After Yang Jian arrived in Minneapolis, she stayed in the hotel and never went out.
The lowest temperature today is minus 6 degrees Celsius, and the daytime temperature is also close to minus zero. Only a fool would go out and wander around.
He can no longer take Drew Barrymore out for a stroll, not because he is afraid that reporters will recognize him and spread rumors about the scandal, but because Barrymore is not as physically strong as him and has no energy to go out.
Barrymore traveled to six away games, and even though she could take the Sonics' special plane, she lost some weight visibly. The good news is that she is more beautiful when she is thinner. When they first met, she was a round-faced weirdo, and now she has "Desire"
It has the same flavor as in the movie "The Tide".
Barrymore also caught a cold, so Yang Jian asked Snow to help buy cold medicine. He stayed in the hotel to chat with her, and she was greatly moved by the fact that he was not afraid of being infected in close contact.
Yang Jian took the opportunity to test his talent of "invulnerability to all viruses", and as expected he was not infected. If he couldn't prevent even a small cold virus, that would be a waste.
In the evening, Yang Jian went with the team to play a game, but Barrymore did not go to watch the game. She had a premonition that it would be another game without passion and that it would end quickly. Some Timberwolves fans also thought so, and the attendance rate at home was not very high.
The SuperSonics beat the Raptors last time out and were in excellent form. The Timberwolves could never find the feeling and only won one game. Fans bought tickets, but the stars only played half or three quarters of the game. The situation was one-sided, how depressing it was.
Timberwolves head coach Bill Blair takes this game very seriously. The management has given him an ultimatum, leaving him little time to prove himself, and he may be fired at any time.
In order not to lose too ugly against the league leader, Blair arranged for the players to practice extra in the morning. Then Isiah Leder was absent from training, and no one answered his phone calls at home. No one knew what he was doing.
Before the game even started, the Timberwolves' morale was very low, and it was not caused by their opponents.
Teammates are too lazy to talk about Leder, and coach Blair has no way to control this cancer. The amazing thing is that Leder has become so poisonous that he still feels that he is the boss of the team and a star.
He arrived at the arena in the evening and greeted his teammates in the locker room like nothing happened.
In his opinion, the boss of each team should have some privileges. He always compares himself with superstars. The example he gave is Jordan's gambling all night during the Eastern Conference Finals, which was exposed by the media. Therefore, he can do anything.
He should be forgiven because he is the boss.
Leder ignored an important issue. Jordan was eating, drinking, and gambling, and led the team to three championships. He was eating, drinking, and gambling, and the team couldn't even make the playoffs, and his teammates didn't think he was leading the team.
In the visiting team's locker room, Payton chatted with Yang Jian. "Yang, I want to pass the ball to you less today and play pick-and-rolls in the middle. Terry Porter is the starting point guard of the Timberwolves, and this guy bypasses the screen.
If the speed is not fast, I can get rid of him."
"No problem, then I will open up the bottom line and the sides to reduce the movement?" Yang Jian happily agreed.
"You can run if you want. I will definitely pass the ball to you when there is an open space. I will definitely run when I counterattack." Although Payton is the nominal leader of the Sonics, he still wants to talk to Yang Jian before taking more shots.
Yang Jian has gained a status in the team by virtue of his strength. Everyone knows that he has the highest scoring efficiency, higher than Kemp.
Yang Jian completely understands Payton. Payton's recent scoring data is too poor. If he has a chance today, he wants to score more points. Payton may have an easier time getting shots than him, and the Timberwolves players will definitely want to guard him. What he has to face
Not only Leder's single defense, but also the assist defense of inside players.
Not to mention starting, Yang Jian is very familiar with Garnett. Garnett is still playing as a substitute, but he has the ability to start. When the Timberwolves want to defend the pick-and-roll, the coach will definitely arrange for Garnett to play more. If If the coach doesn't arrange it this way, he should be dismissed from get out of class.
If Payton is open, it won't be too late for Yang Jian to run and shoot. Garnett can only defend one side of the pick-and-roll, and at his peak, he couldn't defend all perimeters.
Schrempf was listening to their chat and wanted to say that he was confident of challenging the Timberwolves' small forward. After thinking about it, he decided not to speak. It was not his turn to challenge in the first quarter, so he should take more shots in the second quarter.
