The Way of the Center

Wu Hua squeezed into the noisy media reception room. The media reception room at the Canadian Airline Center may have never been so popular.

All the reporters gathered here, the seats had already been filled, and the rest of the people were trying their best to squeeze every bit of space in this reception room.

Everyone was discussing intensely what had just happened, and everyone couldn't wait to get some explosive news from the parties involved.

Just as the scene was full of noise, the door of the media reception room was suddenly pushed open. Wu Hua and other colleagues all raised their cameras, and as soon as the visitor stepped in, the flashes lit up.

However, three seconds later, almost all reporters put down their cameras and looked at the two people sitting on the podium in surprise.

"If you have any questions, please ask!" Divac and Paul George looked at the audience blankly, and apart from the two of them, there was no third person who stepped into the media reception room.

"Where's ... Coach Ricard?" A reporter raised his hand and stammered.

"If you're going to waste time with this kind of question, George and I will leave." Divac is not in the mood to answer this kind of question. To be precise, he and George are not in the mood to participate in any bullshit news at the moment conference.

If Anjie, Morris and Ricard, who were sent off, had not gone to the hospital before the end of the game, Divac and George would not bother to deal with this group of reporters.

How is Lillard's injury? Is the punishment for those three guys serious? The questions that the reporters care about are the same things that Divac and George want to know now.

In this lively press conference, in the end the reporters had to leave empty-handed. But they will never give up because they are persevering. The major hospitals in Toronto have become the next target of the reporters at this moment.

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MRI examinations generally require a queue. This is not Portland. In Toronto, Lillard does not get any preferential treatment. Even if the doctor is willing to let Lillard come first, I am afraid that the patients who also need to be tested will not agree.

Therefore, in the hospital lobby, these four guys who were still on TV just now were particularly eye-catching.

People gathered around the four of them, took out their phones one after another, and started shooting frantically. But An Jie and the others didn't react at all, it seemed that this group of people was like air, invisible and intangible.

Lillard's eyes are so empty that when his ankle twists, he can even feel the pain of the broken bone. In the past few seasons, Lillard has been suffering from minor ankle injuries. Maybe this battered ankle finally couldn't hold on anymore.

This guy is not stupid, he knows that his injury this time may not be optimistic. Because the degree of pain this time is not at the same level as before.

Moreover, if the injury is not serious, the team doctor will not rush to take them to the hospital for examination. Because if it's not serious, they can wait until they return to Portland.

"Hey, Damien." Just as Lillard was getting more and more afraid, Anjie suddenly called Lillard.

"Don't worry, okay? Have we all gone through more difficult times than this?" Anjie squeezed out a smile at Lillard, and Lillard also gave Anjie a thumbs up.

"Let's go! It's our time!" Suddenly, the team doctor of the Trail Blazers pushed aside the crowd of onlookers and led the four of them towards the MRI examination room.

The MRI examination does not take too much time, but in this short period of time, Anjie and the others seem to have waited for a long time.

Twenty minutes later, the electronic iron door of the examination room was slowly opened, and the Trail Blazers team doctor and examiner came out one after another.

"What's the matter!?" An Jie was the first to rush to the doctor, and Rickard and Morris also surrounded him.

"Simply put, Damien's ankle this time was not a simple sprain. Due to too much torque, coupled with previous minor injuries, his ankle was already riddled with holes. So this time,

Damien's ankle is unfortunately structurally damaged. "The doctor explained patiently to An Jie while gesturing with his hand.

"So?..." An Jie didn't understand medicine either, and he only understood half of what the doctor told him. An Jie turned his head to the team doctor, hoping that he would tell him the final result.

"So, conservatively estimated, it may take four to five months for Damien to fully recover..." The team doctor summoned up his courage and finally said this .

"Four to five months!? That is to say!..." Morris' eyes widened.

"That's right, Damien can't continue to walk with us in the next game. He...he must officially announce the reimbursement for the season." The team doctor sighed. Regarding Lillard's injury, There was nothing he could do.

Structural damage to a player's bones is not like a cold and fever, which can be cured with an injection and medicine. Athletes must go through a long process to recover from injuries and return to their previous state.

"Son of a son of a bitch!" After hearing the result, An Jie slammed the wall hard. Ibaka really went too far this time, too much!

The importance of ankles to an NBA player is self-evident. Many players have suffered from ankle injuries that have affected their career development, and even faded out of the NBA soon.

A basketball player does various actions, including shooting, breaking through, and changing directions... When doing these actions, almost all the weight of the body will be applied to the ankle. Once the ankle is injured, the result can be imagined And know. Players' reaction speed, explosive power and other functions are likely to decline. At the same time, it will have a great impact on the players' hearts, and they dare not do various actions as they like during the game.

The sprain is still a minor matter, but God knows how far Lillard can recover to this kind of structural damage.

Grant Hill, who was once hailed as "the closest person to Jordan", has plummeted because of his ankle problem. In the past, Yao Ming had to choose to retire precisely because his ankle was overwhelmed.

"You mean, if he recovers well, Damien can catch up with the playoffs, right?" Rickard is calmer than Anjie and Morris. After all, he has experienced such things as player injuries. too many times.

"That's the best result, but if you want Damien to recover as well as possible. I suggest that you let him play again next season."

"Okay, thank you, doctor." Ricard finished and lit a cigarette. A hospital security guard came up to dissuade them, after all, the hospital is a smoke-free area.

But Ricard ignored the security guard's warning and took a breath on his own. Let alone the hospital security now, even if God stood in front of Ricard, he would scold God bloody!

Lillard is an integral part of the Trail Blazers, there's no doubting that. Moreover, the Trail Blazers are very nervous about the candidates for the first position. Except for Lillard, there is only one Shabazz Napier available.

Ricard is a headache. If Lillard cannot play in the playoffs, it will definitely be a great loss for the Trail Blazers.

Worst of all, Ricard worries that Lillard won't be able to return to his former self.

Take a look at Rose, who joined the Cavaliers this year with a veteran's basic salary. This No. 1 pick who entered the league in the same class as Angie and was the first to taste the taste of MVP, won't he be able to go back to the past now?

Ricard couldn't help shaking his head, shaking off all those terrible thoughts. In Anjie's Chinese language, it is not a good sign to think so. He should hope Lillard gets better soon, instead of thinking about these terrible things...

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That night, the Trail Blazers collectively left this sad place in Toronto overnight and rushed back to Portland. The team doctor of the Trail Blazers stayed to take care of Lillard temporarily, and then arranged for a plane to fly back to Portland the next day.

Early the next morning, two NBA officials in suits and leather shoes came to Nell Orsey's office and gave him a document bag.

In this file bag are the league's punishment notice and execution documents. Orsi briefly glanced at the text on the notice, then looked at the two officials across the desk in surprise.

The official staff spread their hands and said: "This is the punishment personally imposed by Mr. Xiao Hua. After all, this matter is indeed a bit too bad."

"Okay, I understand." Besides obeying, does Nell Orsey have any other options?

After the two NBA officials walked out of the office, Nell Orsey suddenly picked up the cup at hand and slammed it on the ground.

"What a fucking bastard!"

The first of a small stack of documents in Olsi's hand was the notice of punishment for An Jie.

On the document, the line marked in red font is particularly conspicuous, and it says: Due to the bad circumstances, we still take the initiative to attack the opponent. The league decided that Anjie would be suspended for ten games as punishment.

It was this simple little line of red text that cost Nell Orsey one of his favorite mugs...