Slam Dunk: My Study Abroad Career in Northern Hunan

Garnett didn't take the loss in the jump ball seriously. After all, the opponent was so much taller than him, and it was not surprising that he lost the victory due to his lack of awareness.

However, Wu Dao's slightly sarcastic laughter deeply hurt Garnett.

Before going on the court, he swore to Wu Dao that he would leave a deep impression on the yellow center, but as soon as he came on the court, he was slightly superior to others. With Garnett's proud personality, he naturally could not allow such a thing to happen.

"Come over here and see, idiot!"

Garnett, who got into defensive position early, swore a lot. He is just that kind of person. He can't play basketball on the court without swearing.

However, Garnett's magical attack is completely useless to players like Yao Ming, because they simply can't understand what he is saying.

Yao Ming quickly ran into the frontcourt with his teammates and also quickly entered the inside. He leaned his huge body directly on Garnett without dodging, trying to squeeze Garnett away and head towards the basket.

Garnett planted his feet on the ground, quickly raised his hands in front of his chest, and tilted his upper body slightly, trying to keep Yao Ming in place. His efforts did have some effect. Although Yao Ming was tall enough at this age, his weight was mediocre.

His lower body is considered stable among Asian players, but compared with Garnett, Yao Ming, who has a higher center of gravity, is unable to push his opponent.

However, Yao Ming did not force his way into the basket. Less than 2 meters away from the basket, Yao Ming quickly turned around, leaned his back against Garnett, and raised his hands to ask his teammates on the outside for the ball.

The student team had the ball, and when he saw the yellow guy asking for the ball, he did not pass it to Yao Ming.
All of them are students, and Tyronn Lue is even a rookie selected by the Timberwolves this year. At this time, in front of the media reporters, Tyronn Lue naturally wants to show his personal abilities.

The player defending him is the tall Chris Kyle. In Tyronn Lue's opinion, there is still a glimmer of hope.

After continuous changes of direction in front of his body, Yao Ming, who had entered the paint area early, was forced to leave the paint area quickly and move to the side to create space for his teammates at the top of the arc.

Yao Ming was a little disappointed when his teammates didn't pass him the ball the first time he got into position. But he adjusted his mentality very quickly. It was normal for his teammates not to trust him in a foreign country.

When playing in China, Yao Ming had never experienced this feeling.

Today is the era when big centers are popular.

Whether at home or abroad, the value of the center on the basketball court is difficult to match by other players.

Yao Ming has excellent height and has never encountered such cold treatment during his growing up experience.

After all, at every age, he is always the tallest player in the team and the easiest point for the team to score.

It’s just that in the United States, players play more selfishly.

When a yellow man like him plays with unfamiliar players in a foreign country, he may not even touch the basketball a few times during a game.

Tyronn Lue's continuous shaking also quickly adjusted Chris Kyle's center of gravity. Kyle was taller and knew that he might suffer a disadvantage in terms of speed, so he immediately changed his defensive strategy and quickly approached Tyronn Lue in front of him, intending to use close defense to confront the opponent.

Tyronn Lue has enough experience. With his height, he was selected by the Timberwolves in the first round at 17L, which naturally has its advantages.

Tyronn Lue was also very successful in college, averaging 20 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists per game. Although he made many offensive turnovers, his outstanding personal abilities and long enough shooting range also made him shine on the college court.

Tyronn Lue's draft report emphasized his speed and agility. Although his shooting is unstable, it is sufficient in the current game environment.

When he was in college, Tyronn Lue took on a relatively large proportion of the team's offensive tasks.

At the same time when Chris Kyle was unable to move forward, Tyronn Lue, who was dribbling with the ball, suddenly changed his rhythm, accelerated and passed directly by Chris Kyle. His extremely fast speed made Coach Philip on the sidelines raise his eyebrows slightly.

Tyronn Lue's attacking speed may have caught up with Marbury.

