The halftime passed very quickly, and after the break, the game between the Wizards and the Timberwolves entered the third quarter.

By this time, both teams had switched to their main lineups.

In the third quarter, neither team made much adjustment in their style of play. As for the Wizards, because they didn't fall behind in the score, they were able to pull the score back in the second quarter and rely on their current style of play.

On the Timberwolves side, Philip felt that the team's score would be caught up only because of their players' poor hands.

In the third quarter, as long as the players' hands recovered, they were able to easily open up the difference.

Philip's ideals are plump, but realistic, but skinny.

The intensity of the game in this era is very high, sometimes especially in the second half of the second quarter to the end of the game in the twenty or thirty minutes, the intensity of the game is unusually high, and the movements of the players on the court are also exaggerated.

Often at such times, whether a player has a feel or not is not something that can be decided by himself, but by the opponent.

Philip is a man who understands the ball, but when a coach has been doing it for a long time, he tends to be too biased towards his own judgment.

In the third quarter, the Timberwolves and Wizards played a lot of intensity.

And the new Ben Wallace on the other side played very characteristically, that man barely participated in the team's offense, his mind was full of defense, causing huge problems for Cherokee Parkes, and he was almost locked up.

The young Ben Wallace has already shown great defensive talent, keeping Cherokee Parkes at bay and posing a big threat to the Timberwolves as they try to attack the interior.

In the third quarter, the Timberwolves' players played a little hard, but fortunately, the Wizards' lineup was also lacking in offensive power, and the Timberwolves had Garnett's guard on the inside, which was also an indestructible wall for the Wizards.

21：18。

The Wizards and Timberwolves performed a wave of "defensive show" to the audience, and in the end, in this defensive battle, the Wizards were superior after all.

Tom is an All-Star bench-caliber striker, but his offensive power is not far from those stars. Although his skills are comprehensive, his physical fitness is not the top group.

He was able to vote for the All-Star, and he was more or less blessed by the "weak team" of the Timberwolves.

Against the Wizards who were strong defensively, Tom struggled.

After a short break, the two teams returned to the court, and the team score was behind, and Coach Philip still had no intention of changing martial arts.

In the fourth quarter, the Wizards strengthened their defense on the outside, and the same was true for the Timberwolves, Tom and Marbury did not play well offensively, so they poured more into the defensive end.

In the basketball game, if you want to win, you either attack like crazy and score like crazy; Or, it's crazy defense, so that the opponent can't score points!

The Timberwolves' tactical adjustments have worked well, and the offensive efficiency of the likes of Rod Strickland and Chris Webber on the Wizards' side is very low.

At the end of the fourth quarter, the Wizards were tied by the Timberwolves with a single-quarter score of 15:18. At the same time, Garnett stepped up at the crucial moment and scored the equalizing goal.

The game went into extra time.

By this time, the audience was already shouting, and few people would shout at this time to let Wudao play, and the audience could see that the Timberwolves had made up their minds not to let Wudao play today.

In just a few minutes of extra time, it passed very quickly.

The Wizards' Tracy Murray was on track for the entire game and finally got on time in overtime, hitting a buzzer-beating three-pointer that sent the ball into the net with three seconds left in the game.

And with Marbury's "shot" throughout the game, the Timberwolves finally ended their six-game winning streak at the beginning of the season.

91：88。

The Timberwolves lost this home game by three points.

In this game, Garnett played quite well, not to mention 47 minutes, 19-9, played a 2+1 on Chris Webber's head, and even scored a three-pointer, scoring 22 points and 20 boards in the game.

Compared to Chris Webb, who has 22 points and 17 rebounds, he is not far behind.

Marbury's side also worked furiously for 43 minutes, 10-of-20, 1-of-2 three-pointers, plus 5-of-8 free throws, and handed over excellent statistics of 28 points, 0 rebounds, 10 assists and 5 steals.

Chris Kyle, who came off the bench to the court, also shouldered the task of the team's outside offense, somewhat tactical, shooting 7 of 16 and 2 of 8 three-pointers, and got 16 points, 4 rebounds and 1 assist.

For him as a substitute, being able to hand over such an answer sheet can't be said to be bad.

