As the season progressed, Wang Yi had now begun starting.
So the Lakers' lineup was as follows:
Point Guard: Wang Yi.
Shooting Guard: Zhang Yu.
Small Forward: Divine Pill Danny.
Power Forward: Dauding.
Center: Akur.
This lineup's main approach was defense and three-pointers.
Wang Yi, Danny, Zhang Yu, and Akur all had Three-point Percentages of around 40%.
So as long as two of them got hot, this lineup would be extremely powerful.
If three of them got hot, they would be nearly unstoppable.
And if all four got hot, the other side might as well surrender.
The Timberwolves' lineup was as follows:
Point Guard: Luke Daniel.
Shooting Guard: Edwards.
Small Forward: Arvydas.
Power Forward: Qilar.
Center: Juan.
This lineup was vastly different from last season's.
Other than Juan and Edwards, every other player had been replaced.
The reason was that although the old lineup had been stable and had played together for many years, making the Playoffs almost every season, it had never achieved much in the Playoffs.
So this year, the management had made the painful decision to trade or cut everyone else, keeping only Edwards and Juan.
They rebuilt the Timberwolves around those two.
Generally speaking, a rebuilding team needed at least two years to show the competitiveness it should have.
But with Juan and Edwards holding down the fort, these Timberwolves had reached the Western Conference Finals in their very first year of rebuilding.
No one had expected the Timberwolves' rebuild to be so swift and successful.
The two sides now came to center court for the opening tip.
Akur and the Timberwolves' center Juan took the jump ball.
The two were about the same height, but Juan was stronger.
Yet he was not bulky and muscular; he had the kind of strength Wolf King Garnett once