Slam Dunk: My Study Abroad Career in Northern Hunan

After the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the San Antonio Spurs in a decisive seventh game, the four teams for the conference finals have all been decided.

In the Western Conference, the two teams that emerged from many strong teams and successfully stood on the stage of the Western Conference Finals are the Timberwolves and the Lakers.

The first game of the Western Conference Finals will also be held at the Target Center!
When it comes to the conference finals, the attention paid to the game is far beyond what can be compared with previous games, and the Timberwolves and the Lakers are two of the most watched teams in the league.

There is no need to talk about the Lakers, they are an old and strong team full of honors. The history of the Bauhinia Lakers is full of glory. Los Angeles itself is also a big basketball city, and the power of the Los Angeles media is far beyond the reach of ordinary small cities.

The Lakers' exposure in this era is even comparable to that of the Bulls where Michael Jordan is.

Because in the Lakers, there is Shaquille O'Neal, a guy who is both powerful and has a big mouth. With the stars and the big market, the popularity of the Lakers is self-evident.

As for the Timberwolves today, although their popularity in the media cannot be compared with that of teams like the Bulls and Lakers, as one of the strongest teams in the league today, the Timberwolves' record itself will attract many fans.

More importantly, Budo's identity as an Asian player also makes the Timberwolves an extremely popular topic among fans.

Even in the 1990s, the number of yellow people developing in the United States was very large. Some of these people were second-generation immigrants, and some were Asians who came to the United States from Southeast Asia for various reasons in earlier years.

Although this yellow race group may come from different countries and different ethnic groups, they do have a common identity here - Asians.

You can't expect white people to be able to tell which country an Asian is from.

Just as we have no way of telling the difference between black people.

In the basketball world, the yellow race is at the bottom of the contempt chain.

The emergence of martial arts also provides an outlet for all yellow fans to vent their emotions. This influence is somewhat similar to the influence of Liu Xiang, a yellow man, who crushed a group of black players in the 110-meter hurdles.

Of course, in the world, the influence of martial arts is far from comparable to that of Liu Xiang. After all, Liu Xiang was truly the top of the world back then. Not to mention domestically, Liu Xiang's appearance was also the "C position" focus in the international arena.

His appearance broke the "racial shackles" and "racial prejudice".

In the American basketball world, the emergence of martial arts also broke the long-standing prejudice that "yellow people can't play basketball well". When he and his Timberwolves stood on the stage of the Western Conference Finals, all the yellow people spontaneously united around the Timberwolves and became fans of the Timberwolves.

Just like back then, almost all Chinese people were Rockets fans.

When Yao Ming played for the Rockets, the Rockets were like the second national team for the Chinese people. Some younger fans even thought that the Rockets were a domestic team operating abroad. Not to mention China, fans in almost all countries in Asia have heard of Yao Ming's name.

Among those people, many are also Yao Ming's fans.

It is precisely because of Wu Dao's skin color that although the Timberwolves' media exposure is not as high as that of the Bulls and the Lakers, the number of fans they have cannot be described by simple words like "small market".

5 month 18 day.

The Target Center in Minnesota was packed with people.

There are nearly 300 media reporters present today. Although a large number of them are here for Shaquille O'Neal's Purple and Gold Lakers, many are also here for the Timberwolves and Martial Arts.

As the game progresses, the influence of martial arts has gradually spread around the world, and his appearance has more or less affected the overall basketball environment in Asia.

In the 1990s, there was little exchange of basketball players in China. Hu Weidong and others' plans to play basketball overseas were shelved.

Yao Ming, who is only 18 years old, has already made his mark in the league. Although he is still young and immature, he is determined to pursue a higher level of league. It’s just that due to environmental restrictions, he cannot go abroad so easily.

The emergence of martial arts also opened a small gap in this domestic environment.

Human beings like to compare the most. When some people in China see that the yellow race has influence and honor in higher-level leagues, they will also be full of yearning for that influence and honor.

Those who restrained Yao Ming did not restrain him because of the ties of interests. The key point that finally made them decide to let Yao Ming go to play basketball overseas was not the so-called financial interests.

