Bishop of the Abyss

Chapter 6 6. Amazing start
After returning from the second half, the Lakers still insisted on their own style of play.

In fact, it is really helpless for the Lakers to use Kobe's point to score points this season, because since the OK team parted ways, the Lakers currently only have Kobe's point to trust.

Even if Odom and Caron Butler's personal abilities are also outstanding, these two have just come to the Lakers after all, and they are playing from Kobe's side, so they are destined to be green leaves.

For the Timberwolves, head coach Luke focused on bullhorn tactics in the preseason, because this tactic is very suitable for Garnett to play his comprehensive offensive ability.

Relatively speaking, the Lakers played too simply on the offensive end, which also made the Timberwolves more clear about the defensive goals on the field, and the Lakers once fell into offensive trouble.

Throughout the second half, the Timberwolves still dominated the field, taking a double-digit lead and suppressing the Lakers.

Because the Lakers rely too much on Kobe on the offensive end, and the inside line dominated by Garnett prevents the Lakers from easily hitting the ball into the penalty area.

Therefore, under the strong combination of Cassell, Madman and Garnett, the Lakers were quickly defeated in the third quarter, and the point difference once started to run towards 20 points.

At the end of the three quarters, the Timberwolves had a 19-point lead and were about to send the game into garbage time.

In the last quarter, Lakers coach Tomjanovich chased points symbolically, but when Tang Shuai found that the Lakers were basically powerless, he had no choice but to replace the main players and officially announced that the game had entered garbage time.

During the training phase, Luke also replaced all the main players, and then sat down on the court to carefully observe the strength of the role players.

Although it is the stars who really determine the direction of the game in this era, the performance of role players is often the standard that determines the upper limit of a team.

Although the Timberwolves' lineup this season has only 13 players, the rotation is actually not that bad.

In particular, Hoiberg and Hudson both played a good personal performance in this game, which is also the fundamental reason why the Timberwolves can continue to suppress the Lakers in the second quarter.

Among them, Hoiberg hit three three-pointers in a single quarter in the second quarter, making Luke seem to see Cole's shadow in him.

At the end of the game, the Timberwolves beat the Lakers by 22 points in this high-profile opening game with the outstanding performance of the three-headed monster and role players.

Shocked the jaws of all the fans with a unilateral massacre.

Even before the opening game started, the outside world was generally optimistic that the Timberwolves could win the game.

After all, the Lakers experienced unprecedented management turmoil during the offseason, but the Timberwolves retained the core lineup that played the No. [-] Western Conference last season, so it is clear to the fans who are strong and weak.

But never expected that the Lakers not only had no power to fight back throughout the game, but instead allowed the Timberwolves to play an explosive performance.

You know, the Timberwolves scored 112 points in this game, and this is still in the garbage time of the fourth quarter.

Otherwise, the Timberwolves are completely free to play, and it is very likely that they will score 120 or even 130.

This is what shocked the fans the most. Last season, the Timberwolves were able to play the second best performance in the league, mainly because of their excellent defense.

Although the old Sanders was not a purely defensive coach, the Timberwolves averaged only 97.1 points per game last season.

From this point, it is not difficult to see that the Timberwolves are not a strong offensive team. On the contrary, the Timberwolves rely on defense to win.

The Timberwolves averaged only 15.5 three-point shots per game last season. Although this data can already be ranked in the middle of the league, the Timberwolves took 29 shots outside the three-point line in this game.

Compared with last season, it has basically doubled, and this is still the case when Garnett and Cassel did not shoot three-pointers at all.

Therefore, the Timberwolves did not have any personnel changes during the offseason, but such a big change occurred while completely retaining the core lineup from last season. This is what fans are most confused about.

Of course, after this game, I believe more and more people will focus on coach Luke.

Because the Timberwolves can complete such a big transformation in the new season, it must be related to the head coach Luke.

After all, the former head coach of the Timberwolves, Saunders, has coached the team for a full ten years, and in these ten years, the Timberwolves only averaged more than [-] points per game in one season.

