After the big score reached 2-1, the Minnesota Timberwolves pursued the victory. Although there was indeed a certain gap in the strength of the Portland Trail Blazers, they then won the fourth game again at their home court.
So, this time the two sides tied 3 to 1.
The Trail Blazers, who originally seemed to have some hope, were undoubtedly on the verge of life and death this time.
Not only have the outside world lost confidence in the Trail Blazers, but their own fans no longer have any hope for the team's prospects.
At this point in the game, it seemed like it was only a matter of time before the Trail Blazers were defeated.
Training day.
The Timberwolves players gathered together to practice. They seemed to work very hard to win the match point. They were particularly focused on offense and defense. This team atmosphere also made the team general manager Sam Rice come to watch the game. Chel was quite surprised.
"Oh! No! It's such a beautiful picture... I have been with the Timberwolves for so many years, and this is the first time I have felt this kind of atmosphere..."
"Frankly speaking, even when Kevin Garnett was here, the team did not show this kind of cohesion..."
Manager Mitchell said with emotion.
The team's head coach Norman Thomas also came to him, "Sam, what are you doing here?"
"Aren't you worried about our training? Do you feel the team's training atmosphere now?"
Coach Norman joked.
After he chatted with Manager Mitchell for a while, Manager Mitchell quickly waved to Adrian Ennis on the court.
"Norman, give me 10 minutes. I want to talk to this young man about the contract!"
"Um?"
Coach Norman was stunned for a moment, then realized something and suddenly became happy, "Thank God! You must have made a very right decision this time!"
After saying that, Coach Norman waved to Adrian who was running on the field.
"Adrian, come here...Damiyan, go up and replace him..."
Although Adrian didn't know what was going on, he saw the head coach's actions and hurriedly ran towards this side.
Soon, Manager Mitchell pulled him aside, and the two stood together and chatted briefly for a while. Adrian's expression changed from confusion to excitement, and finally to ecstasy. After Manager Mitchell left, Adrian I couldn't contain my restlessness at all.
He excitedly rushed to the side of the court and shouted to Zhao Feiyang on the court, "Zhao, the team wants to renew my contract! The team wants to renew my contract..."
Adrian's words caused the players on the scene to pause, and many teammates congratulated him.
The first to speak out was Kevin Martin.
"Adrien, congratulations! Does this mean you can buy me a drink later?"
Zach LaVine also smiled and echoed, "That's right! You must have a drink to celebrate, Adrian, my brother, don't forget me..."
Other teammates also expressed their congratulations.
Zhao Feiyang looked pleased and took the initiative to walk up to Adrian, give him a high-five and hug, and patted him on the shoulder, "Man, congratulations on your shot! All your hard work is worth it!"
Adrian was so moved that he couldn't stop crying.
He hugged Zhao Feiyang and almost cried, "Zhao, thank you for everything you have done... My brother, if it weren't for you, maybe now I would have nothing to do with the basketball I love. ....."
At this moment, all kinds of thoughts popped up in Adrian's mind.
He is so tired!
From being undrafted at the beginning of the season to growing into the team's main lineup player now, it seems that he has just experienced some changes, but only he knows best how he survived those difficult days.
At that time, he had no money and no one liked him, but his family needed him to earn money and his children also needed him to support him.
In that desperate situation, Adrian even thought about giving up basketball completely and doing other things.
Fortunately, he met Zhao Feiyang in those dark days. Zhao Feiyang lent him money to help him find a place to live, gave him help so that he could have a trial training opportunity, and personally spent millions to find him a special person. training.
All of this finally allowed him to grow up, realize his worth, and finally be able to stay in the highly competitive NBA club.
Although Adrian's contract had been converted to a fully guaranteed contract when he entered the playoffs, his next season is still unknown.
Now that he has proven his worth through two rounds of the series, the team finally gave him the opportunity to renew his contract. Although he does not know how much the final contract will be, at least this means that he no longer has to worry.
After the day's training, Adrian immediately called his agent to discuss contract renewal with the team.
Because of Zhao Feiyang's previous help, he also signed with Zhao Feiyang's agent David Stock.
Both parties also entered into interviews the next day.
The negotiation process went surprisingly smoothly, and the two parties successfully reached a contract by the afternoon of the same day. The Timberwolves also issued an official announcement as soon as possible, announcing the news of their contract extension with Adrian.
