One Year Left to Play

But Marbury’s change of direction was incredibly fast after the pick and roll, Barkley couldn’t keep up!

Zhang Hao immediately pulled back and dashed towards the inside, his reaction was fast, he felt he could block or disrupt!

Unexpectedly for Zhang Hao, Marbury seemed possessed, not selfish at all, not just shooting without seeing the basket, Marbury passed the ball!

Guglielota received the ball at the left wing position near the free throw line, George Lynch’s defensive awareness was indeed superb, he immediately filled the gap, Guglielota didn’t stop the ball, he passed to the baseline, Sam Mitchell moved towards the baseline as George Lynch was moving, received the ball and charged inside, before Zhang Hao landed and turned around, he threw a floater... Scored!

After this offensive play by the Timberwolves, Del Harris looked at the opposing young coach who claimed to be 41 but looked 71, feeling like the appearance was his real age!

Timberwolves’ attack this time was fast-paced, one pick and roll, two passes, they made good use of the Lakers’ weakness in interior defense, first using Guglielota to draw Zhang Hao out, then exploiting the Lakers’ power forward’s poor help defense, and not forgetting to use Marbury to hold Zhang Hao’s ability to shrink and control... Truly impressive!

Fans like to watch interesting, controversial, or sensational topics, and that’s mainly what the media reports.

But coaches from all teams want to see news, to see analysis, focusing on professional content.

Del Harris also saw the content he was worried about in those expert analyses - without O’Neal and having lost Campbell, only Zhang Hao was left to protect the rim, and if Zhang Hao didn’t protect the rim, he would go to defend the guards.

In the offseason, Zhang Hao strengthened his rim protection and ability to switch and guard the backcourt, but asking him to also refine his power-forward-like help defense was too demanding, having first-rate rim protection and first-rate perimeter single defense ability and quite excellent shrink-wrap capability in his sophomore year was already incredibly impressive!

Del Harris kind of missed Campbell, but with Campbell’s starting offer of 7 million from other teams, keeping him was really difficult, they wouldn’t have been able to sign players like Brian Shaw, James Robinson.

Moreover, the 76ers were willing to trade Kenny Anderson, who wasn’t a competitor in the East championship contention, and could further increase Campbell’s contract by 1 million USD, and have room to directly absorb Campbell without sending back a Lakers’ contract, if Del Harris were the general manager, he wouldn’t refuse.

On the court, Zhang Hao picked up the ball and sent it to Kenny Anderson, when the two looked at each other, they saw the same thought in each other’s eyes - time to fight!

Indeed, they feared no opponent, playing against a first-rate team, they could find ways to score, just poor defensively, when playing against the top teams, Barkley might lose the paddle, but their level being influenced by the opponent’s is really a headache for them.

To this, the two chose to accept fate.

This, is fate!

Other teams, after playing a few games with the Lakers, had more targeted defenses against them, because they were the Lakers and had such an exaggerated lineup.

Similarly, perhaps most of the Lakers players didn’t notice their defense issues, or noticed but tried their best to defend for more playtime, since the coach valued it, anyway Zhang Hao and Kenny Anderson realized their team struggled defensively against fast-paced half-court offensive teams.

Unfortunately, the Timberwolves from position 1 to position 5, had athleticism above average, capable of fast-paced half-court offense.

So, Kenny Anderson wouldn’t think too much, just attack!

In this defense-oriented era, they would go against the flow!

Kenny Anderson pushed to the frontcourt, faced Marbury’s defense, looked at Zhang Hao, Zhang Hao facing Garnett, using perimeter penetration was unlikely.

Then just go one-on-one!

Kenny Anderson used a crossover to shake off Marbury, broke through to mid-range, Zhang Hao actively pulled to the baseline, took Garnett away, Barkley and George Lynch held off Guglielota and Sam Mitchell inside, Kenny Anderson stopped at the free-throw line for a jump shot, scored!

As if no one else could be a star, his Boss Kenny started with an average of 24.5 points, ranking first among league point guards!

When it came to Timberwolves’ attack, Marbury continued pick and roll with Garnett, Garnett actively moved after the pick and will look for opportunity, created good passing space and more receiving chances for the Timberwolves.

Indeed, this time Barkley shrank more decisively, after encountering pick and roll, he proactively left Marbury’s rookie mid-range voluntarily open.

Fortunately, Garnett used a post maneuver in the left side of three seconds area to bypass Zhang Hao and Guglielota, got an open space, Marbury stopped outside three-second area about to shoot, saw Garnett open, immediately passed over.

As Garnett received the ball, found suddenly that Zhang Hao wasn’t bothering with Guglielota cutting inside, directly with Doug Christie to double team him here!

Garnett quickly lobbed under the basket, Barkley was aggressive defensively but the height difference of over 10 cm, Guglielota’s technique was good, received the ball, high post, scored.

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