The Way of the Center

Injuries are almost a professional athlete's worst enemy. From Grant Hill in the past to Greg Oden now, countless geniuses have unfortunately fallen due to injuries.

Of course, injuries will not only affect players. If a team suffers a large-scale injury, the general manager and head coach of the team will definitely be very distressed. Why some teams with very strong lineups on paper have been unable to achieve good results. The incomplete lineup is one of the culprits for poor results.

Fortunately for the Thunder, their lineup has been very healthy for most of the season. Even if there are injuries, occasionally one or two people will suffer minor injuries. For example, the week when An Jie sprained his ankle was within this range.

Of course, the Thunder have also encountered many teams with incomplete lineups, and they have benefited from this and defeated them. For example, the Chicago Bulls, which only had three substitute players to play, were the victims of extensive injuries.

But feng shui turns, and in the long nba season, almost no team can stay healthy all the time. Although the Thunder team can be regarded as a dark horse this season, it is inevitably related to injuries.

"Why are there only so few people?" When the Thunder's three young men had their first training camp with the team after returning from the All-Star Weekend, the few teammates in the training field made the Thunder's three young men stunned.

"The training in the past few days has been very unsatisfactory, and some guys have relapsed." Nick Collison shook his head helplessly. Van Gundy has been driven crazy these days, injuries have come one after another, and the rotation has been disrupted.

Seeing that the Hornets are about to be played at home tonight, Jeff Van Gundy can't even line up a complete list of players.

Damien Wilkins sprained his toe. Although it is not a major injury, he will definitely miss the next game.

Chris Wilcox has a thigh strain, and his injury for half a week will directly reduce the offensive firepower of the Thunder's second team.

Joe Smith accidentally fractured his left arm during yesterday's training, and the specific recovery time has not yet been determined.

Desmond Mason suffers left ankle fracture, no return date yet

As the season progresses, the chances of injury to tired players increase. Now is the critical moment for the Thunder to hit the playoffs, but the players' injury outbreak undoubtedly cast a shadow over the Thunder's prospects.

It's not the first time Jeff Van Gundy has seen this happen, but it's the last thing he wants to see. If Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady hadn't been injured frequently when coaching the Rockets, he wouldn't have been unable to lead the team to the first round.

Now Jeff Van Gundy can only hope that Presti can complete some transactions before the trade deadline, otherwise with the current scarred lineup, it is undoubtedly a dream for the Thunder to hit the playoffs. With little time left until the Feb. 20 trade deadline, what Presti does will be important.

Can't wait for the Thunder to recover, the NBA's intensive schedule will only continue to move forward with time.

On the first game day after the All-Star Weekend, on February 17, the Thunder team with a broken lineup ushered in a strong opponent, the New Orleans Hornets, currently ranked seventh in the Western Conference.

Like the Thunder, the Hornets also suffered an unpleasant two-game losing streak before the All-Star break. And in the two games they lost, the Hornets did not score more than 80 points.

Although the Hornets have been in poor form recently, this does not mean that the Thunder will have an easy game. Facing the Thunder, which has five games less than themselves, the Hornets want to end their losing streak at the Chesapeake Energy Arena anyway, so as to get on the right track. The Hornets are already strong, and now that the Thunder team is incomplete, the Thunder's three young players will undoubtedly face a tough battle.

The Thunder team used to rely on three amazingly talented young people to come to the present. Now that several other capable guys in the team are absent due to injuries, the entire Thunder team suddenly becomes only the Thunder's three young men who can hold the scene.

In the first quarter of the game against the Hornets, the Thunder suffered a head-on blow. 32 to 20, this is the score at the end of the first quarter.

Durant has 9 points, Westbrook has 6 points, and Anjie has 5 points, adding up to exactly twenty! Yes, in the first quarter, no one scored a single goal except for the three Thunder players! Not even free throws!

It's not that the three thunderbolts took all the shots. The others also got a chance, but they couldn't grasp it once.

"The three rookies of the Thunder are undoubtedly very good young people, but a team cannot go to the end with only three children." After such a first quarter, all the commentators were very excited. Unanimously criticized the weakness of the Thunder's role players.

"If Presti wants the Thunder to take the Thunder to a higher level, he should find more helpers for this group of boys. A mere Atkins is obviously difficult to take on a big role." McBrin also said this Things made a comment.

