The Way of the Center

The dramatic invalidation of the lore allowed the Thunder and the Bulls to return to the court again after 48 minutes of fierce fighting. This is a double test of the players' perseverance and physical strength.

Either way, Ainger has never experienced overtime. But standing in the middle circle and preparing to jump the ball at this time, he didn't feel anything special. On the other hand, the Bulls players were bending over and panting one by one, they were exhausted!

Five minutes of overtime, this undoubtedly gave De Nagro a blow. Except for this game, the Bulls only sent three substitute players to play! It's not that De Nagro relies too much on the first five tigers, but a series of injuries to the Bulls left him no choice. Because of this, the physical exertion of the first five members of the Bulls was enormous, and now these five minutes will undoubtedly completely drain their physical strength!

Although the Thunder only had a battle with the Rockets yesterday, Jeff Van Gundy has been strictly following the rotation plan. Physical strength? Even in overtime, Van Gundy is confident his rested players will hold on.

Five minutes of overtime may seem short, but during these intense five minutes, the suffering players will feel that the time is very long.

The basketball was still won by An Jie, and Tyrus Thomas' jumping height also declined after his physical strength declined. Joe Smith caught the basketball shot by Anjie, and then passed it to Westbrook who was advancing forward. The Thunder's offense officially began!

"Although the games are played back to back, the Thunder are like a team playing in the first quarter, while the Bulls players are like lead on the soles of their feet." Don't talk about the players on the field, just Even the off-court commentators and fans clearly saw this.

Everyone on the Thunder team is full of motivation, but Ainger, who has been rested for a week, is even more active. On the first offense, Anjie started the scoring mode!

"Westbrook passed the ball to Durant. It seems that Russell is not very confident in himself today. Anjie opened his hands in the low post to ask for the ball! Durant fed it in!" Anjie said. , This is a signal for the Thunder to play hard inside!

Why choose Anjie? Jeff Van Gundy naturally has his own considerations. First of all, Anjie is full of physical strength after a full rest, and good physical fitness is the basis for excellent performance. However, outside players such as Durant may experience fluctuations in their shooting percentage due to the decline in their physical strength. At this time, choosing Anjie as the offensive core of the overtime game is undoubtedly the most suitable choice!

Nervous, Tyrus Thomas did not expect to feel nervous when facing a rookie. Any missed points in overtime could ruin the night's efforts.

But this is a hard gap in strength, and Thomas has nothing to fill the gap in this gap.

An Jie turned around directly,

Intended to force a breakthrough. With a weight of 102 kg and strength still not dominant, Thomas couldn't stop An Jie's movement at all. He had no choice but to watch An Jie break into the penalty area, and now he could only look for opportunities to block shots to make up for the failed defense in front of him.

After An Jie reached the basket, he slapped the ball with both hands. This is the habitual action of most centers preparing to jump and dunk on the spot! Tyrus Thomas took off with all his strength, and he wanted to retaliate with a beautiful hot pot!

It's a pity that An Jie is not within the range of most center forwards. He did this move entirely to trick Thomas. Seeing Tyrus take off, An Jie still attacked the frame. Facing Thomas, who was much shorter than himself, Anjie was hardly disturbed. Although his center of gravity was a little unstable, he still tried his best to keep his shot, and the basketball fell into the net.

At the same time, the referee's urgent whistle rang through the entire United Center arena, 2+1!

Anjie's free throws are still as stable as ever. So far in this game, Anjie only missed one free throw in the fourth quarter, but he did not make the same mistake again in overtime.

Should Joakim Noah be replaced? De Nagro is in a dilemma. If he does not make a substitution, the only thing he can arrange is double-teaming. After all, Thomas has been completely defeated. Let him defend Anjie one-on-one. The Bulls undoubtedly chose to commit suicide.

As for the offense of the Bulls, Derrick Rose was not to be outdone, he used his remaining strength to break into the penalty area like crazy. Faced with Angie's block, Rose made a layup from the side with a beautiful pull bar to avoid the block, and then gliding to the other side of the basket, he succeeded in a layup.

97 to 96! The two sides will fight again!

Anjie held the ball in a high position and made three threats. After a few tentative steps, Anjie suddenly launched a breakthrough, and then used a series of turns to shake Thomas up and then easily succeeded in a close-range jumper.

