The Way of the Center

After the start of the game, the rhythm of both sides was very slow, and the defense was also done very well. ??

Needless to say, Anjie guarded the inside line, and the Spurs also used overall defense under the arrangement of Vicki to make it difficult for the Thunder to get a chance. Therefore, at the beginning of the game, when both sides were unable to score inside, the outside players of the Spurs and Thunder chose to try their hands outside the three-point line first.

However, the tight defense not only makes it more difficult for the two teams to score in the interior, but also outside the three-point line, they shoot more often against interference.

Tony Parker and Westbrook made three-pointers alternately, but they didn't make a single goal. Seeing this situation, Jeff Van Gundy hurriedly called a timeout, otherwise it would be too late when the Spurs adjusted.

**Vitch also took this opportunity to make some arrangements. The situation where the two sides defended firmly and failed to score as soon as they came out made many neutral fans sleepy.

"This is the ugly game between the Thunder and the Spurs. Except for mid-range shots and free throws, the two teams didn't even score a layup." Charles Barkley complained again.

"Don't worry, the fans who choose to watch this game will not care about these. And after the coaches of the two teams have made some adjustments, their offense will definitely improve." Kenny Smith said to Van Gundy and ** Qi's coaching level is very confident.

Under the ridicule of three commentators with different styles, the timeout time passed unexpectedly quickly. In the blink of an eye, players from both sides returned to the field again.

In terms of lineup, Vicki hasn't made any adjustments yet, while for the Thunder, Van Gundy replaced Kostic and brought Morris up.

This move undoubtedly shattered the fantasies in the hearts of many fans. Van Gundy meant to stick to the end.

The Spurs were relatively weak inside last year. Although they introduced Antonio McDyess this year, it is undeniable that this did not bring much improvement to their inside.

The reason why Duncan played at the fifth position was also a helpless move because he did not have a good center.

After returning from the timeout, the Thunder took the lead in attacking, Westbrook quickly advanced, and Anjie did not step forward to pick and roll, but was trying to get in position.

Although Duncan is not an insider of the Fauvism, his strength is not weak either. An Jie couldn't stay in one position for a long time. As long as he stood still, Duncan would try his best to push An Jie outside.

An Jie still raised his arms high and opened his hands to ask for the ball. It seems that only by holding the ball frame can he pass the stone Buddha level.

Westbrook saw that Durant hadn't run out of opportunities yet,

Then a lob pass made Anjie attack.

"Ann got the ball, how will he deal with Duncan's defense!?" Kenny Smith became excited, and the inside duel between Anjie and Duncan was finally about to be staged.

An Jie took a few tentative steps after taking the ball, but Duncan didn't move at all, just lowered his center of gravity and lay in front of An Jie.

After that, An Jie stepped forward with his left foot, but actually dribbled the ball to the right, intending to pass Duncan with a quick tentative step fake.

This move may allow Anjie to deal with most insiders, but obviously Duncan is not included.

With a quick lateral movement, Duncan stopped An Jie with ease.

After being blocked, An Jie leaned on Duncan to take advantage of the situation, and directly took off to shoot. Duncan was afraid of being fouled, so he didn't take off, but just raised his hands to interfere with An Jie's sight.

Anjie was indeed blocked by Duncan's long arm, but he still threw the ball into the box.

There are no gorgeous footsteps, because Anjie can't use those things in the face of Duncan's defense. There are no wonderful dunks, because An Jie's fake moves can't fool Shi Fu at all. The eye-catching confrontation between the two insiders ended with this ordinary turnaround shot.

When the Spurs attacked next, Tony Parker also "tacitly" found Duncan in a good position.

Duncan sat back hard after receiving the ball, and An Jie was pushed away by a small step. Seeing this situation, An Jie hurriedly adjusted his center of gravity, preparing for Duncan's second impact.

Unexpectedly, Duncan's lean back was just a feint. After pushing Anjie away to gain a little space for himself, Duncan turned around and retreated. He almost didn't take off a rebound shot. The basketball was firmly refracted into the net, and the score between the two sides was tied again.

As always, Duncan used a very simple move to get a chance to score by hitting the rebound at a 45° angle.

No celebration, no expression. Duncan returned to defense as if nothing had happened.

"This is a duel between two masters of basic skills. They don't care about the scene, they only care about the most efficient way." Mike Breen shook his head. Although it is an important game, the ratings of this game must be higher. Not too high.

Fortunately, Durant's sudden force in the second half of the first quarter saved the fans who were trapped in "deep water".

Although Durant's shooting percentage was not high under the tight defense of the Spurs, he dared to break through and got a full nine free throws!

**The thing Vitch did the most in the first quarter was to complain to the referee. Without these nine free throws, the Spurs would have established a lead!

