Bishop of the Abyss

Chapter 173 173. The Opening Game Trial: Terror Defense;
In fact, the Mavericks in the new season have not changed much in terms of lineup.

Of these leftover players signed by the free market, only Barea, who is 1.8 meters tall, can barely make a name for himself.

However, "Little General" Johnson didn't trust this little guy from Puerto Rico at all.

Barea still has a long way to go to gain a foothold in the Mavericks, at least before "Little General" Johnson dismisses get out of class, Barea is really just a leftover player.

On the other hand, the defending champion Timberwolves' lineup has changed a lot in the new season. The team's core players and style of play are facing changes. For the Timberwolves, it is a new season in the true sense.

And the preseason performances of several championship heroes headed by Garnett and Madman were a bit bad. Everyone is at a loss as to what level the Timberwolves can play in the new season.

Even Timberwolves fans are worried, worried that Garnett will step down from the altar in the new season and become a big variable on the team's way to win the championship.

…………

On October 10, local time in the United States, the NBA26-06 season opener officially kicked off.

The game as the defending champion Timberwolves will sit at home to meet the challenge of the Dallas Mavericks.

Before the start of the game, the players of the two teams warmed up for shooting in their respective halfs, while "Little General" Johnson still went straight to Luke, and stood on the sidelines with Luke for a long time before the start of the game.

It can be seen that the little general really wants to be friends with Luke, at least not to be enemies on the field.

In the past two years, several of Luke's opponents have suffered miserably. Stan Van Gundy, Jeff Van Gundy, Larry Brown, Popovich, and even Philip Sanders are all outstanding coaches.

As a result, in just two years, he was either dismissed from get out of class, or hovered on the verge of dismissal. This made the coaches of the league's teams feel very frightened. Before each game, they repeatedly told the players not to provoke that lunatic Luke!
At present, Luke has been dubbed the title of "Coach Harvester" by fans, and "Little General" Johnson does not want his coaching career to be ruined by Luke.

Especially in the past two years, the Mavericks and the Timberwolves have had a sense of meeting each other. Johnson is afraid that Luke will not play his cards according to common sense and use special methods to drag himself into the abyss.

Luke of "Little General" Johnson is definitely not clear, but Luke can feel the little general's attitude close to licking a dog.

If it weren't for the overall strength of the Mavericks, even Luke himself would not have the certainty of winning the game. Luke even thought that Johnson wanted to let him down, and gave him a little side in the opening game.

As the game is about to begin, the two sides announced the starting lineup, the Mavericks here: Devin Harris, Terry, Josh Howard, Nowitzki, and Dampier.

The Timberwolves are: "Gloves" Payton, Iguodala, Artest, Garnett and Ben Wallace.

After many attempts in the preseason, Luke finally chose this starting lineup with the best defensive ability.

The outside world also has no objection to Luke's choice of personnel, especially putting the madman on the bench. This is exactly the aspiration of all Timberwolves fans.

It can only be blamed for the madman's performance in the preseason. His overall shooting percentage was only a poor 31.4%.

As for the Mavericks, they maintained their regular starters. Unlike last year's playoffs, Johnson chose to start Terry and let Stackhouse bring the bench.

It seems that the growth of the starting point guard Harris must have improved significantly, otherwise the young general would not have made such a change in employment.

As soon as the game started, the Mavericks players couldn't help frowning when they saw the Timberwolves' defensive lineup.

Even the head coach Johnson, who has seen the big scene, stood off the court and shook his head.

Although the Timberwolves' terrifying defensive lineup in the new season has long been expected, the moment this lineup really stood on the court, the impact on people's hearts was still very shocking.

No one in this lineup of the Timberwolves is a defensive loophole, so that the Mavericks cannot find any offensive advantage. They can only use tactics to find players with better mobile phones to complete the end.

If you have to find a short guy among the tall guys, Iguodala must be the weakest defensive player among the current Timberwolves starters.

After all, except for Iguodala, the other four players have been elected as the best defensive player, only Iguodala looks jerky.

However, although Iguodala's defensive ability is not as top-notch as the other four teammates, Iguodala's defensive efficiency last season was able to rank in the top ten of all swingmen in the league.

Especially playing next to the scoring champion Iverson, Iguodala's defensive ability refuses to be questioned.

Obviously, the thoughts of the players on the Mavericks field are the same as that of individual fans, so Terry took the lead in attacking the Mavericks at the beginning of the game.

However, Iguodala did not lose his position for two consecutive defensive rounds, forcing Terry to hit the iron with a three-pointer and dribble out of bounds once. He was a little embarrassed by the Timberwolves defense at the beginning of the game.

The Timberwolves' oppressive defense has mobilized the atmosphere of the home fans. Even though the game has just started, the Timberwolves' defense has given the fans unlimited room for imagination.

On the offensive end, the Timberwolves lineup is relatively weak, but except for Ben Wallace, the other four players averaged double figures last season.

Among them, Artest can contribute nearly 20 points and is a comprehensive offensive and defensive star.

Throughout the first quarter, "Glove" Payton and Garnett continued to play pick-and-rolls at high positions. Unfortunately, Garnett's first few shots all missed the frame.

It wasn't until more than six minutes into the game that Garnett used the pick-and-roll to score the first sports goal of the game.

In addition, when Garnett's offensive touch was not good, "The Beast" Artest took on more offensive responsibilities in the first quarter.

Facing Josh Howard's defense, Artest has a weight advantage of 20 kilograms. This tonnage is enough for Artest to use a beastly charge to kill the inside line, as if every physical confrontation takes Josh Howard half old Life.

As Artest continued to use bulldozer-like methods to cause damage, Howard couldn't help but swear at the bench, as if expressing to the little general: "How the hell do I want to defend?!"

At the end of the first quarter, the Dallas Mavericks, who have always focused on offense, only scored 14 points. Every attack seemed extremely difficult, and they were unable to break through the Timberwolves' defense for a long time.

The Timberwolves' defense brought a lot of trouble to the Mavericks, making the Mavericks' sharp offense sluggish. Even the perimeter offense that had defeated the Timberwolves last season was abruptly suppressed.

If it weren't for the Timberwolves' own poor offensive feel, the 6-point lead in the first quarter would definitely increase exponentially.

The Timberwolves' best player in the first quarter was Artest, with 11 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal. Not only was he comprehensive, but he also scored half of the team's points in a single quarter with 11 points. To the extreme.

Kevin Garnett, who is the leading star, performed poorly. He only scored 2 points and 5 rebounds on [-] of [-] shots in the first quarter. Otherwise, the lead of the Timberwolves would only be greater.

It’s worth mentioning that Ben Wallace’s matchup in the first quarter also blew up Eric Dampier. The big Ben guarding the penalty area not only made Dampier scoreless in the first quarter, but also allowed the Mavericks to score only 2 points in the penalty area. .

In addition, the Mavericks' points are all obtained by shooting, basically on both sides of the free throw line.

至于本华莱士的首节数据则为0分6篮板1助攻1抢断2封盖，将所有的重心全部放在防守。

According to Luke's intention, he is determined not to stay in the penalty area. No matter how the Mavericks' offensive end changes, Ben Wallace will remain unchanged. Even if the opponent's big players go out, there will naturally be Artest and Garnett. help defense.

Three of the six rebounds Daben scored in the first quarter were offensive rebounds. Every fight was extremely fierce, and Dampier, who claimed to be "the number one active blue-collar center", was pressed to the ground and rubbed frantically!
　Ask for a monthly pass, ask for a recommendation ticket, ask for a monthly pass, everyone!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)