one-handed ball

Chapter 291 Reaction
"The Timberwolves general is injured and may be reimbursed for the season! "

Love's accidental injury brought the low-key Timberwolves back to people's attention.The Timberwolves fans fell into wailing after hearing the news. It wasn't that they, like online experts, immediately looked down on the Timberwolves' playoff journey, but felt sorry for the Timberwolves' loss of such a huge combat power.

How strong is Love?In the Minnesota system, he was only the third offensive option, but he still contributed about 15 points and grabbed about 12 rebounds every night.In the offense, his increasingly excellent three-point shooting ability has opened up space for Zheng Ke, and his coquettish coping ability has also been affirmed by many people.In defense, he has always been able to protect the backcourt rebounds of the Timberwolves. This season, the Timberwolves have the league's first backcourt rebound protection rate, and Love is indispensable.

The injury of such an important puzzle cast a shadow on the prospect of the Timberwolves winning the championship.

However, when Zheng Ke was interviewed by the media, he was full of confidence: "I know that we have encountered a little difficulty. Kevin is one of the most important players in our team, but this does not mean that we have lost the competition." The Timberwolves still have many elite players, and our morale is still strong. Whether it is the next regular season or the playoffs, we will continue to move forward with firm belief."

Zheng Ke's words were not just casual talk. In fact, the Timberwolves did exactly that.

4 month 1 day.

The Timberwolves face the Kings who came to challenge at home.

Gibson started the game, and the Timberwolves met the challenger with a strong posture.People were surprised to find that the Timberwolves, who have undergone major changes, have a more tenacious temperament.Gibson, who played in place of Love, was full of energy. He was completely free from the restraint and tension of his first start. Instead, he repeatedly staged dunks in the game.

113 to 98, the Timberwolves beat the Kings at home.

A hearty victory stopped the noisy Timberwolves from the outside world for a while.

San Antonio.

The Spurs' AT Center.

"The Timberwolves are damaged inside, and the rebound protection has obviously been greatly affected." Popovich held a plenary meeting of the Spurs.

Popovich distributed the materials in each player's hand and said seriously: "I guess, our opponent in the playoffs is very likely to be the Timberwolves. Even if it is not, we still need to be fully prepared. The championship, the strength should not be underestimated."

Duncan is holding the data in his hand, which is a piece of technical statistics of all the players of the Timberwolves this season, which is the most basic data.

Popovich turned on the projector and motioned for the assistant coach to operate the computer.The assistant coach nodded and moved the mouse quickly
"The Timberwolves tactics are composed of three parts. One is the air-cut running tactics of positional warfare." Popovich found a teaching rod from nowhere, pointed to the Timberwolves tactics map on the screen, and slowly Explained to the Spurs players: "In this part of the tactics, Chauncey Billups usually initiates the offense. As the first commander of the Timberwolves team, he plays the most important role here."

"In this big tactic of the Timberwolves, the Eagles, Princeton and some miscellaneous tactics are integrated. Zheng Ke exists as the last terminator. The data this season shows that the probability of Zheng Ke cutting from the right is 11.5 percentage points higher than that from the left. , and his probability of cutting in at the 45-degree three-point line on the right is the highest among the five points on the field”

"In the forest wolf's set of tactics, Love is usually the screener. Whenever Zheng Ke attracts double-teams, he and Billups are the two most likely to be emptied. They are respectively at the top of the arc and the three-pointers on the left and right sides. The line is about 45 degrees. After Love was injured, Gibson did not have the three-point shooting ability, which greatly reduced this tactic, but Gibson also has a good mid-range jumper ability, and his impact is even more powerful than Love."

Popovich is an excellent head coach, and his coaching team is also the best in the NBA.The Timberwolves' injury made him see an opportunity, an opportunity for the Spurs to beat the Timberwolves in this year's playoffs.Not just shouting slogans like media experts, he really included this in the training plan of the Spurs during this period. For this reason, he worked overnight to come up with a series of decomposition of the tactical system.

Popovich's basketball philosophy is very different from Phil Jackson's.He relies on the ability of superstars, and at the same time relies on the strength of the system to firmly grasp the superstars.No player can override Popovich's tactical system, including Duncan.As for Jordan and Kobe, they are both able to integrate into the team to form a perfect triangle offense, and also have great independent offensive power at any time.Popovich always believes that by analyzing the Timberwolves' tactical system, and then allowing each Spurs player to perform their respective tasks perfectly, the Timberwolves can definitely be defeated.

Especially after Love was injured, he saw the weakened link of the Timberwolves, and together with his team, he keenly found out the loopholes in the Timberwolves' tactical system.

"Our Spurs have suffered from a lot of injuries this year, but at the critical moment of the playoffs, our players are very healthy. The Timberwolves and the Lakers are the biggest enemies we have encountered in this year's playoffs. If we want to win the O'Brien Cup again, we must win these two opponents."

