Slam Dunk: My Study Abroad Career in Northern Hunan

Chapter 600 The gap between players!

Although Minnesota fans were a little disappointed with the loss against the Wizards, such emotions disappeared without a trace as the Timberwolves defeated the Seattle SuperSonics at home three days later.

Before the game against the Timberwolves, the Seattle SuperSonics were a super team with 15 wins and 5 losses, ranking second in the Western Conference.

Gary Payton, Detrev Schrempf, Vin Baker, Jose Hawkins, and Darle Ellis were all once All-Star players.

This year's Seattle SuperSonics can be said to be a star-studded "Galactic Battleship", but even so, the Seattle SuperSonics ultimately lost to the Timberwolves 104:107.

武道这一场比赛在对手的严防死守下依旧是拿到了32分9板6助1抢断的出色数据，而且完成这些得分，武道只用了18次出手。

In this game, Garnett and Marbury both scored close to 20 points. Their performance on the court was quite outstanding, laying a solid foundation for the team's victory.

At the same time, Chris Kyle also performed well today, scoring his season-high 18 points.

Although Ben Wallace still made no sound on the offensive end, his performance on the defensive end has improved somewhat compared to the previous game.

After entering the Timberwolves, out of consideration for martial arts ideas, after acquiring Ben Wallace, the Timberwolves gave him more than ten minutes of playing time in every game to express himself.

In the Timberwolves, Ben Wallace seems to have found his own position, focusing all his thoughts on defense, protection, and support.

Ben Wallace's defensive talent is already excellent, not to mention that defense is very demanding on players' attitude, which also makes the already focused Wallace improve quickly on the defensive end.

What's more, in the Timberwolves, Garnett is also a very good defensive player. Watching Garnett play off the court, Ben Wallace can often understand something from Garnett's defensive actions.

Coach Philip is not a fool. He has never been a fool who only looks at the players' offense.

During this period of games, Philip was not fooled by the eye-catching statistics handed over by Wallace. He saw the value of this player from Wallace's games. Philip knew that what the Timberwolves lack now , is not a scorer.

It's defensive players like Wallace who are willing to do the dirty work that doesn't reflect the data.

Philip knows that if Ben Wallace is properly trained, he can become an indispensable part of the Timberwolves' championship puzzle.

The win against the Seattle SuperSonics allowed the Timberwolves to truly secure their No. 1 spot in the Western Conference.

Whether it's record or hard power, the Timberwolves have jumped from a weak team to a championship-seeded team.

It didn't take long for Minnesota fans to be happy. On December 12, the Timberwolves faced the Knicks, led by Gorilla Ewing, in New York.

In this game, Wu Dao Kong scored 44 points. Under Wu Dao's strong offensive performance, the Timberwolves actually lost this game 100:107 on the road.

The reason for losing is also very simple.

因为这场球，尤因23中12，罚球14中10，砍下了34分12篮板。而尼克斯另外一个内线，那位曾经在93-94赛季得到过最佳防守一阵的查尔斯·奥克利也是拿到了12分11篮板。

和尼克斯的内线数据相对应的，森林狼这边的白人中锋切洛基·帕克斯，上场了10分钟0分3板3犯规，本·华莱士打了两节半26分钟，收获2分4板4助攻4犯规。

而加内特，打了40分钟，16中6，罚球4中3，收获了15分5板4助5犯。

Needless to say, just looking at the statistics of the Timberwolves' interior players and comparing them with the Knicks' interior players, it is already clear what the reason for the loss was.

Unlike the Wizards who had previously defeated the Timberwolves, the Wizards used technical and tactical tactics to divert Garnett, the Timberwolves' defensive powerhouse, and then defeated the Timberwolves from the inside. The Knicks, however, had no intention of diverting Garnett. Because of his sophisticated skills and thick muscles, he taught the Timberwolves' insiders a solid lesson.

Cherokee Parks was directly beaten by Ewing in one quarter. After Wallace came on the court, Garnett and Wallace took turns defending Ewing, but both were pushed to the ground and went crazy by the "King of New York" Friction, even the Knicks' Charles Oakley, who can guard Garnett on the defensive end, is miserable.

