The Way of the Center

When the media learned that An Jie's punishment was "only" one game suspension plus a fine of 15,000 US dollars, there was an uproar in the circle.

Comparing Cousins' punishment, the league's treatment of Anjie is simply painless. It is not known what Angie said in that hearing that allowed him to get away with the crime. But the truth is, those media who hated An Jie were once again disappointed.

"The alliance's verdict is very fair, and I accept it with pleasure. Although DeMarcus hurt us first, I'm not completely wrong." Facing Wu Hua's interview, An Jie behaved in spite of being cheap. Everyone knew that An Jie had taken a big advantage, but An Jie spoke as if he had been punished by the heavens.

"This is the privilege of a liar." When Cousins ​​learned that Anjie was only suspended for one game, he also made such remarks to the media. He had reason to believe that the liar Anjie must have bewitched those NBA officials.

After this incident happened, not only did it not damage An Jie's honor, but it made him the protagonist of basketball news for several days.

Meslav is the happiest now. The more famous Anjie is, the more business contracts he has. More commercial contracts will ensure that his and An Jie's wallets will be bigger. How could An Jie think that punching Cousins ​​would bring him so many benefits.

Of course, what made An Jie unbearable the most in this matter was the suspension. No injury, no personal affairs, and good condition, but he couldn't play. This kind of thing is simply torture for An Jie, a "workaholic".

Therefore, An Jie will always spend his excess energy on the training ground. And the ones paying the bill are naturally the "heirs" of Thomas and Camby, Hickson and Meyers Leonard.

Leonard is a fortress-shaped defensive tank. Although this guy is three centimeters shorter than An Jie, his body looks bigger than An Jie.

But now seeing An Jie who was a lot thinner than him attacking him, Leonard still couldn't stop swallowing. The reason why An Jie is thinner than himself is not because Leonard is stronger, but because An Jie has lower body fat content.

Confronting An Jie can indeed learn a lot from him. But correspondingly, every time Leonard fights in the team, he has to sweat more than the others.

This guy, An Jie, would never be soft on his opponents just because he was just training. As the leader of the Trail Blazers, An Jie knew very well that if the team wanted to be good, the quality of training was very important. Especially the confrontation within the team, everyone must create it close to actual combat, so that Ricard can find problems and give solutions.

"Peng!" Just as Leonard was deserting, An Jie's back stuck up again.

Leonard didn't want to confront An Jie hard with his chest. He took a step back and held An Jie's force point with both hands, hoping to prevent him from advancing to the greatest extent.

Anjie didn't receive the ball, and Lillard was trying to cooperate with Iguodala on the outside at the moment. However, when several attempts to pass and cut ended in failure, Lillard still chose to throw the ball inside.

Anjie held the ball, Leonard gritted his teeth. First time! Leonard managed to carry it down!

But he didn't know that this was just An Jie's temptation. The second time, An Jie sat back and turned around immediately after opening a little space. He passed Leonard with just one step, and then made a complacent layup.

"Crack." At this moment, a scene that shocked all the Trail Blazers players happened.

After Anjie's successful breakthrough, Leonard actually slapped Anjie's layup with a block!

After so many failures, Leonard, a rookie, finally summed up some defensive experience. That ball just now was exactly Leonard's harvest after failing hundreds of times!

"Good job." After being blocked, An Jie applauded Leonard instead. "If you can block my turning space from the beginning, I will be more uncomfortable..." After that, Anjie taught Leonard his experience as always.

"This kid is becoming more and more like a leader." Divac and Ricard were naturally very pleased to see this scene. In the past, Anjie only made himself better during training, but now, this guy is trying to Make the whole team better. Moreover, An Jie's smooth conduct also made him very popular in the locker room. When Ricard asked Anjie to come to the Blazers, he wanted him to be the leader. Now, this goal has finally been achieved.

In the subsequent confrontational training, both the main team and the substitute team performed very well. The Trail Blazers will play against the Rockets at home in the next game, but seeing the team's current state, even if Anjie can't play, Ricard is still sure to beat Harden and win the game.

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

Because of Anjie's suspension, Ricard put Meyers Leonard in the starting lineup. Although the Rockets' inside line is not considered strong, Leonard, who was starting for the first time, was still a little nervous. After all, this guy is just a rookie who has played in the NBA for less than a month.

Ricard was drawing tactics on the tactical whiteboard, but Meyers Leonard was a little absent-minded. His mind was full of the scenario of confronting the opponent for a long time later. After all, when Anjie was around, Leonard didn't play long. It is also playing games, but playing more than ten minutes and playing twenty or thirty minutes are completely different concepts.

Sure enough, in the scrimmage, Leonard, who was taller than Asik, lost the battle. Even Asik himself was surprised that he was able to win the ball.

Jeremy Lin quickly controlled the ball and advanced, but for the first attack, the Rockets did not find Harden, but for the first time found Omer Asik who had just won the ball for the Rockets!

After Asik received the ball, he easily turned around and threw Leonard behind his head. He made a layup with ease, and the Rockets rarely opened up the situation by relying on inside players.

"Ann's suspension is a severe test for the thickness of the Trail Blazers' center reserves. Meyers Leonard's performance on the first goal will definitely not be satisfactory." The commentators know that Asik is An out-and-out blue collar. If even such a guy can wreak havoc around the rim, then Leonard's defense is no different from paper.

