The way of the center

Chapter 376 The Countdown to the Playoffs

March is undoubtedly a brilliant month for the Trail Blazers.Sports Illustrated magazine even ranked the Trail Blazers No.1 on their power rankings!
The Oklahoma City Thunder, Los Angeles Lakers, Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs, who performed well this season, were all ranked behind the Trail Blazers led by Anjie by Sports Illustrated.

No way, the Trail Blazers' record of 18 wins and 15 wins in March is indeed worthy of Sports Illustrated's expectations for them.You know, among these 15 victories, there are still 11 consecutive victories!If such a team does not deserve to be at the top of the power rankings, then no team dares to claim to be the number one.

However, unlike Sports Illustrated, the Trail Blazers only rank sixth in ESPN's strength rankings.In this ranking, the Trail Blazers are also the team with the biggest gap between the two media.

"They are indeed very aggressive, but limited by the strength of their own lineup, even if the Blazers enter the playoffs, they will not be able to show much performance. I am more optimistic about the prospects of the Los Angeles Clippers. After all, Chris Paul and Griffin's combination has shown extraordinary potential!" This is ESPN's evaluation of the Trail Blazers, and the current lineup of the Trail Blazers has become the focus of ESPN's criticism.

But Sports Illustrated doesn't think so. According to Sports Illustrated, the Trail Blazers have a strong head star Anjie, and a very stable and efficient second attack point LaMarcus Aldridge.In addition, Wesley. Matthews and Gerald. Wallace can effectively share the scoring load for these two.Although Raymond Felton can't make people see any surprises, he also won't make any big troubles.

On the Trail Blazers bench, Jamal Crawford and Courtney Lee's scoring firepower is enough to make many teams feel ashamed.Coupled with the defense of two veteran players, Marcus Camby and Kurt Thomas, the strength of the Trail Blazers second team is actually not bad.

In short, most teams will face polarized evaluations at this point in the season.It's just that the Blazers have become the most eye-catching one among them.

"Except for Mike Brin, ESPN doesn't have anyone who fucking understands!" Jamal Crawford threw the newspaper aside, he was very dissatisfied with ESPN's evaluation.Because the translation of ESPN's words is nothing more than saying that everyone in the Trail Blazers except Anjie is rubbish!
This kind of evaluation naturally cannot make Jamal Crawford happy.

Jamal Crawford is definitely a player who likes money more than honor.After playing in the NBA for so many years, Jamal Crawford doesn't know how to write the word "extra training".He comes to the training ground on time every day and leaves work on time in the afternoon.He won't stay on the training ground much, unless there are entertainment activities for his teammates to ask him to participate.

It wasn't until An Jie arrived that Jamal Crawford was surprised to find that there are still people who voluntarily work overtime for free in this world!
It can be said that the reason why Jamal Crawford can't become a superstar but can only be a sixth man is his attitude towards the job of basketball, which is also one of the reasons.He is rarely subject to mood swings, because for him, winning or losing, playing basketball is just an ordinary job.

But today, Jamal Crawford had rare mood swings in his heart.For ESPN's evaluation, Crawford is very angry, but also very excited.

He can have no honor, but he can't stand being looked down upon by others! Guys from ESPN, take a good look, and see if the several million annual salary you get is justified!

As a result, bad luck happened to Kevin Love and the Timberwolves again. ESPN just said that the strength of the Trail Blazers' lineup is average, so on April 4, the Trail Blazers scored in double figures with six players, hitting the front teeth of ESPN critics all over the floor.

Kevin Love scored 26 points and 9 rebounds in this campaign, but the Timberwolves still lost in the Rose Garden 106 to 119.Looking at the astonishing statistics, Kevin Love had no choice but to sigh.

Anjie 26 points, Aldridge 24 points, Gerald Wallace 12 points, Wesley Matthews 15 points, Raymond Felton 10 points, Jamal Crawford 18 points !In addition, Courtney Lee also scored 9 points with three three-pointers, only one point away, and he will become the team's seventh player to score in double figures in this game.

In this game, the Trail Blazers played their team basketball to the fullest.Although the Timberwolves' defense is poor, but without a little strength, it is impossible to play such excellent team statistics.

"Some people just like to talk nonsense and belittle themselves. The Trail Blazers are the third in the West! The third in the West after the Oklahoma City Thunder and the San Antonio Spurs! If this doesn't represent the strength of our roster, what does it matter? Can it? The actual game? The result of the actual game is that six of us scored in double figures today!" Jamal Crawford did not follow Rickard to the post-match press conference.However, those reporters took the initiative to find Jamal Crawford in the locker room.

Obviously, ESPN reporters are the most embarrassing.Because the people who are talking nonsense and belittle themselves in Crawford's mouth are referring to ESPN.

With the victory over the Timberwolves, the Trail Blazers once again avoided a losing streak.And there are only 25 days left before the start of the playoffs.

The critics of ESPN must be very embarrassed now, because judging from the current situation, Sports Illustrated's comments on the Trail Blazers seem to be more pertinent.

But as the saying goes, Feng Shui takes turns.Even the invincible Bulls lost in the regular season.What's more, there is still a big gap between the current Trail Blazers and the Bulls.

Fresh off a win over the Timberwolves, the Blazers are back in back-to-back games that they fucking hate.And their opponent, the Utah Jazz, rested for three full days!

In this intensive shrinking schedule, there are three days of rest, which is simply VIP-level treatment.The Jazz, who have had enough rest, are naturally in a brave state. The Trail Blazers, who are not exhausted but somewhat affected by the back-to-back schedule, were cornered by the Jazz today.

