The Way of the Center

?Anjie was selected by the Sacramento Kings with the 12th pick in the first round in 2008, and was immediately traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Serge Ibaka was selected with the 24th pick in the first round in 2008. The Thunder did not sign with him, but let him go to the Spanish League for a year of training.

Andrew Morris, was selected with the 7th overall pick in the first round in 2009. Even though he was only the 7th overall pick, he still received a lot of criticism. Some people think that he has suffered serious injuries and can only play with his body. The level of the round show.

It was these three insiders who were not very optimistic in the draft, but they crushed the Rockets in this game and were unable to turn around.

As soon as the third quarter came up, Westbrook and Durant's rapid offensive shocked Adelman into a cold sweat. However, before the two scored a few points, they fell into the mud of frantic strikes again.

Adelman was originally worried that the three major generals of the Thunder would be hard to contain, but now it seems that he himself was worrying too much. The Thunder's two outsiders with the strongest scoring ability could not score, so Van Gundy finally accepted the reality. Only by relying on the inside can the Thunder win this game.

So not long after the fight, Van Gundy replaced Kostic with Morris, and Anjie and Morris, two old partners, took the inside.

Van Gundy has not forgotten the wonderful performance of Morris and Ibaka in the last two minutes of the second quarter. Now he brings Morris up ahead of schedule, hoping that Morris can continue his good offensive state.

The effect of substitutions is obvious, Westbrook and Durant gave up the right to fire, and Anjie and Morris completely penetrated the Rockets' three-second zone.

Whether Anjie assisted Morris after supporting in a high position, or Morris restrained the defense and let Anjie score easily. The two of them tormented the nerves of Hayes and Scala, and of every fan at the Toyota Center, in a variety of different ways.

The Rockets' interior door is wide open, and Anjie and Morris' scoring in the interior is as easy as cutting melons and vegetables.

"Charles is out of the game, even Trevor Ariza is misfired, the Rockets can't win." Kenny Smith stretched his waist, and the game in the third quarter became more and more boring.

In fact, the performance of the Rockets before is not good. If it weren't for Ariza's magical performance, they would not be only two points behind at halftime.

Apparently, Ariza was only magical for one half. In the third quarter, although the outside line of the Thunder team was still not opened, the offense of the Rockets was completely misfired.

The Thunder can still continue to score by relying on the three potential insiders, but the Rockets have almost nothing to do.

Rockets captain Sean Battier stepped forward at this time, he hit two mid-range shots in a row, and then made a three-pointer. But to be honest, he can only do so much. Scoring is not Battier's strong point. If the Rockets rely on Battier to score, it can only mean that they are done for today.

Anjie scored 10 points easily after playing seven minutes in the third quarter. After that, he rested, and Morris and Ibaka continued to "do evil" in the paint.

Before the fans of the Rockets could react to what happened, the third quarter was overwhelmed. Of course they couldn't react, because the insider who was not a high pick in the three draft picks was too low-key and inconspicuous.

Perhaps An Jie's outbreak is still within everyone's acceptance range,

But the outbreak of Ibaka and Morris made Van Gundy himself unexpected.

The draft pick does not fully explain the strength of a player. The Thunder's three young insiders are good positive examples.

At the end of the dreary third quarter, the score became 74 to 62, and the original 2-point difference became 12 points. Adelman looked at the eight players on the bench, seven to be exact, because McGrady was clearly out of action.

With such an incomplete lineup, what would he use to compete against the Thunder in the fourth quarter.

Adelman shook his head weakly, although he didn't want to admit it, but the fact is that the Rockets have been hard to escape the bad luck of failure.

In the fourth quarter, Westbrook and Durant were still giving gifts to the Rockets. With a huge advantage, Westbrook missed all five shots from the basket. Maybe the back-to-back schedule really made him too tired. After all, this guy's desperate breakthrough really consumed him a lot.

Durant finally made some shots, but his 3-for-7 shooting percentage obviously still doesn't match his status as a team leader.

Just when Van Gundy was still worried that the Rockets would take the opportunity to counterattack, "Little Black Bean" Brooks made 1 of 6 shots but allowed Van Gundy to sit back on the bench again.

Only halfway through the fourth quarter, almost one-third of the fans at the Toyota Center had exited. Seeing the two sides fighting back and forth on the field, it is better to go home and sleep early to avoid traffic jams later.

What else can Adelman say? The opponent has already shown its flaws, but his Rockets can't play a threatening attack.

"Damn shit!" Charles Barkley barely spoke in the fourth quarter, but when he spoke, the audience in front of the TV burst into laughter. Many people also choose to watch the live broadcast of this game, in fact, they just want to see what Barkley will say next.

"Okay, I admit, I was wrong this time. To be honest, the Thunder's performance was terrible, but who the hell would have thought that the Rockets' performance was even worse!"

