Slam Dunk: My Study Abroad Career in Northern Hunan

Every team that can win the championship is the result of the joint efforts of management and players.

Sometimes, the management's operation even outweighs the players' individual efforts in winning the championship. Wu Dao had already realized this before he entered the NBA.

When he was playing for Xiangbei, he could actually clearly feel the impact of the so-called team operations on the strength of the entire team.

If Coach Anzai only relied on his Buddhist attitude, there would be no way he could lead Xiangbei to the throne of national championship.

The reason why Xiangbei was able to win the national championship that year was because two of the star players at the time, Mitsui and Budou, joined Xiangbei one after another, attracting many talented young players to Xiangbei.

Moreover, Xiangbei’s luck was also very good. During the years when they won the championship, they happened to meet Sakuragi Hanamichi, a young junior with top talent.

Normally, talented players would be poached by private schools early on, and it would be impossible for them to stay in a public school like Xiangbei.

The fact that Xiangbei was able to win the championship that year was actually a coincidence.

High school leagues and NBA games actually have a lot in common.

The biggest commonality among them is the influence of team operations personnel on the entire team in the fight for the championship.

A team without foundation, even if they are lucky enough to draw the No. 1 pick, they probably do not have the ability to turn the No. 1 pick into a championship.

A team that lacks long-term vision may not even have the ability to train a top pick.

Players who were originally talented in high school or college will quickly become marginalized when they join those teams, and their outstanding talents will be wasted.

The reason why he could stay and play for the Timberwolves with peace of mind was not only because the Timberwolves selected him with the first-round pick this year, but also because the owner Glen Taylor was generous enough to treat the players. Moreover, the Timberwolves at that time did have great potential and were favored by Wu Dao.

How to evaluate whether a team owner is qualified?
Financial capacity? Operational capacity?
In fact, these are not the most important indicators for evaluating whether a boss is qualified. Every NBA team owner must have strong financial resources, and it is not an exaggeration to call these people capitalists.

The operation of the team is often handed over to the general manager of the team, or at least some owners will directly interfere with the team's draft and management.

For the players, whether a boss can be called "good" depends on whether he is willing to spend money and whether he is "persistent" enough in the championship.

What is the purpose of having an NBA team?
Is it out of love, wanting to use your financial strength to bring a championship trophy to your hometown?
Or are they just treating the team as a tool to make money, as a risk-resistant "financial product"?

Different owners have different understandings of the team, and their ideas often determine the upper limit of the team.

Talking about dreams too much may seem a bit pretentious, but sometimes it is precisely this pretentiousness that can create a great team.

It is true that the Timberwolves are a start-up team, but from a martial arts perspective, a young team has even more potential to win the championship than the Rockets when Yao Ming joined.

Wu Dao had already made up his mind that he would never be restrained by so-called loyalty.

If one day the Timberwolves become an obstacle to his championship, he will kick them aside without hesitation.

But now it seems that the Timberwolves are a very good choice.

On the court, players from the Lakers and Timberwolves had several offensive and defensive interactions.

Garnett tried to show his all-round abilities on the court. After assisting Wu Dao to score, he also actively set screens, made runs and did some blue-collar work for his teammates in the following attacks.

He didn't seem to be constrained by the one-on-one duel with O'Neal, or in Garnett's eyes, these blue-collar jobs were also a way to prove that he was stronger than O'Neal.

Garnett's enthusiasm brought very good results to the Timberwolves, and their offense was extremely smooth.

The Lakers focused most of their defensive attention on Garnett and Wu Dao, but due to the upper limit of the players' individual strength, the Lakers had no way to defend Wu Dao who had the ball on the outside.

Moreover, O'Neal, who was supposed to guard the basket, was influenced by Garnett and would follow Garnett when defending, not allowing Garnett to have easy scoring opportunities. This also led to the fact that when Wu Dao had the ball, he was often able to get gaps to attack the Lakers' basket.

As the game progressed, the Timberwolves' offense became more and more smooth.