Tony Parker made 0-for-2 shots, Westbrook made 0-for-2 shots, Ginobili made 0-for-5 shots, Durant scored 12 points in a single quarter but only 2-for-6 from the field.

After reading these statistics, you can probably guess how ugly the first quarter of the two sides was.

If it weren't for Duncan's 3-for-4 shooting and Anjie's 3-for-5 shooting, the number of goals in the first quarter of the game would have been few and far between.

It wasn't until the substitute players from both sides came on the court that the situation where they were fighting each other was finally improved. However, the substitute players didn't have much playing time and didn't have many shots, so they still couldn't make the game look good.

It was Morris who took some consolation from a jumping dunk after grabbing an offensive rebound.

25 to 25, the Spurs evenly distributed shots, and Durant made 8 free throws to ensure that the score between the two sides was still normal.

"What do you think of the contest between the two sides in the first quarter, Charles?"

"The score of 25 to 25 may make many people mistakenly think that this game is very intense and exciting. But I still want to advise the audience who just turned on the TV, change the channel quickly and don't hesitate." Barkley pretended to be serious warning, not only It didn't make the ratings drop, but it aroused the curiosity of the fans. Many people chose to continue watching the game, wanting to find out.

This is why Barkley is never serious, but can become the most popular commentator.

Reggie Miller may be very professional, Kenny Smith may be pertinent, but only Charles Barkley is different from other channels.

Although the shooting percentages of both sides were not high in the first quarter, it was not because of any problems with their offense, but because both the Spurs and the Thunder did a great job defensively.

Van Gundy knew that it would be difficult to break the Spurs' "chain defense" only by relying on the personal ability of the Thunder's three young men. Only by learning from Vitch to make the distribution of shots more balanced, the Thunder will have the opportunity to open up the situation on the offensive end.

"Ann, you should hold the ball a lot in the second quarter, but I don't want you to perform singles, you organize." Compared with Westbrook, Van Gundy believed in the organizational ability of the center Anjie. If it weren't for Anjie's inability to dribble across half court by himself, Van Gundy might have asked Anjie to play the first position.

"Morris, your job is to do off-the-ball pick-and-rolls for your teammates." With that said, Van Gundy picked up the tactical board and began to draw.

Everyone listens carefully, because everyone has their own mission on the offensive end. This time, scoring is no longer the "private matter" of Thunder's third young master.

In the second quarter, the two sides continued to fight fiercely. Argentine Manu Ginobili replaced Keith Bogans as a fake and came to the second position, and Andrew Morris also replaced Kostic as a fake assistant Anjie defense. From the current point of view, the consistency between the coaches of the two sides is still very high.

Although he made 0 of 5 shots in the first quarter, Vicki still gave Ginobili the right to fire. Once this alluring guy gets pumped up, the Spurs will have a greater chance of winning.

Sefolosa's defense in the first quarter was the biggest reason for Ginobili's poor shooting percentage, but this time Ginobili used Duncan's tacit pick-and-roll to bypass the wall of Sefoloza and went straight to the goal. The restricted area guarded by Morris.

Since Anjie had to follow Duncan to the high position, the Thunder's barrier at the basket became Morris. However, in front of Manu Ginobili's unpredictable European step, although the immature Morris did not let the Argentine score directly, he was still so confused that he applied for a foul.

"Are you going to move Ann away from the three-second zone?" Van Gundy touched his chin, sacrificing Duncan's threat on the offensive end to clear the Thunder's defensive pillars in the penalty area. It's not impossible for Vitch to do this kind of thing.

After discovering Vicki's intentions, Van Gundy did not immediately make adjustments. He intends to take a look first before making a decision.

Afterwards, Anjie played the role of the Thunder's offensive command tower near the free throw line, just as Van Gundy arranged.

He distributes the ball very well, allowing everyone to get a shot. However, contrary to expectations, the Spurs were able to score the ball after they got the ball, and the Thunder's offense was obviously not so efficient.

Anjie held the ball with his back to the basket and passed the ball to Westbrook hand-to-hand. After Westbrook's breakthrough, the Spurs' formation quickly shrank, so Westbrook had to distribute the ball again.

Sefoloza got an open shot, and he would get an open shot, which was completely in Vicki's expectation. The Spurs dared to shrink quickly and missed Sefolosha because he missed two open shots in front of him.

For the third time, Sefoloza shot decisively. The determination is there, but the hand feeling has not returned.

"Sefolosa's hands are so cold! Although he also defended Ginobili very hard, he couldn't score on the offensive end."

Under similar tactics, the Thunder's shooting percentage was much lower than that of the Spurs. Seeing that the score was slowly widening, Jeff Van Gundy had to change his strategy.

"You said this game was going to win the Spurs! Look at the score, it's nine points! We're nine points behind, gentlemen!" Van Gundy tapped the tactical board with his fist to emphasize the point difference.

