Slam Dunk: My Study Abroad Career in Northern Hunan

In the 99-00 season, coach Phil Jackson had just introduced the triangle offense system to the Lakers. Although during the regular season, after the Lakers improved Kobe's offensive status, the overall team's combat effectiveness had been significantly improved compared to the previous season.

However, this new system has not yet been tested in a major war, and the players' understanding of skills and tactics is still superficial. There is still a big gap between the strength of this Lakers team and the team that established the dynasty.

As the series progressed, the Timberwolves soon got a chance for revenge after suffering a defeat at the hands of the Lakers.

They also learned from the failure of the previous game. In order to deal with the Lakers' triangle offense tactics, the Timberwolves made adjustments quickly.

The Timberwolves have a relatively thorough understanding of the Lakers' triangle offense. Although Coach Philip is a traditional academic coach, he has made some progress in coaching the Timberwolves over the years.

In the Timberwolves' first two rounds, their finals opponents were the Bulls led by Michael Jordan, who had a very deep understanding of the triangle offense.

Although the Lakers' triangle offense tactical system is different from the Bulls', its essence is the same and the operating logic is the same.

The reason they lost before was because they underestimated O'Neal's lethality under the basket.

This time, Coach Philip decided to send Ben Wallace and Barkley to the court at the same time, and they would work together to block O'Neal's attack. Barkley would be responsible for defending from the front and Ben Wallace would be responsible for confronting O'Neal from the front.

Although such defense will leave the Lakers' outside players with open spaces, Coach Philip believes that it is better to give the Lakers' outside players some open spaces than to let O'Neal receive the ball smoothly under the basket.

Of course, there are some rules to letting the opponent's outside players go, and not all players can be let go.

For example, Kobe Bryant, who is known as the Little Flying Man, is an outside player who must not be let go. Coach Philip also specially sent martial arts to guard the young Kobe.

The reason why Wu Dao was sent to specifically target Kobe Bryant was because Wu Dao's physique had a huge advantage over Kobe Bryant.

Whether comparing the two players from the perspective of static physical talents such as height and wingspan, or comparing the two players from the perspective of dynamic talents such as explosiveness and mobility, Budo is the best choice to defend Kobe Bryant.

As for Garnett, he is mobile enough. While controlling the rebounds, Coach Philip also asked him to actively assist in defense and interfere as much as possible with those Lakers players who choose to shoot within the three-point line.

The Timberwolves' defensive strategy also played a huge role in the game against the Lakers. In the regular season game between the Timberwolves and the Lakers, O'Neal played very hard. He only took 12 shots in the game, hit six of them, and scored just over 15 points, less than 20 points.

Such performance on the court is completely inconsistent with his dominance in the interior.

O'Neal's poor performance was also one of the biggest reasons for the Lakers' defeat. The Lakers had no way to pass the ball to O'Neal and were forced to take a lot of shots from the outside.

Kobe Bryant was also full of fighting spirit when facing Wu Dao. Ever since Michael Jordan began to decline and the Timberwolves won two consecutive championships, Wu Dao's reputation in the league has been on the rise. Some fans have already given Wu Dao the title of the best player in the league.

Kobe Bryant originally regarded Michael Jordan as the strongest opponent he wanted to surpass, but now his goal has changed. The Timberwolves' martial arts will be the enemy he needs to defeat in the rest of his basketball career.

When facing Martial Arts, Kobe Bryant didn't care whether his shooting timing was reasonable or not, and he took up most of the team's ball rights. He shot 31 times in a game, but only scored 26 points. The extremely low scoring efficiency also completely destroyed the Lakers' hope of victory.

On the other hand, the Timberwolves, because Barkley needed to use most of his physical energy to defend O'Neal, completely gave up the right to shoot on the offensive end and focused wholeheartedly on defense, and the extra shooting rights were also absorbed by Budo and Marbury on the outside.

In the game against the Lakers, Wu Dao took 23 shots, which was a rare occurrence for him, and scored a terrifying 36 points. The outcome of the game was actually decided when the two teams entered the third quarter.

