It’s not that he has a hunched back, he has to hunch his back.

Zhang Hao heard that Minnesota Timberwolves Vice President McHale made a rule: anyone over 213 cm has to play center.

Don’t know why there’s such an odd rule, luckily Durant wasn’t picked by a team with McHale as GM or coach in the future...

Before Christmas, Zhang Hao saw a piece of news that the Timberwolves fired their previous head coach Bill Blair, choosing the star coach from the University of Minnesota, the 40-year-old young coach Philip Sanders, as their new head coach.

The first thing Philip Sanders did was promote Garnett to the starting small forward position.

This choice is quite right. Yesterday, when Zhang Hao was reading the scout report, one piece of information was that Garnett, who previously only averaged 7.2 points and 5.5 rebounds before Christmas, in the 7 games after Christmas averaged 12.3 points and 7.6 rebounds, with steals and blocks both breaking 1.5 per game.

At 6:58 PM, both teams’ starters came onto the court.

Playing small forward can actually match up against each other, Zhang Hao felt that he and Garnett were really destined.

And... they were both small forwards for the jump ball! 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

At the center circle were Zhang Hao and Garnett!

The fans on site watched as Mr. Magic and Campbell, Guglielota and Lightner, these four inside starters on the sides, did not go for the jump ball, having the small forwards jump instead, which made the scene quite special.

But Garnett didn’t feel he was destined with Zhang Hao, he only felt Zhang Hao was his nemesis!

Both were high schoolers, why does Zhang Hao always show off more than him?

points! A triple-double with blocks! Played 32 games and averaged 26.5 points... It’s just too much!

At 7 o’clock, the referee walked to the center circle with the ball.

Zhang Hao hesitated for a long time, seeing the game was about to start, and once the game starts he doesn’t like to talk, hurriedly said: "Kevin, congratulations on becoming a starter."

At this moment, the referee blew the whistle to start the game and threw the ball into the air, Zhang Hao quickly jumped up and easily tipped the ball behind...

Garnett was stunned when he heard Zhang Hao’s words, and didn’t jump during the jump ball!

Afterwards, Zhang Hao quickly sprinted forward, Garnett just realized he forgot to jump, also forgot to chase after Zhang Hao... Didn’t start immediately, Garnett couldn’t catch up!

Zhang Hao "Single Rider" activated, quickly rushed to the frontcourt to catch Magician’s long pass, facing the Timberwolves’ poor defense, easily inserted into the paint for a single-handed dunk scoring two points.

Garnett watched Zhang Hao slap hands with Magician without expression after dunking and returning to the backcourt...

"Despicable wretch! Do you have any gentlemanly manner?"

Garnett was already furious right at the start! How could he be distracted by a taunt during the jump ball?

Zhang Hao genuinely wanted to congratulate Garnett on getting rid of the coach Bill Blair who looked down on high school rookies, but to Garnett, this was sarcastic!

Since Zhang Hao started as a starter from the first regular season game, and upon joining the Lakers quickly became the core around whom the team built, while Garnett was just now starting as a starter.

In a Timberwolves team like this, Garnett received a lot of negative feedback over time, he always thought of the worst when hearing something, especially since the media always said the Timberwolves made the wrong choice in picking high schoolers...

As such, Garnett went into a frenzy of defense!

Timberwolves’ first offensive started poorly, Lightner demanded the ball at the start and went for a solo play but missed.

Lately, Lightner has been very distressed, feeling a strong sense of crisis, he already felt the team doesn’t value him as much as before, so he fought desperately for shot rights, which led to a decline in efficiency instead.

When the Lakers attacked, Zhang Hao felt Garnett was like crazy, pursuing the defense with pulling and fouling + small moves, and indeed, Garnett’s speed of 87 + adhesive-like defense, and his excellent ability to defend through screens, made it truly difficult for Mr. Zhang to find an opportunity to catch and shoot.

Garnett defending off-ball players was a benefit for the Timberwolves, as it didn’t require others to help switch defense! This was a praised aspect of Garnett’s talent, and as a rookie, he single-handedly supported the team’s defensive region, watching his game was reminiscent of Olajuwon, a historically defensive player who could independently guard a region.

Playing in Los Angeles, Timberwolves players were very excited, Lakers’ first half-court offensive seemed to have to rely on Van Exel for a forced shot.

At this moment, Zhang Hao actively came to the left side of the three-second zone, leaned on Garnett, asking for the ball!

Since it was a solo play, Zhang Hao wanted to do it himself!

Usually not like this, but tonight against Garnett, seeing Garnett seemed particularly excited, Zhang Hao was also excited!

Playing against rookies of the same draft year made him really want to hit them hard, especially against those of higher draft pick; Zhang Hao’s teammates were already understanding of this characteristic.

Van Exel grumbled "petty gentleman" and then passed the ball to Zhang Hao.

Zhang Hao suddenly took a step in, made a turnaround fadeaway...

Although Garnett had a physical advantage over Zhang Hao, with a large power disparity, similar tonnage, Garnett was bumped back into the three-second zone with one step, and watched as Zhang Hao easily made the turnaround fadeaway!

Despite Garnett having an ability rating of 78, 4 points higher than Zhang Hao’s ability rating of 74.

But Garnett was too well-rounded, he could do everything but wasn’t excellent at anything yet, on the defensive end, he was only strong at helping defense, chasing defense, and cutting off routes, he had talent, but in a duel with an extreme strong point player like Zhang Hao... he was hammered right at the start!

The audience again gave Zhang Hao applause and cheers!

Playing against the second to last in the West, fifth to last in the league, the Lakers fans wouldn’t be so enthusiastic, but when they met Zhang Hao’s fellow rookie from the same draft year who had a higher draft rank, the fans loved to cheer!

Fans also noticed Zhang Hao targeted higher-ranked rookies from the same draft, and they wished the world recognized — their gentleman should have been the first pick!