The Way of the Center

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Westbrook broke through and scored the ball. Durant, who got the ball, did not shoot as before, but broke into the inside through Anjie's pick-and-roll.

Seeing this, Mehmet Okur hurried to make up for the three-second zone, but his slow pace couldn't be compared with Durant.

"哐!" The basket made a painful "groan" and kept trembling. Durant did not let go of this opportunity to wreak havoc on the ring. The right hand smashed the buckle, and after returning from the timeout, the Thunder made a high-profile start.

Boozer was furious, the long-haired guy who had just played used all the moves in order to stick to himself! Grabbing the jersey, pulling the arm, pinching the thigh, Robert Swift tried every means to restrain Boozer when the referee didn't pay attention, preventing him from rushing to defend.

Boozer gritted his teeth, and the veins on his bald head burst out.

"Damn it, don't blame me for being rude later!" Boozer clenched his fists and decided to fight back in the next game.

After listening to Jeff Van Gundy's advice on making breakthroughs, the Thunder's three young masters were suddenly released and frequently scored points in the paint.

Although Anjie is not as fast as Westbrook and Durant, it is more than enough to break through Okur, who is also a center.

The Jazz also played smoothly under the successful implementation of pick-and-roll tactics. Deron Williams is in good shape today, and Jazz shooting guard J. Miles' touch is even hotter.

In the last training, he was reprimanded by Jerry Sloan. This is not a gossip, but a fact. But the fact that he was not convinced was completely fabricated by the reporters.

Miles didn't dare to get angry with Sloan at all. All he could do was to use his hard work to make up for his mistakes in training.

Deron Williams had three assists and J. Myers made three three-pointers. When Okur was frequently broken through, Myers used his outside shots to help the team stabilize the situation.

The rhythm of the game suddenly turned into a confrontational battle, and the fans in the Chesapeake Energy Arena also breathed a sigh of relief. According to the formation at the beginning, they thought it would be another boring low-score matchup. But after returning from the timeout, the game obviously became much more exciting.

In the last 4 minutes of the first quarter, Carlos Boozer was replaced by Jerry Sloan, which also meant that the substitute players of both sides took over the rest of the time.

Unlike the wonderful performances of both sides' first starts,

The second team of the two teams is obviously more inclined to defense. They don't take many shots, and even fewer hits.

Just as the substitute players came and went to fight each other, the first quarter of the game also came to an end.

24 games away, the Jazz lead the Thunder by only one point. Although it was only the first quarter, Jerry Sloan was obviously not satisfied with the result.

"It's so exciting. This is a game between two great coaches. I don't know who can restrain who in the end. Anyway, I can't think of such a tactic." Kenny Smith applauded the game in the first quarter, Jeff . Van Gundy and Jerry Sloan's dispatches are indeed very accurate and timely.

In terms of on-the-spot scheduling ability, Van Gundy may not be able to compare with Sloan. The reason he's doing so well is that the Thunder now have a lot more roles to choose from than they did early in the season.

Sloan really wanted Okur and Boozer to switch positions, but the difficult Robert Swift rarely let the Jazz succeed.

Not long after the start of the second quarter, Okur finally succeeded once. He took the initiative to post it before Robert went to pester Boozer. Boozer is completely liberated, and now he is finally free to protect the restricted area.

Westbrook's aggressiveness is as strong as ever, and he is still not afraid to see Carlos Boozer on the inside. But after trying several breakthroughs, he found that he couldn't even get rid of Deron Williams in front of him.

Under Jerry Sloan's stern scolding during the intermission, the Jagged Jazz's defensive strength has been raised to another level!

"Russell!" Seeing that Westbrook was unable to find a chance, Angie immediately leaned against Boozer in the low post, raised his right hand, and asked Westbrook for the ball.

"Damn it!" Boozer was very embarrassed by Anjie on the offensive end today. Seeing this rookie arrogantly leaning on him to ask for the ball, Boozer couldn't say how excited he was. His chance to win back a victory finally came!

