The Way of the Center

Anjie's first attack in the opening game completely deterred Jermaine O'Neal. For a former top player like O'Neal, he knows the depth of an opponent only once against an opponent. The bad news is that Anjie's current strength is far above that of O'Neal.

Spoelstra has no choice. Now that the entire league is short of insiders, the two big players in the Heat's formation are O'Neal and Haslem. However, these two guys are power forwards, so it is not suitable for them to play center. But there is no way, Spoelstra has no choice, do you think everyone has a bunch of insiders like Van Gundy's old fox?

Other teams can only use power forwards and center forwards, but Van Gundy is good. He directly assigned Morris, a powerful center, to the position of power forwards. It's as if Van Gundy is showing off: We have plenty of people inside.

After Anjie scored, Michael Beasley was not happy. Although he was humiliatingly defeated by An Jie in college, he won the Heat's trial training after that, and was picked much higher than An Jie in the draft.

It can be said that his start was much better than that of An Jie. However, after entering the league, An Jie became one of the most successful group of people. Beasley was not convinced, but also very jealous. The guy who was brushed off by himself during the Heat's trial training back then did not deserve such a status at all.

Beasley's emotions were completely mobilized by himself, and he began to move aggressively, making Morris, who was a little slower, miserable.

Wade does have the Heat's highest right to fire, especially after he just made a successful layup, "The Flash" wants to take advantage of the victory to chase and score another goal.

After seeing Beasley running so aggressively, Wade changed his mind. Since someone is willing to stand up and share the scoring pressure with him, why not do it? And Wade knows that if he wants Beasley to become a talent and assist him, the right to shoot is one of the things that must be fed to Beasley.

Beasley got the basketball as he wished, and Morris, who was a little slower, quickened his pace, fearing that Beasley would take advantage of the slight gap and start shooting.

Morris' worry became a reality. Seeing that Morris was still a few steps away from him, Michael Beasley raised his hand and was ready to shoot!

"Michael Beasley, beautiful! He made Andrew Morris fly!" Kenny Smith thought that the problematic teenager from the Heat was going to shoot again, but unexpectedly it was just a fake shot.

After fooling Morris, Beasley bowed and cut in. Anjie got to the basket early, and Beasley was not stupid. After playing against Anjie a few times, he knew Anjie's ability very well. Beasley did not continue to go inside, but made a mid-range emergency stop jumper.

If he chooses to shoot from the outside, no matter how powerful An Jie is, he can't cover beyond the three-second zone now.

As soon as Beasley shot the ball, he smiled contemptuously at An Jie.

"What are you proud of? It's not certain whether the goal will be scored or not!" An Jie turned his head unwillingly, only to find that the basketball had pierced through the net and fell to the ground.

"Hey, I'm in good shape today." Wade reached out his hand to give Beasley a high-five, and Beasley didn't refuse. Who doesn't like being praised by the team boss.

"This is what Michael Beasley hates. Morris is very good at defending traditional insiders, but he is very difficult to handle a dude like Beasley."

"That guy is too fast!" Morris would not stand alone for the sake of face, he began to explain the reason to others.

"It's okay, big bull, next time we will pay attention to assisting in defense." Duran answered and waved, signaling for others to serve quickly.

Beasley got the ball for the second time, Durant did what he said, and went to double-team Beasley with Morris. But Beasley made a clever pass and let the ball come to Quentin Richardson.

Quentin Richardson's open three-point ability is definitely not bad. When he got the open space, he made a decisive shot, and the basketball once again went into the net.

"Michael Beasley completely disrupted the Thunder's defensive deployment. Coach Van Gundy had to change the defense, because it was obvious that Morris couldn't deal with a player of Beasley's style."

Van Gundy is indeed thinking about who can match up with Beasley. Angie? No, if Anjie goes, then the quality of the Thunder's interior defense will be greatly reduced. What about the substitute insider? No way, those guys are just as good at defending perimeter players as Morris.

It seems that, in addition to Durant, Van Gundy does not seem to have any options.

"Do you want to play a junior or junior?" Van Gundy touched his chin, which he had never done before. But today... Do you want to give it a try?

Van Gundy began to hesitate. He was too rigid and poor on-the-spot scheduling. These are two of Van Gundy's shortcomings. Now, this rigid head coach will spend a long time considering whether to change his lineup.

While Van Gundy was hesitating, Morris let Beasley break through again and made an emergency stop mid-range shot.

This time An Jie boldly rushed to the outside line to defend, but it was of no avail.

10 to 6, the Thunder trailed by four points. Although Morris can also regain face on the offensive end, Van Gundy obviously doesn't want the two sides to "abuse each other" like this. The effect he hopes to see is a guy who can't defend against Beasley and can't break through to face him.

"Sean, you go!" Taking advantage of a dead ball opportunity, Van Gundy walked up to Livingston.

"Me?" Livingston looked around, and Van Gundy seemed to be talking to him.

"Yes, come on buddy, you play the third position. Anyway, the Heat also use a guard to replace the small forward. I think you have no problem?"

"No! Boss!" Livingston was also famous in high school, but after entering the NBA, he did not perform well, so he was sold by various teams one after another. Although joining the Thunder this season has played a little more time, but there is still no practical change. Livingston is of course excited to be given an important task on the field so early! He hurriedly agreed to Van Gundy, fearing that the opportunity would slip away from him.

