Slam Dunk: My Study Abroad Career in Northern Hunan

Tracy McGrady: I ​​was 19 and sat in the audience like a nobody.

The game between the Timberwolves and the Lakers entered a white-hot stage. Under O'Neal's strong performance, although some Timberwolves players got into foul trouble, the team's momentum did not weaken.

Although the quality of the Timberwolves' defense declined compared to the first two quarters, when Wu Dao was still on the court, the Timberwolves' momentum was still very high.

McGrady sat in the audience seats, watching Wu Dao and O'Neal leading their respective teams in a fierce confrontation with their opponents on the court, and his blood boiled in his heart.

He wished he could transform into one of Wudao or O'Neal's players right now, step onto the Western Conference Finals stage, and show his talent and strength in front of fans across the country.

All young players want to be the most eye-catching one on the court, and McGrady is no exception.

He was the 97th pick in the first round of 9 and was very young. Compared to other players, his starting point was actually very high.

But compared to players like Kobe, Bryant and Budo, McGrady's luck is not very good.

The first team he joined was the Toronto Raptors, which, like the Timberwolves, was also a very young team.

But unlike the Timberwolves, the Toronto Raptors don't have that many talented players.

The best player of the entire team is Walter Williams, who averages 19.4 points per game. There is no strong star player in the team, and the team's record is at the bottom of the league and has never made it to the playoffs.

In such a team, McGrady was unable to fully demonstrate his talent and strength in his first season.

Moreover, the Raptors are a very young team, and the management cannot compare to a powerhouse like the Lakers in training young players.

Let’s say that there is not much difference between McGrady’s starting point and Kobe’s starting point, but the paths they will take next are completely different.

Different growth experiences also created two stars with completely different personalities and playing styles.

Compared to Kobe Bryant, McGrady actually prefers pull-up shots from outside the three-point line when facing high-intensity defense. His pull-up shots can be said to be his signature offensive style, which is unrestrained and cool.

But for the team, this offensive method is obviously not the best choice.

During the period when McGrady and Yao Ming were working together, fans could often see McGrady shooting three-pointers from the outside after getting the ball, while Yao Ming also tried to get the ball in the low post.

When McGrady shot out of the basket, Yao Ming, who was asking for the ball in the low post, naturally had no way to grab the rebound over his opponent's head under the disadvantageous situation.

At that time, McGrady's fans would simply blame Yao Ming for not being able to occupy a rebounding position, but never thought about whether McGrady's three-pointer was reasonable.

Of course, this is just an offline channel for some fragments and scenes during the Yao Ming and McGrady Rockets period.

What we can see more often is Yao Ming's high-post pick-and-roll and McGrady's downward breakthrough.

Compared to Kobe, McGrady is actually better at taking advantage of his teammates' pick-and-rolls. This is also his habitual offensive method with the big center, which is completely different from Kobe.

When the OK combination was at its peak, O'Neal rarely pulled out from those high-post pick-and-rolls for Kobe, because O'Neal's offensive sweet spot was under the basket. The difference between him and Yao Ming was that O'Neal's mid-range and long-range shooting was not very accurate.

This is just one of the reasons. More importantly, Kobe's strong self-esteem and burning desire to win make him not rely on the help of his teammates when attacking. More often, he chooses to rely on his personal abilities to solve problems.

And his playing style can also create enough space for O'Neal in the interior.

In this regard, McGrady cannot be compared with Kobe. His one-on-one play is not decisive enough, and in many cases he cannot create low-post space for Yao Ming.

How can a player who likes to shoot three-pointers help the big center in the interior to create space?
This is obviously an unrealistic thing.

Liking to attack with the help of screens may be a sign that McGrady plays more as a team, but for an outside player who needs to cooperate with the big players in the interior, it is hard to say that this is a good habit.

McGrady is a player who likes shooting. At this moment, he is looking at the martial arts on the court with shining eyes.

When he was still finding his place in the Raptors, he seemed to see his future self when watching the martial arts competition.

He knows in which direction he should work hard and in which direction he should make progress.

