Ben Wallace's ability to easily score over Kobe Bryant really surprised the Timberwolves players.
As we all know, Ben Wallace has always been active on the court as a role player in the Timberwolves. The most important task the team gives him is to grab rebounds and defend. Ben Wallace does not need to make any extra efforts in other aspects.
When Ben Wallace showed his offensive ability, the Timberwolves players were so excited and thrilled not because they were happy about Ben Wallace's "all-rounder".
He was able to score over Kobe, and it felt like O'Neal was scoring a three-pointer in the middle of the court.
It gives people a sense of incongruous humor.
Although the Timberwolves substitute players' praise for Ben Wallace was sincere, that kind of praise gave people a different feeling from normal praise.
More like watching a clown show.
However, Ben Wallace in the stadium was not so sensitive. He did not feel anything unusual when hearing the cheers of the players off the court.
In the stadium, Wu Dao saw Ben Wallace scoring a goal and clapped his hands with a smile, praising:
"Nice fight, Ben."
"You can be more decisive in physical confrontations, and try to hold the basketball higher when playing with the ball. There is still a significant weight difference between him and you. If there is another opportunity like this, you will perform better if you improve a little bit."
Unlike other Timberwolves players, Budo is very sincere towards Ben Wallace.
He also tried to help Ben Wallace improve his offensive movements and gave Wallace some pointers when returning to defense.
Speaking of the technical moves under the basket, Ben Wallace has naturally mastered them, but when he is on the court, he relies on his body to do some things subconsciously and does not pay special attention to the accuracy of his movements.
This is actually closely related to Ben Wallace's usual training. Among Wallace's various training programs, there are very few offensive training programs. The offensive ability he possesses now is actually the offensive ability accumulated when he played in his early years.
After entering the NBA, there was almost no improvement. Even compared to when he was playing in college, Ben Wallace's offensive ability has regressed to a certain extent.
But for today's game, Ben Wallace's offensive ability is more than enough.
Between offense and defense, the Lakers launched a counterattack. While the basketball was being passed, the Knicks found Robert Horry in a small open space. After getting the ball, the latter directly shot a three-pointer. When Robert Horry was shooting the three-pointer, Ben Wallace was already wary of this opponent.
However, although Wallace's defense was fierce, it did not affect Robert Horry's shooting.
The three-pointer hit the net.
This was Robert Horry's second three-pointer in the second quarter. Both of his three-pointers were successful, which made it impossible for the Timberwolves players to underestimate him.
Ben Wallace originally only paid a little attention to Robert Horry, but when the opponent scored the second three-pointer, Ben Wallace's defensive attitude changed completely.
In the NBA league, every player has the potential to put in an amazing performance, and Robert Horry, who has made two consecutive three-pointers, has shown some signs of a breakthrough.
The Timberwolves must nip this possibility in the bud and absolutely cannot let Robert Holly surrender.
Timberwolves offensive rounds.
Robert Horry, who made consecutive shots, was full of confidence at this moment. Seeing Wudao running towards them, the Lakers, Robert Horry quickly left his original position and went towards Wudao.
Instead of staying inside the three-point line and waiting for death, he chose to take the initiative.
Previously, when facing him, Budo chose to pass the ball to Ben Wallace who was not good at offense.
In Robert Horry's view, this offensive choice did not mean that Wu Dao had found the defensive weakness of the Lakers, but that Wu Dao had some concerns when facing Robert Horry and did not dare to play one-on-one.
When a player is full of confidence, the thoughts in his mind are difficult to understand.
Just like Robert Horry at this moment, if Wu Dao knew what the other person was thinking, it would be hard to say whether he would laugh out loud.
When Chris Carr dribbled the ball into the Lakers' half, he did not choose to pass the ball to Wu Dao on the wing immediately.
Wu Dao attacked with the ball too many times, so Chris Kyle thought it necessary to give Wu Dao some buffer time.
Sometimes a player's physical energy distribution on the court does not depend on himself, but on the number one position and the overall situation on the court.
