When pride still matters

Chapter 200 This is your punishment

After training camp, the relaxed but mixed preseason begins.

The Bucks won three of four games in the preseason. In the game they lost, Yu Fei only played 10 minutes.

Karl intends to test the strength of the new players, especially the two rookies.

The result was not ideal. Pachulia's defensive problems were amplified, and Haslem's technical roughness was also exposed.

"I also hope they can contribute to the team immediately, but obviously, they still have a long way to go." George Karl said, "You can't expect every rookie to shine like Frye. "

After the preseason, the Bucks prepared at home for a few days before ushering in the opening game of the 2003-04 season.

As the defending champion, the Bucks sit at home and usher in the first opponent of the new season-the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Kevin Garnett, the core player of the Timberwolves, is one of the most successful high school rookies in history. He came to the away game and saw Yu Fei, who was also a high school rookie, leading his team to the top in his sophomore year. He raised the flag at home and claimed the victory. Championship ring, how do you feel about it?

What is certain is that he has absolutely no idea of ​​"being proud of anything".

This summer, Garnett, who had only one year left on his contract, did not reach an early contract extension with the Timberwolves.Although he has talked about his love for "Sota" on various occasions, the lack of renewal of the contract represents doubts about the future and is a statement of "I don't know if I want to stay here".

It's no wonder that the Timberwolves have been constantly rebuilding since the team was founded. They finally got Garnett's "big ticket", but they failed in the first round of the playoffs for seven consecutive years.

No matter what the reason is, Garnett needs to put pressure on the team, he can no longer muddle along.

Therefore, the Timberwolves, who were worried about losing Garnett, brought Garnett the best lineup in team history during the offseason.

The Timberwolves first signed the parallel import No. [-] pick Michael Olowokandi, and then traded for Sam Cassell from Washington.Later, they had to face the situation where the world line was changed.

Since Sprewell was sent to Milwaukee from New York as early as last year, and Madman is a hero of the championship, the Bucks have no reason to trade him.

Therefore, the famous three-headed monster of the Timberwolves is impossible to form in this life.

In fact, in the original timeline, the Timberwolves themselves faced two choices.Sprewell's trade came from a four-team trade. The Timberwolves' choice was to get Hedo Kotglu of the Kings and Keith Van Horn of the 76ers, or to bet on Sprewell.

Garnett preferred Sprewell, so they chose the latter.

There is no Sprewell option in this life.

After repeated weighings, the Timberwolves finally sent Mark Jackson and Terrell Brandon in exchange for Hedo Turkoglu from the Kings, and then exchanged Glenn Robinson from the Knicks.

Suddenly, the Timberwolves got a starting lineup with good strength: Cassell, Szczerbiak (Turkoglu), Robinson, Garnett, Olowokandi.

The Timberwolves' new lineup was also recognized by the Galacticos.

At the media day not long ago, a reporter asked Gary Payton of the Lakers who was their biggest threat to the championship.Payton directly named the Timberwolves.

“They have a starting five that can match up with us, and it’s not to be underestimated.”

These are Payton’s exact words.

Although this is not what everyone thinks, this is how the Timberwolves look and feel.

Today, as the first show of this team, they visited Milwaukee to witness the Bucks raising their second championship flag.

However, the person in the Timberwolves who felt the most about this scene was not Garnett, but Big Dog Robinson.

Big Dog watched the flag hoisting into the sky with infinite emotion in his heart. This seemed to illustrate the necessity and correctness of the team's trade for him. From now on, people will no longer care about his existence and contribution.

Only champions will survive.

The flag was raised in the sky, and Yu Fei got his championship ring from Stern. He tried to put the ring on, and then saw Garnett staring at him.

"Want it, KG?"

Yu Fei still has a good impression of Garnett.

And this good impression is entirely based on reality - Garnett performed well in last year's All-Star Game, and even helped the Western Conference Stars seal the victory in overtime and won the AMVP.

This alone is enough.

Garnett saw that the ring he could only get in his dreams was now on Yu Fei's hand.

And Yu Fei didn't cherish it at all. He tried it on a few times and felt uncomfortable, so he threw it to his assistant.

"I'm going to get it sooner or later," Garnett said.

"The premise is that you have to leave Minnesota." Yu Fei said, "You can't get anything here."

