The Way of the Center

Once, when I was just a fan. The touch of red on the Rockets is a beautiful memory that An Jie has never been able to erase.

The birth of Yao Ming made the NBA and basketball quickly become popular in China. The Houston Rockets were also the "home team" of every Chinese fan back then.

But since Anjie himself became a member of the NBA, his feelings for the Rockets have changed a lot.

When he first entered the league, Anjie still looked up to the Rockets very much. At that time, the Rockets were still a strong team in the Western Conference, and Yao Ming was also a super center much better than himself.

After Yao Ming retired, An Jie was indifferent to the Rockets. At that time, the Rockets were vulnerable, and the people familiar to Chinese fans gradually left Houston. The Rockets suddenly became a strange team.

Now, Anjie is full of hostility towards the Houston Rockets, whom he liked so much back then. The Rockets are one of the main opponents of the Trail Blazers in the West. What's more, there is Howard in the Rockets now?

After being in the alliance for so many years, An Jie has witnessed the coming and going of too many people, and the rise and fall of too many people. Some are no longer teammates with themselves, some have even retired from the field of professional basketball, and some have become unknown from a superstar, and some have become famous from obscurity.

The big brother of the Thunder, Chris Wilcox, has retired, and Jeff Green, who the Thunder used to trade him back then, has also changed from a future star to a mediocre player. But An Jie said that the person who has changed the most is undoubtedly the strong guy standing in front of him at the moment, Dwight Howard.

An Jie still remembers that Howard was always joking when he played against the Magic a few years ago.

The two will always fight openly and secretly on the court, but the atmosphere is very friendly. At that time, Howard would always smile and hug Anjie at the jump ball. With his neat white teeth and sunny smile, you can't hate this cute and good big man at all. After Howard scored a goal, he would pat Anjie's butt friendly, and after Anjie scored a goal, Howard would also applaud him.

But all of this disappeared after Howard joined the Lakers last year.

Howard's smile became less and less, he no longer enjoyed the fun of basketball happily, but became more utilitarian. This guy is always putting on a straight face, always complaining in front of the media. In the past, he was famous for his good temper, but now he often conflicts with other people.

No, at this moment, when Howard walked into the middle circle to prepare for the jump ball, the kind of friendship he had with Angie a few years ago disappeared inexplicably.

Maybe Anjie's success and the victory of suppressing himself time after time stimulated Howard? In short, Anjie is definitely the top three among Howard's most hated characters.

This guy looked at An Jie fiercely, as if he wanted to swallow An Jie alive.

But Anjie was not afraid of him. Howard had not only changed his temper in the past few years. After last year's injury, "Superman"'s dominance over the basket is far worse than it was back then...

"Ann!" Just when the referee was about to throw the ball, Howard spoke to An Jie.

An Jie froze for a moment, and he was distracted because of this.

"I'll kill you!" After speaking, Howard jumped up suddenly, and Anjie realized that the basketball had been thrown into the air. He took off a little behind Howard, but had missed the best time to take off.

"Dwight, he won the first attack for the Houston Rockets. It looks like this guy will be very active today." Bill Walton clenched his fists. After waiting for so long, this much-watched game finally began up!

"Let's see how the Trail Blazers, who have experienced great trauma, will deal with the Rockets, the fourth strong team in the Western Conference!"

At this time, the person who controls the ball on the field is not Jeremy Lin, who has the same skin color as Anjie, but Patrick Beverly, a second-round pick in 2009, who is 1.85 meters tall.

Beverley joined the Rockets midway last year.

Because the Rockets, which were full of injuries at the time, couldn't find a usable point guard at all.

However, it was this black guard who had been hanging out in Europe for many years who seized the opportunity to perform in the NBA. His tenacious style and positive attitude conquered the boss of the Rockets and won him a place in the NBA.

Now, Beverley has even been mentioned as a starter by McHale. From this we can also see how endearing a tough and positive attitude can be.

But An Jie knew that compared to Jeremy Lin, Beverly was actually not that good at organizing offense.

The guy is really aggressive, competitive and tough enough, but that's about it for Beverly. Otherwise, he couldn't have been just a mere second-round pick back then.

Sure enough, Beverly had just passed halftime before he got the ball hot, and he transferred the ball with a quick pass.

Basketball was naturally passed to the real core of the Rockets, James Harden! Seeing Harden holding the ball, Anjie's defense finally became tense.

James Harden has surprised everyone by how fast he's improving. Right now, he's definitely one of the top twos in the league. It's hard for you to imagine that such a guy was still playing for O.J. Mayo in the Grizzlies a few years ago.

Harden did not break through immediately after holding the ball, he calmly held the ball and observed the defense. At this time, Howard gave up the entanglement with An Jie, and he suddenly mentioned a high position. Clearly, these two guys want to play the pick and roll!

