Basketball miracles

Chapter 248 [The Toughest Person]

The game continued, and Coach Sanders substituted Olavokandi, a tall center who was not good at defending pick-and-rolls, with Gary Trent, a black forward who is 203cm tall and weighs 113kg.

Garnett returned to his familiar power forward position, while the white power forward Mark Madsen stepped up to the center position.

Sanders stood on the sidelines, pacing back and forth, his brow furrowed. After the substitution, he lost confidence in his ability to defend Trent; he wasn't a defensive specialist, just a backup. Moreover, Trent only became a key rotation player after joining the Timberwolves; he was a fringe player with the Mavericks in the 2000-01 season.

Can you expect a good result from having an average substitute guarding a super scorer? Trent isn't even a qualified substitute; he's slow, can't jump high, and isn't far from retirement.

Seeing that Trent was the primary defender, Xiao Tu immediately changed his strategy. He stopped looking for screens and directly attacked Trent one-on-one on the perimeter, denying Garnett and Madsen the opportunity to switch on pick-and-rolls.

Xiao Tu could shake off Trent and shoot three-pointers or drive to the basket, attracting double teams and then passing the ball to open teammates with ease.

Trent had only been on the field for a short while when Xiao Tu used his "Butterfly Through Flowers" move to knock him to the ground, leaving him looking helpless.

Xiao Tu's Heat team completely dominated the Timberwolves, a fact he was well aware of before the game. He believed that unless his shooting was absolutely terrible and he couldn't make a single shot, he was certain of victory.

With Szczerbiak out, the Timberwolves have a fatal weakness at small forward. In a parallel universe, the Timberwolves could go to six games with the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals, by which time Szczerbiak would have already returned. And the Lakers' starting small forward isn't a star player either; it's Devin George, who looks like a gorilla.

The Timberwolves' offense is ineffective, lacking a dominant scorer.

Garnett has a fixed offensive pattern; he seems to have no blind spots in his shooting, but his scoring efficiency is actually average.

He would pull out to set screens, creating opportunities for his teammates to drive, catch the ball for a mid-range jumper or cut inside, and occasionally drive to the basket. Just by looking at their playing styles, most fans could see a significant difference in scoring ability between Garnett and Xiao Tu.

Currently, few people in the NBA mention "assisted possession rate," otherwise the gap between the two would be even greater. Garnett doesn't lead his teammates on offense; rather, he's led by his teammates.

What is assist percentage? Simply put, it's the percentage of goals scored from open play that come from assists by teammates. For example, 60% means that out of 100 goals scored from open play, 60 will be assisted by passes from teammates. A low assist percentage generally indicates that the player possesses good attacking ability with the ball.

Xiao Tu played power forward for the Lakers in the 80s, and a large portion of his points came from assists by Magic Johnson. Now, he primarily scores through isolation plays, and can score a lot of points without needing teammates' assists.

In a parallel universe, Garnett's career regular season assisted percentage was an astonishing 68.6%! His playoff career figure was 65.5%. To put that into perspective, Barkley's figures were 37.1% and 34.1%, and those were from 1997 to 2000; there are no such metrics before that.

To put it bluntly, Garnett wasn't good at attacking with the ball. In crucial moments of the game, when the team needed its star player to step up and play superstar basketball, he was often just there to screen for his teammates…

Xiao Tu bypassed Garnett's attack, and his advantage of good defense could not be utilized.

The Timberwolves relied on Garnett for rim protection. When he went out to defend, Wade attacked the basket, and the white power forward Madsen couldn't handle him.

Madsen earned the nickname "Mad Dog" because of his relentless effort; his stats are unremarkable, and his physical attributes are rather average. He played less than 6 minutes in the first quarter before fouling out and being replaced by 196cm shooting guard Trenton Hassell.

Garnett never imagined that he would actually become the Timberwolves' toughest player...

The Heat's offense was unstoppable, leading 39-21 by 18 points in the first quarter.

肖途8投6中，三分球6中4，罚球6中5，得到21分3篮板4助攻，个人得分和森林狼全队一样多。

Garnett's performance was unremarkable. Under Xiao Tu's targeted defense, he made 2 of 4 field goals and 2 of 2 free throws, scoring 6 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, and committing two fouls.

Wade showed great fighting spirit today, employing a style of play where he drives straight to the basket and throws himself towards it, making him difficult for Garnett to defend. Wade went 4-for-7 from the field, 1-for-1 from three-point range, and 2-for-2 from the free-throw line in the quarter, scoring 11 points and dishing out 1 assist.

In the second quarter, Xiao Tu was substituted to rest, and the Timberwolves immediately began to catch up.

This kind of scene is familiar to all viewers and is a major characteristic of the Heat.

Today, Riley gave Odom, who had two fouls in the first quarter, a short rest, and had him lead the bench offense in the second quarter. Caron Butler also returned, and the Heat looked to be at full strength.