Garnett now has the best lineup since he joined the Timberwolves, but Yu Fei directly poured cold water on him?
He is confident because their lineup is so good that even the Lakers are afraid of it.

"I won't leave." Garnett said confidently, "You don't understand my connection with this place. You are too young, so you have no idea that after you have been playing in a city for nearly ten years, what will happen between you?" How closely connected they are.”

Yu Fei really doesn't understand this, but he knows that one person, one city is often a two-way choice.

"In that case, I wish you good luck and hope you renew your contract with the Timberwolves as soon as possible. I suggest you renew your contract with them for seven years so that you can be together forever."

Yu Fei's "recommend locking up" remarks were very unpleasant to Garnett's ears.

Why does a good thing come out of this man's mouth in such a weird way?
After the pre-game ceremony, everything that belonged to last season became part of history.

For the upcoming season opener, what happened last season no longer matters.

Yu Fei heard that the defending champion would be in a slack mood, but he didn't feel that way.

He can only be excited and excited, because now some people are saying that they won the championship by chance while the OK Lakers blew themselves up, which gave him enough motivation.

He can't wait to prove himself again.

After the warm-up, both teams started playing.

Compared with last season, the only change in the Bucks' starting lineup is the center position.

The original starting center Dan Gazulic was injured in the preseason and is currently on the sidelines, so Karl decided to make an exception and promote Zaza Pachulia, allowing the Georgian to start in the first game of his NBA career. Come on stage.

Yu Fei was also surprised by this.

Although he knows that Pachulia will grow into a qualified NBA insider in a few years, it is too much to start him directly.

But once you look at the team's roster, you can understand Karl's approach.

The only usable center on the Bucks' roster is Gazuric, and the rest are all power forwards with different functions.Normally, Gazulic plays 28 minutes, and the rest of the time is divided equally among the power forwards. Now that he is suddenly unable to play, the center position has become stretched.

The Timberwolves easily won the jump ball.

When Big Dog Robinson came up, he wanted to remind the old owner of what he was like when he played here.

I saw the big dog holding the ball in the high post, making continuous footwork movements and then turning over and shooting a jump shot.

Sprewell provided strong interference and the Big Dog missed the shot.

Big Dog kicked off the season with a bang, and also set a clear tone for the game.Although the Timberwolves are a Western Conference team, they do a good job defensively.

The Bucks did not enter the state under the defense of the Timberwolves, and the two sides went back and forth.

Until the Bucks' third offensive round, Ray Allen took the ball from the outside and hit the basket, but Garnett blocked the shot.

The big dog picked up the ball and wanted to counterattack defensively, but when faced with Fei Fei's defense, he made some moves that were taken for granted.

Yu Fei's eyes were like lightning, he shot quickly, cut off his ball, took a step forward, and stopped for a three-pointer.

"Shh!"

"Dribbling without looking at people, no wonder the team traded you in the first place." Yu Fei habitually sarcastically mocked his opponents.

This is not the first time that Big Gou has fought against Yu Fei. He knows that this guy likes to talk trash and has a bad attitude, so he doesn't refute at the moment. Whatever you say will be whatever you say, and I will lose if you answer your question.

In the next few minutes, the Timberwolves showed off their various martial arts skills.

Cassel's sudden three-pointer.

Turkoglu supported the Kings with the ball, which was almost blocked.

There is also the most classic one, Garnett picks and rolls high and reaches the top of the arc to catch the ball and shoot a jump shot in one step.

Yu Fei remembers that in Game [-] of the Finals, Duncan hit shots from this position for two consecutive rounds. At that time, his teammates were a little desperate.Because that's not Duncan's usual offensive method, but he still made the shot.

Duncan will not rely on long-range shooting for key balls. This is the biggest difference from Garnett.

Garnett's long-range mid-range shot has a beautiful posture and a beautiful arc.

"Shh!"

Pachulia's athletic ability is too poor, and Mason's height is destined to make him unable to use Garnett's pick-and-roll pick-and-roll style to catch and shoot. If Garnett insists on playing like this, the Bucks' defense will be helpless.

In terms of playing style, Garnett is the most beautiful inside player Yu Fei has ever seen.

But just because he is so beautiful, Garnett is not as tough as Duncan at critical moments.

Yu Fei didn't want Garnett to play too easily, so he called Mason's pick-and-roll.

