It's definitely a big deal for Minnesota. Since the Timberwolves joined the league in 1989, the highest level of playoff appearance was only five years ago when Garnett led the team to the Western Conference Finals. After Garnett's departure, everyone thought that the Timberwolves would fall into a long period of decline, but they did not expect them to rise at such a rapid pace.

If the Trail Blazers, who swept fifth in the West, have not given much feeling, then defeating the Lakers in their heyday and advancing to the Western Conference Finals is undoubtedly a blow to the general managers of the remaining 29 teams in the league.

The past is recalled, and people have blamed those general managers who were blind at the beginning. Lakers fans vomited blood in anger as soon as they remembered that they were one step away from Zheng Ke in the original draft. But now, if nothing else, the Timberwolves have a strong strength to cause problems for the Lakers in the next few years and become the biggest stumbling block on the road to the Lakers' championship.

Of course, no matter what, the Lakers have finished their season, and it's time to go home, and it's time to fish. Maybe next year they'll make a comeback like a lot of clamoring Lakers fans, but this year, that's all they can do.

As the second team to advance to the division finals, Zheng Ke and James have too many similarities. The same all-round, the same talent, the same small forward. Many experts in the league exclaimed in the column: The era of the rise of small forwards has arrived!

ESPN's Windhorst pointed out in his column: "In an era where positions are becoming increasingly blurred, the rise of the versatile small forward is a surprise and understandable thing. Count the similarities between LeBron and Zheng Ke. The list is simply endless. The strength of the two men at small forward alone is a very similar weapon. The biggest difference between LeBron and Zheng Ke is that LeBron has a stronger ability to kill and Zheng Ke shoots more accurately. That's why after going into the playoffs. LeBron's assists are far superior to Zheng's, and Zheng's scoring is far superior to LeBron's. ”

On the Internet, the topic of whether the small forward is rising, the similarities and differences between Zheng Ke and James are hotly discussed. What started out as a few expert fans chatted about it, but then it gradually evolved into a conversation between celebrities and celebrities, and many superstars such as Magic Johnson and Charles Barkley joined the discussion.

Barkley put it bluntly: "Power is everything. In the final analysis, the technical movements of the two men are based on strength. It has evolved into various offensive means. For example, James's breakthrough, without his dragon-like strength, it is difficult to get lethality. It will be difficult to attract the bag and divide the ball; Another example is Zheng Ke's step-back jumper, without his divine power, it is difficult to break away from defenders, and it is difficult to get good shooting opportunities. ”

The third team to advance to the divisional semifinals is the Rockets.

The Rockets and Spurs fought for six games. Yao Ming scored 39 points and 21 rebounds in Game 6 on the Rockets' home court. The existence of a celebrity like Olajuwon helped the Rockets win by 3 points.

Immediately afterward, the Magic unexpectedly won the battle of life and death, defeating the defending champion Celtics to become the fourth team to advance. Turk Turk Turkoglu scored 25 points, became the game-high scorer, and along with 12 assists, it became a nightmare for the Bostonians.

At this point, all four teams in the East-West finals have been released, and the Cavaliers will face off against the Magic. Rockets vs. Timberwolves.

It is very difficult to predict who will advance and who will be out. But overall, the Cavaliers have the highest probability of qualifying, followed by the Rockets.

It's easy to see why the Cavaliers haven't lost a game in the playoffs so far, and they are the lowest odds bookmakers are offering to win the title. In the face of Howard, the Cavaliers have a natural advantage, both inside and outside look particularly balanced, plus James who controls the rhythm of the whole team, the Cavaliers' call to defeat the Magic is very high, and experts are also unanimously optimistic about the Magic team.

And the Rockets in the West, Yao Ming, the strongest point, proved himself in the bloody battle with the Spurs, and even Yao Ming's most feared defense around the front seemed to have lost its effect in the sixth game, because the front around may prevent Yao Ming from playing alone, but Yao Ming may also be robbed of the front court rebound for a second offense. What makes Whitman a headache is that Yao Ming is not the kind of player who holds the ball hard, his step-back jumper, his accurate hook hand under the basket, and his skillful footwork under the basket are the opponents that Anderson is most afraid of in defense, and how to defend Yao Ming is the first big hurdle in front of the Timberwolves.

Before the Western Conference Finals, Zheng Ke had been training hard with the team, soaking in the target center arena every day.

The Rockets have a better regular season record than the Timberwolves and have home-court advantage, so the Timberwolves still need to travel to Houston to play.

The Timberwolves arrived at the Toyota Center in Houston two days early to begin settling into the venue.

Yao Ming knew early on that Zheng Ke would come to the stadium to do adaptive training, and he was in the training hall with a smile and watched Zheng Ke be the first to walk into the training hall.

"Congratulations!"

Zheng Ke smiled when he saw Yao Ming, stretched out his fist and punched Yao Ming.

