Slam Dunk: My Study Abroad Career in Northern Hunan

"What kind of rotten fish and shrimp are you? Are you worthy of guarding me?"

With a simple sentence, Wu Dao immediately aroused Brian Grant's anger. There was no way, who let Brian Grant take the lead in speaking out? Wu Dao didn't want to.

Faced with the martial arts ridicule, Brian Grant's slightly yellowed face suddenly darkened, and the smile on his face disappeared in an instant. However, before he could open his mouth to fight back, the referee on the field had already blown the whistle. The whistle sounded to start the game.

"Da~"

The basketball was thrown into the air after the whistle. As a light sound reached Wu Dao's ears, the Blazers' 221 big center suddenly stretched out his long arms and grabbed the ball before Cherokee Parks. Dial to the Trail Blazers backcourt.

The Timberwolves' white center Cherokee Parks is 211cm tall, which is a full 10cm behind his opponent.When the opponent jumped the ball, it felt like a bump, and then they got the opening ball.

Compared with the 96-97 season, the Trail Blazers did not make any major signings this season, and the overall lineup did not change much from the previous season.

The head coach of the Trail Blazers is Mike Dunleavy. This head coach was a "regular army" step by step through high school-college-NBA as a player.

When I was playing, due to the limitations of my personal physical fitness, my playing style was more team-oriented and I didn't hold the ball much. Most of the time I relied on running to get into the open space, and then shooting at fixed spots in the open space. I have taken a considerable number of three-pointers in my career.

This kind of player experience also shaped his current coaching style.

He distributes the ball equally to the entire team. He hopes that the effect of the Blazers is a smooth team offense, so that the basketball can be smoothly transmitted among the players, rather than letting a certain player hold the ball all the time.

Because when Trail Blazers guard Kenny Anderson got the basketball and quickly entered the frontcourt, the first thing he did was not to look for opportunities himself, but to quickly observe the position of the players and give the ball to his right side. The offensive starting point, Isiah Leder.

The player facing Leder is Tom. After all, as the "boss" of the team today, he is responsible for the task of defending the opponent's arrow players, so it is natural for Tom to be responsible.

Leder took the ball, immediately stepped forward to accelerate, and began to break through.

He and Tom had been teammates for a while. Although Tom was an "All-Star", in Ryder's view, that guy's lateral speed was average and he couldn't keep up with his movements at all.

With a sudden advance, Ryder's body pushed against Tom's body. Tom's strength was very good and he stabilized his body well under Ryder's impact. However, Ryder then stopped suddenly, and Tom subconsciously stopped. After moving his steps, Ryder immediately accelerated and passed directly past Tom.

Tom, who smoothly passed through his opponent, made an emergency stop in the middle distance. His hands had just joined the ball. Garnett, who was standing near the paint area, was already quickly making up for the defense.

Leder, who was lifting the ball, also feinted and hit the ball at Garnett's feet with both hands. It bounced into the hands of Rasheed Wallace who was cutting into the paint area at this time. The 211cm power forward directly hit the ball. Suddenly, he suppressed Cherokee Parks, who came up to try to block the shot, and threw the ball into the basket.

A very tough inside attack. After Leder tore apart the Timberwolves' defense, the Trail Blazers successfully scored two points.

In the stands, the audience cheered a little.

"Good! A good fight!"

"Start defending, pay more attention to Garnett inside, and control the rebounds!"

On the sidelines of the court, Trail Blazers coach Mike Dunleavy clapped his hands and loudly encouraged the players on the court.

On the court, the Timberwolves began to organize an attack, and Marbury quickly advanced towards the frontcourt with the ball.Garnett's opponent in this game is Rasheed Wallace. The opponent is only over 100kg, which is much lighter than Garnett. Therefore, on the offensive end, Garnett sinks into the low post to take advantage of the position. , much more relaxed.

When Marbury saw an opportunity inside, he didn't hesitate and lobbed the ball directly to Garnett, who was only one step away from the paint area.

The latter took the ball, blasted the ball behind his back, then turned around skillfully, turned over and shot a jump shot.

Garnett's posture for turning over and shooting the jump shot was just like that of a point-shooting player, chic and elegant. With a crisp swipe of the net, the basketball hit the net.

Garnett looks in great shape today.