Wu Dao and Garnett also consciously mobilized other players such as Marbury on the offensive end. For a while, all the Timberwolves players were in full bloom, and the Lakers' already fragile defense was completely penetrated.

On the defensive end, the Timberwolves also left a very big flaw.

They consciously left O'Neal alone and let O'Neal and Garnett play one-on-one.

Although the position where he receives the ball is often relatively outside, as the game progresses, he is able to score successfully over Garnett's head many times. The success rate of his offense is actually very high, which perfectly demonstrates the dominance of the Big Shark O'Neal on the offensive end.

It was thanks to O'Neal's efforts that the score between the Lakers and the Timberwolves became very close. No matter how hard the players of both teams tried, they could not widen the gap.

It was the ultimate display of O'Neal's personal strength, but at the same time, it was also the result of the Timberwolves deliberately letting the game go.

In the first quarter of the game against the Lakers, none of the Timberwolves players tried to double-team O'Neal when he was playing one-on-one against Garnett. If the Timberwolves had adopted the same defensive strategy as in Game 1, O'Neal might not have played as freely as he did now.

The Timberwolves let O'Neal play as if they didn't care about the outcome of the game at all.

When the whistle sounded at the end of the first quarter, the score between the two teams was 26:24. The Timberwolves only had a two-point lead. Since they were the one who won the jump ball at the beginning of the game, this so-called lead could be said to be completely non-existent.

The two teams were tied in the first quarter.

During the break, the Timberwolves players gathered in the rest area, chatting and laughing with each other. The atmosphere was very harmonious and cheerful, and they did not feel anxious because of the tense situation of the game.

In their view, everything that had happened on the field before was under control.

During the first quarter, Garnett played the highlight of his career so far with his outstanding personal ability, scoring 11 points, 2 rebounds and 3 assists in a single quarter.

For a power forward who only averaged nearly 20 points per game in the regular season, Garnett proved his ability and value in today's game against O'Neal.

O'Neal, who was facing Garnett, scored 15 points, 4 rebounds and 1 assist in a single quarter, surpassing Garnett in personal scoring performance.

But in fact, in the fans' perception, there was not much gap between Garnett and O'Neal in the first quarter.

Judging from the results alone, ignoring the influence of the two players on the court, both of them were actually able to score over each other, giving fans the illusion that Garnett and O'Neal were exploding against each other.

It is foreseeable that after today's game is over, media reporters will also place Garnett in the top tier of the league's inside players.

The Timberwolves players played smoothly and were very happy during the break, especially Garnett. He knew clearly that his performance today was outstanding. His smiling face had the word "happy" engraved on his face.

The other Timberwolves players were also infected by Garnett's emotions, and their faces were filled with smiles. The game situation was obviously very tense, and the difference between the two teams was only two points, but the Timberwolves players acted as if they had already won.

I don’t know whether to say that these players are optimistic or conceited.

Similar to the cheerful atmosphere in the Timberwolves' rest area, the atmosphere in the Lakers' rest area was also very good at this time.

Before the game, the Lakers players were still worried about this game.

They didn't know how to break the Timberwolves' defense. The previous game with the Timberwolves left a huge shadow on the Lakers players.

It would be too embarrassing to be beaten by more than ten or twenty points in the playoffs.

What's more, this is the Western Conference Finals, and they are the Purple and Gold Lakers, who are full of honors and have Shaquille O'Neal.

What I didn’t expect was that the Lakers were able to play so smoothly at the beginning of today’s game.

O'Neal also had an explosion, scoring a terrifying 15 points in a single quarter. The Lakers players are very familiar with this rhythm.

They knew that as long as O'Neal could continue to explode, they would be able to defeat the Timberwolves and win the game.

No matter what, the situation of today's game cannot be worse than that of the game the day before yesterday.

O'Neal is the leader of the Lakers. When he plays comfortably, the atmosphere of the entire team can become harmonious.

Just like in today's game, O'Neal, who played smoothly in the first quarter, was naturally in a good mood. He happily encouraged the substitute players who were about to play, acting the role of a kind big brother.

