The strength played by the Timberwolves really made Liu Xiu feel helpless.

The Trail Blazers' strongest interior twin towers have no advantage when facing the Timberwolves, just like when facing the Spurs.

Randolph, who was still growing up, met Garnett and scored 11 points and 10 rebounds on 4 of 12 shots.

The highest scorer for the Trail Blazers was Tianzun, who made 7 of 16 shots, including 1 of 4 three-pointers, plus 6 of 7 free throws, scoring 21 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists.

On the bright side, Liu Xiu still saw many bright spots in their team.

For example, Myers came off the bench tonight and faced off against Garnett bravely. Although he only made 2 of 7 shots, 4 points and 4 rebounds, his enthusiasm has obviously changed.

Miles, who had just woken up in the last game, felt very different tonight.

He originally thought he would be disliked by his teammates because of his previous self-destruction, but it turned out not to be the case!

When he actively ran out of position, his teammates really gave him the ball.

He took more shots than the Outlaws who scored 6 points on 2-for-4 shooting and 2-for-3 free throws.

It's a pity that he didn't grasp it.

During this period, he once hesitated before taking action and was ridiculed by the warden. But when he took action decisively, no one blamed him.

After this man came out of his own small world, he discovered that the big world was very different from what he had imagined!

…

Back to fifth in the Western Conference.

Liu Xiu deeply felt what the Wild West was.

The top four in the Western Conference, by the middle of the season, there is no sense of decline in strength.

As for the Trail Blazers, some players have already experienced significant fluctuations in status.

By the middle of the season, the difference between the top teams and ordinary playoff teams has become more obvious.

But he had no time to worry about such things, nor did he have the heart to worry about such things for which there was no solution.

The morning after playing against the Timberwolves, Liu Xiu started another consecutive away trip with the team. This time, it was five consecutive away games in the Western Conference.

First I came to Seattle, and after a night's rest, I went to Key Arena to challenge the SuperSonics away from home on January 13th.

The SuperSonics coach looked at Ray Allen in a suit on his bench and sighed.

They are in pretty good shape this year. Although they had a rough start, by the end of last year, they had reached eighth place in the Western Conference, once surpassing the records of the Rockets and Nuggets.

But as soon as the new year came, Ray Allen was injured and was sidelined for a month.

The record has also plummeted from 17 wins and 14 losses to the current 19 wins and 17 losses.

There's no way around it. Ray Allen wants to be the team's leading scorer, averaging 23.6 points per game, and also the first point of attack, averaging 4.8 assists per game. He has to do everything, break through, shoot, defend... and he's tired of everything.

Injured.

The main reason is that their team has no other offensive points except Brent Barry.

After Ray Allen was injured, Barry averaged 7 assists per game, which looked great, but his offense organization was similar to Andre Miller's, he just put the ball in place, which was similar to Ray Allen's sudden scoring style.

Much worse than the effect.

Injury is a force majeure factor, Nate McMillan can't help it.

But looking at the warden opposite.

How coincidental?

The SuperSonics selected Nick Collison with the 12th pick in the first round and Luke Ridnour with the 14th pick in the first round.

Liu Xiu was the 13th pick in the first round.

Ridnour, who has averaged 3.8 points and 1.9 assists per game so far this season, is a third point guard who is talented, but still needs training.

Nick Collison, reimbursed.

Nate McMillan wants to cry every time he sees the news about Liu Xiu’s violent performance!

Although the Sonics had no plan to draft Liu Xiu at the beginning, they never put Liu Xiu on the list of candidates for the 12th and 14th picks.

But looking at it now, didn't they just miss a top rookie who has performed as well as Anthony and James for a season?

The key is that this rookie is suitable for their SuperSonics team.

Think about it, with Liu Xiu sorting out the offense and using Brent Barry's passing ability to his advantage, wouldn't Ray Allen not be injured?

Then add Lewis, Radmanovic, Ronald Murray...

At 7 o'clock in the evening, the Trail Blazers' away game against the SuperSonics started.

The game picked up steam right from the start!

Because the Sonics felt really good tonight!

Lewis and Radmanovic made a combined 7 of 11 shots in the first quarter, including 4 of 6 three-pointers, plus 2 of 2 free throws, and combined for 20 points in a single quarter!

Under the leadership of the two, the Sonics scored 35 points in a single quarter, beating the Trail Blazers 35 to 29, leading by 6 points entering the intersection break.

