Chapter 368: Sixth Defeat

The Timberwolves' win is not big news anymore, but the regular season sweep of last season's defending champions is a bit unacceptable.

But Lakers fans think about it, there are only four teams that have been able to beat the Timberwolves all season, and strong teams like the Spurs, Mavericks, and Thunder have never won against the Timberwolves. Thinking about it this way, it seems that being swept by the Timberwolves is not a big deal.

It's just that people shudder when they think of the horror of the timberwolf.

The odds of the Timberwolves winning the championship offered by the bookmaker have fallen to 1 to 1.2, which is equivalent to investing a dollar and only making 2 cents, which is too low compared to other odds of 1 to 4 and 1 to 10. It also shows how optimistic people are about the Timberwolves winning the championship now.

When winning has become a habit, everyone in the winning division exudes a different temperament.

This is a temperament that is beyond the banditry, and the Timberwolves' players have successfully promoted the bandit atmosphere to become the league's famous king team after most of the season.

Many younger teams, teams with a little less strength, and teams with less confidence, when they meet the Timberwolves, they are already half behind in morale before they start playing, and they feel inferior and inferior to each other. This is why there are always players who provoke the Timberwolves or Zheng Ke on Twitter and in the media, in order to eliminate the fear and retreat in their hearts, and re-arouse the morale and fighting spirit of the team's players.

Jordan Jr. said in an interview with the media: "This season our team configuration tends to be perfect, every player is in hot shape, and we will definitely win the championship." ”

At this time, no one laughed at him anymore, or thought that he was ashamed of his words, and his seemingly arrogant words received a response similar to acquiescence from the outside world.

Little Jordan felt bored, he thought that someone would jump out to refute him, and then he would have another war of words.

Timberwolves players are ashamed of Jordan Jr.'s hateful approach. Zheng Ke, in particular, told Little Jordan: "Don't attract hatred for no reason. Go to the nightclub less! ”

Little Jordan usually pouts, Boss Zheng is good at everything, but he is a little wide. It's good that legitimate citizens are free of speech.

Usually at this time, as March Madness unfolds, the eyes of American basketball fans will be drawn to the NCAA. These days, the Timberwolves have attracted too much attention for the NBA. Just like the ratings of the Joe Gang Finals in '98 were enough to compare with the football World Cup at that time, the ratings of the NBA did not fall but rose.

On the 3rd, the Timberwolves challenged the Pistons away and won 116-105.

On the 5th, the Timberwolves challenged the 76ers away and won 111-100.

On the 7th, the Timberwolves challenged the Wizards away. 109-96 victory.

At the beginning of March, the Timberwolves won four games in a row, and counting the last two games won in February, the Timberwolves have completed a six-game winning streak.

For Zheng Ke, it's an all-star ride. After entering the second half of the season, his average points per game has dropped, compared to the first half of the season when he scored 50 or 60 points at every turn, he is now about 30 points per game, and occasionally scored 40 points in a sporadic game. As a result, his points per game average also began to decline, and with it, his assists per game average.

This season. Zheng Ke's call for regular season MVP is getting louder and louder.

From the very beginning, on the official MVP list, Zheng Ke was unbeatable. Since then, ESPN has been evaluated halfway, and Zheng Ke is also an MVP. After that period passed, all 15 experts in ESPN's end-of-season awards conjecture gave Zheng Ke the most valuable team of the regular season.

This is a long-awaited achievement.

On March 10th. The Timberwolves suffered their fifth loss of the season, losing 98-103 against the Pacers.

The Pacers aren't the same Pacers they used to be, but this year's No. 10 pick, Paul George, and Danny Granger's wing defensive combination bothered Zheng a little, as he shot 10-of-24 from the field. The shooting percentage is just over 40 percent, which is really not a good performance compared to his average shooting rate of more than 50 per game.

The Pacers became the fifth team to eat crabs this season, and the Indianans were ecstatic.

"Hey, I don't know when it started when it became an honor to defeat us?" On the way back to the hotel by bus, Zheng Ke said a little speechlessly.

Hearing him say this, Thibodeau, who was sitting in the front row of the bus, turned his head, thought for a moment, and then explained: "The same is true of the original Bulls. At the beginning, teams all over the league were sniping at the Bulls, just like they do now, so to speak, the public enemy of the league. The fact that we have been able to reach this point this time is also an alternative affirmation, affirming that our team is the same dynasty team as the Bulls back then. And what we have to do now is to build our dynasty! ”

"Build our dynasty?!" Zheng Ke gently repeated what Thibodeau had just said, thoughtfully.

