The Way of the Center

"Huh, it's really too cold." An Jie began to shiver all over his body as soon as he got off the plane. He was already dressed like a bear, but the temperature of minus 15 degrees in Minnesota still made An Jie very uncomfortable.

"Hurry up and go to the target center. If the players catch a cold later, it will be troublesome." Van Gundy urged assistant coach Alton to arrange a special car.

Unlike the Thunder, which was exposed to the cold wind, all members of the Timberwolves were sweating profusely at the moment. Driven by Love, the entire Timberwolves team has gathered enough energy to prepare for a big fight in the evening game.

In previous back-to-back games, the Thunder would rush to the venue of the next game overnight so that they could train earlier the next day.

Today, facing the Timberwolves, Van Gundy decided to let the players arrive in Minnesota at noon the next day. I have to admit that even Van Gundy didn't pay attention to this game.

After all, the gap between a team that has just experienced five consecutive losses and a team that has just experienced eight consecutive victories must be huge. But the NBA is such a place where the weak often wins the strong. Sometimes, affected by factors such as morale, the strength gap between the two teams will be invisible.

Now, although the Timberwolves have lost five games in a row, they are gearing up and looking forward to the arrival of the Thunder. And what about the Thunder? Their vigilance against the Timberwolves seems a little too low.

The Thunder's team bus didn't pull into the underground parking lot at Target Center until three hours before the game. Looking at the Thunder players who were very relaxed talking and laughing during the warm-up, Love couldn't help but get angry.

Not only the media, but even their opponents themselves have never faced themselves. Le Fu clenched his fists tightly. As his peers, he was still full of confidence when facing the three thunderbolts.

"What's the matter Kevin? Don't be so stern, let's finish this game quickly." Before the game started, Westbrook took the initiative to greet his former teammate Love.

"I'm proud of your achievements Russell, but today, I won't let you pass easily." Love and Westbrook hugged each other, whispering in each other's ears.

"I know your ability Kevin, but we are also not easy to mess with." Westbrook and Love separated. After the game started, they would throw away the love of their teammates and hit each other mercilessly. .

Only three-quarters of the stands in the Target Center are filled with spectators. After all, the bottom-ranked team's games are not very attractive. Therefore, before the start of the game, the cheers of the Target Center and the shouts of the fans were also sparse, which was incomparable with the atmosphere of other home courts.

but today,

This snub was turned into motivation by the Timberwolves players. Everyone dislikes us? It doesn't matter! We have to win it back ourselves!

"The ball was won by Al Jefferson first! It's rare for Anjie to lose in the scrimmage." Yu Jia watched in surprise as Al Jefferson grabbed Anjie straight up and down. He got the right to attack the ball first, and today this guy's spirit seems to be much better than before.

If the scrimmage wasn't a big deal, then the Timberwolves' first offense sounded the alarm for the Thunder.

Timberwolves point guard Jonny Flynn organized the offense steadily, while Al Jefferson nailed Anjie to the inside. His active position made Anjie not leave Al Jefferson half a step.

What about Love? He came out of the baseline, ready to receive a pass from Jonny Flynn.

At this time, Morris' shortcomings were exposed again. The big bull's inside defense is much better than the outside defense, but Love, who was born as a guard, likes to choose to complete the offense on the outside.

Love's skillful running made Morris and his body gradually widen, coupled with Jefferson and Anjie's entanglement in the interior, it hindered Morris from following up on Love who slipped to the bottom line.

As soon as his feet stepped out of the three-point line, Flynn's pass accurately found Love. Le Fu saw that Morris was two steps away from him, so he made a decisive move without even thinking about it!

Morris is naturally the kind of person who will not give up easily. Although there is still some distance from Love, the big bull still jumps forward, hoping to block Love's shot, and it will not interfere with Love's shooting rhythm. OK

It's a pity that the Big Bull neither blocked shots nor interfered with Love's rhythm of shots. Love's shot from outside the three-point line was hollowed into the net, and Morris also applied for a thug foul for himself because he jumped forward too hard.

"There will be an additional penalty for a three-pointer! Love will have a chance to complete a four-pointer as soon as he comes up!" Although Yu Jia's position is on the side of An Jie, he is on the side of the Thunder. Clove's brilliant four-point score still made him involuntarily admire.

"Ah!" Le Fu growled and waved his fist. Al Jefferson gave Love a tough chest to express his praise for his teammates.

Feeling hot, Love made no mistakes at the free throw line and made a steady free throw. The Timberwolves took a four-point lead as soon as they came up!

However, the Thunder's ability to sit in the fifth place in the Western Conference was not based on luck. After Love scored a four-pointer, Durant used a three-pointer to retaliate. This is also the most morale-damaging situation. I managed to score a wonderful goal, but someone came over and returned it easily.

But today, the morale of the Timberwolves is not so easy to be hit. After Durant responded, everyone in the Timberwolves became more and more courageous. What about the league scoring champion? Today, the Timberwolves are not afraid of any opponent.

In the second attack, Al Jefferson also took the initiative to ask for the ball. After Love scored a three-point penalty, Jefferson also planned to use his actions to tell Anjie whose territory it was.

It's a pity that Jefferson is not facing Morris, but the Thunder's defensive backbone Anjie.

Even though Jefferson used his huge weight advantage to forcibly carry into the penalty area, but under the interference of Anjie's desperate entanglement and proper take-off, Jefferson's small hook failed to hit.