The only difference between him and Marbury is that Tyronn Lue's preparatory actions before breaking through are more complicated, and he spends more time sticking to the ball.

Tyronn Lue, who passed Chris Kyle in one step, rushed directly towards the Timberwolves' inside. Seeing this, Garnett decisively let go of Yao Ming in front of him and rushed towards the attacking Tyronn Lue.

Tyronn Lue was obviously very concerned about Garnett. Before Garnett could even come forward, he simply chose a layup and passed the ball to him.

The shooting point was very high and the arc was also very high. Garnett didn't even have the intention of jumping up to block the shot. He just turned around and wanted to go back to the basket to grab the rebound.

But at this moment, Yao Ming suddenly stepped into the paint area and firmly trapped Garnett behind him.

"?!"

Yao Ming has very agile footwork and excellent positioning awareness. Garnett, who lost the best spot to grab the rebound, also forced his way into Yao Ming's waist, trying to affect Yao Ming's jump.

"Dang~~"

As the basketball hoop made a slight sound from the side, Ben Wallace jumped up quickly and grabbed the falling basketball.

But before Ben Wallace's body reached the highest point, Yao Ming, who had occupied the best landing point for the basketball, jumped lightly, and his finger had already touched the bottom of the basketball, and put the ball into the basket.

"Shu~"

A light sound was heard in the court, and Yao Ming, who successfully scored the goal, also smiled. At the sidelines, several Chinese people from his accompanying team applauded warmly, and it seemed that they were very satisfied with Yao Ming's condition and performance today.

Garnett and Wallace actually lost their backcourt rebounds. Looking at the big man Yao Ming quickly returning to his court, the two looked at each other and saw surprise on each other's faces.

This is not the first time that the two of them have encountered opponents of this height. They have also played against Sabonis, who is known as the roof of the world. There are people in the NBA who can reach the height of Yao Ming.

It’s just that the playing styles of the young Yao Ming and Sabonis are completely different, or in other words, there is also a huge gap in their physical conditions.

For the power center position, Yao Ming's speed is considered good. Garnett and Ben Wallace ultimately underestimated this big guy and his lateral speed.

"Give him a fight, Kevin."

"With their height, if the ball doesn't bounce high enough when a rebound comes, you two won't be able to get the rebound at all."

"Position, fight back~"

Wu Dao's words were heard by Garnett and Ben Wallace. Could it be that Ben Wallace and Garnett didn't know such a simple truth? Of course, there was no such possibility. Wu Dao just wanted to use such words to stimulate the two inside players, hoping that they would change their contempt for Yao Ming, really take this game seriously, and show their best condition.

Although Garnett and Ben Wallace have been teammates with Wu Dao for nearly a year, it is difficult to reverse the stereotype of black players towards Asian players in such a short period of time.

After all, they have played in the NBA for so many years, and Wu Dao is the only yellow player who can achieve good results. He is an exception, and there is no way to change the collective memory of black players.

In the minds of Garnett and Ben Wallace, a yellow man like Yao Ming naturally cannot play basketball well.

Although they have already stepped onto this court, they still look down on Yao Ming as their opponent.

This kind of contempt will only turn these two people into clowns who serve as foils for their opponents on the field.

Wu Dao doesn't want Yao Ming to think that NBA players are nothing special.

Yao Ming's entry into the NBA as the No. 02 pick in also fueled his arrogance. It is impossible for a young man like him, a child of destiny, to not have a little arrogance in his heart.

Why does Yao Ming often talk about beating Tyson Chandler? The reason is actually very simple, because Yao Ming thinks that Tyson Chandler, the second pick, is a piece of shit and he can easily beat him.

Although this is true, these two experiences also made Yao Ming underestimate the NBA.

You see, he easily beat Chandler, the No. 2 pick, and yet he himself entered the NBA as the No. 1 pick.

When he first entered the league, he actually believed from the bottom of his heart that he could easily adapt to the NBA arena.

