Slam Dunk: My Study Abroad Career in Northern Hunan

As the game progressed, the battle between the Timberwolves and Jazz gradually entered a fierce stage.

The competition between the two teams was very intense, and both sides quickly entered the game.

The martial arts side is also "seeking benevolence and benevolence". After the Jazz players heard that martial arts wanted to "feel their defensive intensity", their defense against martial arts went up to another level.

In addition to having dedicated player Brian Russell to guard Wu Dao, Karl Malone also devoted more attention to Wu Dao.

When Wu Dao holds the ball, Karl Malone often gives up the point near the basket, leaves the three-point field under the basket, and moves to the mid-range on the side of the paint area.

To a large extent, his position is not to defend Garnett, but to defend the martial arts after breaking through Brian Russell and reaching the mid-range point.

The Timberwolves players all noticed some adjustments in Malone's defensive focus. For three consecutive offensive rounds, Marbury did not continue to rely on martial arts to solve the problem.

He played an offense by himself and tried his hand. After breaking through Howard Eisley's defense, Marbury made a jump shot in the inefficient area one step inside the top of the arc, and the basketball landed smoothly.

Howard Eisley was a second-round pick in 94. Compared with Marbury's starting point and talent, there is some gap. Facing Howard Eisley's defense, Marbury can play with ease.

After a successful attack, Marbury did not fight on his own. Relying on his own scoring threat, Marbury scored suddenly in the next two attacks, assisting Garnett to score points and assisting Garnett. Tom scored points.

The Timberwolves' offense went smoothly, and Marbury had no intention of relying on martial arts.

He could see that the Jazz were strictly guarding Wu Dao. When Wu Dao was moving, Brian Russell was clinging to Wu Dao, and at the same time, he kept making small movements with his hands, interfering with Wu Dao.

At the same time, Malone is also eyeing Wu Dao. In this situation, if the Timberwolves still put all the offensive burden on Wu Dao as they did in previous games, then Wu Dao may have to face the Jazz's "muscles" forest”.

Marbury has watched the Jazz play and knows how they will deal with a team with a single-core offense. Marbury doesn't want Wu Dao to bear too much offensive pressure in high-intensity games and increase the risk of injuries.

It's true that the Timberwolves' current boss is a martial artist, but Marbury doesn't want to become a player's leg pendant.

He must play his own style and value on the court, and use his organizational skills to lead the team to victory.

The Jazz's defensive focus has been adjusted, and the Timberwolves' offensive focus has also been adjusted spontaneously.

Marbury started to hold the ball longer, and Garnett also had more finishing opportunities.

After the first quarter, the Timberwolves were one point behind the Jazz at 28:29.

Wu Dao did not attack with the ball that many times in this quarter. Although he scored a few difficult goals, after the Jazz increased their defense, Wu Dao also had two iron blows, and then looked at his teammates playing smoothly. He took the initiative to reduce the number of shots and began to share the ball.

With 9 points in a single quarter and a shooting percentage of 57%, Wu Dao's performance was still efficient, but unlike his explosive performance in the previous games, Wu Dao was obviously suppressed in today's game against the Jazz.

This is not only reflected in scoring data and shooting percentage, but also reflected on the court.

Not to mention that the number of times in a single quarter of martial arts is less than in previous games. Almost all shots in martial arts do not have an "esay ball". Every shot is defended by one or two people, which is very difficult.

Let alone professional players, they could tell that Wu Dao was having a hard time playing today. Even some spectators who had watched the Timberwolves game noticed this.

In the previous games, Wu Dao did not play as hard as he did today. He scored many simple goals in his usual games.

This difference also illustrates the defensive level of the Jazz team.

The Jazz's defensive end devoted a lot of energy to Wu Dao, which also gave other players room to perform in today's game.

Tom played very comfortably when facing Jeff Hornacek, who was much smaller than himself. Although the opponent was fast, he could always play tricks on Tom on the offensive end.

But these two players have a bit of "mutual support".

