The Way of the Center

As soon as the lights came on, the locker room, which was supposed to be empty, was full of people. ???The Thunder have a lot of players on their roster, all of them are here.

On the top of the dressing room, there is a banner hanging. It read "Happy Birthday, Ann," in colorful letters.

Before An Jie could react, Morris took the lead and played a bunch of ribbons, followed by others, and the whole locker room suddenly became colorful.

Afterwards, Anjie's teammates sang the birthday song, and Anjie stood still during the whole process, just smiling blankly.

As soon as the song was over, Morris rushed up with a piece of cake and smashed it on An Jie's face. After being hit by this blow, An Jie finally woke up.

"Morris, stop!" Anjie immediately grabbed a piece of cake to fight back, but Westbrook attacked from the side, and Anjie was "headshot" by the cake again.

A group of young people smashed half of the cake before they finally calmed down. Westbrook, Anjie and others have long since changed beyond recognition, and even Durant, who is more introverted, has not been spared.

"How do you know that today is my birthday? I never told anyone." An Jie licked the cream on his lips while speaking.

"You told me when you were in college, but I remember it!" Morris remembered that Anjie had accidentally mentioned his birth date to him when they were still in the whirlwind.

This birthday surprise was also initiated by Morris. But what he didn't expect was that all members of the Thunder team actively participated in it.

"If you say you have trained long enough, we have been waiting in this unlit locker room for more than an hour." Westbrook came out of the shower with a towel on and washed off the cream on his body.

"Thank you, guys, thank you..." In a foreign country, An Jie never thought that he would be treated like this. Even new teammates like Ibaka and Edon Thomas, whom he had known for less than a month, attended the party.

Anjie's friendly and humble attitude off the court has not been forgotten by his teammates. His strong and excellent performance on the field made him even more convincing.

"Okay, don't be sour there, party, we have to have some of this!" Morris pulled out a stereo from nowhere and played hip-hop style rap music.

He was the first to jump up in the middle of the locker room, and then more and more people joined the carnival team.

Everyone had a great time, everyone,

They are all really integrated into this group.

Without Catherine, without parents, Anjie spent a birthday party night that he will never forget in another country today. The status of the Thunder in An Jie's heart is far more than a team, but a family.

The next day, Van Gundy, who rarely had a good night's sleep, pushed open the door of the locker room energetically, but was taken aback by the messy scene inside.

Cream, juices, cakes, even bath towels are all on the changing room floor. He immediately called the cleaners to clean up the locker room.

This group of damned fellows actually act recklessly to such an extent!

Needless to say, no one but the Thunder players would make a locker room look like that.

"Damn it! It's getting worse and worse!" Van Gundy was furious, and he decided to take the opportunity to teach them a lesson after watching those guys' unsightly training.

But until the end of today's routine training, Van Gundy did not get the opportunity and reason to reprimand the players. Not only are the players of the Thunder team not out of shape, but their training quality today is still very high.

Although not full of energy, everyone is very serious and has a smile on their faces from time to time.

The team is in good condition. If Van Gundy fires at them at this time, it will cause the morale of the players to be low.

Van Gundy had no choice but to shake his head helplessly. No matter what they did in the locker room last night, as long as it didn't affect the competitive state, he would have no opinion.

"Hey, you haven't forgotten who our opponent is tomorrow." Van Gundy clapped his hands in the locker room, and the players who were changing clothes stopped what they were doing and looked at their head coach.

"San Antonio Spurs, boss, but we will win." Morris answered seriously first, and then smiled lightly.

"That's right, a big bull."

"Yeah, victory will be ours."

"It's not like we haven't won against the Spurs."

In an instant, everyone agreed and kept high-fiving each other.

"Hmph, good to know. When I entered the locker room this morning, it wasn't what it is now." Van Gundy looked at his subordinates pretending to be serious. In fact, he hadn't been angry for a long time, and just wanted to take this opportunity to do something. Do pre-war mobilization. In the presence of young people, this often works very well.

