The Way of the Center

In the three years when Anjie created his dynasty for the first time, the first two rounds of the playoffs were very easy for them.

The situation of sweeping 4-0 often appeared in those three years. Usually only the Western Conference Finals and Finals will bring some pressure to the Trail Blazers.

But this year, things are completely different. The Western powers have risen one after another, and the strength gap between the top eight teams in the Western Conference is very small. This has led to each round of competition, and each team must give everything to win the final victory. Such a situation, on the Trail Blazers, is no exception.

"Russell Westbrook tricked Ann! He broke through the strongest defensive gate of the Trail Blazers. Now, only his former teammate Andrew Morris is in front of Westbrook!" Westbrook The wonderful breakthrough of Mike Breen's voice was full of passion. He originally thought that Westbrook would directly force a layup as usual. Today, however, Westbrook, who had the opportunity to hit the basket, did not do so.

"Will he make a layup? No, it's a pass! Westbrook passed the ball to Anthony in the mid-range. The effect of Anthony's change to the four position in this game is very obvious. His wide attack range makes Morris is hard to guard against!"

While speaking, Anthony has received a pass from Westbrook and made a hit. After the goal, "Melon" smiled very happily, and people seemed to see the heartthrob who was still in Denver back then.

"Beautiful pass, thank you!" Anthony took the initiative to go up and high-five Westbrook.

"Come on Cameron, we still have a long show today!" Westbrook did not forget the conversation he had with Anthony in the Moda Center after losing the game the day before yesterday.

The scenery at the feet of the winner, Westbrook will never forget. Still the same sentence, why can't they be the ones who rule the alliance?

"We are in big trouble today!" Divac shook his head at Ricard when he saw Anthony and Westbrook had completed another beautiful cooperation.

Ricard gritted his teeth and stood on the sidelines. He looked up at the big screen. Just after Anthony scored a goal, the difference between the two sides has been widened to 5 points. At this time, there are only two and a half minutes left before the end of the second game of the Western Conference semifinals.

"Run, run, run! Everyone, get active! Look for gaps!" Ricard started shouting from the sidelines. In fact, the reason why the Trail Blazers fell into a disadvantage today was not because they did not perform well enough, but because they did not perform well enough. It's because Westbrook and Anthony performed so well.

Together, these two guys should have been the Trail Blazers' Western Conference Finals and even Finals-level opponents. But it's a pity that in the West, every round is so difficult!

An Jie knew at this time that he had to stand up,

He didn't hesitate anymore, but directly rushed to Napier for the ball in the middle distance.

Napier unhurriedly hit the ground with a pass, and the basketball escaped Anthony's palm trying to steal it, and was refracted into Anjie's hands.

As soon as Anjie got the ball, Adams and Tai Gibson immediately double-teamed him. In a game like this, Morris was once again overlooked offensively.

Facing the double team, An Jie didn't panic. He turned and passed Adams before Gibson could close him. Seeing this situation, Gibson immediately braked and chased back to the basket, and Anjie also raised the basketball, as if preparing to go straight to the basket.

Just when Adams and Gibson both took off to stop An Jie, An Jie's hand suddenly shrank, and he stepped forward, turning around in the opposite direction on the spot, dodging Adams and Gibson's block, and easily Loose hook to score.

"Ann's footwork is as good as ever, and he's rocking both Adams and Taj Gibson to the ground. It was a great shot, but I have to warn the Blazers. There's not much time left. Yes. They will definitely not win if they compete with the Thunder one goal at a time!" While cheering for Anjie's wonderful goal, O'Neal worried about the fate of the Trail Blazers.

An Jie knew that in order to play an offensive game to reverse the situation, in addition to offense, defense is also the top priority. Only when others can't score and you can continue to score, the offensive ** can be played.

"Cheer up and defend every next ball!" An Jie's roar made all the players present vigilant. Each of them opened their arms as much as possible, waiting to receive the impact from the Thunder.

Although the Thunder's offensive momentum was particularly fierce, under the tight defense of the Trail Blazers, they finally stopped their continuous scoring.

Westbrook's emergency stop jumper was interfered by Iguodala who came from supplementary defense and knocked out of the frame. After Anjie got the rebound, he seized the opportunity to launch an attack with a long pass directly. Iguodala made a hard layup, but was thrown to the ground by Gibson.

Most importantly, the referee also felt that this was a reasonable collision and did not give Gibson any penalty.

Iguodala got up from the ground and spread his hands dissatisfied with the referee. Of course he knew that it was impossible for the referee to change the judgment. Iguodala did that to put pressure on the referee.

In the third round of offense, Anthony's fadeaway jumper was directly blocked by Morris! This point, but Anthony had not thought of it before.

After being scored so many points by Anthony, Morris has long hoped to use an opportunity to avenge his shame. This seal, really made people out of breath.

In a chaotic rush, Morris threw the basketball upfield. People looked in the direction of the camera and found that the person who was sprinting forward was not George or Iguodala, but Anjie!

The moment Morris completed the block, Anjie had already started to run forward. The basketball landed firmly in An Jie's hands. An Jie continued to accelerate, and finally jumped a step or two from the free throw line!

