On October 31, the 1997 NBA regular season officially began.

On the same day, there are a total of 14 matches.

And the Minnesota Timberwolves, on the day of the start of the regular season, had a game, and coincidentally, their opponent on this day was the Golden State Warriors who had played against them in the preseason before!

On October 31, 1997, the Minnesota Timberwolves faced the Golden State Warriors at home.

In the previous preseason, the Timberwolves and Warriors played a total of three games, and both teams had some basic understanding of each other's teams.

In the three preseason games, the Warriors won two games and lost one, and the net points of the games they won were all within 10 points, and the one they lost was only a three-point loss.

So when the Warriors came to the Target Center arena again, all the players were relaxed.

Although there is no way to judge the strength of a team in the preseason, the Warriors' players still have a considerable degree of psychological superiority in the face of the defeat of the team some time ago.

In the arena, Minnesota fans already occupy the vast majority of seats in the stands, and only a small number of seats are occupied by die-hard Warriors fans.

Around the stadium, there were many media reporters, in addition to some local media in Minnesota, some well-known domestic media were also present, and the scene was far from comparable to the warm-up game at that time.

In the court, the players of the two teams were warming up before the game, and Garnett, the "star of the house" of the Timberwolves, performed several gorgeous dunks to the audience.

After getting the cheers of the fans, Garnett began to warm up honestly.

Wu Dao was on the sidelines, doing a simple dribble on the spot to warm up, and then randomly shot at various points on the court, and after the end, he seriously stretched the tendons, even if he completed the pre-game preparations.

Soon, the Timberwolves, who had finished their warm-up, returned to their rest area and made final preparations.

"Martial arts, today is your first start, relax."

"Don't have too much psychological pressure, you just need to do your part."

Unlike the previous preseason, when entering the regular season, the Timberwolves no longer hid and tucked in, and directly ranked Wudao in the starting lineup.

No one in the team has expressed any opinion on Coach Philip Saunders' arrangement.

Martial Arts itself is a high-pick draft selected by the Timberwolves, but he was exchanged by the Timberwolves for the No. 4 pick, and normally, the team will also give the high-pick rookies enough playing time to allow the rookies to grow quickly and adapt to the NAB game.

What's more, in the intra-team practice matches and preseason stages, the martial arts of high school players showed that they were not inferior to anyone else's.

Therefore, it is only natural to push martial arts to the start.

In today's game with the Warriors, the Timberwolves fielded the strongest lineup led by Garnett and Tom.

White center Cherokee Parks, power forward Garnett, All-Star bench level "big boss" Tom Gugliotta, last year's No. 4 pick, Stephen Marbury who played the No. 1 position; There is also this year's actual No. 5 show, the martial arts of the essence No. 4 show.

Unlike what everyone expected in the Timberwolves, Takeshi was not able to replace Tom's starting No. 3 position, but stood on the same court as Tom as No. 2.

The Timberwolves' lineup configuration seems reasonable, but in fact, the Timberwolves' starting configuration is a bit deformed.

Although Stephen Marbury is standing on the court as a No. 1 position, his style of play is actually the No. 2 position, which is a very ball-eating player.

And Wu Dao is even more so, although he has an excellent three-point shot and strong single ability, but he is also a strong ball player, if Wu Dao is allowed to simply play without the ball, it will be a waste of his offensive talent and his excellent single ability.

And then there's Tom Gugliotta, who is technically a player who needs to hold the ball.

If Marbury is not the kind of player who can sort out the team's offense, then the current lineup of the Timberwolves is prone to stealing the ball.

With the sound of electronic buzzers, players from both sides entered the stadium one after another.

Looking at the player who was still familiar with the Warriors on the court, Wu Dao couldn't help but murmur: "Is it a matter of the point?"

As the team's coach, Philip Saunders certainly knew what could go wrong with this starting line-up, and he made some changes at the time.

And the object of this adjustment is, of course, the youngest martial artist!

Takemichi, a player who was used to playing with the ball in high school, needed to try something else at the request of his coach.

The Warriors' starting five are the Madman, Latrill Sprewell (No. 2); Donyer Marshall (No. 3); Bhimbo Coles (No. 1, 185cm tall, 82kg); Joe Smith (No. 4); Eric Dampier (No. 5).

