one-handed ball

Chapter 221 Lakers Terminator

In the long history of the NBA, the team that wins the Tianwangshan battle has a probability of winning the entire series as high as 80%, but now in the second round of the two Tianwangshan battles, the winners are the Western Timberwolves. With the Celtics in the East, people have speculated that both teams may have a great chance to enter their respective conference finals.

The performance of the Timberwolves this season is jaw-dropping. I still remember that at the beginning of the season, the Timberwolves who sent Jefferson away were not favored by anyone. Experts speculated that the Timberwolves only won 20 or 30 wins in a season, but they did not expect The Timberwolves actually won more than 50 victories in one season, rushed all the way to the semifinals of the playoffs, and even got a great chance of advancing to the conference finals.

These few battles with the Lakers have shown the resilience of the Timberwolves. No matter how suppressed by the Lakers in the game, the Timberwolves can always recover the point difference at the last moment and drag them into a key matchup.

It's a pity that although there were lore dramas staged in these few games, there was no overtime, which made many people feel that the excitement of the games was compromised.

Of course, this statement made many fans who watched the game scoff.Yes, the overtime duel is a small criterion for judging the confrontation between the two teams in the playoffs, but it is definitely not the only one. The offensive drama staged by the Timberwolves and the Lakers is more attractive to fans than the defensive duel between the Magic and the Celtics. The level of excitement is definitely not inferior to the "Spurs" battle in overtime.

Changing venues back and forth between Los Angeles and Minneapolis, Zheng Ke is very familiar with the airports of the two places. This time when he returned to Minnesota, many fans even picked him up. This scene is common in China , but rarely seen in the United States in the past.Zheng Ke was so excited that he led the generals of the Timberwolves to meet the fans generously, and gave some fans who came to the scene to sign their names.

"This is really heroic treatment." On the bus, Love still couldn't forget the scene surrounded by fans just now, and said: "I feel like a general who has returned from victory."

"It's less stinky." Zheng Ke smiled and gave Le Fu a fist.

"That's right, that's right." The players around burst into laughter, making Le Fu's white face blush, and he said with a red neck: "There's no shame, how many beauties are holding my name "Kevin"? "

"That must be welcoming our general manager," Billups said, teasing Love.

"Or it's an action sign." Lowry laughed.

Le Fu was embarrassed, felt that these teammates were too hurt, and he finally got embarrassed, but he was hit like this, and he really couldn't stand it.

At this time, Whitman stood up from the front, stood in the aisle, and said: "Tomorrow's game, I hope everyone will continue to maintain this state, go all out, and move forward bravely. With home court advantage, the probability of qualifying far surpasses them."

"Their defense is still a problem, and the protection of rebounds is not high. The most important thing is that they can't prevent our offense and Zheng. Although our defense is not good, at least we can fight with them. Forming a mutual explosion, coupled with tomorrow's home court advantage, we can definitely end this round of the series in one battle." Whitman continued to instill confidence in the players while analyzing the game.

In the end, this small meeting on the bus ended with the sound of "Go all out, it depends on the battle" issued by Whitman and everyone.

The sixth game between the Timberwolves and the Lakers was held at the Target Center. After the series progressed to this point, no one dared to guess the way forward for the Timberwolves, and no rational expert asserted that the Lakers would definitely win. On the contrary, for the Timberwolves There are many people who sing praises.

Barkley said in an interview: "The Timberwolves have always been a team I am optimistic about, and Zheng Ke is also a player I have always been optimistic about. From the very beginning when I explained Zheng Ke's first game, I fell in love with this big team. Big man, he's always energetic and proactive on the court. I'm not surprised to be able to push the Lakers to this point. You know, he is the player who is called "Nuclear Weapon", and it is easy to destroy the Lakers. Ha ha ha ha .”

For example, the famous Lakers such as Magic Johnson are a little hard to accept the failure of the Lakers. They have pointed their finger at the generals of the Lakers. , The Lakers on the verge of extinction are worrying inside and outside.

The "New York Times" broke the news that after the fifth game against the Timberwolves, Gasol, who made a mistake at a critical moment, was criticized by his teammates in the locker room. It did not say which teammate it was, but with the rich imagination of the fans, almost You can think of which great god it is without thinking.

