Of course, Dunleavy letting Ricky Davis start was not to let himself go and give up the game, but to fulfill his promise.
Dunleavy and Ricky Davis previously said that they would increase his playing time, but the premise is that Ricky Davis must improve his defense.
For the next two weeks, every afternoon after the team finished training, Ricky Davis would stay in the arena to practice basic defensive skills.
Those defensive skills that have been trained since high school, such as side sliding step, back sliding step, cross step, forward defense, basic stance, foot posture, leg posture, torso posture, hand posture, chest position...
The 31-year-old Ricky Davis actually started practicing from scratch one by one, leading the team's defensive coach to practice for more than an hour.
Dunleavy originally thought that this guy was just on a whim and would just hold on for three to five days.
At this age, a guard who once averaged 20 points per game in the league and earns millions in salary a year has no time to concentrate on defense.
Is it too late to start working as a blue-collar worker now?
But Ricky Davis persisted. Until the warm-up training before the game this afternoon, he still coached defensive pace and fixed-point three-pointers.
He no longer cares about the ball-handling breakthroughs and pull-up jump shots that he was good at in the past.
Concentrate on defense that he was unwilling to do before, shoot fixed-point three-pointers, and squat in the corner.
His persistence earned Dunleavy's approval, and he was included in the starting lineup before the game started.
Sure enough, Ricky Davis made an eye-catching performance as soon as the game started.
A transfer of the ball, a steal, and the ball was given to Baron Davis for a counterattack.
Balang did not speed up. He observed that the team did not have a good fast break counterattack opportunity.
Still in position, Randolph caught Love in the low post and asked for the ball.
Balang passed the ball to Randolph, and Randolph was in a deep position.
After receiving the ball, he turned around and successfully picked up the basket, scoring two points.
Love raised his hands high, and the ball didn't interfere at all.
Don't look at Love playing power forward, his reported height is 207.
In fact, he is only a little over 2 meters tall, about 201 or 202 meters tall.
Randolph is a man with a slim neck height of 2.06cm and a wingspan of 2.1cm.
In a one-on-one confrontation, it is impossible for Love to guard Randolph well.
The Clippers took a 4-0 lead at the start, which was not a good sign.
Min Congda sat on the chair, eating popcorn and thinking, don't worry, let's take another look.
The Timberwolves soon scored as well. Love supported him from the high post and passed the ball to the basket.
Corey Brewer caught the ball and avoided Kaman's defense and succeeded in a reverse layup.
"Very good, very good. Corey Brewer's escape was beautiful. Thornton still has the same problem. He can't keep up. He's too slow."
Corey Brewer is lanky, fast, agile, and very good at cutting and running.
Both sides gradually opened up the situation.
The Clippers' junior three, Randolph and Kaman, open the way in the low post.
Baron Davis organizes the team's offense and has the opportunity to make his own shot.
If there is no chance, start from the low position.
Unlike the Clippers' double low post, the Timberwolves play high and low, with Jefferson launching the attack in the low post.
Love mainly supports from the high position and waits for opportunities to fire from outside.
Brewer's repeated runs across the baseline formed the Timberwolves' regular offensive pattern.
The two sides played back and forth in the first quarter, and the Clippers' two inside players felt good.
Randolph and Kaman scored 6 points and 8 points respectively.
What was surprising was the performance of Ricky Davis.
He didn't even attack with the ball in the first quarter.
When the ball comes to his hand, it comes out immediately and never sticks to the ball.
The main task on the offensive end is to squat in the bottom corner to attract defense.
On the defensive end, he is extremely active in running and defending.
After the official timeout ended, Dunleavy specifically ordered Ricky Davis to keep an eye on Corey Brewer.
Thornton is too big to keep up with him, so it would be better to let Ricky keep an eye on him.
So, Ricky Davis began to guard Brewer.
This made Brewer very uncomfortable, and there was no gain in cutting and running.
At the end of the first quarter, the Clippers led the Timberwolves by 3 points 31:28.
Min Congda felt that the rhythm of the game was not right, and thought: "It's okay, the Clippers' starting strength is better than the Timberwolves. The substitutes are the key later. When Curry leads the team, the Clippers will collapse. Before That’s how the game is.”
Curry hasn't performed well recently. It's not that he's playing blindly, but that he can't find the rhythm of the game.
Curry replaced Baron Davis at the end of the first quarter. The bearded man didn't have any objections, and the two even fist bumped.
Then Curry played the last three minutes of the first quarter smoothly without any performance.
At the beginning of the second quarter, Curry brought his substitutes to confront the Timberwolves substitutes.
The Timberwolves' point guard is Sessions, a very aggressive small guard.
As soon as he came up, he took the ball and hit Curry, hitting the basket, but was blocked by Camby and missed the layup.
The Clippers players are all in good shape tonight, and it obviously has something to do with a good night's sleep.
Curry grabbed the ball and started a quick counterattack. He called Camby's pick-and-roll from the high post.
A Qin Wang circled around the post to avoid Sessions's defense, and went to the basket from the middle to face Timberwolves center Nathan Jaywai.
Curry made a high throw! Then he was knocked down by Jaywai!
The referee blew the whistle and whistled Jewai for a defensive foul.
If the ball goes in, there will be an additional penalty!
"Fuck you. What is this big black guy doing? If you can't defend yourself, just don't hit someone. This idiot is throwing a high ball. You can just raise your hands and jump to interfere. Why are you trying to hit someone?"
Min Congda felt unhappy for a while, and the bad feeling became stronger and stronger.
It looks like Curry should be in good shape tonight.
The throw and extra free throw were made, and the Clippers slightly widened the point difference.
Then the Timberwolves hit a mid-range jumper, and the Clippers quickly counterattacked.
Curry caught the ball and headed straight into the Timberwolves' three-second zone, with no chance to circle around and come out.
Suddenly he shot from mid-range at a zero-degree angle in the bottom corner, and hit it again!
Curry scored 5 points in a row. This kid stopped organizing and started attacking directly in the second quarter!
This is the rhythm of the game that he is used to.
"That's it. Curry, this little bastard, is best at attacking when he plays with the second team. This guy is so cunning. If you don't attack when the main force is there, just pretend to be a grandson. When the main force comes down, there will be no tigers in the mountain. You monkey, you are the king. Start fighting. Every shot goes in. I look down on you, you know that, Steph?"
No matter what Min Congda thought, Curry took advantage of the second team's lax defense and scored consecutively.
By the time the main players from both sides reappeared, the Clippers already led the Timberwolves by 7 points, 50:43.
Curry scored 10 points in five minutes.
"You chicken-stealing boy, please get off! Huh? Lao Deng won't let you get off?"
"Okay, it depends on what performance you can perform on the court."
Dunleavy did not replace Curry, but brought on Baron Davis to play double guard with Curry.
After the Timberwolves replaced the main force again, Love rushed to the basket with the ball, drew a foul and made two free throws.
50:45, the Timberwolves got slightly closer to the score.
Then the Timberwolves players just returned to defense and haven't settled into position yet.
Baron Davis made a long pass to the frontcourt, and Curry received the ball in the middle.
Pause, turn around, feint, and easily pass Flynn!
Rushing to the basket, another high-arc throw!
The ball hit the backboard, bounced into the basket, and hit it again!
Curry scored 12 points in a single quarter.
"Not good, this is not good."
(End of chapter)