Perhaps because of Leonard's weak defense, James Harden has also changed his usual style. Today he actively rushed to the basket, as if the Trail Blazers' inside line was wide open.

James Harden's ability to finish under the basket is not bad, coupled with his superb "touch porcelain" skills. In a blink of an eye, Harden scored a lot of points, while Leonard was charged with two fouls.

Before the end of the first quarter, he was fouled twice, and Ricard had to take Leonard down temporarily. From the current point of view, Leonard's experience as a starter for the first time is simply horrible.

The camera immediately showed the Trail Blazers' bench, and a close-up of An Jie's face in a suit and leather shoes appeared on the TV screen. But from his expression, you can't see the slightest anger or dissatisfaction.

After Hickson played, although the Trail Blazers lacked a height advantage inside, their defense was much better. On the offensive end, the outstanding performance of Lillard, Aldridge and Iguodala made the advantage that Harden had just established for the Rockets disappear.

After a while, the Trail Blazers completed the overtake. Seeing that the team played better without him, Leonard's self-confidence was severely hit.

At this moment, Leonard felt someone pat him on the back. He turned his head to look, and he didn't notice when An Jie, who was in a suit and leather shoes, sat next to him.

"They're nothing to be afraid of, that Asik, very poorly athletic. You don't sit and fight him, move, use your all-round skills and faster feet to get him. And James Harden, don't just fight him Post it to defend him. The purpose of this guy's breakthrough is not layups, but fouls. As long as you keep a certain distance from him, you can not only block shots, but also avoid foul trouble on your back. As for Jeremy Lin... ..." An Jie said while pointing at the people on the basketball court. Meyers Leonard listened with gusto, and his psychology changed from fear at the beginning to expectation.

Ricard and Divac, who were at the other end of the bench, couldn't help smiling when they saw this scene. A leader is the kind of person who can help his teammates even if he is not there!

The first quarter of the game ended with the Trail Blazers trailing by five points. The Rockets wanted to take advantage of Anjie's absence to steal a victory from the Rose Garden, so today's Rockets are blooming everywhere, and anyone can score.

As soon as the second quarter came up and Meyers Leonard returned to the court, everyone in the Rockets couldn't restrain themselves again.

James Harden took the lead in the first attack to the inside of the Blazers.

"This guy, did you just give up on defense?" Seeing that Leonard's defense was not as tough as in the first quarter, Harden accelerated his breakthrough speed and took off to attack the frame!

Just when Harden shot the basketball, the basketball was about to start falling. A big hand suddenly appeared in Harden's field of vision. An Jie didn't play today, so the owner of this big hand can only be...

"Meyers Leonard, beautiful block! Damian Lillard picks up the ball and pushes it fast, he throws the ball in the air! Andre Iguodala! One-handed dunk! Wonderful The team's fast break is as sharp as ever!" Unprepared, the Trail Blazers presented a visual feast for the fans at the beginning of the second quarter. And Meyers Leonard, because of the block just now, regained his confidence and won the approval of fans and teammates.

After that, the unbelieving Rockets let Asik try to attack inside. Although Leonard failed to invite Asik to eat hot pot, he did not allow Asik to score again.

The inside defense of the Trail Blazers became different in an instant. Due to the absence of Anjie today, the Trail Blazers were already tight in the inside position. Leonard's excellent performance now undoubtedly saved Ricard a lot of trouble.

The defense is better, and the Blazers' offense has become smoother. The Rockets are a team that is stronger in offense than defense. From James Harden to Omer Asik, none of them is a defensive champion. Especially Harden's "eyes" defense gave Lillard and Matthews many opportunities.

In the second half of the game, the confidence-boosting Meyers Leonard was not only on the defensive end, but also on the offensive end. This white insider also gave Asik a taste of his strength.

As long as he saw Anjie smiling on the bottom rush, Leonard knew he hadn't screwed up. And Anjie's yelling and celebration off the court gave great encouragement to the players on the court.

"You know man, I think Ann is not just the leader of this group of guys." Divac naturally saw all this in his eyes, and now the Rockets are only one step away from a complete collapse, and the Trail Blazers are not surprised It should be a winning ticket.

"Then what?" Ricard looked at Divac with a smile.

"Ann, he is still the spiritual pillar of this group of guys. Even if he doesn't play and just sits on the bench, the group of guys above will feel more at ease." Divac said and looked at that silly boy Anjie, maybe even He didn't even know that he was already such an important role in the team.

"If that's the case, that would be great." Rickard continued to stare at the field. Just now, Leonard completed a dunk performance on Asik's head. Anjie immediately "bounced" off the bench, waving the towel frantically for Leonard. Leonard smiled, but the encouragement An Jie gave him was not just a simple smile.

In the end, the Rockets lost the game "inexplicably" away. James Harden's performance was very poor. In this campaign, he scored 29 points, 6 assists and 6 rebounds. But the Rockets still lost 107 to 113 unavoidably.

Kevin McHale originally planned to take advantage of the opportunity of Anjie's absence to steal a victory, but he couldn't count it, and Anjie's presence off the court can also affect the game situation!

Meyers Leonard scored a career-high 15 points and 11 rebounds in this campaign. When interviewed by reporters after the game, this slightly shy white man said to the reporters: "I have to thank Ann , I am determined to follow him, and I am willing to face any challenge with him."

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