Jeff Hornacek can rely on his small and quick style of play to train Tom, and Tom can also use his big butt to train Jeff Hornacek.

On the Jazz side, Malone, who could sweep away the defense, focused on Wu Dao and Garnett, and could not spare the energy to care about Tom. This also allowed Tom to perform outstandingly on the offensive end.

Marbury also performed well. He had a very good touch today and had a high shooting percentage. After Garnett noticed this, he frequently provided screens for Marbury to make Marbury more comfortable.

The efforts of the three of them on the offensive end allowed the Timberwolves to score nearly 30 points in the first quarter.

But even so, the Timberwolves are still one point behind the Jazz.

Not only did the Jazz limit Wu Dao's performance on the defensive end, they also suppressed the ferocious firepower of the Timberwolves on the offensive end.

The Jazz's outside line has Jeff Hornacek's classic small-to-big game against Tom.

Although Tom tried to shrink the defensive line, he gave up after being forced to play two three-pointers. The result of the defense was to be constantly teased in military training.

In order to deal with such a situation, Garnett, who has excellent mobility, will inevitably have to wipe Tom's butt, but in this way, Malone will also get many opportunities.

Jeff Hornacek not only has excellent offensive power, but also has a strong assist ability. After Garnett assists in defense, he can always find Malone who is relatively open and provide assists to Malone.

Originally, facing the Jazz's offensive method, Wu Dao, as the No. 3 position, needed to get inside to help his teammates defend. But in this game, Wu Dao didn't have much intention to help defend. He was already locked with Brian Russell of the Jazz.

Brian Russell likes to make some small moves, and Wu Dao does not let him get used to it. Although the two of them did not have the ball for many times in the first quarter, there were many muscle collisions.

Although Martial Arts has just come of age, he has good physical talent, can hang meat, and is heavier than Brian Russell. Although his upper body strength is not as good as Brian Russell, his lower body strength is still above Brian Russell. . The "muscle confrontation" with the opponent is not in vain.

The actions of both of them were quite restrained. They were just "little fights" and there were no obvious fouls.

At the end of the first quarter, during the break, coach Philip, after praising and encouraging the players, also changed into the rotation lineup.

After the second quarter started, Coach Philip also sat next to Wu Dao and asked with some concern:

"How did you feel about today's game?"

"Are you tired of playing against Brian Russell?"

Philip asked knowingly, and even ordinary fans could see the tension between Wu Dao and Brian Russell.

Moreover, in just twelve minutes of the game, the front and collar of the martial arts jersey was already wet with sweat. This situation was relatively rare in previous games.

After the first quarter of the previous game, Wu Dao's jersey was a little "damp" at best.

Wu Dao sweated so much in today's competition, which shows how tired he is.

The rate at which physical energy is consumed by playing basketball is completely different from the rate at which physical energy is consumed by "boxing". "fine!"

"My physical exertion should not be as great as his. I can feel that he won't be able to resist that kind of defense for long."

Close defense is a very physical thing, not to mention that what Brian Russell has to face is martial arts that coexist with speed and strength.

Wu Dao also moves a lot without the ball. It is not easy for Brian Russell to follow Wu Dao without missing a step.

He needs to put in more physical energy than martial arts to achieve this. Brian Russell's defense is actually a one-man version of the full-court press.

"Your teammates played very well, and you handled the ball very rationally in the first quarter."

"here you go."

"However, you can't always struggle with Brian Russell. He is just a role player who comes to consume you. You spend too much energy on him. How can you score?"

Phillip reminded, but upon hearing his words, Wu Dao was speechless.

Is it his problem that he's tangled up with Brian Russell?

Was he trying to tangle with Brian Russell? Well, there are some reasons for this, but isn't the main problem still the problem of coach Philip?

So far, the Timberwolves have not formulated any offensive tactics specifically for martial arts. The basic pick-and-roll screen cannot be discussed as a tactic at all.

