The Way of the Center

November 21 came as scheduled, and the audience seats in the Chesapeake Energy Arena were still mostly vacant. Among the fans present, many came to watch Chris Paul. Nine consecutive losses, in Oklahoma City, where a good fan culture has not yet been formed, how many people would be willing to spend money to watch their team be defeated? As in the preseason, the Thunder were snubbed by the Oklahoma City fans.

Whether Carlesimo can stand on the sidelines and direct the game after today is another matter. The fans didn't feel sorry for Carlesimo at all. They couldn't let this old guy leave early, so as not to miss the growth of the three young people.

And the man in the black suit who talked with Presti in the office that day also came to the scene today and sat in the VIP seat in the front row. Since it was previously reported that he would sign with ESPN as a commentator, people were not surprised by his arrival. Maybe he came to learn the commentary experience in this game.

After the man in the black suit took his seat in the second row, he focused on observing the warm-up status of the three Thunder rookies. Durant and Westbrook looked listless, but the recently waived Angie looked full of energy. Carlesimo promised him playing time? The man in the black suit continued to wait and see with doubts.

Indeed, Anjie may be the most focused warm-up player in the entire Thunder team. Everyone else is still living in the haze of the team losing consecutive games, but An Jie has overcome this difficulty and found a new goal. It was all thanks to Morris and his phone call.

Ten minutes later, the Hornets led by Chris Paul also warmed up. Since the Hornets had briefly stayed in Oklahoma City, the Thunder's home court was also the temporary home of the Hornets. So their popularity here is very high, almost half of Oklahoma City's home team.

Seeing the Hornets entering the arena, the Oklahoma City fans cheered a little. Some people even held up a big sign with Chris Paul's head in the stands. This undoubtedly hit the confidence of the Thunder players even harder. Even the fans at home turned to cheer for others, and they really felt very bitter in their hearts.

Carlesimo yelled loudly on the sidelines, for fear that everyone in the Thunder team would be lazy during the warm-up. This game will determine his fate, and he doesn't want to get fired because of the slackness of these boys.

Presti also sat in a luxury box for this game. The Thunder's performance really didn't attract any big names to rent a box to watch the game. Empty is also empty, Presti might as well bring a bottle of red wine and enjoy it in the box.

But today he doesn't care about whether Carlesimo can lead the team to victory. Even if Carlesimo wins by chance, he can still find another reason to expel him. The purpose of Presti's visit today was to see how the man in the black suit would react to seeing the Thunder play.

There were not many people sitting in the empty stands, and the game kicked off with cheers that were not enthusiastic.

An Jie still didn't get the chance to start, let alone starting, whether An Jie can make his debut in this game is still a question. But unlike the downcast days before, An Jie's eyes were still bright off the court. Whether he was on the court for one minute or two minutes, he was ready to fight at any time! It is not impossible to prove yourself in a limited time! Morris is fine, and Anjie is not bad either!

The Hornets' starting lineup is simply more than one level better than the Thunder's. Just talking about the inside, the Hornets have Tyson Chandler and David West, two powerful guys, and Collison and Wilcox can't escape the fate of being beaten.

The small forward position is held by former Kings star Peja Stankovic.

In addition to Rasu Butler who has a stable score on the back line,

Chris Paul is the core of the entire Hornets.

Such a lineup gap seems to have allowed people to roughly judge the result of the game.

After the opening, the most eye-catching performance of the Hornets was not Chris Paul, but the team's power forward David West.

Facing the defensive black hole of Chris Wilcox, David West played like a duck to water.

Under "Queen Bee" Paul's sharp breakthrough, West made two consecutive mid-range shots, while Wilcox, who was defending him, stood far away from West both times.

Afterwards, West began to play back singles. Fearing that Wilcox would not be able to defend, Carlesimo specially asked Collison and Wilcox to switch positions, and let Collison, the center, defend West.

The result didn't change. West used his footsteps to easily sway past Collison, facing an empty basket and hooking into the frame.

"Thunder's inside defense! Why don't you want to send Anjie up to try it at this time!?" The CCTV commentator also watched anxiously. It has been like this for nine consecutive games, which is really abnormal.

Carlesimo clenched his fists on the sidelines, and if he continued to fight like this, he would lose his job in a few hours! He looked at the Frenchman Petro on the bench, and then at Anjie. Although he doesn't like the Chinese in terms of offensive style of play, Carlesimo has to admit that, at least in terms of defense, Anjie is indeed much better than Collison and Petro.

"Ann!" After hearing Carlesimo calling him, An Jie didn't lose his mind, he was always waiting for the call.

"You go after the ball is dead! I hope you can improve our defense!" Carlesimo patted Anjie on the back. This was the first time the two of them were so close.

An Jie ran to sit in front of the technical table, waiting for the opportunity to change after the dead ball. Now he doesn't think about whether he will be replaced, or whether he can play for a few minutes. Just play! He will go all out!

The Hornets' offense, a traditional point guard like Chris Paul, caused the inexperienced Westbrook a headache, and inadvertently, Paul passed the ball again.

Peja Stankovic caught and shot, but he somewhat underestimated Durant's follow-up speed. Durant straightened his long arms, jumped with all his strength, and fanned Peja's shot out of the field. The referee blew his whistle to signal that it was a foul.

dead ball! Anjie stood up immediately! His height completely blocked the view of the technical desk staff.