The Trail Blazers are actively adjusting. When it comes to the break, Maurice Cheeks doesn't have to think anymore and just goes straight to the attack!

This was the right choice. The Trail Blazers players let go and played smoothly.

Although the Sonics scored another 28 points in the second quarter, which was still a high-level scoring performance, the Trail Blazers scored 32 points in a single quarter and narrowed the gap by 4 points at halftime!

The Trail Blazers entered the second half trailing the Sonics by two points, 61-63.

In the third quarter, the Trail Blazers once again scored 32 points in a single quarter. This time, the Sonics failed to keep up and only scored 24 points. The Trail Blazers led the Sonics by 6 points, 93-87, entering the final quarter.

In the final quarter, the Trail Blazers gave the Sonics no chance, and no one from the Sonics could step up to create a chance.

The Trail Blazers scored 25-22 in the final quarter.

In the end, the Trail Blazers defeated the SuperSonics 118-109!

The whole team was showing off, except Liu Xiu.

Played 33 minutes, made 1 of 5 shots, and 3 of 4 free throws, scoring 5 points, 6 rebounds, 8 assists and 1 steal...

It's very different from the Timberwolves. The Timberwolves are all veterans. They may be very concerned about Liu Xiu's sky-high endorsement contract, All-Star vote favorites, etc., but their first goal is to hit the Kings' No. 1 spot in the Western Conference.

Winning is more important to them, and with Szczerbiak out of the regular season, they have no time to care about Liu Xiu and can just play according to tactics.

The young stars of the Sonics all want to lock down Liu Xiu.

Ronald Murray, second grade; Ridnour, same class; Radmanovic, third grade...

It's just that they haven't played against each other that many times, and they don't know Liu Xiu well. Liu Xiu often seems to have bad shooting games but still has to shoot.

Indeed, when the opportunity comes and his teammates don't have such a good chance, Liu Xiu will shoot decisively.

But he is also the type who will not invest unless he takes over the pot if he has no chance.

The Trail Blazers bucked the trend in the second quarter. Part of the reason was that Liu Xiu took advantage of the opponent's defensive focus to send the ball to his teammates who had better opportunities, and his teammates made the shot!

In the end, the overall rating of the competition was quite high, with an A-level overall rating, which was better than he expected.

…

Defeating the Sonics kicked off a new wave of consecutive away games for the Trail Blazers.

The next day, January 14, the Trail Blazers came to their second stop, Sacramento, the capital of California.

Next up is a back-to-back, with two California teams, the Kings and Clippers.

Yesterday's game between the Trail Blazers and the SuperSonics, according to common sense, the news should have written that the Trail Blazers' calm adjustment when encountering an unexpected situation at the beginning is worthy of being a strong team that has not missed the playoffs for more than 20 consecutive years...

But no, the most discussed news about their Trail Blazers that Liu Xiu saw was "Only 5 points, Warden falls into the rookie wall?"

He just scored 18 points with a high shooting percentage against the Timberwolves a few days ago!

Their last hot news was that they were kicked to fifth place in the Western Conference by the Timberwolves.

The public opinion environment of their Trail Blazers team is still so free and unrestrained.

It’s so sad…

At this time, a piece of good news soothed the warden's injured heart. Bill Duffy called. The details of the sneaker endorsement contract had been negotiated.

It just so happened that the Nuggets were going to play the Warriors in Oakland today. Tomorrow afternoon, Liu Xiu and Anthony went to sign the contract together and take care of the group photos, promotional photos, signing press conference and other chores.

I haven’t seen Xiao Dongdong for a long time. He hasn’t answered his calls recently. Liu Xiu doesn’t even know how to offend him...

Nothing happened all night. The next day, the Trail Blazers challenged the Kings away from home.

The Trail Blazers did not practice yesterday, which does not mean they do not pay attention to this game, but their schedule means more rest is more important than practicing one more afternoon.

During this away trip, they directly canceled training on rest days.

But on match day, their preparations were very focused and serious.

The coaching staff was quite surprised by the enthusiasm of the players on match day.

In the middle of last season, they were not so focused. As a result, they lost too much in the middle of last season. Even if they had a good record at the end of the season, they were held back by the middle of the season, and in the end they only got 50 wins.

If they had won two more games last season, they would have reached fourth place in the Western Conference and avoided the Mavericks, the leader of the Western Conference Finals.
To be continued...