If the number one position frequently gives the ball to the star player for one-on-one play, then even if the star player wants to conserve his energy it would be difficult to do so.
The reason why a star is a star is that the audience has high hopes for him.
Frequently receiving passes from teammates but rarely attacking yourself will inevitably cause dissatisfaction among fans, who will think that you, as a star, are not capable enough and cannot convert the ball into points.
Chris Kyle has worked with Bu Dao for a long time and knows that Bu Dao is not the kind of player who is completely obsessed with statistics.
It is precisely because of this consideration that Chris Kyle has changed his handling of the ball on the offensive end.
Ben Wallace had just scored easily over Kobe Bryant. When all the Timberwolves joined the Lakers in the half, Chris Kyle noticed Ben Wallace who was positioning himself in the paint.
Still, the physical advantage he had when facing Kobe was very great. Relying on his outstanding strength, Ben Wallace could easily occupy the position he wanted under the basket.
In the league, no matter how marginal the players are, when they step onto the court, they all hope to perform on the offensive end.
This is true even for a player with outstanding defensive temperament like Ben Wallace.
Ben Wallace, who easily scored against Kobe, also hopes that he can replicate his previous success.
At this moment, the desire to attack in his heart was gradually released.
Chris Kyle chose to pass the ball to Ben Wallace who was in the inside position. He passed the ball to the opponent not because he thought Ben Wallace's offense was so outstanding, but simply because the opponent scored successfully in the previous round, and he would give the opponent another chance to play singles in this round.
The Lakers obviously had no guard against players like Ben Wallace.
Even after Kobe and Robert Horry switched defense, the Lakers' other players did not make corresponding adjustments. For example, Campbell, who is also an inside player, did not change his defensive position because Ben Wallace was in the inside. He was not interested in Ben Wallace at all.
"Snapped!"
The basketball was hung in Wallace's hands. Wallace's back was pressed against Kobe's chest. He lifted the ball high and shot it high. At the same time when the ball fell with both hands, Ben Wallace also exerted force with his feet and the basketball was in his hands. At the same time, Wallace was already facing the basket on Kobe.
It was almost the same offensive method as before, simple yet violent.
Although Kobe saw all of Ben Wallace's movements clearly and had predicted his opponent's next moves, he still couldn't stand still in the fierce physical confrontation, and his upper body leaned back and gave up his position under the basket. As Ben Wallace forced the ball into the basket, the Timberwolves added two points to the scoreboard.
The Timberwolves fans burst into warm cheers. The Timberwolves substitutes on the sidelines looked a little surprised, then jumped up from their seats and cheered for Wallace on the court.
This time their cheers were not as exaggerated as before, but instead seemed much more sincere.
Ben Wallace's consecutive scoring also made his teammates truly take his offensive ability seriously.
Kobe Bryant, who failed to defend Ben Wallace, looked very unhappy. He wanted to ask Robert Horry to come back to defend Ben Wallace, but his strong self-esteem prevented Kobe from saying that.
If Ben Wallace gets the ball outside the three-point line or in the mid-range, Kobe is confident that he can defend Ben Wallace.
But unfortunately, the opponent received the ball under the basket, on the side of the paint area, and he only needed to turn around to create a scoring opportunity for himself.
In this position, physical confrontation becomes the basis of everything.
I also mean for offensive players and defensive players, first of all, they need strong physical confrontation before other things can happen.
No matter how experienced Kobe is, no matter how many ideas he has, no matter how rough Ben Wallace's movements are, as long as Wallace's physical confrontation ability is far greater than Kobe's, then Ben Wallace is almost invincible.
The consecutive failures on the defensive end seemed like a dark cloud hanging over Kobe's head.
For a proud player like Kobe, such a failure is unacceptable. He cannot accept that he cannot even defend against a rough guy.
But sometimes the body really does limit a player's ceiling.
Let’s talk about Kobe. Even a player like Michael Jordan, no matter how sophisticated his skills are, I am afraid there is no way to limit this kind of power player in the paint area.
