After beating the Kings, the Magic played a few more games with the weaker teams in the Eastern Conference and ushered in their next strong opponent, the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Starting from the 1996-1997 season, the Wolves made it to the playoffs for seven consecutive years, but were eliminated in the first round each time. But last season, the Timberwolves ushered in a turnaround. They introduced "Madman" Sprewell and
After "Alien" Cassell, the formidable wolf pack finally formed again. It achieved the highest regular season winning rate in the team's history, and Garnett also won the regular season MVP last season. His performance in the playoffs was also outstanding.
Very impressive. First, they easily defeated the Nuggets 4-1, successfully breaking Oura's curse in the first round of the playoffs. Then they continued their efforts to defeat the Kings and reached the Western Conference Finals. Unfortunately, Cassell's absence caused them to lose to the Lakers.
in the hand.
Because he has never been able to break through the first round of the playoffs before, Garnett's maximum salary has been the subject of criticism from the media. If the Wolves still failed to break through the first round of the playoffs last season, Garnett is likely to be exiled by the Wolves.
To other teams, maybe Garnett will never be reincarnated at that time. A mature team will not easily make any big changes to the lineup it has worked so hard to build, and the same is true for the Wolves. In this summer's transfer
In the market, the Wolves did not want to introduce any new big-name players. Instead, they focused on maintaining the stability of the lineup.
But God is not as good as man. Although the Timberwolves' uniform team wanted to be stable, the team still had troubles. Before the season even started, the Wolves rebelled. Two generals, Cassell and Sprewell, successively
Because of the rebellion over the contract renewal issue, the Timberwolves' "Three-Headed Monster" is facing disbandment at any time.
Cassel first intentionally missed pre-season training. In addition to the team's unwillingness to proactively renew his high-paying contract in advance, another reason was that he was worried that the Timberwolves wanted to use him, Serbiak and center Earvin Johnson in exchange this summer.
Dissatisfied with the rumors about Germany.
As for Sprewell, it is purely a matter of contract renewal. The Madman's salary for the new season is 14.6 million U.S. dollars. If the team renews his contract, his salary for the 2005-2006 seasons will reach 16.4 million U.S. dollars, which will account for a large part of the team's salary.
Space, and the now 34-year-old Spurs resolutely refused the team's salary cut proposal. In order to coerce the team manager to bow his head, he began to play passively. Historically, after the end of the season, the team offered a salary of 21 million for three years.
At that time, he said the surreal answer "I still have to support my family" and then left the game.
Many people say that the Timberwolves' owner, Glenn Taylor, is stingy, especially Garnett's fans. They say that because of his unwillingness to spend money, the Timberwolves have no chance to win the final championship. But I don't think any fan is qualified.
The only people who can accuse him are Cuban and Paul Allen. Buss of the Lakers and Mitch Arison of the Heat are not qualified to accuse him. Because in the league, the only ones who invest large sums of money regardless of losses are the first two people.
The NBA is a business league. I have said before that basketball is not mentioned in their promotions. So all the rules here are business rules. So why do you ask the boss to spend crazy money just for a championship?
We know that Minnesota is not Miami, Houston, Chicago, New York, or Los Angeles. One stadium advertisement can generate tens of millions of revenue, and one broadcasting rights can sign hundreds of millions. This is just a small city. Last season they won
In the Western Conference Finals, they broke even for the first time. They had been losing tens of millions before. What do you want their boss to do?
To put it more realistically, Taylor's registered personal assets are only 200 million, which may not be as high as the combined income of the players on the team.
Besides, most bosses who play in the NBA don’t necessarily really love basketball, but use basketball as a promotional tool for their company’s brand. When the cost of investment is far greater than the income, they can stop. This is only natural.
, consistent with normal business operations....
Some people may see this and say angrily, "How can you play basketball if you don't have money?" But if Taylor really sells to the Timberwolves, will it be so easy to find a new owner? Will the new owner be so generous? The new owner will still consider this.
set.
It can be said that among the well-known football and basketball team bosses now, the only ones who really invested a lot of money selflessly because of their love are Moratti before the three championships, the recent Liverpool bosses, Cuban before the championship, and Paul Eyre.
London. Other bosses who invest heavily are doing it for profit, Abu is doing it to increase his popularity, Abu Dhabi is doing it to enhance the country's international status, Berlusconi is doing it for his own presidential election, Barcelona and Real Madrid are membership systems that do not allow profits.
Moreover, Catalonia has an independent background. Other teams with large investments are basically breaking even at worst, or even making a profit. So don’t use these owners as a standard to compare others.
.
Let me tell you the most unpleasant and offending words. It doesn't matter if you Garnett or anyone else, if you really want the championship that much, you can learn from Barkley. What kind of 20 million contract do you want? Buy it out at a low price.
