The way of the center

Chapter 395 Worst in History?The strongest in history!
"The best defensive player of the year in history!" This red headline appeared in major newsstands in the United States. The San Antonio Post planned to use a more eye-catching way to lead the Spurs to a 2-0 lead. Tell all San Antonio fans around the world.

"In terms of blocks per game, Ambi is not as good as Ibaka. In terms of rebounds per game, Ambi is not as good as Howard and Love. Defensive efficiency? If this guy's defensive efficiency is really good, how do we play such a smooth offense? Maybe Well, after winning a defensive player of the year, Ann's mentality began to swell, and he began to think that he was the best player in the league. But in my opinion, Ann's current performance is completely ineligible for the award! Now The total score of 2 to 0 is the best proof of this." The San Antonio Post's words were sharp and merciless.No way, the Spurs had won ten consecutive victories at the end of the regular season.Entering the playoffs until now, it is undefeated.Their excellent performance is the biggest backstage for these annoying media.Otherwise, you ask the reporter who wrote this article to tout the Bobcats to try?If you dare to call him down, he may not dare to write.

Catherine, who returned to New York after participating in the fashion week show, also saw this eye-catching red headline at a newsstand. Under the headline, it was accompanied by An Jie's angry expression when he and the referee quarreled.

An Jie has always been a provocative master. He can make his opponent blush with anger, and he will not be affected by the opponent's counterattack.But this time, he was rarely completely enraged.But it wasn't the players on the field that angered him, but the referee!

Fortunately, An Jie stopped his mouth in time yesterday. If the circumstances were too serious and he was suspended for one game, then there would be no difference between the Trail Blazers and death.

Catherine almost covered her mouth and read the article, because the news published by the San Antonio Post not only praised the Spurs, but also criticized Anjie for nothing.Even being too tall was interpreted by them as a shortcoming.

I believe that An Jie himself has seen many such comments.Catherine, who was extremely worried, took out her phone and called An Jie.

However, after calling several times, no one answered the phone.At this time, there were countless people calling An Jie like Catherine.

An Jie lay on the wooden floor of the Rose Garden training ground, staring blankly at the chandelier on the ceiling, letting the sweat flow down his ears.

An Jie was upset by the overwhelming news, newspapers and phone calls.Being 2-0 behind is already annoying enough, but now a bunch of people are jumping out to say something about him, and An Jie is not in the mood to answer the phone.

But this time, the caller was very persistent.An Jie thought that the caller would give up sooner or later, but the damn bell rang for the sixth time.

An Jie picked up the phone, and after seeing the caller ID, he connected it without hesitation.

"I'm sorry baby, I was training just now." An Jie didn't expect that the busy Catherine would call him early in the morning, so he told a white lie to prevent Catherine from thinking too much.

"Ann! Are you okay?" Catherine didn't know how to comfort An Jie as she spoke to the receiver.

"Okay, great no, I'm not good, I've had a bad time recently, Catherine." An Jie found that this time, it was difficult for him to force a smile.

"Those reports."

"Those are shit, I didn't read any of them." An Jie looked around, but there were a lot of newspapers that he called "shit" scattered on the wooden floor.

How could it be possible not to watch it?An Jie knew very well how poorly he played in these two games.The first game was forced to be inefficient by Duncan. Although the second game improved, the last thing that happened pushed An Jie to the forefront.

Now except for Portland and China, the whole world is waiting to see the joke of Anjie, the best defensive player.You know, this is the first time an Asian has won this honor.Even Yao Ming back then failed to do it.Therefore, while attracting much attention, the pressure on An Jie is even greater.He is now under the magnifying glass by fans all over the world. As long as there is any slight mistake, he will be brought on the stage to make a fuss.

After transferring to the Trail Blazers, he won the fourth place in the Western Conference, swept the Clippers, and won the best defensive player.An Jie's 11-12 season was really smooth, and many people who watched the fun really wanted to see this kid make a fool of himself once.

It was the first time that An Jie felt that the coming of the next game would make people so anxious.

"Should we go to Portland for the next game?" Catherine saw that An Jie had been silent for a while, so she decided to find a new topic.

"That's right, our home court." Defending the home court was the first time that this word put An Jie under tremendous pressure.

"I'll come and see you play, Ann."

"But you just came back."

"Don't talk about it, I will come to watch you play. I want to see how wrong these "shit" articles are!" Catherine spoke in imitation of An Jie's tone, which made An Jie reveal the truth from yesterday. Late for the first smile so far.

"Do you want me to pre-order a Trail Blazers No. 00 jersey for you?" An Jie felt a lot better to have someone to talk to instead of being bored in the training ground.

"Of course, there's the Trail Blazers bib, baseball cap, oh, yes, you have to get all the tickets for the front seats for me too."

"Okay, let's go and book a ticket. I think many fans want to see how we lose tomorrow. Well, I want you to see!" An Jie clenched his fists, commenting one by one, After tomorrow, it will become the most ridiculous words!
"Then it's settled Ann, hey, you know, most people in this world, they don't know you. Be yourself, what they like to say, has nothing to do with the real you." Catherine just came from After returning from Europe, if there is no rest, I will rush from New York to Portland immediately.But in order to show her support for An Jie, Catherine would do anything even if it was a bit hard.

