All games played by the Timberwolves in November 1997 came to an end with their victory over the Grizzlies.
With a record of 13 wins and 2 losses, the Timberwolves team is also heading into a new January. It is worth mentioning that on the first day of December, the Timberwolves welcomed a new player at the Target Center Arena.
"Let me introduce to you, from today on, he is our new member of the Timberwolves."
"Come on, introduce yourself to everyone."
In the stadium, Coach Philip and a tall black player with an afro stood in front of many Timberwolves players and said with a smile. As soon as Phillip finished speaking, Wu Dao and others' eyes fell on the face of the "black brother".
"Hello, my name is Ben Wallace. I used to play for the Washington Wizards."
“It’s a pleasure to meet you all, and I’m very happy to be able to play with you all in the coming days.”
Brother Hei was wearing loose long sleeves and a thick black down jacket. As he spoke, he bowed slightly towards the forest wolves in front of him and made a fifteen-degree bow as a greeting.
Hearing the name Ben Wallace, the Timberwolves couldn't help but look at each other, and then they all saw confusion in each other's eyes.
Coach Philip solemnly told the players the day before that a new player would join their team today. The players thought it was the management who had introduced some reinforcements in order to win the championship, which made every player very excited.
But to their surprise, after arriving at the arena, they were met by the player named Ben Wallace.
Um.
He is really a new player. Almost everyone in the Timberwolves has never heard of this name.
Except for one of them, of course.
Ever since Ben Wallace followed Coach Philip into the gym, Wu Dao's eyes would be aimed at him from time to time. When Wu Dao saw Ben Wallace for the first time, he actually didn't recognize him at all. He just thought the player looked familiar.
After all, in his opinion, Brother Black all looks similar, and you can hardly expect people to be able to tell the difference between chimpanzees. Of course, this is not an insinuation that all black brothers look like orangutans. After all, there is only one orangutan in the NBA, and that is the wrong Goa, it is Gorilla Ewing.
Martial arts can't tell the looks of black people, just like Qiangdong doesn't know whether the milk tea girl is good-looking or not.
However, when Ben Wallace said his name, there was an impression in Wu Dao's mind immediately. The long-standing memory was pulled out of his mind. The face in the impression was the same as the face of the young man not far away. Like coincidence.
The man in front of him is the man who often appears in Dayao highlights, who is jokingly called Ben Wallace of the Little Alarm Clock.
In his peak period, he led 2 consecutive rebounds and was a super defensive leader with 4 DPOY, Big Ben and Ben Wallace.
Today, Ben Wallace is only 24 years old. He only landed in the NBA as a non-draft player last year. In the 1996-97 season, young Ben Wallace only played 34 games and averaged only 34 minutes per game. Not only did he average 1.1 points per game in 6 pitiful minutes, he also averaged 0.8 fouls and 0.5 turnovers per game for the team.
water.
ultimate water
Yes, after all, he entered the NBA through a non-draft route. Before going to Washington to get this player, Philip only accidentally mentioned martial arts. Although he knew that this was a very good player, Philip still communicated with the management. , got this player from Washington.
Why?
The reason is very simple, just to let Wu Dao know that our Timberwolves management has you in our hearts. Although you only accidentally mentioned an interested player, our Timberwolves management also takes your words seriously.
Ben Wallace's contract with Washington is a one-year short-term contract of 350,000 a year. The management's intention is also very simple. Although this is a useless scrap, since Wu Dao is interested, let's get it.
Just spend a sum of money to try to get a good impression of martial arts.
When Ben Wallace introduced himself, Coach Philip noticed that Wu Dao was looking at Ben Wallace. When he saw this scene, he couldn't help but reveal a smile on his face.
After Ben Wallace gave a brief self-introduction, his eyes glanced at Martial Arts standing in the center of the team, with inexplicable fanaticism in his eyes.
Noticing the "enthusiastic" look in Ben Wallace's eyes, Wu Dao tilted his head slightly, a little confused. Then he reacted quickly.