Between offense and defense, the Lakers had already launched an attack, and the basketball was passed to Kobe after several passes.
Facing Wuhan University's defense, Kobe did not choose to play one-on-one. Instead, he called for a pick-and-roll and used his speed to break through. After successfully getting the gap, Kobe made a sudden stop and faded away to shoot.
The movements and postures are picturesque, and the sound of forging iron is crisp and pleasant.
The basketball went straight out of the basket, and the rebound was caught by Ben Wallace under the basket.
The failure on the offensive end made Kobe's face darken again. On the sidelines, Lakers coach Del Harris clenched his fists and looked at O'Neal on the side. The latter also understood what he meant, took a sip of water, and sat up straight, waiting for the opportunity to make a substitution.
The Timberwolves have launched a counterattack on the court.
Chris Kyle passed the ball to Wu Dao while moving. After getting the ball, Wu Dao faked a three-pointer, which attracted Robert Horry's defense and then he quickly got the ball and broke through.
Budo's three-point shooting percentage left a very deep impression on the Lakers players. Facing his shooting fakes, Robert Horry didn't dare to ignore it.
As Wudao burst forward with a burst of the ball, Kobe, who was guarding Ben Wallace in the interior, quickly moved up and double-teamed Wudao.
Wu Dao, who was originally thinking of attacking the basket directly, suddenly saw Kobe coming up to double-team him, and quickly changed his mind. While rushing forward, he hooked the basketball in his hand and passed the ball directly to Ben Wallace in the inside.
The basketball flew over Kobe Bryant's head. Kobe quickly moved forward to defend and although he reacted very quickly and tried to block it with his hand, the extremely fast speed of the ball ultimately prevented him from blocking it.
Ben Wallace, who had the ball under the basket, easily dunked with both hands and directly put the ball into the basket.
His dunk looked very easy, and the fans felt that Wallace didn't even jump hard when he dunked.
The consecutive losses in the basket finally made coach Del Harris completely lose his patience.
While they had the ball, they immediately made a substitution, bringing O'Neal back to the court. The one who was replaced was Eddie Jones, who had been silent for some time.
O'Neal, Campbell, Kobe, Nick, Robert Horry.
At this time, the five Lakers players on the court are all relatively tall, and they can put considerable pressure on the Timberwolves whether it is the inside defense or the outside defense.
At least that's what coach Del Harris sees it in.
The Timberwolves had no intention of making substitutions. Although O'Neal returned to the court, coach Philip did not think that his lineup was unable to compete with the opponent.
On the contrary, Coach Philip felt that his team had the advantage.
Neither O'Neal nor Campbell, the two inside players, are highly mobile players who can be defended. Coach Philip feels that Wu Dao's playing space will become very comfortable.
He didn't think a player like Robert Horry could stop Budo.
As soon as O'Neal returned to the court, he used his outstanding personal abilities to find offensive opportunities for the Lakers.
He got the ball under the basket and attracted Tom's double-team. O'Neal did not choose to attack the basket himself, but instead quickly passed the ball to Robbie Horry who was in an open position.
Robert Holly made a slight adjustment outside the three-point line and shot directly, and the ball went steadily into the basket.
After the Lakers adjusted their lineup, the Timberwolves' defensive lineup did not make any adjustments.
The Timberwolves played a zone defense with a standard 3 outside and 2 inside. If they rashly double-teamed O'Neal, it would inevitably lead to a void on the outside.
But this is also the only solution. When O'Neal has the ball, they have no way to ignore O'Neal and let the opponent play freely under the basket.
The second quarter of the game between the Lakers and the Timberwolves became increasingly intense.
Thanks to Robert Horry's outstanding performance, the Timberwolves were unable to widen the gap. On the contrary, his consecutive three-pointers boosted the morale of the Lakers.
Even Martial Arts couldn't lead the team to gain an advantage over a Lakers team like them.
The emergence of Robert Horry has disrupted the Timberwolves' overall plan.
Sure enough, no player can be underestimated on the playoff stage.
