Control your mistakes and do a good job in protecting the ball rights. Low turnover is the advantage that the Thunder has maintained for the whole season so far. Facing the Timberwolves, who are also good at offense and defense conversion, the younger Thunder must have to protect the ball;

Referring to the Timberwolves who did not encounter sufficient quality frontcourt nuclear teams in the first two rounds of the playoffs. After experiencing the seven-game battles in the semi-finals, the Thunder penalty area trio of Chet + Harten + Jelin is likely to be the first challenge the Timberwolves encountered in the playoffs. As the highest talented frontcourt facing the Timberwolves on the road to promotion, Chet Homgren is likely to be the key to affecting the direction of the series; Alexander and Edwards both showed sluggish performances in the first few rounds of the playoffs respectively. Below this, the performance of Jaylen Williams and Randle's second-in-command team is also a key factor in determining this round of the series.

For this round of Alexander and Edwards' new generation ace competition, it is not only about competing with personal data, but also about who can stay calm at critical moments of the game.

From the general perspective, we still hope that Alexander will gradually get better and better in the near future and can see through the opponent's defensive trap. Otherwise, the situation will be a little awkward when the league will issue the MVP trophy in the future.