The godfather of basketball started from conquering the NBA

Under Xu Xiao's cajoling operation, the Timberwolves had the league's first record of 40 wins and 13 losses before the All-Star break.

Many Timberwolves players have played their peak form.

Therefore, Westbrook, Josh and Oden were selected to the All-Star at the same time, and Josh entered the All-Star starting list for the first time.

Westbrook and Oden could only be subbed because Paul and Howard were too popular.

Of course, this year's All-Stars are not the only three participating. Jimmy Butler was also invited to participate in the rookie competition, and Bledsoe was invited to participate in the skill challenge.

Originally, Xu Xiao was also invited to be the special guest of this game to explain together, but Xu Xiao refused. Xu Xiao has to participate in the All-Stars all year round, either as the head coach or as a special guest in the commentary booth. Now Xu Xiao Xiao is also a little tired, so let this opportunity be reserved for newcomers.

In this short free time, Xu Xiao still wanted to give himself a rest.

It’s not the first few years when Xu Xiao became the head coach. He has passed the freshness. Although he is not yet 30, he has already felt the fatigue of middle age. This time is just right for him to take a break.

"I have to deal with the team's business operations and study the team's tactical system. It's really too much."

Xu Xiao rubbed his brows, thinking about whether he should find a few good coaches, and then he would be the boss behind him, how comfortable it would be.

He wanted to spend more time with Yilin in this limited time, and the two of them started their private lives without shame or impetuosity.

A week later

"Boss, you seem to have been quite tired this holiday."

"Coach, did you go on vacation? Could it be that you worked hard to study our tactics?"

"What kind of tactics, it's to learn the technique, hold the ball and break through the audience to press."

Everyone looked at Xu Xiao whose body seemed to be hollowed out and couldn't help but start their favorite part of making fun of Xu Xiao.

"It seems that everyone has had a good rest during the offseason. If this is the case, then our training game will be intense. We will run 20 sets and get ready right away."

"No, coach, we were wrong."

Amidst the wailing, the Timberwolves began extremely rigorous training.

Of course, this is not entirely for the purpose of punishing the players, but because after the All-Star Game, all teams have entered intense preparations, and must increase the amount of training to allow the team to quickly recover.

After all, after the All-Star Game, the teams have already entered the sprint stage, and the remaining 20 or so games are all terrible.

Although the Timberwolves were able to play the league's first record before the All-Star Game, this position is not stable.

The Spurs are close behind with a record of 39 wins and 13 losses, ready to overtake at any time.

And in the first game back after the All-Star break, he blasted the Kings 119 to 83, tied for first with the Timberwolves.

The Timberwolves played a little too much during the small vacation. They lost to the 99ers 102 to 76 in the first game back. Although this game only lost 3 points, the process was extremely ugly.

If it weren't for the 76ers center Cousins ​​who was sent out, the Timberwolves would have lost at least 15 points in this game.

After losing this game, the Timberwolves not only gave up their first place in the league, but also made their second place a little nervous.

The third-ranked Thunder are in hot form, beating the Rockets and the Bulls back to back.

After following Xu Xiao's suggestion, Rose also found his form after the All-Star Game, or maybe it was the loss of the All-Star that stimulated him. In these two games, Rose showed unprecedented ferocity.

Two consecutive 40+ games declared that the omnipotent Rose of last season is still there. Before that, he was just trying to learn other skills. Now I have achieved great success. You just wait for the battle.

Fortunately, after Xu Xiao went into a rage in the locker room, the Timberwolves recovered and beat up the Sun.

Afterwards, they beat the Celtics, who had a bit of grievance before, at home, which can be regarded as finding a place for themselves.

However, the last opponent in February is the highlight of this month, the Los Angeles Lakers.

For the Lakers at this time, Bass Sr. had just passed away. At his funeral, Kobe made a vow to enter the playoffs this year, and then entered the runaway mode.

The Lakers also successfully squeezed into the top eight from No.11 in the West.

But now the Lakers still have a big problem, and that is Howard.

At this time, Howard is injured and can't be done quickly, but at this time the Lakers can't control so much for the record, so they can only force Howard to pay.

As a result, Howard's injury has not been recovered, and he has not worked hard on the court.

There was Kobe in the previous life, and neither of them accepted the other, but the status of the two in the world is here, and it is not easy for others to intervene, but it is different now, the Lakers also have Garnett who is making trouble.

He will not be used to Howard like Gasol, and choose to carry the team to Kerry by himself. Garnett is the master who dares to attack his teammates, and he will mercilessly criticize Howard's behavior.

This broke the conflicting balance between Kobe and Howard. From grabbing power to veteran bullying, it directly aggravated the grievances between Howard and the Lakers. Therefore, after the end of this season, I want Howard to renew his contract with the Lakers. One more condition.

That is to let Garnett get out with Kobe.

And not only the players, but also the management of the team have started to play court dramas. From now to 17, in the past four years, the Lakers have been in a state of chaos. Buss and Aunt Jenny started The road to power.

But this is not something Xu Xiao is worried about. The more chaotic the Lakers are now, the happier Xu Xiao is.

On February 2, the Timberwolves played away against the Lakers.

Nash came back for the Lakers, plus Kobe, Artest, Garnett and Howard's starters, and the Timberwolves followed their regular starters, Westbrook, DeRozan, Josh, Ibaka and Oden.

At the beginning of the game, the Timberwolves took the lead in getting the ball.

Oden directly started to get stuck with Howard. Howard's athletic ability is better than Oden's, but in terms of body, he really can't handle Oden.

It was a bit difficult for Bynum back then, but now Oden is much thicker than Bynum, plus Howard's shoulder injury has not yet healed, so Oden easily took the position.

Westbrook didn't ink any ink, and directly handed it to Oden.

Oden exerted strength in the low post and walked in with Howard on his shoulders. At this time, Garnett was not able to make up the defense in time. Oden directly used his footsteps to leave room for himself to shoot, and easily put the ball in with a soft layup.

"Don't let him come in so easily." Garnett said with some dissatisfaction.

But in fact, his problem with this ball is not small. Obviously, he should have come to defend earlier to force Oden to pass the ball, but Garnett is also old, and his speed is far worse than before. His brain reacted, but his feet did not keep up. .

Howard just nodded casually.

When he came back, Howard also wanted to try to play one inside, but Nash had no intention of lobbing the ball inside. Instead, he asked him to come out and pick and roll for himself.

The two stalemate for a while, Kobe wanted to pass the ball, facing Josh Kobe chose to play by himself.

But facing Josh, who was one size bigger than himself and proficient in various defensive skills, Kobe played the ball very hard, and the ball bounced out after turning his back.

Oden grabbed the rebound and Westbrook quickly launched a counterattack.

Defensive counterattacks, offensive and defensive transitions are what the Timberwolves are best at. Westbrook immediately jumped up and smashed with the tomahawk.

"Los Angeles, quiet down."