The Way of the Center

"The Thunder’s inside defense was really tested today. O'Neal has scored twice in the Thunder's three-second zone, and James hasn’t started to attack inside. When James also started offensive, their defense The pressure will only be greater!"

　　 After O'Neal scored that goal, all the commentators were worried about the Thunder's once indestructible inside defense. O'Neal is too active today, completely different from his previous "lifeless" performance on the offensive end.

　　 But now, the Cavaliers have to think about how to contain the Thunder's offense. Durant, who ranks first in the league in scoring per game, is not covered.

　　 It is still Westbrook who has the ball. Although Westbrook has not scored more than ten points in two consecutive games, he does not dare to mess with the enemy today.

　　 Cavaliers starting point guard Anthony Parker got Westbrook very uncomfortable. Although this guy's personal ability is very limited, his rich experience helped him make up for this shortcoming.

　　 Whether in the NBA or the European League, Parker has left his own footprint. This kind of battle-tested veteran is generally very old in defense.

　　 Although Westbrook stumbled, he safely pushed the ball to two meters beyond the three-point line. He began to look up to find someone, Durant was slipping from the baseline, James was delayed for a while by Anjie's off-the-ball pick and roll.

　　 "Just take advantage of it now!" Westbrook made a quick pass, and Durant, who came out, rushed to catch the ball within milliseconds.

　　 As soon as he caught the ball, James also rushed forward quickly. At this moment, An Jie, who was originally in the three-second zone, also followed out to pick and roll Durant again. Now the entire Thunder team's offensive system is entirely serving Durant.

　　 Durant didn't give James a chance to adjust after receiving the ball. He immediately broke into the inside line. James moved laterally without even thinking about it. As soon as he took a step, he collided with the pick-and-roll Angel.

　　 "Ann's pick-and-roll is not leaking! KD broke through, and O'Neill went up to make up!"

　　 James was blocked again, and O'Neal had to face the young scoring champion himself.

　　 Just when Durant was about to collide with the "Roshan" of O'Neal, he suddenly jumped up, and O'Neal felt as if he raised his arms high.

　　 Unexpectedly, Durant's ball was not meant to attack the frame, he just took off to pass the ball. Durant used a nearly hook action to pass the ball. Who would catch the ball?

"Ann! He cut in in time after the KD pick and roll! Now O'Neill was caught by Durant, and there was no one in front of Ann!" Mike Brin clapped for the tacit cooperation between Anjie and Durant. Applauded.

　　 "Damn it!" O'Neal saw An Jie passing by. If it was ten years ago, he could keep up with the defense in time, and then use a rough block to win the applause of the home fans. But now, O'Neal can't make any progress.

　　 Now, only James is behind Anjie. However, the chance that this ball can be prevented is very slim.

　　 Anjie received Durant's pass and went straight to the basket with three strides. He took off with one foot and dunked with both hands.

　　 James also jumped up after Anjie took off, but he was a few centimeters away from the ball that blocked Anjie.

　　 "Pay attention to Shaq!" After dunking to the ground, Anjie smiled and patted the big shark's fat ass, and then high-five Durant who sent him the second pass.

　　 "My fault Shaq, you just stick to the inside, KD hand it to me." Although it was Angel who scored the goal, James knew that it was because he let Durant off that caused everything that happened afterwards.

"It's okay. Next time Durant will break through again, I will go to make up the defense. Don't relax your vigilance on Ann. Also..." The two "Tsars" began to communicate. This picture is not common. .

　　 "Strong response, I bet this tactic was not drawn by Coach Van Gundy, at least not in the second half. But don't forget, this group of guys are called Thunder Thirds. Their offensive talent is one of the best in the league!"

After 　　 there was an offense and defense between the Cavaliers and the Thunder, and O'Neal did not make another shot after scoring the opening two goals. One is because after James was broken by KD twice in a row, his offensive desire became strong and he started to fight. Second, because O'Neal was replaced by Mike Brown early, O'Neal, who is now almost forty years old, can no longer play 39, even forty minutes as before.

　　 It didn't take long for An Jie to fight, and the "Big Shark" was already sweaty after he left the field. Where's Anjie? It was also not easy. Although the Cavaliers power forward J.J. Hickson had a mediocre accuracy in his shots, he still had some threats, so Morris was completely pulled out. So from beginning to end, An Jie was alone with O'Neal, and he couldn't catch his breath.

After 　　, the two sides also had a second facelift. The depth of the Cavaliers' bench has been criticized by the outside world, and the situation on the Thunder side is not much better. Ibaka does have great potential, but he still can't make any waves. Livingston? That guy hadn't added the aura of "genius" long ago.

　　 Until the last twenty seconds, James made a three-pointer and finally let the Cavaliers lead the Thunder by three. And this advantage was maintained until the end of the first quarter.

　　 23 to 26, the Thunder fell behind only because of James' last three-pointer.

"You defended James well in the first quarter! But KD, your own shooting rate was also very low by James! Don't get into singles and get the ball running. Sefrossa got a lot of opportunities today, but they didn't get it. The ball, so I hope you can share the ball with more people!" Van Gundy did not waste time. As soon as the players sat down, he took the tactical board and the small bench to sit among the players.

　　 "How about? Do you want to start singles for you in the second half?" Mike Brown's situation is very different from Van Gundy's. He is asking for the opinions of James, as if James is the Cavaliers coach.