Against such a background, the two teams started the sixth game of the series on the evening of May [-]th.

Kobe is still very aggressive. He scored 18 points in the first quarter and almost scored all the points of the Lakers by himself. Several shots were very unreasonable, but he still scored. Judging from this posture, it is about to explode Rhythm.

But it is a pity that Zheng Ke is also unstoppable. Although he only scored 6 points in the first quarter, he sent 5 assists. The decisive double-teaming of the Lakers gave the Timberwolves outside shooters a chance to explode.The two teams fought 25 to 24 in the first quarter, and the Lakers temporarily led by 1 point.

Gasol is obviously a bit out of shape. Zheng Ke keenly felt the changes in this All-Star player who is the biggest threat to the Timberwolves. Although the statistics still have 4 points and 3 rebounds, his mental outlook is very bad. Just now Love played at the basket. A successful second attack is a good proof.

Kobe alone can't vote for the Timberwolves.

Zheng Ke, who played in the second quarter, almost didn't laugh out loud. He didn't know what happened inside the Lakers, but their previous smooth triangle offense had indeed slowed down. Outsiders couldn't see it. He was on the court, but he saw a distinct.Looking at the Zen master who was sitting firmly on the Diaoyutai on the sidelines, his face was ashen at the moment.

"Quick attack!"

After Love protected the backboard, he made an imaginative long pass and accurately found Zheng Ke, who was going down the frontcourt. Facing the unguarded basket, Zheng Ke made a 45-degree cut and dunked with one arm.

With a shudder of his body, he walked on the floor with his arms outstretched in a celebratory gliding gesture.

The on-site DJ immediately released the unique wolf howling sound of the target center, and the audience imitated Zheng Ke and made gliding postures.The camera was shown to the young fans at the scene. He had the Timberwolves logo on his delicate face, and opened his pink and fleshy hands. He imitated Zheng Ke and opened his arms, which immediately caused the audience around him to burst into laughter.

At the end of the half, the Timberwolves had a 51 to 47 lead by 4 points. Although the points were not many, if Odom’s luck was not counted, and he made a super long three-pointer that surpassed halftime, there would be a difference of 7 points. .

In Game [-] of the series, except for the [-]-point game where the game felt unbelievable, the Timberwolves suppressed the Lakers for the first time, making Timberwolves owner Glenn Taylor, who came to watch the game today, smile crookedly.

In the second half of the game, the situation of the Lakers improved. I don't know what Zen master said, but Kobe did change himself and started to re-run the Lakers' triangle offense.

This is a bad signal. Fortunately, Gasol lost his touch, and Love did not achieve good results in several singles.And Zheng Ke began to strengthen his personal low-post offense, which is actually a simple back-to-back jumper. The key is that he told Ariza, or Odom wants to attack him like this, and the two of them have nothing to do with Zheng Ke. Sometimes I can't figure out the left and right directions, and most of the time I am bumped by Zheng Ke and can't jump up.

The two teams played evenly in the third quarter.

After entering the fourth quarter, the Timberwolves did not dare to make long passes and fast breaks easily. In this case, a mistake is more troublesome than a missed attack.If you miss the offense, you can retreat to defend, and if you miss the offense, it is very likely that the opponent will make a fast break.

The two teams played until the last 2 minutes, and the Lakers were chasing points. The Timberwolves led by 10 points at the most, and led by 3 points at the lowest.The Lakers players were going crazy. They moved a little too much. Zheng Ke saw the timing and continuously broke through the inside and caused fouls.Bynum took Zheng Ke down in the air and was called a malicious foul. Zheng Ke made two free throws and extended the score to 11 points. The Lakers' hope of tying became increasingly slim.

In the end, the Timberwolves defeated the powerful Lakers 105 to 96 at home and advanced to the Western Conference Finals 4 to 2.

Zheng Ke played the image of the Lakers Terminator in this round of the series, averaging 37.8 points and 12.4 rebounds per game. The Lakers were almost buried in his hands alone.At the end of the Lakers season, Phil Jackson has become more determined to find top wing defenders. Otherwise, the Lakers will still have nothing to do with Zheng Ke when they meet the Timberwolves next year.

(End of this chapter)