Recently, the Sonics players have gained confidence and feel that they can win no matter how they play. It's okay if they are not in good condition, and they can still leave it to their teammates to solve the problem. In every game, if two people are in good condition, they can ensure offensive firepower.
Yang Jian asked Payton: "What is Leder's strength? How can I best defend him?"
Payton immediately gave the answer. "You don't have to stay close to the body, keep distance to prevent him from breaking through the frame. When he finds that it is difficult for him to break through, he will jump in front of you, and the shooting rate is not very high."
"So simple?"
"Yeah, you can just defend yourself and it's enough. That guy is a fool, he doesn't use his brain at all when playing. I think there is something wrong with him, no joke." Payton pointed to his head.
Payton and Ryder attended off-site events together and left a very bad impression on him. In 1994, they participated in the recording of a music album together.
It was an album called "b-ball's bestkeptsecret", which was specifically composed of works sung by NBA players. Payton, Jason Kidd, Brian Shaw, Chris Mills and others participated in the recording
, the relationship is good.
Leder also participated. He used the nickname J.R. in the album. The track is "Funkin the Trunk", which translates into Chinese as "Cowardice in the Bone".
You can tell from the title of the song that it is sarcastic, and Ryder sang it very enthusiastically. Then when he looked at the other players, his eyes showed disdain, as if he was saying that everyone except him was a cowardly weakling.
This kind of person is insane.
Players from both sides came out on time to warm up, and Yang Jian also received a lot of applause at the Timberwolves' home court. Embarrassingly, the arena was quite quiet when Leder came on the court, with only sporadic applause.
Fans like to watch wonderful dunk performances, but they don't like Leder. Leder said he wanted to teach Yang Jian a lesson. The fans would rather he be taught a lesson, then get out and replace him with a star.
This is undoubtedly a luxury hope. If Leder could get back the stars, the Timberwolves management would have been changed long ago. How could they wait until today?
Both sides started the game, and the SuperSonics lineup remained unchanged: Payton, Yang Jian, Schrempf, Kemp, and P.J. Brown.
Timberwolves five: Terry Porter, Isaiah Leder, Sam Mitchell, Tom Gugliotta, Christian Laettner.
Kemp won the jump ball and the game began.
The opening routine was the same as the last game. Yang Jian received the ball and started a fast break. Under the defense of point guard Terry Porter, he forced a layup and scored. 2 to 0.
Ryder showed his true nature as a villain, missing out on Yang Jian at the beginning.
The coaching staff couldn't help but suspect that this person's mind was not on the basketball court at all. All the teams knew that Yang Jian liked to play fast breaks at the beginning. Before the game, the coach also emphasized the need to stay in position, but Ryder still missed people.
.
The Timberwolves attacked, Leder received the ball outside the three-point line and singled out Yang Jian.
Yang Jian lowered his center of gravity to keep a distance, and stepped forward to block Leder when he dribbled and changed direction. Leder is 196cm tall and weighs 98 kilograms. His best style of play is to use his body to beat the opponent and force a breakthrough.
However, Yang Jian did not accept this trick.
He was able to fight against Grant Hill, who weighed 102 kilograms and was very explosive. Naturally, he was not afraid of Leder's collision. While maintaining physical confrontation, Leder dribbled the ball to the right side of the penalty area and forced a shot at Yang.
Blacksmithing under Jane's interference.
pj Brown grabbed the rebound and passed it to start a fast break, and accurately passed it to Payton.
Payton quickly advanced to the frontcourt and was about to challenge Terry Porter on the right side when he found that Yang Jian had already thrown away Leder and ran to the front. He immediately passed a high ball, and Yang Jian made an alley-oop and circled
, the right-hand windmill dunked the basketball and scored .4 to 0.
Ryder has never been self-disciplined. He is much heavier than when he first entered the league, and his speed and jumping ability have dropped a bit. Moreover, his fat content is very high, he looks like a fat man, and he is not very active in returning to defense.
Yang Jian and Payton clapped their hands to celebrate, and Payton suddenly felt that something was wrong.
Didn’t I say we should shoot more? Why did you score consecutively in the opening game?!