Although the Jazz is now ninth in the Western Conference, in fact he has the same record as the eighth Mavericks in the Western Conference.Earlier, the Mavericks had already lost to the Clippers at home, which means that if the Jazz win this game, they will successfully squeeze the defending champion out of the playoffs!

With such a layer of motivation, the already energetic Jazz was even more out of control.Especially Boozer's substitute back then, and now one of the core of the Jazz, Paul Millsap, he and Aldridge started a wonderful duel.However, with a stronger desire to survive, he still used 31 points to defeat Aldridge and experienced the entire league.

20 of 14, 3 of 3 free throws, scored 31 points and 11 rebounds.No, it wasn't An Jie who cut down this statistic, but the explosive Paul Millsap.

When he played against Millsap before, An Jie knew that this guy would not be just a substitute in the future.Unexpectedly, now he has become a star-level player.

Compared with the excellence of Paul Millsap, the performance of Al Jefferson, another leading star of the Jazz, is much inferior.

Under Anjie's defense, Jefferson's shooting percentage in this game as a center was only 35%.And An Jie scored a game-high 33 points on the former "Yao Ming Killer". 15 out of 13, Anjie's efficiency is even scarier than Paul Millsap's.

But at the last moment, the second-year rookie of the Jazz, the handsome and handsome Gordon Hayward suddenly exerted his strength and hit consecutive three-pointers, causing the Blazers to lose control of the game in an instant.

In the end, although Anjie's data was still gorgeous, but under Hayward's unexpected outbreak, the Trail Blazers still narrowly lost the Jazz with a score of 102 to 97.

The Jazz, too, have finally fulfilled their dream, surpassing the Mavericks to climb into the playoffs.If the Mavericks can't overtake the rankings in the next game, then they will embarrassingly become the defending champions who can't even make the playoffs.

Lost to the Jazz, but the state of Anjie and Aldridge is a pity.Even if the Trail Blazers lose at present, it is only possible that the ranking may be surpassed by the Grizzlies.But fortunately, today, they are still in third place in the Western Conference.There are only 24 days before the start of the playoffs.

There are still 23 days before the start of the playoffs. The Trail Blazers did not have a game on this day, but Anjie spent all his time on physical training.He knows that the playoffs are the biggest test of his physical fitness!

With 22 days left before the start of the playoffs, the Trail Blazers easily defeated the bottom-ranked New Jersey Nets at home.The Nets are already rotten beyond the margins, and now the injuries of their two stars Lopez and Deron have made this team completely lose its competitiveness.

This game naturally became the game with the lowest attendance rate in the Rose Garden Arena this season. 88 to 112, the Trail Blazers won the opponent without any effort. Anjie scored 28 points in this campaign. This is because Ricard greatly reduced his playing time.Otherwise, An Jie would definitely go crazy again.

21 days before the playoffs, Anjie did not practice extra at night, but received Giardina who came to visit him from afar.20 days before the playoffs, the Blazers won again. Aldridge beat the defending champion Mavericks at the last moment, and Nowitzki also lost in the battle for the most powerful forward.

15 days before the playoffs, Aldridge was injured in the game against the Warriors. Anjie was the first to rush forward and push David Lee away. This is not the first time that David Lee has played against his opponent. black feet.The court conflict almost broke out. Fortunately, the elderly Camby acted as a peacemaker and pulled Angel aside.But in the end, the Trail Blazers still won.

14 days away from the playoffs, Aldridge was confirmed to be only mildly sprained, and he can return after a few days of rest.It was on this day that An Jie finally relaxed a lot.It is said that the Trail Blazers will be finished without Anjie, but without Aldridge, Anjie will also be at a loss.

There are still 5 days before the playoffs. An Jie disappeared early at the exit of the parking lot after training today.The old guy Divac said he brought many Serbian specialties to Anjie.

Paul Millsap looked at the TV in despair. On the TV, the score had become 74 to 88.

The same opponent, in early April, Millsap led the team to defeat the opponent.But now, the Jazz are beaten all over the place by Anjie and the Trail Blazers.

Yes, Millsap can't do anything but watch his teammates fight desperately on TV but can't do anything.

If the Jazz win this game, they will be able to enter the playoffs.But judging from the current situation, it is almost impossible for the Jazz to make a comeback.

Who would have thought that Millsap, who was like a gods help more than 20 days ago, now, because of injuries, can only stay away from the court and watch his teammates fight.

When he was still in the Thunder, Anjie tried his best to help the team surpass the Jazz.If it wasn't for O'Neal's brutal ban in the last regular season game, Anjie would have really fulfilled the Thunder's playoff dream.

But now, the Jazz are trying their best, but they can't hurt Anjie and the Trail Blazers.This Jazz, which lacks Sloan and Deron, is quite different from the Jazz back then.Iron-blooded teacher has also become an outdated adjective.

At the end of the game, the score was fixed at 97 to 86.Anjie and his Blazers killed the Jazz on the road.

Al Jefferson only scored 5 points in this game. Back then, he was the nemesis of a Chinese player. Now, another Chinese player has become his nemesis.

The Jazz's dream of the playoffs was completely shattered. They tied the record with the Mavericks, but because the Mavericks were better in the battle between the two teams, the Jazz could only be ranked ninth.

This gap is not big, but the Jazz still can't make up.Because today is April 4, the last game day of the 26-11 NBA regular season.Today, there is only one day left before the start of the playoffs!
The Jazz have no extra games to chase the Mavericks, while the Trail Blazers have to face the next series of intense games!

An Jie was not at all envious of the Jazz players being able to start their vacations ahead of schedule. He knew that he had worked hard all season for the last two months of fighting!

(End of this chapter)