Chapter 121: The Rookie's War (4)
The dramatic stunner allowed the Thunder and Bulls to return to the court after 48 minutes of hard-fought overtime, a test of both perseverance and physical strength. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info
Whether it's the NCAA or the NBA, Anjie has never experienced overtime. However, standing in the middle circle at this time and preparing to jump the ball, he did not have any special feeling. On the other hand, the Bulls players are bent over and panting one by one, they are already exhausted!
Five minutes of extra time was undoubtedly a blow to De Nagro. In addition to the starters, the Bulls only sent a total of three bench players to play! It's not that De Nagro relies too much on the starting five, but that the Bulls' string of injuries has left him with no choice. Because of this, the physical exertion of the Bulls' starting five is very huge, and now these five minutes will undoubtedly completely drain their physical strength!
Although the Thunder only played a game against the Rockets yesterday, Jeff Van Gundy has been strictly following the plan to rotate, and even in the face of overtime, Van Gundy is confident that his well-rested players can persevere.
Five minutes of extra time may seem like a short time, but in this intense five minutes, the tormented players will feel that it is a long time.
The basketball was still fought for by Anjie, and the bouncing height of Tyrus Thomas also dropped after his physical strength declined. Joe Smith caught the basketball that Anjie had slapped, and then passed it to Westbrook, who was moving forward, and the Thunder's offense officially began!
"Even though they played back-to-back games, the Thunder were like a team playing the first quarter, and the Bulls players were like lead on their feet. "Not to mention the players on the pitch, even the commentators and fans off the pitch can see this clearly.
Everyone on the Thunder team is full of motivation, and Anjie, who has been off for a week, is even more active. On the first attack, Anjie turned on the scoring mode!
Westbrook passed the ball to Durant, and it seems that Russell doesn't have a lot of confidence in himself today. An Jie opened his hand to ask for the ball in the low post! Durant fed it in!" An Jie wants to play, this is a signal that the Thunder team wants to play the inside!
Why Anjie? Jeff Van Gundy naturally has his own considerations. First of all, Anjie is full of physical strength after full rest, and good physical fitness is the basis for excellent performance. Durant and other outside players may fluctuate in their shooting rate due to the decline in physical strength, and choosing Anjie as the offensive core of overtime is undoubtedly the most suitable choice!
Nervous, Tyrus Thomas didn't expect to feel nervous against a rookie. Conceding points in any one of the extra times threatens to ruin the night's effort.
But that's the hard gap in strength, and Thomas doesn't have anything to fill that gap.
An Jie turned around directly, intending to force a breakthrough. With a weight of 102 kilograms, the strength is not yet dominant, which makes Thomas simply unable to stop Anjie's movement. There was no way, he could only watch An Jie burst into the penalty area, and now he could only look for a chance to block to remedy the failed defense in front.
Anjie slammed the ball with both hands after bursting to the basket, which is the habitual action of most centers ready to jump on the spot and dunk! Tyrus Thomas jumped with all his strength, and he wanted to use a beautiful hot pot to return the color!
Unfortunately, Anjie is not in the range of most of those center forwards, and he did this move completely to fool Thomas. Seeing Tyrus jumping, Anjie still attacked the frame. Facing Thomas, who was much shorter than himself, An Jie was almost undisturbed, although his center of gravity was a little unstable after being hit, he still tried to keep his shots, and the basketball also fell into the net.
At the same time, the referee's hurried whistle sounded throughout the United Center arena, 2+1!
Anjie's free throws were as consistent as ever, and Anjie only missed one free throw in the fourth quarter so far in this game, but he didn't make the same mistake again in overtime.
Should he be replaced with Joaquin Noah? De Nagro is torn between a replacement and if he doesn't make a substitution, the only thing he can do is the bag. After all, Thomas has been completely defeated, and letting him defend Anjna Bulls one-on-one is undoubtedly a suicide choice.
And the Bulls' offense, Derrick Rose was not to be outdone, he used what little strength he had to break into the restricted area like crazy. Rose, who made a sideways layup in the face of Anjie's block, dodged the block with a beautiful lever and then glided to the other side of the basket where he made a layup.
97 to 96!
