On December 27, 1999, Zhuang Fei took his Timberwolves to embark on a trip to the East again, the opponent of the Timberwolves is the Orlando Magic, the Magic's record this season is very bad, this season lost Hardaway and Anderson after becoming a fish belly team, although the team has also come to a lot of powerful players this year, but the team's lack of stars makes them not competitive in the East, the game has been carried out so far, the Magic team is ranked ninth in the East, has fallen out of the playoffs, But when Zhuang Fei came to the Magic home court, they found that their fans were not sad, and some even entertained themselves when they watched the team lose.

"Haha, we'll have Grant next season and rebuild"

"yes, Grant is not a little bit better than Anferne, and we will soon be back in the finals and win the championship"

"The Magic will be the best team in the East"

Zhuang Fei has always felt that this is a very strange place, the fans here are very puzzling, Zhuang Fei knows that the Magic and the Timberwolves are a new army, the characteristics of the new army is that the loyalty of the fans is very low, the team can win beautifully, they will support, if they can't win and play ugly, they will scold, this is very normal, just like when Zhuang Fei first went to the Timberwolves, the fans have been scolding, but in the Magic place, they always like to be angry with the star, no matter how much happiness the star has given them, No matter how much glory this star has given them, without exception, as long as it is not to their liking, they will not hesitate to abandon it like waste. They will never remember a player for good.

'It's not like a rebuilding team, they don't have stars. There are no rookies worth developing, this team is very special, I'm afraid there is no such team in the NBA," D'Antoni said as he looked at the five Magic players on the court.

"Yes, this team reminds me of another team," Zhuang Fei said after a moment of contemplation.

"Another team?" D'Antoni asked after a pause, but Zhuang Fei did not answer.

This team reminded Zhuang Fei of the Rockets without Yao Ming and Maddie in the future. It's really similar to this Magic, it's the same loss of stars, the same lack of potential. Again, no one is hopeful, the same is hoping to bring in superstars, more likely. Originally, when everyone thought that they would be at the bottom, they were always able to achieve certain results, just like later fans mocked the Rockets: "Ninth in the West again"

Or again "like the winner of the lotto zone". The same goes for magic. And Wallace, Armstrong, Outlaw, and Amic on the Magic team are all very good non-draft players, and this Magic team also lacks talent.

However, in addition to the big book that appeared on the Magic court, Zhuang Fei also saw the future Celtics head coach Doug Rivers on the Magic bench. He is now the head coach of the Magic, and his performance this season is very good, which also makes him a very hot 'new coaching star' in the NBA now, although he has not brought the Magic to the playoffs now, but this result is already amazing, not every coach wants Zhuang Fei to be so demonic.

At the end of this game. The score was 118-93, and the Timberwolves won by 25 points, which was a game without suspense, and Zhuang Fei was expected for this victory.

"Doug, your performance is good" After the game, Zhuang Fei took the initiative to find the rookie coach of the Magic team, Rivers. Zhuang Fei still admired this coach in later generations.

"Thank you" Rivers looked at Zhuang Fei who was smiling at him with some surprise, and then also stretched out his hand, the last game was at the home court of the Timberwolves, the Magic lost worse than today, Rivers didn't have the face to find Zhuang Fei after the game, and turned around and left. But today this is his home field, and he still needs to abide by the friendship of the landlord, but he didn't expect Zhuang Fei to greet him enthusiastically.

…,

"I think you're going to have something to do this season," Zhuang said, patting the former All-Star point guard on the shoulder, and now he does have the qualifications to say to Rivers in the tone of a senior authority.

"I hope so," Rivers was not happy after listening to Zhuang Fei's encouragement, but was full of wry smiles. Zhuang Fei also heard about what happened to him with the Magic, since he took over Chuck Daley to stay with the Magic, the team's general manager John Gabriel has made a total of 37 trades, involving 38 players, which almost set a record in the NBA, such a huge personnel change Rivers has little autonomy at all, so he doesn't even know who the player who will represent the Magic tomorrow will be, because now this Magic anyone can be traded, as long as the chips are enough, the Magic is not for sale. No manager wants his team to be so turbulent, but there is nothing he can do, he does not have the authority of Zhuang Fei, and the general manager decides everything.