On the court, the game between the Lakers and the Timberwolves was very tense. O'Neal's performance today could be described as a god descending to earth. None of the Timberwolves' inside players could stop O'Neal in a one-on-one situation, and even delaying his offense was difficult to do.

Garnett, Ben Wallace and others were substituted off the court one after another, and Stanley Roberts and Cherokee Parks also had a few minutes of playing time in the third quarter.

O'Neal's inside attack was too strong. In order to balance the number of fouls committed by the team's inside players, Coach Philip had to resort to the worst strategy.

Fortunately, the Timberwolves have enough inside players, and these inside players are quite good. Players like Ben Wallace and Garnett are defensive pioneers. It is not easy to find players of this level of defense in other teams.

But the Timberwolves have two.

Although O'Neal's offensive was unstoppable, his weaknesses were clearly revealed in this game.

In the third quarter, the Timberwolves' inside players committed frequent fouls, causing the game to be cut into pieces.

As the main target of fouls against the Timberwolves, O'Neal was frequently sent to the free throw line by the Timberwolves players.

Although this guy's attack in the dessert area is unstoppable, when he is asked to stand on the free throw line, this fat guy is at a loss for a moment.

"Dang~~"

"Dang~~"

After two consecutive missed shots, the Timberwolves fans in the stands cheered in gloating.

The sarcasm and ridicule that flooded into the court made O'Neal's already dark face even darker.

With the rotation of offense and defense, the Timberwolves also quickly launched an attack.

The basketball was passed to Wudao in the corner. Wudao received the ball in the right corner, stepped forward with his left foot, took a simple tentative step and then shot a three-pointer.

With a flick of his hand, the basketball went straight into the net with a crisp sound.

Under the basket, Stanley Roberts and Cherokee Parks, who came on as substitutes, seemed to have anticipated that Budokai would choose to attack on their own. They had no intention of asking for the ball and immediately tried every means to get inside, trying to grab the best rebounding position.

Among the Timberwolves, only Garnett sometimes tries to position himself inside. The other players have a clear understanding of their positions and know that rebounding and defense are their main jobs on the court.

With such support from his teammates, Wu Dao has unlimited firing rights. He does not need to worry about whether his teammates have occupied a good position under the basket or whether his three-point shot is reasonable.

Bu Dao's team positioning in the Timberwolves is completely different from McGrady's future team positioning in the Rockets.

The Timberwolves do not have an unstoppable center, so any offensive choice is reasonable for the team because all the inside players will be ready to grab rebounds.

On the sidelines, young McGrady was excited when he saw Wu Dao make another three-pointer, widening the gap between the two teams to 5 points.

He felt that what martial arts could do, he could also do.

On the court, the Lakers began to attack after failing in defense.

After Fisher dribbled the ball into the Timberwolves' half, he called for a pick-and-roll and then quickly dribbled toward the inside. Wudao was defending Fisher in a mismatched position and had no intention of backing down. He directly used his body to block Fisher's path.

The powerful force made Fisher stagger. While moving, Fisher also felt the power of martial arts. Without any hesitation, he threw the basketball in his hand directly into the ground.

The basketball was directly given to O'Neal who was in the position with his back to the basket. As soon as he got the ball, O'Neal threw it with his right hand and leaned sideways to hit Stanley Roberts against the wall.

O'Neal knew clearly that his old friend had committed a lot of fouls. This was a great opportunity for him. O'Neal's grandson didn't even bother to see whether other Timberwolves players were going to double-team him, and he directly planned to attack Stanley Roberts.

After using his body to push his opponent back half a step, O'Neal held the ball in his right hand and prepared to take a strong shot. However, just as O'Neal took the ball and took two big steps to prepare for a dunk, Wudao, who was originally defending Fisher, suddenly rushed back to the basket.

He slapped the basketball directly with one hand.

The power of martial arts is very strong. O'Neal was also on guard while moving. He changed his rhythm and his speed of attacking the basket was faster than the normal speed, and he raised the ball much earlier.

Wu Dao's hand that was slapping the basketball directly grabbed O'Neal's wrist. The huge force actually pulled O'Neal, who was about to jump and had an unstable center of gravity, backwards. Under the gaze of the fans, the huge body of O'Neal fell to the ground with a "bang", and the basketball in his hand rolled off.

