Of course, Kevin Garnett didn't know that this candid shooting and the news report of "eating inside and out" was Fox Leon's ghostly name behind his back, in his impression Leon has always been a decent and serious person, maybe he doesn't know who Leon inherited in the end, and what kind of means the former head of the Celtics had.

These pre-game events undoubtedly affected Garnett's performance on the court, and he showed up with some minor emotions in the game against the Celtics at the target center on the ninth night. This led to the Timberwolves being dominated by the Celtics who came from afar in the first quarter, and the opening game was beaten 10-2.

It can be said that after the start of the new season, any team that has just met Celtic will be a little uncomfortable with Celtic's style of play, they are too fast. It's not that the players run fast, but the tactics are completed quickly, their tactics are unusually concise and efficient, without too complicated running and covering, often a clean block or hand-to-hand, and the ball holder will shoot directly. Moreover, the Celtics' mid-to-long-range jumpers have an extremely high shooting rate, and several shots on the outside are more confident than one another, and they will not be soft when they have the opportunity.

Such a whirlwind of fast play caught the decent Timberwolves a little off guard, and soon Philip Sanders called a timeout to adjust the team's condition, undoubtedly they were not particularly well prepared, and did not see the clues from the Celtics' performance in the first few games.

Garnett also quickly adjusted his mentality, no longer affected by the candid shooting incident, and put his energy into the game.

Leon sat on the sidelines and was still very confident in this game, because in terms of lineup and style of play, the Timberwolves did not have an advantage. The biggest weakness of the Celtics is interior defense and low post offense, while the Timberwolves are not good at interior offense, although Garnett is a 20+10 top power forward. At first, he didn't have a strong attack in the low post, and he was more likely to finish the attack with turnaround jumpers and perimeter mid-range, which was more efficient than lethal.

So although Walker is a big colander, Leon is also relieved to let him go to the opposite Garnett, anyway, Kevin can't easily kill people.

The other interior of the Timberwolves is Slovenian Nesterovic, a tall center with good defense in the low post. It was the Timberwolves who followed the trend of hoarding the interior in the West, and after five years of training in the NBA, he is already a qualified low-post defender and rebounding guardian, but unfortunately in the face of the Celtics' almost non-existent interior offense, his meaning is nothing more than turning back and picking up rebounds.

And his pace was too slow, after returning to the court at the end of the first quarter, the Timberwolves had some improvement on offense, and Hudson and Garnett on the outside began to cooperate constantly, using breakthroughs and mid-range to open the Celtics' defense to score. Catching up. However, Nesterovic couldn't keep up with the Celtics' pace at all, and often before he could find his defensive position near the three-second zone, the Celtics took a shot. The winning streak has given the Celtics' youngsters confidence in their style of play and jumpers, shooting is a technique that requires a lot of self-confidence, and the Celtics are the ones who don't lack confidence.

It wasn't until the second quarter that Philip Sanders realized that if Nestrovic was put on the court, there was no use for him other than to make him run back and lose weight, plus exert energy, and Sanders finally replaced Nesterovic. Replaced by striker Trent, so Garnett was put in the center position. Although Garnett dislikes playing center the least. However, the Celtics are also a centerless lineup, and a big kite like Tony Barty can only be counted as half a center.

In this way, the situation of the Timberwolves looked a little better, and they relied on two jumpers from Garnett and a three-pointer from Sterkeland to narrow the gap to five points when the Celtics rotated the lineup at the beginning of the second quarter. But Leon didn't seem to be in a hurry, and he didn't change the main force early. Instead, they continued to have a second team led by Eric Williams, Cole and Johnson on the court, and he waited for Philip Saunders to replace Garnett.

Garnett went off the court in the middle of the first quarter, then played at the start of the second quarter and went down for a short break in between. Then he played until the end of the second quarter. This is Sanders' use of Garnett, the purpose is to allow Garnett to take the second team and the opponent's second team to play a dozen and have a field horse race, after all, the Timberwolves' bench lineup is really bad, Kendall Gill, Grell Trent, Rod Sterkleyland, all of them are some players who have made a name for themselves in the league and can now enter the end of their careers and are about to be eliminated by the league.

Looking at Garnett with a broken second lineup, actively supplementing and protecting backcourt rebounds on the defensive end, and constantly covering teammates and giving assists on the offensive end, Leon is a little sad for this All-Star power forward, what kind of teammates are they and what kind of lineup. Leon is convinced that if the Timberwolves eliminate Kevin Garnett, they may also be able to win a championship in the NBDL. It's all old, weak, sick and disabled, and the Timberwolves management's extremely bad player operations and draft operations in recent years have caused this team in the North of the United States to sink into small ball markets. Including that multi-year first-round pick lost for Joe Smith's secret deal, it was a fatal blow to a rebuilding team.