So the changes that head coach Luke has brought to this team are so obvious that it's hard for fans not to pay attention.

It is worth mentioning that in this game, while the Timberwolves performed well on the offensive end, they also performed well on the defensive end, limiting the Lakers' total points to less than 90 points and continuing to maintain the league's top defensive level.

Throughout the game, since the Timberwolves did not encounter too much pressure, Garnett only played a total of 29 minutes.

在这29分钟里加内特个人13投8中，其中罚球线上6中5，高效斩获下21分11篮板4助攻3抢断以及2次封盖。

Judging from the data, Garnett's performance is absolutely impeccable, showing his court dominance on both offense and defense.

In addition, Garnett has many contributions that cannot be reflected in the data, such as the defensive end, the interference with the opponent's layup, and the offensive end to create pick-and-roll conditions for teammates, etc.

It is no exaggeration to say that these two years have been the most dominant stage of Garnett's career. Even if you look at the entire history, Garnett at the peak is definitely ranked.

I am afraid that in today's league, apart from "Shark" O'Neal, no player dares to say that he can trade Garnett alone.

Even Tim Duncan, who is also a power forward, cannot make a single exchange with Garnett in this period. Even if he tries his best to fight Garnett to the end, at most it will be evenly matched.

In terms of other people, the other two Cassel and Madman in the three-headed monster also performed very well.

Especially the "alien" Cassel, the Timberwolves were able to fully suppress the Lakers in the first half, mainly because Cassel drove the offensive rhythm of the entire Timberwolves.

In the whole game, Cassel contributed 27 points, 17 rebounds and 4 assists in 8 minutes of playing, perfectly revitalizing the offense of the entire Timberwolves.

As for the "madman" Sprewell, although the madman failed to limit Kobe's offensive efficiency on the defensive end, the madman also scored 25 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal on the offensive end.

Among them, 25 points are the highest in the Timberwolves, and this performance is also worthy of the Madman's $1400 million contract this season.

In addition to the core three-headed monster, other players also showed a good competitive state in this game.

斯泽比亚克13分7篮板2助攻，霍伊博格12分1助攻，哈德森11分2篮板2抢断，埃迪格里芬9分6篮板3封盖，以及水货状元“糖人”的5分6篮板等等。

Luke was satisfied and even surprised by the performance of most Timberwolves players throughout the game. Among them, Divac's performance may be slightly unsatisfactory.

首发出场的迪瓦兹一共登场了19分钟，然而在这19分钟里迪瓦茨却只交出了一份3分3篮板2助攻的数据。

Even if this data is converted into 36 minutes, it is not so amazing. At least compared with other players in the team, Divac's data is somewhat bleak.

The 39.3% field goal percentage is even more incompatible with others. At first glance, Divac looks like a cancer, and his contribution on the field may not be as much as the people he missed.

However, as a tactical-initiating center, Divac came to the Timberwolves, and Luke did not arrange tactics for him, so the performance of a game does not explain anything.

At least Luke is still patient with Divac. I believe that Divac's contribution will be cashed out on the field after Divac truly integrates with this Timberwolves.

What's more, Luke has always hoped that Eddie Griffin can serve as the starting center in the new season, and then let Divac play a role in the second team, which will also facilitate Luke's tactics around Divac.

Otherwise, it would be a waste for Divac and Garnett to be on the court at the same time, and it does not conform to Luke's tactical philosophy for the new season.

………………

"It's really something worth celebrating to get a victory in the first game after coming to the NBA to coach."

"The Timberwolves are a very capable team, and there is also a team atmosphere that I like here."

"As for the rumors from the outside world, they are all nonsense. Some people say that I am a villain, so I seem to be congenial with this Timberwolves."

"But what I want to say is that some words come out of your mouth, but you have to pay a price!" At the press conference after the game, Luke said violently.

　I'll print the electronic contract in a while and mail it tomorrow. It won't be long before I can change the status of the contract.

　　So if you want to invest and earn a little money, hurry up, let’s start with this chapter today, and I will sign the contract.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)