Wu Dao made two consecutive three-pointers after the opening, which made the originally noisy arena instantly quiet.
The Lakers' home fans looked at Wu Dao who was starting to return to defense in the stadium with some surprise. They were speechless for a while.
There were not many Timberwolves fans watching the game today. After a brief cheer, they all turned their attention to martial arts, with excitement on their faces.
"Shaquille!"
"Come on!"
As a clear voice broke the calm, the Lakers fans finally came to their senses and began to cheer loudly for the players on the court.
Shaquille O'Neal is the well-deserved boss of today's Lakers. O'Neal, who was able to earn US$12.86 million per year in the 1997-98 season, is undoubtedly the focus of many fans.
Now that the Lakers are lagging behind, fans certainly hope that the team's leader can stand up at this critical moment to clear up the team's decline and create the momentum of the Purple and Gold Lakers!
In fact, that's exactly what the Lakers planned to do. As Nick Van Exel quickly brought the ball into the frontcourt, O'Neal was the only one on the Lakers side, sinking toward the low post when he landed.
Another player who plays inside, Eldon Campbell (211cm/100kg, No. 4/5), did not choose to directly insert into the Timberwolves' inside line after entering the frontcourt. Instead, he went to the middle distance near the left baseline and did not It poses a direct threat to the basket when in position.
His positioning method is also an initiative to open up space for O'Neal. In order not to leave Eldon Campbell open, Garnett did not choose to stick to the basket, but followed Elden Campbell to play. The paint area.
"Martial Arts, don't let them give the ball to the inside easily!"
"Put some pressure on O'Neal!"
"Defensive position is further back!"
On the sidelines of the court, Coach Philip saw the Lakers actually setting up such a formation, and immediately shouted loudly towards the martial arts on the court.
When O'Neal settled in, he chose to position low on the right side of the court, and Budao's defensive position was also within the corner three-point line on the same side.
Hearing the coach's call at this time, Wu Dao did not hesitate at all. He took several steps back and stood in the corner of the mid-range, only about two meters away from O'Neal on the inside.
Although Wu Dao did not directly double-team O'Neal, his position was to allow Nick Van Exel, who was holding the ball, to shoot the ball, and he did not dare to use lob defense to pass the ball to the inside.
Wu Dao's athletic talent is exaggerated, and these Lakers players all know it.
His position has actually strangled the Lakers' internal and external connections to a certain extent. If the Lakers did not change on the offensive end, it would be impossible to give the chess to the inside under the defense of the Timberwolves!
"Chance!"
Marbury saw that Nick Van Exel was hesitant. Realizing that the opportunity had arisen, he immediately took a step forward, got close to him, and then quickly reached out and pointed at the basketball in Nick Van Exel's hand.
Facing Marbury's steal, Nick Van Exel reacted quickly. When dribbling, he grabbed the basketball with his left hand at the moment it rebounded and lifted it toward the back. At the same time, his body was also on one side quickly. He blocked Marbury's aggressive impact with his arms.
In the next second, Nick Van Exel quickly turned around. At the moment when his back was turned to the basket, the basketball was also quickly taken out, and it was given to the hands of Rick Fox, who was open on the side.
It was clear that the basketball had been released, but Nick Van Exel did not stop for a moment. He quickly turned around behind Marbury and rushed towards the basket.
"Um?!"
Marbury subconsciously followed Nick Van Exel, but as he was walking, he discovered Rick Fox who was holding the ball outside.
Under Marbury's gaze, the latter raised the basketball and took an open shot.
"Three-pointer! It's a three-pointer!"
"The Lakers plan to use three-pointers to retaliate against the Timberwolves!"
In the stands, some fans shouted in surprise. The basketball had just been released and they could no longer hold back their excitement. They looked towards the court with expectant faces.
In this era, the Lakers built their team around O'Neal.
In addition to the unique "small point guard" Nick Van Exel of this era, other outside players including Eddie Jones and Rick Fox all have certain shooting abilities.
In addition to these starters, Kobe on the bench is also a player who can shoot three-pointers.
