One Year Left to Play

In Garnett’s curses, Zhang Hao seemed to hear "keep going" as encouragement, tirelessly charging into Garnett, again and again...

However, although Garnett was angry and didn’t stop talking, he calmed down after venting his frustration earlier. When Zhang Hao forced him into the three-second zone, Garnett seized the opportunity, exerting all his strength to disrupt Zhang Hao’s spin move.

But when Garnett pressed up, Zhang Hao didn’t spin; instead, he turned left, with one leg behind Garnett, grabbed the ball and pushed forward, locking Garnett tightly, and Zhang Hao went directly behind Garnett.

With a beautiful low post move, Zhang Hao handed the ball to his left hand, dodging the oncoming Guglielota, and easily scored with a floater.

This move, triggered when the "Deep Stepping (Bronze)" effect activated with a 10% probability to perfectly trap defenders, didn’t even require Zhang Hao to use the 3-point speed bonus from the medal because he could back down and push strongly!

When he got this medal, he had thought that for him, its effect might be stronger in the low post than in the high post in terms of back play.

Practice proved it was true!

Even though the Timberwolves had playoff capability this year, and it was verified in the preseason and early games that they could compete with strong teams, ultimately they relied on teamwork.

Facing Kenny Anderson and Zhang Hao, they couldn’t defend one-on-one. Even though most of the other players were functional, even Barkley had become a functional player with the Lakers, and Philip Sanders’s plan was to defend Barkley as a functional player.

But the Lakers players were strong in their roles! When there’s a completely unguardable one-on-one threat who has a good vision and can pass, the Timberwolves really had no solution.

Garnett gritted his teeth, striving to stay calm and cooperate well with his teammates.

After a miss cooled him down, he realized Zhang Hao just didn’t want him to score. He utilized this well in the next two offensive plays.

After another two rounds, the Timberwolves worked hard to score 4 points before the official timeout, trailing the Lakers 17 to 23 by 6 points during the timeout.

Scoring 23 points in 6 minutes and 11 seconds, this efficiency made Del Harris more determined to change the playing style.

Although originally this wasn’t the plan, there was no choice. What else could they do without adapting?

If it weren’t for this kid’s significant progress, adding a new one-on-one move, diversifying his back play, and linking up effectively with Kenny Anderson both inside and outside, this style wouldn’t even exist now.

During the starting phase, it’s impossible to have Barkley exert his energy running tactics; at most, you can have him coordinate in small areas and direct inside.

Let’s play this way! Whatever the approach, as long as the one-on-one is unbeatable, see, isn’t it an advantage now?

For Zhang Hao to score 7 points in half the first quarter and assist Barkley when Guglielota double-teamed early, leading to Barkley’s 2+1, the TV commentators gave high praise.

However, the commentators were even more amazed by Zhang Hao’s stability at the start, as if whenever it was his time to contribute, he would deliver.

This was a headache for the Timberwolves; at the start, seeing Zhang Hao not shooting for over three minutes, Garnett let Zhang Hao attempt a three-pointer once, and Zhang Hao just hit it, without needing to find his rhythm during the game. His consistency was frighteningly strong.

Every time the news expressed surprise at Zhang Hao’s consistency and shooting maintenance ability, Del Harris, as Zhang Hao’s head coach, wanted to laugh.

How could a player’s game stability be poor when he spends at least two hours warming up slowly before every match?

However, it wasn’t widely adoptable. Del Harris discussed with the management about whether to advance the warm-up time for the players to follow Zhang Hao’s example, but eventually gave up.

Rather than making others come early to slack, it was better to stick to their habits, conducting effective warm-up preparation within their regular schedule, which was stronger than merely extending warm-up time and activities.

Such warm-ups weren’t challenging, yet maintaining that patience every day was too hard; it might even turn into a venting-style warm-up when players lose patience, wasting energy in the process.

Although the Timberwolves players were amazed by Zhang Hao’s start, making 3 out of 3 attempts including 1 for 1 on threes, plus 2 free throws out of 2, accumulating 9 points, 1 rebound, and 1 assist, Philip Sanders calmly spotted some opportunities...

At the start, standing by the scorer’s table, he heard Zhang Hao’s words.

After observing for half a quarter, he realized that Zhang Hao indeed tried in every way not to let Garnett score.

Before the official timeout, during the Timberwolves’ two offensive plays, Garnett took the initiative to position and call for the ball, attracting Zhang Hao’s attention and allowing Garnett to complete two assists, earning 4 assists in half a quarter...

Although if Garnett didn’t play this way, the Timberwolves still had other opportunities during those two rounds, none were as strong as Garnett receiving and passing the ball out smoothly.

Though Garnett asking for the ball might risk getting trapped and unable to pass out, the probability was low, and passing it out would increase the scoring chance... Philip Sanders chose to seize this opportunity!

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