After winning the 76ers, the Timberwolves didn't stay in Philadelphia at all, and immediately got on the plane to the next stop.

Winning the 76ers led by Iverson, Wu Dao actually didn't feel anything, and the victory in this game was a matter of course for him and the Timberwolves. Iverson is certainly a great scorer, but that doesn't mean Iverson's team is a strong team in the NBA.

There is no necessary causal relationship between having a good scorer and the team being a strong team.

Basketball is a team sport after all, and there is no way to win by relying on the strength of one person alone. Iverson will have a lot of time to understand this in the future.

Similarly, after the future young Kobe Bryant sent O'Neal away as he wished, he and his team will also struggle in the middle and lower echelons of the league for a while, and when Kobe really matures and realizes that he needs a helper for everything, he and his Lakers will have a chance to participate in the championship again.

In the days that followed, Takemichi and his teammates continued to play with the team, and the Timberwolves first defeated the Clippers by one point at home, and Takemichi also hit a key shot in the first second before the end of the game, scoring the first game-winning goal of his NBA career amid the cheers of the home fans.

Then the Timberwolves with a winning streak also defeated the Sacramento Kings 94-89 on December 22, this game was cold, he and the King's home ARCO center seemed to be a figure of eight, played 38 minutes, but 2 of 22 shots, 2 of 5 three-pointers, 5 of 8 free throws, "only" scored 21 points.

It's not because of the strength of Collis Williams (201cm/108kg, 13th pick in the first round in 1995) sent by the Kings to defend Budo, it's just that Budo feels very uncomfortable on the court today.

Although the performance of martial arts was not as explosive as in those previous games, the fans' love and trust in him did not decline because of one game.

Because the game was won in the end, the sluggish performance of martial arts will naturally not be remembered.

Of course, this is the idea of ordinary fans, and the coaching staff, after seeing the performance of Martial Arts and the King, is also determined to balance the idea of martial arts.

In the back-to-back games against the SuperSonics on December 23, Coach Philip told Marbury, the starting point guard, about this idea in a more euphemistic way.

Marbury was asked by Philip to talk alone, and when he heard that he had to wait until Martial Arts crossed the three-point line before giving the ball to Martial Arts during the game, Marbury thought that Martial Arts had completely fallen out of favor, and he was both confused and shocked in his heart, he didn't understand, Martial Arts played well, why suddenly change his style of play.

It's just that with such doubts, with Marbury's "emotional intelligence", it is naturally impossible to ask the management directly, but he expressed his determination to implement the team's strategy to Coach Philip and others.

And when playing against the Seattle SuperSonics in the evening, Marbury also implemented Coach Philip's idea, unless Takeshi is a point guard on the three-point line, he will not give Takedo the ball.

Most of the offense with the ball is done by himself.

When playing against two NBA-caliber teams, you can't always expect players to run out of the open space, and most of the time, you have to have a player on the team who can play the ball and take a lot of shots in the low-efficiency areas.

Such players are often the outside leaders of a team.

For example, during the Bulls period, Jordan was such a character, and similarly, during the OK combination period, Kobe Bryant was the Lakers' person who digested the right to shoot in the inefficient area, and there would basically be such a player among all the championship-winning teams in the league.

Why did the media put James on the altar, but the fans who watched the game didn't recognize James as the so-called GOAT at all? Here's why.

James's several championships, the team has quite good attackers who take on the tasks that should be superstars, and after a series, what you see the most is James' fast-break dunks.

Is it pretty? It's beautiful, and the dunk is amazing. But this kind of thing, role players can also do well, fast-break dunks, which is not a task that a superstar should do.

The offensive ball is basically done by teammates from different periods, such as Wade and Wei Shao.

Among those outside superstars who are at the same time as James or have a small age gap, Durant and Curry are much better than James in terms of offensive ability, not to mention Jordan and Kobe Bryant, who are at the top of the iron-blooded era.

