Slam Dunk: My Study Abroad Career in Northern Hunan

Chapter 581 Conclusion!

There is nothing wrong with the fact that the Cavaliers are a young team. The players surrounding Shawn Kemp are all young players in their early twenties and under thirty.

At least half of the entire Cavaliers team are newcomers who have just entered the NBA from college.

These newcomers have one thing in common, that is, they are not afraid of "authority." Even facing the Timberwolves, who had won consecutive games before, the young Cavaliers were still very daring to fight.

It just so happened that the players who played in the second quarter of the Timberwolves were veterans who had been separated for a long time. The Timberwolves' substitutes were accustomed to the favorable conditions created for them by the starting players. Facing the Cavaliers' substitute lineup that was desperate from the start, Sasha Mitchell, Chris Kyle and others were very uncomfortable for a while.

Stanley Roberts' sluggish performance after playing made the entire game even worse. The Timberwolves played very hard in the second quarter.

As the game progressed, the advantage established by the Timberwolves in the early stages was gradually eliminated due to Vitali Potapenko's offensive.

Coach Philip watched the game on the court with a cold face. Whenever the team's defense failed, he would angrily yell at the players on the court, which was a huge difference from his previous appearance.

In the previous games, Philip was basically smiling. Even in the game against the Lakers, he never lost his composure like he does now.

The main reason is that Mitchell and others are too lazy on the defensive end.

Philip is a coach born as a player. When he was young, he also sweated on the court.

Philip knows very well that for things like offense, tactics are only a supporting role. The most important thing is the player's personal ability and talent, as well as the tacit understanding between players.

Defense, however, is somewhat different from offense.

Defense pays more attention to the attitude of the players.

Every player who defends well is a player with a strong competitive spirit, but unfortunately, Philip did not see the defensive attitude of the Timberwolves' substitute players at this time.

They are like children spoiled by their parents. They defend and attack at will on the court, as if there is someone who can support them. They are not worried at all whether their current performance will affect the entire team. victory.

Philip's roar standing on the sidelines had no effect. As soon as the game started in the second quarter, the Cavaliers evened out the score difference between the two teams in just a few minutes. A wave of 8:2 climax, directly Just put the Timberwolves into a timeout.

"What are you fighting?!"

"What about the offense? The offense can't get in, and the defense can't stop the opponent? What kind of stinky shit are you fighting?"

"Defense inside, put your hands up, put your hands up, you know!"

"How many points do you want that rookie to score?!"

"Stanley, don't be transferred out by him. I've told you several times, don't be transferred out by him!"

After the Timberwolves players walked to the sidelines, Coach Philip scolded him at the top of his lungs. Although he scolded them fiercely, he had no intention of making substitutions or adjustments.

Philip knows very well that if the Timberwolves want to go further in the playoffs, the substitutes are also very important. Of course, like most coaches, he can fight against a few of the team's starting players and give Budao and the others overloaded game tasks.

But Philip is a coach with dreams. He hopes that he can be a person with "the art of coaching" instead of becoming a player's leg pendant.

After some reprimands, the Timberwolves players who returned to the court after the timeout obviously had some changes.

The players' movements became more active, and their movements became much larger when defending, which suddenly raised the intensity of the game.

The game between the Timberwolves and the Cavaliers is originally a home game. The sudden increase in the intensity of the game is not a bad thing for the Timberwolves.

A group of young players from the Cavaliers suffered some small losses after the timeout and made mistakes in several consecutive attacks. It's just that the Timberwolves failed to seize this small flaw of the opponent and failed to open up the score.

On the contrary, the young players of the Cavaliers quickly adapted to the intensity of the game and made adjustments quickly.

The Cavaliers surrounded Vitali Potapenko and crushed the Timberwolves.

Fortunately, Chris Kyle seized several open opportunities and used three-pointers to infuse the Timberwolves with blood. However, as the Cavaliers strengthened the opponent's defense, he no longer had three-point opportunities. On the contrary, it was his breakthrough that accidentally allowed him to score. Split the Cavaliers' defense and create some scoring opportunities.

It's just that the performance of other Timberwolves players on the offensive end was still sluggish. Throughout the second quarter, the Timberwolves were unable to play any smooth offense.