Yao Ming knew that Zheng Ke was talking about the Rockets entering the Western Conference Finals, thinking of this, Yao Ming's heart was also full of joy, and he showed a simple smile: "It's just luck, it's just luck." ”

"Why did you come to the arena so early, and there was no game today." Zheng Ke asked with a smile.

"You still ask me, obviously you came here so early to dig?" Mr. Yao spoke to Mr. Zheng in Mandarin with a Shanghainese accent.

"Hehe" Zheng Ke smiled, then took off his coat, revealing the training jersey sent by the Timberwolves. "Please go to dinner at noon, will you come?" Yao Ming asked casually, offering his invitation. "Of course, why not?" Zheng Ke said viciously: "You must slaughter the local tyrants." “

Yao Ming was embarrassed and said, "You yourself are a local tyrant, okay?" “

Zheng Ke took off his long pants, revealing the sports shorts he was wearing underneath, casually threw them on the bench, and then asked Yao Ming: "You are a celebrity in Houston now, you are the first team to bring the Rockets to the Western Conference Finals after Olajuwon, will there be a discount for going out to eat?" “

Yao Ming slapped the ball, rolled his eyes and said, "How can there be such a thing." “

Zheng Ke got up from the bench when he was ready, and began to meticulously do the pre-training stretching movements, standard and serious. "Hey, I'm so annoyed to beat you." Yao Ming looked at where Zheng Ke was doing leg presses, and couldn't help but exhale. "How?" Zheng Ke asked without looking back. "I get creepy when I see you training so hard." Yao Ming said jokingly. "That's normal." Zheng Ke obviously didn't understand Yao Ming's words, and said: "When I go to Los Angeles to play, I often see Kobe Bryant training earlier than I went to the stadium to train. And, in fact, I was also forced. "Who forced you?" Yao Ming obviously didn't believe Zheng Ke's nonsense, so he picked up the water in the cup and took a sip.

Of course, Zheng Ke will not tell Yao Ming that he is forced by the system, although he has mastered extremely high ability values, but the maintenance of all this requires usual training, once he does not train, his state will be reduced, and it will be manifested in the system, that is, small brackets appear after his ability value, and then subtract a little or a few points of ability value. Usually in this case, he needs to double his training to improve his condition and erase the braces.

Zheng Ke felt that he was almost warmed up, and then he remembered something in his mind, and suddenly smiled at Yao Ming. "Da Yao, you see me give you a difficult performance." Zheng Ke said.

Yao Ming was confused by Zheng Ke's words, and couldn't help asking, "What is the difficulty?" “

Zheng Ke smiled, did not speak, but walked to the center circle with the ball, he estimated the distance, and then pretended to pray to God, amusing Yao Ming on the side.

Zheng Ke took two breaths, then grabbed the basketball and rushed out like an arrow from a string. "So fast!"

Yao Ming's pupils shrank suddenly, and Zheng Ke's speed when he wasn't dribbling was simply amazing, like a white light, cutting through the field here.

Zheng Ke rushed to the three-point line, then took two big steps and stepped on a small step in front of the free throw line! "Isn't it?" Looking at Zheng Ke's movements, Yao Ming suddenly grasped something in his heart. "Drink!"

Zheng Ke shouted, his left leg burst out with enough force to crack the mountain, carrying him into the sky, he held the basketball high in his right hand, and his feet subconsciously opened at 60 degrees, the whole person was like Jordan's logo.

As if there was no Earth's gravity, Zheng Ke sliced through the sky and smashed the ball into the basket with one hand! "Bang!"

The palms and baskets smashed with a loud sound, and there was a loud thunderclap.

Yao Ming's mouth opened into an "O" shape, and it took him a long time to come back to his senses, his eyes widened, and then he spit out a sentence at the smiling Zheng Ke: "Oh, is it a human?" "You should be going to the slam dunk contest!" Yao Ming was so excited that he ran over and grabbed Zheng Ke's arm and shook it there incessantly.

Zheng Ke was dizzy by Yao Ming: "Stop, stop." “

In fact, he often plays some difficult dunks when he usually trains, and this trick is very difficult to jump from the free throw line, and even in the most peaceful state of mind, he is not 100% able to dunk in. Completing it in front of Yao Ming at one time allowed him to be unstoppable.

After half a ring, Yao Ming finally calmed down, and then suddenly said to Zheng Ke with a straight face: "You should try to dunk like this as little as possible in the future, it will hurt your body and be dangerous." "Don't worry, no problem." Zheng Ke heard that Yao Ming cared about himself like this, and a warm current crossed his heart. However, his own body knows that there is no pressure to face such a dunk with god-like recovery ability. What's more, most players in the NBA are injured when they lack a sense of protection, and if they are prepared to protect themselves, NBA players are rarely injured, unless they are born glass people, or someone has black feet.

The two talked a lot more, and it wasn't until the Timberwolves players gradually came to the training hall that Yao Ming left. The reporter with the team saw Zheng Ke and Yao Ming training together in the stadium early in the morning, and suddenly the gossip and smell exploded, and they took a few photos of the two of them. (To be continued......)