Derrick Rose broke through to the three-second zone, but this time he did not choose to make a layup, but made a sudden throw. Rose's throwing posture is very strange, but he can make good use of his height advantage. The basketball went into the net hollow, and Anjie and Westbrook still failed to defend Rose.

Halfway through overtime, Jeff Van Gundy called a timeout after Rose's second goal, and it was time for the second step.

After returning from the timeout, the Thunder's offense immediately changed. Sure enough, De Nagro did not replace Noah to try, but double-teamed Anjie.

This also corresponds to Van Gundy's arrangement. This time he replaced Wilkins with Watson, who has better shooting ability, in order to make the chance of coming out from the outside line into a score. You know, the Thunder still have two top scorers on the perimeter.

Ben Gordon naturally didn't dare to abandon Durant, but Anjie chose to play singles with Thomas near Ben Gordon.

Watching An Jie turn around and break through the frame, Ben Gordon didn't have any more worries, and ran directly towards the penalty area.

An Jie found that he received more interference, and immediately turned around and fed the ball. Durant caught the ball and shot it within one step of the three-point line. He also gave An Jie an assist in return.

Seeing the score getting bigger and bigger, Derrick Rose's offensive desire is getting stronger and stronger. But this time his breakthrough hit a wall again. Anjie didn't wait for him at the basket, but stood up a little earlier, so that he could not only prevent Rose's float shot, but also be able to make a layup when Rose just took three steps to the basket. Interfere with him by physically confronting him.

"Can Derek Rose continue this time? No, Rose missed. This time he barely scored a layup and didn't score! Do you know how good Anjie's defense is? Ask Derek Rose and you will definitely get the answer! "

If Rose can't do it, just replace him. Anyway, the Bulls have three guards who can score. De Nagro shouted signals from the sidelines, signaling the players to change the offensive end point.

During this period, the Thunder scored again. It was still a pass from Anjie after pretending to be singles. Earl Watson played a role as soon as he came on the court, and his steady mid-range shot gave the Thunder an even greater advantage.

"I think the Bulls are going to be overwhelmed. The Thunder's offensive momentum is very strong. Ainger is causing the Bulls to suffer on both ends of the offense and defense. Maybe this is what a traditional center can do. Will come to question An Jie's health, he has no problem!" ESPN's commentary also praised An Jie again and again, except for ccTV, today's TV stations all over the world are full of praise for An Jie's performance. It was originally a competition between the best rookies of the month in the east and west, but An Jie made it out halfway and became the most dazzling one.

De Nagro's beautiful fantasy did not come true. Although Ben Gordon's offense was very good throughout the game, but in overtime, under Durant's defensive determination that he would never take half a step back, the British basketball player Didn't make a single shot.

The same thing happened to Larry Hughes. Seeing that his two big brothers couldn't stand up, Ross started his crazy breakthrough again.

But at this point in the game, Rose couldn't raise his speed. Now Westbrook has no problem defending him, and Derrick Rose is playing high and low as before.

After Rose hit two consecutive layups at the beginning, the Bulls' score has not changed. Yeah, it didn't change until the last second of overtime, and it didn't change either.

"Oh my god! Who would have thought that five minutes of overtime would be a massacre!"

15 to 4, this is the score of the two teams in five minutes of overtime, except for Derrick Rose's two goals, the others have no achievements, and Rose did not continue his own in the second half of overtime Performance. In the entire five minutes, the Bulls scored four points relying on Rose's two goals.

"Anjie is undoubtedly the most important thing for the Thunder to win. This center will completely dominate the overtime! Whether it is offense or defense, he has done it perfectly!" ESPN did not hesitate to select Anjie as the best player in the game .

109 to 98, Derrick Rose and his Bulls survived for 48 minutes, but completely collapsed in the last 5 minutes.

With 28 points, 12 rebounds and 6 assists, Anjie proved with practical actions that he is no worse than the best rookie of the month in the East and West. He, An Jie, is also a strong contender for this award and even the best rookie of the year!

Durant used his actions to prove that the second place is not necessarily worse than the first place, and Anjie proved with his actions that even the twelfth place can beat the first place!

In the United Center arena, there is a bronze statue of Jordan outside the gate and Jordan's jersey inside. But today, there is only one protagonist, the traditional center from China, An Jie! (To be continued.) 8