At this moment, everyone held their breath. They knew that this basketball stand was going to suffer!

"Bang!" With a powerful dunk, Anjie narrowed the difference between the two sides to 1 point, and made the "active volcano" in Moda Center erupt again.

Seeing that the game will end with only 31 seconds left, and the team now only holds a two-point advantage. Westbrook and Anthony knew that they couldn't miss any more opportunities!

This time, Westbrook and Anthony played very cautiously. If the opportunity is not good, they will not come hard.

Under Adams' pick-and-roll, Anthony quickly cut inside and raised his hand to Westbrook for the ball.

Seeing that Anthony was completely empty in front of him, Westbrook held the ball and just threw it up without thinking about it. There is no doubt that these two guys are going to use an alley-oop to complete the offense.

Just when everyone was waiting for the wonderful shot to appear, An Jie suddenly jumped high and landed between the basketball and Anthony, successfully destroying the pass.

An Jie, who intercepted the pass, handed the ball directly to George. As long as these two points are scored, the game will be much easier!

The counterattack in the last few minutes was a good show. Both Anjie and the Trail Blazers have done a lot of this kind of thing. All the fans in the Moda Center raised their arms, and they couldn't wait to watch another classic comeback case here.

Just when George was about to make a layup with his arm, Carmelo Anthony, who was no longer young, continued to accelerate and soared at an astonishing height, slapping the basketball in George's hand from behind!

The basketball rebounded sharply, but it fell into Westbrook's hands by accident. Westbrook was not dazed. After picking up the basketball, he immediately turned around and broke through. And the Trail Blazers players haven't realized what's going on yet.

Westbrook darted through the crowd, finally got around Morris, and put an end to the transition attack with a signature tomahawk split.

There was no sound in the entire Moda Center, as if they had just been on a roller coaster. From apex to underestimate, it only takes a few seconds.

With 4.3 seconds left in the game, the Blazers were still 3 points behind. At the last moment, Ricard's long timeout finally worked. But unfortunately, George, who made the last shot, failed to hit the shot under Anthony's strong interference.

The moment when the basketball knocks out of the frame and the red light on the backboard turns on. Westbrook and Anthony rushed to the technical stage together, stood on the "throne", enjoying boos from all directions.

What could be better than a dream come true? They were still in the trough the day before, but today they became the final victors.

Seeing Anthony and Westbrook celebrating wildly on the technical stage, Anjie couldn't help shaking his head. A competitive heart is the hardest thing to defeat!

"The Thunder succeeded! They successfully stole an away game in the City of Tear! The total score became 1-1. After returning to Oklahoma in the next two games, the Thunder will have more maneuvers There's room for that!" Jeff Van Gundy's eyes turned rosy looking at Westbrook, who was celebrating wildly on the commentary stand.

This is really a worrying series, because Van Gundy doesn't know who he is rooting for. He hopes that Anjie can continue to move forward, but he doesn't want the team he has put his heart and soul into to stop there. Maybe he can't be called an excellent commentator, because as long as he meets Thunder and Anjie, Van Gundy can't be absolutely neutral.

After the game, Anthony and Westbrook, who jointly scored 66 points and won the victory, shocked the entire league! Overnight, they became the most powerful nba duo in the media!

Anjie's old rival Sam Smith even threatened to declare that the high-profile Trail Blazers actually only have the strength to play in the Western Conference semifinals. Because of the Oklahoma City Thunder, they obviously have a stronger star combination.

Facing all kinds of cynicism from the media, Anjie and the team did not make any response. After all, what response could be more convincing than actual action?

You say we will stop here? OK, then I'll show you guys a win at Chesapeake Energy Arena!

Maybe this time, Ricard should really thank these media. Because if it weren't for their stimulation, it is very likely that An Jie would not have played such a performance.

49 points, 16 rebounds, 7 assists and 7 blocks, when the battle shifted to Oklahoma City, when the Thunder were ready to pursue the victory. An Jie once again staged a crazy performance at the Chesapeake Energy Arena with an extremely terrifying data.

But now, Thunder fans can't cheer for Anjie's performance. This terrifying No. 00 big man is more dominant than he was back then!

Anjie was very active in this game. At the beginning of the game, he even buckled and blocked, leading the team to a 6-0 victory. After that, coach Donovan asked Anthony to play the fourth position, which improved the Thunder's offense. But this improvement only lasted for a while.

Afterwards, An Jie was no longer invincible. Even though Adams was already working very hard, Anjie still blew up the Thunder's inside line to be riddled with holes.

The total score finally became 2 to 1, but surprisingly, the leading side became the Portland Trail Blazers.

Anthony now knows the difficulty of this round of the series. If he wants to get out of the game, he and Westbrook's occasional game breakout is not enough.

The Trail Blazers and the Thunder once again took the lead alternately, and the series between the two sides has entered a fierce competition from the very beginning.

It is indeed difficult to break down the competitive heart, but after all, An Jie's competitive heart may be more paranoid than Westbrook's.