Well, he is the boss of the team after all. It is normal for a new player to join the team and have the mentality to please the boss~
After a brief meeting, Coach Philip allowed the players to move around freely.
After disbanding, the team members walked towards Wallace. Although he was a less famous player, they were still teammates after all, so it was necessary to get familiar with each other.
"Ben Wallace right?"
"My name is Kevin Garnett. I think you must have heard of me. Welcome to join the Timberwolves."
"If anything happens to your team from now on, just tell me."
"I will help you as much as possible!"
Although Garnett has a bad mouth when he is on the court, as a well-known person who likes to play brother basketball, he is actually a warm-hearted person.
In other words, dealing with black people is very straightforward.
Garnett smiled and greeted Ben Wallace as an "old man", and after him, Mitchell, Chris Kyle and others introduced themselves.
Although Ben Wallace has an afro, he seemed a bit unfamiliar and reserved when surrounded by many Timberwolves players.
When he first arrived, Ben Wallace said very little. After his teammates introduced themselves, he gave them a brief hug and said hello.
Ben Wallace's career path was very bumpy. Before joining the Washington Bullets, the predecessor of the Washington Wizards, he played in many minor leagues, helped the Celtics play in the summer league, and even played in Italy.
But all this time, he has never received any long-term contract. He just keeps wandering around in various competitions and various teams. He has a single skill set and is only 206cm tall, but he plays inside. This makes Ben Wallace's career path full of ups and downs.
Fortunately, he was diligent enough, hard enough, and focused enough, so he finally touched the edge of the NBA and entered the pre-reform Washington Bullets. It must be said that Ben Wallace was also very lucky. In the entire NBA, I'm afraid only a team like the Washington Bullets would want a player like him.
Ben Wallace has no sense of belonging in the professional arena. From the time he entered the league to now, he has never felt that he is an NBA player. He knows very well that he is weak. In this league, players like him , grab a handful.
Because of this, he cherishes every opportunity to play.
In the 1996-97 season, he averaged 0.8 fouls in 6 minutes of playing time per game, which also illustrates his efforts. After all, if he stood up defensively, he wouldn't be able to commit so many fouls.
After Garnett and others introduced themselves, Wu Dao also stepped forward, smiled, extended his hand to Ben Wallace, and said, "My name is Wu Dao, let's work together from now on."
Looking at the hand that Wu Dao handed over, Ben Wallace, who had been a bit "reserved" when communicating with other team members, suddenly took Wu Dao's hand with both hands, shook it heavily, and actually responded with some excitement:
"Yes! I will work hard!!!"
Seeing Ben Wallace's enthusiasm for martial arts, Chris Kyle's expression changed, and he suddenly felt that he was threatened like never before, and he looked at Ben Wallace with a somewhat unkind look.
Martial Arts also felt Ben Wallace's enthusiasm, and his mind was filled with questions.
"Am I famous?"
Although Wu Dao is indeed well-known in the league now, Ben Wallace's enthusiasm for him is not because of his fame.
On the plane to Minnesota, he learned from Philip why he had the opportunity to leave Washington and play for the Timberwolves.
The reason is that the man in front of me asked him to do it!
As for why, Ben Wallace figured it out after thinking about it in the past few days, and through his understanding of Wu Dao as a player and the Timberwolves.
Obviously, this young superstar needs a helper!
As long as he can stay in the NBA, Ben Wallace feels that he can do anything!
December 3rd.
The Timberwolves finally played their first game in December, a home game against the Indiana Pacers led by Reggie Miller.
In this era, this name will be familiar to almost everyone who pays attention to the NBA. This is a super-excellent scorer and the master of the "Miller Kick".
What is a Miller Kick? When shooting, the action of "inadvertently" raising your foot to kick the defender is called the Miller Kick.
In the small ball era, when body hair whistles became the mainstream of the league, the NBA introduced something called the "Reggie Miller Rule" on the eve of the 2012-2013 season.
That is, when a shooting player lifts his foot when shooting, it is an offensive foul. At the same time, in conjunction with this rule, there is something called the diving rule.
