On March 16, the Lakers faced the Timberwolves at home.

As the Lakers get better, the atmosphere in the Great Western Forum Arena is getting stronger and hotter, and there are more and more Hollywood big names on the sidelines, and after 13 consecutive wins, there are also a lot of slogans on the sidelines.

Some wrote: "14 wins in a row!! ”

This kind of simple slogan has a clear purpose, and what you want is victory.

There are also fans of O'Neal, who drew a big shark and wrote "Shaq", and fans of Kobe Bryant, who drew a mamba snake and wrote Kobe Bryant cheers, etc.

There were also slogans cheering for Qiao Hai on the sidelines, not only that, but several, Qiao Hai's vanity was satisfied, and he watched them one by one, the game was about to start, the starting lineup had not changed, and the opening tactical play did not need to be specially arranged.

If it was the Timberwolves at the beginning of the season, maybe Qiao Hai would really have a headache.

But two weeks ago, the Timberwolves sent away Stephen Marbury and got Trill Brandon, a second-rate point guard in the league.

The Timberwolves had a quasi-big trio of Kevin Garnett, Stephen Marbury and Tom Gugliotta last season and look like the future is bright.

But at the beginning of this season, Kevin Garnett signed a sky-high contract extension, and the Timberwolves could not afford to renew Tom Gugliotta, so they could only send Tom Gugliotta away first, and Marbury forced the palace, hoping to get the same sky-high contract as Kevin Garnett, but the management did not allow it, and finally, two weeks ago, the Timberwolves sent Stephen Marbury away.

The operation of the Timberwolves management directly reduced the pressure on Qiao Hai, in this game, Qiao Hai only needed to target Kevin Garnett, and the game could be played very easily.

The starting lineup for the Timberwolves is point guard Terry Brandon, shooting guard Sam Mitchell, small forward Denis Scott, power forward Kevin Garnett and center Joe Smith.

In addition to Garnett and Joe Smith, the other three are veterans at the end of their careers, and the three veterans on the outside, Qiao Hai, didn't pay much attention, but he glanced at Joe Smith, Qiao Hai clearly remembered that it was because of Joe Smith that the Timberwolves were fined for 5 seasons of first-round picks.

Joe Smith's agent, Fagan, signed a yin-yang contract with the Timberwolves, which was eventually discovered by the league, which forfeited the Timberwolves' first-round draft picks for the next five seasons and terminated Joe Smith's contract with the Timberwolves.

However, Joe Smith is still playing hot with the Timberwolves, which shows that the league has not yet discovered Joe Smith's yin-yang contract incident.

Qiao Hai will not be this villain and expose this matter, but this game Joe Smith is also a noteworthy point, before the Yin and Yang contract incident broke out, Joe Smith was still a good inside player, he could score, defend, and do dirty work.

Jumping ball, it was not Joe Smith who jumped out of the Timberwolves, but Kevin Garnett, and it is said that one of the conditions for Garnett to renew his contract with the Timberwolves is not to play center.

However, the league is really short of centers now, and the Timberwolves can only use Joe Smith to top the center, and then use Kevin Garnett, who is tall enough to jump the ball, jump ball, and the flexible Garnett really beat O'Neal and won the opening ball for the Timberwolves.

Robert Horry stared at Kevin Garnett, the Lakers lacked an interior blue-collar line, and directly forced Robert Horry to play this role, Horry's one-on-one defense was not bad, but against Kevin Garnett, Qiao Hai was still a little worried.

In the first shot of the opening game, Trill Brandon controlled the ball, although Trill Brandon is considered a second-rate point guard by Qiao Hai, his organizational ability is still first-class, otherwise the Timberwolves would not have taken a fancy to him.

Coupled with Sam Mitchell and Dennis Scott's ability to shoot, the Timberwolves' offense was still very threatening in the opening game.

Sam Mitchell and Denis Scott ran in position, Kevin Garnett was in position to ask for the ball, Robert Horry was a little uncomfortable, and Trill Brandon thought about it and still gave the ball to Garnett.

Garnett singled inside, leaned on Robert Horry, and after a tentative shot, turned around and jumped.

Wow, it's in!

With two points, the Timberwolves opened the lead.

The Lakers attacked, Scott Pippen took the ball at the top of the arc, Kobe Bryant waited for the ball at 45 degrees on the right side, O'Neal waited for the ball in the restricted area, and the three formed a triangle, Scott Pippen felt that Kobe's chances were better, because Kobe Bryant's opponent was the aging Sam Mitchell.

Whether it is athleticism or technique, Kobe can crush Sam Mitchell, not to mention that Sam Mitchell is not known for defense at all, so I saw Kobe Bryant accelerate, take three quick steps, rush to the basket, and throw a layup.

Joe Smith, who was behind him, didn't have time to make up for the defense, and the ball went in!

2:2！

The Timberwolves attacked, and the basketball was given to Garnett again, and this time Garnett took the ball from the 45° mid-range on the left side and continued to play alone.

Robert Horry's one-on-one defense is not bad, he didn't defend it once, and the second time he learned his lesson, it just so happened that Garnett also wanted to repeat the old trick, Robert Horry aimed directly at the opportunity, raised his hand to interfere, bang, and hit the iron.

O'Neal grabbed the rebound inside, and the Lakers launched a fast break.

In the fast break, Kobe Bryant counterattacked with the ball, and after getting rid of Sam Mitchell's pursuit, he hit the ground and passed the ball to Scott Pippen, who rushed to the front court and dunked, 4:2!

As time went on, the Lakers, who never played the counter-attack at the beginning, also began to increase their counter-attacking fast break, and O'Neal put up with this change in the team, because it would be much easier for the team to play this way, and it would be much easier for him.

The Lakers have always been able to take advantage of the time difference in offensive and defensive transitions, take advantage of those opportunities, and score easily.

Especially after the arrival of Scott Pippen, after the outside line has a transfer station for the ball, the Lakers have a better grasp of the operation of the ball.

The Timberwolves attacked, Terrill Brandon didn't look for Garnett, organized the offense, the others ran the position, Joe Smith rushed into the interior with an empty cut, received the ball and wanted to dunk it, Shaquille O'Neal flew directly from the side, like a behemoth, and pounced directly on the basketball.

Boom!

With a muffled sound, the basketball flew straight out.

Wonderful violent hat, the Great Western Forum Arena went crazy directly, cheered wildly, and the referee signaled a good ball, which was still the Timberwolves' possession, but there was not much time left, and the Timberwolves' offense failed again.

The Timberwolves ran out of 24 seconds and the Lakers restarted their positional offense.

This time the ball was given to Shaquille O'Neal, I have to say that O'Neal's strength is the best in the Lakers and even the whole NBA, one-on-one singles, in the face of Joe Smith, who is a head shorter than himself, O'Neal directly crushed and scored.

6:2, the Lakers opened in good shape.

In the first quarter of the game, the Lakers' Big Three were powerful, and Kevin Garnett was alone, and the Lakers led by 9 points at 28:19 in the first quarter.