Slam Dunk: My Study Abroad Career in Northern Hunan

Chapter 703 A small greeting!
As the referee's whistle sounded, the basketball was moved to the backcourt by Greg Foster and was held by Stockton.

Although the opening kick was lost, the fans in the stands still cheered loudly and encouraged the Timberwolves players.

The Timberwolves retreated very quickly. When Stockton took the ball and crossed the center line, their players had already quickly completed their positions.

In order to deal with the Jazz, coach Philip divided the team's inside group into two groups. Originally, the Timberwolves' starting inside group was usually Garnett and Ben Wallace.

These two are players who are tough on defense and have enough mobility. When the two of them are on the court, the Timberwolves' interior defense is the most stubborn and impenetrable.

But in the game against the Jazz, the Timberwolves did not allocate their inside group in this way.

Coach Philip put Garnett on the bench and formed an inside combination with Roberts and Wallace. The plan in his mind was actually to let Wallace and Roberts wear down Malone.

After grinding for a few minutes, he sent Garnett and others on to continue putting pressure on Malone.

The Jazz's offense actually relies more on Malone's performance, and the Timberwolves' interior bench depth allows them to try to play a protracted game.

Wallace and Garnett take turns playing, which should be able to test Malone's physical fitness. Because the defense of these two players is not weak, Malone will not feel no pressure when facing such two opponents. On the contrary, he often needs to pay some physical costs to be able to get past the defense of these two jumping men.

Of course, coach Philip's arrangement, love is not that simple. The Timberwolves attach great importance to an MVP-level player like Malone. In order to express the importance of the Timberwolves to Malone, Philip also instructed the players on the outside to give him a lot of attention. It's a bit difficult for Malone to catch the ball in the mid-low post.

Stockton entered the frontcourt and then dribbled the ball towards the top of the arc, preparing to coordinate the team's offense. When observing, he more or less noticed the defensive pressure on Malone's side.

In addition to Roberts, who faced Malone head-on, Wallace on the side was also ready to move, showing that he might be double-teamed anytime and anywhere. Jeff Hornacek, another ball-handler on the team, also noticed this. He did not look at Stockton at the top of the arc, but looked at Greg Foster who was being guarded by Wallace. .

Hmm. This should be considered an explicit statement.

Jeff Hornacek didn't show any intention of running to catch the ball. Stockton immediately understood his teammates' thoughts and quickly lobbed the ball to Greg Foster inside.

When the latter caught the ball, Ben Wallace, who was opposite him, also quickly approached, his eyes quickly retracted from Malone, and his arms were raised high to block Greg Foster's view.

Inside players are different from outside players. No matter how good a post player is, they cannot leave the ball open. Being so close to the basket, leaving the ball open equals giving away points. Even non-players can understand this.

Greg Foster is not the main scorer in the Jazz's team system.

His role in the Jazz team is just a functional player. His average playing time is less than 20 minutes per game. His main tasks are to grab rebounds, defend and provide screens for his teammates.

Attacking this thing is not within his scope of responsibility.

However, just because he is not good at attacking with the ball does not mean that Greg Foster does not have the ability to attack.

The Jazz are a team with a relatively even distribution of ball rights. Except for Karl Malone, who has the most shot rights, all other role players have similar shot opportunities.

As a point guard, Stockton is a team-oriented point guard. He will look for teammates with better opportunities in his team to pass the ball.

Therefore, everyone in the Jazz team is mentally prepared to take the ball and eat the pie.

The basketball fell into the hands of Greg Foster. The latter glanced at Wallace slightly. Feeling that he had a chance, he bent his arms and made a strong shot under Ben Wallace's defense.

Wallace was ten centimeters shorter than Greg Foster. Wallace, who had no time to take off, could only lightly bounce his feet and raise his arms in an attempt to block the shot.

The basketball flew past Wallace's fingertips, grazed the backboard, and bounced gently toward the basket.

As the fans watched, the basketball hit the edge of the basket, spun around and then slid out of the basket.

The rebound appeared, and Stanley Roberts used his huge size to quickly jam Karl Malone behind him.

But when the rebound fell, Malone secretly pressed his elbow on Roberts' back, then jumped up and grabbed the basketball in the air.