Garnett's scores were basically mid-range shots, posing no threat to the Knicks' basket at all.

As for Martial Arts, he is an outside player who focuses on shooting. Except for attacking the basket during fast breaks, he also focuses on shooting most of the time.

The reason is also simple. Several of his attempts to attack the basket were pulled down by Ewing or Charles Oakley. Moreover, this is the home court of the Knicks. There were several fouls committed by the opponent, and the referee simply pretended not to see them.

The efficiency of attacking the basket is too low, and Wu Dao is forced to take more shots, although his mid-to-long range is the Timberwolves' super weapon.

But in this era, no matter which team they are, they absolutely cannot only attack from the outside, especially when rebounds are not guaranteed.

Lost to the Knicks, Wu Dao scored 40+ points, and soon appeared in some good media newspapers. Although Wu Dao is just a newcomer, his reputation is already quite big, especially after he kicked Malone over and was beaten by Jordan. After naming and criticizing”.

With this defeat, Jordan's previous evaluation of martial arts has once again "rolled" in front of the public.

Some Jordan fans even use Jordan's criticism of martial arts as a bible. When facing Timberwolves fans and martial arts fans, they will always use Jordan's words to ridicule them.

You can often hear people discussing this matter during martial arts breaks. Sometimes reporters will mention this matter in interviews before and after games, hoping that martial arts can respond positively.

On the night of losing to the Knicks, a reporter from New York asked Wu Dao with a smile: "What do you think of Jordan's evaluation of you?"

In this regard, Wu Dao didn't say much, he just replied with a calm expression: "On the basketball court, let your performance speak for itself."

Although it is not very sharp, the reporters are quite satisfied with the martial arts answer. When I turned around, the newspaper started to use Wu Dao's words as its headline, and began to wildly compare the records of the Bulls and Timberwolves from the beginning of the season to the present.

At the same time as the comparison, the New York media also secretly mocked Jordan, as if watching the excitement was not too big a deal.

People in the basketball media and industry know Jordan's temper, and he will never tolerate this kind of thing.

Sure enough, after Wu Dao's remarks were distorted by the media, they turned into "a super rookie challenging the God of Basketball."

Minnesota fans naturally support their players, but in this era, how many people are not Jordan fans? Even in Minnesota, there are quite a few people who support Jordan. These fans may not support the Bulls, but they may support Jordan.

The Bulls are nothing without Jordan.

And without the Bulls, Jordan is still the god of basketball, and his personal IP has become very loud.

The chaotic media environment has affected the Timberwolves' games to some extent. The most direct impact is that whenever there is a martial arts competition, there are always fans who do not know the "ingredients" to insult martial arts. On December 12, when playing against the Suns led by supernova Jason Kidd (the second pick in the first round of 11), it was at the Target Center Arena, the home of the Timberwolves.

Every time Wu Dao misses a ball, there will be a burst of laughter from the fans in a certain corner.

This was really the first time that Wu Dao had encountered this scene. Every time he missed a shot, he was laughed at. Even in the worst away games, Wu Dao had never encountered it before.

In such a competition environment.

Wu Dao also couldn't help but take more shots. In the game against the Suns, facing Antonio McDyess's full coverage, Wu Dao either burst or shot. He took 36 crazy shots and hit 25 of them, including 11 three-pointers. He made 7 of 7 free throws and scored 7 points in a single game, leading the Timberwolves to completely crush the Suns 64:112.

The average height of the Suns is not as high as that of the Timberwolves. Facing a team like the Suns, Wu Dao can play very freely, and the Suns have no way to limit his violent scoring state. No player on their team can contain Wu Dao's fiery touch. .

A violent beating against the Suns also allowed the fans to truly see the martial arts when scoring violently. What surprised them was not that the martial arts could suddenly increase from an average of 20+ shots per game to 36, which almost doubled, which made the fans They were surprised that while martial arts' physical strength could maintain such a high number of shots, it could also have such a terrifying popularity rate.

That three-point shooting percentage of more than 6% is shocking just looking at the data.

It's hard to imagine how desperate Taiyang must have been when facing martial arts.

