The Way of the Center

Eight consecutive victories, this may not be considered an exaggerated winning streak. E novel Ww*W. ┡1XIAOSHUO. When An Jie was in the Thunder team, he even achieved ten consecutive victories.

But look at the opponents the Blazers have encountered during this eight-game winning streak, and you will know how difficult this is actually.

After the All-Star Game, the Blazers first lost to the Nuggets, and then unfortunately lost to the powerful Heat. But the loss of these two games did not completely collapse the confidence of the Trail Blazers. On the contrary, in the game against the Timberwolves, Anjie scored 40+ points for the second consecutive game, eclipsing Love, who also performed well. It was also from this big victory that the Trail Blazers became unstoppable.

Without Paul and the Hornets and the "habitual" Nets at the bottom of the league, there is no doubt that they are completely at the mercy of the Blazers. In the back-to-back tour of the Eastern Conference, Anjie also had the last laugh in the battle with the Celtics.

In the battle against the Pacers, Daniel Granger and Paul George were completely choked to death, and An Jie, who dominated the game in the last two minutes, also won the New York Knicks, who were at odds with him. After that, in the last game, the Trail Blazers defeated the Bulls and won the longest eight-game winning streak this season!

Among them, the Trail Blazers played several consecutive back-to-back games and encountered several strong enough opponents. But they still survived and won all the duels.

Now, the Trail Blazers are only two games away from a ten-game winning streak. Although no one asked them to have a ten-game winning streak, subconsciously, these guys still wanted to increase their winning streak to double digits.

It is not difficult to complete this task. In the next two games, the Blazers' two opponents are the Detroit Pistons and the Milwaukee Bucks. These two teams are ranked ninth and tenth in the Eastern Conference respectively, and they are both teams that may enter the playoffs at any time.

At this time of the season, the offensive power of the fringe teams in the playoffs is often the strongest. Because as long as they work hard, they will be able to enter the top eight. After fighting for a season, seeing success is in front of them, no one is willing to give up.

Look at the Thunder, which ranked tenth in the Western Conference that year. Didn't they upset and defeat powerful opponents after the All-Star Game? The other teams are working exactly the same as the Thunder at the moment. Even in the face of the stronger Trail Blazers, the Pistons and Bucks will never let Anjie and the others pass the test easily.

An Jie also knows that these two teams that are not ranked well in the Eastern Conference are not soft persimmons. To eat them, the Trail Blazers must have the appetite to match them. So when Moslav informed An Jie to discuss the design of signature shoes with Nike, An Jie was actually very conflicted.

indeed,

It has always been Anjie's dream to have a series of his own signature shoes and boots. The fourth generation of Jordan, the eighth generation of Kobe, the annual ring of O'Neal... Anjie really loves basketball shoes very much. When he was still in China, most of Anjie's savings were dedicated to this pair of expensive sneakers.

But now, Anjie will be able to have his own signature shoes soon, and anyone will be very excited to change them. Unfortunately, when this kind of thing happened to two crucial games, An Jie couldn't be interested in it anyway.

"Can't you wait any longer, Mr. Moslav?" An Jie complained on the phone again.

"Wait? Ann, this is the third time you have postponed meeting with Nike's designers. I know the game is very important, but the sneakers have never been made, and Nike has never been able to make money. They can't make money." Why do they still sign with you when the money is paid? For the sake of a good cooperative relationship between the two parties, you should settle the sneaker issue as soon as possible.” Moslav did not turn a blind eye this time, the Pistons and the Bucks , Moslav believes that these two teams Anjie should be able to win easily.

"No, it's because..."

"Alright." An Jie was about to defend himself when he was interrupted by Moslav. He knew what An Jie was thinking. Isn't this guy just afraid of trouble or taking up his training time?

"There is no need to discuss this matter, so you should spare an afternoon to go there. If this continues, Nike may sue us for breach of contract." Moslav's last words were just to scare An Jie, but he He knew that if he didn't make things serious, that "die-hard" An Jie wouldn't listen.

"Okay, okay, I won't practice any more tonight, I'll call Nike and ask their designers to come to my house to talk tonight." An Jie can fight a group of muscular men on the court for forty minutes, But he couldn't stand Muslav's penetrating tongue.

After a lot of long-winded words from Moslav, Anjie finally raised his hands and surrendered. If he still refuses to agree, Moslav probably has to fly to Portland himself to urge himself.

