Dwight Howard's almost pleading tone finally touched head coach Norman Thomas.
"All right!"
"Dwight, I'll give you one quarter. If you don't perform well during this quarter, I will still replace you..."
Howard looked excited, "Of course, Coach Norman, I won't let you down!"
call out.
The referee whistle sounded.
The second quarter started soon.
The Cleveland Cavaliers made slight adjustments to their lineup. LeBron James was temporarily replaced and replaced by Richard Jefferson.
Kyrie Irving in the first position was also replaced, with Maurice Williams temporarily taking over.
The Minnesota Timberwolves replaced Zach LaVine at the second position, and Zhao Feiyang continued to play the first position to organize the team's offense.
Other positions remain unchanged except for Howard replacing Gorgi in the post.
The two sides started fighting.
The Cavaliers attack.
Williams dribbled the ball across half court, and Zhao Feiyang went up to guard him personally.
The two of them had been teammates, but at that time, Zhao Feiyang had not grown to the point where he is now. Time had not passed so long, but the gap between the two sides was completely visible to the naked eye!
"Zhao, I never thought you would become the leader of the Timberwolves!"
"Maurice, there are many things you didn't expect! Come on! One-on-one with me, let me see if you have made any progress..."
Williams knows Zhao Feiyang's strength, and fighting alone is commonplace for him.
When he was with the Timberwolves, he always played in isolation, and now that he has returned to the Cavaliers, his temperament has not changed.
"bring it on!"
"I also want to see how strong you are now!"
After halftime, Williams held the ball and dribbled the basketball at the top of the arc.
Zhao Feiyang followed up, and Williams signaled to his teammates for singles.
He first distanced himself for a while, then dribbled and shook. Although his passing movements were still smooth, he was unable to deceive Zhao Feiyang at all.
After two consecutive attempts, Williams failed to get past Zhao Feiyang, and was almost intercepted by Zhao Feiyang.
"Oh! No!"
"Why are you so strong now..."
Williams looked frustrated.
However, he did not continue to force the ball, but quickly distributed the ball to JR Smith on the wing.
Snapped.
After getting the ball, JR also adopted a singles strategy when facing LaVine.
The two met each other, JR held the ball and pretended to shoot. He used the fake move to deceive LaVine and then suddenly rushed to the basket with the ball.
Kevin Love on the inside was already ready. He threw away Howard and took the initiative to meet him. When JR approached the penalty area, he helped him fend off LaVine who was catching up behind him.
After the pick-and-roll, JR tried to take a shot in the penalty area, but Howard rushed directly to him to defend.
At the critical moment, JR decisively chose to pass the ball to Love.
Snapped.
Love caught the ball and entered the basket, intending to dunk with both hands to end the battle.
What everyone didn't expect was that as soon as he picked up the ball in mid-air, Howard rushed towards him.
Completely different from Howard's absent-minded state before, this time Howard worked extremely hard.
Not only did he react immediately, he also jumped high to block Love's shooting space.
Snapped.
Amid the exclamations of the fans in the audience, Howard slapped Love's ball away.
Love failed to take off for a dunk and received a big hit.
"Gift crab!"
"Dwight did this? Doesn't this guy always sleepwalk?"
"Fake! This guy reminds me of when he was at his peak..."
The fans at the scene were amazed.
The Timberwolves players on the sidelines were also shocked.
Head coach Norman suddenly became excited. He watched the scene on the field with a solemn face and couldn't help but mutter, "Oh! No! It would be great if this guy could be so serious in every game... ....”
"What a pity! He has such a talent but wastes it on insignificant things. This guy...sigh..."
On the field.
After Howard blocked Love, the basketball flew out immediately.
This time, it happened to fall into Williams' hands. Unfortunately, before Williams could grasp it firmly, Zhao Feiyang slapped his ball away and directly stole it.
"Depend on!"
"This bastard is too cunning..."
Williams cursed.
After stealing the ball, Zhao Feiyang didn't care at all. He took the ball and ran straight towards the half court.
After starting to accelerate, Zhao Feiyang instantly shook off the defender chasing behind him. Under the shocked eyes of the fans in the audience, he leaped high at half court, dunked the ball with two hands and easily smashed the ball into the basket.
boom.
The ball went in.
Zhao Feiyang, who fell on the basket, also fell to the ground.
Waves of applause erupted from the sidelines.
The Chinese fans who attended the game can be said to be the most excited. After seeing Zhao Feiyang score, they stood in the stands and kept shouting and screaming.
It was the Cavaliers' turn to counterattack.
Williams dribbled the ball across half court and signaled to his teammates to cover, and Richard on the wing followed up to pick and roll. Williams controlled the ball and rushed to the basket. Seeing that he was approaching the penalty area, Howard went up again.
His strong body and focused defensive attitude immediately made Williams choose to give up.
