Breaking the Record!

Zhou Ze's pull-up three made Szczerbiak regret his carelessness, while also making him realize that this rookie was not the stereotypical stationary sharpshooter players had imagined.

He possessed guard-level speed.

After Zhou Ze hit his seventh three-pointer, the Timberwolves had already elevated their defense on him to "superstar treatment."

Aside from Szczerbiak's cautious attention, the other players also did their best to cut off the connection between the ballhandler and Zhou Ze.

Zhou Ze also tried to exploit the mismatch by posting up Szczerbiak under the basket.

With his muscular frame and outstanding strength, Zhou Ze could back his defender down and bulldoze his way inside.

But only for the first two hard backs-downs.

Lacking polished footwork, Zhou Ze's legs seemed a little unsteady. Even when he managed to carve out space, Kevin Garnett was still there protecting the rim on help defense.

With historically elite defensive range, Garnett casually sent Zhou Ze's shot back twice over the next three minutes.

There was nothing he could do.

Zhou Ze's post offense was genuinely lacking right now, while Garnett was the undisputed king of help defense.

"Man, don't guard me so tightly. I'm just a little rookie!" Zhou Ze half-jokingly said to Szczerbiak, who stuck to him like glue.

"Man, you're too accurate. I don't want you setting a new record on our home court."

"Otherwise, Coach Casey won't let me off easy."

Szczerbiak spoke with a serious expression.

Zhou Ze could only spread his hands, looking utterly helpless.

In half-court sets, it was difficult for Zhou Ze to get good scoring opportunities.

Not only was his three-point shooting being locked down, but so was his offense at the rim.

This was also the downside of having no mid-range game.

It was even more the downside of off-ball offense: it was hard to sustain volume, and he had to rely on his teammates' passes.

Of course, Zhou Ze's off-ball movement also drew the opposing defense, creating good offensive opportunities for his teammates.

For Kobe, who treated single coverage as being wide open and double teams as single coverage, this was simply too comfortable.

Kobe seized those opportunities with precision and went straight into Kobe Time.

During a 14–4 scoring run, Kobe hit a three-pointer, a mid-range jumper, a thunderous dunk after a hesitation-step drive, and then assisted Kwame Brown for a dunk under the basket after a spin move.

Whenever Kobe had the ball, the Timberwolves fans trembled for no apparent reason.

Even Charles Barkley in the TNT broadcast booth could not help but sigh. "I feel like I'm seeing that man again."

With less than four minutes remaining in the first half, the Timberwolves called another timeout.

This one was forced by Kobe.

On the Timberwolves bench.

Coach Dwyane Wade kept scratching his head.

Against Kobe in full killer mode, they had to find a way to contain him, even if they could not shut him down completely.

An offensive weapon like that really could kill a game all by himself.

Dwyane Wade scratched his head.

Then scratched it again.

Right now, the Lakers had placed two bottles of poison before the Timberwolves.

One was a deadly poison—Kobe, lethal with a single strike.

The other was a lesser poison—Zhou Ze, killing without a trace.

After weighing it again and again, Dwyane Wade chose the lesser poison. "KG, we need to put more attention on Kobe. Zhou, that rookie, we can leave him alone for now."

"He hasn't touched the ball in a while. Maybe his shooting touch has already cooled off."

Kevin Garnett nodded.

The current Timberwolves were barely being held together by Garnett alone. Against the powerful Lakers, they had the will but lacked the ability.

The timeout ended.

Play resumed.

Zhou Ze sharply noticed that the Timberwolves had loosened up somewhat in denying him the ball.

Before the timeout, whenever Zhou Ze moved off the ball, Szczerbiak would stay glued to him, while other players lurked along the passing lanes. The moment anyone dared to pass, it would be a steal in no time.

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Kobe caught the ball and faced Minnesota Timberwolves guard Marko Jaric. With a triple-threat jab step, he slanted his body and drove out, using his terrifying core strength to lean off his opponent's shoulder and slip past him.

Kobe's talent was almost completely covered by Michael Jordan's, except in agility and core strength.

He had been the king of core strength before Morant.

Kobe drew the entire Timberwolves defense. Garnett came over to help, while another defender prepared to contest at any moment.

At the top of the arc, Zhou Ze made a back cut and bumped lightly into Szczerbiak. That bump immediately left Szczerbiak stumbling, his balance shaken.

Zhou Ze ran to the corner and received Kobe's pass out of a three-man trap.

Kobe averaged five assists per game. His passing ability was far from poor.

Zhou Ze caught the ball, rose up, and fired in one smooth motion.

By the time Szczerbiak rushed over from behind, Zhou Ze had already released the shot.

With a swish...

Zhou Ze hit another three-pointer!!!

After a brief silence, the entire Timberwolves home arena erupted in waves of boos.

At that moment!

They understood that this rookie before them, along with his Lakers, wanted to set a new NBA record for three-pointers in a half.

After scoring, Zhou Ze winked at Kobe, who had assisted him.

Sure enough, the off-ball movement details Kobe had told him during the timeout really worked.

Zhou Ze was an interior player who weighed 113 kilograms and could bench-press 84 kilograms twenty-two times. That bump into Szczerbiak before running to the corner was enough to throw off his opponent's balance and prevent him from chasing Zhou Ze immediately. Then Zhou Ze used his speed to reach the corner.

There were also the details in his eyes—making Szczerbiak think he was headed for the right corner when he was actually going to the left-wing corner.

"Defend!"

"Defend!"

"Defend!"

The Timberwolves fans rose from their seats and shouted at the top of their lungs.

Clearly, they had no intention of letting Zhou Ze, that damn rookie, set a new record on their home court.

The roar was immense and deafening.

"Zhou, you're probably the most annoying rookie I've ever seen," Kobe couldn't help complaining.

"That's right. And I'm also the strongest rookie in history," Zhou Ze shamelessly boasted.

Kobe rolled his eyes.

Garnett responded on the next possession. Facing up from the high post, he took one dribble and rose for a tough jumper, knocking it down over Zhou Ze's short arms.

Uh...

Although Zhou Ze's wingspan had already grown to 213 centimeters, it was still far inferior to Garnett's ape-like reach.

Garnett's basket briefly soothed the restless Timberwolves fans.

Zhou Ze wanted to hit his ninth three-pointer as soon as possible and break the NBA record for three-pointers in a half.

After scoring, Garnett kept talking trash to Zhou Ze. "Rookie, was air guarding me just now?"

Zhou Ze ignored him.

With little time left before halftime, Zhou Ze wanted to make his ninth three-pointer as quickly as possible, break the NBA half-time three-point record, and see what reward that lousy system would give him.

Growing impatient, Zhou Ze repeated the same move and used a back cut to delay Szczerbiak's first step. But his intentions were too obvious, and the Big Ticket, Garnett, saw right through him.

The instant Lamar Odom passed the ball to Zhou Ze, Garnett rushed toward him.

A 213-centimeter player with wing-level athleticism charged at Zhou Ze like a vicious wolf.

His astonishing wingspan spread like a spider's web, engulfing Zhou Ze.

After catching the ball, Zhou Ze appeared to have only one option: pass.

And even that pass would not be easy to make.

However...

Zhou Ze suddenly planted his feet hard and leaned backward. While still in midair, the upper half of his body was already beyond the sideline.

Garnett sprang up after him, his explosive leap unbelievably quick, One-Handed Sky Cover.

Forced to raise the arc in midair, Zhou Ze launched the ball.

The instant the basketball left his fingertips, it was almost touched by Garnett's fingers.

At that moment!

The entire arena held its breath, watching the basketball carve an arc through the air.