(End of this chapter)
As we all know, Ben Wallace has always been active on the court as a role player in the Timberwolves. The most important task the team gives him is to grab rebounds and defend. Ben Wallace does not need to make any extra efforts in other aspects.
When Ben Wallace showed his offensive ability, the Timberwolves players were so excited and thrilled not because they were happy about Ben Wallace's "all-rounder".
He was able to score over Kobe, and it felt like O'Neal was scoring a three-pointer in the middle of the court.
It gives people a sense of incongruous humor.
Although the Timberwolves substitute players' praise for Ben Wallace was sincere, that kind of praise gave people a different feeling from normal praise.
More like watching a clown show.
However, Ben Wallace in the stadium was not so sensitive. He did not feel anything unusual when hearing the cheers of the players off the court.
In the stadium, Wu Dao saw Ben Wallace scoring a goal and clapped his hands with a smile, praising:
"Nice fight, Ben."
"You can be more decisive in physical confrontations, and try to hold the basketball higher when playing with the ball. There is still a significant weight difference between him and you. If there is another opportunity like this, you will perform better if you improve a little bit."
Unlike other Timberwolves players, Budo is very sincere towards Ben Wallace.
He also tried to help Ben Wallace improve his offensive movements and gave Wallace some pointers when returning to defense.
Speaking of the technical moves under the basket, Ben Wallace has naturally mastered them, but when he is on the court, he relies on his body to do some things subconsciously and does not pay special attention to the accuracy of his movements.
This is actually closely related to Ben Wallace's usual training. Among Wallace's various training programs, there are very few offensive training programs. The offensive ability he possesses now is actually the offensive ability accumulated when he played in his early years.
After entering the NBA, there was almost no improvement. Even compared to when he was playing in college, Ben Wallace's offensive ability has regressed to a certain extent.
But for today's game, Ben Wallace's offensive ability is more than enough.
Between offense and defense, the Lakers launched a counterattack. While the basketball was being passed, the Knicks found Robert Horry in a small open space. After getting the ball, the latter directly shot a three-pointer. When Robert Horry was shooting the three-pointer, Ben Wallace was already wary of this opponent.
However, although Wallace's defense was fierce, it did not affect Robert Horry's shooting.
The three-pointer hit the net.
This was Robert Horry's second three-pointer in the second quarter. Both of his three-pointers were successful, which made it impossible for the Timberwolves players to underestimate him.
Ben Wallace originally only paid a little attention to Robert Horry, but when the opponent scored the second three-pointer, Ben Wallace's defensive attitude changed completely.
In the NBA league, every player has the potential to put in an amazing performance, and Robert Horry, who has made two consecutive three-pointers, has shown some signs of a breakthrough.
The Timberwolves must nip this possibility in the bud and absolutely cannot let Robert Holly surrender.
Timberwolves offensive rounds.
Robert Horry, who made consecutive shots, was full of confidence at this moment. Seeing Wudao running towards them, the Lakers, Robert Horry quickly left his original position and went towards Wudao.
Instead of staying inside the three-point line and waiting for death, he chose to take the initiative.
Previously, when facing him, Budo chose to pass the ball to Ben Wallace who was not good at offense.
In Robert Horry's view, this offensive choice did not mean that Wu Dao had found the defensive weakness of the Lakers, but that Wu Dao had some concerns when facing Robert Horry and did not dare to play one-on-one.
When a player is full of confidence, the thoughts in his mind are difficult to understand.
Just like Robert Horry at this moment, if Wu Dao knew what the other person was thinking, it would be hard to say whether he would laugh out loud.
When Chris Carr dribbled the ball into the Lakers' half, he did not choose to pass the ball to Wu Dao on the wing immediately.
Wu Dao attacked with the ball too many times, so Chris Kyle thought it necessary to give Wu Dao some buffer time.
Sometimes a player's physical energy distribution on the court does not depend on himself, but on the number one position and the overall situation on the court.