A slight pain came from his back. Stanley Roberts, who was about to take off to grab the rebound, felt the pain. He stumbled forward and failed to take off smoothly. He watched helplessly as the rebound was knocked backward from his head by Karl Malone. .

The falling rebound fell towards Karl Malone behind him. After Malone touched the ground on one bounce, he quickly took off twice.

He grabbed the ball tightly in his hands, and after it landed on the ground, his hands holding the ball didn't even bother to let go of the adjustment, and just shot.

The Jazz took the lead early on as the basketball fell into the net.

There were sparse cheers and applause in the stands. Karl Malone, who successfully scored, was more excited. He bent his arms and showed off his strong biceps towards Roberts in front of him.

Malone's small movements were relatively subtle, and Roberts, who was experienced in the game, also became very ugly at this time. He did not lose his temper at the referee, but silently walked to the baseline to serve.
"Don't think too much about the lost ball and prepare for the next attack."

"start running!"

Budao clapped his hands, shouted to the players, and then quickly ran to the front court.

Encouraged by Wu Dao, the Timberwolves' players quickly got over the disappointment of losing the ball and began to enter the state.

Marbury took the ball and advanced very quickly. In just a few seconds, he had already approached the top of the Jazz three-point arc with the ball.

The Timberwolves are used to playing fast-paced basketball. After Marbury approached the top of the arc, he didn't think much about it. After continuous hip dribbling, his center of gravity dropped and he quickly broke through to the left.

Stockton, who was guarding Marbury, quickly followed up with a crab step. During the march, his left hand quickly pulled towards Marbury's jersey. While restraining Marbury with small movements, Stockton's right hand also quickly moved toward He clicked the basketball in Marbury's hand and tried to steal it.

Players like the Jazz have already mastered these small moves in defense.

These things have already become part of their defense. If the opponent cannot adapt to their defensive intensity, then they will not be able to exert their full strength when facing players like the Jazz.

The Timberwolves players are all young and have not been in this arena for a long time. But players like Marbury, who entered the NBA early, have already become familiar with the intensity of NBA games in the past few years, and have long been accustomed to these small moves by their opponents on defense.

Marbury, who had just crossed the three-point line, suddenly stopped, held the ball with his left hand and quickly changed the direction with a back dribble. Then he flipped his wrist and passed the ball directly to the side.

Inside the three-point line on the wing, Wu Dao, with his back to the basket, drew his hands and quickly took the ball in his hands.

After a simple back-up shot, Wu Dao quickly held the ball over his shoulder, then turned around to face the frame and made a strong shot against Adam Keefe's defense.

As an outside scorer, this scoring method has long become the most commonly used weapon in martial arts.

After being hit by him on the back, Adam Keefe could barely keep his footing, but Wu Dao had already turned around and shot.

Faced with such a powerful offensive, Ji Fei couldn't even jump. He could only stretch out his hands and try to interfere.

The basketball quickly flew over Adam Kiefe's head and fell toward the net. Under the watchful eyes of the players on the court, the basketball thrown by Budao accurately fell into the net with a crisp sound.

Seeing the basketball hit the net, the Minnesota fans suddenly burst into cheers from the stands. Compared with the previous cheers when the Jazz scored a goal, this warm cheer was completely on a different level.

It has to be said that home field advantage has a huge impact on the players' condition.

Wu Dao, who was surrounded by cheers, also had a confident smile on his face. He glanced at Adam Kife opposite him, stretched out his hand and gently shook his finger.

What he wanted to say at this time was self-evident.

Seeing Wu Dao's actions, Adam Keefe acted very calmly.

This is not the first day he has played against the Timberwolves, and he has some understanding of the characters of these Timberwolves players.

Although Wu Dao seems to be a fair and gentle person.

But in fact, Wu Dao on the scene is basically a person who is determined to retaliate. It is precisely because of his character that some fans call Wu Dao Huang Qiaodan.

It's not because martial arts and Jordan's skills are so similar, but because fans can see the shadow of Jordan in him.

"Double team in time."

"Good defense."

On the sidelines of the court, coach Jerry Longs saw the Timberwolves scoring easily and didn't have any good way to deal with it. He could only clapped his hands and reminded the players on the court.

Facing a player of martial arts level, simple one-on-one defense cannot limit the opponent at all.

It is necessary to increase the defense, but even so, there are always some balls that the defensive players cannot catch up with. When encountering such balls, it is the coach's job to give encouragement and confidence to the players.