So after the training ended this afternoon, An Jie was the first to drive out of the Rose Garden Arena in a rare hurry. Anjie has been with the Trail Blazers for so long, and this is the first time this has happened.

"This guy, are you rushing for a date?" Aldridge looked at the Rx-7 that disappeared at the exit of the parking lot, scratching his head in confusion.

An Jie came home so early mainly because he wanted to tidy up his huge empty but messy house. A man lives alone in a house, and chaos is a sure thing. What's more, An Jie, a workaholic, spends much more time in the rose garden than at home.

Although the visitor was a sneaker designer serving him, An Jie still didn't want to be too rude. As a popular football star, if it is rumored that his house is as dirty as a small hotel, his public image will suddenly become a mess. Moreover, according to the Chinese concept, it is impolite to have guests come in a mess.

So at 6:30 in the afternoon, the doorbell of An Jie's house was rang on time. An Jie glanced at the room he had been busy with for a while in satisfaction, and it seemed to be in good shape.

An Jie let out a big breath, and then opened the door with peace of mind. However, when he opened the door, An Jie was dumbfounded.

Moslav told him on the phone that a designer would come to visit him, and Anjie thought there was only one person. But standing in front of An Jie now is clearly an entire design team, with top ten people!

"Mr. An, we finally meet. I am the chief designer of your signature shoes this time, and my name is Kevin Landry." A well-mannered middle-aged man wearing glasses warmly shook hands with An Jie.

"I'm Luke Cruz, and I'm in charge of sole design."

"Hi, Smith Barton."

"Tyson Kidd."

"Abidal Tez Blog."

 …

This group of male and female designers came up to shake hands with An Jie one by one. After they introduced themselves, An Jie had already forgotten the name of his chief designer. Does it really take so many people to make a pair of basketball shoes?

It was the first time that the long table in An Jie's house was fully occupied. An Jie and Chief Designer sat at the two main seats, while the others sat on both sides, listening to their opinions at any time.

"Mr. An, don't worry, designing sneakers is our specialty. You only need to put forward your ideas, and we can make them. You have to believe that there is only what you can't think of, and there is nothing that Nike can't do." Designer Xi is full of confidence. They looked at An Jie with satisfaction, they could satisfy a picky guy like Kobe, not to mention that An Jie was just a "rookie" who released his signature shoes for the first time.

"If you think about it...high top, thick sole, light, and not bulky." An Jie said a few points casually, but the designers carefully recorded them.

"With Ann's weight, I think the thickness of the sole should be..."

"No, no, the upper can't be so high, it will delay his jumping feeling."

In an instant, the designers were discussing it. An Jie didn't expect that this group of guys got into work so quickly.

"I want the color to be fancy, that is to say, I want to see a mixture of many colors on one shoe. Of course, the main color should be distinct, otherwise people won't know whether my sneakers match the home and away jerseys." See this group The guy was really professional, and An Jie's demands gradually increased.

One of them, a fat guy with a big belly, immediately drew several first drafts of sneakers according to An Jie's text description, while the others were also processing the materials according to An Jie's requirements.

An Jie found that designing sneakers was not as boring as he thought. He gradually got involved in the discussion, and the appearance of his signature shoes became more and more clear.

"Okay, the outline of the sneakers is roughly like this. We will continue to discuss the details after returning to the company. If possible, Mr. An, we will try to let you wear this unique pair of center forward sneakers in the playoffs! Of course Well, this is also inseparable from your cooperation, and after that, I would like to ask Mr. An to spare more time." Designer Xi looked at the handful of materials in his hand with satisfaction, and with these things, designing sneakers is completely familiar things.

"If I can wear it before the playoffs, I will be very willing to cooperate!" An Jie looked at the first sketch in the hands of the designer, and the outline of this pair of shoes has begun to emerge in An Jie's mind.

How important is a good pair of basketball shoes? Indeed, its importance ranks after factors such as the strength of the players themselves, the degree of tacit understanding of teammates, the atmosphere of the stadium and so on. But this does not mean that basketball shoes are a dispensable link.

While ensuring the health of the players, he can also ensure that the players' movements will be smoother. Sometimes it may be this one percent advantage that can influence the final situation.

Watching Nike's designer team leave the street of her home, Angela closed the curtains and was about to go to the living room to watch the Pistons game video.

The matter of basketball shoes has been settled, and then, the problem of ten consecutive victories should be solved...