The Way of the Center

At the moment the game ended, Wu Hua immediately raised his camera and frantically took pictures of the field. But today, the main subject of his shooting is not An Jie, but Anthony standing on the court holding a basketball.

Wu Hua didn't let go of his downcast eyes, his tightly closed lips, and the marks left by sweat or tears on his face.

An Jie's opponent is also a part of An Jie's career. Anthony, on the other hand, is now the saddest one.

Even Van Gundy has to admit that if George Karl is there and leads the exact same lineup, it's hard to say whether the Thunder can be popularized.

But the facts cannot be reversed. Anthony and his Nuggets are coming for the Lakers, for the finals, and for the championship! But they fell in the first round with a huge gap!

"This is my responsibility. I...I didn't limit the performance of the opponent's defender, but was tied up by them." In the press conference after the game, Chauncey Billups explained the loss The responsibility is all on yourself. But Dantley and Anthony were silent. Dantley knew that his coaching career would be over, and Anthony had the idea of ​​changing places...

He longs for a championship, longs for glory. Maybe go to the East like that guy James, and the pressure will be much less?

Look at the opponents of the Cavaliers in the first round. They are also led by young people, but the Bulls in the East can't hurt the Cavaliers at all. Look at the Thunder in the West again, today they defeated themselves 104-112 again. Anthony felt that he had changed, that he seemed to be... more utilitarian than before.

Having played in the NBA for seven years, it's time to think about the championship.

Unlike the collapsed and sad atmosphere of the Nuggets, the Thunder won at home, and the boys were all happy. On the field, they celebrated for ten minutes. Now back in the locker room, this group of guys couldn't restrain their joy.

Perhaps for some teams, just advancing to the second round of the playoffs is nothing to be happy about. But for everyone in the Thunder team, every step they take is setting a record and surpassing themselves.

This has been the case from the first playoff win to the second round now for the first time.

An Jie took off his jersey, only wearing a pair of baggy shorts, and slumped casually in the locker room. Seeing his teammates celebrating recklessly, An Jie also grinned foolishly. But he didn't want to move at all, he just wanted to seize every second to rest. Maybe the second round will be more grueling than the first round.

"Three young Thunder beat the Denver Nuggets! How high is the upper limit of the young dark horse!?"

"4 to 2 perfect victory over the enemy,

The Western Conference Finals team was eliminated by the Thunder. "

"Carmelo Anthony: I underestimated my opponent at the beginning."

For a while, apart from the Spurs' Black Seven defeating the Mavericks, the news of the Thunder's elimination of the Nuggets became the hottest selling topic.

Of course, in addition to this, the end of the first round of the playoffs also indicates that the winners of various regular season awards will begin to be announced one by one.

At the end of April, the NBA first announced the awards for the best sixth man, best coach and best defensive player.

The best sixth man is naturally nothing to the Thunder, after all, there is no particularly powerful scorer in their second team. Ibaka may be the brightest off the bench, but defense alone isn't enough to make him a contender for the award.

The best defensive player was once again won by "Warcraft" Howard. This is the second consecutive year that Warcraft has won this award. And Anjie, only after World of Warcraft, ranked second. It's a pity that there is only one award, and it doesn't make much sense to win a second place.

But what is surprising is that the award for the best coach was actually won by the Thunder. Jeff Van Gundy led the great changes that have taken place in the Thunder, finally being discovered by people.

As a scoring team, the Thunder's defensive efficiency ranks among the top five in the league. As a team that was at the bottom of the previous year, the Thunder not only entered the playoffs as the fifth place in the Western Conference, but also just broke into the second round.

People were surprised at first to see Jeff Van Gundy win the award. But when they discovered the progress of Van Gundy and the Thunder, they all felt that Van Gundy deserved the award.

"I am very happy to be recognized by everyone. Of course, I think this award does not belong to me personally. It belongs to my coaching staff, my players, management, and the entire Thunder team!" Van Gundy did not hide it in an interview His own joy, but he did not forget those comrades who supported him. Without Presti's support, without the joint efforts of the coaching staff, without the hard work of the players. How could this best coach award fall into his hands.