Snapped.
The basketball was distributed again, and after several transitions, the ball fell into the hands of JR, who was standing at a 45-degree angle.
JR stood there and shot a three-pointer.
Snapped.
The basketball bounced out of the basket.
This time he failed to score again.
Howard, who was standing under the basket, was also very smart and blocked Love from behind before the basketball fell.
"Adrian, rebound."
Howard yelled.
Adrian also reacted very quickly. As soon as Howard's voice fell, he swooped forward and grabbed the rebound in his hands.
After getting the rebound, Adrian did not hesitate and threw the ball with a long pass.
The basketball was thrown into Zhao Feiyang's hands, and he and LaVine dribbled the ball across the half court. The two faced Williams' defense in a two-on-one halfcourt. Zhao Feiyang rushed to the basket first, fended off Williams and then threw the ball high.
LaVine, who followed up from behind, caught the basketball in mid-air and performed a crotch dunk with a change of hands.
boom.
The ball went in.
The place was agitated.
LaVine's dunk made the fans excited, and many people thought of the previous dunk contest.
Even LeBron, sitting in front of the Cavaliers bench, couldn't help but sit there shaking his head and making exaggerated expressions.
"Oh! No!"
After scoring, LaVine reached out and gave Zhao Feiyang a high-five.
After the Timberwolves launched continuous defensive counterattacks, the Cavaliers also had to adjust their strategies. The team's head coach Tyronn Lue immediately replaced Williams and let the rested Irving onto the court again.
The game goes on.
After Irving came on the stage, he began to control the ball and play in isolation.
As soon as half-time passed, he went one-on-one with Zhao Feiyang. The two faced each other, and Owen suddenly made a feint to get out of the way. Zhao Feiyang failed to prevent it in time and was passed by Owen.
Seeing Irving dribbling the ball to the basket, at such a critical moment, Howard once again stepped up from the basket.
Irving did not panic. After seeing Howard jump up and reach out to block the shot, he raised the basketball high and threw the ball.
Unexpectedly, Howard's jumping was even better than he imagined!
The moment he threw the basketball, Howard's fingertips touched the basketball. Although it was not a block, Howard's interference successfully caused Irving's throw to make a mistake.
boom.
The basketball hit the rim and bounced out.
Adrian behind him got another rebound.
This time the Timberwolves failed to make a fast break. The Cavaliers had already taken precautions and rushed back three players as quickly as possible to the half court to mark.
Therefore, Zhao Feiyang chose to advance with the ball.
After passing halftime, he organized an attack at the top of the arc, and Irving planned to come up and steal the ball from him. Zhao Feiyang took his time and pretended to control the ball to prepare for a singles, but in fact he gave a signal to Howard inside, who suddenly raised the ball to the high post.
Irving was blocked by Howard, and Zhao Feiyang took advantage of the situation and sprinted to the basket.
Seeing Zhao Feiyang coming to the penalty area and about to take a shot, Love came up to defend inside. The moment he stretched out his hand, Zhao Feiyang threw the ball high.
Howard followed up and easily caught the basketball in mid-air and dunked the ball in.
boom.
The ball went in.
The Timberwolves bench cheered and screamed.
Howard's successive wonderful performances also impressed his teammates.
After the goal was scored, Zhao Feiyang took the initiative to reach out and give Howard a high-five, "Man! Well done! If you can play like this in every game, then this year's championship will definitely be ours... ..."
As time passed, the Timberwolves continued to narrow the score gap in the second half of the second quarter.
Irving's appearance failed to reverse the situation. His singles helped the Cavaliers score some points, but unfortunately it did not help much in the situation between the two sides. The Timberwolves relied on the internal and external cooperation of Howard and Zhao Feiyang to perform even better.
By the end of the first half, the Timberwolves finally overtook the Cavaliers, with the score tied at 59-56.
Although the difference was only 3 points for the Timberwolves, the team's overall performance in the second quarter gave them a little hope.
It seems that the Cavaliers are not as difficult to defeat as they imagined.
call out.
Both sides enter rest time.
This time, after everyone returned to the locker room, their relationship with Howard also eased a lot. His outstanding performance in the first half of the game even made head coach Norman find him specially.
Coach Norman called him outside the locker room and waited until no one was around before asking, "Dwight, what are you thinking about now?"
"Do you want to leave the Timberwolves?"
Howard quickly shook his head and explained, "No, Coach Norman, of course I don't want to leave here... It was all my problem before. I ignored the game, ignored everyone's feelings, and failed to shoulder my role as a star. responsibility, but I promise, from now on I won’t..."
"This trade turmoil made me realize that I am indeed not young enough...The Timberwolves are a good place for me, at least I can be respected here..."
"Coach Norman, I hope you can communicate with the team management. I want to stay here and help the team win more victories..."