"No! We have to give Shaq more opportunities! Only when Shaq suppresses the Chinese can we play more easily!" James didn't make this decision to make O'Neal do his wish, because it was indeed a solution to security. The only way to trouble Jie on the defensive end.

"Very well, then let's play like this. Listen..." Mike Brown immediately formulated tactics according to James' requirements. His coaching style was often laughed at by others, but he led the Cavaliers to first in the Eastern Conference. Throne, this is the last word!

　　 The coaches of both teams are seizing the time to lay out the tactics for the second quarter. The more intense the game, the more problems the two sides actually exposed. All coaches want to put all the problems they found on the players, so the inter-quarter break will always seem very hasty.

　　 At the beginning of the second quarter, the Thunder really implemented Van Gundy's arrangement, and they passed the ball significantly more.

　　 "Durant held the ball again, he broke through! But James won't leave!"

　　 Durant can feel that James has increased the defensive intensity, but he did not intend to attack or break through this ball, just to shrink the Cavaliers defensive lineup.

　　 At the same time, Westbrook bypassed Angel's ball-free pick and roll to the bottom corner. Durant raised his hand to pass the ball, and Westbrook became an attacker as expected.

　　 "Ann's off-ball pick-and-roll is very timely, but Anthony Parker's pace of defense is also not slow! This ball has a bad chance!"

　　 Westbrook made a shot, and when everyone was paying attention to him, suddenly a pass, the basketball shifted widely, and Sefrosa at the top of the three-point arc received the ball.

　　 "Sabo Sefrosa! Everyone forgot about him, the Swiss was left clean!"

　　 Faced with the big open opportunity, Sefrossa didn't waste it. He didn't rush to shoot the basket, and the basketball crossed a beautiful arc and fell straight to the net!

　　 "Swipe!" The beautiful voice made Sefrossa very excited. He raised his right hand and compared three fingers.

　　 As soon as the game opened, the Thunder responded and evened the score!

　　 After the game, the fans of Quicken Loans Arena feasted their eyes. The excitement of this game is no less than the Christmas War.

　　 "Ann shook O'Neal with his footsteps, the shark is too slow now! Oh! He did it, God! The one-handed dunk after turning around was on O'Neal's head!"

　　 "Shaq's tank-like advancement, small hook! Basketball scores and a penalty! An Jie shouldn't reach out."

　　 "Russell Westbrook! The ball is scored! A wonderful drawbar layup, who would dare to underestimate the attacking ability of the Thunder's zero guard!"

　　 "LeBron~~~James! Tomahawk-style slam dunk, this one-stop steals and dunks can definitely be selected for the top ten goals!"

　　 The Thunder Knights don't give way to each other. You score a goal and I will pay for one. The scores of the two sides rose alternately, but the gap has never appeared.

　　 Until the second quarter with three minutes and fifty seconds left, Van Gundy replaced all the three Thunder players who had consumed too much. Except for Morris, the other four are all substitute players.

　　 But the decision made by Mike Brown made Van Gundy's heart tensed.

　　 The Cavaliers also only left one starting player on the court, but that starting player is the Cavaliers No. 23, LeBron James.

　　 "It seems that Coach Mike Brown is planning to let James play a whole quarter."

　　 "Is it really okay? After all, the confrontation between the two sides in the second quarter is too fierce, and the consumption must be very huge."

　　 "Of course others have problems, but for James, no problem!"

　　 And when James first attacked, he fulfilled what he said.

　　 He easily broke through the Thunder's backup guard Eric Maynor's defense, went straight in, ignoring Morris' defense, and forced a layup to score the ball.

　　 Although James was knocked out of the bottom line by Morris, he didn't hesitate at all. He quickly got up and quickly returned to defense.

"No, Maynor can't prevent James, neither can Livingston, Ethan Thomas? No!" Mike Brin shook his head. In terms of substitution strategy, Van Gundy was given to him by Mike Brown this time. An army.

　　 Although the Thunder's internal strength has greatly improved this season, the depth of the bench of the outside players is not even as good as last season in some respects.

　　 Livingston can occasionally play well, but more often he feels sleepwalking. Itan Thomas, with long dreadlocks, is strong, but his skills and speed really need to be improved. Eric Maynor scored really well, but his body was thinner. Kyle Weaver? He exposed the shortcomings of a second round show, the upper limit is too low! After a flash in the pan last season, this guy has gradually faded out of the rotation. The rookie season is the pinnacle, so I'm talking about players like him.

　　Although Ibaka and Morris are on the inside, but under the combination of James' sudden jump, the two big men have no way to restrict the "little emperor".

　　 More than three minutes ~www.NovelMTL.com~ It seems that the time is not long, but it made the Thunder players experience a journey to hell.

　　 "Eight points, James alone made the Thunder fall behind by eight points! Coach Van Gundy is still reluctant to change players, he wants to save the strength of the Thunder three for the end!"

　　 Finally, when the whistle sounded at the end of half time. The fans of Quicken Loans Arena were delighted to find that the originally intractable game has been abruptly opened up by James!

　　 45 to 56, the Thunder collapsed in the last three minutes of the second quarter, 11 points behind the Cavaliers!

　　 Under James King, this is really his own hand!

　　 With 19 points in the half, James's terrorism is revealed again!

　　 It's just that James consumed so much energy in the first half. In the second half, can he guarantee that he can perform at a high level for a long time?

　　 In the second half, it was when Van Gundy decided to let the three Thunders give it a go! (To be continued.)