If the Timberwolves had a special receiving tactic around Wu Dao, Wu Dao would not have to expend so much physical energy to run through.

Many times a simple alternating pick-and-roll can solve the problem.

Although the Jazz are a very good defensive team, the only outside player in the team who can put some pressure on Wu Dao is Brian Russell.

The reason why he was tired was not because of the excellent tactical system of the Jazz, nor because of how powerful Brian Russell was against Wu Dao.

Simply because the Timberwolves' offensive tactics system is not sound.

But this is completely understandable, because after Wu Dao joined the Timberwolves, the Timberwolves' training plan for him was to have him serve as a substitute for a year to first adapt to the intensity of the NBA league, and then bring Wu Dao to the starting position.

And even if Wu Dao is promoted to the starting lineup, Wu Dao is the team's third or even fourth scoring point.

The coaching staff will not formulate any special techniques and tactics for Wu Dao, a high school student who has just joined the team.

Being able to get other players to cooperate with you and pass the ball to you is already enough for you as a rookie.

The management of the Timberwolves never imagined that Wu Dao would conquer all his teammates in such a short time after joining the team and become the absolute core of the team's offense.

"There's no way to waste energy on Brian Russell."

"If you want to get rid of him by pure running, you must consume a lot of physical energy."

"It is not easy to catch the ball under his defense, unless it is two or three meters outside the three-point line."

Wu Dao did not directly complain about the inaction of the coaching staff, but just gave a subtle nod to Coach Philip.

Sure enough, when he heard Wu Dao's words, Coach Philip looked slightly startled, as if he suddenly thought of something, and then he suddenly slapped his head and said with some annoyance:

"Hey, your performance in the previous game was so good that I forgot about it."

"Well, I have to practice it when I have free time."

Coach Philip murmured to himself. Seeing Garnett, Marbury and others looking over with puzzled faces, Coach Philip smiled and explained:

"Then I will develop several special receiving tactics for outside players."

"Martial Arts is no longer a nobody. After such a long period of competition, NBA teams have already gained some preliminary understanding of him."

"In the next games, I'm afraid more and more teams will focus on martial arts as an offensive point."

"For this reason, it is quite necessary to develop several sets of receiving tactics around outside players."

"If you can't get the ball, no matter how strong your singles ability is, it's useless."

Philip's words made several other players look surprised.

Speaking of which, the Timberwolves used to play separately, and the cooperation between them was simple pick-and-roll, follow-up, and breakout.

There are no more complicated things at all.

Their technical and tactical difficulty can be regarded as "basic" in the entire league.

The team is used to losing, and is used to playing badly. Suddenly people realized that the Timberwolves have a high probability of making it to the playoffs this year. If the players can maintain their condition, it is not a dream to win the championship.

While several people were chatting on the sidelines, Chris Kyle of the Timberwolves led the Timberwolves' bench to fight against the Jazz.

The Jazz are a veteran and strong team, and the overall level of the bench is much higher than that of the Timberwolves.

Not long after the second half started, the point difference widened to 6 points.

Coach Philip couldn't sit still, and then put Tom back on the court, hoping that he and Chris could lead the team to make a transition.

But as soon as the Timberwolves made a substitution, the Jazz immediately made changes. Malone took a 3-minute rest after the start of the second quarter and returned to the court.

Malone is a self-disciplined person. Although he is not young, his physical condition is outstanding. The Jazz also hope to take this opportunity to expand the score.

After Malone came on the court, the Timberwolves conceded goals one after another, and the point difference widened to 10 points.

By this time, Philip could not sit still. Four minutes into the second half, he sent the starters back to the court early, but the Jazz did not do this.

After the Timberwolves players entered the court, the Jazz only replaced Jeff Hornacek as a starter and came up to play outside offense.

Brian Russell, who was guarding Wu Dao, was still resting off the court.

Brian Russell was sitting on the sidelines, watching Wu Dao return to the court playing ball, with a bright smile on his face.

(End of this chapter)