Chapter 63: Momentum
"Good shot!" "It's our new little friend who hits the three-point shot - Channing~~ !! Frye" The DJ on the scene cheered loudly for the Timberwolves lads
Channing Frye made a contribution immediately after he came on the court, he hadn't figured out the Timberwolves' offensive system yet, and he didn't know some of the habits of his teammates, but before he came on the court, Whitman only explained one thing to him, and that was to shoot that damn basketball outside the three-point line!
Yes, he did, Jefferson's back to Gasol was not ideal, but both Zheng Ke and Brewer were able to easily break through Radmanovic's defense, and his height of 2.08 meters has now become his disadvantage!
After Zheng Ke attracted Odom's defense, he found Channingfrye in the open space, and Channingfrye threw the ball very resolutely, he hadn't shot a three-pointer so resolutely in a long time
Maybe it's because Radmanovic is older, maybe it's Odom, the left-handed magician, who passes the ball too hidden, in this offense of the Lakers, Radmanovic actually failed to catch the basketball, which was already eyed by Brewer who had already found an opportunity, he cut off the basketball, and then sent full strength to the front court to break fast
Some fans say that in the Timberwolves game, you can always find all kinds of fast breaks and passion
This is indeed the case, Brewer passed the ball to McCantz, and McCantz passed the ball to Zheng Ke, Zheng Ke is really a newborn calf who is not afraid of tigers, and he just resists Kobe's defense and wants to go to the basket!
In terms of Zheng Ke's strength now, he successfully squeezed out of Kobe's tight defensive space, but he forgot how bad his own layup was, this layup didn't even hit the rim, it hit the rebound directly and rebounded back, Whitman saw it, and a black line appeared on his forehead
But fortunately, the basketball was made up by McCantz, who followed up!
"Good shot!" The passionate voice of the live DJ rang out again: "Rashad McCantz!" ”
"You won't score this kind of layup," Kobe Bryant ran past Zheng Ke with a look of disdain
Zheng Ke immediately retorted: "This is a tactic, you know a fart!" ”
The two talked all the way and ran back to the Timberwolves halfcourt
The two teams ended the second half of the first quarter with a five-point difference
In the second quarter, the Zen master put Kobe's sister-in-law and his wife on the bench to rest, led by Odom, with Turiaf on the inside, Vujacic on the outside, and Jordan Famar on the outside
Odom's strength is now 82, almost catching up with some of the team bosses of weak teams, in addition, Zheng Ke also found that this kid has a skill called "fast break setter", which means that players like Odom are good at grabbing rebounds and launching long passes and fast breaks, and the condition for triggering the skill is to grab the rebound and make a long pass within 3 seconds, and after the skill is launched, the long pass error rate will be reduced by up to 50%
Whitman obviously underestimated this "three masters" who are now under the halo of Kobe and Gasol, and did not make targeted arrangements for him, so after Odom took control of the ball in the second quarter, he led a group of Lakers benches to beat the Timberwolves' bench to pieces
"Humph!" Zheng Ke watched from the sidelines, if the team hadn't traded Gomez, the Lakers' bald head wouldn't have been so arrogant, and the Timberwolves' bench wouldn't have been so vulnerable
Whitman called two timeouts in a row but could not save the team's lack of firepower on the bench, and in desperation, he arranged for McCantz to play early, hoping to salvage the situation that had collapsed
But McCanz couldn't pull back the irreparable situation after he came on the court, and the Timberwolves trailed the Lakers by 15 points at 32-47 at the beginning of the second quarter, and this difference was not pulled back until all the main players of the Timberwolves came back, and the Timberwolves fell behind by 13 points at 47-60 in the first half!
##############################################
The game has entered the middle of the third quarter, Zheng Ke broke out after the second half, hitting two three-pointers and one mid-range shot in a row, narrowing the score gap to less than ten points in one fell swoop, acting like a superstar!
