Back then, Garnett had a team , he led the team to the first place in the west, and he got the MVP himself. If not for those two years when Artest and Ben Wallace defended too fiercely, he could have contended for the DPOY.
That year, he was riding high, even though they lost 2 to 4 in the Western Conference Finals, he still thought his era had arrived, because Cassell got injured after playing 4 games in the Western Conference Finals, missing two games, otherwise it would have been hard to say who would have won or lost.
Moreover, during the 03-04 regular season, the Timberwolves faced the Pistons twice and won both games!
It was just that Garnett cared about appearances, had it been someone else, they would definitely have shouted after the Lakers were out, "If I go to the finals, I will definitely sweep the Pistons."
Who would have thought that the glory lasted only one year, the off-season refrigerator started acting up, citing ’injuries, age’ as reasons, wanting Cassell to accept an annual salary of 3-4 million US dollars, then turned around and begged the madman, making the madman think the Timberwolves couldn’t do without him, the new season was full of internal conflicts within the team, a mess, by the summer of 05 Cassell went to the Clippers with a contract averaging 7 million per year, the madman refused to renew the contract because he thought a 7 million annual salary was too low... everything vanished into thin air.
While Garnett was reminiscing about the past, anxious about the present, on the other side, the Bobcats’ players were in a completely different mood, very happy.
wins and 18 losses, they were close to bringing their winning percentage back to the highest peak in franchise history!
On December 31, 2006, after their narrow victory over the Knicks on the road, their record came to 21 wins and 10 losses, a winning percentage of 67.7%, now it’s 66.7%, very close!
Zhang Yang no longer paid attention to Garnett, for him and Felton, whatever happened on Garnett’s side, they treated it as gossip and laughed about it.
Garnett and them had nothing to do with each other; if they were to trade for Garnett, they’d probably have to send out the Crown Prince or Larry Bird along with a few role players, and probably had to add a few more draft picks... Now, the team was theirs, if they traded Garnett back, it would be hard to say to whom the team would belong.
Of course, the Wolf King at the peak of his powers at 30, such splendor, if really given to them, wouldn’t be too bad, it’s just hard to accept.
From the perspective of the league’s scheduling, the Timberwolves and the Hawks were bottom feeders fighting for the first pick, used to help the Bobcats find their rhythm after coming back from the All-Star weekend, it’s just that Garnett staunchly rejected the team’s tanking plan, leading the team to a level of performance on the edge of the Eastern playoffs, which caused quite some trouble for the Bobcats.
However, this inadvertently gave the Bobcats a bit of strength, helping the players who rested for a week come back faster to form.
After playing two consecutive home games, the Bobcats started a four-game road trip.
The next day, the 20th at noon, the Bobcats flew to Toronto, starting this series of away games from the north, heading south.
At the hotel in Toronto, the northern border still deathly cold near March, no one from the Big Brother Group wanted to go out, they gathered in the leader’s room to discuss tomorrow’s opponent, the Toronto Raptors.
There was a former Hawks player named Ermanoeil Davis, who, when playing away against the Toronto Raptors, ordered delivery and had a fiery winter revelry with the delivery girl.
The delivery girl might have been accustomed to the northern climate, enjoyed herself a lot, Ermanoeil Davis ended up in the hospital post-revelry and never fully recovered, bowing out of the NBA at the age of 25... His misfortune somewhat served as a cautionary tale, discouraging NBA players from enjoying the wild northern winter festivities.
It’s mainly because this year the Raptors had a fierce rise, performing as the best in the East alongside Pistons at mid-season, surpassing the Nets to become the best team in the Atlantic Division, entering the top four in the East.
The last time the Bobcats played the Raptors at home, Zhang Yang scored 37 points and the Bobcats won by only 7 points.
Of course, that time they had just entered a fatigue period, while the Raptors were ascending after getting past their early-season adjustments. The opponent was strong while they were weak, which is why Zhang Yang had to score so high and no one erupted on the other side for them to win.
However, this time they were missing Gerald Wallace, which might have a bigger impact than being in a fatigued state; after all, Gerald Wallace’s increase in injuries midway through the season meant reduced playing time, but his performance per se wasn’t significantly affected, which is why he managed to be chosen as an All-Star starter over Okafor, who had to compete based on performance.
The ’Big Brother Group’ held a pre-game discussion when playing away during the All-Star weekend, which Zhang Yang, Felton, Okafor, and Rondo decided as a new team-building activity.
It could kill time and also reduce the time spent messing around outside. Players like Felton and Rondo knew that they should conserve their energy while playing away, but still wanted to go out, Felton because he had the money to enjoy himself, Rondo because he had just turned 21 and was interested in bars.
Besides the four of them, there were Alan Anderson and Matt Carroll, Gerald Wallace would normally be called too, but the Prince was injured and didn’t accompany the team to Toronto, so maybe next time.
Felton was responsible for raising issues, Okafor and Zhang Yang mainly discussed, Rondo provided ideas, Anderson and Matt Carroll set the mood.
The first ’team building’ went smoothly; they debated for half an hour, feeling that the Raptors didn’t have particularly evident weaknesses, making them hard to beat.
Yes, this was the result of their first ’team building’ discussion, Zhang Yang said they would do more preparation, and keep pushing next time.
At the end of the discussion, Felton complained, "The Raptors’ summer signings were too on point, they’ve shored up exactly where needed, Colangelo’s trading ability is just too strong."