Compared with Marbury, Garnett and Chris Kyle, Tom's performance in this game can be described as a war criminal.

He was 4-of-23 from the field, 5-of-7 from the free-throw line, and finished with 13 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists.

That pitiful shooting percentage doesn't match his status as an "All-Star substitute" at all.

Tom's weakness was undoubtedly revealed through this game, encountering opponents of the same level, in a high-pressure environment, Tom's technical movements were very deformed, and there was no hit rate at all.

At the same time, the center on the Timberwolves' side was collectively dumb in the half, with Cherokee Parkes scoring 5 points and 6 boards, and Stanley Roberts playing 16 minutes, with 0 points and 0 boards, contributing 3 blocks, 3 turnovers and 3 fouls

was killed by the Wizards, and the audience vented all their anger at the loss on the team's coach and Tom.

Tom was crazy in this game, and the audience watched it, and they didn't say anything during the game, but after the game, the audience began to liquidate the war criminals, in addition to the little blacksmith Tom was liquidated, Coach Philip was also pushed to the forefront.

One radical fan even clamored for Philip to leave class.

As for why?

The reason is also very simple, because Philip pressed Martial Arts on the bench.

The audience's brain circuit is very simple, when they liquidated the war criminals, they only saw Tom 4 of 23 in the game, and with Tom's data, the audience will naturally substitute martial arts into the role of Tom.

Timberwolves fans feel that if these 23 shots were executed by martial arts, let alone playing the exaggerated shooting rate of 60% and 70% like in previous games.

As long as they shoot 26 percent from the field, the Timberwolves can win this game.

With just a few simple calculations, fans can easily come to a conclusion.

That is, the martial arts starter plays the whole game = victory.

The impact of the Timberwolves' loss was great, after Philip left the arena with the players under the abuse, in the post-game reporter interview session, Philip encountered the difficulties of local reporters in Minnesota, and a middle-aged reporter sharply asked why Martial Arts did not play in this game.

To this, Philip's answer was: "Wudao is still a child, still developing, and needs to arrange playing time reasonably, and he can't overdraw his talent and future." ”

At first glance, it sounds very reasonable, and the words are full of love for martial arts.

Coach Philip's answer can be regarded as letting him fool him through.

Of course, the reporter who asked the question would not be stupid enough to believe such an answer, but this reporter is also smart, he keenly felt that the Timberwolves seemed to have an intra-team contradiction, and in order to prevent this intra-team contradiction from expanding, the Minnesota reporter did not get to the bottom of it, but chose to accept it.

Some things may be handled well in private, but once you meet the media, then even a small contradiction will eventually expand to the point where you can't handle it.

The Minnesota reporter is a local, and of course he doesn't want to see the Timberwolves lose their current momentum, and hopes that the team will adjust as soon as possible to eliminate the contradictions.

But that's what he thinks, and other reporters don't.

There is no problem, the media will find you some questions, and now that there are problems, the media are like sharks that smell blood, swimming towards Philip.

Although the Los Angeles media didn't ask much at the press conference, they turned around and directly wrote a report that "the Wolves' strongest rookie is stunted and difficult to take on the offensive responsibility." ”

The Washington Times also added fuel to the fire, and made a report with obvious tendencies: "It's useless for anyone to come, a hearty 'big victory'!" ”

The Wizards are considered the home team of Washington, and the Timberwolves, whose Wizards have won six in a row, have made the Washington media extremely excited.

Fueled by the media, Timberwolves owner Glenn Taylor also smelled something unusual, and the day after the team's loss, he called Philip to inquire about the situation and express his "concern".

After the game against the Wizards, the Timberwolves boarded a plane to San Antonio to prepare for the Spurs.

This time, the Spurs will host the Timberwolves, and this game is still attracting the attention of many people, for a very simple reason, on the one hand, this is the second duel between Duncan and Garnett, and it is also the second duel between Wudao and Duncan.

The previous game may not prove anything, but two games will say something.

After Philip spoke on the phone with his boss Glenn Taylor, he had already given up on the character of "guiding" martial arts. In the rematch with the Spurs, Wu Dao was once again put on the starting lineup.

At the same time, perhaps at the behest of the boss, before the game, Philip instructed several players to start the game, and the outside attack revolved around the martial arts.

