The Way of the Center

The Bulls' injury list is long enough to be rolled into a carpet, so the Bulls don't have many rotation options in this game. "If the score cannot be opened in the third quarter, it will undoubtedly become very difficult to win the Thunder in the fourth quarter.

It's not that Derek Rose doesn't understand this truth. If his physical strength declines seriously, his breakthrough speed will inevitably be affected. The third quarter is the key to the Bulls, and Rose is the core of the offense in this critical quarter.

This time, the person who went up to pick and roll Rose was no longer Gooden, but Tyrus Thomas, who had been fighting Anjie in the paint before. The purpose of this pick and roll was very clear. Pull away!

Anjie really didn't dare not be defensive. Apart from his excellent athletic ability, Tyrus Thomas also has some mid-range shots. Although his shooting rate has been unstable, can you guarantee that he will not make a shot today?

Seeing An Jie follow, Ross smiled slightly. As long as they can successfully break through Westbrook, there is a high probability that this attack will be successful.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Bulls are all stretched out, with Gordon's range stretching beyond the arc, not to mention Gordon and Hughes. After they pulled away, the rest of the Thunder had to defend.

There is space, the pick-and-roll is in place, Ross dribbles the ball and takes a small step back, he is about to sprint!

Even with the pick-and-roll, Westbrook is still not sure about the direction of Rose's breakthrough. When he defended Rose for the first time, Rose did not break through the screen. This screen may be a false screen!

Rose made a sudden force, Westbrook was still hesitating whether to bypass the pick-and-roll, and Anjie retreated some distance, ready to deal with Rose after a successful breakthrough.

really! Rose switched the ball to his right hand, and Tyrus Thomas' pick and roll was on the left, false screen!

Westbrook immediately moved a step sideways, and Rose was about to collide with himself, and this time he succeeded in defending him!

Just when he was complacent, Rose, who had already rushed to Westbrick's eyes, suddenly disappeared, and a change of direction flashed to the side with the pick-and-roll. Westbrook was stunned, and almost fell to the ground because of his unsteady center of gravity!

"Oh! Rose's shaking made Westbrook lose his way! Unabated change of direction, Derrick Rose did it again!"

Change direction? No, no, this is not over yet, Ross not only does not lose weight, but he can still increase after the change of direction!

An Jie was ready. After seeing Westbrook lost his position, he immediately moved to block, but An Jie didn't stop anything.

Only a gust of wind rolled up An Jie's shorts.

After breaking through Anjie's last line of defense, the Thunder team's three-second zone was empty. Although Joe Smith came from the outside, no one thought he could catch up to the fully charged Rose.

No one can stop him anymore. Ross's legs muscles are strong, he leaps high, holds the ball with both hands and puts it behind his head, and after flying for a certain distance, he vigorously swings the ball towards the basket!

"God! Derek Rose! Beautiful breakthrough and dunk, he is the benchmark of the new era of guards!" Wonderful goal, even the ESPN commentary who has seen countless scenes was shocked and incoherent.

Jeff Van Gundy looked at Rose's beautiful breakthrough but didn't think it was exciting, instead he frowned. In the eyes of Van Gundy, who puts players' health first, Rose's breakthrough that severely damaged his ankles and legs was simply slow suicide. A broken wheel can be replaced, but once the legs are broken, can they be replaced?

"Ann! I want you to stick to the basket!" Van Gundy yelled from the sidelines. There may not be many guards in this league who can stop Rose from breaking through. Since Rose can't be blocked from the outside, let's start working hard from the inside.

Rose's first breakthrough made everyone present amazed. Westbrook is already a guy with very abnormal athletic ability and physical fitness. If such a guy is almost knocked down, it can only be said that Rose's change of direction is even worse. abnormal.

Unlike the Bulls' highly entertaining singles play, the Thunder took their time, settled down, and continued to attack in their own positions.

Due to the success of a center like Howard, Tyrus Thomas' original role was originally the cornerstone of the team's future, but after several seasons, his status has become lower and lower.

In this game, he was facing off against an o8-level rookie center, but he didn't even defend a single goal! As long as An Jie makes a shot, it will definitely be a goal! Maybe it won't be long before he can't even keep his position. After all, Joakim Noah on the Bulls' bench is playing better and better.

This time, Anjie and Thomas leaned together again. In the third quarter, Anjie had already scored four points on his head in a row. There was no reason to waste such an inside advantage.

Thomas was completely at a loss. No matter how he defended, Angie could always score in different ways.