Just when An Jie was happy that he had defended the matchup, he found that Love rushed into the three-second zone and confiscated the offensive rebound before himself.

Seeing this, Anjie immediately dropped Jefferson and tried his best to block Love's shot.

However, Love's soft touch is unambiguous. After he grabbed the offensive rebound, he still made a second jump shot!

"Kevin Love is in very good shape today! He scored 6 points in just two offenses. Is Coach Van Gundy going to try changing positions between Morris and Anjie?"

"Ann! Andrew! Switch positions!" Just as Yu Jia finished speaking, Van Gundy made adjustments on the sidelines. It may not be a disadvantage to let Morris defend pure inside players like Jefferson, but if Morris continues to defend Love, I am afraid that Love will play more and more smoothly.

In other places, if there is a player in the team playing like this, the team may have already started to play a wave of offense**. But the shortcomings of the Timberwolves' lack of strength in the lineup are exposed at this moment.

Love worked very hard on the offensive end, but his teammates were unable to score goals. Even Al Jefferson was devastated by Morris' defense, making only 1 of 4 shots.

On the other hand, for the Thunder, even though Westbrook's shooting percentage was not good, Sefoloza and Anjie continued to guarantee the output of firepower.

Facing Al Jefferson's defense, although Anjie had some difficulty playing, he still scored four points with his superb footwork.

The Timberwolves started very strongly, but after the game, they seemed to have a tendency to show their true colors again.

Fortunately, the second team of the Timberwolves performed better than the second team of the Thunder. The former Thunder player Damien Wilkins led his teammates to attack the hinterland of his old club. This allowed the Timberwolves to bite the score and be labeled "semi-crippled" without the first quarter.

30 to 23, when the first quarter ended, the Timberwolves "expectedly" fell behind.

"Al! Don't shoot indiscriminately! Your shooting percentage in the interior is very low. If you want to play, please show your efficiency!" Timberwolves coach Kurt Rambis sat among the players angrily. There is no doubt about his personal ability, but sometimes his poor shot selection makes him bury his original outstanding strength. Rambis is now more willing to believe in Love than Al Jefferson.

"Kevin, you continue to increase the number of shots in the second quarter. Listen, I want you to pass the ball for Love and open the gap for him!" Rambis ignored Jefferson and arranged for Love on his own. tactics.

"I just said that there is nothing to watch in this game, and the score in the first quarter is enough to explain everything." Numerous TV commentators have expressed such views, but Love, who is in good condition, doesn't think so.

As soon as the second quarter came up, Van Gundy, who relaxed his vigilance, let the three Thunder players rest off the court for a while, and started the second quarter with most of the players from the second team.

Without the Thunder's three young men, the Thunder's offensive firepower will be greatly reduced. Love can still score, but right now, the Thunder don't have anyone who can respond to Love's scoring.

Van Gundy saw that the situation was not right, so he replaced San Shao in advance and asked An Jie to continue to defend Love.

Love is still wandering outside the three-point line, which also makes Anjie have to follow him around the perimeter.

Although the Thunder team still has Ibaka in the three-second zone at the moment, the lack of Anjie's inside line is always very worrying.

Jonny Flynn passed the ball inside after several failed attempts to break past Westbrook. Al Jefferson, who was suffocated, burst out with greater strength than in the first half. As a rookie, Serge Ibaka couldn't stop Jefferson's offense at all.

Jefferson pushed into the penalty area to squeeze out Ibaka's dunk at the basket. At this time, the Thunder's defense was really facing a challenge.

If An Jie continued to fight with Love on the outside, then Al Jefferson would accept the big gift unceremoniously. If Anjie goes to the inside and continues to fight Jefferson, who can guarantee what Love will do.

Before Van Gundy could think about it, the Timberwolves' offense came again.

This time Corey Brewer seized the gap in Durant's defense, suddenly started to exert force, broke through KD's defense, and plunged into the penalty area.

Ibaka was a little overwhelmed at this time. If he went to defend Brewer, Jefferson would be completely empty at the basket.

"Go up, Ibaka! Go up!" Ibaka suddenly heard An Jie's shout, and he knew that An Jie was here to take care of his back. So Ibaka didn't think much, and rushed to Brewer to make up for it.

Brewer knew that this jumping abnormal Congolese with long arms and legs was not easy to mess with. If he shot rashly, he would only be blocked. So he suddenly hit the ground pass and let Al Jefferson get the basketball.

As soon as he received the ball, Anjie quickly made up his defense. So far, Anjie and Ibaka have done a very good defense, but such frequent supplementary defenses will definitely miss one person.

"Jefferson didn't have a fever this time! He didn't force an attack against Anjie's defense, but passed the ball to Love on the outside!"

After Love received the ball, Durant rushed to fix it, but he was still a step slower, and Love's three-pointer was not interfered at all.

"Swipe!" Love once again made a three-pointer. With Love's shot into the frame, the gap between the two teams became only three points!

Afterwards, the last attack in the second quarter came to an end with An Jie's mid-range shot.

Although it only leads by three points, it is still a lead anyway. People still don't take the Timberwolves seriously. They feel that as long as the Thunder's three minors make a little effort, they can completely control the game.

But the experienced Van Gundy smelled danger. He must make arrangements during the intermission, otherwise the three-point gap will soon disappear.

15 points in the half, even so, Love's state is still not taken seriously. However, despising a person is destined to pay a price.

An Jie, Westbrook and others still looked relaxed, but they didn't know how intense and difficult 24 minutes would be to greet them in the second half! (To be continued.)