Once Dwight Howard comes off the court, the Timberwolves' inside line will no longer be able to pose a threat to the Cavaliers. Soon, the Cavaliers chose to fight back.
At this time, there were only two giants, Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving, on the court, while LeBron James was sitting off the court to rest.
Although LeBron James is missing, Kyrie Irving has more ball rights.
call out.
The Cavaliers serve.
After halftime, Kyrie Irving looked for an opportunity at the top of the arc.
Facing Ricky Rubio's defense, Kyrie Irving dribbled the ball and started swinging. The two faced each other, and Kyrie Irving pulled away with a change of direction and rushed into the two zones from the right.
The Timberwolves players tried to step forward to cover the defense, but were suddenly blocked by Kevin Love. Kyrie Irving took this opportunity and directly put the ball into the basket with a pull rod.
Uh-huh.
The ball went in.
The Timberwolves fought back.
Ricky Rubio brought the ball across the half court, and Andrew Wiggins on the wing came up to respond. He tried to break through and get to the basket, and saw that he had already shaken off the defensive player in front of him, but just when he was about to take action, Kevin Love suddenly jumped up and blocked him.
Although Andrew Wiggins was not blocked, the ball he threw failed to fall into the basket smoothly.
boom.
The basketball bounced off the rim.
The rebound was taken away by the Cavaliers again.
The Cavaliers launched a fast break counterattack, and the ball once again fell into the hands of Kyrie Irving. He accelerated to the half court with the ball and beat Ricky Rubio one-on-one in the penalty area. The two faced each other and Kyrie Irving easily swung away the opponent with a pull rod and scored.
With the dismissal of Dwight Howard, the situation on the field has become increasingly unfavorable for the Timberwolves.
Soon, the first half was over.
The lagging Timberwolves were demoralized, and most of the players walked back toward the tunnel with their heads down. Only Dwight Howard still seems unaffected.
He chatted with his teammates as he walked back, and when he reached the entrance of the stands, he reached out his hand to greet the fans.
"Hey guys, have fun...it's just one game, the season is still long! We still have enough time..."
"There is no need to be sad about winning or losing a game. This is not what we should do...I believe in a point of view, that is, carpe diem..."
Dwight Howard chatted endlessly with his teammates.
Although no one paid him any attention, he still looked extremely happy.
Everyone returned to the locker room, and head coach Norman Thomas did not reprimand anyone. Instead, he took advantage of this time to analyze the situation on the field.
"We have too many problems on the offensive end, and poor touch is the biggest problem...The defense is also very bad. We couldn't defend a single point against the Big Three..."
"It's impossible to play like this, so we have to adjust in the second half..."
Head coach Norman Thomas was talking very seriously, but Dwight Howard, who was sitting in front of the locker, didn't seem to care. He kept whispering to his teammates beside him. Although the voice was not very loud, it was like this The whispers still affected others.
Especially the laughter he heard from time to time was so harsh in the ears of some teammates.
"Dwight, could you please be quiet for a moment?"
Zach LaVine finally couldn't stand it anymore and took the initiative to say something to Dwight Howard.
His attitude was quite good and his tone was gentle, sounding more like advice than an order.
But even so, these words made Dwight Howard's smile freeze on his face. He ignored the reactions of head coach Norman Thomas and other teammates, and loudly retorted to Zach LaVine, "Hey, Zach, I know you want to be the cornerstone of the team...but no matter what you think, you have no right to stop me from saying anything..."
"Coach Norman didn't say anything. Who do you think you are?"
"You ask other people in the locker room, who do you think I've impacted? I just don't want this low mood to infect the team and make everyone more depressed... What's my problem?"
"Everyone has a different way of leading, and this is my approach as a team leader... You don't have to like it, but please don't interrupt..."
After Dwight Howard finished speaking, the atmosphere in the entire locker room suddenly became tense.
Everyone was stunned, even head coach Norman Thomas did not expect that the two men would quarrel in the locker room.
Zach LaVine himself was dumbfounded. He did not reprimand Dwight Howard in any way. He just hoped that he could calm down, but he did not expect the other party to have such a big reaction.
"Dude, what the hell are you talking about?"
"I just think your voice affects me...I can hardly hear what Coach Norman is saying...Does this have anything to do with your leadership approach?"
"And don't always think of yourself as the leader of the team. I admit that you are a superstar, at least you were once very powerful... But now, Zhao is the leader of the team. In my mind, he is the only one on the team. leader, no one can replace him..."