These two things are the curses that restrict some shooters.
But in this era, there is no such thing
In the evening, the Target Center Arena was packed.
The arrival of the Pacers attracted the attention of many fans, and before the game started, the Minnesota media had already begun to exaggerate the game.
According to people familiar with the matter, in this game, Wu Dao, who has missed two games, will return to the court. Coincidentally, Indiana's "big star" came.
Fans really want to see the duel between Wu Dao and Reggie Miller to see who is the sharper one between these two.
"Beep——"
As the buzzer sounded on the field, players from the Pacers and Timberwolves walked onto the court one after another.
For the Timberwolves, coach Philip planned to test Ben Wallace's quality, so he set him as the starting No. 4 position, while Garnett was moved to the No. 5 position. The other three players on the team were respectively It's Wu Dao, Tom and Marbury.
As for the Pacers, in addition to Reggie Miller (201cm/85kg, 32 years old) who leads the team, Mark Jackson (185/85kg, 34 years old) is at position 1; Chris Mullin (198cm/91kg, 35 years old); No. 4 Dale Davis (211cm/104kg, 28 years old, 13th pick in the first round of 1991); No. 5 is Rick Schmidt Ci (224cm/113kg, second pick in the first round of 1988, 32 years old).
Unlike the Timberwolves' rejuvenation, the Pacers' starting players are all "old arms and legs."
In other words, these players are all in their prime of playing around 30 years old.
Of course, players of Mark Jackson and Chris Mullin's age cannot compare with young players in terms of physical fitness and explosive power, but their experience cannot be compared with young players.
Moreover, the Pacers are a very capable team inside. Whether it is Dale Davis or Rick Schmitz, they are both the kind of insiders who are pretty good at it.
Once in the center circle, Garnett stood on the center line, looking at Rick Schmitz who was obviously a bar higher than him, and couldn't help but twitching at the corner of his mouth.
The height of 224cm gives people a sense of oppression, which is really very strong.
But fortunately, Rick Schmitz's figure is still "slim". The feeling of oppression given by 224cm and 113kg is still two levels compared to the feeling of oppression given by 226cm and 140kg.
After a whistle, the referee threw the ball into the air.
"clatter!"
At the same time, with a soft sound above Garnett's head, the basketball, which had just reached its highest point, was directly pointed to the backcourt by the tall and long-handed Rick Schmitz.
Garnett had just taken off and the ball was already gone.
"Shit!"
Garnett cursed lowly, then quickly turned back to defend.
Mark Jackson picked up the ball in the backcourt and slowly ran towards the frontcourt with the ball. At the same time, the Pacers players also entered the Timberwolves half.
At the beginning of the game, the pace of the Pacers seemed to be a little loose. Mark Jackson, who was holding the ball at the top of the arc, dribbled twice by himself, and then casually transferred the ball to Rick Jackson, who was holding the ball on the side of the paint area. Schmitz.
When the basketball fell, Rick Schmitz just stretched out his hand and took the ball in his hand. The Dutch giant caught the ball on the left side. After receiving the basketball, he dribbled with his left hand and directly hit the ball with his back. Quickly moving from one side to the other, he quickly pulled the ball with his right hand, and then directly followed Garnett's defense and shot a small hook shot from close range.
Rick Schmitz moves very quickly, and the series of movements of the half-turn hook are quite smooth.
Garnett is a little taller than his opponent, and he couldn't take off immediately after being hit from behind. Although he reacted, he couldn't reach Rick Schmitz's shot at all.
The basketball flew directly over Garnett's head and then fell steadily into the net.
"."
Garnett glanced at the basketball falling from the net behind him and was speechless for a while.
It was very easy. The opponent scored on his head very easily, which Garnett couldn't accept.
Budao watched the series of actions that Rick Schmitz made when he scored the ball, and saw a familiar shadow in him. Then he immediately clapped his hands and shouted to the team members:
"Speed up!"
"Speed up!"
Facing a team with old arms and legs and a big center, Wu Dao quickly found the best way to deal with it.
