The Way of the Center

Anthony began to become more cautious, but he scored the highest score in the playoffs of his career in the last game, but he was still aggressive.

As long as Billups gives the ball to Anthony, it is almost impossible for the ball to be passed out. However, today Anthony's accuracy is obviously not comparable to the previous game. On the one hand, the Thunder's defense has become tighter.

Taking advantage of Anthony's repeated missed shots, Durant and Westbrook went both ways, even though the Nuggets are one of the most athletic teams in the league and even earned them the nickname "Denver Athletics" . But in the face of the counterattack launched by Durant and Westbrook, the Nuggets still showed fatigue.

Seeing that the point difference was widening a little bit, Nuggets interim coach Adrian Dantley hurriedly called a timeout. How to play when the team falls behind, George Karl has long been assigned. All Dantley had to do was to convey George Karl's previous orders.

"Your outside shooting percentage today is terrible Cameron, break through more and shoot close to the basket." The toughest layer of the Thunder's defense is inside, but Dantley has confidence in Anthony's personal ability. In this league, there are always a few players who cannot be easily guarded, and Carmelo Anthony is one of them.

"Afflalo, take a break off the court, J.R. Smith, you know what you should do when you go on the court. Anthony plays the inside, and you shoot the outside for me!" So far, Dantley's arrangements have been copying George. Carl's.

"Sefoloza, I want you to defend with all your strength and stick to J.R. Smith!" For a coach like Jeff Van Gundy who likes to study video, George Karl's substitution strategy has long been accepted. He has studied it thoroughly. At this time, Dantley will definitely bring J.R. Smith up!

At this time, the loopholes in Dantley's coaching have begun to slowly emerge. He didn't have many opinions of his own, and most of the time Dantley's on-the-spot command followed George Karl. In this way, the Nuggets' tactics lacked variables. Without George Karl's ghost ideas, the strength of the Nuggets would be greatly reduced.

Sure enough, after returning from the timeout, the Nuggets made personnel adjustments. Afflalo, who didn't perform much, was replaced by Dantley and replaced by the Nuggets bench bandit, nerve knife J.R. Smith.

J.R. Smith is as important to the Nuggets as Manu Ginobili is to the Spurs. Both of these guys are sixth men, and both are nerve knives. When inaccurate, the impact on the team will not be too great. But once it is accurate, it will be difficult to stop and directly help the team win.

It's just that the current J.R has a stronger impact than Ginobili. But when he just played, he found that he was under strict guard!

Don't talk about shooting,

Facing Sefoloza's tough defensive perimeter, J.R. Smith is now unable to get the space to connect the ball.

Billups had difficulty not making mistakes under Westbrook's entanglement, but at this moment, neither Anthony nor J.R Smith could run out of the open space.

No way, Billups only passed a lob, let the Brazilian Nene try on Anjie.

After Nene received the ball, he immediately took a step back against An Jie without saying a word. This kind of guy who goes all out at all times is indeed difficult for An Jie to deal with.

At the same time, Kenyon Martin also began to penetrate the baseline. Morris's athletic ability was already very good, but he still felt a little difficult to keep up with Kenyon Martin's pace.

The moment Kenyon Martin threw off Morris, Nene suddenly hit the ground with his back. Kenyon Martin slapped him, received the basketball, and prepared to dunk.

Morris jumped up from behind but missed. Kenyon Martin's calm dunk succeeded, saving face for the Nuggets inside.

"Damn it, why don't these guys go to the track and field event!" Van Gundy shook his head. He thought that the Nuggets' offense would fall into the mud after restricting Anthony and J.R. Smith.

This is actually the most powerful part of the Nuggets inside. Their running is very active and very fast. Excellent athletic ability allows them to have many opportunities to get rid of the opponent's defense, and as long as they get close to the basket, they can dunk!

Anjie had already seen the running of the Nuggets insiders in the last game. Whether it was the Brazilian, Martin, or "Birdman" Anderson sitting on the bench, they were all insiders with this style. Their quick running and perverted bouncing really put great pressure on the defense of Anjie, Morris and others.

An Jie is not afraid of the kind of insider who sits and fights with him, but is afraid of these big men who run fast. Speed ​​is not An Jie's specialty. Although he is not slow, compared with those who play "track and field", An Jie's speed is still slightly inferior.

After the Thunder scored another goal through Durant, the Nuggets' offense also made a comeback again.

Anthony and J.R. Smith are still stared at. Billups is not the kind of guard who is willing to take risks. As long as he feels that the ball is risky, he will definitely not pass it.

Durant's long arms covered Anthony well. Although Sefoloza was sweating profusely, he was still very close to J.R. Smith, who was actively running.

Or only play inside!

After Billups decided on an offensive idea, he beckoned for a double pick-and-roll. As long as Morris and Angel can be pulled out, when Nene and Martin cut inside after the pick-and-roll, the two insiders of the Thunder will definitely not be able to catch up!

Just after thinking about the entire offensive process, Nene and Martin were already in place, one left and one right to make a wall for the Nuggets' brains. After Billups gestured to Nene and Martin that this was a tactic for them, he started a breakthrough!

Billups is not fast, but under Martin's high-quality and very tough pick-and-roll, Westbrook was still thrown a few steps away.