As a head coach for 15 years, I have watched generations of superstars rise and fall. When he was about to give up his coaching career and turn to be a commentator, who would have thought that this man with thinning hair could get the honor at this time.

Facts have proved that Van Gundy took over the Thunder, which seemed to have no future at the beginning, was an extremely correct choice.

The team advanced, Van Gundy won the award, and the Thunder have had a lot of happy events recently. But with the end of the first round, Van Gundy and the players had to face more serious enemies after a short period of joy.

After all the first rounds were played, the Thunder beat the Nuggets 4-2, which was a shocking result. The Suns eliminated the Jazz 4-2, which was expected. It is not surprising that the Spurs completed the black seven and beat the Mavericks 4-2.

The Mavericks are a well-known regular-season team, and the playoffs have never been the stage for the Texas Cowboys. The Spurs' ability to complete the counterattack in seventh place seems to be the result predicted by the fans before the game. Regardless of the fact that the Spurs' regular season record this season is the worst since the 21st century, but when it comes to the playoffs, GDP is unambiguous.

It can also be seen from this that these teams all won and advanced by a score of 4 to 2. But only the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Trail Blazers in a sweep and advanced to the second round. And the Lakers, who had the strongest performance in the first round, will be the Thunder's next opponent!

"If we had known that the ranking would be lower, we would still be able to play against the Suns." Van Gundy looked helplessly at the result of the match. It's not that the Suns have no strength, but that the Phoenix team is obviously more dangerous than the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers. It's much smaller.

Angie and Morris are not afraid of Stoudemire, who performed well, but against the Lakers, the Thunder are not sure that they can limit Kobe.

During the regular season this season, the Thunder often played against the Lakers, but only in the game that was dragged into overtime by Anjie at the beginning of the season, the Thunder won. In the remaining few games, the defending champion killed the third young master cleanly.

Judging from the lineup on paper, the Thunder cannot be compared with the Lakers at all. Just one Kobe Bryant is enough for the Thunder to drink a pot. Plus that Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum, Artest...

Of course, the Thunder also defeated the Nuggets and advanced when the paper lineup was not dominant. But the Lakers coach "Zen Master" Jackson is not sick. Although Van Gundy is the best coach this year, he doesn't think he is smarter than "Zen Master".

After all, the championship ring that Phil Jackson won as the head coach can be worn on both hands. And the controversial triangle tactics of "Zen Master" was born for the playoffs and the championship.

This time, the Thunder really ran into a championship team. Not because they have the potential to win a championship, but because they are synonymous with championships!

The best dark horse against the best giants, the battle between the Thunder and the Lakers, even became the focus of the entire second round of the series.

"I'm going to meet Ann again. I hung out with you in the training camp last summer. I didn't expect you to become one of my biggest opponents this year." Kobe looked very relaxed on the other end of the phone, which also showed his enthusiasm for defeating the Thunder. Be confident!

"I'm not at all happy because I met you again. I just left Denver and now I'm going to Los Angeles, God." And Anjie didn't belittle the strength of Kobe and the Lakers because they were rivals.

Ander knows and admits that the Lakers are strong, very, very strong. If you want to beat this kind of team, you must use everything and use all means. Diving, dark elbows, tricks, trash talking, An Jie has already made full preparations. Even though he and Kobe are chatting happily on the phone now, in Staples three days later, the Black Mamba and the butcher will certainly not show mercy to each other.

After hanging up the phone, Kobe picked up the basketball and continued to shoot. Facing the Thunder, the rest of the Lakers thought they had met a perfectly suitable opponent. Compared with the Suns and Spurs, they believed that the Thunder team was weaker. However, Kobe knew that the No. 16 center had the same desire for victory as himself.

They easily swept the Blazers in the first round, and Kobe knew that they would not have an easy time even if they faced the Thunder, which was participating in the playoffs for the first time in the second round.

When the Blue and White Lightning and the Zijin Legion meet again, the scene will not be as harmonious as before. In the playoffs, not you die, even if I live!

Western Conference Semifinals, Los Angeles Lakers vs. Oklahoma City Thunder, on May 2, start on time! (To be continued.)