In the middle of the pitch, the players are in position.

Amid the cheers of the spectators, the referee, after a whistle, kicked off and threw the basketball into the air.

"Smack!"

With a soft sound, the basketball was directly dialed to the backcourt by Eric Dampier of the Warriors, who was about the same height as their Timberwolves' Cherokee Parkes, but Dampier was a little more explosive.

The jump ball was lost, and the Timberwolves players quickly retreated.

The Warriors were in quick position to prepare for the offense as Bimbo Coles advanced with the ball.

"Although today's mission will be more monotonous, if the opponent is the madman Sprewell, it should be interesting."

As the Warriors' players entered the frontcourt, Martial Arts came to the front of Radrell Sprewell for the first time, looking at the face in front of him, the Martial Arts Center sank slightly and retreated to the three-point line for defense.

"Huh?"

"That rookie from the Timberwolves?!"

"Let a brat like you defend me?"

"What's wrong with you timberwolves?"

Ratriel Sprewell entered the front court and settled on the left corner outside the three-point line. Unlike the average player, Sprewell shoots more from the left than from the right.

And when Ratril Sprewell saw that it was actually the rookie who was defending him, it was actually the Timberwolves rookie, a mocking smile suddenly appeared on his face, and contemptuous words penetrated Wu Dao's ears.

“.”

"It's a foul-mouthed guy too."

"Are all black players in the NBA in this tone?"

Failing to get the respect he deserved from the other party, Wu Dao couldn't help but murmur.

Blacks, all.

There is nothing wrong with taking both words out on their own, but when they are put together and put in a not-so-good context, sensitive players will immediately get angry.

"Discrimination! How dare you discriminate against black people?! ”

"Yellow-skinned monkey, didn't the timberwolves teach you the rules well?"

"Don't you know how respect should be written?!"

Muttering in his mouth, Ratriel Sprewell leaned slightly sideways and waved at his teammates.

In the next second, the basketball quickly flew into the hands of Ratriel Sprewell, and when the basketball started, Ratriel Sprewell quickly swept the ball and stood still, his eyes blazing, staring at the martial arts in front of him.

Wu Dao doesn't know which of his words stimulated the black brother in front of him, sometimes you really have to sigh, the "politically correct" environment here has made too many people too stressed, and emphasize the black classmates.

Although there is no way to read Latriel Sprewell's brain circuit Martial Dao, his body movements, Martial Arts can still read it.

It's about single-handedness.

Wu Dao quickly turned his head sideways, paying attention to whether there was anyone behind him to block and block, and at the moment when Wu Dao's attention was distracted, Ratril Sprewell quickly dropped the ball in the air, and the moment the basketball fell, Ratriel Sprewell was already a big stride, and he approached in front of Wu Dao in an instant.

Fortunately, when Wudao was defending, he fully gave respect to the opponent's "first step explosiveness", so as not to be overtaken by the opponent.

After entering the NBA, the level of opponents encountered by martial arts is not the same, there are too many freaks in this league, but all the outstanding scorers who can be named in this era always have one or two hands that are absolutely unbeatable, which is difficult to resist.

And the absolute perfection of this madman in front of him is his explosive first step.

In this way, Ratriel Sprewell does not know how many defenders have been executed, and in his opinion, the rookie in front of him is the next one of the executed defenders!

"Bang!"

A muffled sound sounded, and a figure slid and suddenly appeared on Ratriel Sprewell's route, and Sprewell's sideways body was also directly on Martial Dao's body.

The huge shock force made Sprewell's body stagger, and at the same time, Takemi's tall figure suddenly appeared in front of Latril Sprewell, and a long arm slapped directly into the basketball in Sprewell's hand.

"Slap~" Sprewell only felt that his hand was empty, and in the next second, the power from his body suddenly increased, and the martial arts directly squeezed Sprewell's position, and with a sprint, he copied the basketball that fell to the ground in his hand, and then quickly rushed towards the front court.

“ohhhhh！！！”

At the moment of the steal, there was an astonishing cheer in the target center arena.

No one expected that the Timberwolves' rookie would cleanly steal the Warriors' Latrill Sprewell!

Even Sprewell himself was a little stunned for a moment.

What the heck!?

What just flashed in front of me?

How can such a tall "thing" be able to keep up with its own breakthrough so quickly?