The result was similar to the second quarter of the previous games; the Heat's bench players were simply ineffective offensively, and their tactics relied solely on isolation plays. Butler went 0-for-2, and Odom went 0-for-3, with little teamwork.

They can dribble and attack one-on-one, but their ability to penetrate is not enough to attract double teams, and they are also inaccurate when facing one-on-one defense.

Even as point guard, Alston couldn't break through defenses. He'd dribble past half-court, pass to a teammate, and then stretch the floor watching from the perimeter. Riley was used to it; he didn't blame the players for playing poorly—that's just their ability. Once Xiao Tu returned to the court after a five-minute rest, he'd naturally be able to get his teammates moving.

Riley felt that there was no place for Butler on the team, and that he could be traded as a bargaining chip after the season ended.

Butler is a small forward who needs the ball in his hands to perform; his catch-and-shoot ability is poor. With the Heat, he's unlikely to get a lot of touches, except for the first few minutes of the second quarter. His playing style is also a slow starter; he won't just keep shooting indefinitely.

If a team has too many promising young stars, some will inevitably go undeveloped. Even if Butler reaches his peak, he will only overlap with Xiao Tu in position.

When Xiao Tu returned, he immediately led his team to dominate the Timberwolves, and changing a few teammates was no problem at all.

Xiao Tu had an opportunity to isolate and attack, and he also drove to the basket, drawing a double team before assisting Alston to hit a three-pointer from the left 60-degree angle. The Heat's counterattacks were also sharper than the Timberwolves', with Xiao Tu, Wade, and Jones scoring repeatedly.

At halftime, the Heat led 66-40 by 26 points, completely overwhelming the Timberwolves.

The Timberwolves' offense went sluggish in the latter part of the second quarter, with only Garnett scoring 6 points and Cassell 4.

斯普雷维尔完全迷失了，半场5投1中，三分球2中1，只得3分2篮板1助攻。

In the last game, the media raved about Sprewell because he scored 22 points, 3 rebounds, and 4 assists, making him the Timberwolves' leading scorer. Moreover, he guarded McGrady for a significant portion of the game, and many believe he held McGrady to just 4 points, showcasing his exceptional defensive ability.

Today, Sprewell was brought back to reality; he's just an inconsistent madman. When he's on fire, he's like a superstar; when he's off, his shooting percentage is less than 4%, and he never scores in double digits.

Xiao Tu couldn't see what was so great about Sprewell. This guy just played recklessly and had no right to be arrogant. He had been selected to the All-NBA First Team before, but at his peak, he only averaged a little over 20 points per game with a shooting percentage of around 40%.

His popularity stems primarily from his 1997 incident where he choked Warriors head coach Carlesimo during practice, resulting in a season-long suspension and the withholding of all his salary by Commissioner David Stern.

This is the heaviest suspension ever imposed on a single player in NBA history. Many fans then felt this person had a lot of personality, and that this inefficient scorer was fantastic.

Sprewell didn't have many notable achievements, having only reached the NBA Finals once with the Knicks. His efficiency was abysmal, far below that of his teammate Allan Houston, and they lost 1-4 to the Spurs.

In the second half, Riley deployed his strongest lineup, with Haslem at power forward, Odom at small forward, and Xiao Tu at shooting guard. This lineup was unstoppable, with Xiao Tu holding a significant advantage at the shooting guard position.

He has the height, wingspan, skill, and shooting ability; shooting guards can't guard him one-on-one, and opponents have to double-team him on the perimeter. As long as the other Heat players don't underperform and can make open shots, they can score a lot of points.

Sprewell has the mindset of a superstar but not the talent. He can't stop Xiao Tu but still tries to retaliate. He can't break through on one-on-one and keeps missing shots under Xiao Tu's interference. When he runs pick-and-rolls with Garnett, Xiao Tu immediately switches on defense, showing no interest in him.

The point difference quickly widened to over 30 points, but Riley still allowed Xiao Tu to play the entire third quarter.

肖途出战31分钟，19投14中，三分球11投7中，罚球8中7，砍下42分7篮板10助攻1抢断1盖帽。

Wade had 19 points, 3 rebounds, and 4 assists, making him the second-leading scorer.

Eddie Jones scored 15 points, including 3 of 6 three-pointers, delivering a standout performance.

The Timberwolves exposed numerous problems on both offense and defense; the players' fatigue was a minor issue. Their interior defense was terrible; aside from Garnett, everyone else was a liability.

奥拉沃坎迪出战11分钟，2投0中所有重要数据都是零，只有2次失误2次犯规。

麦德森打了25分钟，2投1中，得到2分3篮板。

就连加内特表现也只是一般，第三节6投1中，罚球2中1，得到3分3篮板2助攻。

他31分钟14投6中，罚球4中3，得到15分8篮板3助攻，数据不配和肖途相比。

The Heat led 98-58 by 40 points, and the game was essentially over.

(End of this chapter)