The Way of the Center

15 points and 10 rebounds, against Yao Ming, this is definitely a stat that cannot be ignored. But in the eyes of Carlesimo, most of Anjie's statistics were obtained when he faced Hayes. When he actually faced Yao Ming, Anjie's performance did not satisfy Carlesimo. The biggest reason is that An Jie challenged his authority as the head coach time and time again, arbitrarily mentioned a high position, causing the team to lose a lot of offensive rebounds, and at the same time failed to contain Yao Ming so that Durant and Westbrook breaks through.

Carlesimo has always been known for his sternness. Facing such a rookie who challenges his authority, he will naturally not make it easy for An Jie. But there is no way, he got a call from Thunder general manager Presti when he came together this morning.

"Good morning, coach, I didn't disturb your rest." Presti was very polite.

"What's wrong?" Carlesimo knew Presti wasn't calling to say good morning.

"It's nothing, just watched yesterday's game video, and there are some things I want to discuss with you." Without Presti saying, Carlesimo also knew that it must be about Anjie. He suddenly took down An Jie several times yesterday, even a sensible person could see that something was wrong.

But Carlesimo still intends to continue to play dumb, "I'm listening, manager."

"I think you should give Anjie more playing time. He played well against Yao Ming yesterday. Today he faces Timberwolves' leading center Al Jefferson. Maybe he can still show a good performance." ?” Presti knew that the chance of Anjie playing better than Jefferson was very small, but it was better than watching Jefferson wreak havoc on the inside. With Anjie around, at least Jefferson won't play too easily.

"Oh, of course you are the head coach of the team. You have the final say on tactics and personnel issues. I just mentioned it casually. What you do in the end is your business." After all, Presti and Calle Seamo came from the Spurs, and he didn't want to embarrass Carlesimo, the head coach.

"You are right, manager. I will give Anjie some more playing time. But you also know that Anjie still has a lot of problems, so the person who confronts Al Jefferson may still have to be Nick." .Collison." Carlesimo backed down, but he still didn't cross the line.

"I know you will make the most correct choice, good luck tonight coach, I look forward to you and the boys bringing the team a victory." After finishing speaking, Presti hung up the phone. An Jie has already proved with his actions that Presti is not mistaken, and he does not want such a good seedling to be destroyed in an inappropriate tactical system. But now that the season has just started, even the general manager can't change the head coach like a joke, so Presti can only put pressure on Carlesimo from the outside world.

During training at noon, Carlesimo looked at An Jie the most. The Chinese big man, like his two compatriots, likes to cruise high. However, both Yi Jianlian and Wang Zhizhi are power forwards, so it is understandable for them to be outside. But An Jie is a center. Have you ever seen Yao Ming holding the ball in a high position?

Carlesimo didn't know that although Anjie was able to organize offenses when he was in college, he preferred to play inside and use low-post singles to solve problems.

But now the Thunder has two offensive strengths, Durant and Westbrook, which insider can safely stay in the low post under such a configuration. That would not open up the offensive space for the two of them, and it would also weaken the offensive ability of the center itself.

What's more, when Anjie was in a high position, the Thunder's offense was better. Unfortunately, Carlesimo felt that those were all manifestations of Durant and Westbrook's personal abilities, and had nothing to do with Anjie, a Chinese. relation. Because in his concept, it is impossible for the center to do anything in the high position, let alone organize the offense.

But he didn't know that a true traditional center doesn't only play in the low post.

Traditional centers are not like the current Beastist centers. The current Beastist centers are limited by their own skills. If they leave the low post, their perverted bodies will be useless, so they can only show their value when they are in the low post. If you don't believe me, ask Howard to play with the ball in a high position. Let alone organize the offense, it's good that he can protect the ball.

It is precisely because of the influence of the current brutalist center that Carlesimo firmly believes that the center should be in the low position honestly, and cannot run out except for pick-and-rolls, otherwise it means that there is one less offensive point. If you ask him what about the goals Anjie scored against Bogut and Yao Ming? He will answer you whose child cries every day? This misunderstanding has already taken root in Carlesimo's heart.

The first choice of a center is of course the low post, and the center is born to dominate the inside. An Jie also wanted to play comfortably in the low post, but for the benefit of the team he had to go to the high post and had to sacrifice himself. And An Jie didn't just shoot outside. Although he held the ball in a high position, An Jie's offensive end point finally fell within the three-second zone.

There is no way, the concept of basketball is too important and too complicated. When two different ideas collide, it is not possible to integrate them with just a few words.

Sure enough, even though Presti called Carlesimo early in the morning, even though Anjie scored an excellent score of 15+10 in the game against the Rockets, when the game against the Timberwolves started, An Jay sat on the bench again.

It's normal for a rookie to play as a substitute, but Carlesimo's reason for letting a rookie play as a substitute is not a normal reason. In this game to win with all his strength, Anjie played less time than he did against the Rockets.

In the entire first quarter, An Jie didn't get a chance to play. The camera showed An Jie several times. This young man just watched the field intently, so that you can't guess his current emotions at all.

Trying to guard Al Jefferson with just the rotation of Nick Collison and Johan Petro? In the first quarter, Al Jefferson scored 10 points on 4 of 8 shots. This is undoubtedly the most powerful response to Carlesimo.

The head coach ignored Presti's suggestion and let Anjie sit on the bench. The relationship between Presti and Carlesimo seemed to have a thin line of cracks. Such a crack may not be visible from the outside, but once it is under pressure, the crack will grow bigger and bigger until it completely collapses.