Seeing that Billups went straight into the penalty area, Anjie had to move sideways to block it.

"It's now!" Seeing Anjie change his defensive position, Billups suddenly turned his head to Anthony, and Durant instantly became nervous.

But when Billups passed the ball, Durant discovered that Anthony was not the receiver. The ball flew in the opposite direction of Billups' line of sight and into the hands of the Brazilian Nene who cut inside!

"Too fast! The athletic ability of the Nuggets is simply terrifying!" Seeing Nene cut in quickly, and Angie had no chance of keeping up because he was deceived by Billups. Mike Breen was looking forward to seeing Anjie complete the peg block once again, but things backfired. The fast-running Nene threw Anjie far away, facing the unguarded basket, and easily dunked.

"The Thunder's inside defense was torn apart by the Nuggets' running!" They are not afraid of positional warfare, they are not afraid of players who break through from the outside, they are afraid, even if they can run inside!

After that, Westbrook made a desperate breakthrough and fouled Kenyon Martin. Seeing Westbrook fall heavily to the ground again, Anjie was the first to rush over and pull him up. Just when Westbrook stood up with the help of Anjie, Anjie heard Van Gundy calling himself.

"Ann! Come down first!" Looking at Van Gundy's actions, did he get replaced?

"It's not time for rotation yet?" An Jie said to himself in his heart, he looked at the technical stage in disbelief, and Ibaka was already eager to play, ready to play. An Jie read and heard correctly, Van Gundy wanted to replace him in advance.

As he said in the locker room yesterday, Anjie is a head coach who absolutely trusts him. Van Gundy replaced him in advance, there must be a reason for him.

An Jie trotted to the technical stage, gave Ibaka a high five, and then made it to the bench.

"What plan?" Anjie took a towel to wipe off his sweat and asked Van Gundy at the same time.

"Ibaka and Morris can deal with Nene and Martin better now. You rest first, and when one of them is off the field, I will send you up. At that time, you not only have to defend, but also lead me to the second. The second team played the offense! After that, Nene and Martin's physical strength will seriously decline, and by then, they will not be able to make waves in front of you."

"Understood, boss." An Jie is not perfect, the 48-minute basketball game cannot be all An Jie's time. The time that belongs to An Jie has not yet arrived. Now, An Jie is still watching the field intently, he hopes that Ibaka and Morris can really withstand the impact of Nene and Martin.

In terms of overall strength, Ibaka and Morris are indeed not as good as Anjie. But in terms of athletic ability alone, Anjie is indeed inferior to these two teammates.

And to defend the Nuggets inside, athletic ability is undoubtedly the key.

"Hmph, An even can't guard us, but how can a substitute be able to guard us?" Kenyon Martin smiled dismissively when he saw Ibaka on the field.

"Nene catches the ball again! Can the Nuggets' interior offense still succeed!?"

After Nene received the ball, he found that the pressure behind him had not decreased, but he was not worried, because Kenyon Martin, who rushed up, was the end point.

During the run, Martin raised his right hand and shouted the Brazilian's name. Nene did not slack off, he held the ball with his back in the low post, and Martin cut in from the outside at a very fast speed to score. They have cooperated countless times. This time, they won't miss it!

Nene made a precise pass, just in time for Martin, who came in, to receive the ball.

"It's so comfortable! It's useless to change people!" Martin comfortably received Nene's just-right pass, jumped on the momentum, and was ready to wreak havoc on the basket again.

"Oh! God!" Mike Breen exclaimed, not because of Martin's dunk, but because of Ibaka!

Seeing that Ibaka came from behind, he recovered the gap in stature in two strides. After that, he jumped high and nailed the ball to the backboard from behind.

Kenyon Martin turned his head in disbelief, only to see the loyal Congolese staring at him with gritted teeth, he was blocked, and he was blocked by Ibaka for his sure-fire tactical cooperation with the Brazilian!

"The advantage of the Nuggets' inside athletic ability is gone! Serge Ibaka, his defense has always been an indispensable part of the Thunder! Jeff Van Gundy's substitutions have had an immediate effect, Dantley has to come up with something else to do."

Losing the advantage inside, Anthony and J.R. Smith were defended to death on the outside, and the Nuggets' offense suddenly fell into a quagmire.

With only 3 minutes and 50 seconds left in the first quarter, Anjie led the Thunder's second team on the stage. The old Thunder player Johan Petro was no match for Anjie at all, and Chris Anderson was also in Iraq. There is no room for Baca's marking to show his ability.

Ainge was at home in the paint for the Nuggets, and the Nuggets had no one to respond multiple times after Anthony and J.R. went off the court.

The score was gradually opened, and when the first quarter ended, the Thunder had already led by 8 points!

33 to 25, the Thunder's defense made the Nuggets' offense inside and outside all misfired.

Dantley is the most anxious person now, and he has no idea how to adjust the team next. In his eyes, the Thunder's defense is almost indestructible!

But Anthony is not as afraid of Thunder as Dantley, and losing to this youth team is unacceptable to him!

Don't forget, the inside is not the Nuggets' offensive strength! The real biggest threat is me, Carmelo Anthony!

With Nene and Martin cracked, a bigger threat is about to challenge the Thunder's defense. (To be continued.)