(Today is January 9th, this is the day when this book officially broke 1 million, hehe, finally a million, although this number of words is nothing, but it means a lot for fishermen, this book is uploaded on September 9th, put on the shelves on November 9th, and then broke one million on January 9th, this is really a coincidence, don't say anything, 12000 words broke out today, this chapter is a big chapter of 6000 words, by the way, the fisherman asks for a recommendation, if today's book this week's recommendation can be on 2000 and break out tomorrow, Now I think there are more than 900, and there are still 1000 left, everyone come on)

Los Angeles, 20 November 2000

As the time of the 21st century approaches, basically all the big cities in the United States are busy for the upcoming century moment, for most people there is only one chance in their lives to welcome the turn of the century, which is for ordinary audiences, in fact, the same is true for the NBA, this season is the first cross-century season in the history of the NBA, and the league also attaches great importance to this season, in fact, all NBA fans know that the NBA schedule is very dense, and there are only three statutory holidays in the NBA, All-Star Weekend, Crazy March and New Year's Day, even the Christmas NBA has a Christmas war, but in this season, there is a game on New Year's Day this season, and the time of the game is still unprecedented in 2001 0:00, the turn of the century, and according to the NBA League, the first NBA game of the new century must be arranged at this time with a sense of mission, as for the game of this game The two sides are inseparable this summer, Originally, many people thought that the NBA would position this game as Los Angeles vs Celtics, after all, the two teams were two of the most successful teams in the 20th century. It is absolutely qualified to use these two teams to welcome the new century, and this is also a match that everyone expects, but what makes the NBA a little difficult is that the current Celtics are too inferior, and the gap in strength makes it impossible for them to have any confrontation with the Lakers, if Boston is still the era of big birds. It would be nice if the Lakers were also in the era of Magic, but now time can't be turned back, so in the end, the league reluctantly eliminated Boston and then pulled the Timberwolves in, the last NBA champion in the 20th century. In the end, the opponent of the battle of the century also became the Lakers' home game against the Timberwolves. It can be said that for many people, the Lakers vs. Timberwolves on November 20 is the opening and preview of the battle of the century on January 1, 2001.

So this makes November 20 an ordinary NBA top battle into a historic game, and Los Angeles Lakers fans also regard this game as particularly important, in fact, many people are now saying that the Lakers' home atmosphere is getting worse and worse, in fact, it is true, but if you just look at this game, the atmosphere of the Lakers scene is simply suffocating, in the history of the Lakers they have few mortal enemies, Los Angeles is not like New York. New York likes to make enemies everywhere, such as the former Pacers, such as the former Heat, and now the Timberwolves, they will always find a lot of mortal enemies for themselves. And the same is true of Boston, Bostonians also like to treat the Lakers as their mortal enemies, otherwise they would not shout the slogan 'beatLA' on their home court, which is a team culture, but it is very strange that the Los Angeles Lakers, the most famous team in the league, do not have such a culture, and their fans rarely have this kind of mortal enemy culture.

They don't make radical moves or shout extreme slogans because of a certain team, which is probably a big reason why the atmosphere at Los Angeles' home stadium is not good, and the fans here are too reserved. But. These are all in the past, today's Staples is not a subtle place, the fans in the stadium have been shouting 'BEAT, F.Z' since the Timberwolves entered the game, which was also shouted by the Lakers fans must beat the slogan I am afraid that the Boston Celtics have not enjoyed, and the people in the whole league who can make Lakers fans so excited are probably Zhuang Fei, who is now sitting on the Timberwolves bench. …,

Zhuang Fei was not uncomfortable with the voices coming from all directions. In his dictionary, the applause of the home team and the boos of the away team are always considered to be the greatest honors, and it is clear that this is one of the honors. Zhuang Fei is now enjoying such an honor.

"Coach. Are you really ready to throw Reid on the injury list again? ”

Zhuang Fei did enjoy it, but for his assistant Green it was a little helpless, this game Zhuang Fei actually put Reed, who was not injured, into the injury list again, Green felt that Zhuang Fei's approach was very inappropriate, in Green's opinion, his mentor did give up Reed, but again and again the young man was devolved, raised, and then delegated, which is a shame for young players, Green does not like Reed, But he doesn't want this young guard to be destroyed because of Zhuang Fei's humiliation, Green hopes that Zhuang Fei will leave this guard on the bench, even if it doesn't matter, but obviously, his mentor is ready to go his own way, and he didn't consider his suggestion at all, Green has always thought that Zhuang Fei is a head coach who can handle the growth of young players, but this time Zhuang Fei's behavior towards Reed made Green very confused, He even wondered if his mentor was taking revenge on the guard who had made him a disgrace to NBA fans around the world, but of course, this thought only flashed through his mind, and he would never believe that his coach would be such a person.