"Oh buy cake, Zheng Ke hit a three-pointer again!" TNT host Reggie Miller spoke to his partner, Kevin Harlan: "The performance of this young man who was born in '88 and is still under 20 is amazing! What do you think, Kevin? ”
Harlan looked at a piece of information in his hand and said: "Yes, this young man's performance is amazing, he is now one of the invited players in the NBA '08 New Orleans All-Star Game, Rookie Challenge, playing an average of 26.7 minutes per game this season, can contribute 10.1 points and 3.3 rebounds per game, it is worth mentioning that his three-point shooting rate is as high as 38.3%, which can be described as a high-quality shooter!" ”
"Yes, Kevin," Reggie Miller said, taking over his partner's words, "In addition to the offense, the rookie player's defense is commendable, and more than one team's head coach has expressed his affection for this player, such as Popovich, Phil Jackson, etc., who both expressed a strong interest in Zheng at the press conference after the Timberwolves played their respective teams this season."
"Not only that, but I also know that the second-round pick only signed a 1+1 contract with his team, and even if the Timberwolves exercise the player option after the end of the season, Zheng Ke will become a restricted free agent next year!"
"It's too early to talk about that, Reggie, you know, this player is still in a period of high growth, and his scoring has skyrocketed in the three months of this season, from 3.4 points per game in November, to 7.8 points per game in December, 11.3 points per game in January, and now 13.2 points per game in February! No one can predict how far he will grow, can he? “
Just when Reggie Miller and Kevin Harlan explained Zheng Ke's performance, the game on the court changed dramatically, Kobe Bryant also aroused the desire to score under Zheng Ke's continuous scoring performance, and he hit consecutive difficult backward jump shots, which was very unreasonable, and also used this performance to tell Zheng Ke that he didn't have to be reasonable
The Timberwolves barely managed to cut the deficit to 10 points after the end of the third quarter
The Timberwolves trailed the Lakers by 10 points, 77-87, and the margin was not to the point of despair, anything is possible
"Zheng, how is your physical strength!" Whitman turned his head and asked, Zheng Ke,
"It's okay, coach, I still have some physical strength to support Zuihou for a game!" Zheng Ke said. Zheng Ke since he finished playing the Celtics game, he intends to increase his physical strength in the usual training and one-handed ball system, he just increased his physical strength and endurance to 80 yesterday, which is almost a month, he has earned GS points on these two attributes, although the overall strength has not changed, but he feels that it is all worth it, such as now, Zheng Ke and Kobe Bryant have been fighting for three quarters, he still has the physical strength to play zuihou a section, which was unimaginable before
"Okay, boys, the battle has reached Zuihou, let's come on, take out the Lakers!"
"Roar!" "Kill the Lakers!"
The decisive battle began, and the substitutes of both teams were still playing on the field
Whitman's encouragement still worked, and the Timberwolves' bench took the lead, and Jaric made a three-pointer to narrow the gap between the two teams to 7 points for the first time!
However, the Lakers came back and immediately hit Turyav inside, causing a foul on the Timberwolves player!
The substitutes on both sides have come and gone, and the game has been vigorous, but the score difference has not changed, hovering around 10 points!
The two head coaches competed for momentum, Zuihou or Whitman was the first to sit still, he took the lead and replaced the main players, and the Zen master immediately followed and replaced Kobe Bryant!
"I didn't expect you to survive until now!" Bryant said to Zheng Ke, and the two men were holding their knees together from beyond the three-point line, and they watched as Jefferson made free throws
"Humph!" Zheng Ke was dissatisfied: "Don't underestimate any NBA team, the outcome is unpredictable!" ”
The two were chatting on the sidelines when Jefferson threw the ball!
Kobe Bryant just wanted to say something more, but he didn't expect Zheng Ke to rush out like a cheetah as soon as Jefferson threw it!
Gasol looked at the curvature of the ball and thought to himself that this rebound was mine! With a move of his buttocks, the Timberwolves player behind the card owner stretched out his long arms, ready to take the basketball into his arms
"Be careful!!" Gasol heard the boss's voice ring from behind, what's wrong, a question mark popped up in his mind?
But in the next moment, he felt a liliang that seemed to have been hit by a locomotive coming from behind him! His body completely lost control and staggered off the line
"Bang!" Gasol looked behind him with the loud bang
Under the spotlight, Zheng Ke was like an angry-eyed King Kong, his hands stretched out and hanging on the basket, his domineering eyes staring at his sister-in-law who was pushed to the ground, like looking down on this ignorant common man