"You idiot, am I the kind of fragile person? Well, I have to continue training. Let's talk again when we get to Portland." In the end, as a young man, An Jie naturally worried about his own face .But now, all the pressure from the negative news on An Jie was gone.At least he knows that it's not that the whole world doesn't like him.There are always a few people who are willing to stand behind him.

As soon as the phone was hung up, the Trail Blazers players walked into the training ground one by one.Now it's almost time for training, so everyone is in order.

"My God, what have you been doing here?" Aldridge looked at the wooden floor covered with newspapers, his eyes full of surprise.

"Worst Defensive Player of the Year in history? They can even come up with such a vulgar title? Oh my God, you don't really believe the stupid things they say." Marcus Camby picked up a bag at random. A newspaper was browsed.This boy An Jie must have been hit.

"I don't believe it all." An Jie began to tidy up the messy training ground he had made, and threw all the newspapers with scary headlines into the trash can.

"Not fully convinced? What does that mean?"

"It means that they should write in the newspaper, the strongest defensive player of the year in history. I think they should have misspelled a word or something. Write the strongest as the worst." An Jie said , blinked at Marcus Camby.

Camby also shook his head with a smile. It seemed that he was a little worried.

"What are you talking about?" Not long after, Ricard also stepped into the training ground with a briefcase.He also held a newspaper in his hand. Looking at the red headline, An Jie could guess that it must be the damned San Antonio Post again!

"Ann is correcting a serious logical error? Now, don't you also have a misprinted San Antonio Post in your hand?" Aldridge pointed to the newspaper under Ricard's armpit.

"This?" Ricard pulled out the newspaper, and the eye-catching red headline immediately appeared.

"I bought this for your training!" After speaking, Rickal tore the newspapers in his hand into pieces, and then placed them on the floor according to a certain pattern, and glued them together with tape .

An Jie felt that the scene in front of him seemed familiar. Did Jeff Van Gundy teach them in this way?
"Defense, let's practice defense today!" Sure enough, these scraps of paper were used by Ricard to mark the defensive position!

Although not as fine as Jeff Van Gundy's pieces of paper, this simple and crude way is more in line with Ricard's style of handling things.

"Playing against the Spurs, this is a mistake we have made for a long time. We put too much energy on the offensive end. We always think about how to pass the ball, how to run, how to deal with Duncan and Diaw. Difficult guy. No, I've decided, let's not bother with this now. Their defense makes us sad, well, we make them sad! From now on, I want you all, to get into a defense The state of supremacy!" After Ricard finished speaking, he pointed to the pieces of paper that he had pasted on the floor.The frightening red headlines of the San Antonio Post have been torn up on the Rose Garden training ground.

"These fragments represent the blind spots when we defended in the first two games. The Spurs are a team that is particularly good at passing the ball. Their offense can spread anywhere in the half court. This is not casual. Defense can contain it. What we have to do now is to narrow these defensive blind spots. To do this, man-to-man defense is definitely not enough. The solution I came up with is to combine man-to-man defense and zone defense Combination!" Ricard said, his hands were pressed together vigorously.

The disadvantage of zone defense is that it is vulnerable to shooting, and the disadvantage of man-to-man is that the offensive side will get more space.But in order to contain the Spurs, desperately like a mad dog on the defensive end is what the Trail Blazers must do now!
Since the NBA has a defensive three-second rule, the center cannot stay at the basket all the time.And in the FIBA ​​rules, the most important part of zone defense is the center forward who is stuck under the basket!
However, Ricard has confidence in Anjie. Although he can't defend the basket, he can use his fast lateral speed and good defensive awareness to complete the defense of the basket in time.Ricard believes that Anjie is the best defensive player!

"Listen, Ann, your defensive range is the basket! No matter how far apart Duncan and Diaw are, as long as they are out of your area, you don't have to worry about it. But other people, unless there is someone defending the corresponding area, otherwise, you have to Like man-to-man defense, clinging to the opponent!" Ricard knew that this combined defense would be a severe test for the team's tacit understanding and physical strength.And in this way, their complexity on the offensive end will be greatly reduced.After all, it is impossible for players on the field to be able to do both offense and defense at the same time.

In the previous two games, the Spurs' conduction and off-ball pick-and-rolls caused them too much trouble.Although the Spurs will get more opportunities to shoot three-pointers after the zone defense, at least Ricard has choked the Spurs' most secure scoring method!
There is no such thing as a perfect tactic in this world. Even Zen Master's triangle offense back then, or Adelman's extremely gorgeous Princeton, all have their corresponding shortcomings.But Ricard was willing to let An Jie take on a bigger responsibility.

2 to 0, the Trail Blazers lost all two away games.In the playoffs, this is indeed a poor situation.

But even so, it doesn't mean the Trail Blazers will give up.They are a team where the team is greater than the individual, and An Jie is also a player who is suitable for surviving in Ricard's system!

"Okay, I know your brains are almost overwhelmed! That's why I marked you on the floor! Let's take our time and practice slowly. Until the defensive blind spots in this half are minimized! Before Ricard entered the office to put his bag, he blew the whistle he took out of his pocket.

The Trail Blazers players were divided into two groups, and each took his place.

Well, maybe the whole world thinks that the Trail Blazers have lost, and the whole world thinks that Anjie has been revealed.

But the pioneer and An Jie, who are the center of the topic, don't plan to follow the crowd!

Sweat, that's the only thing in today's rose garden!
(End of this chapter)