Although Zheng Ke is the leader in the scoring list, the Timberwolves' record is not conspicuous, especially after entering November, the Timberwolves have lost to the Suns and the Bucks, and it seems that they lack the momentum of the defending champions.

The road to defending the title was so difficult that all fans expected, with a 2-3 record that could only be ranked third from bottom in the West, who was behind them? The Warriors at 1-4 and the Kings at 0-4.

This made Zheng Ke a little difficult to accept, the Timberwolves suffered such a setback at the beginning of the season, which made him embarrassed by the fact that he was used to winning?

Two days later, Zheng scored 39 points in three quarters at Staples to destroy the Clippers in one fell swoop.

Nowadays, all teams in the league see the Timberwolves as if they were enemies, and they are often able to burst out with 120 percent energy. In their eyes, the Timberwolves have risen too fast, and they are not a long-precipitated giant team at all, at best, they are just a group of lucky stinky boys, defeating the defending champions, and the temptation of overnight fame has made countless players who have played against the Timberwolves burst out with amazing energy.

For example, the Suns' "Timberwolves veteran" Channing Free, he scored 25 points in the game between the two, including 6 of 10 three-point shots! For example, in the Chinese derby, Yi Jianlian of the Bucks also played at a super level, shooting 5 of 7 three-pointers, scoring 28 points and 12 rebounds, he proved that the Bucks will make a big difference this season, and at the same time, he also raised his eyebrows fiercely in front of Zheng Ke.

This hurt the Timberwolves, and it felt like the road to defending the title was actually a thorny one.

Zheng Ke pulled several young players to practice special training after a few losses, in order to improve the physical confrontation of several thin Timberwolves players. He went down in person, using his strongest strength, with a strong back single, to torture these guys. Let Tylawson and Thorton "ache and be happy".

At the same time, Zheng Ke's performance without superstar shelf also quickly brought the relationship between several new players closer, everyone is a young man, sweating together, gagging together, and blowing nonsense together. Deep friendships are naturally formed.

The Timberwolves are having good chemistry.

On the 7th, the Timberwolves picked off the Celtics, a strong rival in the East, in Boston.

Despite the return of Celtic Garnett, Perkins. The growth of the likes of Rondo has also made their roster more perfect, but the Timberwolves clearly have the upper hand in the game.

In the first quarter, Billups made two rare mistakes against Rondo's long arm. After that, he handed the basketball to Zheng Ke. Zheng Ke transformed into a playmaker, organizing the team's offense in a decent way. The Timberwolves' change in offensive style caught the Celtics off guard, allowing Zheng to break through and score many times, so the Timberwolves led by four points in the score.

Amid the cheers of the home fans, the Celtics' bench overwhelmed a group of Timberwolves rookies, with McMiller crashing into Sheldon Williams at the start of the second quarter and injuring his right knee. He lay on the ground moaning in pain, and looked like he was not lightly injured.

Afterwards. McMiller barely stood up and walked back to the locker room with the help of the staff.

NBA games are always full of unknowns, last season the Timberwolves had a smooth ride, this season has encountered various difficulties at the beginning, and even injuries are much more frequent than last season, Whitman is full of helplessness, "Fortunately, not a few starters." “

The two teams were drawn at half-time.

The second half was in a scorching battle, until the last five minutes, Zheng Ke finally broke out once, this was his first outbreak in the whole game, and the front has been in a tepid state, almost making people forget his existence.

He hit a three-pointer from the outside, hit a pull-up jump shot, and hit a back-to-back jumper after a back-to-back single. There was no passionate dunk, but with an almost perverted shooting crosshair, the Timberwolves hit a wave of 11-4 small climax in an instant. This 7-point advantage even directly became the point difference of the Timberwolves' final victory.

Zheng Ke scored 3 points in the first quarter, 4 points in the second quarter, 3 points in the third quarter, but slashed 15 points in the fourth quarter, contributing a triple-double of 25 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists. If it weren't for the explosion in the final quarter, Zheng Ke would have been so low-key that almost no one noticed that he had even completed a triple-double.