As before, Howard mentioned the high position to pick and roll, and Anjie would not follow too far. Howard's threat outside the three-second zone may not be as great as Meyers Leonard.

Seeing Howard blocked, Harden suddenly started to break through to the left.

Matthews, who was concentrating on it, was not slow to react. He knew that there must be a pick-and-roll next to him, so he was also ready to quickly bypass the pick-and-roll.

However, at the moment when Harden and Howard's pick-and-roll was about to be completed, Harden suddenly pulled back quickly in advance, making his breakthrough direction instantly become the direction without the pick-and-roll!

Matthews screamed in his heart that it was not good, but at this moment he was already entangled with Howard.

After pulling back, Harden took a small step back, putting himself outside the three-point line, and completely getting rid of Matthews' defense. After that, the young man with a big beard pulled up to shoot, and he pushed the ball softly with his left hand.

An Jie immediately opened his arms, ready to block other people who wanted to grab the rebound. However, Harden's step-back three-pointer shot was hollow!

"Beautiful goal! James Harden played Matthews out of the way!"

"Smooth change of direction and step back, all in one go!"

"Three-pointer hit, the Rockets played very aggressively as soon as they came up!"

Although Harden is not as excited as Howard on the surface, in fact, this bearded man also knows that this is a good opportunity to defeat the Trail Blazers!

Harden just didn't show his eagerness like Howard. In this guy's heart, he wants to win just like Howard!

Divac stood on the sidelines with his arms folded, he didn't immediately yell like Ricard. He didn't want to put too much pressure on the players, after all, the pressure on these guys running on the court was already great enough.

"Don't panic, it's just an ordinary three-pointer. Let's play slowly and bring the game into our rhythm!" When An Jie sent the baseline ball, he signaled his teammates to keep the rhythm, don't be in a hurry equalizer.

An Jie unhurriedly followed Lillard and ran towards the frontcourt. Without Aldridge, An Jie's offense is destined to be very difficult.

Howard didn't give Anjie any space. Anjie had just stepped into the three-point line, and Howard, who was eager to win, posted up.

Although An Jie is not afraid of confronting Howard, this does not mean that it will be easy with Howard.

Howard now not only uses his strong body to stop An Jie, but also has a lot more small movements in his hands than before.

An Jie was made very uncomfortable, but he still tried his best to get to the seat. He raised his right hand high, and Lillard passed the ball immediately when he saw it.

"Ann's going to attack first as soon as the game starts!" As soon as Bill Walton finished speaking, the Rockets' starting power forward and second-year rookie Terrence Jones surrounded him.

Without Aldridge to contain, the Rockets will undoubtedly use double teams. However, Divac and An Jie had expected this point.

Seeing that An Jie suddenly turned around with the ball on Howard's axis, Howard immediately moved sideways to block An Jie's turning space, and secretly stretched out a foot.

An Jie was tripped by Howard's secretive little move, and he staggered, but fortunately, he still controlled the basketball.

However, this staggering step also allowed Terrence Jones to rush to An Jie.

It seems that An Jie has been cornered. Howard and Jones didn't give Anjie any space.

Just when the fans in the Moda Center were about to sigh, An Jie, who had raised the basketball, suddenly braked, stepped forward with one leg, and turned around in the opposite direction!

Howard and Jones, who were charging forward with all their strength, did not have the nimble footsteps of An Jie. Because of An Jie's flash, the two guys almost collided.

After avoiding the defense, An Jie hooked with his left hand, the basketball wiped the backboard, and fell into the net under the astonished eyes of Howard and Jones!

"Hohohoho! What a smooth fake move, An Jie's footsteps and touch are really gorgeous! Shaking two people away at once, it is worthy of being a double MVP!" Mike Brin shouted, An Jie's ball and the following Olajuwon, whose footsteps are famous all over the world, doesn't look any different!

"Use your brain, brain, Dwight." An Jie pointed at Howard's head after scoring a goal. Howard, who wanted to teach An Jie some lessons after playing, was tricked by An Jie instead.

Harden, who scored a goal in an extremely wonderful way just now, was instantly robbed of his limelight by An Jie.

"Can't even Dwight team up with Jones?" Harden gritted his teeth. This guy, An Jie, is indeed more difficult to deal with than he imagined!

Howard, who was greatly stimulated by An Jie's words, will definitely work harder in the following games. Of course, there will definitely be more and more actions like stretching his feet to trip people.

It's not that Anjie doesn't know this. To be precise, he just hopes that Howard can play with him like this.

As far as playing dirty, An Jie is confident that he can play Howard to the point of collapse!

Get angry, Warcraft. Because of anger, it can always make an irrational person completely lose his judgment...