full court guidance

Chapter 29 Battle against the Wolf King
On March 3, in the 20th round of the regular season, the Rockets challenged the Minnesota Timberwolves away.

Last season, the Timberwolves introduced "Alien" Sam Cassell, "Madman" Latril Sprewell, and the top power forward Kevin Garnett in history, forming a chilling "three". "Head Monster", and achieved a good result of No.1 in the regular season of the Western Conference.

However, the Timberwolves eliminated the Nuggets first, then the Kings, and finally lost to the Lakers with the Big Four and stopped in the Western Conference Finals. That was the only time Garnett broke through the first round of the playoffs in the Timberwolves.

Because Garnett holds a historical maximum salary, occupying more than 40% of the team's salary space, which made the madmen and aliens very dissatisfied.

The Timberwolves are currently ranked ninth in the Western Conference and still maintain the hope of hitting the playoffs, so they must compete in every game and dare not be careless.

However, Cassel was absent due to injury, making many professionals not optimistic about the Timberwolves' game against the Rockets.

At [-] o'clock in the evening, the game started on time at the Timberwolves' home target center.

The Rockets' starters in the away game: Yao Ming, McGrady, late, David Wesley and Bob Sura, power forward Juwan Howard was absent due to injury, so that the Rockets had no starters at the power forward position, so McGrady had to be a guest power forward, It's unbelievable.

Timberwolves starters: Michael Olowokandi, Kevin Garnett, Trenton Hassel, Madman Sprewell, and guard Troy Hudson who replaced the Aliens.

The Timberwolves' small forward lineup is also flawed, with a short stature.

At the beginning of the game, the famous parallel importer "Sugar Man" Olowokandi has excellent physical fitness. If he hadn't assumed too much expectation when he entered the league, he is actually a fairly good defensive player, at least as a rotation role. of.

In the jump ball, Yao Ming lost as expected, and the Timberwolves took the lead in organizing the attack.

Late in this game, he defended at the small forward position on the wing, and his height and wingspan are a little bit disadvantaged, but he is very strong and not afraid of confrontation.After more than 30 games, his smart mind has also made his defensive level rapidly improved, especially in top defense. Few people in the league can gain the upper hand when confronting him head-on.

He knows a lot of tricks, he knows how to stop the opponent from exerting force, and he also knows how to prevent the opponent from starting the speed. In short, the current lateness and defensive ability are already very good.

It just so happened that the opponent he was going to face, Trenton Hassel, was just a role player in the Timberwolves. He was a false starter, and the sharpshooter Szczerbiak would come off the bench in the middle of the first quarter.

The Timberwolves are also a team based on defense, especially Kevin Garnett. This is his peak period. He is tall and flexible. With his excellent physical fitness, he can defend from the first position to the fifth position. The No. [-] position has a huge defensive area and super defense ability, which is why he can often be pulled out by the media to compete with Duncan.

But Kevin Garnett is not a selfless player, and his personality is also very bad. Dirty is a word that has accompanied Garnett all his life.

In the original history of 2012, "Sports Illustrated" interviewed 147 NBA players and asked them who was the dirtiest player in the league. Kevin Garnett "topped" No.2!

He punches his teammates and bites his opponents. It can be said that he has a bad record, but it is strange that there will always be media and fans who will whitewash him, saying that it is a performance of his tough style of play.

In the 99-00 season, Szczerbiak, who was still a rookie at the time, had a conflict with Garnett during team training. Garnett punched the handsome white guy in the face without hesitation.This year, in the 04-05 season, the Timberwolves rookie Richter scored consecutive heads-ups during training with Garnett. The wolf king became angry and punched his front tooth, and the poor rookie was sent to the hospital for seven stitches.

In addition to bullying rookies, the Wolf King also mocked Duncan's deceased mother on Mother's Day, sprayed trash on Melon, "Your wife tastes like a donut" and so on.

In addition to personality, Garnett's greed is also amazing. After the completion of the three-year rookie contract, Garnett directly asked for a super maximum salary, or he would leave.

Poor Minnesota is just a small city with an underdeveloped ball market. After finally cultivating a superstar, it is naturally impossible to give up easily. In the end, Garnett and the Timberwolves reached a super contract of 1.26 million US dollars for six years!You know it was 1998!
It is precisely because of this super contract that aroused the dissatisfaction of many players and became the fuse of the NBA lockout in 98.

But Garnett's strength is beyond doubt, he is indeed a historical power forward.

The Timberwolves unexpectedly did not choose Garnett's obvious advantage in the first attack. Hudson dribbled the ball and gave it to Olowokandi.

Sugar Man couldn't single out Yao Ming, so he passed the ball to Trenton Hassell, who played as a guest small forward. He was completely a role player, but he chose to shoot the moment he received the ball.

Late was active in defense, suppressing the rhythm of Hassell's shots, and the ball hit the basket hard and bounced high.