If the number one position frequently gives the ball to the star player for one-on-one play, then even if the star player wants to conserve his energy it would be difficult to do so.
The reason why a star is a star is that the audience has high hopes for him.
Frequently receiving passes from teammates but rarely attacking yourself will inevitably cause dissatisfaction among fans, who will think that you, as a star, are not capable enough and cannot convert the ball into points.
Chris Kyle has worked with Bu Dao for a long time and knows that Bu Dao is not the kind of player who is completely obsessed with statistics.
It is precisely because of this consideration that Chris Kyle has changed his handling of the ball on the offensive end.
Ben Wallace had just scored easily over Kobe Bryant. When all the Timberwolves joined the Lakers in the half, Chris Kyle noticed Ben Wallace who was positioning himself in the paint.
Still, the physical advantage he had when facing Kobe was very great. Relying on his outstanding strength, Ben Wallace could easily occupy the position he wanted under the basket.
In the league, no matter how marginal the players are, when they step onto the court, they all hope to perform on the offensive end.
This is true even for a player with outstanding defensive temperament like Ben Wallace.
Ben Wallace, who easily scored against Kobe, also hopes that he can replicate his previous success.
At this moment, the desire to attack in his heart was gradually released.
Chris Kyle chose to pass the ball to Ben Wallace who was in the inside position. He passed the ball to the opponent not because he thought Ben Wallace's offense was so outstanding, but simply because the opponent scored successfully in the previous round, and he would give the opponent another chance to play singles in this round.
The Lakers obviously had no guard against players like Ben Wallace.
Even after Kobe and Robert Horry switched defense, the Lakers' other players did not make corresponding adjustments. For example, Campbell, who is also an inside player, did not change his defensive position because Ben Wallace was in the inside. He was not interested in Ben Wallace at all.
"Snapped!"
The basketball was hung in Wallace's hands. Wallace's back was pressed against Kobe's chest. He lifted the ball high and shot it high. At the same time when the ball fell with both hands, Ben Wallace also exerted force with his feet and the basketball was in his hands. At the same time, Wallace was already facing the basket on Kobe.
It was almost the same offensive method as before, simple yet violent.
Although Kobe saw all of Ben Wallace's movements clearly and had predicted his opponent's next moves, he still couldn't stand still in the fierce physical confrontation, and his upper body leaned back and gave up his position under the basket. As Ben Wallace forced the ball into the basket, the Timberwolves added two points to the scoreboard.
The Timberwolves fans burst into warm cheers. The Timberwolves substitutes on the sidelines looked a little surprised, then jumped up from their seats and cheered for Wallace on the court.
This time their cheers were not as exaggerated as before, but instead seemed much more sincere.
Ben Wallace's consecutive scoring also made his teammates truly take his offensive ability seriously.
Kobe Bryant, who failed to defend Ben Wallace, looked very unhappy. He wanted to ask Robert Horry to come back to defend Ben Wallace, but his strong self-esteem prevented Kobe from saying that.
If Ben Wallace gets the ball outside the three-point line or in the mid-range, Kobe is confident that he can defend Ben Wallace.
But unfortunately, the opponent received the ball under the basket, on the side of the paint area, and he only needed to turn around to create a scoring opportunity for himself.
In this position, physical confrontation becomes the basis of everything.
I also mean for offensive players and defensive players, first of all, they need strong physical confrontation before other things can happen.
No matter how experienced Kobe is, no matter how many ideas he has, no matter how rough Ben Wallace's movements are, as long as Wallace's physical confrontation ability is far greater than Kobe's, then Ben Wallace is almost invincible.
The consecutive failures on the defensive end seemed like a dark cloud hanging over Kobe's head.
For a proud player like Kobe, such a failure is unacceptable. He cannot accept that he cannot even defend against a rough guy.
But sometimes the body really does limit a player's ceiling.
Let’s talk about Kobe. Even a player like Michael Jordan, no matter how sophisticated his skills are, I am afraid there is no way to limit this kind of power player in the paint area.