Since his debut, Garnett has been famous for his rare ability to defend big and small. Like Nowitzki, he is a player who can become better in the small ball era.

Yu Fei failed to get rid of Garnett, but he successfully broke through to the free throw line. Garnett was worried about him passing the ball and did not dare to press too hard, which gave him more room to operate.

Yu Fei's offense not only frightened Garnett, but also made the Timberwolves unable to care about each other inside and outside. Szczerbiak, who was responsible for defending Ray Allen, couldn't help but shrink the defense.

Ray Allen is ready to catch and shoot.However, the basketball did not come.

Yu Fei roughly leaned on Garnett's body and forced him to jump. In the air, he truly felt the changes in his body.

The most special point is that after such a fierce confrontation, Yu Fei found that the range and intensity of his movements were greater than before.

Is this what Tim Grover calls “More Muscle, More Power”?

Yu Fei did not delve into this issue. He completed a highly entertaining mid-air hand-change and high-stroke score at the cost of ignoring Ray Allen's open position.

"Do you like my moves?" Yu Fei teased Garnett, "People who win championships play like this."

Garnett on the court and off the court are two different people.

Garnett is like being taken over by another personality on the court. He is full of black characteristics. The feeling of anger that is about to overflow from the body is like a powerful woman. No matter how conservative the clothes she chooses, Big Rabbit is always the same. He looked like he was about to jump out.

"!@#!#￥" Garnett cursed in a broken voice, extremely dissatisfied with Fei's words.

But when Yu flew back to defend, he got negative feedback from another person.

Ray Allen said with a ghostly look: "I got the open space, my shooting rate in the bottom corner is higher, you should pass the ball to me."

Yu Fei said confidently: "This is your punishment for not being able to control your mouth."

After saying that, Yu Fei separated from Ray Allen.

This made the latter extremely angry. On the one hand, he believed that Yu Fei's dissatisfaction was justifiable. He did not control his mouth, but on the other hand, he did not feel that he had said anything bad about the other party.

He just wanted to express his dissatisfaction with the media's excessive focus on Yu Fei and neglect of the rest of the team.

But to most people, such an expression is an expression of dissatisfaction with Fei.

Ray Allen said this just because he did not dare to face the core and key of the problem.

When Yu Fei began to investigate, Ray Allen's inner self-censorship mentality made him doubt his own remarks.Then, he will decide that he is right, but when Yu Fei hits him with this problem again, he will fall into self-doubt again.

Later, the Big Dog responded to the Timberwolves' choice with a high single.

It seems that the Timberwolves got the independent isolation player they wanted.Because Garnett is not the kind of core who is good at attacking tough situations, once the game enters a critical moment, the Timberwolves need a deputy who can attack tough situations to help the team get out of trouble.

In Yu Fei's previous life, this role was played by Sprewell, but now it has been replaced by Big Dog.

Although the difference in average points per game between the two is only 1 point, as a secondary attacker, Big Dog's role and value on both ends of the offense and defense are actually far different from Sprewell.

Yu flew across half court and passed the ball to Sprewell.

Sprewell called Pachulia's pick-and-roll and took the first step resolutely. This old man who had the opportunity to compete for the fastest first step in the league at his peak is still breaking through like lightning at this age.

Olowokandi was too slow and was caught by Sprewell, who directly hit the big one and used his speed to score a goal.

The Timberwolves continued to use their signature pick-and-roll attack with Garnett linking up with Cassell in the high post.

The Bucks chose not to switch defenses.

Cassel couldn't find space to shoot due to Yu Fei's interference, so he returned the ball to Garnett.

Unexpectedly, this scene was predicted in advance by Mason.

Mason moved his hand forward, destroying the pass, and Yu Fei immediately stepped down.

The Timberwolves switched from offense to defense, but it was too late. Yu sprinted across the court, received Mason's pass and dunked.

The Timberwolves may be the new seed team in the Western Conference, but the defending champion is by no means like the rumored lucky team that just took advantage of the OK Lakers' self-destruction to win the championship.

This was made clear to the Timberwolves in the opening minutes.

⑴ It’s not clear whether Sota is the abbreviation for Minnesota, but it is certain that this is Garnett’s name for Minnesota.

PS: There is only one chapter today. I thought there were two chapters left in the manuscript, but in the morning I saw that there was only one chapter. I owe this chapter, which means I owe two more chapters now.

(End of this chapter)