After hearing what Thibodeau said, Little Jordan and the others were immediately excited, and shouted one by one. Lefu patted his chest and said, "You're right, coach. We're going to build our dynasty, we're going to win a championship, two championships, and even countless championships, and let people come and hug our thighs! ”

As soon as he finished speaking, a deafening cheer rang out in the bus, and everyone praised it.

"Would you like to have a good time in a nightclub tonight, boy?" Little Jordan behind Zheng Ke secretly asked Thorton on the side, Zheng Ke's ears moved, and he turned his head.

As soon as Suotun wanted to agree, when he saw Zheng Ke's vicious eyes, he immediately changed his tone and refused righteously: "No, Deandre, I don't want to go to a place like a nightclub." The team has just lost and I need to do a deep self-examination so that I can take more responsibility in the near future. ”

"You" Little Jordan was just about to say what kind of nerves Thorton had, when suddenly he saw a huge head out of the corner of his eye.

"Oh, dear Zheng, I'm just, I'm just" Little Jordan broke out in a cold sweat on his back and stammered. Suddenly, a flash of inspiration flashed in his mind, and he blurted out, "I just want to test Marcus!" Then with that, he reached out and patted Thorton on the shoulder, and laughed, "Very well, Marcus, if you are unmoved by temptation, the team needs young people like you." ”

After speaking, he also showed an expression of "I am optimistic about you".

Zheng Ke shook his head, Jordan Jr. is a living treasure of the team and the person with the richest nightlife among the Timberwolves. Although Zheng Ke doesn't like nightclubs and has no right to interfere in the private lives of players, as the boss of the team, he has expressed his "deep hatred" for nightclubs on more than one occasion. As a result, most players will reduce their nightclub appearances in order to cater to his boss's "quirks" – with the exception of Jordan Jr.'s oddity.

"You'd better take care of your kidneys. I will give you a word: The young man doesn't know how expensive the gold leaf is, and the old man wants to cry in the air" Zheng Ke said to Little Jordan earnestly.

Little Jordan smashed his mouth, he didn't care, he was a legendary talent!

In fact, as long as it does not affect the state on the court, the average NBA coach will manage it humanely, and players like Jordan Jr. who do not currently have an official girlfriend will not be prohibited from going to nightclubs to have fun, except for times like back-to-back and playoff games.

Little Jordan, the merry nightclub prince, finally couldn't resist the temptation of Indiana's glamorous girls, and after returning to the hotel, he found an opportunity to take Thorton with him

The Timberwolves, in the spirit of surpassing their predecessors, usually go all out.

In a game against the Jazz in mid-March, Zheng scored 51 points in the game, beating the new Jazz of Delon, Kirilenko, Favors and others in overtime.

The Jazz lost All-Star power forward Boozer last summer, and then news of a feud between Delon and coach Sloan emerged. Such a strong team in the west in previous years has been stormy for more than a year. Although Delon has not yet said whether he will jump out of his contract this summer and whether he will renew his contract with the Jazz next year, anyone with a discerning eye in the NBA can see that Delon has also had the idea of leaving Salt Lake City.

This is the chain reaction brought about by the huddle, from the Celtics Big Three winning the championship, the Lakers Kobe Bryant teaming up with Gasol to win the championship, to the formation of the appalling Big Three in Miami, and the recent incident of Anthony teaming up with Xiaosi, everything has had a huge impact on the league's stars, and it has become a trend in the league to achieve better results in the huddle.

DeLong really wanted to join forces with Zheng Ke, and the Timberwolves were also a little moved after listening to Delong's agent's idea. The problem is that the Timberwolves simply can't come up with a quid pro quo. And the Timberwolves chemistry is at its peak, no one knows what will happen after the trade, and McHale wasn't stupid enough to blow these combinations in person until the Timberwolves didn't suffer a huge change.

So, the Timberwolves withdrew from the Delong contenders. Among the remaining teams, only the Nets are a little attractive to Delon, and the rest of the Raptors, Bobcats or something, Delon thinks that it is better to stay in Utah if he goes there.

After the overtime win over the Jazz, the Timberwolves suffered another loss.

The defeat in Game 6 came from the Celtics in the East. At the end of March, the Timberwolves lost 82-85 to the Celtics. The Celtics traded Perkins in the middle of the season to get Jeff Green of the Thunder, and the current team has a roster depth comparable to that of the Timberwolves, and the two teams have contributed a defensive battle, and the overall shooting percentage of each team is around 40%.

The game's top scorer was still Zheng Ke, scoring 35 points on 9-of-19 shooting, including 15 free throws. In particular, it can be seen that the Celtics prefer to use foul tactics to interrupt the rhythm in order to stop Zheng Ke's offense