Slam Dunk: My Study Abroad Career in Northern Hunan

"In today's game, Wu Dao's condition is a little different from before!"

"He started out with full firepower. Will he have any stamina issues in the second half of the game?!"

While Wu Dao was playing freely on the court, in the Timberwolves' rest area, the team's executive president Kevin McHale, who was watching the game, whispered to Coach Philip beside him.

McHale is also a player. Although he hasn't played basketball for many years, as a professional player, his keen intuition on the court still exists.

He had actually watched quite a few martial arts matches before, some of which he watched live and some of which he watched through video recordings. He could clearly feel that the state of today's match was somewhat different from previous matches.

What kind of feeling is that?
If in previous games, Wu Dao was always the slow-to-warm-up type, then in today's game, from the very beginning, Wu Dao had already completely entered the state.

Moreover, the aura that Wu Dao exudes is somewhat different from that in previous competitions.

After Wu Dao invaded the Timberwolves, his overall competitive state can actually be divided into two time periods.

When he first joined the Timberwolves, Wu Dao's position in the team was unstable. He was eager to prove himself on the court. After the basketball came into his hands, he often would not pass it out. Even if he was defending two or three people, he would still choose to play alone.

Trying to quickly consolidate their position in this way.

When the Timberwolves completely established Wu Dao's core position, promoted him to the position of the first method, and even tacitly recognized him as the team leader, Wu Dao's playing style also underwent great changes.

When he was on the court, he began to share the ball, trying to allow other players to display their abilities and value on the court.

At this stage, Wu Dao begins to develop leadership qualities.

Although he is far from mature, in Kevin McHale's opinion, this kind of leader is what the Timberwolves really need.

But the temperament displayed by Wu Dao today was somewhat similar to when he first joined the Timberwolves.

He no longer had the calmness of the past, and his whole person became more aggressive.

Whether it was the pull-up 3-pointer at the beginning of the game or the individual singles in this fast break, Wu Dao's offensive choices were actually not very good.

At least in McHale's opinion, Budo actually has better offensive options.

And Wu Dao still chose to believe in his own personal ability, which made McHale feel a little uncomfortable. The running-in of the entire Timberwolves team also became a little different from before.

"Don't worry, although Budo is young, he is very mature."

"He wants to prove himself, but he also knows that even if he has great statistics, if he can't lead the team to victory, he will not be able to escape public opinion."

"Fans who watch the game may recognize his ability, but most people only care about the team's wins and losses."

"He won't go astray."

Coach Philip's eyes remained on Wu Dao, moving along with his movements.

On the court, the Bulls had launched a counterattack, and the basketball was passed several times and finally fell into Pippen's hands.

Pippen, who had the ball, faced Garnett's defense and made a back-to-the-basket shot. Then he made a half-turn in the low post and made a hook shot. The basketball hit the side of the basket and bounced out. The rebound was firmly grasped by Garnett, who was closer to the basket.

Offensive and defensive transition.

Garnett passed the basketball in his hand very quickly, directly to Marbury who was running forward.

At the same time that Marbury slowed down and got the basketball, Wu Dao had already passed Michael Jordan and was rushing directly towards the Bulls' half court.

The Bulls' defense was also very fast. When Marbury dribbled the ball across half court, only three Bulls players had returned to their own half.

Michael Jordan and Ron Harper are both very fast outside players. When the Timberwolves launched a counterattack, only the two of them could keep up with the speed of Wu Dao and Marbury.

Ron Harper's physical fitness is stronger than Marbury's. When Marbury crossed the center line, Ron Harper took the initiative to move towards Marbury from the side. Although he did not make a steal, his appearance also put Marbury under tremendous pressure.

At this moment, Wu Dao, who had entered the Bulls' half earlier than Marbury, had already crossed the three-point line and quickly cut into the Bulls' basket. Marbury, who had the ball, didn't think twice and threw the ball directly towards the backboard.

Marbury was unable to accurately control his strength when passing the ball while moving. Under the influence of acceleration, the height of the basketball was much higher than expected.

