The Way of the Center

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"The rankings in the East are too chaotic. Except for the top four and bottom three teams, the difference in wins between the other teams is not more than five games. And to be honest, compared with the teams in the West, the teams in the East The team’s winning percentage is really unremarkable.”

It's Saturday again, and this is also the time for major sports channels to do basketball programs.

"That's right, let's take the Thunder, which is ninth in the Western Conference, for example. The current winning percentage of the biggest dark horse in the Western Conference this season is 58%! With such a result, they can be ranked fourth in the Eastern Conference, but in the Western Conference, they are still Not being in the playoffs is really unfair to the Western Conference."

"Now each team has a special plane to pick up and drop off the players to play away games. The conditions are much better than before, and there is no need to worry about long-distance travel taking up too much time. I would say that the NBA should abolish the division between the East and the West. , directly determine which team is eligible to participate in the playoffs based on the total score of the regular season."

Two experts chattered on TV, and the problems they said were very real, but also very illusory.

The reality is that the weak east and the strong west have indeed blocked many excellent teams from the playoffs. The illusory is that it is almost impossible for the NBA to change the division of teams between the east and the west.

As a rookie in the NBA, the Thunder's performance this season is amazing enough. But the Lakers, Nuggets, Spurs, Rockets, Mavericks... the names of these powerful teams have to be pressed on their heads. On the other hand, in the East, the 76ers, Bulls, Pistons and other teams in the playoffs are really not necessarily better than the Thunder.

Wanting to gain a firm foothold in the West, Anjie seems to have chosen a difficult difficulty from the beginning of his career. Complaining about the rules is useless. All the Thunder's three juniors and Van Gundy can do is to try their best to win all their opponents in the last month of the regular season.

After defeating the Jazz, the Thunder still have 5 games left in March, but looking at the opponents in these 5 games, Van Gundy really felt that God was joking with himself again.

Except for the Timberwolves in the next game, which is a relatively weak opponent, there are four games left. The Thunder need to face the Lakers who are No. 1 in the West, the Raptors led by Bosh, the Celtics who are No. 2 in the East and the West Third Spurs.

No matter how talented the three thunderbolts are, it is almost impossible to create a miracle and win all these opponents. Now Van Gundy only hopes that the Jazz's opponents can work harder, trying to slow down the Jazz and give the Thunder an opportunity.

One day after the game against the Jazz, Anjie voluntarily gave up extra practice for the first time. If he insisted on completing the set tasks, it would be difficult for him to guarantee that he would still be energetic the next day.

82 regular season games,

This is incomparable to the loose schedule of the NAA's one game a week. An Jie considered himself an iron man, but he had to admit at the end of the season that he was just an ordinary flesh and blood body.

How much does the intensive schedule consume players' physical strength? **Vitch is used to implementing a rotation system for players at the end of the season. This is not a trick, but it does have its effect.

But the Thunder doesn't have such a deep bench, especially Anjie. Among the Thunder's insiders, the defense of everyone except Anjie can be described as poor. Therefore, no one can help An Jie share the burden during the game, everything has to be carried by himself.

The last match was only 15 minutes in a row, and An Jie felt that he was still a little tired today.

The inside muscular guys in the NBA are not so easy to deal with.

There is no rest, and he has to pay several times the hard work of others. An Jie had to take the initiative to cut off extra training for the first time in order to ensure his physical strength.

Compared with strong teams such as the Lakers, Jeff Van Gundy cares more about the opponent of the Timberwolves. After all, the hard power of these strong teams like the Lakers lies there. If both sides play normally, the chances of the Thunder team winning will be very low.

But for a team like the Timberwolves, Van Gundy would never allow himself to capsize in the gutter. The team that should be won must not make mistakes. Because of this, the Timberwolves, the weakest of the five opponents, have become an important opponent in Van Gundy's eyes.

After a day's rest, the Thunder went on another expedition and flew to the cold Minnesota by special plane. Hot in summer and cold in winter, Minnesota's weather is like this Timberwolves team, sometimes extremely strong and sometimes extremely weak.

When An Jie saw Kevin Love again, he couldn't help but sigh in his heart. After a busy year, he had hardly done anything other than playing basketball. It seems that in addition to training this summer, I have to spend more time with Catherine and her parents.

A year ago, An Jie was fighting to the death in the March Madness Championship. Now, the head guard who killed the Cyclones has become his most intimate teammate, and the Pacific Ten League player of the year has also become the starting power forward of the Minnesota Timberwolves.

One year, whether it is long or not, has changed a lot.

Watching the intimate conversation between Westbrook and Love before the game, Anjie also hopes that he can meet his familiar old teammates in the NBA arena. It's a pity that Mike Taylor was sent to the NBDL early on by the overcrowded Trail Blazers, while Andrew Morris was still working hard in the March Madness Championship.

There is not much time left for An Jie to express his feelings. In the cold Minnesota, if he does not warm up sufficiently, it is very dangerous. Didn't An Jie sprain his ankle for the first time because he didn't warm up seriously?

When the game started, Love found to his disappointment that it was more difficult for him to break An Jie's defense now than before.

The two big men who played on par at the beginning now have a significant gap.

There is no way, Love has not been a starter in the NBA for a long time, and his average playing time is less than 30 minutes per game. After Van Gundy's arrival, Anjie has secured his position as the starting center, and his playing time has also increased from 35 to 40 minutes.

With so much more time to learn and adapt than Love, it is normal for Anjie to be stronger than Love now. When Love's playing time in the NBA reaches Anjie's amount, he will naturally become better.