Amid the cheers of the fans, Takemichi Ichichi, who completed the steal, entered the Warriors' half, and then stepped on the free throw line in the cheers, jumped up, and slid the ball into the basket with one hand.

The media on the bottom line drove the cameras and pointed at the martial arts of stealing and slamming, and the exclamations in their mouths also rose one after another.

“oh，shit！ Free throw line dunk! ”

"Oh God! What kind of devilish talent does this young man have? ”

The martial arts split pushed the enthusiasm of the audience up again, and the Minnesota fans cheered and screamed, all seeing the bright future of their hometown team.

"I can already think of what kind of photos will be used as headlines in our local media tomorrow."

"I just wanted this kid to defend Sprewell as much as possible and assist the team with three-point shots, but I didn't expect that as soon as he started, he made himself a star"

On the sidelines, coach Philip Saunders applauded and said with some "melancholy".

On the side of the court, team owner Glenn Taylor had his palms flushed at this time, and his face was full of excitement. Glenn Taylor is a man with a sense of nostalgia, and he's also a fan of the biggest name in martial arts right now.

"Hey, Exploding Head."

"What makes you think that you can rely on three taels of meat to force my defense?"

When Takemichi came to the middle line, he looked at Sprewell not far away and said provocatively.

From the beginning of the draft in the middle of the year to the present, Wudao's height has basically stagnated at around 207cm, but his weight has naturally increased to 107kg, and Wudao's body strength is strong and explosive is terrifying.

When you block it with your body in front of the 196cm, 86kg Sprewell, it is a wall in the true sense of the word.

Three taels of meat.

Such words came out of the mouth of the martial arts, and it was really not an insult to Sprewell, let alone the NBA, even if it was an ordinary person, the weight difference of 21kg was a huge gap that was difficult to overcome.

Tall, strong, fast and explosive.

Sprewell, who was provoked by martial arts, had already cleared up his mind for a while, yes, the kid in front of him was a rookie.

But his physical fitness is much more outrageous than many old birds.

With speed and confrontation, it is obvious that he can't eat the kid in front of him, and Sprewell has been thinking quickly about the way to concoct martial arts in his mind for a while.

The Warriors' guards quickly pushed the ball to the frontcourt.

Sprewell shifted two steps and asked for the ball from his teammate.

When the basketball entered his hands again, Sprewell did not "reserve" anymore, beckoned to the inside, and pointed at the side of Wu Dao.

"Called a pick-and-roll?"

"Can you give some strength to your softass?!"

When Wu Dao saw the opponent's movements, he immediately turned dirty.

For those who call themselves yellow-skinned monkeys, martial arts must not only hit the opponent physically, but also psychologically.

Joe Smith's block came up quickly, and Takemichi shouted "staring at his own people" after noticing the opponent's movements, and at the same time lifted up, forcing in front of Sprewell, not giving Joe Smith a chance to hang on to himself.

Garnett, who was pursuing, heard this, and did not hesitate to defend his opponent.

And when blocking and dismantling, Sprewell also quickly moved sideways with the ball, and Takeshi was delayed by Joe Smith before chasing after him.

Although the block and dismantling were not able to hang up the martial arts, for Sprewell, he felt that he had been given space!

Rushing two steps along the three-point line, Sprewell suddenly slammed into his body and shot a direct three-point shot.

Sprewell has always played like this, and if there is one person in this era who can fit the style of play in the small-ball era, Sprewell must be one of them.

"Bang !!"

However, just as the basketball flew up to a height of nearly half a meter, a figure suddenly flew out from the side of Sprewell, and a big hand slapped directly on the basketball.

With a muffled sound, the basketball catapulted straight to the ground, slammed into the floor, and bounced back into Marbury's chest.

Marbury subconsciously caught the ball, and then quickly rubbed his chest in some pain, and quickly dribbled the ball towards the frontcourt.

However, at this moment, no one looked at Marbury who was about to get off alone, and everyone's eyes were focused on the martial arts who had fallen back to the ground at this time.

That exaggerated block height just now was made by this rookie of the Timberwolves.

"With this kind of 'low-altitude projection', will you be able to escape my defense?!"

Wu Dao clenched his fist with one hand, looked at Sprewell, and said in a deep voice.

(End of chapter)