The Way of the Center

When the Cavaliers were suspended, basketball fans all over the world were surprised and opened their mouths. A team that seems to have no chance of winning can actually play such an excellent performance. This is indeed far beyond everyone's expectations.

During the timeout, the cameras of each TV station were all aimed at the Trail Blazers' bench. Journalists must now be wondering what exactly Ricard was up to during those days of closed training.

The fans sitting in the back row of the bench also "stretched" their ears, hoping to hear Ricard's tactical arrangements.

But there is no doubt that in this noisy environment, the fans could not hear what Ricard said. If you want to know how the Trail Blazers will perform, I'm afraid you can only wait until the game starts to analyze.

On the other side, the Cavaliers' bench, Tyronn Lue, immediately changed the team's defensive strategy. At the beginning, he wanted the players to double-team An Jie infinitely, but now, Tyronn Lue asked his players to do man-to-man defense. I would rather let An Jie score alone than let him mobilize the people around him.

The short adjustment time passed quickly, and the Cavaliers, who had been unanimously optimistic by the outside world, stepped onto the court with a feeling of uneasiness.

The only thing James thinks about now is to equalize or even overtake the score as soon as possible. However, the cruel reality did not let James get what he wanted.

After the timeout ended, the competition between the two sides remained fierce. The Cavaliers' defensive strength has indeed gone up, but they themselves have encountered a lot of trouble on the defensive end.

Although it succeeded in reducing the Blazers' shooting percentage, the Cavaliers did not close the score because of this. Until the coaches of both sides took down all the starting five tigers on the field, the Cavaliers were still 5 points behind.

At this time, the advantage of the Cavaliers in lineup thickness finally emerged. With the efforts of Derrick Rose, the No. 1 pick in the same class as Angie, and J.R. Smith, the "nervous knife", the Cavaliers gradually approached the score. And in the last 13 seconds, relying on Rose's emergency stop jumper to overtake by one point.

At the end of the first quarter, the Cavaliers got their wish and took the lead. But now whether it is the Cavaliers players or fans, they must not be able to laugh.

Being forced by the Trail Blazers to rely on the second team to widen the gap, this kind of scene should never have happened. Moreover, you can't guarantee that Rose will also perform at the mvp level in the first quarter in subsequent games.

If the Cavaliers want to win, they must also fundamentally solve the problem. How to make the main lineup not passive on the field is the big problem that plagues Tyronn Lue.

"There is a very interesting statistic in the first quarter,

Although An scored 6 points on 3 of 4 shots, his assist data has become 5. With 5 assists in a single quarter, even some top point guards may not necessarily be able to achieve such a result. We can see that the Trail Blazers did not rely too much on Anjie's singles. Coach Ricard brought his good defense and team basketball to the table again. "Van Gundy wore glasses and looked at the data in his hand. He absorbed all the information from these data and told the fans.

This season, due to the extremely strong lineup of the Trail Blazers. In many cases, it is the stars who decide the outcome of the game.

For example, in the Western Conference semifinals against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Ricard relied on the strong personal offense of Anjie and George to allow the team to play super efficient and win. To be honest, except for George and Anjie, the sense of presence in the Western Conference semifinals is quite low.

But now, when the Blazers no longer have so many superstars, Ricard has instead returned to what he did in college.

Team, Ricard twisted the entire Blazers into a team. He worked hard to assemble all the "parts". Moreover, this machine also has an extremely intelligent "brain."

Van Gundy naturally saw the changes Ricard made for the team, and he was able to freely change the team's style of play in a very short period of time. In addition to the hard work of An Jie and others, Ricard's command is also crucial.

Van Gundy couldn't help but put himself in the position of Tyronn Lue to think, if Van Gundy himself was behind at this time, what would he do?

Although he has not coached a team for many years, Van Gundy, who has been engaged in commentary work, still has no distance from basketball. After a while, Van Gundy had several sets of solutions to the problem in his mind.

It's just a pity that Van Gundy and Tyronn Lue are two completely different individuals. Van Gundy can think of a way to try, Tyronn Lue, maybe that's the case.

The game restarted, and the Trail Blazers switched back to the starting lineup. On the Cavaliers side, Rose continued to stay on the court.

Rose is now a substitute with a veteran's basic salary, and people have paid little attention to the relationship between him and Angie.

But in fact, as the two youngest mvp and the most mvp in the 2008 draft, their encounter this time is actually very interesting.

Rose also thought so in his heart. He was the best player in the 2008 class, not one of them. When Rose picked up the mvp trophy, Anjie was still on the hospital bed feeling sad about his future.

Because of this, Ross, who is unwilling to be left behind, is so excited today. He just wanted to prove himself that even when An Jie took the largest contract in NBA history, he was eating the basic salary of a veteran. But he, Derrick Rose, was still the No. 1 pick in the 2008 NBA draft!

Therefore, as soon as the second quarter started, Rose's rapid breakthrough reappeared.