Of course, Presti knew what the Thunder lacked, but the general managers of other teams were not fools. Except for San Shao, the trade value of everyone in the Thunder was not high. The three young masters are undoubtedly not for sale, and apart from the other chips of the three of them, it is true that they cannot be exchanged for any good puzzles. It is undoubtedly a very difficult thing to rely on transactions to strengthen the lineup.

Like the Bulls, Jeff Van Gundy looked around the bench, and there were only three healthy bench players who could play. As for the starting lineup, rookie guard Kevin Weaver and team veteran Nick Collison had to step up to the top.

Nick Collison's performance is fairly normal. He has been playing an important rotation role this season. Before Van Gundy took office, he was even the Thunder's starting center. His playing time was very stable and his competitive state was no problem at all.

But Kyle Weaver is obviously not ready to play as a starter. The total time he has played so far this season has not been added up. There is really no one in the position, and Van Gundy will not make such a bad move.

But what the Hornets didn't expect was that the three young men headed by Durant never gave up resistance when the Thunder were so miserable. It can be said that only relying on the three of them, the Thunder forced the Hornets into a very embarrassing situation.

Even though David West frequently scored points on Nick Collison's head, even though Chris Paul's go-between and offense are still sharp. However, the three thunderbolts can always rely on their own personal ability to fight back in the next round.

Due to the injury of "Boxing Champion" Tyson, the Hornets had to play Sean Marks as the starting center. However, this guy alone could not contain An Jie's attack at all.

The veteran Peja has lost the sharpness of the year, and Durant can be said to do whatever he wants in front of him.

"Queen Bee" Paul's overall physical defeat made it very difficult for him to defend Westbrook. Coupled with Anjie's just-right pick-and-roll, Westbrook also scored points on Paul's head.

Like the last time the two sides played against each other, the game was still dragged to the end. Facing the seemingly weak Thunder, the Hornets were still unable to win after fighting for 47 minutes and 30 seconds. On the contrary, at this moment the Thunder are still leading by three points and have the initiative of the game.

In the last 13 seconds of the game, it was still Paul. After borrowing David West's pick-and-roll, Paul made a quick shot and made a precise three-pointer to tie the score at 98.

"Can the Thunder end the game again this time!?" Although the process was not exciting, fans and commentators would never get bored of the tense contest at the last moment no matter how many times they watched it.

This time the defensive Hornets will definitely do their best, hoping to drag the game into overtime. It would be even better if they can force the Thunder to make mistakes and then fight back.

The Hornets' defense was really good, and Westbrook and Durant didn't get any chances at all. An Jie was originally arranged by Van Gundy to organize, but seeing that the two teammates didn't get any free space, An Jie decided to try to play inside by himself!

"A feint!?" It's not the first time that the Thunder team has used this strategy. Anjie feinted to attract the attention of the defender, and then Anjie passed the ball to a teammate who had a chance. Therefore, even though An Jie was seen playing back, everyone in the Hornets dared not double-team easily, for fear that An Jie would be left open to pass the ball.

Second hit! Sean Marks is obviously overwhelmed. If Anjie really chooses to attack by himself, he has no confidence in his defense at all.

Seeing this situation, David West couldn't bear it anymore. He left Nick Collison, who was not strong offensively, and rushed towards Anjie, preparing to complete the encirclement of Anjie with Max.

Just as West was in position, before he could do anything, Anjie's turnaround and step-back jumper had already been shot. Those who have watched Anjie play since he was in college all have a feeling of familiarity with this scene. Isn't this movement the same as Anjie's movement when he beat Stanford University! ?

"It's exactly the same!" Wu Hua hurriedly took pictures. He believed that it would be very interesting to compare these two sets of photos later.

The action is the same, so what is the result?

An Jie's shot was originally high, but now he has a slight recede, so although Max and West both took off and interfered with the ball, An Jie was not affected much.

Extremely soft shot, this may be the biggest difference between Anjie and other centers. Looking at the arc of the basketball's flight, West felt a little desperate.

"No, it's impossible!" West didn't want to accept this fact, but the fact is so cruel.

"Swipe." The sound of the net rolling, at this moment, this weak voice is very clear on the noisy basketball court. This voice also completely shattered West's only belief in winning.

"Boom!" Chesapeake Energy Arena, this arena is really full of energy now, and the entire Oklahoma City is ignited in an instant.

There were still two seconds left in the game, but even the Hornets players knew that the victory had been snatched away by the tenacious Anjie. (To be continued.)