"Morris was replaced by Coach Van Gundy. He looked very unhappy. But it is true that this guy was completely at a disadvantage when he was one-on-one with Michael Beasley." Reggie Miller was analyzing Van Gundy for the audience. human purpose.

Since Livingston played the third position, Durant, of course, replaced Morris and partnered with Anjie inside.

"The Thunder used a lineup of one big and four small! Can you believe that this is a compromise that Jeff Van Gundy would make?" Kenny Smith widened his eyes. The Thunder's tactics have always been very traditional, saying After playing so many games with the Thunder, this kind of change is the first time I have seen it.

After the substitutions, it was the Heat's offensive round. Wade looked at the changes on the field and was still considering whether to continue feeding Beasley.

Just when Wade's attention was slightly separated from the ball, Westbrook suddenly killed! Almost took away the basketball from Wade's hands!

Wade also reacted quickly, quickly holding the ball with both hands. Although the dribble was interrupted, at least a mistake was avoided.

"Dwyane!" Seeing that Wade's organization was interrupted, Beasley stepped forward to respond. Wade didn't think much about it, and now handing the ball to Beasley seemed to be the perfect choice!

Beasley turned to face the frame after receiving the ball, but the person who confronted him had become the tall and long-armed Thunder No. 35, Kevin Durant.

Beasley also planned to use the set against Morris to deal with Durant, but found that it no longer worked.

He forced a breakthrough against Durant's entanglement, of course, he has never been able to get an emergency stop jumper.

Before he knew it, Beasley had broken through to the inside. He was unwilling to give up like this, and was defeated by Durant just like that. He is also the No. 1 high school student of his own era, why Durant can be rated as a future superstar, but he can only survive under the protection of Wade.

Thinking of this, Beasley once again lost his composure due to his excessive arrogance.

He forced a layup inside, and Durant followed suit, but he missed by a few centimeters.

It's a pity that the reason why the Thunder's inside line is scary is not because of Durant, but because of...

"Crack!" This feeling seemed familiar. Beasley was overwhelmed like this when he was in college.

"Ann! A beautiful hot pot! Coach Van Gundy's deployment had an immediate effect. In the first round of substitutions, Beasley's scoring momentum was interrupted!"

"Hey, here we go again." Wade shook his head. This is not the first time Beasley has "committed a crime against the wind".

Westbrook started sprinting after seeing Angie complete the block, which almost became his conditioned reflex. Durant was also unambiguous, picked up a long throw of the basketball, and the Thunder launched a signature conversion attack from the backcourt.

Although Wade followed very closely, he still failed to prevent Westbrook from completing the dunk. "The Flash" knew that if he jumped up and interfered rashly, it was very likely that Westbrook would score two plus one.

After Durant moved to the fourth position, he also fully supported Anjie. Now the entire Thunder team only has Anjie inside when attacking. The other four people, without exception, all stood outside the three-point line.

Seeing Anjie trampling O'Neal inside again and again, the rest of the Heat really didn't dare to double-team. Because of the four guys on the Thunder standing outside the three-point line, each of them has a precise three-pointer.

Jermaine O'Neal was out of breath by Anjie. He couldn't defend, and he didn't defend a single ball.

Seeing An Jie's outstanding performance on the court, Morris also changed his unhappiness when he was just replaced. He frantically waved the towel, made all kinds of exaggerated movements, and cheered for An Jie's wonderful performance.

If there is no double-teaming at this time, Jermaine O'Neal probably should have been beaten psychologically. A guy who is only 20 years old beats himself up like this, and it doesn't feel good to leave anyone there.

When Beasley double-teamed An Jie with a vengeful mentality, An Jie did not take credit for it. Although An Jie had scored 6 points on 3-for-3 shooting before, he knew what it means to just let it go. Seeing Beasley coming to double-team, Anjie decisively turned the ball to the outside. Durant took a glance after receiving the ball, and shot calmly.

"Swipe!" Michael Beasley made a three-pointer and put his head in his hands in remorse. Because after the goal was scored, the point difference between the Thunder and the Heat officially became double digits.

After Durant scored the goal, Spoelstra had to call a timeout. At this time, there are only more than 4 minutes before the end of the first quarter, and it is almost time for the second team of the two sides to compete.

After returning from the timeout, the two teams really changed players. Under the control of Chalmers, everyone in the Heat's second team could score one or two goals. But Morris, who was already suffocating, beat Haslem out of his temper.

After finally getting the chance, he was disturbed by that annoying guy, Michael Beasley. Morris could only vent his anger on Haslem.

Although Haslem is hardworking and tough, it can be said that you can add all the good characteristics to this hard-working big man. But in front of Morris, who had saved enough energy, Haslem had to bow down.

"Bang!" Another fierce collision, another vigorous dunk. With the end of Morris' last attack, the ups and downs of the first quarter of the 12 minutes finally came to an end.

During this period of competition, both the Thunder and the Heat had moments of superiority, but the score made the Heat's advantage seem so insignificant.

19 to 29, the Thunder established a very leading advantage for the Thunder in the first quarter under the fierce attack of three big and tall men, Anjie, Morris and Durant.

It is not without reason why the two-game losing streak of the Thunder makes the two-game winning streak of the Heat so fearful.