Chapter 59: Rebirth
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On February 11, 1999, the Minnesoti Target Center will host an NBA regular season game against the Lakers.
Now Minnesota, the first thing fans do when they come to the target center is not to cheer for the team, but to boo Zhuang Fei and Nash, one to send away the second of their favorite three musketeers last season and their leader Terry Porter, and the other is an outlet for their dissatisfaction with Zhuang Fei's introduction of players, scapegoats.
The most laughable thing is that God also joked with the Timberwolves, the Timberwolves actually encountered the devil's schedule in the first four games, which also ruined Zhuang Fei's hope to use an excellent start to block the fans' media doubts. After two defeats to the Spurs, the Lakers they met today were not much worse than the Spurs.
The Lakers are currently 3-1 in four games under coach Harris this season, and their schedule is similarly poor, but they have won all of them except for the second game to their old rivals Utah Jazz, and they beat the Spurs away in their last game, and they are currently second in the West, only behind the Utah Jazz.
The biggest headache for Zhuang Fei is that the Lakers leader O'Neal is still his old rival, this usually giggled, lazy and lazy center, only when he encounters Zhuang Fei and Duncan, he will immediately explode into huge resentment. O'Neill has long been ready to avenge the revenge of 3 years ago, but he has been suffering from no chance, and now he finally met Zhuang Fei again, he said excitedly before the game.
"There's a good chance he'll be out of class? I don't know, but I don't mind sending him back to college, and I'll let him know the NBA-NCAA gap."
"Shaq has already told us that he will break out in this game, you know, Shaq is not going to give his best in every game, and we will try to give him the ball in this game until he is satisfied," Eddie Jones, another key player of the Lakers, said with a smile in front of the media.
Zhuang Fei did not have the slightest slack for this game, even if he lost this game, Zhuang Fei would not be out of class as described by the media, although he had a bad relationship with Timberwolves fans, but Timberwolves owner Glenn Taylor did not mind these, Glenn Taylor knew that as long as there was Zhuang Fei, the Timberwolves' national live broadcast was nearly twice as many as last season. Zhuang Fei can bring good results to the team, even if he can't bring good results, as long as the results are passable, he Zhuang Fei will not have a class crisis, Glenn Taylor is an authentic businessman, he knows what he wants.
"Zhuang, I heard that O'Neal raised two fingers provocatively to Duncan after defeating the Spurs the day before yesterday, he meant that he was preparing to double kill Duncan and you in Wake Forest" D'Antoni looked at O'Neal who was warming up on the court and said with a smile, although O'Neal was warming up on the court, his eyes were always looking at Zhuang Fei viciously.
"Didn't Duncan ignore him?" Zhuang Fei also smiled slightly, after Duncan entered the NBA, O'Neal directly targeted him, the two fought a few times last year, although the two were not directly opposed because of David Robinson's relationship, but he did not take advantage of Duncan in the competition, and every time he faced Ao Fat's provocation, Duncan was very indifferent, which also made Ao Fat very uncomfortable, this season's away victory over the Spurs was a surprise, and now it is against the Timberwolves, for Ao Fat, the three-year hatred can be paid off.
"Mr. Erwin, Coach Z may suffer a three-game losing streak today, do you have any expectations for this game from your old club, the Lakers," ABC commentator El Michaels made a pre-game statement to Magic Johnson, the special guest of the game.
"I think this game is enough for the Lakers as long as they play their strength, the Timberwolves are still in the run-in period, and this can't be blamed on Coach Z, the shrinking schedule is like this, and they have a lot of young people, even if these young people are very good, but young people are just young people after all, and Coach Z still needs time"
"Do you know Nash, the most criticized player for the Timberwolves right now, he's also a point guard, and you're the best point guard in history, do you have any advice for him?"
"I don't know much about this young man, I watched the last game of the Timberwolves against the Spurs, to be honest, this point guard didn't give me a good impression, too little confidence, maybe it has a lot to do with what you said about the widespread criticism, the Timberwolves' player named Pierce I was very impressed"
"Paul Pierce is one of Michael's successors"
"It's Michael's successor again, and I wonder when there will be a successor to Magic," Magic Johnson quipped.
"The players on both sides have warmed up and are ready to jump ball, and the starting lineup of the Timberwolves playing at home has not changed, center Garnett, power forward Rashad Lewis, small forward Paul Pierce, scoring guard Stephen Jackson, playmaking guard Steve Nash, Lakers center: Shaq O'Neal, power forward Robert Hawley, small forward Eddie Jones, scoring guard Kobe Bryant, playmaking guard Derrick Fisher"
At the beginning of the game, the two sides jumped the ball, Garnett defeated O'Neal, the Timberwolves got the first wave of the ball, and the ball was finally handed to Nash, the Lakers were obviously prepared, the defense was fast, and the Timberwolves did not have a chance to play fast break.