Although it is not a one-star team in the traditional sense, the Lakers are a team that relies heavily on outside shooting to a certain extent.
"clang--"
Although it was a wide open space, Rick Fox's three-point shooting ability was really not outstanding. The path of the shot was obviously offset, and the basketball directly hit the edge of the frame and popped out.
Don't think that an open three-pointer is something that NBA players can easily grasp. The three-pointer is a "rare weapon" for many outside players in this era.
Most people can only shoot three-pointers.
In the third position, there are not many players who can control three-pointers in quantity, and there are even fewer players like Wu Dao who can put three-pointers as a conventional weapon on the court.
Rick Fox played for the Celtics last season and his three-point shooting percentage was only over 30%. For him, three-point shooting is the norm.
"rebound!"
The rebound appeared, and Coach Philip on the sidelines immediately reminded loudly.
Wu Dao itself is relatively close to the inside, and the moment Rick Fox took the shot, Wu Dao rushed towards the inside, the moment the rebound appeared.
Wu Dao had already arrived behind O'Neal and put his arm on O'Neal's back.
His action, if considered in the era of body hair whistles in later generations, would have been considered a foul, and the referee's whistle would have sounded long ago.
But in this era, under the basket, this kind of action is really common. Compared with some "blue-collar players" who focus on rebounding, Wu Dao's action is too gentle!
"Bang!"
The basketball fell, and Wu Dao and Cherokee Parks were in the back and the other in front, firmly blocking O'Neal.
Feeling the power behind him, O'Neal, who was watching the basketball fall, suddenly pushed Wu Dao on his chest. After pushing Wu Dao away, O'Neal jumped up hard, directly on Cherokee Parks' head, and grabbed the basketball with both hands. .
Pick flowers on your head.
Facing the attack of two people, O'Neal actually grabbed an offensive rebound.
"?!"
The moment Wu Dao was pushed away, he was still a little confused. On the one hand, O'Neal was so powerful that he actually pushed him away with one hand. On the other hand, he was surprised by the large scale of the Lakers' home referees.
His actions when grabbing rebounds are "normal", but O'Neal's push is not normal!
After grabbing the rebound, O'Neal quickly raised the ball and directly hit Cherokee Parks who had just landed and was still standing.
Then O'Neal quickly bent down, blasted the ball with both hands, directly past Cherokee Parks, then stood up from the ground, grabbed the ball with both hands and drove the ball towards the basket.
"snort!!"
A cold snort sounded behind O'Neal, a big hand stretched out directly from the back of O'Neal's head, and slapped directly on the basketball in O'Neal's hand.
However, O'Neal's impact on the basket was not weakened at all by Wu Dao's blocking. O'Neal's jumping height was only slightly suppressed by martial arts, but he still grabbed the basketball with both hands to avoid dunking into the basket.
As he dunked the ball into the basket with his powerful hands, the basketball stand in Staples' home court began to vibrate violently.
The block failed, and after the martial arts landed, there was a look of astonishment on his face. This is the first time he has encountered such an outrageous thing in his playing career.
Not covered?
"ohhhhhh——"
The Lakers fans cheered excitedly when they saw O'Neal slam the ball into the basket against a martial arts block.
Some O'Neal fans even loudly mocked the martial arts on the court:
"Rookie! What are you thinking? Can you stop Shaquille?"
"Shaquille is going to destroy you and your Timberwolves together, so wash your ass and wait!"
"We, the Lakers, are the most powerful team in the Western Conference and a real championship team!"
Los Angeles fans are fanatical, not only for their own team, but also for their opponents. The fans of this era are more "tough" than those who sprayed "Who's your daddy!" at Lao Zhan.
Wu Dao, the leader of the Timberwolves, was naturally the first to bear the brunt.
Yes, I don’t know which game started. Martial Arts has long been regarded as the leader of the Timberwolves by Los Angeles fans. I don’t know when it started. When fans of other teams mention Martial Arts, they often call him "Martial Arts". The martial arts is "the young wolf king of the forest wolf".