An Jie held the ball in the high post and threatened three threats, and after a few tentative steps, An Jie suddenly started to break through, and then used a series of turns to shake Thomas to jump up and make an easy close-range jumper.
Derrick Rose broke into the three-second zone, but this time he didn't choose to make a layup, but instead threw a shot. Rose's throwing stance is odd, but it makes good use of his height. The basketball hollowed into the net, and Angel and Westbrook still couldn't keep Rose at bay.
Halfway through extra time, Jeff van Gundy called a timeout after Rose's second goal, and it was time for the second step.
After the timeout, the Thunder's offense immediately changed, and sure enough, De Nagro did not replace Noah to give it a try, but took a trap on Anjie.
This also corresponds to Van Gundy's set-up, and he replaced Wilkins with Watson, who has better shooting ability, in order to turn the opportunity from the outside into a score. You know, there are still two super scorers standing on the outside of the Thunder team.
Ben Gordon naturally didn't dare to leave Durant, but Anjie chose to play alone with Thomas near Ben Gordon.
Seeing 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 was being interfered with more, and immediately turned around and fed the ball out, Durant caught the ball in one step inside the three-point line and shot, and he also gave An Jie an assist in return.
Watching the score get bigger and bigger, Derrick Rose's desire to attack became stronger and stronger. However, this time his breakthrough hit a wall again, Anjie did not wait for him under the basket, but stood up some positions in advance, which could not only prevent Rose's throwing, but also interfere with him when Rose was just three steps up and ready to go to the basket.
"Can Derrick Rose continue this time? No, Rose missed, this time he barely scored on a layup! Do you know how good Anjie's defense is? Ask Derrick Rose you will definitely get the answer!"
Rose can't make a substitution, and the Bulls have three scoring guards on the court anyway. De Nagro shouted a code from the sidelines, signaling his players to change the offensive endpoints.
In the meantime, the Thunder scored again. It was still a pass from Anjie after pretending to be single, and Earl Watson played a role as soon as he came on the court, and his steady mid-range shot gave the Thunder a bigger advantage.
"I think the Bulls are about to lose their bearings, the Thunder's offensive momentum is fierce, and Anjie has made the Bulls suffer on both offensive and defensive ends. Maybe this is the role that a traditional center can play, no one will question An Jie's health now, he has no problem!" ESPN's commentary also praised An Jie again and again, in addition to CCTV, TV stations around the world today are full of praise for An Jie's performance. Originally, it was a competition between the best rookie of the month in the east and west, but An Jie was killed halfway, and he became the most dazzling one.
De Nagro's beautiful fantasy did not come true, and although Ben Gordon attacked very well throughout the game, the British basketball player failed to make a single shot in overtime, thanks to Durant's defensive determination not to take half a step back.
The same thing happened to Larry Hughes. Seeing that his two big brothers couldn't stand up, Rose began his crazy breakthrough again.
But when the game got to this point, Rose couldn't get much speed. Now Westbrook has no problem defending him, and Derrick Rose is playing high and low again.
After Rose started with two consecutive layups, the Bulls' score hasn't changed. Yes, it didn't change until the last second of overtime.
"Oh my God! Who would have thought that this five-minute overtime would be a slaughter!"
15-4, the score of the two teams in the five minutes of extra time, except for two goals from Derrick Rose, who was unable to continue his performance in the second half of extra time. For the entire five minutes, the Bulls scored four points thanks to two goals from Rose.
"Anjie is undoubtedly the most important thing for the Thunder to win, this center completely dominates overtime! Whether it is offensive or defensive, he has done it perfectly!" ESPN did not hesitate to select Anjie as the best of the game.
109-98, Derrick Rose and his Bulls survived 48 minutes, only to collapse in the final five minutes.
With 28 points, 12 rebounds and 6 assists, An Jie proved with practical actions that he was no worse than the rookie of the month in the East and West. He Anjie is also a strong contender for this award and even Rookie of the Year!
Durant proved that second place is not necessarily worse than first place, and Anjie used actions to prove that even if the twelfth place is the same, it is possible to beat the first place!
United Center Arena, there is a bronze statue of Jordan outside the door, and Jordan's jersey inside the field. But today, there is only one protagonist, a traditional center from China, An Jie! )