"Stephen, to change a player who has no sense of shame, you have to keep humiliating him until you let him know what shame is"

Before this game, Zhuang Fei was very low-key, many people were saying that this was not Coach Z's style, in the face of Phil Jackson's provocation, there was no trace of counterattack, many people didn't understand why Zhuang Fei did this, for this season's Lakers Zhuang Fei has been 100% vigilant, it can be said that he is extremely careful about this team, this season the Lakers are very strong, they and the Timberwolves are the only two winning teams, so Zhuang Fei is usually studying the Lakers' video in addition to watching the Timberwolves' route, It can be said that the change of this Laker this season is simply a little surprising to Zhuang Fei, it is the arrival of Szczebiak that can provide a lot of help to the Lakers, and even make the qualitative changes caused by the Lakers. But although Zhuang Fei once thought so, he never thought that the Lakers would not only be qualitatively changed, but also qualitatively changed, and it can be said that the strength of this Laker is no worse than Wake Forest, which was previously the first in history by the United States, and even stronger.

Now this Laker is extremely difficult to beat. Zhuang Fei is not sure about beating the Lakers today, and Zhuang Fei has always been very cautious about games or things that he is not sure of.

The Timberwolves' lineup for this game has not changed in personnel, it is still Nash, Jackson, and Pierce. Garnett and O'Neal Jr., this is also the lineup of the Timberwolves last season, the Timberwolves have always been considered by the NBA league to be the most stable in the league, so the Timberwolves are also considered to be the most tacit team in the NBA, although the Timberwolves have not changed their personnel, but the positions of Jackson and Pierce are reversed, Jackson is playing small forward Zhuang Fei is ready to let him defend Szczebiak, last season Jackson was able to prevent the Lakers' Glen Les from killing is an important reason why the Timberwolves swept the Lakers. In this game, Zhuang Fei is ready to use the same defensive strategy against Szebiak, and compared with the Timberwolves, the Lakers' lineup is a little different from last season, of course, the center position is still Fat, and the scoring guard and playmaking guard are still Kobe and Fisher. It's just that the small forward was replaced by Szczebiak, and Szczebiak performed extremely well in the first ten games after leaving the Warriors and coming to the Lakers this season, although the score dropped a lot from last season when he was in the Warriors, but it still exceeded 22 points, because the appearance of Szczebiak led to the Lakers averaging 20 points per game this season There are three, and another player of the Lakers, Horesgrant, was brought by the Lakers from the Seattle SuperSonics this season, and the all-round forward was the No. 3 person in the first generation of the Bulls that year. is also a veteran of Phil Jackson, although this player is now thirty-five years old and has long since lost his previous bravery, but he is still very good in strength, at least much better than AC Green last season. …,

Zhuang Fei has enough awareness of the difficulties of this game. It can be said that he has thought about it very fully, but when the game really started, he was still taken aback by the momentum of the Lakers, it can be said that the Timberwolves fell into a disadvantage at the beginning of the game, in fact, for the Lakers, they can't prevent the Timberwolves, especially the Timberwolves' Garnett or Xiao Ao and Nash when they block and dismantle, the Lakers are also at a loss, but when Zhuang Fei was a little surprised, the Timberwolves' offensive power actually looks much weaker than the Lakers. This is the first time the Timberwolves have faced such an opponent since they matured in the past two seasons. A team that can outperform the Timberwolves on the offensive end. If last season, when the Timberwolves were inextricably matched, the Timberwolves' second team was able to launch a Jedi counterattack under the leadership of Mobley and Ginobili, then this season's Timberwolves have struggled to do so. The only player who can stabilize the output of the second team of the Timberwolves is Ginobili, because in this game Crawford is iron again, and Bowen is just a fixed-point shooter, if there is no vacancy or not on his offensive point, then it is difficult for Bowen to score, as for Wang Zhizhi, although his strength is now good, but he still lacks the explosiveness of scoring, he can be regarded as the second most stable player in the second team of the Timberwolves this season, but it is too bad compared to Mobley's role in the Timberwolves last season. It can be said that the second lineup, which the Timberwolves have always been proud of, did not have the upper hand in this Lakers bench clash with Robert Holly and Ron Harper.

