The Way of the Center

Injuries, this is almost the biggest enemy of a professional athlete. From the former Grant Hill to the present Greg Oden, there have been countless geniuses who have fallen regretfully because of injuries.

Of course, injuries will not only affect players, if a team breaks out a large area of ​​injuries, the general manager and head coach of the team will definitely be very distressed. Why do some teams with strong paper lineups have been unable to achieve good results? Incomplete lineups are one of the culprits for poor results.

The Thunder are lucky, and their lineup has been very healthy for most of the season. Even with injuries, occasionally one or two people will suffer minor injuries. For example, the week An Jie sprained his ankle was within this range.

Of course, the Thunder have also encountered many teams with incomplete lineups, and they have all benefited from defeating them. For example, the Chicago Bulls, which have only three substitute players to play, are the victims of extensive injuries.

But the feng shui turns, in the long NBA season, almost no team can keep healthy all the time. Although the Thunder can be regarded as a dark horse this season, they are inevitably related to injuries.

"How come there are so many people?" When the third thunder masters were training with the team for the first time after returning from the Full Star Weekend, the few teammates in the training ground made the thunder masters bewildered.

"The training these days is very unsatisfactory, and some guys have relapsed." Nick Collison shook his head helplessly. Van Gundy has been driven mad these days, injuries have come one after another, and the rotation lineup has been disrupted.

Seeing that tonight is about to face the Hornets at home, Jeff Van Gundy can't even make a complete list of players.

Damien Wilkins sprained toe, although it is not a major injury, but the next game will definitely be missed.

Chris Wilcox has a thigh strain, and his half-week injury will directly reduce the offensive firepower of the Thunder's second team.

Joe Smith accidentally fractured his left arm during yesterday's training, and the specific recovery time has not yet been determined.

Desmond Mason has a cracked left ankle, and the specific time of his comeback is undetermined

As the season goes back and forth, the chances of fatigued players getting injured are also increasing. It was a crucial moment for the Thunder to hit the playoffs, but the player's injury outbreak undoubtedly cast a shadow over the Thunder's prospects.

This is not the first time Jeff Van Gundy has encountered this situation, but it is precisely this situation that he least wants to see. If Yao Ming and McGrady were not for frequent injuries when coaching the Rockets, he would not have been able to lead the team to the first round.

Now Jeff Van Gundy can only expect Presti to complete some transactions before the trade deadline. Otherwise, with this scarred lineup, the Thunder want to make the playoffs without a doubt. There is not much time left until the trading deadline on February 20, and Presti’s operations will be very important.

Can't wait for the Thunder to slow down, the NBA's intensive schedule will only continue to advance over time.

The first game day after the All-Star Weekend, on February 17, the incomplete Thunder team ushered in its rivals, the New Orleans Hornets currently ranked seventh in the Western Conference.

Like the Thunder, before the All-Star Game, the Hornets also experienced an unpleasant two-game losing streak. And in the two lost games, the Hornets did not score more than 80 points.

Although the Hornets have been in poor form recently, this does not mean that the Thunder will be easy in this game. Faced with the Thunder, which is five games short of their own, the Hornets want to end their losing streak at the Chesapeake Energy Arena anyway and get on the right track. The Hornets are already strong, and the Thunder team is now incomplete, and the three Thunder will undoubtedly face a tough battle.

The Thunder used to rely on three amazingly talented young people to come to the present. Now that several other powerful guys in the team are missing due to injuries, the entire Thunder team suddenly became only the third Thunder junior to hold the scene.

In the first quarter of the game against the Hornets, the Thunder suffered a head-on. 32 to 20, this is the score at the end of the first quarter.

Durant 9 points, Westbrook 6 points, Anjie 5 points, which adds up to exactly 20! Yes, in the first quarter, except for the Thunder's three minors, everyone else didn't score a goal! Not even free throws!

It's not that the third thunder master occupied all the shots. Others also got the opportunity, but they couldn't grasp it once.

"The three rookies of the Thunder are undoubtedly very outstanding young people, but a team cannot reach the end with only three kids." Such a play in the first quarter, all the commentators Unanimously criticized the weakness of the Thunder's role players.

"If Presti wants the Thunder to take it to the next level, he should find a few more helpers for this group of lads. It's obviously difficult to be a leader if Atkins is a mere Atkins." Things made a comment.

