The Way of the Center

Chesapeake Energy Arena, at 6:30 pm on March 2, Van Gundy has already brought his players into the court for warm-up before the game.

Since there is still an hour and a half before the game at eight o'clock, the intensity of the warm-up is not great. Players play on and off, targeted practice. Van Gundy has already done enough for the players in yesterday's training. The current warm-up only needs to fully activate the body, and there is no need to waste too much energy.

Damien Wilkins was pressing his legs. He had returned from injury early, but his body had not been able to reach the ideal state, so Jeff Van Gundy naturally did not give him a chance to play. Even if Van Gundy can only use three substitute rotations, it will not put Wilkins at risk of being injured again.

But in yesterday's training, Damien Wilkins performed well, even defending Westbrook repeatedly.

"Get ready Damien, I need you for tomorrow's game." After the training, Jeff Van Gundy's words undoubtedly made Wilkins very excited. His comeback is also a good thing for the entire Thunder team.

The fly in the ointment is that during his injury period, the team's second-round pick Kyle Weaver shined. Although Weaver is not as good as Wilkins on the defensive end, Weaver's contribution on the offensive end is huge. His impact can make the Thunder more comfortable when switching offenses, and the addition of Thabo Sefoloza will undoubtedly further compress Wilkins' playing time. Sefoloza is also an outside fighter, and he also has a shooting ability that Wilkins does not have.

Wilkins won't complain. If Jeff Van Gundy hadn't joined, he might not even have the chance to play now. In the first game after Van Gundy took over the team, he let Wilkins, who was sitting on the bench in front of him, play. This move undoubtedly made Wilkins very grateful to Van Gundy.

Therefore, although he may not get much time in this game, he intends to use his best performance to conquer Van Gundy again. A virtuous cycle of competition has spread invisible within the Thunder.

"Hey, Damien!" Hearing someone call his name, Wilkins looked up, but found that a basketball was flying towards him, almost hitting his face.

"Crack!" Wilkins reacted quickly, firmly controlling the ball with both hands. All of this happened only in the blink of an eye. Without a high degree of concentration and quick reaction ability, it is impossible to catch the ball. This is also the most basic quality requirement for a professional player.

"You seem to be in good shape, Damien. I'm glad you're back." The person who launched a "raid" on Damien Wilkins is the well-deserved "new core" of the Thunder, An Jie.

"Come on, pass me a few balls, and I'll make a layup." Wilkins smiled and returned the ball to Angie, and the two began a set of ordinary passes and cuts to warm up.

Relaxed, but serious, that's how the Thunder went about their entire pregame warmup.

Ordinary purple short sleeves, cropped jeans with small feet, and classic black Converse high-top canvas shoes. Tiffany Giardina's dress today is no longer so gorgeous. This style of dressing seems to be more in line with the temperament and image of the little girl next door.

"The tickets are given away?" Giardina looked at the two tickets for the first-row seats in Abrahim's hands, and he was full of anticipation for this night.

"Yes, Mr. Presti, the general manager of the Thunder, sent someone to deliver it to me. Originally, he planned to invite us to the luxury box, but I think you would prefer to be closer to the stadium." Although Abraham He didn't know why the little queen under him suddenly became so interested in basketball, but he could still guess that the luxury box was definitely not the place Giardina wanted to stay.

"Oh! Tiffany! My God! Why is she here!" Outside the Chesapeake Energy Arena, some people naturally recognized this young singer who was not a big hit, but a little famous.

"Oh, can you sign my autograph? God, is it really you?" The female Thunder fan was obviously also a Giardina fan, and she was so excited that she couldn't speak clearly. Oklahoma City is not Los Angeles, and it's not uncommon for entertainment stars to appear here.

"That's right, it's me." Giardina smiled gently at the female fans, without any airs of an idol at all.

After existing people asked for autographs, more and more people gathered around Giardina. It seemed that Giardina had to go through a lot of trouble if he wanted to enter the Chesapeake Energy Arena.

"brush."

"brush."

"brush."

"brush."

Dirk Nowitzki scored all four consecutive three-pointers. Although it is just an unguarded warm-up, it still shows that the "German Tank" is in good condition today.