It's just that now he has to be aggrieved and loses his aim under An Jie's tough and fierce defense.

"Ann and Love fought against each other when they were in college. At that time, Love was higher than An Jie in terms of fame and honor. But now, look at it, 0 of 5 shots, Kevin Love is in front of Ann. Didn't make a single shot."

In the end, Greg Smith, who is still good at backs and turns and small throws, made Anjie feel the pressure. Facing a short, flexible center forward who is good at using strange moves, An Jie's limited experience is not enough.

Smith can break through Anjie's defense on the offensive end, and Anjie, who has a huge height advantage, can also beat Smith without temper on the offensive end.

The short Greg Smith's defense in the penalty area was useless when facing Anjie. Anjie didn't even need to make fake moves, just turn around and hook or shoot without being too much interference.

The Timberwolves' players worked very hard, but their offense couldn't penetrate the Thunder's defense.

The performances of the two superstars in the past were not outstanding. Love only made 3 of 13 shots under the defense of Anjie, and his shooting percentage was only a poor %. Only 10 points were recorded, but Kevin Love's 10 points , but the highest score among Timberwolves starters. It can also be seen from this how unbearable the Timberwolves played.

Westbrook's performance is not much better, 2 of 10 shots, a lower shooting percentage than Love. However, after knowing that his hand was not going well today, Westbrook sent several wonderful passes to Anjie and Durant. Today's 10 assists are even more than his 7 points.

Although Westbrook's offensive performance is not good, Anjie's 19 points and 8 rebounds and Durant's 28 points are enough for the Thunder to win easily. Misfiring situation.

97 to 90, although the point difference does not seem to be big, but this can be said to be the most relaxed game played by the Thunder recently. And this victory also allowed the Thunder to once again get rid of the embarrassment of not being able to win five consecutive victories.

The Thunder's second five-game winning streak this season finally came long overdue.

Van Gundy's serious attitude allowed him to not miss the chance to win when facing opponents who were weaker than himself.

After returning to Oklahoma City to rest for a night and a half day, the Thunder set sail again. This time, Westbrook returned to his hometown, Los Angeles, the City of Angels.

"I'll go to your game tonight." An Jie had just landed and turned on his phone again when he saw the text message from Giardina. Giardina just happened to be attending a business event in Los Angeles these days. Seeing that the Thunder were coming to Los Angeles to play a game, Giardina immediately bought the tickets for the front row.

Although An Jie is a bit dull about this aspect, he is not a fool. He could somewhat guess what this little girl was thinking, but if the other party didn't pick her up, he continued to play dumb. After all, that Catherine in Ames City is the object of Anjie's longing.

Even with Giardina on the sidelines, even though Kobe Bryant only made 6 of 18 shots and did not score more than 20, even though the Thunder had just won five consecutive victories, even though Westbrook was slashing under the insults of the Los Angeles fans. 30 points, but the Thunder fell to the Staples Center again.

The inability to win at Staples Center is another big curse that has plagued the Thunder this season. Whether facing the Clippers or the Lakers, they have never experienced the feeling of walking out of here with a victorious attitude.

The shooting range of Odom and Gasol obviously made Anjie tired. It is hard to say whether Zen Master has changed his offensive strategy against Anjie. But the fact is that Odom's 18 points and Gasol's 14 points are all related to Anjie.

With 13 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists and no blocks, this was Anjie's worst performance in March. If the No. 1 Lakers in the Western Conference can't handle three rookies, then why are they No. 1?

Another heartbreaking news is that the Jazz, which also had a game, won the game against the Rockets. The win gap between the two teams has once again become four games. Poor Rockets and Yao Ming, Jazz has almost become synonymous with Rockets nemesis.

There was no time left for the Thunder men to be frustrated. They silently wiped off their sweat, got up again, and moved on to the next stop.

So in the duel with "Dragon King" Bosh three days later, Anjie got enough rest and rebounded strongly. He scored 21 points, 13 rebounds and 6 assists, completely suppressing the prestige of the "Dragon King".

Bosh scored 18 points and 6 rebounds in this campaign, but his shooting percentage was only 33%. Anjie not only had a strong offense, but also showed his defensive ability again.

112 to 96, the Thunder took the lead and won in the northern Canada.

On the other hand, the Jazz lost to the Suns a day earlier. This did not bring the Suns closer to the playoffs, but gave the Thunder a chance. 3 wins, playoff tickets within reach.

Anjie performed well in this game personally, and the team also won. However, a piece of news after the game wiped away Anjie's happy mood.

"I failed buddy, the round of 16, and we are blocked in the round of 16. I don't know what to say, call me when you have time..." From the cold words, An Jie could understand An Jie, who has experienced it once, naturally understands Morris' mood at the moment. Without saying a word, he made a phone call and chatted with Morris for a long time...

In the next two games, the Thunder lost 84 to 100 to the powerful Celtics Big Three, but once again successfully prevented the Spurs from making a lore at the ATT Center with a score of 96 to 95.

However, the Spurs, who use the rotation, did not play both Duncan and Ginobili in this game. Losing this game may be the situation that Vicky hopes to see. After all, the Rockets with Yao Ming and Scola are definitely opponents that Vicki doesn't want to meet in the playoffs.

The wily Vitch has already begun to "select" his opponents in the playoffs as much as possible.

After the victory over the Spurs, the Thunder's March games are all over. With 11 wins in 15 games, the Thunder's progress is obvious.

As of April 15th, the 08-09 season NBA regular season will all be over. The last 15 days will be the hardest 15 days for the Thunder this season. (To be continued.)