At 6 in the evening, the game between the Bobcats and the Timberwolves began.
The Timberwolves’ starting lineup: Randy Foye, Marko Jaric, Rashad McCants, Mark Madsen, Bynum.
The Bobcats’ starting lineup: Felton, Zhang Yang, Hill, Millsap, Okafor.
Bynum beat Okafor to win the jump ball, and the Timberwolves were the first to attack.
Randy Foye advanced to the frontcourt, passed the ball to the low post, Bynum received the ball and backed down Okafor, gathered, turned around, and made a hook shot facing the baseline... Score!
This set of post-up hook shots was fluid, with a soft touch, and even Okafor, as the opponent, couldn’t help but admire it with a mix of envy and jealousy — true to the Center produced by the Lakers, that little hook shot was really great.
In the current era, the hook shot was synonymous with the Lakers — both Jabbar and the Big Shark’s main scoring moves were hook shots; Jabbar’s could extend to mid-distance, known as the "sky hook," while the latter mostly operated close to the rim, hence the "little hook shot."
Bynum’s hook shot range wasn’t much different from that of the Big Shark.
However, Carlisle on the Bobcats’ bench, after seeing Bynum’s hook shot, looked at the opposing coach’s bench — Timberwolves’ head coach Randy Whitman.
Bynum’s sequence of hook shots, apart from the shooting action being a hook, had little to do with Jabbar, but instead resembled that guy quite a bit.
Both Carlisle and Whitman were players from the 80s and both were big guards with not much athletic ability. Whitman, at his peak, averaged 12 points and 3 assists per game as a playmaking scoring guard, whereas Carlisle was on the fringe, encountering Whitman in several postseason matchups where Carlisle couldn’t defend against him, always getting scored on by Whitman’s hook shot from close range — a very deep impression.
Bynum had spent two years at the Lakers honing his post-up and hook shot fundamentals, and upon arriving at the Timberwolves, did Whitman stamp his hook shot offense onto him? Carlisle thought: Shameless!
Indeed, Bynum wasn’t that suited for Jabbar’s post-up hook shot technique — the physical differences between the two were too great.
Jabbar was three to four centimeters taller than Bynum but weighed more than ten kilograms less. Jabbar’s hook shots were thrown to avoid contact, extending outwards; Bynum was better suited to working through contact, getting as close to the rim as possible.
Randy Whitman also relied on his weight to get into position close to the basket for his hook shots. In the 80s, the 198 cm and over 100 kg Whitman was considered a heavy guard and indeed better suited for Bynum.
But Carlisle still felt Whitman was unscrupulous, capitalizing on the Lakers’ training.
However, Carlisle did find Whitman’s grooming of Bynum quite effective, quickly tapping into Bynum’s potential.
The Timberwolves’ ability to help young big men polish their fundamentals may not be as strong as the Lakers’, but they could offer Bynum what the Lakers couldn’t. On the Lakers, the focus on court was definitely Kobe first, then Odom. Last season, even Kwame Brown and Luke Walton had a higher tactical status than Bynum; while at the Timberwolves, whether on or off the court, they prioritized Bynum alone, pouring all resources into him and it wouldn’t matter if they wasted the talent of others.
Furthermore, the Timberwolves’ support for their big men in honing the fundamentals was notable league-wide, albeit not as renowned as the Lakers’.
When it was the Bobcats’ turn to attack, Okafor unusually took the initiative to ask for the ball. Seeing Zhang Yang open, Felton passed the ball to Okafor, who was in the right elbow area.
Okafor backed down Bynum, turned to face the basket, and showcased his footwork.
Bynum defended quite well, with a suitable blend of height, arm span, weight, movement speed, and defensive awareness.
Despite that, Okafor’s one-on-one footwork was solid and exquisite, and his explosive first step was clearly quicker, exploiting a gap to step into the charge circle. As he cut in, he raised the ball, landing under the basket with both feet, and as he did so, the ball followed the momentum of his leap toward the rim, dropping into the basket!
The crowd cheered loudly, responding to the score!
Zhang Yang was somewhat surprised by this move; if Okafor had created an opportunity with a spin or reverse move, he wouldn’t have been surprised, as that was Okafor’s forte. However, he wasn’t expecting Okafor to rely on speed... Last season when they faced off, Okafor didn’t have a speed advantage; he was on par with Bynum.
Before his major injury, Bynum was a surefire super prospect, maxed out in talent except for his mentality, weighing 130 kg with movement abilities that even compared favorably to those of power forwards, and his durability was also decent in his first two and a half years.
That changed midway through the 07-08 season when Bynum landed on Odom’s foot while fighting for a rebound in a crowd, twisting and dislocating his knee in a way that caused structural damage to the joint and injured his meniscus, requiring surgery and ending his season.
The complexity of the injury made treatment difficult, and when Bynum returned for the 08-09 season, his movement, explosiveness, and jumping speed were all notably affected. Knee problems persisted throughout his career — Bynum was a different athlete before and after that injury... except for his mentality, which stayed the same.
Bynum’s movement speed had only improved since last season, yet Okafor managed to create a slight advantage with pace...
As they transitioned back to defense, teammates went to high-five Okafor, and Zhang Yang asked during the high-five, "Did you successfully lose weight?"
Okafor’s weight loss this time was minimal, unlike the previous attempt to shed 10 kilograms over several months, so the change in physique wasn’t as noticeable. Since Zhang Yang saw him every day, he couldn’t tell the difference.
It was mainly because it had been a while since the Bobcats faced a big man with similar mobility to Okafor. They either faced players like Stoudemire and Thaddeus Young, who had physical athleticism comparable to small forwards, or players like Murphy and Krstic, who were the kind of shooting big men with poor mobility.