The stuttering score made the Timberwolves fans in the field become more and more anxious.

13: 28.

After one game, the Timberwolves were beaten by the Cavaliers by 15 points in a single quarter. The huge gap caused some hot-tempered Timberwolves fans to curse angrily.

"What did you hit!"

"Idiot! If you can't score, get out of here! Don't stain my eyes!"

"I've given you a huge advantage. Do you know how to play?"

There were angry fans shouting in the front row. The security personnel not far away who were maintaining order just looked at the situation and did not take any action, completely ignoring the angry fans.

In fact, the security at the stadium is also provided by Timberwolves fans.

During the break, Coach Philip didn't say anything more. He just replaced veteran Terry Porter and replaced him with Marbury. He also replaced Clifford Lochier (211cm/111kg, 1994th overall pick in the first round of 16). ) was substituted.

Clifford Lochier played very poorly in this game. He was basically silent on both the offensive and defensive ends.

He just came to the Timberwolves this year. He was still with the Warriors during the 96-97 season, but he only played one game in the new season and after averaging 5 minutes, the Warriors sent him away. Toronto Raptors.

Then Clifford Lochier played 41 games on that rookie team, starting 29 of them. He averaged 17.5 minutes per game and averaged 4.5 points and 5.6 rebounds.

Compared with his performance in the Warriors in the previous three years, Clifford Lochier's condition during this period has improved.

The Timberwolves traded him not because they liked Clifford Lozier's ability, but just as an addition.

Of course, Clifford Lochier's statistical performance with the Raptors is not too bad, and the Timberwolves do want to train him. After all, this guy is still young.

But during this period, judging from Clifford Lochier's substitute performance, he seems to be somewhat unworthy of the Timberwolves' training.

Clifford Lochier played 12 minutes in the second quarter, scoring 2 points and 1 rebound. Philip didn't even know what the hell this guy was playing!

After the players came down, Philip did not reprimand them because he saw clearly that this substitute lineup was not entirely a matter of mentality. In terms of hard power, there was indeed a gap between them and their opponents.

It was Garnett who replaced Clifford Lochier.

Coach Philip glanced at Wu Dao a few times, but ultimately did not let Wu Dao play at this time.

The Cavaliers have also made personnel adjustments at this moment. Several starters have returned to the court one after another. Except for the 221cm Zarunas Ilgauskas who did not return to the court, Sean Kemp and Wei Sri Person and others returned to the court.

The Cavaliers' young forward Vitali Potapenko played very well, better than the Lithuanian big man, so coach Mike Fratello also gave Vitali more game time.

The third quarter begins. Timberwolves fans saw that Wu Dao and Tom were not on the court, and the stands immediately exploded. There were many fans of both Wu Dao and Tom, and a raging wave quickly set off in the stands.

Fans want to see Wu Dao and the others playing on the court, and don't want to watch Sam Mitchell, who is not very familiar with them, play.

Although the audience was very dissatisfied, Philip decided to give full play to his coaching skills and thought of making a few changes to "transform" the Timberwolves.

He didn't want to rely on martial arts' unsolvable one-on-one ability from outside.

44: 54.

A ten-point difference. This is the first time in this period that the Timberwolves have such a big disadvantage in the third quarter.

The Timberwolves' first attack after returning to the court was initiated by Marbury himself with the ball. He still had an advantage when facing the 178cm Brevin Knight, and he quickly and continuously hit the ball. After dribbling the ball, Marbury found the right opportunity to accelerate and break through.

Marbury provided a little confrontation when he broke through. Relying on his physical fitness that was half a step above the opponent, he created some offensive gaps for himself. A high emergency stop jumper from the top of the arc, and the basketball flew out of Marbury's hands.

"clang--"

With a crisp sound of iron, the third quarter between the Timberwolves and the Cavaliers officially kicked off.

Marbury's attack seemed to pave the way for his subsequent attacks.

In the first few minutes of the third quarter, Marbury seemed to have turned into Kobe, the Kobe who shot 36-for-6.

After the opening, there were three singles in succession, and with gorgeous shooting postures, a 3-0 reverse wave opened up the situation for the Cavaliers.