In the NBA, it's like this, either a head coach like the Timberwolves suppresses the general manager, or a general manager like the Magic presses down the head coach, and there is no harmonious coexistence, such as the Lakers, the head coach and the general manager are equally authoritative, then it will eventually evolve into endless infighting.

"Doug, do a good job, it'll get better," Zhuang Fei said encouragingly patting Rivers on the shoulder again.

"Mr. Zhuang, thank you" Rivers was a little moved when he saw Zhuang Fei's sincere eyes, a head coach of Zhuang Fei's status didn't need to comfort him like this at all.

"Mr. Zhuang, you are not what is reported in the media, you are a good person," Rivers said with a smile. Zhuang Fei was stunned for a moment and then smiled.

The second opponent of Zhuang Fei's trip to the East after leaving Orlando is the Heat, who are currently in second place in the East, and it can be said that this will be a relatively difficult game.

The performance of the Heat this season is still very stable, and Tim Hardaway, the team's No. 2 who performed poorly last season, has been plagued by injuries, but under the leadership of team boss Mourning, the Heat still maintains the top three positions in the East.

At the beginning of the game, the Heat gave the Timberwolves, who were fighting back-to-back, a blow at home, and Anthony Carter, a new non-draft point guard who joined the NBA this season, beat Nash after the game began. Obviously, Riley was deployed to him before the game, and today Anthony Carter's state is indeed very good, shooting, and the success rate of breakthroughs is extremely high, and he drove the Heat's outside offense at the beginning, and the Heat encountered the Timberwolves last season and the outside line was blown up, and the Heat's outside line has always had problems. Otherwise, last season would not have been blacked out by the Knicks, but at the beginning of this game, the team's boss Mourning became a spectator. At the end of the first quarter, the Heat led the Timberwolves by three points.

In the second quarter, the Timberwolves' bench quickly chased the score back and completed the overtake. Until the two sides were replaced, the Heat had changed from leading by three points to being 5 points behind, and when Riley was ready to expect Anthony Carter to continue to exert his power, he didn't expect that it was Jackson who defended Anthony Carter, which was Zhuang Fei's adjustment, and when Riley was ready to use Dan Marley to continue to impact Nash, he found that Marley's feel and state were very average today, and soon the Heat was at a disadvantage.

Mourning is indeed in the prime of his career now, both defensively and offensively, and O'Neal Jr. suffers very much when it comes to one-on-one. But it can also create some trouble for Mourning, and the Heat's other interior PJ Brown can't handle Garnett, Garnett, both offensive and defensive Garnett is superior, but the main point of attack of the Timberwolves in this game is still the same as last season. Although the Heat's two interior gates were dragged down by Garnett and Xiao Ao, it was difficult to have an efficiency if they really attacked.

…,

In this game, the Timberwolves were obviously challenged more than in the last game against the Magic, although the Timberwolves took the initiative on the court, but the score gap has not been widened, the Heat's defense is indeed very good, although they can't really prevent the Timberwolves but can limit the Timberwolves well. The offensive efficiency of the Timberwolves was greatly reduced, but what made Riley very embarrassed was that although they limited the Timberwolves' scoring, the Timberwolves' scoring was reduced from an average of 115 points per game to less than 100 points now, while they themselves could not score points, which means that they played their own defensive characteristics, but did not get enough winning points, and the final score of this game was 95-87, and the Heat lost by 8 points at home.

"Zhuang, you are really ruthless, you pulled us from second in the East to third in the East all of a sudden, and we were overtaken by the Knicks" After the game, Riley pretended to be angry and said to Zhuang Fei, the relationship between the two is getting better and better, and they often make some jokes on the phone, so Zhuang Fei didn't care.

