The Way of the Center

I don't know where the reporters got the news. As soon as they returned to Portland, the Trail Blazers players found that there were overwhelming reports about Aldridge's injury.

"Heart problem outbreak, LaMarcus Aldridge out indefinitely."

"There was a near-homicide at the stadium, and Aldridge narrowly escaped death."

"The press conference will be held this afternoon, and we will stay tuned for how Aldridge's condition is going to be."

Lines of scary words came into An Jie's eyes, but this time he really hoped that what was written in the newspapers were all scandals. Unfortunately, this time, they were reliable.

In today's training, Ricard's first task is to select an insider who can replace Aldridge in the starting lineup. He used J. J. Hickson and Leonard to partner with Anjie respectively. Although both of them performed well, the team's tactical richness was still greatly reduced.

In the end, Ricard decided to use Hickson as the starting four. In this way, Anjie's pressure on the defensive end will be much less. Leonard does have the advantages of height and shooting range, but his performance is still not as stable as Hickson, who entered the league in the same year as Angie.

In the afternoon, the Trail Blazers officially held a press conference in the media reception room as promised, the main content of which was naturally to announce Aldridge's injury. When Rickard said that Aldridge had a heart problem, the reporters below were not surprised at all. Maybe, they learned the details yesterday even earlier than Rickard and An Jie himself.

"Honestly, it's scary. Fortunately, Aldridge's situation is not that bad. The doctors will test the results, and then we can make a comeback plan for LaMarcus. So right now, all we can do is It's to keep him out indefinitely."

After the press conference, many programs also discussed Aldridge's injury. Because Aldridge's injury this time was not as simple as a broken bone, it was a heart! Just like Mourning back then, this special injury will definitely arouse heated discussions in the league.

"It's nothing to worry about. In fact, the heart is an old problem that plagues Aldridge. In April 2007, he received treatment for atrial fibrillation, and he only missed the remaining nine games of that season. 2010 In December, he encountered the same problem again and was treated again. That time, only ten days later, Aldridge returned to the game alive and well. Therefore, an indefinite truce is just an exaggerated word."

Some people are optimistic, so naturally some people are pessimistic.

"Reggie Lewis, Larry Bird's No. 1 Celtics star, and now the owner of the No. 35 jersey hanging over the TD North Shore Garden Arena. This guy's honor, I don't want to repeat it again. The point is , the rising hope of the Celtics, suffered a heart attack due to cardiac overload during an ordinary training on July 27, 1993. He eventually died and died at the age of 27. Lewis' death, let The Celtics didn't get out of the trough until the era of the Big Three. In order to avoid the recurrence of Lewis' tragedy, I think people should take a responsible attitude towards LaMarcus' injury! After all, we don't want to see the next Reggie . The appearance of Lewis!"

The discussion about Aldridge has become a hot topic these days. People are not worried about the Trail Blazers, but worried that another tragedy will appear on the basketball court. In any case, regardless of whether Ricard, Anjie and Aldridge are willing or not, his decision to truce indefinitely is unshakable. What the Trail Blazers have to do now is to try their best to continue to triumph without Aldridge.

On December 8, the Blazers, who finally returned to their home court, met their old enemy, the Kings. Since the last time Anjie and Cousins ​​both ended their duel in a dramatic way, this game has always been talked about by people.

However, this time, the duel was not as exciting as people imagined. Perhaps because he was too eager to teach An Jie a lesson, the hot-headed Cousins ​​acted recklessly and recklessly in the three-second zone guarded by An Jie. He did score a few highly entertaining goals with this ruthlessness, but among the team-high 17 shots, the few goals that Cousins ​​​​only hit were too insignificant.

Facts have proved that the basket guarded by Anjie is inviolable. Even Cousins, an insider with both skills and body, can only shoot 35% of his field goals under the defense of Anjie. For an inside player, his shooting percentage is only 35%, which is definitely a disaster.

Although Angie limited Cousins ​​miserably, the excited King also caused a lot of trouble for the rest of the Trail Blazers.

Due to Aldridge's absence, the Kings insiders can deal with Anjie unscrupulously. Therefore, Anjie also needs more support from his teammates on the offensive end. As a result, more shooting rights than before were assigned to other people, but in the face of this sudden change, others seemed unprepared.

Lillard is considered to be the most proud assistant around Anjie after Aldridge's truce. But today, the first time he took on the big responsibility, he made only 4 of 13 shots, the worst performance in history. As for the Kings, except for Cousins, everyone else used this excitement to achieve good results.

Except for Anjie, the performance of the Trail Blazers is really not good. The overall shooting rate is only 38%. It is very difficult to win with such a shooting rate.

In the end, the Kings miraculously defeated the Trail Blazers 99-96 away. Although Cousins ​​has completely fallen, the Trail Blazers, except for Anjie, are not much better than Cousins.