Fortunately, in the first quarter, Durant and Westbrook did not repeat the old problem of unstable shooting on the offensive end. Westbrook scored 4 points on 2 of 3 shots, and Durant scored 8 points on 3 of 4 shots. People's points add up to more than half of the Thunder's total points in the first quarter.

At the end of the first quarter, the two sides drew at 20, and no one could gain the upper hand.

The person who also sat on the bench with Anjie for a while was Kevin Love. After coming to the Timberwolves, he has not gotten too many opportunities to play. But this is because the Timberwolves' starting power forward Ryan Gomez is a stable scoring point in the team, and it will take some time for rookies to climb to his head. But what about the Thunder's starting center, Nick Collison? He is neither a stable output point for the Thunder, nor is it the backbone of the Thunder's defense. In this way, An Jie can only accept the same fate as Love.

During the intermission, Carlesimo talked a lot to Durant and Westbrook, but he was indifferent to Anjie who failed to play for a whole quarter. But at the last moment, he still glanced at An Jie, Carlesimo didn't want to lose his job because of this rookie.

"Ann, you go in the second quarter, I hope you can seize the opportunity." Carlesimo decided to let An Jie go up to try, anyway, he can change at any time.

An Jie was not very excited when he heard that he could play, because he knew that even at a critical moment, Carlesimo might replace him inexplicably.

When Anjie played, his opponent was not Al Jefferson, but the stocky center of the Timberwolves, Craig Smith.

The height is only 2.01 meters, but Craig Smith still won a place for himself with his strong body and flexible movements.

Craig scored a career-high 36 points on 14-of-22 shooting in 38 minutes against the HSD Wizards early last season. This kind of performance made him unanimously favored by the outside world, so even if the opponent was not Al Jefferson, An Jie knew that he would not be careless.

He is 18 centimeters shorter than himself, but the chassis is very solid. This is Anjie's new evaluation of Craig after the first confrontation.

As the sixth man of the Timberwolves, Craig's possession of the ball on the field is also fully guaranteed.

This was the first attack in the second quarter, and Craig received a pass from Timberwolves point guard Randy Foye.

Even though An Jie's height had the advantage, he still didn't dare to neglect. After all, this guy has already gained a firm foothold in the NBA. An Jie doesn't know him well, but he definitely has his own strengths.

Craig pushed in, and Anjie felt that he had no pressure. Such strength would never make him take half a step back. Just when Anjie had just built up his confidence, Craig stopped back hitting and turned around after starting.

Compared with ordinary center forwards, Craig, who is short in stature, is very flexible. His turns are very fast, and Anjie's defense is half a beat slower.

After turning around, Craig raised the basketball with one hand. Jump slightly with both feet. It's not a hook, but it's not a shot either, it's more of a...flip! ?

It is undoubtedly a strange trick to hit the back and turn around and then catch the throw. But the short Craig is relying on this trick to move across the NBA. Even against Yao Ming, he can successfully throw shots many times, not to mention that he is facing An Jie who has not yet reacted.

Anjie didn't expect that Craig would choose such a strange way to attack the frame. He took off to interfere, but still couldn't reach the basketball. But Craig threw the ball accurately and hollowly into the net.

"Post-up singles and small throws, this is Craig's best trick." The ESPN commentator has long been familiar with it, but Anjie, who doesn't know Craig well, was caught off guard by this trick.

Getting scored by a post player so much shorter than him has not happened in a long time. An Jie has a long-term mind, and he decides to change his strategy the next time he defends.

The Thunder's offense was still handed over to Durant. After Westbrook took possession of the ball, Durant's current offensive talent without the ball slowly emerged. This time it was still through a reverse run and off-ball pick-and-roll, and Durant got a chance. He catches and shoots and scores two more.

Both parties come and go, and no one can prevent the other. Because Westbrook and Durant feel hot, and Anjie did not come out in the low post as required, so Anjie has not even got a shot since he played. Just when people were about to forget that Anjie was still on the court, Craig leaned on Anjie again, and he was about to play back singles for the second time!

An Jie moved his center of gravity forward a lot this time, in order to be able to quickly post it when he turned around behind Craig and shot. Everything seemed perfect, and Craig did not repeat the same trick when he saw Anjie defending him like this.

But this time Craig's turn was towards the basket. The short Craig nimbly slipped under An Jie's armpit and broke through directly! Anjie had no time to adjust because his center of gravity was too forward. When he turned around and chased back, Craig had already completed a layup and scored two points.

Being tall has its advantages, and being short naturally has its advantages. In the eyes of Craig, a center with the height of a small forward, most of the matchups are half a beat slower than him. Location.

Craig's tricks are very inefficient when facing a strong and experienced insider. Although An Jie is strong, his lack of experience also makes him suffer.

Originally, Carlesimo was very dissatisfied with Anjie, not to mention Al Jefferson, and even a Craig Smith. An Jie's excuse to play.

After a dead ball, Anjie looked to the sidelines, the big brother Nick Collison was ready to play. An Jie walked down weakly, without the slightest expression on his face, he had never felt such a failure before. He didn't know what was wrong with him, anyway, he was lacking energy on the court and felt that something was missing.

But Carlesimo didn't care so much, he knew that after Anjie played such a bad performance, Presti couldn't say anything more. Now the power to employ people for this team is truly in the hands of the head coach.

Did it really sink like this? After scoring 15+10 against Yao Ming, the back-to-back games and the crisis of trust with the head coach obviously made Anjie feel physically and mentally exhausted.

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