However, Wu Dao, who quickly broke into the Bulls' basket under Michael Jordan's defense, seemed to be unaware of it. When the basketball was about to fly over his head, he jumped up directly.

Michael Jordan followed closely behind Wu Dao and saw that Marbury's pass was at a high height and he had no intention of jumping.

Out of reach.

This is Michael Jordan's judgment. His jumping ability is no longer as good as before. He might not be able to receive such a pass smoothly even in his peak period, let alone now.

As for martial arts?!
Michael Jordan stopped and quickly turned his head to look at Wudao who was already in the air behind him. In Michael Jordan's sight, Wudao, who was jumping with his back to the basket, held the basketball with one hand in mid-air. While falling, his body rotated nearly 40 degrees. Then, in Michael Jordan's astonished eyes, Wudao, who caught the ball with one hand, lightly hooked his right hand backwards and sent the ball into the net with a reverse layup.

silence.

The moment Wu Dao's alley-oop layup went into the net, the entire arena fell into an eerie silence. Even Michael Jordan looked at Wu Dao who fell back to the ground in surprise, as if he couldn't believe what he had just seen.

Such powerful jumping ability and such terrifying body coordination.

Is it really possible for a player of Wu Dao's height to do this?

Even someone as experienced as Michael Jordan couldn't help but ask himself at this moment whether he would be able to perform such a ball as easily as Wu Dao if he were in his prime.

Well, maybe I can score the goal, but it probably won’t be that easy.

"Wow—"

After a moment of silence, warm cheers broke out from the stands. The Timberwolves fans waved their cheering signs and shouted Wu Dao's name, appearing very excited.

At this moment, the Timberwolves fans have long stopped thinking about the public opinion storm surrounding Wu Dao and the Timberwolves in the past few days.

Whether a player's talent is strong or weak is actually very intuitive.

After the opening three consecutive attacks, Wu Dao has already demonstrated his physical talent to the fullest, and all the controversies surrounding him are actually meaningless. Such a young player with terrifying talent has a bright future and does not need the so-called stimulants to enhance his performance on the court.

Everyone knows that stimulants have side effects, and a person with a bright future will not gamble his future on such a thing.

Amid the fans' enthusiastic cheers, Wu Dao quickly returned to defense.

"I'm glad you were able to catch it!"

When passing by Marbury, Marbury, who was making an alley-oop, couldn't help but sigh quietly. He had already prepared himself to take the blame, but he didn't expect that Wu Dao could actually catch the high pass.

The height that Wu Dao reached when he caught the ball just now must have exceeded 3 meters. If he hadn't been catching the ball, he would have been able to touch the top of the backboard.
too terrifying
Wu Dao did not respond to Marbury and quickly ran past Marbury. At this moment, his attention was more focused than ever and meaningless gossip did not enter his ears at all.

Wu Dao's amazing performance greatly boosted the morale of the Timberwolves team. When the Timberwolves players, who were originally demoralized, saw Wu Dao returning to the court to defend, they all showed bright smiles on their faces.

The Bulls failed to score in several consecutive attacks. When Ron Harper once again brought the ball into the Timberwolves' half, he had no other ideas and could only pin his hopes on Michael Jordan, hoping that he could lead the team to break the current deadlock.

Pippen was originally positioned on the left wing, and when Ron Harper dribbled the ball into the Timberwolves' half, he also moved quickly and penetrated into the Timberwolves' inside line.

The Timberwolves did not put too much defensive effort on him. After chasing him for a distance, Tom stopped in front of the right baseline and did not continue to chase Pippen who had moved to the right bottom position.

Small space.

Ron Harper's physical condition is more advantageous than that of his opponent Marbury, and his eyes have already noticed Pippen in the small open space. If he chooses to pass the ball, Pippen only needs to take two steps to easily catch the basketball in the sideline area.

This is also the regular rotation of their triangle offense system.

But Ron Harper did not choose to continue to trust Pippen at this moment, but instead passed the ball directly to Michael Jordan on the wing.

"." When Pippen saw Ron Harber's pass, his eyes dimmed for a moment.

Although he had expected it in his heart, he couldn't help but feel disappointed when Ron Harper chose Michael Jordan instead of himself.