The trash talk from the fans is sometimes more lethal than the trash talk from the players in the stadium.
After all, you can talk back to the players, but how can you talk back to the fans?
In the stadium, Wu Dao's face darkened as he listened to the abuse from the Lakers fans, and then he ran toward the frontcourt without saying a word.
On the Timberwolves side, when Marbury heard the trash talk from the fans around him, he glanced at Wu Dao with some concern. This kind of scene was rare even for Marbury. He was worried that Wu Dao, a rookie, would be "used by the Lakers" Influenced by the home atmosphere”.
The Lakers did not retreat quickly, and the Timberwolves also chose to play slowly and had no intention of pushing a fast break.
After Marbury dribbled the ball into the frontcourt, he planned to break through on his own to create a more comfortable opportunity for his teammates to catch the ball and score. Wu Dao's two consecutive three-pointers really boosted morale, but Marbury was worried that Wu Dao would suffer. Affected, I planned to use martial arts for a round to calm him down.
"Stephen!" At this moment, Wu Dao, who was still standing on the outside, suddenly activated his body, passed Rick Fox who was guarding him from the left, and cut inside.
At the same time, the call for martial arts also reached the ears of Stephen Marbury.
In an almost subconscious move, Stephon Marbury hit the ball to the ground with both hands and passed it directly to the cutter. After getting the ball, Wu Dao just dribbled the ball once, and then after two big strides, he went directly to the inside. Facing O'Neal under the basket, he grabbed the ball with his right hand and jumped up directly.
"F**K!"
"Boy, what are you crazy about!!!"
O'Neal saw Wu Dao quickly attack the basket and felt insulted. He cursed and bent his knees slightly. He jumped up to meet Wu Dao who entered the basket and blocked the basketball with both hands.
However, Wu Dao's jump with the run-up was too good. O'Neal had just taken off, Wu Dao's No. 2 jersey was already full of O'Neal's sight. Wu Dao's upper body directly impacted O'Neal, reducing the momentum of his take-off.
The next second, the martial arts master with long bounces dunked the ball directly to the basket when he was still more than ten centimeters away from the basket. The basketball came out of his hand, hit the edge of the inner basket directly, and fell into the basket. in the net.
Under O'Neal's defense, Wu Dao's momentum also weakened. Although he failed to grab the basket and dunk, he still sent the ball into the basket over O'Neal's head.
And the impact of his ball is no less than a direct dunk on O'Neal.
Staples Arena fell into silence at this moment.
"Shh-"
After scoring the goal, Wu Dao fell back to the ground, looked around at the Lakers fans, put his index finger to his mouth, and made a "silence" gesture.
"."
Silence, deathly silence.
Even the Timberwolves players looked at Wu Dao with astonishment as he got up and ran back. Garnett and Marbury looked at each other, and they could see the shock in each other's eyes.
Tom on the other side looked at Wu Dao's back as he returned to defense and left. After a brief moment of shock, he turned into a fanatical expression.
"Ouch——"
After a few seconds of silence, the Timberwolves fans finally reacted first and let out a hearty howl.
If they hadn't known that this was in the arena, others would have thought that one of the Huskies was being released.
"Oh! f**k!"
"Shaquille O'Neal! How could you lose to that rookie!"
After seeing Wu Dao's silent provocation, the Lakers fans became even crazier and poured out more insults on Wu Dao, but some fans also directed their fire at O'Neal.
Fans felt they had been insulted and were not even willing to affectionately call O'Neal "Shaquille."
At this moment, O'Neal slowly came out of the shock of being buckled. He blinked his eyes, and the confusion in his eyes disappeared, replaced by blazing anger.
"He pissed me off!"
"This newbie really pisses me off!"
"I'm going to rip this bastard to pieces!"
The furious O'Neal punched his chest fiercely, and actually roared as if no one was watching in front of the media.
Some fans in the front row were very happy to see the furious O'Neal and began to cheer loudly.
The fans' enthusiasm was completely ignited by O'Neal at this moment.