“We are delighted to have successfully renewed our contract with Adrian!”
"The team reached a four-year, 24 million contract with him!"
After the official news from the Timberwolves was released, many fans noticed the news.
The reaction of the fans in Minneapolis was unanimous. They all saw Adrian's performance in their eyes, so the official comments were all filled with blessings.
"Congratulations to Adrian! He is a great guy! Although he was undrafted, he has always worked hard and is always the most active person in training on the team. I always heard that he was added to the team. Practice, this kind of player is exactly what we need..."
"Thanks to Zhao for discovering such a player! Although Adrian is not as strong as Dwight, he is still an important part of the team's inside line, especially his performance on the court. It can be said that the team is The lubricant is no problem at all..."
There are many people who praise him, and there are naturally many people who refute him. Most of them are fans from other cities and even some people in the industry.
They have no objection to the Timberwolves' renewal of Adrian, but they just think such a contract is inappropriate.
"Zhao spent millions to allow Adrian to participate in special training. Now it seems that his true value has not been earned back... Of course, he is qualified as a substitute member of the team. ....."
"I think two to three million per year is enough to sign him! His attitude is indeed very positive, but his talent is not enough. Is it worth the investment?"
"I suspect that Zhao hinted that the money was given by the team. Otherwise, how could the Timberwolves give him six million? You know, Andrew Wiggins' salary next season will not be enough for more than six million... .When will he be able to compete with such a No. 1 pick?"
"Six million is definitely a loss! At least in the first two years, this money must be a loss. How will his performance be in the next two years? If he can play in better condition, maybe this money is a good deal... ..”
No matter what the outside world says, Adrian is very excited to sign the new contract.
On the night of signing the contract, he took the initiative to invite the whole team to a nightclub to have fun. With a small salary, he usually didn't dare to spend money randomly, but this night, he spent one hundred thousand dollars at a time.
This generous act also made all the players on the team feel incredible.
Although there is a big gap compared to the tens or millions spent by superstars, the purchasing power of one hundred thousand US dollars in the United States is quite good, especially for ordinary people, this one hundred thousand US dollars is definitely not a small sum. number.
——
——
Game 5 of the Western Conference Semifinals.
After achieving a score of 3-1, the match venue between the two sides returned to the Target Center Arena, the home of the Timberwolves.
Players from both sides entered the infield to practice before the game started. In contrast to the high morale of the Timberwolves, the Trail Blazers looked dejected.
The players' condition didn't look very good, especially Lillard and McCollum. As team leaders, these two were listless and had no intention of fighting back in the fifth game.
The facts are as they appear.
Soon, the game between the two sides started.
After the game started, the Timberwolves maintained the lead from the first quarter. Whether on the offensive or defensive end, the enthusiasm shown by the Timberwolves players was completely unmatched by the Trail Blazers players.
Zhao Feiyang was in excellent form and had incredible three-point shooting skills. He hit two difficult three-pointers at the beginning. In the second half of the first quarter, he broke into the Trail Blazers' basket and scored two plus one. Scored a dunk over the opponent's center.
Howard scores a lot in the paint, and he also has a firm control over the rebounds. Especially when Zhao Feiyang breaks through and enters the basket, he will always immediately go up to cover, or cooperate with Zhao Feiyang in pick-and-rolls.
The kind of alley-oop dunk that once only appeared in the Magic team once again appeared in the Timberwolves arena.
This also made the fans at the scene excited.
On the other hand, for the Trail Blazers, Lillard did not have a strong desire to attack and initially gave all the ball to McCollum.
McCollum's breakthrough performance was average, and his mid-range shooting was not stable.
So Lillard had to take over personally in the second half. Different from his previous confident behavior of throwing three-pointers at every turn, this time he was much more low-key and chose to throw more often when breaking through instead of getting into the basket. Confrontation with Howard's blocking.
Seeing that the first quarter of both sides was coming to an end, Zhao Feiyang was also replaced early to rest. LaVine controls the ball on the court.
With 51 seconds left in the first quarter, LaVine took the ball and rushed across half court on a fast break.
It was originally just a seemingly ordinary fast break. However, no one expected that after LaVine jumped in the penalty area and landed, he accidentally stepped on the opponent's player's feet. In a split second, LaVine fell to the ground after landing.
He held his ankle with a look of pain on his face, and the scene was filled with tension and panic due to such an unexpected situation.
