The Way of the Center

After the review on December 1, the Thunder officials never disclosed any news about Anjie. Although Wu Hua knew about An Jie's situation, he did not disclose An Jie's latest situation to the public in accordance with the Thunder's official wishes.

But only the next day, attentive fans discovered that the Thunder released a set of photos of Anjie training in the pool on their official website.

"Ann's recovery training has started, and she is expected to return in the middle of this month." On the top of the photo, there is only such a simple sentence. But it was this simple piece of news that made the entire Oklahoma City fans cheer.

So in the Thunder's home game against the 76ers that night, the fans in the Chesapeake Energy Arena were very active, cheering louder and louder.

Anjie finally returned to the Chesapeake Energy Arena for this campaign. He sat on the sidelines in casual clothes, cheered for his teammates, and came back to get acquainted with the atmosphere of the game.

When the game reached the third quarter, Morris was knocked down by Dalembert in a storm, but the referee did not call a foul.

After Dalembert got the ball, the 76ers immediately called a timeout. At this moment, Anjie, who was dressed in casual clothes, suddenly rushed into the field and pulled Morris up from the ground.

Everyone could clearly see that An Jie was using his injured leg as a support, trying to pull the "big bull" up. Although it is only a small detail, it still makes the fans full of confidence in Anjie's recovery.

In the end, with the excellent performance of both fans and players, the Thunder easily won 106 to 117 at home.

Durant scored more than 30 points again, and if this continues, Durant will catch up with Anthony and rank second in the scoring list. Below him, there are superstars like Wade, Kobe, and Nowitzki. It's no wonder that Durant will become the core of the Thunder with many potential stocks.

Morris also had a good performance in this game, with 18 points and 7 rebounds. He still tried to fill the gap inside the Thunder when Anjie was unable to play.

Now everyone is admiring how good Presti's vision is. They seem to have forgotten how much doubts Morris and Presti received in the draft.

And Van Gundy is also thankful that Presti has greatly strengthened the team's inside line in the summer. Otherwise, after Anjie was injured, the Thunder would really have no inside players to play a leading role.

But fortunately, now they have Morris and Ibaka.

As the date of comeback gets closer, Anjie has more and more training items.

Now, he has been allowed to conduct some confrontational ball training with the trainer. Judging from the performance on the training ground, Anjie's state is not a problem.

An Jie still trains hard every day, and will continue to train himself in the future. However, due to his knee injury, the content of Anjie's additional training can only be to avoid the lower limbs.

Thunder fans are looking forward to that day, but their team still has a lot of teams to play in the meantime.

On December 4, the Big Three of the Celtics stepped into the Chesapeake Energy Arena. Without Anjie, the defensive pillar, the Celtics played quite easily under the leadership of the Big Three.

Although Morris had performed well in the previous games, he obviously failed the test this time.

Seven Celtics scored in double figures. Garnett made 10 of 11 shots and easily scored 23 points and 8 rebounds under the defense of Morris, Ibaka and others.

Garnett's abnormal performance made Thunder fans look forward to Anjie's comeback infinitely. Morris can only play a role as a substitute, but if the Thunder want to be safe in the penalty area, they have to ask An Jie to come.

105 to 87, the Big Three who didn't make it to the finals last season, but performed well this season, easily took away the victory. Although Durant scored 36 points, he was still powerless. After all, except for him and Westbrook, everyone else scored only single digits.

An Jie was eager to watch off the court. He really wanted to go on the court and have a good fight with the Celtics' Big Three. But it's a pity that he was still receiving ice treatment before the game, so he can't take the risk to play at the moment.

Although they suffered a disastrous defeat to the Big Three, the Thunder players were not discouraged by it.

In the next week, they immediately played a two-game winning streak in response to doubts from all walks of life.

Defeated the Jazz at home and captured the Grizzlies away. Although James Harden, the player Presti originally wanted to choose in the game against the Grizzlies, performed well and scored the Grizzlies' highest 24 points, Durant's performance of 30 points and up was not as good as Wayne's. Sturbrook's relatively stable shooting rate still made the young Harden swallow the defeat.

After winning two consecutive victories, there are only six days left before Anjie's comeback. Whether it is the fans or Anjie himself, there is a feeling that he can't wait.

Everything is going in the right direction, the team is winning, the players are about to recover, this season looks so good.

However, in the week when An Jie was about to come back, after two consecutive victories, the Thunder ushered in the longest three-game losing streak of the season!

To be exact, the Thunder has never lost in a row since the 09-10 season. But it's okay if it doesn't come, because once it came, it lost three games in a row.

First, on December 13, the Cleveland Cavaliers challenged the Thunder in an away game. In fact, there was no problem with the players of the Thunder in this game. Durant scored 29 points and Westbrook scored 26 points.

The problem was LeBron James. He scored a game-high 44 points by himself, and blocked the Thunder's fierce offensive by himself.

1o2 to 99, only three points away from the Thunder, narrowly defeated by the sword of the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference.

If the problem with this game was James' level play, then the Thunder had no excuses for their second loss.

Facing the Denver Nuggets with only 8 players able to play, the Thunder handed over the victory with less than 40% shooting.

In addition, they allowed the Nuggets to score in double figures, which added to the death of the team.

The offense can't score, and the defense can't defend. Wanting to win in such a state is really a fantasy.

93 to 1o2, two consecutive losses.

Two days later, the Mavericks will not let go of this great opportunity to get Anjie injured. Nowitzki opened the bow inside and outside, making Morris and Ibaka and other insiders completely lose their temper.

He made 2 of 2 three-pointers, with a total shooting percentage of 72%. Dirk Nowitzki easily scored 35 points to help the Mavericks avenge last season, and by the way gave the Thunder a three-game losing streak.

The three-game losing streak is not a small blow to the Thunder team, which is ambitious this season. Their ranking also quickly dropped from fourth in the West to seventh.

Morris had performed very well before, but in the last three games, he was frequently overwhelmed by matchups, which made this optimistic insider a little depressed.

But the good news is that the Thunder will host the Pistons in the next game. Anjie will go into battle! This game is very likely to change the Thunder team and end this damn losing streak!

Thunder fans are looking forward to the upcoming explosion after an overly depressing week!

...................................

There was a towel around An Jie's neck. The game was over, and the sweat on his body had already dried up. Because at the end of the fourth quarter, he and Durant didn't play at all.

An Jie, who was away from the arena for a month and two days and missed a full 14 games, finally played the whole game safely.

19 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists, shooting only 46%. Although An Jie has been working hard in the training below, he is indeed in poor condition after being away from the game for so long.

109 to 98, the Thunder team lost the game at home, and lost 11 points when Anjie came back and all the fans were seated.

"The fans of the Thunder are a little too optimistic. Ann is not the savior yet. They have to accept the fact that even though An Jie is back, the Thunder still lost four games in a row!"

For Anjie's comeback match, the tickets for the Chesapeake Energy Arena have long been sold out. Countless people are expecting him to turn the tide with the Thunder and make a comeback. However, the greater the expectation, the greater the disappointment.

There is no problem with Anjie's injury, it's just that he really can't find the state of the game.

"Losing is my problem. I wasted too many opportunities, and all three mistakes made the opponent counterattack." An Jie also admitted this in an interview after the game.

The score of 19 points is not low, but it still can't match people's expectations of him.

Thunder, who had lost four straight, and An Jie, who had just returned from injury but was not in good condition. Where will the Thunder and Anjie go next...

An Jie looked at the comforting text messages in frustration, what was the problem? (To be continued.) 8