It is precisely because of this that the Timberwolves played extremely hard in this game.

"It seems that the Lakers are going to win this game" Abdul-Jabbar said with some excitement in the commentary box, for him personally, it was a shame for the Lakers to be swept by the Timberwolves last season, and he had to get back face this season anyway, but Michaels, the ABC commentator next to him, is now a little moved, this is the second team after the Spurs in the 1998-1999 season that can be on par with or even slightly better than the Timberwolves in terms of strength.

"Coach, the head coach of the Lakers is too arrogant" Green stood beside Zhuang Fei and said, the Timberwolves have been pressed in this game, and the Lakers fans on the scene are also extremely crazy, which is also understandable, but as the head coach of the team, Phil Jackson doesn't need to shout to the court every time the Lakers score a goal, this is completely unnecessary. There is even some suspicion of provocation. For Phil Jackson's wild performance, Green is extremely unaccustomed to it.

"Let him go, people finally vent once, do you still want to stop him?" Zhuang Fei said lightly, in fact, for him personally, this Zen master still has a little bit of a 'Zen master' now, he is already a crazy monk, and Zhuang Fei can understand the madness of this six-crown coach. The loss to the Timberwolves last season was a terrible loss, and it can be said that it was a game to vent his frustration last season.

Although it can be understood, Zhuang Fei is still a little unhappy with this famous coach's behavior, it doesn't matter if he loses in Los Angeles this time, Zhuang Fei also wrote it down. Definitely going to pay it back next time.

The final result of this game was 127-119, the Timberwolves lost to the Lakers by 8 points, this result is also the normal result of the whole game between the two teams, the Lakers did win slightly, the best player in this game was the Lakers' Shaq O'Neal, the big fat man scored 30 points, 15 rebounds and 9 assists in this game, while Kobe Bryant and Szczebiak combined to contribute 50 points. The Lakers' Big Three scored a total of 80 points, which is a world of difference compared to last season's Big Three with Glen Rice, last season's Lakers media has been saying that Glen Rice's law is that Glen Rice can score more than 18 points and the Lakers win, even the Timberwolves are not the Lakers' opponents, so many Los Angeles media believe that the gap between the Lakers and the Timberwolves is the 18 points of Greenless. Obviously, Szczebiak can now contribute an average of 22 points per game, which can completely replace Glen Les's so-called 18-point rule, and there is even a surplus. The Lakers performed well in this game, but it was not bad for the Timberwolves, the team's five points were all double-doubled, and Nash even played a strange stat of 15 points and 20 assists. It's just that the second lineup of the Timberwolves is a bit glaring for Crawford's 1 of 9, and the previous Mobley will definitely not have such a data as 1 of 9, and it will not appear at any time. …,

So after this game, Zhuang Fei remembered Mike Reed, who was thrown into the injury list by himself. Crawford's nerve knife is a beautiful treatment, so to let the Timberwolves' second team return to the first place in the league, it is necessary to let Reed exert his energy, but thinking of Reed's current situation Zhuang Fei was speechless again.

"Phil, you performed very well in this game" Zhuang Fei said to Phil Jackson with a smile after the game, this is just an ordinary regular season game for Zhuang Fei, and if you lose this game, you will lose. The next time he gets it back, he doesn't have anything to worry about.

"Really? I think so too. Our team is definitely the first in the league, and the champion this season must be the Lakers," Phil Jackson also looked at Zhuang Fei a little aggressively and said.

"Oh, yes, I'm looking forward to it, but I think I heard this last season" Zhuang Fei was not as angry as Phil Jackson imagined, but a smile and sarcastic him, last season's Lakers was definitely a nightmare year that Phil Jackson thought, and being swept by Zhuang Fei was an eternal pain in his heart, so Zhuang Fei immediately had a frosty face when he mentioned the Lakers as a dynasty coach, but fortunately, the coach's psychological adjustment ability was extremely good.

"Hmph, I won't fight with you, now we have won one game, we will continue to win in the future, the Lakers will sweep the Timberwolves this season" Phil Jackson snorted coldly and turned around and left, which made Zhuang Fei a little crying and laughing.

