Dwight Howard started playing in isolation, which undoubtedly surprised all the Timberwolves players.
Soon, he brought the ball across half court.
Just like what he said to Zhao Feiyang, Howard held the ball and entered the basket. He also deliberately showed off his pace, turning around after hitting and pulling away to shoot.
Draymond Green didn't let up at all and pounced on Howard when he shot the basketball.
The two sides met each other in mid-air. Although the ball thrown by Howard was not blocked, it still hit the backboard.
Green, who was guarding Howard, deliberately waited for Howard to make a move and taunted him, "Oh! Dwight! What are you doing? Are you not as flexible as my 70-year-old grandma? When did you play so softly?"
Howard was a little angry at being ridiculed.
However, he failed to grab the rebound.
The ball fell into the hands of the Golden State Warriors.
The Warriors struck back quickly.
Stephen Curry dribbled the ball across half court. After being intercepted by Zhao Feiyang, he handed the ball to Klay Thompson. Kevin Martin also followed closely and tried to interfere with Thompson's dribbling.
When the ball passed half court, Thompson handed the ball to Harrison Barnes on the wing.
Barnes went to the basket and threw the ball after avoiding interference from Andrew Wiggins.
Howard stepped up to defend, intending to block Barnes and regain some space for himself. Unexpectedly, just as he pounced, Green leapt up behind him, stood on the spot, took the pass from Barnes, and dunked the ball in seconds. The ball hit the basket.
The ball went in.
Cheers erupted in the Chase Center Arena.
Howard, who was missing on defense, still didn't realize there was any problem and was still exchanging trash talk with Green from time to time.
It's the Timberwolves' turn to attack again.
This time, Zhao Feiyang firmly controlled the ball, slowed down the team's offensive rhythm after halftime, and signaled to his teammates for a positional battle.
He first made a gesture towards Adrian that only they understood, and then used Howard's call to cover it.
"What?"
"You want me to cover?"
Howard was a little reluctant.
After all, as a superstar on the team, why should he set up a pick-and-roll for others?
What is a superstar? It’s the small group of people who have the privilege! They can ignore the team's tactics and rules, and even the tactics and rules revolve around them.
Pick-and-rolls are something that only ordinary players need to do.
Although he was a little unhappy, Howard still moved this time. Perhaps considering that he had just returned to the team, Howard chose to compromise.
However, his pick-and-roll was somewhat hesitant. When he screened in front of Zhao Feiyang, the Warriors players had already reacted faster and immediately followed Howard to double-team behind him.
Once Zhao Feiyang enters the basket from his side screen, he is very likely to rush into their encirclement.
At such a critical moment, before Howard realized anything was wrong, Adrian was already covering from the side.
His reflexes and speed are faster.
After covering for Zhao Feiyang, he rushed towards the basket. After Zhao Feiyang controlled the ball to attract double teams, he saw Adrian running out of the space and transferred the ball to Adrian with a ground pass.
Snapped.
After getting the ball, Adrian entered the basket and caught the opponent off guard.
boom.
He ended the fight with a two-handed dunk.
"nice shot."
“Wonderful collaboration.”
Although the Chinese fans on the sidelines were not too excited, many applauded Zhao Feiyang's assist.
Not only them, a group of players on the Timberwolves bench also stood up and applauded.
Even head coach Norman Thomas nodded.
"Yes! From a tactical level, Adrian is indeed better than Dwight... Perhaps, this is where he can stand out in the future..."
Howard was very surprised by this sudden incident.
"Damn! What happened?"
"Why are people applauding this guy?"
"Isn't it just that he scored an assist? What's so great about it?"
The game continued, and 3 minutes later, the Timberwolves attacked again. This time, Zhao Feiyang failed to hit Curry on the perimeter and the rebound was grabbed by Howard.
After picking up the rebound, he didn't pass it out, but chose to play singles.
In the first offense, Howard forced his way to the basket. He completely gave up on the so-called "flexible steps" he wanted to show and directly used his body to hit Green in isolation.
After two hits, he suddenly started to press down on Green and planned to smash the ball in with a one-handed smash.
His idea is very good, and this style of play is also what he has been best at in the past.
However, compared to the peak of Warcraft when he was young, his physical strength and confrontation ability have declined too much now. When he jumped up in mid-air to confront Green, Green was not knocked away by him, but instead collided with him. Together, they interfered with Howard's dunk with his hands.
Snapped.
Green's block prevented Howard from dunking.
The basketball bounced away.
The ball was taken away by Ennis, and the Warriors quickly counterattacked.
Howard, who lost the ball, did not rush to catch up, but stood there looking disappointed. He kept sighing and talking to himself about his disappointment, "No, how could this happen?"
"Why can't such a ball be dunked now?"
"It's not that I'm old, it must be because I haven't played for too long..."
Howard stood alone under the basket and was distracted, but others had already caught up.
As Barnes dribbled the ball across the half-court, when he made a wonderful pass to Green for an alley-oop dunk, Adrian, who was the first to rush over from the half-court, accelerated like crazy and jumped high into the air. Before the basketball fell into Green's hands, he cut off the opponent's ball with a slap.
Snapped.
The scene was filled with exclamations of surprise.
Adrian's performance obviously exceeded everyone's expectations.
He didn't hesitate after winning the ball. He stood on the court and only glanced at it, then suddenly threw a long pass to the other side of the half court.
"Dwight!"
The first person to react was Zhao Feiyang. He was afraid that Howard would make another mistake or be distracted. In this case, he shouted at Howard on the opposite side.
This sound finally woke up Howard who was distracted.
When he reacted, the basketball had fallen in front of him.
At this time, Howard only needs to jump up slightly to catch the basketball, and then use his favorite action to throw the ball into the basket.
This kind of ball is equally simple for a basketball enthusiast, let alone a professional player.
After all, there wasn't a single Warriors player on this side of the half court.
No one expected that Howard, who was standing at half court and out of the game, would take such advantage, let alone that a small substitute Adrian would react so quickly.
Snapped.
The basketball falls into Howard's hands.
The next second, he did not choose to go for a layup or dunk. Instead, he held the ball and rushed to the three-point line under the stunned and confused eyes of the fans in the audience.
"Damn! How could it be that guy's pass?"
"I can't play directly, I won't give him a chance to assist... I have to shoot three-pointers, and I have to prove myself in this way..."
