The way of the center

Chapter 75
After tasting the sweetness in the high position, Anjie has no reason to continue to fight Yao Ming in the low position.In this league, the centers who can win against Yao Ming in the low post can be counted with only one hand.But it was obvious that An Jie was not in that range.

Therefore, in the next few offenses of the Thunder, Anjie mentioned the high position to catch the ball.His support is as sophisticated as ever, and his passing is also very accurate, and he even passed a few highly ornamental no-look passes.

Once again, An Jie raised the basketball in his hand high near the free throw line, and the entire Thunder team revolved around this command tower.

The slow-moving Yao Ming didn't dare to advance too far, so Luis Scola from Argentina went to a high position to defend Anjie.Although Scola's defense is good, he still looks a lot shorter to block Anjie's pass.

Seeing the timing, Anjie distributed the ball to Westbrook.However, there is no game that goes smoothly from beginning to end on the basketball court. Although Westbrook got a good chance, the disadvantage of unstable shooting rate is also causing trouble at this moment.Westbrook missed the shot, and Yao Ming was not in the trajectory of the ball, so he couldn't reach the rebound.Scola also defended Anjie on the outside, not in the range of the scrimmage rebound.In the end, Sean Battier, who was not strong in rebounding ability, got the ball. Although the ball was not Anjie's fault, Carlesimo was furious off the court.

In his eyes, if An Jie obediently followed the instructions and landed in the low post just now, the Thunder would undoubtedly get a second chance to attack.This is one of the reasons why he doesn't like Anjie holding the ball in the high position. The loss of this rebound made him believe that Anjie's choice was wrong.Because in Carlesimo's concept, even if Anjie is not in the high position to support, Durant and Westbrook can complete the scoring task very well.

"This damn Chinese guy!" Carlesimo originally wanted to scold this damn Chinese, but he was afraid that this scolding would be publicized after the reporters heard it, so that he would definitely be labeled as a racist. , so Carlesimo suddenly changed a word in the middle of speaking.

Due to Anjie's outstanding performance and Durant's fiery touch, the Thunder played their own momentum in the second quarter, closing the score all the way.

Under such circumstances, the Rockets had to call a timeout, and the fierce confrontation between the two sides finally stopped.Rockets coach Rick Adelman admires Anjie very much. He really deserves to be a student taught by Dia himself. In Adelman's eyes, Anjie's performance just now is full of the shadow of Divac when he played for the Kings. .As the head coach of the Kings at the time, Adelman knew how powerful such a center was.Therefore, during this timeout, Adelman also specially arranged several defensive strategies for Anjie.

The timeout passed quickly, and the two sides returned to the court again to continue fighting.Adelman also wanted to see if his tactics could restrain An Jie's performance. As a result, what everyone didn't expect was that An Jie, who performed well, did not play!
"What's going on!? Has the intention been seen through!?" Adelman overestimated Carlesimo too much. Carlesimo would never have thought that Anjie's threat had made the other party specially arrange tactics for him.After he said a few words to An Jie in dissatisfaction, he took Nick Collison to the field to replace An Jie.

If An Jie is a well-known superstar, then Carasimo might be able to tolerate it. After all, not all coaches' tactics are suitable for their players.But Anjie is just a small rookie with the twelfth overall pick. This kind of person has no right to go beyond the head coach's tactics at all!
An Jie thought that he would be praised by Carlesimo after his outstanding performance on the court, but he didn't know that because of missing a few offensive rebounds, all An Jie's efforts fell short.Players and coaches have different tactical concepts, which has always been one of the problems that often exists in a team.It's just that An Jie didn't expect that such a thing would be his turn.

"An Jie was replaced? Is there a problem with An Jie's physical fitness?" All the commentators asked inexplicably. The reason, they really couldn't think of a third reason for Carlesimo to replace An Jie.

An Jie sat on the bench silently. This Chinese derby was a great opportunity for An Jie to show himself, and An Jie also played a good momentum.But now, looking at his teammates fighting on the field, An Jie can't do anything.