Wealth is just one of the important factors before making a decision.

The most important thing is that I hope Yao Ming can get the title of "No. 1 Chinese".

As their positions rise and their horizons broaden, it is sometimes this kind of false reputation that makes people rush forward madly. If Yao Ming can stand out, he can also give back to them and make a bold entry in their book of merit.

It is precisely because of the influence of this environment that Yao Ming's team in China began to actively look for contacts in the United States for Yao Ming, trying to facilitate Yao Ming's entry into overseas leagues.

Because it is often other people's children who can irritate your parents.

Yao Ming's team also contacted the Hook Basketball Summer Camp in the United States for Yao Ming, which will be held at the end of May.

The timing happened to be the break between the NBA semifinals and finals.

With the existence of a successful case like martial arts, everyone believes that the talented Yao Ming can also achieve brilliant results in the NBA league. Participating in the summer camp is just a simple test.

But everything that happened outside the basketball court had nothing to do with martial arts.

As they approached the stadium, the doors to the player tunnels on both sides opened.

The Timberwolves players also trotted into the stadium through the player tunnel.

The lights in the Target Center were dim. As the Timberwolves players entered the court, the spotlights fell on the players one after another. The deafening cheers of the fans poured into the court, filling the entire arena.

Wu Dao was the last one in the entire team to enter the stadium. At this time, he had already been treated as a star in the Wolves. In many cases, the management would give Wu Dao some privileges to highlight his special status.

It can be seen that the team's management is also trying to make Budo into a superstar.

For a team, creating a superstar like Jordan and O'Neal may require a lot of manpower, material resources, and various media resources.

But for the team, if they can really succeed in creating a star, the profits that the superstar can bring to the team are unimaginable for others.

The Timberwolves' team owner, Glen Taylor, is a truly wealthy man, synonymous with capital, and he is someone who is willing to spend money on his players. For players he really likes, he will not be stingy with his wallet at all.

Wu Dao's excellent physical condition has the potential to become a superstar.

His gorgeous playing style and handsome face are assets to the team.

Today's Western Conference Finals is also the most important part of Glen Taylor's star-making plan.

If you want to create a superstar, relying solely on so-called personal data is far from enough. In today's league, personal data is not what fans value most.

What they value most is actually the players' performance in leading the team. Winning the conference finals and winning the championship are what the Timberwolves are really pursuing.

In fact, for Wu Dao personally, when he, as a rookie, led the Timberwolves to the stage, he had already achieved success, and his name will be remembered by Minnesota fans.

But Glen Taylor wants more than just this little bit!
He wanted to pursue greater benefits.

Glen Taylor has actually already thought about it. Once the Timberwolves can break through the siege in the Western Conference Finals and make it to the finals, he will use all the resources in his life to build Minnesota into a basketball city around the Target Center.

The huge profits behind the basketball industry are exactly what Glen Taylor is looking at.

This kind of industry makes money much faster than industries like making printers and glass!

When the Timberwolves players entered the court, the spotlights were also turned to the other side of the court. The Lakers players slowly ran out of the player tunnel amid the cheers of the fans.

The fans present today are not just local Minnesota people. Many Lakers fans also came from far away to Minnesota to watch the final G1 of their favorite team.

There is no way to compare the number of Lakers fans with the number of Timberwolves fans, but it is also a very strong force.

This will allow the Lakers players to reduce the feeling of playing away from home as much as possible and perform at their best.

As the players from both teams entered the stadium, the cheers from the stands gradually died down.

The players returned to their respective rest areas and began to make final preparations before the game.

"Western Conference Finals, I've finally made it this far."

Wu Dao raised his head slightly and looked around, looking at this familiar arena, his heart was burning. It was a familiar environment, but the atmosphere of the fans on the scene was completely different from the previous games.

The number of media reporters surrounding the inner field was far greater than any previous game.

All of this is new and wonderful to martial arts.

"Hey, what are you thinking about?!"

"Are you worried about my injury?"

"I'm fully recovered now. You can leave the inside to me without any worries. I will pin Shaquille to the ground!"