Zach LaVine's first words were okay, but the last few words directly caused Dwight Howard to break the defense.
Originally, he was very concerned about his position as the leader of the team, and usually just turned a blind eye. Now that someone has said it publicly, it undoubtedly makes him feel humiliated.
So Dwight Howard stood up suddenly, and under the nervous eyes of everyone, he walked to Zach LaVine with an indifferent expression.
Zach LaVine was not to be outdone and stood up at the same time.
Their eyes met, and their eyes were extremely sharp.
"Zach, you have the guts to say what you just said again!"
Dwight Howard said with a cold face.
Zach LaVine did not hesitate and responded directly to the other party, "Is it necessary? Look at all the people sitting here. Do you think they will all obey your orders?"
"Please, open your eyes and see, everyone here only regards Zhao as the team leader, not you..."
"He took us from a weak team to a playoff team and led us to seven games against the Warriors... And what about you? What do you have? You will only be late for practice and you will only play Happy basketball, always putting on the airs of a superstar... Man, your time has passed..."
Hearing these words, Dwight Howard's face showed a trace of disappointment.
When he turned his attention to others, he also noticed that these teammates were staring at him. However, no one stood up to help him refute Zach LaVine's words.
Silence is sometimes a form of recognition.
What happens in the Timberwolves locker room is ultimately out of control.
Head coach Norman Thomas sent people to pull Dwight Howard and Zach LaVine apart. Although the two of them swore at each other, they always maintained the bottom line and did not make any moves.
However, the quarrel between the two in the locker room also caused the Timberwolves' originally harmonious situation to show signs of rupture for the first time.
Beep.
Players from both sides return to the court.
The second half of the game begins.
The Timberwolves once again replaced their core lineup, and they tried to use this method to recover the point difference. However, after experiencing the "locker room incident", Dwight Howard's state changed drastically. Not only did he lose his previous enthusiasm on the court, he also no longer cooperated with his teammates.
Not only that, once he gets the ball, he will choose to play alone, completely ignoring the cooperative actions of his teammates.
Although this move allowed him to successfully score some goals, it also caused constant problems with his cooperation with the team. The Cavaliers successfully cut off Dwight Howard's connection with the outside without spending much effort.
Seeing that Dwight Howard's attitude became increasingly negative, the team's head coach Norman Thomas also replaced him after the third quarter.
However, the Timberwolves, which had been stretched to 15 points at this time, were no longer able to pursue the Cavaliers.
When the game entered the final quarter, the Timberwolves tried to rely on the defenders' counterattacks to chase points. But without inside cooperation, the Timberwolves' defenders were tightly restricted once they entered the basket. It was difficult for Gorgui Dieng alone to open up the inside situation, and even rebounds could not be guaranteed.
The guards were out of shape, and no one was able to step up and score. The Cavaliers' Kyrie Irving continued to succeed in isolations.
The gap between the two sides has completely widened.
With less than 4 minutes left in the game, the Cleveland Cavaliers simply gave up and let the main players take the field. After a whistle, all the main players were replaced, and all substitutes came on to play singles.
During the bad time, the Timberwolves still did not give up and tried to narrow the score gap. Unfortunately, there was not much time left for them.
In the end, the two sides ended the battle 84 to 104.
The Minnesota Timberwolves not only lost the game, they also lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers by 20 points. This result also made the fans watching the game extremely dissatisfied. They even booed their own team.
Especially Dwight Howard, who slacked off in the third quarter and sat on the sidelines to watch the excitement in the last quarter but did not appear on the court, attracted a lot of jeers and boos as he walked through both sides of the tunnel.
"Bad game! Is this how you lead your team?"
"Fake! Dwight! I drove more than four hours to watch this game. Is this what you did to me?"
"What kind of bullshit superstar, didn't you lose 20 points against the Big Three? Without Zhao, you are nothing..."
The fans' curses and jeers all fell into Dwight Howard's ears.
In response to this, he did not make any performance, but changed his former "happy boy" appearance and became silent.
Even when his teammates took the initiative to talk to him after returning to the locker room, he ignored them.
"Oh! Damn it!"
"How could it be like this?"
As the head coach, Norman Thomas saw that the atmosphere in the team's locker room was so tense, and it was simply nerve-wracking for a while.
"It seems I have to find time to talk to Dwight..."