To be honest, the Thunder's tactics have been implemented, but the player's touch is indeed a problem that Van Gundy cannot solve.

Nine points, more than three minutes, to stabilize the situation, the Thunder must score!

"The last three minutes! Ann! You give me a lot of offense inside!"

"Ah?" An Jie looked up in surprise. He thought Van Gundy was going to replace him. After all, he only took a two-minute break in the second quarter. Unexpectedly, in the last three minutes, Van Gundy actually asked him to perform singles.

"Your shooting touch on the outside is really bad. I will let you out five minutes before halftime to practice shooting. But now, we must bite the score! If the score is stretched to double digits, then we will be very difficult in the second half !” The reason why Van Gundy arranged the tactic of spreading out his shots at the beginning was because it could tear down the Spurs’ defense.

But in the case of poor shooting, he can only bite the bullet and ask Anjie to bite the last period of time.

After returning from the timeout, Morris was replaced by Ibaka, because now the Thunder need to attack more than defend!

As soon as he came up, **Vivic immediately noticed the change. Anjie stopped getting the ball in the high post and started wrestling with McDyess.

Duncan's eyes widened when he saw this situation. Could it be that the Thunder are going to take advantage of his absence to play inside! ?

Sure enough, except for Durant who responded from outside the three-point line, the other three Thunder players were pulled to the weak side. The entire half of the court was vacated by An Jie.

As soon as An Jie received the ball, he immediately turned around and got rid of it. McDyess hurriedly followed, but just as he got up, he found that An Jie suddenly braked and turned around backwards, leaving himself in the air.

With a simple step, he got rid of the defense, Anjie hooked easily, and the Thunder finally scored!

However, Ginobili's serpentine breakthrough caused another foul by Anjie. Seeing that the lead was still very clear, Vicky decided to let Duncan continue to rest.

Sure enough, when the Thunder team attacked for the second time, it was still Anjie who got the ball in the low post.

"It's not that Coach Van Gundy hasn't arranged tactics for center forwards to play singles, but it's too early to put all their eggs in one basket from the second quarter?" Kenny Smith couldn't help asking when he saw this unusual scene.

"Indeed, in most cases, only when the fourth quarter really can't open the situation, or the Thunder team has an obvious advantage inside, Coach Van Gundy will make such arrangements. But now, the Thunder's outside players have made it clear that they can't make shots. Taking the risk of being double-teamed and making mistakes to chase after two points is indeed the only way." Reggie Miller answered Kenny Smith's question.

The second time, the person defending Anjie became Matt Bonner, but it still didn't help.

Under the "provocation" of An Jie's footsteps, Bonner was finally deceived, while An Jie easily hunched over to get rid of the defense, made a low layup and scored two points.

The third time, Angie signaled Westbrook to control the ball first, so he ran out of the low post and stepped forward for the pick-and-roll.

Seeing An Jie wink at him, Westbrook instantly understood An Jie's intentions.

He broke through with the ball, but An Jie, who was going to pick and roll, suddenly ran back and pierced inside.

Matt Bonner was completely deceived by the fake pick-and-roll, and he reached out to grab Ainger's jersey. But Anjie has received a pass from Westbrook and soared into the air!

"Boom!" There was a strong and heavy buckle, and countless Thunder fans and Chinese fans who were dozing off in front of the TV were awakened by the sound.

Opening his eyes, An Jie was hanging on the frame, and the referee then blew his whistle.

Matt Bonner fouled, and Anjie got a chance to hit a three-pointer!

With a steady hit, the Thunder once again approached the score.

However, relying on Anjie's singles to chase points is very unrealistic. The Thunder need a small wave to move back to the situation.

It's a pity that the Spurs' second-year guard George Hill has performed well during this time. He made two shots and drew a shooting foul from an exasperated Westbrook. This allowed Anjie's consecutive goals to not help the team further narrow the score.

But in Van Gundy's view, this is enough, to bite the score, this is the reason why he let Anjie play singles.

With the Thunder making 10 of 23 shots in the half, the Spurs took a 53-46 seven-point lead.

**Vich walked back to the locker room satisfied, and Van Gundy was also thankful that the point difference was still in single digits.

Duncan and Angie scored 14 points each in the first half, and both were the most efficient players on the team. In the first half of the contest, these two people can be said to be evenly matched.

Both are slow teams, but the Spurs overwhelm the Thunder with their amazing consistency.

Duncan and his Spurs took the lead temporarily, but Shifo couldn't guarantee that they would have the last laugh.

6 wins and 2 losses, without the ability to play against the wind, it is impossible for the Thunder to achieve such results. At some point, the blue and white lightning will burst suddenly!

Thunder fans now only hope that this moment will come as soon as possible.

(Third update for the third consecutive day, ask for tickets and subscription) (To be continued.) 8