Westbrook lobs the ball high, making sure no one else catches it except Ainger. Boozer immediately stabilized his focus, ready to meet the powerful impact later.

"Angie and Boozer are playing in the low post! Okur was the one who defended Anjie in this game, but now Okur and Swift are wrapped together, can Boozer complete this sudden defensive task!? "

Under Jerry Sloan's complete system, Boozer's defense may look fine. But when he faces a strong inside line alone, his shortcomings cannot be covered up.

An Jie sat back hard, and Boozer was pushed back immediately.

Boozer continued to increase his strength, and even moved his center of gravity forward, trying to use the double pressure of body weight and strength to prevent An Jie from advancing.

But inside defense is not a simple brute force competition. An Jie, who felt the change of Boozer's center of gravity, suddenly turned around with a cross step, and Boozer, whose center of gravity was forward, staggered and was completely left behind by An Jie.

The Jazz's inside defense can do well, relying on the mutual support of Boozer and Okur. Okur's single-defense ability has improved in recent years, but Boozer still has to rely on the system to complete the task.

Now Okur is stuck by Swift, and Anjie is facing an unguarded basket after the breakthrough.

Anjie made a layup, and Boozer made a late-morning take-off to block the block. Unexpectedly, this was just a fake move by An Jie. Seeing Boozer take off, An Jie retracted the basketball, turned around on the spot to avoid the block, hooked again, and the basketball obediently slipped into the net without any accident.

"Beautiful footsteps! Recently, Ann's style of play has become more and more simple. Many people have forgotten that he still has this skill."

That's why even "Big Dream" began to pay attention to An Jie. Olajuwon also appreciates his talent in the inside footsteps.

Boozer wanted to regain face on the offensive end, but found that he had fallen into the quagmire of offense under Anjie's tough defense. He can still rely on his personal ability to score a few points. After all, basketball is not football, and it is almost impossible to block a matchup with strong offensive ability. But the extremely low hit rate is the price Boozer needs to pay for choosing to play hard.

As a fixed-point turret, Mehmet Okur's ability to create space by himself is very poor. And what this Robert Swift is best at is squeezing the space for the matchup to move. Every time Okur received the ball, he found that the long-haired center had no intention of helping to defend the penalty area, but just confronted him outside the three-point line. The way Swift defends is sometimes a shortcoming, but at least in this game, he did it right.

.J. Miles' strong performance in the first quarter made Durant more vigilant. In this quarter, he was taken care of and he didn't even have a chance to make a shot, let alone score a goal.

Ronnie Brewer did score a few goals over Sefoloza, but he, who was stronger in defense than offense, could not help the above three to carry the banner of offense.

Only Deron Williams is struggling with his own personal ability. After the pick-and-roll, he mostly chooses to attack by himself, because the efficiency of the other four obviously cannot allow him to hand over the ball with confidence. Although Anjie left Boozer every time and tried hard to chase back, he couldn't do anything about this point guard with a weird rhythm.

Anjie's ability to judge the timing of blocking shots is good, but facing Deron Williams, Anjie can't guess when he will choose to make a shot. The erratic acceleration and deceleration, as well as a well-timed pause, will make Anjie repeatedly deceived and miss the opportunity to block the shot.

Deron Williams is powerful, but his power alone is very limited. Jerry Sloan was furious on the sidelines in the second quarter, and the fans in front of the TV were all worried about the 66-year-old man.

"Is this how you fight the Thunder!? Carlos! What are you doing!? How many opportunities have you wasted on the offensive end? Do you have to compete with that Chinese before you give up!?"

"In the second half, you should cover more for Deron. Carlos, you continue to open space for him on the outside. Remember, don't leave the defense without authorization. Your offense today is a mess!" Who doesn't know Boozer's inside offense It's a must, even if Jerry Sloan arranges it like this, Boozer is still eager to try.