However, the Timberwolves gave the Trail Blazers a counterattack with their front foot, and the Trail Blazers gave the Timberwolves eye drops with their back foot.

Leder, who was holding the ball outside the three-point line, called a pick-and-roll, and the player who gave him the pick-and-roll was not from the inside, but Kenny Anderson, who had just passed the ball to him. After the pick-and-roll, the Timberwolves chose to switch defense. This allowed Marbury to face Leder's strong advance.

When Tom realized that Marbury couldn't withstand Leder's impact and wanted to turn around and double-team, Kenny Anderson still made a smooth cut from the center towards the basket.

After Leder squeezed Marbury away and attracted the attention of Tom and Garnett, he made a through pass and gave the ball to Kenny Anderson, who was cutting through the air. The latter went directly into the paint area and hit the ball high. , scored a layup.

The pace is fast, and the Blazers' offense is quite smooth.

"Tom, watch your own people after switching defenses!"

"Don't miss anyone. If you want to be double-teamed, do it early. Don't wait for Kevin to make up for it!"

On the sidelines of the court, Coach Philip reminded loudly, with a very ugly expression on his face.

The Timberwolves' main team system this season is defensive counterattack. Garnett's defensive coverage is very wide and he can quickly fill the gaps for other teammates.

Martial arts' individual defense capabilities can often contain the opponent's top outsiders.After all, Tom is an All-Star player. His defensive ability is not very weak, but Ryder is the kind of explosive breakthrough player who starts quickly, which is the type of player that Tom is not good at dealing with.

But normally, with Garnett's backup defense, these two defenses should not have been so ugly.

Phillip also directly put the blame on Tom without any hesitation.

If it were in the past, Coach Philip would never be so "direct" to an All-Star player.But today is different from the past. Tom is no longer a necessity for the Timberwolves.

According to Philip's perspective, this expensive ball-handler can be completely replaced by a role player who specializes in defense.

Because today's Timberwolves have no shortage of excellent scorers!

Even if Tom leaves, there will still be someone who can absorb his ball rights and his playing time.

Letting Tom defend Ryder also hopes that Tom can clearly understand his position in this game.

In the stadium, Tom's face looked a little ugly, and he could feel that he seemed to be used as a breakthrough.

In this regard, he must take some actions to save face.

Especially his opponent is his old teammate Ryder.

Tom has always believed that the Timberwolves sent Leder away in order to free up the ball for Tom.

With this idea in mind, Tom entered the frontcourt and immediately cut towards the inside. Amid the opponent's pursuit, Tom ran back and got some opportunities.

Marbury was at the top of the arc, about to pass the ball to Garnett in the inside position, when he saw an opportunity coming from the side.

Without too much hesitation, he quickly gave the ball to Tom who ran back to the mid-range.

The latter took the ball, bent down to face the basket, and after a simple test step, he quickly dropped the ball on his left side and rushed forward. When Leder came up in pursuit, Tom took the initiative to give him a confrontation, and then stopped and made a strong shot.

Tom took the shot at 0° close to the baseline, and the basketball hit the edge of the frame and popped out.At this time, under the basket of the Trail Blazers, a 211 power forward and a 221 power center have already surrounded the near-missing points of the basket.

The rebound was also held by Arvydas Sabonis.

The offense and defense alternated, and the Blazers were not impatient offensively, just falling into position with the Timberwolves.After everyone entered the frontcourt, the basketball was given to the starting point of the offense, in the hands of Isiah Leder.

When the latter got the ball, he still called Kenny Anderson to provide him with an outside screen. When he broke through, Tom chose to ignore Kenny Anderson and double-team Ryder.

Leder also played very smartly and quickly passed the ball back to Kenny Anderson, who stayed close to the three-point line and shot a three-pointer directly.

As the basketball entered the net, the score between the Timberwolves and Trail Blazers came to 2:7, and the point difference came to 5 points.

In the few rounds after the first quarter, Marbury seemed to have completely forgotten the existence of martial arts. He would either try to break through by himself, or pass the ball to Tom and Garnett inside.

Wu Dao stayed on the court. In addition to completely blocking Brian Grant, he also picked up two rebounds that bounced far away. He scored two points on a fast break.

He is completely outside the team's offensive system.

Under Marbury's "feeding", Tom's offense began to stabilize. After all, Ryder was not as tall as him and not as heavy as him. After stabilizing his mentality, Tom played quite well.