After high-fiving Nick Collison, Anjie stepped onto the court. He felt that he hadn't felt this desire to fight for a long, long time.

Carlesimo has already arranged it off the court, so that Anjie can directly switch positions to defend West after he enters the court. An Jie looked up at his opponent with fierce eyes.

"Is that you? Come on!"

"An Jie is on the court! We haven't seen An Jie in the first quarter for a while! Let's see his performance!" The CCTV commentator suddenly became energetic, and even his tone of commentary became much stronger. .

Seeing that the Thunder had put on a tall and thin center, West planned to play alone without thinking about it.

After all, Anjie played too little playing time in these games, and most of them played in garbage time, so West didn't know much about this guy who could score 15+10 against Yao Ming.

But when he started to compete with An Jie for the position, he found that something was wrong.

"What's going on!?" West felt that it was very difficult for him to get a seat. The Chinese spared no effort to wrestle with him, and his strength was not small!

The Thunder's starting center can't pose a threat to him, so why is the third center so difficult to deal with!

Paul saw that West has been unable to get a good position, and the attack time has passed halfway. So he planned to attack by himself and began to change the rhythm of dribbling.

Paul is such a terrifying guy. He is a defender whose first priority is passing, but if you think that Paul's independent offensive ability is poor, you are too ignorant.

Paul, who kept changing his rhythm, suddenly sped up and wiped cleanly past Westbrook who couldn't react.

The queen bee who went straight to the inside suddenly jumped up and made a soft throw. Westbrook had nothing to do.

Seeing this, Anjie immediately dropped West and rushed towards Paul who was in the penalty area.

Just after Paul threw the ball, Anjie leaped high in front of Paul. With those long arms, the queen bee was surprised by such a height.

In the air, An Jie actually caught the basketball directly! He stopped the attack!

"This is!? Are you catching a cold!?" The commentators in the mainland were all excited.

However, the referee's hurried whistle shattered everyone's illusions. Paul's throw could not be intercepted casually. An Jie did catch the ball, but the basketball had already started to fall at that time. It's a goaltend.

Although it was an interference ball, Paul was still in a cold sweat by Anjie's defensive height. It seems that the next time I face this Chinese, I have to be more cautious.

An Jie has successfully deterred his opponent, but he failed to conquer himself. He was still dissatisfied with his defense, because the Hornets still managed to get two points anyway.

Wu Hua saw An Jie's expression, and he quickly raised his camera and started shooting frantically. He knew that the An Jie he knew and loved was back again!

An Jie aggressively ran to the Hornets' half, but Tyson Chandler was not afraid of this Chinese man at all, so why isn't Tyson a ruthless character?

An Jie leaned on Chandler to take a seat, and Chandler immediately came up with a small movement. Most people can't stand his little moves in defense, let alone this Chinese is still a rookie.

But to Chandler's surprise, Anjie was not affected at all. In training with Divac, the old guy was a lot tougher than Chandler. After getting used to that level of interference, Chandler's tricks couldn't affect Anjie at all.

Anjie was firmly in position, Chandler was about to push Anjie out with force, when Westbrook found Anjie with a pass!

Anjie caught the ball and sat directly on Chandler. Hit back!

"You'll regret it, kid!" Tyson Chandler was a center forward who was good at defense, and now this rookie challenged him directly. Of course Chandler didn't agree!

"It's very courageous." The man in black sitting in the auditorium smiled and wrote something in his little notebook. This habit is really similar to Ricard.

"Boom!" But when An Jie exerted his strength, Chandler realized that he might have thought this guy too simply. This downward momentum was heavy, and only he, Chandler, could withstand it. If it was someone else, he might have been knocked out of his defensive position long ago.

Chandler didn't move in the first attempt, and Anjie didn't lose heart, and continued the second attempt. This scene is simply very unusual in the Thunder's offense. Durant and Westbrook are watching from the outside, waiting for a center to single-play inside. In the hearts of Durant and Westbrook, only Anjie, who is connected with their fate, can get this treatment.

The second time, Chandler gritted his teeth and insisted. He admitted that if this guy can increase his strength, he might not be able to withstand it.

Chandler has reached his limit, and Anjie can no longer exert more power. Seeing that direct memorization was not feasible, An Jie was going to step out of the opportunity with his own steps.

Shake your shoulders and turn to the baseline!

Chandler blocked it immediately, not willing to give a chance.

"As expected of a top inside defender!" An Jie also looked at Chandler with admiration in his heart.

But just halfway through the breakthrough, An Jie suddenly turned around on the spot and turned towards the opposite direction of the bottom line. Afterwards, he raised the basketball with his right hand, jumped with his right foot, raised his left leg, and made a very retro hook.

"A big hook with a very stretched movement! Can you score!? Great shot! An Jie scored two points on the head of "Boxer"!" The commentators in the mainland cheered, An Jie's movements were very fast and coherent, The most important thing is to score goals.

"Hey Tyson! Pay me back on the offensive end if you have the ability!" After scoring a goal, An Jie hooked his finger at Chandler who was about to serve the baseline.

"Stinky boy!" Chandler cursed secretly in his heart, but did not respond, but this did not mean that his heart was very peaceful.

Angie is back! That seemingly humble and weak insider demon has now officially opened his bee-hunting net!

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