"You can't say the same thing about Charles, Ariza and Battier each played a good half of the game." Kenny Smith was in a good mood, and he couldn't bear to take Barkley out.

"But the Thunder's three insiders played four good quarters!" Indeed, Ibaka scored 14 points on 6-of-6 shooting, and Morris scored 15 points on 7-of-10 shooting. The performance of these two people is enough for Adelman to drink a pot. As for An Jie, who is still on the field, it is not certain what data he will get in the end. In short, there is a great chance of breaking through a new career scoring high. In order to prevent the Rockets from counterattacking Van Gundy, they also intend to keep Anjie until the end.

"Don't give up! We're not that far behind! If you work harder, you can bring the game back!" Sean Battier looked at the dejected teammates and couldn't help shouting. The difference of 10 to 12 points is really not that big, but besides him, the Rockets have no one with high morale.

As early as the third quarter, the Rockets were defeated!

An Jie's offense in the interior was unstoppable, and he even played with himself, using all kinds of fancy streetball moves he learned from Westbrook.

Of course, those actions failed to help Anjie score, but instead made him add two turnovers. However, this can also show from the side that Anjie played too easily, and insiders at the level of Scola and Hayes can no longer be compared with Anjie.

Until Anjie hit a jumper with a dribble behind the back and such a juggling action, Anjie's score became 31 points, a new NBA career high!

33, 35, Anjie, who had a good time, has not stopped yet, and his score continues to rise. Yes, Anjie is really playing on the court now, just like playing with his classmates in high school and junior high school.

With four minutes left in the game, the score difference was 16 points. Van Gundy called a timeout and replaced all the main players, including Anjie. At this time, only half of the die-hard fans at the Toyota Center are still suffering, looking forward to the Rockets' comeback.

However, when the red light on the backboard came on, the exhausted Rockets still failed to complete the reversal. Considering the too mediocre lineup, the Rockets' previous record is very good. But are they really strong? No, they just look strong!

, after a four-game losing streak, the Thunder staged a shocking "massacre" at the Toyota Center in back-to-back away games.

Westbrook played 41 minutes and scored 15 points on 4-of-14 shooting.

Durant scored just 13 points on 6-of-18 shooting in 36 minutes.

The Thunder team made only 16% of their three-pointers, and they made 2 of 12 shots. And there were 11 turnovers and 22 fouls.

From this point of view, the Thunder do not seem to have any capital to win.

However, the No. 16 big man, who had been away from the game for a month and had an unsatisfactory performance in the first game of his comeback, used a near-perfect performance to abruptly help the team win.

He made 15 of 20 shots and scored 35 points, 15 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 blocks. An Jie used an exaggerated large double-double to run rampant in the NBA arena!

After this game, people suddenly realized that Oklahoma's blue and white lightning is still a threat that cannot be ignored!

The four-game losing streak was swept away by Anjie, and the shadow of injuries also dissipated.

Nirvana rebirth, maybe it is a perfect adjective.

...................................

Today is Saturday, and NCAA games are generally scheduled for weekends when there are no classes. George Ricard was on the sidelines, another new season, the Cyclones squad has undergone another major change.

Except for Anthony Ben, the current Cyclones are all rookies. The players who entered the March Madness Championship with the team in the previous two seasons either graduated or went to the NBA.

The strong lineup of the "Three Musketeers" period did not reappear. This time, Rickard was not very satisfied with the recruitment, because he didn't see any players like Anjie, Morris, or Mike Taylor appearing.

The regular season of the Big 12 has played two games, and now it is the third game. Since Ricard served as the head coach of the Cyclones, he has never played so aggrieved in the regular season, because the Cyclones had lost two games in a row before.

Now the game has come to the 13th minute of the second half, and the Cyclones are 12 points behind. Ricard's more and more foul language on the sidelines has even caused dissatisfaction among many players' parents.

"Who does that stupid donkey coach think he is? Why does he scold my son like that!"

"Is this the quality of a college basketball coach? He's a rogue!"

"If I had known earlier, I wouldn't have let my son play in the Cyclones. Originally, he had received an invitation from Stanford University!"

However, the two insiders who went out under the hands of this unwelcome young coach are wreaking havoc on the NBA arena at this moment. It's just that after Anjie and Morris succeed, how many people will remember their mentor, Ricard?

Angie remembered, Morris remembered, but everyone else almost completely forgot about him and paid him no attention. Yes, almost, because there are still one or two guys who keep paying attention to Ricard.

There are still two or three scouts from NBA teams sitting at the scene of this game, but they are not here to scout players, because there are really no small players in the Cyclones this season who are worth looking forward to. These scouts were ordered by the general manager to inspect the head coach of the Cyclone, George Ricard. (To be continued.)

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