Garnett, Marbury, and Cherokee Parkes did not show any surprise at the coach's request, and Tom's eyes darkened a little after hearing this, but he did not express any objections.

In the past few days, he has heard too much scolding, in such an era when the circulation of information basically depends on newspapers and television, he has been scolded a little autistic, if in the later era of self-media, Tom may be hung on the forum by fanatical fans and whipped repeatedly.

In this game, it was the first time that Wu Dao shouldered the main offensive task on the outside while playing with Tom.

The Timberwolves' benches all know that if the martial arts play well in today's game, Tom's tactical position on the team may not be maintained.

After the game against the Spurs began, the Timberwolves firmly held the initiative.

The player opposite Martial Arts was Monty Williams first, and in the first quarter, Martial Arts scored two three-pointers against the defense, and Popovich directly replaced Monty Williams with Chuck Person.

However, Chuck Parson is also a defeated man, and the movement speed of the old man can't keep up with the speed of the martial arts at all, and he is directly broken into a sieve by the martial arts.

At the end of the first quarter, Wu Dao was 5 of 7 and 2 of 3 three-pointers, scoring 16 points efficiently. Helped the team lead the opponent by 7 points at 33:26.

Popovich saw that he couldn't control the offense of Wudo, looked and looked on the bench, and finally decided to be a dead horse and took on Marik Rose (15th pick in 2 rounds in '96).

Neither Monty Williams nor Chuck Parson can limit the play of martial arts, and the favorite thing gamblers like to do in this situation is to bet on the wrong goal.

It's just a pity that Takeshi didn't play in the early part of the second quarter, Tom, who didn't have many opportunities to touch the ball in the first quarter, carried the offensive banner when Takeshi was away, and Marrick Rose was by Tom before Takedo returned to the court.

After 5 minutes, he was pushed back to the bench.

After a 5-minute break, Takemichi returned to the court and took over the offensive banner.

However, in the second quarter, there were fewer martial arts shots.

He's not a person who doesn't understand human accidents, Tom is in good shape today, and Martial Arts doesn't mind leaving some of the ball for Tom.

In the second quarter, Wu Dao either burst or shot, 4 of 4, 0 of 1 three-pointers, and scored 8 points.

The team won 28-22 in a single quarter and continued to suppress the Spurs.

In the third quarter, Marbury seemed to feel that his half-time 7 points was too ugly, and he actually seized the offensive ball of Wudao and began to impact the interior in large quantities. Although his burst layup was more interfered with, Marbury's strong burst also made some free throws for himself.

When the team was leading by a large score, Wu Dao didn't care about Marbury's operation of brushing data.

In the third quarter, the Timberwolves led the opponent by 3 points at 24:21 in a single quarter. In this quarter, Wu Dao played a 2+1 under the strong basket, played two fast breaks, played two "easy balls", and hastily scored 7 points, and there was no more highlight performance.

Instead, it was the counterpoint between Garnett and Duncan, watching the surrounding audience scream again and again.

When the team led by a large score, the Timberwolves players played very loose in the final quarter, and this relaxation made the players perform better.

Although the three passes failed to convert into points, the reason was not martial arts, either teammates butter hands, or empty shooting water.

Wu Dao only made a few open three-pointers in the final quarter and easily scored 9 points on 3-of-4, and also picked up two frontcourt rebounds, both of which turned the rebounds into scores, scoring 13 points in a single quarter.

The Timberwolves also crushed 30:25 in the final quarter and continued their strength to the end.

In the rematch, the Timberwolves won with a slaughter of 115-94, and Takeshi also played 42 minutes, scoring a team-high 44 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists.

In addition to the 44 points on the martial arts side, Garnett also scored 26 points and 6 rebounds in a single game, scoring more than Duncan's 15 points, but in terms of rebounds, Duncan had 17.

The Spurs' policy for this game is also obvious, which is to increase the competition for rebounds. It's just that their efficiency in converting rebounds into points is simply too low.

After this game, Tom seemed to have completely lost his heart, and when he saw Martial Arts, he changed from "watching Martial Arts walk in front of him" to "taking the initiative and saying hello warmly!" ”

(End of chapter)