"There's no way, I'm also fighting for the first place in the West now" Zhuang Fei said with a smile, the situation of the Timberwolves and the Heat is similar, and a slight loss in one game will make the team's ranking fall, so the two are really doing their best in this game.

"Zhuang, the center you got from the Trail Blazers has performed very eye-catching this season, and I'm a little red when I look at it" Pat Riley laughed again, Zhuang Fei's eyes were very admirable.

"yes, how about I trade him for Monin?" Zhuang Fei looked at Riley meaningfully and replied, and then sighed again and said: "Jermaine's performance is good, but he has affected the performance of another person in our team."

"Who?" Pat Riley asked with a smile, but Zhuang Fei gave him a blank look: "You are asking knowingly."

"Hehe, to be honest, Zhuang, every team can't be perfect, in fact, the Timberwolves' performance is already very good now, although Nash is affected by Jermaine O'Neal and can't exert all his energy, but the Timberwolves are still very strong, didn't you still defeat the Lakers in the Christmas game? By the way, why didn't that Chinese kid see it, won't he really get the flu and be isolated" Riley said to Zhuang Fei in a senior tone, and at the end he didn't finish mentioning Wang Zhizhi, Wang Zhizhi taught him a lesson for the Lakers, taught a lesson to Phil Jackson made Riley happy for a long time, he has always wanted to know the first Chinese to gain a foothold in the NBA, Wang Zhizhi is indeed a firm foothold with that game.

"Wang Zhizhi is now weak in his limbs after catching a cold, and he stays in Minnesota" Zhuang Fei looked at Riley's somewhat regretful expression and said: "If Jermaine O'Neal only affects Nash's personal performance, I won't be worried, of course I know that as long as the players on the court have reached a level of strength, they will definitely have to make sacrifices in terms of data and performance, but O'Neal not only affects Nash's data but also affects the team's system" Zhuang Fei finally sighed again.

"He's blocking the Timberwolves' breakthrough space in the middle," Pat Riley recalled the game just now and said, in this game, Nash always slipped back halfway when he broke through the basket, because Jermaine O'Neal failed to take the defenders under the basket away, compared with O'Neal, Garnett and Nash have a lot of tacit understanding, and he and Nash are very rhythmic and layered.

"He is now habitually standing under the basket, and he is not very good now, he can't open the space in the middle, he relies too much on his position to attack, in my offensive system, low post offense is the last choice, only when the high post or the wing can't be opened, he will go to the low post, which makes him look incompatible with my system" Zhuang Fei said with a wry smile, in fact, abandoning defense and physical fitness, Wang Zhizhi is more suitable for the current Timberwolves' offensive system, Xiao Ao because he didn't learn to run and bomb in the summer, Now he has not shown a high tactical IQ, which has led to his inability to integrate into the Timberwolves' running and bombing, which is a big reason why the Timberwolves lost to the Lakers on the offensive end in the second half of the Christmas game.

"I really don't know what to say now, your lineup is so strong if you don't run in well, if you really run in and get it back, now the whole world is watching to see if you and the Lakers can break the winning record set by the Bulls, if you really run in place, I think this record will definitely be broken" Pat Riley sighed and continued: "The current East is really not competitive, the Knicks were swept by the Spurs last season, even if we were not blacked out last season, it is estimated that it is the same fate as the Knicks." , and in the West, the Spurs are not the strongest team now, and after Jordan retired, the West finally rose, originally I was hopeful that Jordan would leave, thinking it was time for the Heat to rise, but now it seems that it is still the world of the West."

"Zhuang, although your lineup is not running in well, I still hope that you can suppress the Lakers, I don't want Phil Jackson's bastard to win the championship" Riley looked at Zhuang Fei expectantly, and Zhuang Fei nodded with a wry smile.