Olowokandi took advantage of the bounce, grabbed the offensive rebound, and threw the ball to the outside again. The madman Sprewell caught the ball, raised his hand and shot, hitting 2 points.

The Rockets attacked, Bob Sura dribbled the ball across half court, and gave it to McGrady at the top of the three-point arc. When Yao Ming entered the penalty area, McGrady began to look for opportunities to break through.

This is a routine that the Rockets have often used in recent games. Even if the opponent knows that the Rockets will play this way, there is almost nothing they can do.

Because standing on the outside of the Rockets is a shameless player - late.

He played in 27 games, only shot three-pointers, and his shooting percentage was as high as 63%.

This leads to late arrivals, even if they are standing far from the three-point line, the opponent must send someone to mark him, otherwise he will be killed by his three-pointer.

Fortunately, the number of late three-pointers has never been too many. He plays very reasonably and will not shoot endlessly.

With the restraint of being late, the Rockets' opponents dare not shrink to double-team the basket at all, and it also provides McGrady with more room for breakthrough.

Before McGrady had a conflict with Yao Ming, it was because he didn't feel good in the hand and wanted to strike the iron like crazy, but he wasn't in bad shape all the time. With his strength, as long as the opponent's marking is a little looser, he can also kill the opponent with his comprehensive skills. dead match.

Yao Ming wanders from the basket to the free throw line. With his superior stature, he is also a player who must be guarded at all times.

McGrady broke through with the ball, and Kevin Garnett immediately followed.

At his peak, Garnett was tall and long, and his speed was also quite good, barely able to keep up with McGrady.

But what's the use of just keeping up?Recently, McGrady has played a lot more rationally. Unless it is a last resort, he will not easily try to shoot under the opponent's defense. This also makes his statistics more and more comprehensive, especially the number of assists.

Seeing Garnett's defense in place, McGrady looked back at the moon at the basket and gave the ball to Yao Ming who was near the free throw line.

Olowokandi has accumulated experience for several seasons and has a good defensive ability, keeping a close eye on Yao Ming.

Yao Ming held the ball high and stood near the free throw line without moving. When McGrady went around the penalty area and ran to the bottom corner, he immediately passed the ball.

Kevin Garnett was blocked by his teammates and immediately chose to switch defenses. Trenton Hassell, who was late in defense, threw himself at McGrady.

McGrady has a three-point shot, but his three-point hotspots are at the top of the arc and at 45-degree angles on both sides, and his bottom-line three-point shooting rate has never been high.

McGrady didn't force the ball, seeing that it attracted the defense, he immediately passed the ball to the late.

Once the begging arrives in the late hands, there will be no more passes.

Late opened his hand, tiptoed, and shot a three-pointer.

A black figure rushed out from the inside, and with its astonishing wingspan, it patted the ball in mid-air, the ball went out of bounds, and the Rockets got the ball.

Kevin Garnett, block +1.
After completing the block, Garnett looked excited, beating his chest and roaring.

The blocked late look remained unchanged, and seemed to be completely unaffected by the block.

David Wesley made a throw-in, and Kevin Garnett stood in front of the latecomer and said, "Go home and eat milk, you softie who can only shoot three-pointers!"

Trash talking is a common thing in the league. Certain players with poor emotional control may even be affected by trash talking. Everyone's default rule.

But Kevin Garnett's trash talk is probably the worst in the league.

Not only does his trash talk bring family, it's downright swearing.

Late has also been in the league for a while, and has played against many players who like to talk trash. Of course, it is impossible for Garnett to scold him casually and get mad.

He doesn't bother to talk to you Garnett at all, he just does his own thing.

Bob Sura received the throw-in and dribbled a few steps to Yao Ming inside.

Yao Ming succeeded in beating Olowokandi with his superior strength at the basket.

The Timberwolves attacked, and after passing the ball a few times, it was in the hands of the madman.

The madman is also a powerful person. Just after the end of this season, facing the three-year 3 million contract offered by the Timberwolves, the madman declared that "there is no way to live without an annual salary of tens of millions." People who can say such things, even if they know Garnett is the boss of the team, will he pass the ball to him?
The answer is of course no, not to mention that the madman has an overall advantage in height and weight when facing David Wesley, why not fight by himself?
He chose to break through, and by virtue of his weight advantage, he smashed through David Wesley's defense and broke into the basket.

Yao Ming yelled "Fuck your madman", block +1, and Garnett roared +1.

The Timberwolves have a great advantage in speed. The Rockets have no chance to counterattack and fall into the position. McGrady tries to make a shot and hits the iron with two points.

Sugar Man grabs the defensive rebound, and the Timberwolves also have no chance to counterattack. Garnett and Hassell pick and roll, catch the ball and complete the hard pull, and Garnett roars +1.

(End of this chapter)