The 20,000-capacity Target Center was still full today, and the Timberwolves-wearing fans were unanimously unanimous when they saw Nash holding the ball, and immediately the Target Center booed. Nash once again became an outlet for these fans to express their dissatisfaction with Zhuang Fei.
Nash's hands trembled, even if it wasn't the first time he had encountered such boos.
"Steve, calm down" Pierce, who was next to Nash, also frowned, obviously not very full of these fans, but thinking of Zhuang Fei's instructions before the game, he could only kindly remind him, but he couldn't help.
"Steve, remember what I said to you yesterday, you're the best point guard" Nash looked back and saw that it was Zhuang Fei, Zhuang Fei had actually stepped on the court, the assistant coach D'Antoni next to him was dragging him, and the technical officials were also suing him, this scene was quite funny.
"Zhuang, okay, come back quickly" The arena that was full of boos just now turned into laughter.
"Okay, don't delay, I know" Zhuang Fei looked at the stands around him and returned to his seat satisfied.
Being messed up by Zhuang Fei, Nash's mood actually relaxed a lot.
Nash was carefully observing the situation on the court, Fisher defended quickly, Nash immediately handed the ball to Pierce on the right three-point line, Pierce received the ball with his back against Eddie Jones, just pushed twice, turned his back and passed Eddie Jones, and hit the basket, but in the face of O'Neal, who was huge and deterrent, Pierce could only choose to directly pull out the jump shot when there was still a certain distance from the paint area. Finally, the basketball pops out of the frame.
The ball that was ejected fell to Nash near the free-throw line again. Just when Nash was hesitating who to pass the ball to, suddenly an amazing scene occurred on the court. Pierce and Jackson, who were on the wing, suddenly ran to the 45-degree three-point line on either side, while Rashad Lewis ran to the bottom corner of the same side, and Garnett under the basket also walked away from the paint, taking O'Neal with him.
Nash, who wanted to pass the ball, was stunned.
"Erwin, Timberwolves this?" The narrator was also confused by the Timberwolves' sudden change.
"It's very simple, the Timberwolves players are all pulled away, let Nash single," the Magic said lightly.
"Let Nash singles?" The commentator muttered in a low voice, has Nash ever singled this season?
The moment Nash froze, Fisher had already arrived, ready to break Nash's ball.
"Steve, be careful"
Just when Fisher thought the break was successful, Nash flew back, dodged Fisher very flexibly, and retreated to the top of the three-point line.
Nash looked at the encouraging eyes of his teammates on the court, and at this moment, his nose was a little sore. Once again, he felt a tremendous amount of trust and support.
This time, Nash didn't want to run away anymore, and he couldn't avoid it.
He swore that this goal would be scored no matter what.
Fisher, who was just in front of Nash, suddenly felt that the momentum of the person in front of him had changed in vain. Fisher's eyes were even more jǐngti.
Nash moved, a sudden acceleration to the left, and then under Fisher's closeness, with Fisher's body as the axis, he made an emergency stop, turned around, and bypassed Fisher to the right, leaving Fisher behind him and hurrying away. Only a stunned small fish remained.
Nash sped down like a bolt of lightning after getting rid of Fisher, and Fisher behind him even thought he saw an afterimage.
"What a speed," Magic Johnson exclaimed, is this the much-criticized point guard? When did NBA fans look so high?
"Come on, Steve" Zhuang Fei on the sidelines clenched his fists tightly, this is the first step to build confidence for Nash, why would Zhuang Fei spend so much money to improve Nash? It was to save Nash, who was about to extinguish the flame of hope.
Nash scurried forward, the afterimages of others flying out of the corner of his eye, he felt like he was flying, he had never felt so good.
It's not for himself, it's for all the people who trust him and tolerate him, Paul, Kevin, Stephen, Rassad, and the coach.
"I'm going to score," Nash shouted in his heart, picking up speed again and rushing to the basket.
"Hmph, boy, it's too much to think about" O'Neill was already meeting the rushing Nash, confident that he would be able to block the emaciated white man with his body.
Just as O'Neal was happy that he was about to collide with Nash, Nash's figure suddenly disappeared from front of him.
"Okay, so good, Steve Nash made a light turn to bypass O'Neal who came to fill the position, and he can make such a beautiful turn under such a high-speed run, this is the first time I've seen it, and now Steve Nash is in front of him is open, is he going to dunk?"
O'Neal, who knew something was wrong, looked back and saw that a Timberwolves player with the No. 3 jersey on his back was already flying in the air.
This time Nash chose to dunk, he usually almost never dunks, but this time, he is like entering the devil's path, and he must dunk once.
With this button, he seemed to have broken all the shackles in his heart, and he seemed to feel as if he had been reborn.
This buckle resounded all over the world, and the target center collectively lost its voice.
After the "whoop", there was another uproar in the target center.
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