The Lakers naturally replaced their substitute lineup in the second quarter. In addition to O'Neal, Eddie Jones and Fisher were also substituted off the court.

The players who replaced these players were Campbell, Nick and Kobe.

This lineup can actually be regarded as a relatively standard rotation lineup for the Lakers.

The Timberwolves naturally made personnel adjustments. Although Garnett, who had fought against O'Neal for a whole quarter, was still excited, Coach Philip knew that Garnett's physical strength must have been greatly consumed.

He couldn't keep Garnett on the court in the second quarter. This player was very important to the team and had to make a difference on the court in the decisive period.

For this reason, Coach Philip replaced Garnett from the court in time.

Normally, Wu Dao would be rotated in the second quarter, but Coach Philip took into account that Wu Dao did not contribute much in the first quarter, and for the sake of the overall situation of the team, he did not replace Wu Dao. He hoped that Wu Dao could lead the Timberwolves' bench lineup to widen the gap with the Lakers.

Stanley Roberts replaced Garnett, and Marbury was also replaced by Chris Kyle. The other Timberwolves players remained on the court.

As the buzzer sounded in the stadium, the second quarter of the game officially began, and the players of both teams returned to the court one after another.

The Lakers coach looked at the Timberwolves players entering the court. Seeing that Wu Dao was still in the Timberwolves team, his heart skipped a beat and he felt something was wrong.

He didn't think that the Lakers could still fight the Timberwolves led by Wu Dao 55- after losing the inside big man O'Neal.

O'Neal is the most powerful weapon of the Lakers, but in the first quarter, the Timberwolves only relied on Garnett's performance and the "little" efforts of other players to wipe out the power of their weapon.

By the second quarter, Coach Del Harris didn’t know who on his team could perform to the same effect as Budo.

It’s easy to guess why Coach Philip didn’t replace Wu Dao off the court.

The Timberwolves must want to take this opportunity to widen the score in one go.

If the Lakers were left too far behind in the second quarter, even if O'Neal returned to the court, there would be nothing he could do.

"Shaquille, don't let your body cool down. I'm afraid I can't give you more rest time."

"In the second quarter, if something doesn't seem right, I will immediately put you on the court."

"I hope you're ready."

Coach Del Harris withdrew his gaze from the court and looked at O'Neal not far away, and whispered apologetically.

O'Neal, who was called, still had a smile on his face. Perhaps because he played well enough, O'Neal was also a little excited at this moment, and he didn't feel the fatigue from his body at all. He nodded when he heard the coach's words.
"Of course!"

"If they can't stop them, just put me in and I'll tear those Timberwolves apart!"

O'Neal pounded his chest lightly and spoke confidently.

On the court, the second quarter of the game has begun.

The Lakers served the ball from the backcourt, with Nick Van Exel leading the way.

When O'Neal was chatting with his coach, something strange happened on the court. Nick, who had just dribbled into the frontcourt and was about to pass the ball to Campbell in the paint, suddenly jumped smartly and intercepted Nick's pass.

This scene also made the Lakers fans in the stands burst into exclamations.

On the court, Chris Kyle successfully stole the ball and threw it directly to the front court. At this time, Wu Dao, who was still in Changsha, had already taken the lead, crossed the center line and grabbed the ball.

Next to Wu Dao, Kobe Bryant accelerated with his head down, showing no intention of giving up defense.

Wu Dao, who noticed the pursuer behind him, did not slow down, but rushed forward with the ball. Seeing Wu Dao entering the paint area, Kobe felt that he had no way to stop Wu Dao in the process, so he could only try to steal the ball.

His movements were very fast and sudden, but he was still a beat too slow.

Wu Dao already had the ball in his hands when he crossed the three-point line. Although Kobe successfully touched the basketball, it did not affect Wu Dao's rhythm. He did not dare to make a big stealing move for fear of being called for a foul.

However, this kind of stealing action was simply not enough to get the ball out of Wu Dao's hands.

Wu Dao stepped one step inside the free throw line, jumped up, and then, under the gaze of all the fans, glided to the front of the basket and easily slammed the ball into the basket.

(End of this chapter)