"Who the hell is winning? Who is this arguing with whom? ”

Zhuang Fei was a little helpless about Phil Jackson, who was now a little nervous by himself. However, after this game, the Timberwolves players were a little disappointed, but there was not much negative reaction, after all, this was their first game of the season.

However, what also makes Zhuang Fei a little relieved is that after losing this game, the Lakers have completely ascended to the top of the biggest favorite to win the championship this season, and almost all the major media are advocating this team with an unusually gorgeous triangle offense, and last season's defending champion Timberwolves were selectively forgotten by them, in fact, this is also a good thing for the Timberwolves.

A big part of the reason why the Timberwolves have struggled so much at the beginning of this season is that many teams want to find a sense of existence in the defending champions, and the Timberwolves have almost become the target of public criticism, whether it is a strong team or a weak team, they want to bite the Timberwolves, even the Timberwolves are extremely difficult to deal with in the face of such an environment, and now the Lakers can attract part of the firepower to the past, which makes Zhuang Fei extremely happy. At the very least, the Timberwolves' environment won't be too bad in the future.

So after losing to the Lakers, the Timberwolves played a lot easier with the Clippers and Suns in the next game, although the Clippers' strength is not strong, but if they bite the Timberwolves like the Nuggets this season, it will also make the Timberwolves extremely difficult, and the Clippers still have this ability, as for the Phoenix Suns Zhuang Fei did not dare to be careless before the game, this team is now very sensitive, and the atmosphere within the team is not very good, especially the team's boss Kidd is now under pressure, This season, because of the enhancement of the overall strength of the West, the Suns, who were seventh in the West last season, have only ranked tenth in the West so far this season, which is extremely dissatisfied with the ambitious Suns fans and Kidd personally, so this Sun is now a powder keg, the atmosphere in the team is not very harmonious, and the performance on the court is also up and down, but Zhuang Fei does not dare to say that when they are up or down against the Sun, in fact, Zhuang Fei's caution is not unreasonable, In this game with the Suns, the Suns are in excellent shape, especially Kidd, the point guard will come to the fight against Nash and the Timberwolves, although Zhuang Fei has a lot of arrangements for the point guard who is currently considered the No. 1 in the league, but still let the point guard score 30 points, 11 rebounds and 14 assists, he and Hardaway combined to contribute 50 points, 18 rebounds and 20 assists, and the Timberwolves almost overturned again on the Suns' home court. But fortunately, at the last moment, Pierce made two very unreasonable three-pointers in a row to let the Timberwolves get through the danger. …,

Although it was a bit difficult to win against the Suns, it also put the Timberwolves on a winning streak again after losing to the Lakers, and also allowed the Timberwolves to maintain their second position in the West this season, and what made Zhuang Fei and his Timberwolves very happy was that they returned to their home court and won consecutive victories over the Mavericks, Rockets, and Knicks, which also made the Timberwolves' record 15-1, and what made Zhuang Fei and the Timberwolves very happy was that on the same day that the Timberwolves defeated New York, The Lakers who visited Vancouver suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of the Grizzlies, a repeat of last season's Western Conference semifinals, which can be said to be a revenge battle for the Grizzlies, just like the Lakers took revenge on the Timberwolves at home, and the Grizzlies almost swallowed the Laker in the roar of more than 20,000 fans at home. The Lakers, who played away from home, shot only 40% of the whole game under the pressure of the Grizzlies, and finally the team with the second most points per game this season only scored 99 points in this game, and Carter, the leader of the Grizzlies, once again broke the Lakers' outside line, with 45 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists, and the Timberwolves also won by 11 points at home.

The Lakers' loss in Vancouver directly ended their winning streak to 14 games and also took them back from the first place in the West, the 15-1 Timberwolves pressed the 14-1 Lakers, and the Grizzlies are now third in the West with 13 wins and 2 losses, and the three teams are still stalemate. It can be said that this season's Western Conference is a competition for the first group led by the Lakers, Timberwolves and Grizzlies. This season, whether in terms of strength or experience, these three teams do not lack much, and it can be said that they have reached a very mature stage.

The Timberwolves returned to the first place, which was originally something that made Zhuang Fei very happy, but the day after the game with the Knicks, a report published by the New York Times on his front page shocked the whole league, and almost for a while, the media of the whole league and even the world once again turned all their eyes to the Timberwolves, who were ready to keep a low profile.

"According to internal sources from the Timberwolves, Timberwolves head coach Coach Z has confirmed to leave the Timberwolves"

That's the headline on the front page of the New York Times.