There was excitement in Popovich's words that he couldn't detect. When he explained the Timberwolves' tactics, what came to mind was that the Spurs relied on anticipating the enemy's tactics to move, and every time they stuck to the Timberwolves. In the offensive and defensive scenes, the corners of his mouth can't help but tilt up slightly.
At the beginning of April, in addition to the regular NBA games, the major awards selected during the season are also full of media speculation.

There are not a few people who support Zheng Ke's MVP. After all, his score of 33.2 points per night is really amazing.The Timberwolves' record this season is also among the top three, and in the words of Zheng Ke's fans.The year before last was Kobe, last year it was James, and this year it must be my Zheng Ke's turn.

On December 4, the Timberwolves played against the Heat at home.

The Heat are the top five teams in the Eastern Conference. In Zheng Ke's eyes, they are even more difficult than the third-ranked Eagles in the Eastern Conference.Because there is a man named Dwyane Wade in the team.

Wade seems to be recovering very well, and after a season of various physical functions, he has returned to his peak state.During the All-Star Game, it was seen that he was in good condition. After more than a month, Wade's condition seemed to be even better.

The Heat's Beasley and Richardson are both excellent players, and there are bench gangsters like Haslem on the bench.The game was a little anxious.

Wade showed his strong desire to attack when he came up. The Timberwolves rushed left and right in the formation, and scored 10 points in the first quarter.In comparison, Zheng Ke's touch is not so good. He failed to hit two shots from outside the three-point line. Relying on free throws and layups, he also scored 8 points in the first quarter.

Wade went into battle again after resting for 3 minutes in the second quarter. Facing Afflalo's defense, he used his extremely proficient ability to change direction and Joel Anthony's excellent pick-and-roll ability to pass Afflalo. Luo several times.And today his mid-range shots are quite accurate, hitting two consecutive shots from the left side of the free throw area.

Seeing this, Whitman replaced Zheng Ke with burning eyes.

Seeing Wade's bravery, Zheng Ke also aroused the enthusiasm for fighting in his heart. After he entered the battle, he immediately sent a stunning chasing block, which blocked Richardson's dunk!
After the block, Zheng Ke picked up the rebound and rushed forward like flying.

Faced with Wade and Arroyo's pursuit and interception, Zheng Ke dribbled the ball behind his back to the other side, then made two quick changes in front of Arroyo, passing between the two in the blink of an eye.

This dribble was more gorgeous than the block just now, like passing a wooden stake, Zheng Ke aroused the most enthusiastic cheers from the audience since the start of the game.

The Heat's lineup is loose and the hinterland is empty.After Zheng Ke came in, he attracted Haslem's supplementary defense, and passed the ball behind his back to Efflalo, who was ambushing in the bottom corner.Afflalo understood, caught the ball and shot directly, hitting a three-pointer.It's like drawing the most satisfactory end to this gorgeous performance!
Zheng Ke and Afflalo bumped their chests to celebrate, confident that this goal will definitely score the top ten goals.

After the second quarter, the momentum of the Timberwolves remained high under the leadership of Zheng Ke, and the secret rivalry between Zheng Ke and Wade was seen by everyone. Fans felt that such a superstar duel was the main theme of the NBA.

In the third quarter, Wade scored 10 points again. At this time, he had scored 31 points in three quarters, and Zheng Ke had just reached 20 points after three quarters.

The real winner was in the fourth quarter. At the critical moment of 5 minutes, Zheng Ke scored two consecutive three-pointers. This is his only two goals since the start of the game. He went [-]-for-[-] from beyond the arc.

But these two three-pointers were very terrible. Together, the Timberwolves instantly opened the point difference to 8 points, and the Heat were immediately at a disadvantage.

The coach's timeout didn't have much effect. The Timberwolves fought more and more bravely. Zheng Ke turned over and made a fadeaway jumper with 1 minute and 13 seconds before the end. The Heat trailed by as much as 10 points, and finally chose to give up the game helplessly.

Zheng Ke scored 12 points in the last quarter, making 25 of 12 shots, 6 of 2 three-pointers, and 8 of 6 free throws.He scored 32 points, 13 rebounds and 7 assists, and he became the MVP of the game. Although Wade scored 39 points, he also had 8 rebounds and 6 assists, but the Heat lost the game regrettably. .

After the Timberwolves won the Heat, they unexpectedly won a wave of 5 consecutive victories. Zheng Ke also became the best player in the Western Conference last week. This is the eighth time he has been selected as the best player of the week this season. being nominated and elected.This is also one of the great guarantees for Zheng Ke to be elected as the MVP. Of course, James in the East also won a lot of best of the week, and the two belonged to each other.

(End of this chapter)