This time An Jie turned directly to face the frame and raised his hand. Thomas, who was frightened by the fake move, didn't take off. He thought that An Jie's first move must be a fake move!

Unexpectedly, An Jie's falsehood was so unpredictable for the opponent. This time, he was very honest and did not make fake moves, but made a real move.

"Oh my god, poor Tyrus, he didn't respond, and he has nothing to do with the Chinese!" Relaxed, having experienced the "torture" of Yao Ming, Howard, Duncan, O'Neal and others, when facing this kind of center, An Jay played without pressure. Six of six shots were made, and it was almost halfway through the third quarter, and An Jie didn't miss a single shot.

In addition to Anjie, Durant is also efficient here. He has gradually developed his ability to attack without the ball. Under Anjie's scheduling, Durant played more and more smoothly.

Now the cooperation of the two boys is not limited to shooting. Durant has increased the number of air cuts, and Anjie can attract the attention of the defense every time, and then the exquisite pass allows Durant to get a dunk or a layup. Opportunity.

On the defensive end, Anjie finally gave Rose a big shot. Rose, who entered the penalty area again, directly attacked the frame unscrupulously. Anjie didn't let the champion succeed this time, and gave Westbrook a chance to counterattack with a clean slap. And this ball is Westbrook's only goal in the third quarter.

Afterwards, although Anjie failed to send out another block, Rose really didn't have much to do against Anjie who was sticking to the penalty area. After scoring two goals at the beginning, Rose missed his shots repeatedly, and he also played a little high and low in the third quarter.

But to everyone's surprise, with Anjie and Durant both performing well, the Thunder failed to open the score. It is said that Rose's breakthrough has been well restrained by Anjie, but At this time, Ben Gordon, who had been forgotten for a long time, stood up.

Everyone is still afraid of Rose's breakthrough, and the Thunder's formation is shrunk down as Van Gundy arranged. In this way, Ben Gordon, who was cruising on the outside, got a lot of opportunities. He didn't lose the chain at a critical moment like Hughes, but supported the Bulls' offense on his own.

76 to 74, the Bulls not only failed to open the score, but fell behind by two points. However, with the efficient performance of Anjie and Durant, they are only two points behind, so they should be very content.

The situation that the Bulls least wanted to see still appeared. The game was dragged into the fourth quarter.

"Currently, Angie is the best performer among the three strong rookies on the field. Reporters often asked Anjie in college if he could prevent Derrick Rose's breakthrough. Now it seems that the answer is very clear!" In this game, the best rookie in the East and West became eclipsed in front of Anjie.

Westbrook's shooting rate is appalling, and both offensive and defensive ends are suppressed by Derrick Rose. It can be said that he has already lost in the confrontation with Rose. It's just that Rose is not reconciled to being defeated by the Thunder's 12th pick rookie. Now he has already been eliminated, but the confrontation is far from over.

It's just that, without adequate rest, Rose's breakthrough power, which requires all his strength, has also been greatly reduced.

"Derrick Rose didn't clean up Westbrook this time. He drove Westbrook for a layup, and Anjie! Anjie jumped out from behind Westbrook to stop Rose's throw!" Domestically The commentator is full of confidence, the Chinese young man is no worse than the champion!

The consecutive blocks also released Anjie's wildness. He grinned and waved his fist at the audience. Coupled with that lean cropped hair, Ross felt a little jealous of this guy's defense.

"Good job!" panted Westbrook, who had been beaten badly enough by Rose. If it weren't for Anjie guarding behind him time and time again, Ross would not have known how many points he scored.

De Nagro was also very helpless. At the last moment, he had no other choice but to leave the three defenders who were exhausted on the field.

Time passed by every minute and every second. When Derrick Rose fell into the offensive quagmire, Larry Hughes, who had been silent for two quarters, appeared again. Jeff Van Gundy was out of breath. Every time he successfully restricted a strong offensive point, another person in the Bulls would suddenly feel hot. This is true of Drew Gooden in the second quarter, and so is Larry Hughes, who is now recovering.

The impatient Westbrook significantly increased the number of shots he took in the fourth quarter, but he failed to change his decline. He was 2 of 7 and his shooting percentage did not improve at all.

Seeing that there are only fifty seconds left, the two sides have not yet decided the winner.

94 to 94, neither the Bulls nor the Thunder were able to knock each other down at the last moment!

Derrick Rose advanced with the ball, and Van Gundy and the players on the field were a little bit embarrassed. They didn't know which of the three guards would be the end point of the final blow.