After the second quarter, Anjie was still not used by Carasimo. If it wasn't for the pressure of Presti, Carlesimo really wanted to push the Chinese on the bench like this.But there is no way, the general manager of the team likes this guy, and he has to continue to give Anjie some playing time in the second half.

On the basis of Anjie's good chasing points for the team, the Thunder beat the Rockets by two points in this single quarter.At halftime, the total score of the two sides became 42 to 41.The young and strong Thunder team was not crushed by the Rockets, they were only one point behind.Anjie's excellent performance and Durant, who scored nine points on four of four shots, became the main contributors to the Thunder's excellent performance in this quarter.

"Durant played well! Russell, in the second half, you should also increase the number of autonomous attacks." After finishing speaking, Carasimo's eyes fell on An Jie.Carasimo moved his lips, but still couldn't get the words out.

Suddenly, An Jie missed Ricard infinitely in his heart, and he preferred to listen to Ricard's swearing every two sentences, and he didn't want to listen to Carlesimo's gentle words .

What Carlesimo said during the intermission, An Jie didn't listen to a word, anyway, he would only say something like "Defense! Our defense!" and "Kevin! You have to make a bold move!" .In fact, An Jie's guess was correct. These two sentences were really the focus of Carasimo's arrangement during the intermission.

At the beginning of the second half, An Jie still sat directly on the bench, and the domestic fans looked anxious.Obviously, the Chinese Derby in the first half of the second quarter was very exciting, but Carrasimo ruthlessly cut off the performance.Now it seems that Karasimo has no will to let the performance of these two Chinese giants continue.

Wu Hua could see An Jie's dilemma. After all, he was a reporter who had followed An Jie since he was playing in the NCAA. He knew this big boy better than all other media.He could see that there must be something wrong with An Jie and the head coach, because even if the team fell behind by a large score, An Jie had always been high-spirited and would never show such a lost expression.

As a rookie, playing time will naturally be less, and it is this that conceals the cracks between Carrasimo and Angie.The outside world doesn't know, but Anjie and Carasimo are very clear in their hearts.

However, this game really put Carraximo in a dilemma, because no matter who he replaced, Yao Ming could always run rampant in the paint.Therefore, everyone is looking forward to Anjie's comeback. If he, the head coach, does not replace him with Anjie, who is the only one who can compete with Yao Ming, it will be equivalent to pointing out the discord between him and Anjie to the outside world.

Due to external pressure, Anjie played with 5 minutes left in the third quarter.

This time Anjie strictly implemented Carasimo's tactics, and he went low without hesitation when attacking.The result is clear, with Yao Ming guarding the three-second zone, it is impossible for Anjie to do much in the low post.Although Anjie did grab two offensive rebounds in doing so, his performance of making one of four shots also made him look like a different person from the first half.

Not only Anjie, Durant and Westbrook, who lacked organization, also showed their immaturity in the second half.Especially the first-year Westbrook, who, like Anjie, only got a report card of one of four shots.These two double stars of the 08 class, who received much attention and anticipation before the start of the season, both misfired in the third quarter.

Yao Ming was really puzzled, why did Anjie fight him in the low position when he didn't have the upper hand.Judging from Anjie's performance in the first half, he should not be that kind of one-sided guy.The ball that passed Scola and himself in a row also just showed Anjie's intelligence.

Yao Ming couldn't understand it, but he would never be soft-hearted just because of this.

Under the internal and external attacks of Yao Ming and McGrady, the Thunder still failed to withstand the pressure at the end of the third quarter.After playing the second quarter that everyone was looking forward to, the Thunder's third quarter game obviously gave people a feeling of lack of stamina. 59 to 65, the Rockets continued to maintain their lead over the Thunder.

However, it takes 48 minutes to decide the outcome of a basketball game. Now the Thunder are only six points behind. This is not a point difference enough to judge a team to death.What's more, the Rockets are a famous team that won't play in the fourth quarter.

As for who wins the game, we have to fight until the last moment to make a conclusion.

(End of this chapter)