Because Philip blindly reduced the ball in Wudao, the number of shots in the Timberwolves' inefficient area needed to be shared among other players, and Marbury, who was already a point guard, naturally ate a large part of it.

can't pass the ball to Wu Dao, and Tom's strength is between him, so isn't that tantamount to letting Marbury come by himself?

That's what Marbury had in mind.

The Seattle SuperSonics opposite Marbury is Gary Payton (193cm/82kg, second pick in the first round in 1990), a super-guard who won the DPOY just two years ago and has been named to the All-Defensive First Team for four consecutive seasons and will continue to be named to the All-Defensive First Team for the next five seasons.

It's just that in the game against the Timberwolves, Gary Payton's defensive pressure can't be directly pressed on Marbury. Garnett himself is a high-mobility No. 4 who is good at pick-and-roll, and with Garnett's help, Marbury can always get a chance to break through.

And perhaps because the management let Marbury see the possibility of "being on top", he was also greatly encouraged in his heart, and it was also an unprecedented explosion in the game against the SuperSonics.

He played 41 minutes, shooting 13-of-19 from the field, 8-of-11 from three-point range and 1-of-2 from the free-throw line, finishing a game-high 35 points, 4 rebounds and 7 assists.

Tom also got some possession, shooting 10-of-16 from the field and scoring a total of 22 points.

Garnett's performance was a little bit more down, and three-time All-Star substitute Wen Baker (211cm, 105kg, eighth pick in the first round in 1993) was the kind of player with fast movement and rich defensive experience, and it was very uncomfortable to defend "hard".

He scored 12 points on 4-of-16 shooting from the field and 4-of-4 from the free-throw line.

On the Wudo side, he was 11 of 14 from the field, 4 of 4 from three-point range, and 3 of 5 from the free throw line, scoring 33 points with terrifying efficiency.

The Timberwolves eventually won 115-103 over the Seattle SuperSonics for another big win.

And in this game, the outstanding performance of Marbury and Tom made the management very satisfied, and the efficiency of the game today has been restored, but the management is most concerned about the efficiency of the martial arts, but the effect of Marbury and others after the distribution of the ball has been adjusted.

Philip knows that as long as the player can continue on the current path, he doesn't need to worry about the individual heroism of the player in the team.

There is absolutely no way for Wu Dao to rely on his outstanding individual ability to coerce the will of their coaching staff and team management.

Without you, wouldn't we Timberwolves still be able to win?!

In this case, the Timberwolves won the Nets 116-96 and the Pistons 93-89, and in these two games, the average number of shots per game was basically suppressed at around 15, and the other cores of the team, such as Garnett, Tom and Marbury, were basically at this number.

Martial arts' individual scores are basically maintained in the range of 23-35 points, and because of the limitation on the number of shots, martial arts rarely break out with terrifying scores.

Generally speaking, the number of shots taken by a team in a game is in the range of 75-100, and the ball ratio like the Timberwolves is actually quite average. There are no more players in the team who have the best shots, and this is exactly what Coach Philip and others want to see.

The Timberwolves, who had played a winning streak, finally hit last year's championship team, the Bulls led by Michael Jordan, on December 30.

Minnesota Target Center.

Before the game, when Jordan was blocked by reporters in the walkway outside the lounge, Jordan's face suddenly showed a bright smile, ready to meet the reporters' questions.

Sure enough, the reporters did not disappoint Jordan, asking if Jordan had paid attention to the Timberwolves' games recently, and asked if Jordan had changed some of his previous views on martial arts.

Once Jordan commented that martial arts "pay too much attention to personal data".

In response to reporters' questions, Jordan shrugged his shoulders and replied with a smile: "I've watched some Timberwolves games, and it's clear that the young man is playing a lot more reasonably now." ”

"And the Timberwolves have had a pretty good record lately, haven't they?"

Recently, martial arts has become more reasonable, although martial arts' total points and average points per game from the beginning of the season to the present are still ahead of Jordan, but that kind of data is no longer so "unattainable". Even if some fans compare the data of the two, Jordan will not lose much.