Anjie scored 36 points, 16 rebounds and 6 assists in this campaign. It can be said that he abused his old rival, Cousins, and couldn't find it. However, apart from Anjie's 36 points, the Trail Blazers also Only Iguodala's 14 points are the team's second-highest. Losing to the king who performed well is a matter of course.

Seeing that the Trail Blazers are about to complete their ten-game winning streak, they are now stumbled on the Kings. The Blazers lost the first game Aldridge was absent, which made the media and public opinion push Aldridge and the Blazers to the sky.

"LaMarcus is the true backbone of the Trail Blazers!"

"Top 10 problems for the Blazers without Aldridge!"

"The sprint is over! The Trail Blazers are in big trouble!"

On weekdays, the low-key Aldridge is always so inconspicuous. But after losing him, people discovered the importance of Aldridge to this team.

Rickard hasn't perfected all the playbooks of the Aldridge-less team, and the Blazers haven't gotten used to the starkly different style of play. It can be said that apart from Anjie, Aldridge has the highest tactical status in this team. Without him, the Trail Blazers would have to start all over again for many things.

Aldridge also called Ricard more than once, saying that he has fully recovered. Of course, neither the team doctor nor Ricard would allow him to come back. It's too light, and Aldridge will fall to the ground again at most. It's serious, it's a matter of life safety!

In this case of a disorganized lineup, on December 10, the Trail Blazers ushered in a challenge from the Raptors at home.

Anjie scored 30 points again in this game, and the Blazers also won the victory. But it was clear that the Blazers were not skilled enough to implement many of the new tactics during the game. The reason the Raptors lost was simply because of their own lack of strength. In addition to DeMar DeRozan's 24 points, the Raptors' second scorer was Spanish guard Jose Calderon. However, Calderon's second highest score is only 12 points.

74 to 92, the Trail Blazers "slaughtered" the Raptors without Aldridge. But Ricard knew that the problems of this team had not been completely resolved.

Sure enough, just two days later, the Trail Blazers lost at home to the powerful Spurs in the Western Conference with a full lineup. Hickson's inaction on the offensive end made Anjie very restricted by Duncan and Splitter.

Lillard took the lead as a rookie and scored 29 points, but how can he be compared with GDP with just a rookie?

98 to 90, the Spurs achieved a double play against the Trail Blazers in the regular season. And they are so far the only team that has beaten the Trail Blazers in two consecutive away games.

Losing two games in seven days is an extremely abnormal performance for the Blazers. Although the Trail Blazers' current record of 18 wins and 4 losses is still impressive, Ricard knows that if there is no improvement, the number of failures of the Trail Blazers will probably go up and down.

It seems that an important tactical hub is missing, and some things must be overthrown and restarted......

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

After losing to the Spurs, the Trail Blazers got a rare two-day rest. Ricard is at the training ground at the moment, looking at the players training on the field. He decided to use these two days to find a new system for the Trail Blazers!

The biggest problem now is that An Jie, the leading star, will always be double-teamed by the opponent. In this way, although An Jie can still rely on his personal ability to score high points, the offensive fluency of the entire team is greatly affected.

Due to the joining of Lillard and others this season, Anjie can finally devote himself to scoring on the offensive end. His average assists per game this season has decreased significantly, precisely because of those auxiliary tasks that others have already done for him. All he has to do is catch the ball and hit the rim.

But now, Rickard found that without Aldridge, Anjie's support was greatly reduced. Without Aldridge's restraint, it would be difficult for Anjie to be turbulent. And Lillard is not the kind of traditional point guard. When Anjie is double-teamed, it is difficult for him to hand the ball to Anjie.

What about Matthews? He is purely a three-point shooter, and Iguodala and Batum's passes are very thieves, but there is one point, the pass belongs to the pass, and a good pass does not mean that the organization is good.

Without good containment and organization, the Blazers' fluid offense cannot return. Without a smooth and efficient offense, the Blazers will lose more balls.

The idea is clear, now, Ricard needs a person who can pass the ball and organize. He looked at Fisher. This guy has rich experience, and his ability to organize attacks is also very good. But it is too risky to let such an old guy who is older than himself start. Dual point guards? Forget it, that will only make the Blazers' offensive firepower greatly reduced.

Who else? Ricard looked at Divac and found that Divac was also looking at him.

"You don't think the same as me, do you?" Divac laughed out loud.

"Although this will reduce Anjie's scoring threat and statistics, I think that's the only way to go." Ricard also guessed Divac's mind, because Anjie's beautiful pass and The organizational skills are learned from Divac!

Instead of letting Anjie passively wait to be assisted, it is better to let him be the one who controls the ball and assists the team!

The high-position organization of the big center? I believe that many people have almost forgotten this scene under Anjie's indiscriminate bombardment of the basket this season...

Sacrifice certain personal scores to increase the chances of others. Now, not all the stars of the team are willing to do this kind of work.

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