The starkly different offensive efficiency between Budo and Kobe Bryant naturally gave fans a clear comparison of the strengths of the two players.

Perhaps most fans will not specifically do post-match statistics, but all fans who are watching the game can see how many times Kobe Bryant missed shots in a game. Even in the second half of the game, Lakers fans felt a headache when they saw Kobe catching the ball and could not bear to watch any more.

106: 77.

The Timberwolves defeated the Lakers and got their revenge.

After this game, the Timberwolves' strong strength poured cold water on the Lakers fans. The Lakers fans, who were aiming to win the championship this season, also realized that there was still a certain gap between their team and the Timberwolves.

The original expectations turned into disappointment, and this disappointment turned into a tide of public opinion against Kobe Bryant.

In this game, Kobe Bryant's unreasonable shots naturally aroused public anger. The fans did not blame O'Neal for the loss, but instead blamed Kobe, who took the most shots.

Although it can be said that Kobe's offensive choices do have big problems, a team's defeat obviously cannot be blamed entirely on one player.

But most of the fans simply couldn't see through the Timberwolves' technical and tactical restrictions on O'Neal. They only saw that O'Neal couldn't catch the ball, and the reason that the fans thought of was naturally that Kobe Bryant didn't pass the ball.

What a simple deduction. Sometimes fans are so naive that they cannot see through the essence of the game.

However, this storm of public opinion against Kobe Bryant gradually dissipated after coach Phil Jackson strongly supported Kobe. After the game with the Timberwolves, the Lakers won consecutive victories. Kobe Bryant also learned from his mistakes and performed even more bravely in the following games.

Kobe's talent is unquestionable, and his most important talent is not his physical condition, but his strong fighting spirit and never-extinguished desire to win.

This kind of character is also one of the driving forces behind Kobe's growth.

Any athlete who can stand at the top of the pyramid must possess this kind of unyielding character.

Kobe is growing very fast, and as the season progresses, the Lakers' triangle offense tactics are becoming more and more proficient.

The Timberwolves have won 70 games this season. Although the number of wins has not increased further compared to last season, no team will doubt that the Timberwolves' dominance has weakened.

The Timberwolves are still the same Timberwolves. With their complete championship lineup, they have entered the playoffs with 70 wins.

In the playoffs, the Lakers and Spurs were in the same half of the conference, while the Timberwolves' biggest rival in their half was the Utah Jazz, led by Karl Malone and Stockton.

It is hard to imagine that such a team led by two veterans still has the potential to compete for the championship. Of course, it is just the potential to compete for the championship. In the eyes of fans, the fact that the Utah Jazz, who are full of veterans, are in the same quarter as the Timberwolves has already doomed the outcome.

In the playoffs, the Timberwolves first swept the Supersonics 3-0, and then swept the Jazz 4-0 in the second round of the playoffs. However, this series with the Jazz caused an unexpected event for the Timberwolves players. Barkley was injured in a rebound fight with Malone. With a sprained ankle, he was helped to the rest area by his teammates in the final quarter of Game 3 of the series.

When the team doctor examined Barkley's foot, he found that a large swelling had formed on it. This injury prevented Barkley from continuing the game. Seeing his foot injury, Barkley angrily pounded the bench under him, his face full of unwillingness.

He had just won a championship with the Timberwolves and his career had just been rejuvenated, but with this injury, Barkley's playoff journey ended early.

Barkley's absence also casts a shadow on the Timberwolves' road to the championship.

If the Timberwolves meet the strong Lakers in the next series, it will probably become very difficult for them to continue to limit O'Neal's performance.

For Barkley personally, even if the Timberwolves can successfully win the next game, all these honors have nothing to do with him. He has been completely reduced to a supporting role due to his injury, which is actually something Barkley cannot accept.

Everyone on the Timberwolves has tacitly accepted that Barkley will miss the next game, but no one has shown despair because of Barkley's absence.