The belated Dallas Mavericks didn't delay for a second. They got off the bus, changed their clothes, and warmed up on the court. Under the leadership of Rick Carlisle, the Texas Cowboys did not procrastinate.

Not long after, the reporters brought the photographers into the stadium, more and more people appeared in the stands, and the atmosphere of the whole game gradually became stronger.

"Hey, Ann, can I spare you a little time?" Sure enough, the first person the reporters found was not Nowitzki, but An Jie who had just won the Rookie of the Month Award.

"Mr. Colorful" Craig Sager is wearing a sea blue suit today. He appeared here to interview An Jie, which also proves that in the studio at the moment, Kenny Smith, Reggie Miller and Charles. Barkley must be criticizing Anjie too.

"Just won the Western Conference rookie of the month award in February, how do you feel?"

"Uh...very excited, but also very stressful, because my subsequent performance is worthy of this title." An Jie had to bend his waist as much as possible, while Sager had to try his best to raise the microphone .

"In the past few days, I got in touch with Dameng. During the interview, he said that he would take time to watch you play a game. If Dameng really appeared in a certain game, would you feel excited? It still doesn't matter." Olajuwon's interest in Anjie is what Sagar intends to inquire with all his strength.

"Of course I will be excited. He is the greatest player in my position. If he really comes to the Chesapeake Energy Arena to watch the game, I will definitely perform very well." Anjie is not flattering, although He has retired for many years, but Dameng's dance steps still keep him in people's hearts.

"Okay, the last question, will you defend Dirk in this game? You must know that you and Dirk were staggered in the last game, and Dirk scored a full 41 points."

Of course Anjie will not forget the game just three days ago, not only because of Nowitzki's 41 points, but also because they lost Durant in that game. After a hard fight, they finally defeated the Germans with Sefolosa's lore. It can be said that the intensity of Anjie's career can be ranked in the top five games.

"I won't reveal the content of the team's deployment here, but I will definitely try my best to defend any guy who is close to the three-second zone." The ambiguous answer also whetted the appetite of the fans.

The Mavericks will definitely burst into greater power, there is no doubt about it. They suffered a brutal lore in the last game, and they will definitely counterattack with all their strength in this game to snatch back the victory that belongs to them.

The fans cheered louder and louder. Giardina felt his blood boil when he heard the cheers outside in the player tunnel. This is the charm of professional sports. She fell in love with basketball not only because of the Chinese boy.

"Ladies and gentlemen, let's congratulate An Jie for becoming the best rookie in the Western Conference in February!" Before the game, the official nba staff moved the trophy for the best rookie of the month to the field and presented the award to An Jie.

A crystal-clear crystal-like trophy with a faint watermark of An Jie's photo on it. An Jie took his trophy excitedly, held the trophy high, and enjoyed the worship of 15,000 people in the audience. Thunder fans have seen their players receive this award more than once, but no one can have too many moments of this honor.

"Now, let's invite Tiffany Giardina to play and sing the national anthem."

Thunder and Mavericks players stood neatly in two rows. The lights of the stadium were dimmed. Giardina quickly ran out from the player tunnel, which immediately caused another burst of cheers from the stands.

When Giardina ran past the Thunder players, he took a special look at An Jie, and finally saw this special Chinese again. However, Anjie ignored Giardina who was staring at him for a few seconds. His attention was all on Lowitzki and Dampier, and he was thinking about how to deal with them later.

There are sweet-looking girls who don't look at them, but just stare at the strong men. If it wasn't because An Jie was a basketball player, his sexual orientation might really be misleading.

The beautiful singing voice is still the same, and the ability to sing the national anthem so vividly also proves that the young Giardina is not just a vase, but a capable singer.

After the song is over, the lights are on. Anjie handed the trophy to his assistant coach Alton, and then walked straight towards the center circle.

Dampier of the Mavericks stared at Anjie without hesitation. From this moment on, the Chesapeake Energy Arena is no longer a stage for awards ceremonies and singers.

From this moment on, Chesapeake Energy Arena has become a battleground for men! (To be continued.) 8