NBA's King of Talking

Chapter 379 Alternative Goji Berry Mamba

Jia Fei's individual performance helped the Clippers, who were struggling on the second night of a back-to-back game, keep the score close.

LaVine looked quite pathetic when matched up against Jia Fei, completely unlike his confident demeanor during the dunk contest, where he seemed to think he was the best.

LaVine's offense doesn't have a killer weapon. You could say he's good at handling the ball, but his dribbling and ball protection aren't that great. He can handle the ball, but he's not at DeRozan's level. What makes him better than those ball-handling stars is his decent off-ball ability. His catch-and-shoot is fairly accurate, which allows him to play alongside other ball-handling stars.

But he really couldn't stop Jia Fei!

Jia Fei scored 15 points in the first quarter and another 15 points in the second quarter. He had already scored 30 points by halftime!

Thanks to his incredible scoring, the Clippers took the lead at halftime, 56-51!

Now it's the Timberwolves' turn to be anxious; they're considering how to limit Jia Fei.

Intermission.

“Charles, Jia Fei has already scored 30 points in the first half. According to you, he’s not good enough. He should have scored 100 points in the first half!” Kenny Smith began to tease.

“Kenny, how can you say that! Jia Fei is certainly excellent, but his excellence is based on the fact that his opponent’s defense is weak. If Andrew Wiggins were to guard him, I don’t think he would be able to score so many points!” Barkley said very firmly.

The third quarter began quickly.

The Timberwolves attacked first, and Lue dribbled the ball over.

Lu is a master of setting up play in half-court situations, capable of delivering some exquisite passes, but he's not a player like Curry or Lillard who can score with the ball. In today's league, where point guards are expected to participate in a significant portion of the offense, his style seems somewhat retro and doesn't quite fit the current trend.

But the Timberwolves desperately need him to do that. LaVine, Wiggins, and Towns are three young talents, and there aren't enough players to go around. Adding another point guard who needs to take a lot of shots would be even more difficult, even if Dieng doesn't take a single shot.

Lu Yuanwai passed the ball to Towns in the high post, and Towns held the ball high and faced Harris.

Towns loves receiving the ball at the high post, where he can create a triple threat or shoot directly, showcasing his versatility as a center. Most big men simply can't keep up with him. However, his current problem is that if the opponent uses a power forward or even a tall small forward to mismatch him, he struggles to score facing-up unless he goes to the low post.

Harris isn't fast or tall, but he's very strong, so Towns doesn't have much of an advantage when driving in face-up.

Towns doesn't like physical contact; he prefers to play defensively, ideally in the preseason where he can showcase his all-around skills. Once someone gets physical with him, his shooting percentage tends to drop, turnovers increase, and complaints follow.

Towns missed a shot after being closely guarded and complained to the referee that he had been fouled.

DeAndre Jordan grabbed the rebound and passed it to Patrick Beverley to dribble over.

At this point, everyone noticed that the defender guarding Jia Fei had changed from LaVine in the first half to Wiggins in the second half.

Like Towns, Wiggins was also a number one draft pick. In the 2014 NBA draft, he was selected first overall by the Cavaliers, but was immediately traded to the Timberwolves in exchange for Love.

The Running Man team wants to form a Big Three to win the championship, and they need to win now. Clearly, they don't have time to wait for Wiggins to slowly develop. Wiggins is very unhappy about this; every time he faces the Cavaliers, he plays with incredible intensity, like he's on steroids. But after playing the Cavaliers, he enters a long cooldown period, starting to drink goji berries in his thermos, becoming a true "Goji Berry Mamba."

Data shows that Wiggins has the shortest average running distance among all NBA starters who play more than 30 minutes per game—even shorter than a fast-paced running man. Keep in mind that Wiggins is only 23 years old; he should be at an age where he's constantly running!

Many Chinese fans jokingly say that if any active NBA player could play until 50, it would definitely be Wiggins.

Wiggins didn't put in as much effort defending JaVale as he did LaVine, clearly indicating he didn't enjoy the hard work. Full-court coverage and tight off-ball marking require a lot of energy, which is precious to him. Rather than expending that energy on such tasks, he figured he might as well just go through the motions; after all, the pay wouldn't be cheap.

Jia Fei didn't feel Wiggins' strong resistance. He changed direction while moving, accelerated, and instantly shook off his opponent. He cut to the basket, used a Euro step to shake off Dion Jelly, and scored!

58:51, the score difference has widened to 7 points!

Timberwolves head coach Thibodeau on the sidelines was unhappy with Wiggins' defense, saying it was just for show and that with this level of defensive intensity, how could he expect to stop Jia Fei, the current league scoring leader?

What an international joke!

Fortunately, the Timberwolves' offense didn't go cold. Towns made a quick pass to Dieng under the basket for a dunk, responding in kind!

Beverley brought the ball over and passed it to Jia Fei, who had come out to screen for an off-ball movement!

Jia Fei's off-ball movement went very smoothly, but Wiggins, who was following him, eventually stopped!

Jia Fei received the ball and took a three-pointer—and there's more!

61:53, the point difference has widened to 8 points!

Towns' jump shot missed!

After grabbing the rebound, Jia Fei led the fast break, drove the length of the court, and finished with a powerful dunk over Lu Yuanwai who was helping on defense!

63:53, a difference of 10 points...

Facing Wiggins' defense, Jia Fei went 3-for-3 in the second half, scoring 7 points without breaking a sweat. Is this what Thibodeau calls "iron-clad defense"?

What about iron and blood? Is the juice of goji berries considered blood?

The Timberwolves called a timeout, and Target Center fell silent. Faced with Jia Fei's unstoppable offense, their two future stars, LaVine and Wiggins, seemed to have instantly become like a bowl of ramen and a goji berry drink. It felt like even having three future stars couldn't compare to having only Jia Fei on the opposing team. The fans felt a sudden sense of despair, a truly unpleasant feeling. You can tank or be a bottom-feeder for now, but you need to show me hope. Clearly, it's hard to see any of these three players who could be the cornerstone of a championship-contending team.

On the commentary side, Kenny Smith looked at Barkley with amusement, without saying a word.

Barkley was playing dumb, knowing full well what was going on but not saying anything either. He was like a dead pig that doesn't fear boiling water; it wasn't the first time he'd been proven wrong. He'd already kissed a donkey's ass, so asking him to do it again wouldn't matter. He'd already got the traffic and attention; what did being proven wrong matter? Making money wasn't shameful.

After the timeout, Wiggins tried a little harder than before, but only a little; he still wasn't going all out. And to think he could defend Jia Fei with only 7% of his power was simply a joke.

Jia Fei scored another 15 points in the quarter, bringing his total to 45 points after three quarters. You don't feel like he's shooting like crazy, but he's almost at 50 points!

Thanks to Jia Fei's incredible scoring, the Clippers extended their lead to 18 points by the end of the third quarter.

In the final quarter, the Timberwolves double-teamed Jia Fei relentlessly, but it was too late.