Derrick Rose scored no points in the fourth quarter under Angie's defense, but he was still full of threats. Shrink the defense? No, Ben Gordon and Larry Hughes have cost the Thunder.

While the Thunder players were still thinking, Rose suddenly made a breakthrough!

"Derrick Rose starts again! Can he justify his name and make a big shot?"

Shaking continuously, breaking through, and making a jump shot at the free throw line, this is an offensive routine that Rose has practiced for a long time. If he wanted to hit the basket, he would fall into the hands of the Chinese. Rose decided to solve the problem with a jumper that he was not good at.

Anjie didn't dare to leave Tyrus Thomas under the basket alone, so he didn't go up to defend the ball. At this time, only Wilkins stepped up. No one knows how much interference was caused.

An Jie stared nervously at the basketball. This will be the game's decisive basketball. Tyrus Thomas twisted frantically behind An Jie and wanted to squeeze into the penalty area, but his disorderly movements would only It's just wasting your physical strength in vain.

"Boom!" No entry! An Jie took off like a conditioned reflex, and firmly protected the rebound! Tyrus Thomas immediately went to pat the basketball in Anjie's arms, but of course Anjie protected the ball very well and did not let Thomas succeed.

"Derrick Rose's shooting, this will be the biggest obstacle on his road to success." From the top 16 of ncaa to now, Rose has not shot many times. He knows that his shooting is a weakness, but he didn't expect this weakness to be The critical moment is fatal.

The Thunder did not launch a counterattack, because the Bulls returned to defense very quickly.

An Jie was in a high position to support, and Van Gundy's final shot was to be handed over to Durant. An Jie was not greedy for credit, and faithfully executed the tactics. After all, if An Jie is arranged to shoot key shots inside, he will be rounded up by two or even three people. At that time, not to mention scoring goals, whether An Jie can pass the ball out in a small space is another matter. explain.

Durant got rid of Gordon's defense through Joe Smith's pick-and-roll, stood up, and Anjie passed the ball.

Comfortable rhythm! Durant is full of confidence in this offense!

Gordon was still two steps away, and Durant shot without thinking, but Derrick Rose suddenly shot out from the side, almost blocking Durant's shot!

Durant avoided the block and barely took the shot, but his shooting action was completely deformed. The ball was so powerful that Anjie, Thomas and other insiders couldn't grab the rebound at all.

Rose came over to defend, and Westbrook naturally missed a hole. With no one to stop him, he rushed up, jumped high and picked up the rebound that bounced near the free throw line.

There was no time, Westbrook took off for the second time immediately after landing, Tyrus Thomas had already dropped Anjie and came to interfere, Westbrook didn't change his expression when facing the high jumping Thomas.

After the basketball was shot, Westbrook was completely blocked by Thomas, and he couldn't see anything, but he heard the wonderful sound of the basketball hitting the net. At the same time as that sound came out, there was the whistle at the end of the game and the red light on the backboard.

"The goal is scored! Russell Westbrook completed the redemption! His last hit shattered the dream of winning the No. Already!"

Westbrook was almost embracing Angie, but seeing the calm expressions of the Bulls players, he realized that the score had not changed at this time, still 94 to 94.

Everyone was anxiously waiting for the referee's results after watching the video. This was a verdict that would determine the outcome of the match, so the referee team did not dare to be negligent, and stared at the small screen of the technical table to watch the replay dozens of times.

Various TV stations also released pictures of Westbrook's last shot, but the players on the scene couldn't see it.

"It's here, timeout!" The referee pressed the pause button at the moment when Westbrook shot the ball but hadn't made it yet. At this time, the red light on the backboard was already on the screen.

"Oh? It seems that the referee has already made a decision. Can Westbrook complete the lore?"

The referee walked to the center of the field, crossed his hands and drew the word "one" on his chest. This gesture means that the goal is invalid! Immediately! There were deafening cheers from the United Center arena!

"What!?" Westbrook couldn't believe that his lore was buried like this, but indeed, the game was over before Westbrook made a shot. It is almost impossible to judge this with the naked eye.

"It's okay Russell, the victory will be ours in the end, it's just a few more minutes." An Jie walked back to the sidelines with his arms around Westbrook. He knew that Westbrook must be very depressed now, and he just I can say as good as I can.

It seems that the Thunder and the Bulls want to beat each other, and 48 minutes is far from enough. (To be continued.) 8