Between offense and defense, the Lakers had already launched an attack, and the basketball was passed to Kobe after several passes.
Facing Wuhan University's defense, Kobe did not choose to play one-on-one. Instead, he called for a pick-and-roll and used his speed to break through. After successfully getting the gap, Kobe made a sudden stop and faded away to shoot.
The movements and postures are picturesque, and the sound of forging iron is crisp and pleasant.
The basketball went straight out of the basket, and the rebound was caught by Ben Wallace under the basket.
The failure on the offensive end made Kobe's face darken again. On the sidelines, Lakers coach Del Harris clenched his fists and looked at O'Neal on the side. The latter also understood what he meant, took a sip of water, and sat up straight, waiting for the opportunity to make a substitution.
The Timberwolves have launched a counterattack on the court.
Chris Kyle passed the ball to Wu Dao while moving. After getting the ball, Wu Dao faked a three-pointer, which attracted Robert Horry's defense and then he quickly got the ball and broke through.
Budo's three-point shooting percentage left a very deep impression on the Lakers players. Facing his shooting fakes, Robert Horry didn't dare to ignore it.
As Wudao burst forward with a burst of the ball, Kobe, who was guarding Ben Wallace in the interior, quickly moved up and double-teamed Wudao.
Wu Dao, who was originally thinking of attacking the basket directly, suddenly saw Kobe coming up to double-team him, and quickly changed his mind. While rushing forward, he hooked the basketball in his hand and passed the ball directly to Ben Wallace in the inside.
The basketball flew over Kobe Bryant's head. Kobe quickly moved forward to defend and although he reacted very quickly and tried to block it with his hand, the extremely fast speed of the ball ultimately prevented him from blocking it.
Ben Wallace, who had the ball under the basket, easily dunked with both hands and directly put the ball into the basket.
His dunk looked very easy, and the fans felt that Wallace didn't even jump hard when he dunked.
The consecutive losses in the basket finally made coach Del Harris completely lose his patience.
While they had the ball, they immediately made a substitution, bringing O'Neal back to the court. The one who was replaced was Eddie Jones, who had been silent for some time.
O'Neal, Campbell, Kobe, Nick, Robert Horry.
At this time, the five Lakers players on the court are all relatively tall, and they can put considerable pressure on the Timberwolves whether it is the inside defense or the outside defense.
At least that's what coach Del Harris sees it in.
The Timberwolves had no intention of making substitutions. Although O'Neal returned to the court, coach Philip did not think that his lineup was unable to compete with the opponent.
On the contrary, Coach Philip felt that his team had the advantage.
Neither O'Neal nor Campbell, the two inside players, are highly mobile players who can be defended. Coach Philip feels that Wu Dao's playing space will become very comfortable.
He didn't think a player like Robert Horry could stop Budo.
As soon as O'Neal returned to the court, he used his outstanding personal abilities to find offensive opportunities for the Lakers.
He got the ball under the basket and attracted Tom's double-team. O'Neal did not choose to attack the basket himself, but instead quickly passed the ball to Robbie Horry who was in an open position.
Robert Holly made a slight adjustment outside the three-point line and shot directly, and the ball went steadily into the basket.
After the Lakers adjusted their lineup, the Timberwolves' defensive lineup did not make any adjustments.
The Timberwolves played a zone defense with a standard 3 outside and 2 inside. If they rashly double-teamed O'Neal, it would inevitably lead to a void on the outside.
But this is also the only solution. When O'Neal has the ball, they have no way to ignore O'Neal and let the opponent play freely under the basket.
The second quarter of the game between the Lakers and the Timberwolves became increasingly intense.
Thanks to Robert Horry's outstanding performance, the Timberwolves were unable to widen the gap. On the contrary, his consecutive three-pointers boosted the morale of the Lakers.
Even Martial Arts couldn't lead the team to gain an advantage over a Lakers team like them.
The emergence of Robert Horry has disrupted the Timberwolves' overall plan.
Sure enough, no player can be underestimated on the playoff stage.
(End of this chapter)