Even Yao Ming once thought in his heart that he was the Rockets' choice for immediate combat.

When will this mentality change?
It wasn't until Yao Ming was knocked down by his opponent on the court and became a laughing stock across America that his mentality really changed.

After that embarrassing incident on the court, Yao Ming began to rebound and truly got into his role.

If the incident like Barkley kissing a donkey's butt had not happened later, Yao Ming's being knocked down by his opponent in his rookie season would probably have become a black history and label that haunted him throughout his life.

However, this dark history was overshadowed by the bigger explosive point of Barkley kissing a donkey's ass.

Wu Dao doesn't want to see Yao Ming make a fool of himself in the NBA arena. In this NBA training camp, he must let Yao Ming know the gap between himself and the NBA. Only in this way will he be more focused on practicing after returning.

Instead of muddling through in low-level leagues with the mentality of "I can beat Chandler at will".

Between offense and defense, Chris Kyle also quickly advanced to the frontcourt with the ball.

Chris Kyle in the lake immediately looked in the direction of Wu Dao, and indeed found that Wu Dao was standing there with his hands on his hips and his body straight, with no intention of catching the ball and attacking at all.

Martial Arts' state also surprised Chris Kyle, and he looked at the other players.

Our boss doesn't seem to have the intention of attacking with the ball, so let's look for other opportunities.

Chris Kyle's eyes had already seen Garnett who was back-to-back in the mid-range, and without any hesitation, he flicked his wrist and passed the ball to Garnett. Tyronn Lue in front of him had no way to stop Chris Kyle's pass.

Tyronn Lue's strengths and weaknesses are actually very obvious. While he has good independent offensive capabilities, his physique is also his biggest shortcoming on the court.

According to the Timberwolves coaching staff, the grown-up Tyronn Lue is at best a substitute.

There is no way, unless Tyronn Lue has the same offensive power as Iverson.

But if Tyronn Lue's offensive power really reaches the level of Iverson, then the Timberwolves will not keep this player on the team, because they no longer have extra ball rights to give to players like Iverson.

The moment Garnett received the ball with his back to the basket, Yao Ming's chest was already pressed against his body, with his hands raised high, ready for battle.

Tilting his head slightly, Garnett felt the light was blocked and the tall figure cast him into shadow.

The sense of oppression brought by this height is real. Garnett broke the ball and leaned his body hard on Yao Ming. Then he made a shoulder fake move, turned around and leaned back to shoot a jump shot.

Garnett's series of movements were very smooth and fast, and his body gave the opponent enough resistance to Yao Ming.

The moment the basketball was shot, Yao Ming had no way to interfere with Garnett.

Yao Ming is also a player with very obvious advantages and disadvantages. Needless to say, his height advantage is natural. His biggest disadvantage is actually his jumping ability and his arm span.

Yao Ming's arm span is not excellent, and as for his jumping ability, there is no way to compare with heavy players like O'Neal.

If we compare O'Neal's jumping ability to Yao Ming's, this big guy can only jump as high as a matchbox.
This type of player is actually not good at dealing with players like Garnett.

After Yao Ming's weight increases, it will be very advantageous for him to play against players like Howard and Daban who like to attack the basket. He can even hold out against the physically terrible O'Neal in his twilight years.

But for a nimble player like Garnett who is good at turnaround jump shots, it is a bit difficult.

Even when facing the peak Gasol, the two were at most 73-64, which did not form a crushing situation. After gaining weight, they were consumed by the Gasols in turn in international competitions, and were in turn suppressed by their opponents.

Although Yao Ming's footwork is still quite agile now, he is still not as good as Garnett.

"Shhh!!"

The basketball went directly over Yao Ming's head and fell steadily into the basket.

As the basketball made a slight sound, Yao Ming turned around quickly, feeling a little surprised.

in the country, there are not many inside players whose skills have reached Garnett's level.

The opponent's backward movement was clean and elegant, without any drag, just like a split.
(End of this chapter)