On the other side of the Thunder locker room, Jeff Van Gundy had nothing to stress about the starters. What he is more worried about now is the team's second team. After all, the Jazz still has Paul Millsap, Kyle Korver, "AK47" Andrei Kirilenko and other offensive players on the bench. If the defense of the second unit collapses, it will be difficult for the Thunder to fight back with offense.

"An, you may have to rest for a while in the third quarter, and I plan to increase your playing time appropriately later." To improve defense, Anjie is definitely an indispensable role in the Thunder team.

"It's okay, you don't need to rest too much." Of course, Anjie would not think too much playing time, but in order to take care of both the lineup and the health of the players, Van Gundy could not wantonly let Anjie play the second half.

In the fourth quarter, Van Gundy decided to keep Anjie until the last moment.

After the start of the second half, Anjie sat on the bench in his training uniform. The Thunder's lack of inside pillars obviously made the Jazz's offense much smoother.

Robert Swift may be able to play a great role when he is beside Anjie, but when he has to guard the restricted area alone, he cannot complete the task as before.

Collison, Krstic and Swift, the weak defense of the three white big men, is one of the reasons why Angie has to work harder.

"Deron Williams' breakthrough is easier now! Under Ann's interference, he will still have scruples in the interior. Now that the Thunder team lacks that barrier, Williams' scoring is like cutting melons and vegetables. easy!"

Deron Williams has made 4 of 4 shots, all of which were easily scored after breaking through the pick-and-roll to the inside. The changes in the Thunder after Anjie left the field are obvious.

The first team still has Durant and Westbrook. With them during this period, the Thunder should be able to withstand it. It is precisely because of this that Van Gundy can let Anjie continue to rest like a normal person.

Because the first team will not be pulled too far by the Jazz under the firepower of Durant and Westbrook, but if the second team does not have a barrier, it is definitely relatively dangerous.

Jerry Sloan didn't believe that the Thunder, which had an advantage in the first half, would suddenly collapse. He looked at the Thunder's bench, and the Asian center was still sitting next to Van Gundy.

"Strengthen the attack! Speed ​​me up! I want you to attack with all your strength! Carlos! Don't you like to score, hit me, shoot me!" Jerry Sloan knew what the bald man wanted to do, and put the trump card at the end? No, I'll end the game before the end!

The Jazz's offense has been wave after wave. Without a center with good frame protection ability, Carlos Boozer has also been completely released.

"Coach!" An Jie also anxiously called out to Van Gundy as the point difference gradually widened.

Van Gundy was unmoved, it's not yet time!

It doesn't matter if you lose in the third quarter, but if you lose in the fourth quarter, then you have no chance!

With 3 minutes and 20 seconds left before the end of the third quarter, Jerry Sloan finally replaced the crazy Boozer. Now, the Jazz's lineup has all become substitutes!

Boozer scored 8 points on 4 of 10 shots, and Deron scored 12 points on 6 of 6 shots in a single quarter. If it weren't for Durant's equally eye-catching performance, maybe Sloan could really end the battle in the third quarter.

It's a pity that Durant and Westbrook's counterattack ability greatly exceeded his expectations.

As soon as Boozer left the court, Van Gundy waved his hand, and Anjie quickly took off his training clothes.

"Listen, from now until the end of the game, you have to stay on the court. Defense is your first task. On the offensive end, reduce some singles and drive your teammates more." Van Gundy knew that his second team's ability to attack independently was not strong. But if there is An Jie's scheduling, everything will be different.

"Isn't it just 15 minutes? Leave it to me, boss." Anjie clapped hands with Swift, who was off the field, and fist bumped Durant and Westbrook, who were sweating profusely on the bench. He understood that Van Gundy put his hope of winning on himself!

Paul Millsap, Andrei Kirilenko, Kyle Korver, the Jazz's second team, which Van Gundy feared, has been assembled.

So come on, let's start with you!

71 to 60, the Thunder trailed by 11 points. An Jie took a deep breath, next, it's up to him! (To be continued.)