The Cavaliers relied on a steady positional battle to further widen the point difference to 14 points.

44: 58.

The opening round was only three rounds, and the Timberwolves were already showing signs of defeat, not to mention the beginning of their decline.

Realizing that Coach Philip's brows were furrowed and he was about to continue to perform his "coaching art" as a coach, Marbury took the lead in making adjustments on the court. After a sudden break from the horn position, he gave the ball to the arc. Chris Kyle in the top direction, and then down.

It's just that Chris Kyle didn't trust Marbury, who started 3-0. After flipping around at the top of the key for a few times, he quickly gave the ball to Garnett, who came out to prepare for Chris Kyle's pick-and-roll.

"Well"

He was used to partnering with martial arts, but suddenly receiving a pass from his teammate while running, Garnett felt something was wrong.

But he was a professional after all. He quickly swept the ball and turned around. Garnett suddenly discovered that Shawn Kemp was not chasing him, and he didn't make any adjustments. Garnett just took a mid-range shot.

"clang!!"

As the soft sound of the basketball hitting the iron rang out, a wail suddenly erupted from the stands of the Target Center Arena.

Garnett was also a little surprised, his eyelids twitched, and he quickly retreated to defense.

As the Cavaliers' shooting guard Wesley Person overcame Chriss and scored a mid-range jumper, the point difference between the two teams further widened.

At this time, even if Coach Philip wanted to continue to display his coaching art, he couldn't. He finally understood that Marbury's blacksmithing skills today were successfully passed on to other players.

Budo replaced Chris Kyle and returned to the court, but Tom was still pressed on the bench.

The fans cheered as they watched Wu Dao return to the court.

As Wu Dao came on the court, Marbury also returned to his No. 1 position from the point position. When organizing the offense, when Marbury entered the frontcourt with the ball, he quickly gave the ball to Wu Dao on the side.

There has never been a time when Marbury felt that the basketball in his hands would be so hot.

He could feel the mood of the fans. He knew that if he held the ball for a little longer, these fans would even rush into the stadium and tear him apart.

The martial arts opponent was replaced by Wesley Person. As for his previous "opponent", he went to defend Sam Mitchell.

Strictly speaking, Wesley Person is actually a position. With a height of 198cm and a weight of 88kg, he can occupy a considerable advantage in the No. 2 position.

But it is too difficult for him to move to the 3rd position to defend a martial artist who is 10cm taller and weighs nearly 20kg.

When Wu Dao got the basketball, he didn't make any fancy moves. After catching the ball with his back, he hit the ball with his butt directly on Wesley Person's body. With a little force, Wesley Person retreated directly. Taking a big step, Wu Dao took advantage of the situation and took a step inside.

In this era, there is actually no back-carrying rule.

The back-up rule means that in the area extending along the free throw line, offensive players cannot hold the ball with their back for more than five seconds. This rule is actually to limit Barkley's big ass.

This regulation was officially implemented in the 99-20 season.

Wu Dao took the ball and sat on Wesley Person one after another. When he easily entered the mid-range position, Wu Dao suddenly felt a looseness behind his butt.

Wu Dao, who knew clearly in his heart, suddenly hugged the ball with both hands after the explosion, raised the ball high, turned his back and faced the basket.

At the same time, Wesley Person, who rushed in and tried to steal, missed the ball and was left behind by Wu Dao.

In the wide open space, Wu Dao took advantage of the opportunity to shoot and the basketball flew directly towards the basket, and then fell directly into the net under the gaze of everyone.

"Oh oh oh-"

As the basketball entered the net, the spectators in the stands began to "howl" happily.

After scoring the goal, Wu Dao also raised his arms slightly towards the stands on both sides. Judging from his actions, it seemed that he was welcoming the cheers of the audience.

And the martial arts moves also made the cheers in the arena go up several octaves.

"It turns out that Kevin and Stephen can't lead the team!"

"The boss of the team has no problem with martial arts!"

In the corner of the stands, a teenage blond boy held a martial arts support card in his hand and shouted excitedly to his companions.

Beside him, a young man with curly black hair looked grim, and he was wearing a Kevin Garnett jersey.

At this moment, his companion beside him was choked and speechless.

(End of this chapter)