For a young man who knows his mistakes and corrects them, Jordan doesn't mind giving the opposing home fans a face and saying two nice words!

"Wait for the game against the Timberwolves, are you confident?"

"The Timberwolves are currently the best team in the West, and in your eyes, do you think the Timberwolves have a chance to compete for a championship this year?"

The person who asked this question was undoubtedly a local Minnesota media reporter, and you could tell from his words that he had strong expectations for the Timberwolves.

The purpose of the reporter's question is not that he really has such a question in his heart, hoping that Jordan will answer it. But before asking this question, the reporter already had the answer in his heart, and he just wanted to hear the words of agreement from Jordan's mouth.

"Hmm"

"Are you asking me this question?"

"Ask me if I have the confidence to defeat a group of young people?!"

"It's the funniest joke I've ever heard, and I'm confident that I can defeat any enemy!"

"As for what you said, does the Timberwolves have any hope of competing for a championship?!"

"Forgive my honesty, I don't think the Timberwolves have the slightest chance!"

"The playoffs are completely different from the regular season, those young people have no playoff experience, and even if they make the playoffs, they won't go far!"

"Today's game, I'm going to give them a feel for the intensity of the playoff team!"

I don't know which of the reporter's words stung Jordan, who was "sensitive", in front of a group of media reporters, Jordan shook his head and said.

And Jordan's words also made the faces of local reporters in Minnesota look ugly, but Jordan didn't care about this at all.

Minnesota journalists?!

What's it?

It's not a hegemonic media like the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, let alone a small Minnesota reporter, even if the reporters of the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times come, if he Jordan is unhappy, he won't give a good face!

After the reporters asked a few questions painlessly, they dispersed, and the local Minnesota reporters were bored and left early.

On the other side of the arena, the Timberwolves players arrived at the stadium two hours before the game, and the stadium was already crowded with people at this time, and the fans had gathered in the square in front of the arena and began to check in one after another.

Not long after Wu Dao came to the players' lounge, Coach Philip led several media with cameras into the lounge.

It is not surprising to see media reporters enter the lounge, and when playing at Minnesota's home stadium, local reporters always have the privilege of being able to enter the players' lounge before the game to shoot some material.

When the reporters entered the lounge and saw Wu Dao sitting on the seat and changing his shoes, they immediately leaned in, smiled and told Wu Dao what Jordan said in front of the media reporters when they interviewed Jordan before.

At the same time, when "paraphrasing" Jordan's words, the reporters also cleverly "added fuel and vinegar".

"Michael said that the Timberwolves are not worth mentioning, even if they enter the playoffs, they are a first-round team!"

"Before the game, he said that he wanted to show the Timberwolves the real playoff intensity!"

The words are very different from what Michael said, slightly changing some content, but the meaning has become different.

"Wu Dao, as our wolf king of Minnesota, do you have anything you want to say to Jordan?!"

Facing the "long spear and short cannon" pointed at him, Wu Dao's face also showed a gentle smile, he knew too well the urine nature of the media, but .

The media is still quite useful to themselves!!

Wu Dao seemed to casually lower his head and tie his feet, and after being silent for a while, Wu Dao raised his head and looked at the camera, and said with a smile:

"Legend, it's time for the curtain to end!"

In the stadium, in the warm cheers of the audience, the players of the two teams began to enter the stadium one after another.

Michael Jordan (198cm/98kg, No. 2), Luke Longley (218cm/120kg, 7th pick in the first round in 1991) at No. 5, Ron Harper (198cm/84kg, 8th pick in the first round in 1986) at 2/3; Tony Kukchi (211cm/107kg, position 3.4) and Dennis Rodman (201cm/100kg) in position 4.

Wu Dao, who entered the field, looked at the Bulls players in red jerseys, and couldn't help but feel a little excited.

(End of chapter)