Then sign a new contract worth 2 million, so that you have a greater chance of winning the championship. But there is no such thing. One after another they are still asking for big contracts. So, don’t always accuse a certain boss of being stingy, of course.
Houston's Alexander can accuse this grandson of being so stingy after making a lot of money with Yao Ming.
Anyway, when everyone sees contract renewal issues or labor negotiations in the future, just remember this sentence, "The NBA is a business." This way everyone may have a calmer mentality.
Okay, back to the Timberwolves, because there are problems with the two core figures, the Timberwolves' record this season is not ideal. They are now only 34 wins and 27 losses, ranking eighth in the Western Conference, and only better than the Grizzlies led by Gasol.
The team has one more win. But no one, no team dares to underestimate this team because of its record. No one knows whether they will suddenly settle everything and then break out into championship-level strength again.
.
Unfortunately for Edison, they encountered the Timberwolves, who had been uniting for the playoffs.
When the Timberwolves' point guard Cassell, shooting guard Hassell, small forward Sprewell, power forward Garnett, and center Olawokandi lined up to go to that stop, Edison knew what was going on.
The game is not easy to play, at least judging from the momentum at the beginning, they don't have any signs of internal strife now.
Because the Timberwolves' inside height is so amazing, it would be too disadvantageous to let Howard and Josh play, so today the Magic switched to the Twin Towers, and Varejao got the chance to start.
Garnett and Howard jumped the ball. This can be said to be a confrontation between the top jumpers in the league. Both buddies can touch the top edge of the backboard. In the end, Garnett, who was at his perfect physical peak, helped the Timberwolves win the ball.
right.
The Timberwolves handed the ball to the "alien" Cassel. After receiving the ball, Cassel leisurely passed the half court and then handed it to the "Wolf King" Garnett on the wing.
I won’t introduce Garnett anymore. I believe everyone who watches football knows that he is one of the two best power forwards in the league in the past ten years. He ranks fifth among my favorite power forwards.
Facing Howard's defense, Garnett first leaned forward, causing Howard to step back, and then made a mid-range shot. Unfortunately, it bounced out of the frame, and Iguodala quickly grabbed the rebound.
The Timberwolves retreated quickly and did not give the Magic a chance to play a fast break. Nash could only dribble the ball through half court and play positional battles honestly.
This lineup of the Timberwolves is really very strong, both offensively and defensively. It is almost watertight. Even the parallel import Olawokandi is actually a relatively qualified inside big meat shield...
Cassell is a player who gets better and better as he gets older. This is very similar to Billups. When he was young, he was just a stable traditional point guard with excellent shooting ability. He could organize offense, but could not control the game. So although his
The data is relatively good, but it is not impressive and no one else pays attention to it. This can be seen from his salary of more than 5 million yuan.
But since arriving with the Timberwolves last year, this old guy suddenly showed incredible leadership skills. Although the core of this team is still Garnett, it is Cassel who controls the game at critical moments. It is no exaggeration.
It is said that Garnett, Sprewell and others can only be regarded as generals and pioneers, while Cassell is the coach. Later, when he came to the Clippers, this was proved again.
In fact, I have always believed that Cassell is one of the two point guards most suitable to cooperate with Yao Ming.
Cassel's defense can only be regarded as acceptable. Although he is very active and extremely experienced, he can predict the opponent's ball path very well, double-team and help defense in a timely manner, but his body is really bad, and
Nash is at the same level. When encountering other point guards, he can be defeated by simply resisting with his body or accelerating.
But what he met today was Nash. The two of them were evenly matched, so this disadvantage was not reflected.
Cassel opened his arms and stood in front of Nash, still mumbling, "."
But Nash ignored his trash talk and stretched out his left hand. Varejao came over and rode the three-point line and split his legs, stopping Carlisle behind. After getting rid of Cassel, Nash wanted to kidnap him.
It rushed to the inside of the Timberwolves like a whirlwind.
Varejola went out to defend, and Olavokandi came in to defend Nash. The most accomplished No. 1 pick in the history of the league, his only role on the court is to occupy the space under the basket and serve as a human shield for Garnett.
, in addition to being physically useless, his basketball IQ is even negative. As soon as Nash flashed, this guy jumped up, not to mention he jumped really high.
But Nash took the opportunity to pass the ball inside. After receiving the ball, Howard carried Garnett and dunked. The two made a beautiful pass inside. The Magic took the lead.
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I have to visit relatives during the Chinese New Year and have various gatherings. The updates have been unstable these days. I really have no choice but to spare the time.
And to be honest, the boss flying TJ touched me a lot, and the breath I had been holding in was a little vented. But don’t worry, I said I would write 1 million at the beginning, so I will definitely write that much, at least to let you see next year