The reason is very simple, because the one who led them forward was the martial arts master who once led the team to defeat Michael Jordan.

As long as martial arts can continue to shine in the arena, no matter what kind of opponent it is, they are confident that they can defeat the opponent.

Playoffs, Timberwolves VS Jazz G4.

In this game, Wu Dao completely broke out and took over the game directly, either breaking through or shooting. He scored a total of 51 points and led the Timberwolves to a difficult victory of 97:93.

The Jazz showed great tenacity in this life-and-death battle. Even though their players knew it would be difficult to beat the Timberwolves in this series, they still tried their best in the game against the Timberwolves.

The intensity of the game was also very high. Although Wu Dao scored an explosive 51 points, his physical strength was almost exhausted after this game.

But for the Timberwolves, the result was good.

And just as the Timberwolves and the Jazz were deciding the winner, the other half of the Western Conference was playing fiercely.

The game between the Lakers and the Suns has completely entered a white-hot stage.

The Spurs have been performing very strongly this year, and the twin towers combination of Duncan and David Robinson also left a deep impression on the fans during the regular season.

But for the players, which comes first, accident or honor?
It was something no one could have predicted.

At the end of the regular season, the Spurs were playing a regular season game against the Kings. However, the Spurs' core player Duncan was injured and was directly declared out for the season, missing all subsequent Spurs games.

Without Duncan's support, the Spurs are no match for the Suns.

Led by Hardaway, the Suns were swept out by the Spurs in the first round of the playoffs.

The second round of the series will be a competition between the Suns and the Lakers.

The Suns, led by Hardaway and Kidd, can be said to be one of the pioneers of the future small ball style. The Suns' fast break is like mercury pouring down the ground, and the autumn wind is swift and gorgeous. Even in a league full of strong teams, the Suns' style of play has attracted a large number of fans for the team.

The game between the Suns and the Lakers is also attracting much attention.

The match between these two teams can be said to be the first collision of two eras.

However, judging from the results, the tactical environment of the small ball era is far from arriving. The Lakers swept the Suns 4-1 with a crushing force and advanced to the Western Conference Finals.

The thing that Minnesota fans least wanted to see finally happened. When Barkley was injured, the Timberwolves' Western Conference Finals opponent became the Lakers.

Compared to the Minnesota fans who were nervous, the Los Angeles fans were filled with the flame of revenge.

Having failed to make it to the finals in the playoffs for several consecutive years, Los Angeles fans see the Timberwolves as their team's biggest obstacle.

All Los Angeles fans know that if the Lakers want to stand on the stage of the finals, they have to step over the bodies of the Timberwolves.

Everyone is mentally prepared to face a tough battle.

On the contrary, Minnesota fans are a little less confident in this regard.

Barkley's injury has a relatively large impact on the team, because Barkley's tactical proportion has stabilized this season, and his absence will cause the Timberwolves to make major tactical adjustments.

Western Conference Finals G1.

Just when all Minnesota fans thought this was actually a tough battle, the Timberwolves defeated the Lakers 101-96 without Barkley on the court and took the lead in winning the first game of the series.

Wu Dao scored 44 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists in a single game, and even controlled the score of Kobe Bryant, who was facing him, to less than 15 points. His terrifying dominance on the court directly helped the Timberwolves crush the Lakers.

Even though O'Neal was in great form in the paint and scored 33 points in a single game, he was unable to help the team reverse its decline.

Without Barkley's front defense and double-teaming, there was no possibility of limiting O'Neal relying solely on Ben Wallace, who was one quarter shorter than his opponent, or Stanley, the meat shield.

Once O'Neal received the ball in the low post, he wanted to penetrate Wallace or Stanley Roberts' defense, and he would not even give Garnett a chance to help defend.
Fortunately, the Lakers' most relied-upon outside scorer was completely suppressed by Wu Dao, otherwise, the outcome of the first home game would be uncertain.
The away loss did not discourage the Lakers. They regrouped and soon started the second game of the series with the Timberwolves at the Target Center.

(End of this chapter)