Leon watched Garnett on the court doing everything he could, as he had done for the team for the past seven years, struggling to keep the team on the brink of the playoffs, then being eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by a strong team, going home fishing and waiting for the next year. For six years, this story has been going on for six years, and this year is the seventh year, and judging by the current situation of the Timberwolves, their fate will not change much. There's no big trade, there's no superstar coming back, there's no genetic mutation of players, they could make the playoffs again and then come home in the first round, seven-year, seven-year itch.

"Beep!" The referee's whistle interrupted Leon's train of thought, and Chris Anderson fouled while defending Garnett, who walked to the free throw line and hit two free throws to help the Timberwolves chase the deficit to just three points. However, at this time, Sanders can no longer let Garnett stay on the court, and he needs to give Garnett a short rest, just a minute and a half.

At this time, Leon also made the decision to make a substitution, and he immediately took Paul Pierce and Arenas, the two most explosive scorers in the team. Leon whispered two words in Pierce's ear, telling him to strengthen his individual attack after he came on the court, to stabilize the situation for a period of time, and provoke a new round of offensive storm for the team.

Sure enough, Pierce received the ball for the first time after coming on the court, and at his familiar 45-degree three-point line, he received a pass from Tony Barty and made a direct three-point shot, but the ball was slightly off and hit the left side of the basket. Chris Anderson struggled to grab the rebound, and after Garnett was off the court, there was no one to hold him back and not let him grab the rebound. After grabbing the ball, Anderson had no intention of attacking himself, unless there was no one in front of him, he would pass the ball out as soon as possible. Pierce didn't leave his position after missing the ball, he still made a catch-and-shoot pose, Anderson threw the ball out of his hand, and this time Pierce made another three-point shot!

Pierce, who adjusted the crosshairs, let the ball hollow into the net this time, and the three-pointer, the Timberwolves, who were just close to the score, were hit.

"Without Garnett, this team is nothing." Leon saw Pierce score and sat back on his bench. A round of offense, the Timberwolves with Garnett and the Timberwolves without him are two teams, if Garnett is on the court, first of all, he will put pressure on Barty, will not let him pass the ball to Pierce so comfortably, and secondly, he will not let Anderson grab the frontcourt rebound so easily, even if he grabs him, he will actively fight to delay Anderson's pass to the outside and provide time for the outside players to make up for the leak.

But without Garnett, the Timberwolves' defense was full of holes, and the Timberwolves' offense also lacked a selfless sharer and organizer, the Celtics suddenly used the full-court pressing of the Pitino period, and the Timberwolves were in chaos for a while, Arenas successfully stole the aging Sterkleland, and then single-handedly scored two more points, and the difference between the two sides was stretched to 8 points. Garnett's previous efforts were ruined in dozens of seconds, and Sanders had to complain to the players helplessly, and then spread his hands and shook his head.

Sanders gritted his teeth and held on for a minute, and with a short timeout, he brought Garnett on the court again, and the Timberwolves' situation stabilized again. It's just that Garnett's biggest flaw is that his scoring ability is slightly lacking compared to other super insiders, his scoring explosiveness is poor, his scoring means are single, and his offensive ability has not reached the historical level. Even so, Garnett also provided four assists in the first half and six in the game, and his passing quality inside the inside was undoubtedly the best in the league.

By the third quarter, when the Celtics unleashed a 19-6 surge, Leon knew the game was over. There is no shortage of miracles in the NBA, but miracles also have prerequisites, and the Timberwolves team does not seem to have the conditions to create miracles at present. When the Celtics hit 14 of their 30 three-pointers, the Timberwolves made eight three-pointers in the game. They are so mediocre, mediocre players, mediocre tactics, mediocre style of play, only the fans here are passionate and loyal enough, coach Philip Sanders is a good mentor, and the only outstanding bright spot, the only sign of the Timberwolves, is Kevin Garnett.

When the Celtics defeated the Timberwolves with a score of 114:99, Leon first stepped forward to shake hands with Sanders, and then immediately walked in front of Garnett to stop him, Leon did not speak, he looked at Garnett, who was a little lonely after losing, shook his hand tightly, and then gave him a strong hug, then patted his ass and left, and went to celebrate the victory with the players.

The player's career has several seven years. (To be continued.) )