Sure enough, in the Bulls, Michael Jordan is the undisputed boss.

Whenever the team enters a critical moment and needs to score, the players always think of Michael Jordan first, not other players.

There is no way. Phil Jackson would rather trust Kukoc than Pippen at the critical moment.

The Eastern Conference semifinals in 94 has always been a shadow lingering in Pippen's mind.

That year, Michael Jordan was playing baseball. In Game 3, the two teams were tied with only 1.8 seconds left, but at this critical moment, Zen Master Phil Jackson did choose to let Kukoc take the buzzer-beater.

Whenever he thought of this incident, Pippen felt that it was an insult to himself by Zen Master Phil Jackson.

In order to oppose Phil Jackson, Pippen refused to play in order to maintain his limited dignity.

However, the result was very disappointing. Kukoc executed the buzzer-beater very well and helped the team win.

After the game, Kukoc said: "I am very happy that I made the buzzer-beater. But everyone was angry at the time because he did it wrong."

Kerr said: "Pippen is one of our favorite teammates. We can't believe this happened. This is simply devastating. The worst thing is that we know this is not Pippen's character. We also know that this will be a stain on his reputation."

There is no doubt that Pippen's resistance made him the biggest clown on the NBA court that year. His resistance also once again proved the "greatness" of Phil Jackson.

A rift developed between Pippen and the team, and the final result was that Pippen gave in and apologized in front of the entire team.

But what is infuriating is that Michael Jordan, who was playing baseball, commented nonchalantly: "I don't know if Pippen can get over this. One day, in some conversation, this will come back to haunt him."

So many years have passed, but Pippen still hasn't been able to let it go. Even on the basketball court, whenever a crucial ball ignored his presence, Pippen would recall what happened that year.

And in today's game, Michael Jordan's words seemed to come true.

Martial arts trash talk helped Pippen regain long-lost memories.

After two consecutive offensive failures, Pippen was also hurt by his teammates' distrust of him.

There was clearly nothing wrong with what Ron Harper did, but from Pippen's perspective, it was a lack of trust in him and a harm to him.

On the court, Michael Jordan got the basketball on the wing.

At this moment, no one would pay attention to what Pippen was thinking. All the fans' attention was on Michael Jordan and Bu Dao.

Wu Dao and Michael Jordan were very close. Michael Jordan half turned sideways to the basket and protected the ball in front of himself. Wu Dao's left hand was resting on Michael Jordan's waist, putting pressure on Michael Jordan in this way.

Michael Jordan, who was holding the ball, saw that Wu Dao was very close to him, so he turned around quickly and tried to break through Wu Dao's defense.

However, at the moment when Michael Jordan turned around and shot the ball, the martial arts behind him directly hit Michael Jordan with his chest. After the fierce physical confrontation, he slid diagonally backward and caught up with Michael Jordan easily, forcing Michael Jordan's breakthrough path to be extended.

Although Wu Dao is young, he and Michael Jordan have already fought against each other several times and have some understanding of Michael Jordan's playing style.

Michael Jordan is very fast and has strong explosive power. To deal with such an old man, you cannot allow him to fully utilize his physical talents. You must use intense physical confrontation to affect his opponent's technical movements.

Only in this way can martial arts have the possibility of defending Michael Jordan.

Just as Wu Dao expected, Michael Jordan was affected by his own tough confrontation, his impact force was weakened, and his speed of advancement slowed down.

Michael Jordan, who had just crossed the three-point line, was forced to stop in place by martial arts. His eyes were also looking at Rodman in the inside. The latter understood what he meant and quickly moved up.

Before Wu Dao could react, Michael Jordan accelerated again. When Wu Dao was ready to continue chasing, Rodman had already come behind him and hung Wu Dao in place.

Michael Jordan broke into the basket and forced a layup under Garnett's defense. After a fierce physical confrontation with Garnett, Michael Jordan was still able to maintain his posture in the air, and his layup posture changed in the air. He directly threw the ball into the net.

As the basketball went into the net, the entire arena was filled with cheers from Bulls fans.

(End of this chapter)