Beside Wudao, Garnett noticed that Wudao's mood seemed a little different from before. Thinking that Wudao was worried about his injury, he immediately smiled and said.

Garnett has fully recovered from the concussion he suffered in the previous game. For today's game, Garnett is full of confidence in himself.

"Leave it to you?"

"Then I'll have to rely on you."

"I really hope to hug your thighs one day, Kevin."

Hearing Garnett's words, a smile appeared on Wudao's face.

If Garnett can really do what he said, then Wu Dao really doesn't mind assisting Garnett.
However, O'Neal should not be willing to do so.
The Timberwolves' pre-match preparations had actually been completed yesterday. Before going on the court, Wu Dao carefully adjusted his leggings, calmed himself down, and waited for the game to begin.

Ten minutes later, the buzzer at the competition venue sounded.

Players from the Timberwolves and Lakers also walked into the court one after another.

In order to deal with O'Neal, Coach Philip also made slight adjustments to the Timberwolves' starting lineup. Tom Gugliotta, who was supposed to start, was kept on the bench by the coach, and was replaced by Stanley Roberts of the Timberwolves.

Yesterday's Game 7 between the Lakers and the Spurs gave Coach Philip some inspiration. The Spurs did a great job of limiting O'Neal yesterday. Although the game ended in a loss, it was not because of the Spurs' strategy.

It's simply because the gap between the Spurs' outside players and the Lakers' outside players is so huge. Coach Philip has experienced the feeling of being unable to cook without rice when he coached the Timberwolves.

Just because the Spurs can't do well doesn't mean the Timberwolves can't do well either.

In today's game, Garnett was placed at the third position by Coach Philip, while Wu Dao was moved to the second position.

Letting Garnett play the power forward position does not mean that we expect Garnett to be able to play to his ability of dribbling the ball. Coach Philip's expectation for him is that he can put pressure on O'Neal in time when the team is defending, so that he dare not easily force his way to the basket.

The person who faced O'Neal head-on was Stanley Roberts, a meat shield type player, and the person assisting him at the power forward position was Ben Wallace.

Although Wallace is not very tall and is not as tall as the average power forward, and cannot be compared with a big center like O'Neal, he has excellent strength and strong mobility, and can make a great contribution to limiting O'Neal.

With Garnett and Ben Wallace assisting Roberts, Coach Philips is confident that he can contain the Lakers' O'Neal.

Philip did not ask for his strategy to shut out O'Neal. He only asked that the three players on his team could control O'Neal's score in a single game to within 25 points and the number of rebounds to around ten. In this case, the defense in this game would be considered a success.

As for the rest, leave it to Wu Dao and Marbury.

Coach Philip gave Wu Dao two tasks: the first was to score, and the second was to defend the opponent's outside scorers.

In today's era, superstars have to do more than just attack. Every superstar who can be remembered by fans is a true offensive and defensive player.

A superstar with shortcomings is actually not worthy of the title of superstar. At best, he can only be considered a popular role player.

The Lakers' starting lineup was O'Neal, Robert Horry, Rick Fox, Eddie Jones and Fisher.

The Lakers' starting lineup is relatively fixed. On the back line, the Lakers coach prefers to use the older Eddie Jones as the starter. No matter how Kobe performs on the court, he has never put Kobe in the starting lineup.

He would do this not because Eddie Jones' personal ability is much stronger than Kobe Bryant's, but simply because Eddie Jones is much older than Kobe Bryant. If Kobe is put in the starting lineup, it would be hard to justify to Eddie Jones, an All-Star veteran.

It's all about human nature.

At the No. 1 position, due to the decline of Nick Van Exel, Fisher was also promoted. The playing time of these two No. positions is almost the same, and it depends more on the game situation. If stability is needed, Fisher will be put on the court. If you need to catch up and score from the outside, Nick Van Exel will be put on the court.

The players of the two teams took their positions in the center circle one after another.

Whether it is the Lakers or the Timberwolves, they are now quite familiar with their opponents, and the players are looking at their opponents with full of fighting spirit in their eyes.

(End of this chapter)