Between the alternation of offense and defense, the Jazz quickly launched a counterattack.

The basketball came to Stockton's hands, and Stockton, who was approaching the top of the arc with the ball, did not choose to pass the ball to other players this time.

Although Greg Foster inside still has a certain amount of shooting space, in Stockton's view, this point is no longer a good passing option.

Stockton, who was holding the ball at the top of the arc, was slow to release the ball. Jeff Hornacek on the wing quickly understood his teammates' intentions and quickly ran towards the top of the arc to cover his teammates.

Stockton quickly rushed to the left with the help of his teammates' pick-and-roll, trying to cut inside to attract the defense of Timberwolves players, thus creating scoring opportunities for his teammates.

But what he didn't expect was that several of the Timberwolves' inside players had no intention of stepping forward to help defend him when he broke through. Of course, Stockton wouldn't be polite if he let him get inside. He picked the basket and sent the ball into the basket to score successfully.

"Sorry, mine."

Sam Mitchell's change of defense was a bit slow and he failed to keep up with Stockton's sudden movement. After making an obvious mistake, he raised his hands and said apologetically to his teammates.

Faced with his small mistake, several members of the Timberwolves just nodded and had no intention of blaming him.

As the basketball came out of the Timberwolves' backcourt, the Timberwolves immediately organized an attack.

In this round of offense of the Timberwolves, Marbury still did not release the ball immediately, but chose to call his teammates for a pick-and-roll.

Stockton just scored a goal on his own team's head. With Marbury's character, he had to give back to Stoker in the same position.

Otherwise, this would not be worthy of his title of lone wolf.

There are often two ways of picking and rolling high pick and rolls.

One is for the wing player to provide cover from the side, and the other is for the inside player to pull up to the high post and then move down.

The offensive options evolved from the two pick-and-roll methods are also different. The final result of the pick-and-roll by the wing players is often converted into outside shooting opportunities.

When inside players come to the high post to cover, their ultimate intention is often to create inside scoring opportunities.

The Timberwolves' interior combination composed of Stanley Roberts and Ben Wallace does not actually have a strong pick-and-roll ability.

Although Wallace's pick-and-roll quality can be excellent, he does not have an excellent mid-range shot and the ability to attack the frame with the ball. This directly leads to the shrinkage of his pick-and-roll power, which is far from being comparable to Garnett.

Therefore, when the Timberwolves players noticed that Marbury was calling a pick-and-roll, the two inside players had no intention of moving at all.

On the contrary, Wu Dao on the wing quickly came to Stockton's side and provided a screen for Marbury. After a pick-and-roll, Wu Dao also quickly ran towards the three-point corner on the left, creating a chance for Marbury. Enough room for display

With the help of Wu Dao's pick and roll, Marbury also rushed forward. When the Jazz players focused their attention on Wu Dao, Marbury, who had crossed the three-point line, quickly stopped in the high post and shot a jump shot.

The Timberwolves still have some fears about the inside guarded by Malone. Not only are they worried about the opponent's excellent physical condition, but more importantly, they are afraid that the opponent will do something evil.

Although Marbury is an iron-headed boy, his head is not that iron-headed yet.

If there is an easy outside scoring opportunity, Marbury does not want to risk trying to break into the basket guarded by Malone.

The basketball was thrown from Marbury's hand, hit the lower edge of the basket, and bounced toward the wing.

Under the basket, Greg Foster and Karl Malone guarded both sides of the basket, occupying the best rebounding positions.

The basketball fell rapidly above Malone's head. Just as Malone was about to take off and take the ball in his hands, a huge force suddenly came from his back, pushing him forward and staggering forward.

Wu Dao, who was obviously going to the corner, suddenly killed the inside and stepped up. Then Wu Dao rode on Malone, grabbed the ball with one hand, and dunked the ball into the basket.

"Bang!"

The loud noise of the slam dunk silenced the entire court. After a short silence, amazing cheers poured into the court.

The media reporters on the side of the court also kept clicking their shutters. As the flash flashed, the scene of a martial arts rider dunking a horse was recorded.

"Don't worry, just say hello."

Wu Dao grabbed the basket and passed over Ma Long's head before falling back to the ground. He glanced sideways at the angry-looking Ma Long behind him and Wu Dao smiled.