While the Timberwolves defeated the Suns, the Bulls led by Jordan also crushed the rookie Raptors, who had recorded 97 wins and 70 losses since the beginning of the season, 2:19 on the same day.

Although winning against the bottom team in the Eastern Conference is nothing to brag about, it is still a big win and is quite valuable to Bulls fans.

But although Bulls fans are happy, Jordan fans are a little unhappy.

In this game against the Raptors, Jordan played 27 minutes, made 16 of 4 shots, and scored 11 points. His shooting percentage was as low as 25% because he felt cold.

As soon as the data from the two games came out, Timberwolves fans seemed to be celebrating the New Year, while Jordan fans

Fueled by the media, fans from both sides were also noisy.

When Jordan was being interviewed after the game, another reporter who was short-sighted mentioned this incident. Under Jordan's "eyes of death", the reporter who asked the question was forced to "see the point" and shut his mouth.

Of course, how could Jordan be so rude in front of friends from the media? After the reporter who asked the question shut up, Jordan still replied leisurely:

"In the game against the Raptors, we are already determined to win."

"Our Bulls beat the Raptors by nearly 30 points. As I said before, the most important task for a player is to help the team win."

"As long as the team wins, I don't care about individual statistics."

"I no longer need to use sideline honors such as scoring champions and MVPs to consolidate my status."

"My goal is simple, that is to win the championship!"

"I hope to win another championship with my teammates."

"My goal is not to compete with a young person to see who is stronger and who is weaker. Comparing a rookie who has never played in the playoffs to me is insulting!"

"My goal is to win the second three consecutive championships!"

In front of the media, Jordan can always easily maintain his dignity. His honor is too strong. No matter how strong martial arts fans praise martial arts, no matter what kind of performance martial arts performs on the field, there is nothing in their hands. Without honor, it is impossible for him to overpower Jordan.

Sure enough, as Jordan said these words, this topic could no longer be discussed.

But at this time, Wu Dao had no time to pay attention to what "interesting words" Jordan said at the press conference.

After the home game against the Suns, the Timberwolves will meet a new challenger, the Los Angeles Lakers, on December 12th!

This is the second battle between the Timberwolves and the Lakers. The Lakers are now 17 wins and 5 losses. They have the same record as the Seattle SuperSonics and are also one of the strongest teams in the Western Conference.

Facing the Lakers, the Timberwolves showed great importance.

Only when the Lakers players arrived did the Timberwolves players know that the Lakers' inside ace, Shaquille O'Neal, was absent from today's game.

As for the reason for absence.

Hmm. This big shark suffered a minor injury and underwent a minor operation. He needs a "little" rest. Not only is he missing the game against the Timberwolves, but he will also be absent from the Lakers' nearly 10 games in the future. He won't appear on the field for a month and a half.

In the stadium, as the buzzer whistled, players from both sides also entered the stadium one after another.

Wu Dao entered the court and took his position, but his eyes couldn't help but glance towards the Lakers' rest area. There, Kobe was sitting with his teammates, looking at Wu Dao on the court with an unhappy expression. When he noticed Wu Dao's gaze, Kobe barely managed a smile on his face.

His dissatisfaction was not directed at martial arts, but at their coach, but it was undeniable that the reason for his unhappiness had something to do with martial arts.

Wu Dao, who entered the league a year after him, has become the leader of a team and has even become a topical figure in the league. Fans will mention Wu Dao from time to time, and when martial arts is mentioned, fans will inevitably mention Jordan.

It was as if he was discussing martial arts and Jordan together.

But Kobe, who is also a high school rookie, can only sit on the bench. Not to mention becoming the team leader, he is not even a starter. How can this strong sense of gap make Kobe feel better?

What's more, Kobe is the kind of player with a strong self-esteem.

In sharp contrast to Kobe, O'Neal was wearing a suit and happily chatting with his teammates.

What could be better than taking a break and taking a break during the "working day"? !

O'Neal is obviously in a very good mood, and his attention is not focused on the upcoming game.

O'Neal's laughter when chatting with his teammates was quite harsh to Kobe's ears.

The relationship between people is like this. It is difficult for you to expect others to understand your mood at this time.

Obviously, it is impossible for O'Neal to know Kobe's mood.

(End of this chapter)