Garnett's low-post singles near the basket also achieved good results. In order to prevent Garnett, who is back-up and nimble, the Trail Blazers' heavy inside line inevitably got a few fouls.

The Timberwolves' overall offensive efficiency is very stable.

On the other hand, the Trail Blazers, perhaps because their opening lead made them a little drifting, Leder began to try a lot of high-stop jump shots after breaking through.

Although he is in a semi-open position, there are still many shots and irons at this time.

Fortunately, guard Kenny Anderson felt great today, and Arvydas Sabonis on the inside showed his advantage against Cherokee Parks, who was 10cm shorter than him.

After the first quarter, the Timberwolves led their opponents by 35 points at 29:6.

At the end of the first quarter, Wu Dao looked very unhappy.

As if to punish Budo for his "willful behavior" in the previous game, Philip deliberately reduced Budo's possession of the ball in this game.

Martial arts can clearly feel this.

Although he is still the starter, the feeling of being outside the offensive system is not even as good as when he is sitting on the bench.

Phillip didn't know what Wu Dao was thinking now. He was just a little surprised that Tom actually played well in the first quarter of this game.

After looking at Tom a few more times, Philip began to arrange the rotation.

Stanley Roberts was brought on, and Clifford Lochier was also substituted.

The two starting insiders were both replaced.

Chris Kyle was replaced, Marbury was replaced, and at the same time, Sam Mitchell also replaced Tom.

Of the five starting players, only Wu Dao was left.

Seeing this substitution, Wu Dao also understood what Phillip meant.

The co-author is to let him play transitional role as a substitute.
Philip couldn't put a high first-round pick who averaged 45 points per game on the bench, but he didn't know how to balance the ball. He could only come up with this idea.

Although Wu Dao was speechless about this, he still accepted the position given to him by the team.

After a short break, both teams returned to the court. The Trail Blazers replaced main point Kenny Anderson with John Crotty (185cm/84kg).

221的大中锋也是下了场，被凯文·卡托替换（211cm/110kg，97年15号秀）。

By the second quarter, Wu Dao finally found that familiar feeling.

At the beginning of the game, Wu Dao received a pass from his teammate outside the three-point line. Facing Brian Grant's defense, he turned his right foot to the side and directly pulled out his hand with his feet.

The unreasonable offensive choices made the Timberwolves fans who came from afar to watch the game screamed, and the basketball collapsed out of the basket as everyone expected.

After not touching the ball for a long time, I didn't feel very good in the second quarter.

Fortunately, the basketball bounced back relatively far. The two squatting insiders of the Trail Blazers failed to grab the rebound. The basketball was held by Sam Mitchell who was driven inside.

After the latter grabbed the rebound, he immediately directed the ball back to the outside. After Chris Kyle got the ball, he quickly passed it to Wu Dao.

This time, after receiving the ball, Wu Dao dribbled sideways and took two steps toward the sideline along the three-point line, then stood facing the basket. After several consecutive crotch dribbles, the attack time had been consumed for several seconds.

However, faced with Wu Dao who held the ball for a long time, the Timberwolves players neither urged nor went up to do pick-and-rolls, they just waited quietly like this.

"Let's attack quickly! What are you waiting for?"

"Hey! First graders, stop pretending! Let's try to break through! Hahahaha!"

"If you can't hit it, pass the ball! Pass the ball -"

In the stands, the Blazers audience also booed, and the boos became louder and louder.

Five or six seconds later, the basketball came to Wu Dao's right hand. At the same time, Wu Dao's center of gravity dropped sharply and he was ready to rush forward. As soon as the defensive Brian Grant saw Wu Dao's movement, he slipped his feet and was ready to shoot towards the ball. Prepare to pursue on the left.

But the next second, Wu Dao, who was suspended and dribbling, suddenly combined the ball and made another three-pointer.

When the basketball was released, Wu Dao stopped looking at the basketball and turned around to defend.

And not long after he turned his back, the basketball fell directly into the net with a crisp sound.

The boos all over the sky stopped abruptly at this moment, and were replaced by cheers from Timberwolves fans.

It's just that this cheer is too small compared to the previous boos.

"Let's make a quick decision in the second quarter."

"Extend the point difference to 15 points at once!"

(End of this chapter)