Seeing Ross coming aggressively, Anjie signaled Morris to go out with Love and guard the basket himself.

Rose's breakthrough was so fast that when Napier reacted, he could only feel a gust of wind blowing across his face.

Rose rushed to the basket, facing Iguodala who was reaching out to block, Rose used a superb turn at high speed, and passed Iguodala clean again.

The Cavaliers fans in front of the TV clenched their fists nervously. Rose had already scored a lot of this kind of ball in the first quarter. Can he maintain his state until the end?

Not to mention the fans, even Anjie himself was taken aback by Rose's breakthrough. This speed, this momentum... An Jie seemed to see a Derek Rose who had returned to his peak and was still wearing the red jersey of the Bulls!

If it was a young age, Anjie might really let Rose score. Because Rose's breakthrough speed is so fast that it catches you off guard.

But compared to the past, Rose has fallen, while Anjie is constantly growing.

Instead of throwing out like he did when he was young, this experienced guy continues to stay at the basket! An Jie was betting that Ross would not be able to complete the shot in the middle distance.

as expected! In the blink of an eye, Ross rushed to An Jie on the wind. Genius knows how much stress Rose was putting on his knees at this point, but for the win and the title, any sacrifice was worth it.

So Rose jumped up suddenly, and it seemed that he was planning to go straight to the layup!

An Jie saw the basketball in Rose's hand, and suddenly jumped up from the spot. He didn't wait so long under the basket to be a background for Rose.

Cavaliers fans have raised their arms, but this guy James has a cold heart.

Derrick Rose really worked hard. If it weren't for him, it would be impossible for the Cavaliers to hold a one-point lead now. Rose's breakthrough just now allows him to pass most of the guards and insiders in this league. But An Jie was an exception.

"Derrick Rose is very fast, and his breakthrough seems to bring us back to the time when this guy was still in the Bulls! Rose made a layup, no! Ann! He gently patted the basketball away from Rose's hand! Really He blocked the shot cleanly, except for the basketball, Angie didn't even touch Rose's hair!" Kenny Smith had already thought of countless words of praise for Rose in his heart, but in the end, none of those words were used .

Even if Rose explodes, he can only become the same Rose before. But An Jie is no longer the same An Jie when he was young. Now he is more deadly, more terrifying, and more calm.

Perhaps when he was young, Rose could still rely on this suicide breakthrough to attack Anjie. But now, a breakthrough of this level is no longer able to break through An Jie's defense.

After this goal, James, Wade, Thomas Jr. and Rose, the four Cavaliers stars, have all tasted the taste of "hot pot" in the Trail Blazers' penalty area. The toughness of the Trail Blazers' defense is obvious.

"Coach Rickard really uses his strengths to avoid weaknesses. In the absence of Damien and George, his team puts more energy into defense. Facts have proved that defense is always the truth of victory! I hope the Cavaliers That powerful star group can break through the solid defense established by the Trail Blazers!" Mike Breen shook his head, after returning from the timeout, the Cavaliers did not change much, but the Trail Blazers became even better. Maybe this time, the eyes of the whole world are wrong!

In the following games, the Cavaliers began to reduce the number of times they hit the penalty area and looked for more opportunities on the outside. However, the performance of Rose and Wade outside the three-point line is not as stable as ever.

As a last resort, Tyronn Lue replaced the backcourt combination of Thomas Jr. and J.R. Smith, and the situation improved slightly.

But the Cavaliers are not the Warriors after all. Although their three-pointers are also very deadly, the Cavaliers are still not the kind of team that can kill the game just by shooting.

The Trail Blazers' defense allowed the Cavaliers to float outside, but as the game progressed and the players' physical fitness declined, the Cavaliers' three-point shooting percentage also became lower and lower.

On the other hand, the Blazers, their team offense is still playing impressively. Originally, only Anjie was the real threat on the offensive end of the Trail Blazers, but with everyone's cooperation, everyone on the Trail Blazers is now a threat.

This guy Tyronn Lu kept yelling on the sidelines, and finally, at the end of halftime, this guy simply sat quietly on the bench. Because he knows that the decline of the Cavaliers cannot be resolved in a short while.

In the second quarter, Anjie only rested for a short two minutes. Therefore, the advantage of the thickness of the Cavaliers lineup has not really been brought into play.

His terrifying performance on both ends of the defense and offense allowed the Trail Blazers to firmly hold on to the fruits of victory.

When the first half of the game was completely over, the entire Moda Center and even the entire city of Tear were cheering crazily.

50 to 58, the Blazers, as the underdog, almost ended the battle in the first half with a double-digit advantage!

After halftime, Anjie pointed his hands to the audience before returning to the tunnel. The fans naturally gave the most intense applause to the heroes of the city.

This is the gritty Portland Trail Blazers. Never, never underestimate these guys from the City of Tear. Because their leader will never give up until the moment he dies!