Bishop of the Abyss

Chapter 191. 191. Protecting Our Iverson

On February 2th, the last day of the All-Star Weekend, the long-awaited All-Star Game officially kicked off.

Although Luke is serving as an All-Star coach for the second time in his career, and the team has four other players except Garnett attending the game, Luke still has little interest in this All-Star game.

Even Iverson, who just broke the All-Star voting record, played only 11 minutes, and showed his fans an explanation in the first and third quarters.

If he is two years younger and his coach is lucky enough to become an All-Star coach, Iverson may still seize the opportunity to fight for the MVP.

But at this stage, the All-Star MVP can no longer be the honor embellishment of Iverson's career. On the contrary, only the championship is what Iverson lacks most.

Now that Garnett is reimbursed for the season, the Timberwolves' offensive burden is basically on Iverson alone, which makes Iverson have no interest in the All-Star game.

When Iverson was so close to the championship again in his career, Iverson found that the All-Star Weekend was so boring and boring, and even the competitive spirit of participating in the All-Star Games in the past was completely forgotten.

Luke only let Iverson play for only 11 minutes based on the idea that his players can rest as much as possible.

Iverson already had old injuries, and Luke was reluctant to let Iverson play too much time in regular games, let alone this kind of meaningless entertainment game.

In addition, Ben Wallace, who suffered from a wrist injury this season, also played very little time. Sitting side by side with Iverson on the court is quite a bit of fun.

As for the other two strong young "beasts" Luke, there is no need to worry at all. He even used the position of the head coach to arrange a lot of playing time for the two, so that they can have a good time.

Luke never minds what the outside world thinks of him. Even if the playing time of Gerald Wallace and Artest is almost the same as that of Kobe and Tracy McGrady, as long as they are not playing happily on the court, Luke It is not recommended to arrange for two people to play the whole court.

In the end, the whole game ended, and the ending was as expected by the fans. The West with a better lineup was superior and defeated the East with 146:123, which confirmed the statement that the West is strong and the East is weak.

赛后联盟将全明星MVP颁发给了表现出色的科比，整场比赛科比出战31分钟砍下27分6篮板4助攻以及1次抢断。

With a shooting percentage of 71%, Kobe was finally elected as AMVP again.

The moment he stood on the court holding the AMVP trophy, Kobe gave Luke and Artest a grateful look.

Artest also handed over 25 points, 9 rebounds and 2 assists in this game, and his shooting percentage was close to 75%, which is on par with Kobe. If Luke has selfish intentions, this year's AMVP trophy will definitely fall into Artest's hands superior.

However, it seems that Luke and Artest are not very interested in this matter. The former is not focused on the All-Stars at all, and the latter is stunned and does not care about his personal data at all.

Otherwise, if one of these two has a mind, Kobe has no doubt that Luke has enough face to operate in the dark.

After all, Luke never cared about outside rumors, and his coaching style on weekdays even frightens Kobe, who has a "Mamba spirit".

With the end of the All-Star Game, the three-day All-Star Weekend officially came to an end.

At the same time, the trade deadline will also be closed in the last two days, which means that all teams in the league will enter the final sprint stage and launch an impact on the playoffs.

Even if the Timberwolves perform poorly at the end of the season, with the advantages accumulated in the early stage, they will definitely be able to book a playoff spot in the end.

But the goal of the Timberwolves has never been how good the regular season record is, but the supreme championship trophy!
Garnett's season reimbursement not only caused the Timberwolves' strength to decline, but also made Luke feel that the injury was so close to him for the first time.

Even if Luke built this lineup in three years, he had to be cautious in the face of injuries, for fear that the experience of the Warriors in later generations would befall him.

Injuries in competitive sports are fierce. No one can predict which will come first tomorrow or the accident. What Luke can do is to avoid injuries as much as possible within the rules.

Through a large number of rotations to ensure that the Timberwolves can enter the playoffs in a healthy state of all members.

In particular, Iverson's health problems are what Luke needs to guard against most.

Otherwise, "Wolf King" Garnett has been reimbursed for the season. Once Iverson has any problems, this year's Timberwolves will most likely go home to fish.

As of now, the Timberwolves have won the championship trophy for two consecutive years. Let alone whether the league will interfere in the playoffs, in order to prevent the Timberwolves from dominating, they deliberately create trouble.

It is no exaggeration to say that Iverson's offense has become an indispensable and important weapon for this Timberwolves team. It is no exaggeration to say that Luke can be injured in this year's playoffs, but Iverson is absolutely indispensable.

If any team dares to use methods against Iverson in the playoffs, even if Luke loses the series, he will let the opponent experience what is called "purgatory on earth"!
...............

After the All-Star, each team has entered a tense and exciting sprint stage.

This year's regular season record of the Timberwolves has declined significantly compared to last season, so as the head coach, Luke has completely let go of his psychological burden and focused all his attention on the upcoming playoffs.

Throughout the end of February, Luke began to arrange players to rest according to the plan. Among them, veteran players like "Glove" Pat, Iverson and Ben Wallace who had injuries themselves were given more attention.

"Glove" Payton is 38 years old this year. Even if his competitive state is still excellent, Payton's body has entered the end of his career.

Although "Glove" Payton has not suffered too serious injuries this season, minor injuries have continued.

As of the end of February, Payton has missed nearly 20 games.

At the same time, players such as Iguodala, Spanoulis, Ariza and Millsap took advantage of the opportunity to get a lot of appearance opportunities.

While filling out the Timberwolves' rotation, Luke also wants to use this time to work out the guys.

With the end of the game in February, the Timberwolves' record came to 48 wins and 13 losses, which is still a distance away from other teams in the league, only behind the Dallas Mavericks in terms of record and ranking second in the league.

Among them, in the victory over the Detroit Pistons at the end of February, Ben Wallace played 41 minutes abruptly.

The look at Old Sanders was like a wild beast, with a ferocity that wanted to eat Old Sanders into his stomach.

(End of this chapter)