Presti certainly knows what the Thunder is missing now, but the general managers of other teams are not fools. The Thunder except three minors, the transaction value is really not high. The three masters are undoubtedly not for sale, and apart from the other bargaining chips of the three of them, they really can't get any good puzzles. It is undoubtedly a very difficult thing to reinforce the lineup by trading.

Like the Bulls, Jeff Van Gundy looked around the bench, and there were only three healthy substitutes. As for the starting lineup, rookie guard Kevin Waver and team old man Nick Collison had to be ordered to top up.

Nick Collison's performance is fairly normal. He has been playing an important role in rotation this season. Before Van Gundy took office, he was even the starting center of the Thunder. His playing time was very stable and his competitive state was completely fine.

But Kyle Waver is obviously not ready to play as a starter. The total time he has played since the season up to now has not added up. The same is the rookie An Jie has played a lot of time in a game, if not two. There is no one on the number, and Van Gundy will not make such a bad move.

However, what the Hornets did not expect was that under the circumstances of the Thunder, the three young men headed by Durant never gave up resistance. It can be said that the Thunder only relied on the three of them to make the Hornets very embarrassed.

Even if David West frequently scores points on Nick Collison, even Chris Paul's needle and offense are still sharp. However, the three thunder masters can always rely on their own personal abilities to return the color in the next round.

Due to the injury of "Boxing King" Tyson, the Hornets' starting center had to be played by Sean Marks. However, this guy alone couldn't contain An Jie's offense at all.

The veteran Peja has lost the edge of the year, Durant can be said to do whatever he wants in front of him.

"Queen Bee" Paul's overall defeat made him very strenuous in defending Westbrook. Coupled with Angel's right pick-and-roll, Westbrook did not lose points on Paul.

Like the last time the two sides played against each other, the game was dragged to the end. Faced with the seemingly weak Thunder, the Hornets still couldn't win after 47 minutes and 30 seconds of fighting. On the contrary, at the moment, the Thunder are still leading by three points and have the initiative in the game.

In the last 13 seconds of the game, it was Paul. After borrowing David West's pick-and-roll, Paul quickly shot and made a precise three-pointer to tie the score to 98.

"Can the Thunder end the game again this time!?" Although the process is not wonderful, but the final tense contest, no matter how many times I watch the fans and commentators, I won't feel bored.

This time the defensive Hornets will definitely do their best, hoping to drag the game into overtime. It would be better if they could force the Thunder to make a mistake and counterattack.

The Hornets did a good defensive job. Westbrook and Durant didn't get any chance at all. An Jie was originally arranged by Van Gundy to do the organization, but seeing that the two teammates did not get any time, An Jie decided to try to play inside by himself!

"Pretend to attack!?" This is not the first time the Thunder used this strategy. An Jie pretended to attract the attention of the defensive side before passing the ball to a teammate who had a chance. Therefore, although they saw An Jie hitting his back, everyone on the Hornets did not dare to double-up easily, for fear that they would leave An Jie with a pass.

Second time! Sean Marks is obviously overwhelmed. If Anjie really chooses to attack by himself, then he has no confidence in his defense at all.

Seeing this situation, David West couldn't bear it. He left behind Nick Collison, who was not strong offensively, and rushed towards Anjie, ready to complete the encirclement of Anjie with Max.

West had just been in position, before he had time to do anything, An Jie's back turned and withdrew the jumper before he took the shot. People who have watched Anjie play since his college days have a familiar feeling for this scene. Isn't this action the same as Anjie's lore at Stanford University? ?

"It's exactly the same!" Wu Hua hurried to take photos~www.NovelMTL.com~ He believed that it would be very interesting to compare the two sets of photos afterwards.

The action is the same, what about the result?

An Jie originally had a high shot point, but now he has a slight lean back, so although Max and West both took off and interfered with this ball, An Jie was not affected much.

The softest shot is perhaps the biggest difference between Anjie and other centers. Seeing the arc of the basketball flight, West felt a little desperate in his heart.

"No, it's impossible!" West didn't want to accept this fact, but it was so cruel.

"Swipe." The tumbling sound of the Nets, at this moment, the faint sound is very clear on the noisy basketball court. This voice also completely shattered West's only belief in winning.

"Boom!" Chesapeake Energy Arena, this arena is really full of energy now, igniting the entire Oklahoma City in an instant.

The game has two seconds to end, but even the Hornets players know that the victory has been taken away by the tenacious An Jie. (To be continued.)