After the game, reporters interviewed Celtics championship coach Doc Rivers.

"How did you do it, Zheng Ke only scored 25 points today. You guys seem to have done a good job defending him. ”

Rivers: ""

Rivers tilted his head and sprayed at reporters, "Can I swear?" Is that what you ask? Having been cut for 25 points is considered a successful defense? ”

The reporter was spitted on by Rivers, his face was full of depression, and he said in an aggrieved tone: "But so far this season, Zheng Ke has averaged 34.7 points per game, and you made him score nearly 10 points less than his average score per game today, isn't this a successful defense?" ”

But he scored 15 points in the fourth quarter! And he grabbed 13 rebounds and handed out 11 assists! Rivers widened his eyes and yelled.

The reporter retreated abruptly, not daring to provoke the hot-tempered head again.

The reporter on the other side asked Zheng Ke about McHale's injury.

"This seems to be the second player [you] have injured since the start of the season, and it's only been two weeks since the game started, so will it have a big impact on the Timberwolves' future record?"

Zheng Kedao: "There is definitely an impact, whether it is Brad or Mike, they are indispensable members of the Timberwolves. But, you know, this is competitive sports, full of fierce confrontations, and what we need now is to strengthen our bodies and at the same time take care of self-protection and try to avoid injuries. ”

"Next week's schedule is much easier, and the Trail Blazers are the only ones in the top eight, are you confident that you can win them all?"

"Of course, it's in every athlete's nature to want to win. We have two home games next week and we have to take them all and do our best. Zheng Ke laughed.

After the first two weeks of the Timberwolves' perverted schedule, they welcomed a slightly weaker opponent, except for the Trail Blazers, who were slightly tricky, and both the Kings and the Warriors were now struggling at the bottom.

Zheng Ke's words became a reality.

On the third week of the game, the Timberwolves won all three games.

Slaughtered the Saramento Kings 112-80, the Portland Trail Blazers 101-94 and the Golden State Warriors 118-103.

Zheng Ke was named the Western Conference Weekly Champion for the first time since the start of the new season.

In these three games, he averaged 31.8 points, 8.9 rebounds and 8.7 assists per game, and in the game against the Golden State Warriors, Zheng Ke once again contributed a triple-double, scoring 29 points, grabbing 11 rebounds and dishing out 12 assists.

His current quality cannot be described in terms of form, and when a player maintains the same level throughout the season, it means that the true quality of the player has been revealed. Zheng Ke is like this, ranking first on the scoring list, eighth on the assists list, first on the steals list, and three of the five technical statistics are in the top ten.

Reporters can't find the words to describe Zheng Ke, they want to call him the strongest basketball player, but they feel that some time has not come, so they can only offer all kinds of gorgeous rhetoric to praise Zheng Ke's greatness.

At the same time, after the start of the competition, the pattern of the east and west gradually became clearer.

The Cavaliers are still the only one in the East, and they haven't lost since losing to the Celtics in the opener, including a home win over the Timberwolves.

In the West, several teams have the same record, with the Lakers, Suns and Mavericks in the top three.

Two veteran teams, the Suns and Mavericks, have come back from the ashes after a losing season. Nowitzki is averaging 27.5 points per game so far, Nash has 13.5 assists so far, and two veterans and two aging MVPs continue to play out their immortal myths.

Then there are the Rockets, Spurs and Nuggets, who have lost two games each.

The Timberwolves, Trail Blazers, Jazz, and Thunder are the teams that have lost three games, and surprisingly, all four teams are from the same division, the Northwest Division.

And there are three Young Guards in it!

Now when it comes to the West, the Northwest Division, like Texas, is a place that all Eastern teams fear, not only because of its highland location, but also because of its weird climate, and because of its strong teams.

In the words of Nets star Harris, who just returned from wandering around there: "It's hard to gnaw bones there" (to be continued......