At the same time, the referee's whistle sounded at the right time.

As expected, Wu Dao was called for a foul and O'Neal was sent to the free throw line by Wu Dao.

The referee's decision was actually very accurate and the timing of the whistle was also very appropriate.

However, the fans in the stands started talking about the referee's decision when they heard it, and seemed that they were quite dissatisfied with the referee's decision.

"Damn black whistle! This fat guy is obviously faking a fall!"

"Is this a foul? He was clearly hitting the ball!"

Wudao heard a familiar national curse from the stands, and the fans' boos also poured into the stadium. The fans were actually quite dissatisfied with the referee's decision.

At this time, O'Neal was lying on the floor. Due to the secretion of adrenaline, O'Neal could not feel the pain in his body at all under such a violent impact. He felt a little dazed at this time.

Even O'Neal himself did not expect that when he wanted to dunk, he would be pulled down by martial arts. The opponent's terrifying power also gave O'Neal a deep understanding.

Although his center of gravity was not stable when he was about to dunk, you have to know that O'Neal himself weighs nearly 300 pounds. Even if O'Neal stood there and did nothing, it would not be easy for him to be pulled down.

O'Neal blinked his eyes in confusion, slowly sat up from the ground, glanced at Wu Dao who raised his hand to accept the punishment not far away in surprise, and couldn't help but whispered:
"What's wrong with this guy?!"

Until he stood on the free throw line, O'Neal couldn't believe what he had just experienced.

He made his first free throw, and the crisp sound of the iron bar brought O'Neal back into the game.

"."

Seeing O'Neal miss the shot, the Timberwolves fans in the stands burst into loud boos after a brief silence.

"Free throws, what the hell! Just give us the ball and save us the trouble!"

"You won't get in anyway, so stop pretending!"

O'Neal's attitude towards the second free throw was obviously much more serious. After getting the ball, he stood on the free throw line and dribbled for a long time before shooting the ball amid the boos and sarcasm of the fans.

The pressure he was under was really too great. The fierce booing from the Timberwolves home fans caused O'Neal great psychological pressure.

Moreover, the intense physical confrontation with the Timberwolves players also caused his shooting touch to drop to freezing point, and his second free throw missed again.

With O'Neal leading 2-0 again, the cheers of the Timberwolves home fans filled the entire arena.

Although Wudao had already committed his third foul, Coach Philip on the sidelines clapped his hands with a smile, praising Wudao for his beautiful defense.

Although the Timberwolves were in foul trouble, Coach Philip also saw hope for the Timberwolves' victory from O'Neal's frequent missed free throws!

The game between the two teams continues.

The Lakers missed both free throws and were reduced to a two-pointer by the Timberwolves.

Wu Dao and Marbury cooperated well with each other. After two consecutive passes, Wu Dao used his deterrent power on the court to attract the Timberwolves' double-team and created an open opportunity for Marbury.

The pass came to Marbury, who held the ball and rushed directly from the middle to the basket and scored easily.

The difference between the two teams also increased from five points to eight points.

In this fierce game, the Timberwolves' advantage is getting bigger and bigger.

However, foul trouble soon broke out on the Timberwolves side. At the end of the third quarter, Stanley Roberts fouled out and the player who replaced him was not Ben Wallace, who had 5 fouls, nor was it Garnett, who had four fouls.

But it was Sam Mitchell, whose physique was far different from O'Neal.

No one on the Lakers understood why the Timberwolves made such a substitution. In their opinion, when a big center leaves the court, he must be replaced by another big center.

Otherwise, the Timberwolves would have no way of stopping a player like O'Neal.

But as the referee blew the whistle and the game between the two teams continued, the Lakers finally knew the Timberwolves' plan.

砍鲨
O'Neal's weaknesses were completely exposed to the Timberwolves and he was targeted by them.

Faced with the Timberwolves' shark-cutting tactics, the Lakers had no solution for a while.

Instead, they watched helplessly as the balance of victory tilted towards the Timberwolves, with no player able to stand up at this critical moment.

Although O'Neal wanted to make the free throw, unfortunately, his strength did not allow it.

(End of this chapter)