Everyone couldn't help laughing. Although Van Gundy and his staff had a good relationship and were very close, this secret only belonged to the players.

"I don't care what you do, if you can't win the Spurs tomorrow, I'll settle the score with you one by one!" Van Gundy has no delusions. For the Thunder this season, the San Antonio Spurs must win.

"Don't worry boss, we won't let you down." An Jie knew that even if they really lost tomorrow, Van Gundy would not do anything to them. But since the coach has given them high expectations and trust, they also have to show qualified performance in return.

"Very good, today's training is here. Hurry up and get ready. The plane at eight o'clock tonight has two days of rest. I think you can handle it." Next came two back-to-back games. The Spurs and Clippers respectively, Van Gundy has to worry about the health and fitness of the players again.

Different from the relatively relaxed atmosphere of the Thunder team, the atmosphere of the Spurs team on Vicky's side is slightly depressed. The previous record of the Spurs was 4 wins and 3 losses. This result is not bad, but it is definitely not good for a team like the Spurs who aim for the championship.

**Vitch will definitely not be satisfied with this result. The Spurs had just won their first winning streak this season when facing the Raptors and Mavericks, and the team's state is steadily improving. The youth army Oklahoma City Thunder cannot be the role that blocks the momentum of the Spurs.

In the past, Vivic only listed the Thunder as their potential threat in the West, but after only one year, Vivic can remove the word "potential".

Lectra Blazers, lore Lakers, bloodbath Magic. Of the Thunder's previous six victories, at least three of their opponents were very strong. However, in the face of a strong opponent with a record of all victories, Vivić clearly saw how heavy the Thunder team was.

Even Vitch has to admit that it will be very difficult for them to win tomorrow's game.

People who think the same way also include Jeff Van Gundy. Although he encourages players in the locker room, how can the Spurs be an opponent he can beat with a few beautiful words.

In the West, every few days, there will be a tough battle.

On November 14th, there will be a live broadcast across the United States. The commentary trio will come to the aTT Center to comment on the game live.

ESPN also sent Mike Breen to the scene, and the commentary stand was right next to it. From this, we can see how big the gimmick of this game is.

The Thunder challenged the Spurs in an away game. Last season, it was just a contest of disparity in strength, a boring showdown between the top team in the Western Conference and the bottom team in the Western Conference.

But this season, it was one of the heaviest matchups in the West early in the season.

Anjie is undoubtedly the most "popular" player in the Thunder team with Spurs fans. Anjie's foul last season caused Tony Parker to sprain. Although it was later proved that Anjie was unintentional, in the eyes of the Spurs fans, it was a malicious foul that should be punished.

From the warm-up, as long as Anjie shoots, the aTT center will burst into endless boos.

"You're very popular here, buddy." Morris looked around, except for Anjie, the rest of the Thunder team didn't get so much attention.

"No way, who told me to stop Shifo's lore?" A year ago, it was in this arena that Anjie played against the Spurs for the first time. At the last moment, Anjie's successful defense made Duncan's lore fail, and it also made the Thunder beat the Spurs in an away game. It can be said that the name of Thunder's third young master began to resound throughout the league at that time.

In just one year, the Thunder are already a team as strong as the Spurs. Thunder and Spurs, the game that made countless fans fall asleep and switch channels, will be staged again.

Whether the three thunderbolts and the troika are veterans or youths, the duel between these two trio has become one of the highlights of the nba league.

Tim Duncan's eyes were focused, and his "facial paralysis" expression prevented everyone from noticing his emotions. But Tony Parker could tell that this guy seems to be full of energy today!

Today, Duncan will go to the fifth position to face Anjie. What will the duel between the two masters of basic skills look like?

Youth and experience, passion and calmness. The battle between the Spurs and the Thunder is imminent! (To be continued.) 8