Chapter 280: Psychological Burden
"Hey, Catherine. Pen Fun Pavilion www.biquge.info"
Catherine has now left the United States, and she cares a lot about Angel's career, but she hasn't watched a single game of the Lakers and Thunder series. It's not for any other reason, it's just that I'm too busy with work. Just like Anjie now, who cares about the fashion circle?
An Jie's violent beating of Brown not only made An Jie hot, but also made Catherine's popularity increase rapidly. It's not a good event, but it's a good one.
With her first stunning appearance, and under the role of news operations, Catherine's status in IMG has risen rapidly. Today, Catherine has moved with the company to Milan, Italy's cultural city and one of the world's fashion hubs. Here, a medium-sized fashion show is about to take place, and this is the first step for IMG to take Catherine to the world.
Catherine was fortunate that the company agreed to her request to travel with her father, whose only relative is now her. It's just a pity that the other man in her life can't walk with her. The scenery of Milan, Catherine really wants to enjoy it with Anjie.
In Italy, in addition to fashion, the other biggest theme is football. Especially in the city of Milan, you can always see fans wearing AC Milan or Inter Milan shirts on the streets. But there are also some outliers, although there are few people who like basketball, but there are still some.
Catherine can only occasionally watch Angel on TV in her free time, usually only for a few minutes before she has to continue working. So when she received an answer from An Jie today, Catherine was very surprised.
Anjie has said that during the playoffs he hopes he can concentrate on preparing. And that's exactly what he did, and since playing the playoffs with the Lakers, he's barely spoken to anyone outside of his teammates and coaches, not even his parents, Divac and Ricard.
"What's wrong with you?" Catherine had rarely heard of Angel being so listless.
"Haha, haven't you called for days, aren't you used to it?" Anjie laughed, Giardina was indeed beautiful and enthusiastic enough, but Anjie found that he could only find that feeling in Catherine.
"It's midnight in the U.S., isn't it? Why don't you sleep yet? Why, the game didn't go as well as you wanted? I read from the news, you already got the match point yesterday?" Catherine looked at her watch, and now the city of Milan was just being lit up by the sun, which also meant that it was early morning on the U.S. side.
"I can't sleep, I feel ...... I feel so stressed. I'm tired of Catherine, this series has been too hard. "Tough guy, butcher, never say die, this is Anjie's impression to the outside world. But this guy, who is only 20 years old, also has a weak side. Perhaps only Catherine can know what the real Angel looks like.
When playing against the Nuggets, the two sides also fought for a full 6 games before the winner was decided. But at that time, An Jie didn't feel particularly tired. Because the Nuggets aren't Lakers, the name Kobe Bryant won't be in your ears, and the faces of the Twin Towers won't be in front of you when you close your eyes.
Anthony is very good, but he is not like Kobe, who will make the Thunder scared. Even if the Lakers are 20 points behind, as long as Kobe Bryant is there, Anjie's spirit is tense.
The Brazilians and Kenyon Martin have also caused problems for Anjie, but once Anjie defeats them, they are no longer a threat. But this is not the case with the Lakers Twin Towers, whose will is far beyond Anjie's imagination, Anjie defeated them a hundred times, and they will also get back on their feet a hundred times.
Especially Bynum, this guy may have a bad temper, a bad character, and a bit of a low basketball IQ. But seriously, his spirit of being defeated again and again but willing to fight again and again really made An Jie admire it very much.
As soon as he thought of this, An Jie felt that his head was big. It's too long, and this series seems too long......
"Psychologically stressful...... But this is the playoffs, and people say the playoffs are cruel, but it's not just because of the game itself. If you're really tired, you can tell the coach that he'll let you rest and he'll understand you. Catherine was anxious, it has been almost three years since she played in the NCAA, and An Jie has never said that she is under pressure. Now that An Jie will say this, he must be really uncomfortable in his heart.
"Ha, thank you Catherine. "Now, people will say that the Thunder team has got the match point, so they have to work hard, and the Thunder team has only one game to advance, so come on. But Catherine alone reminded Anjie that it was time to rest.
"I believe in you, if you want to be honored, you have to be tempered. Hold on a little longer, and a while will pass. ”
After talking to Catherine on the phone, An Jie felt a lot more comfortable. It's not that Catherine taught him what to do, but after sharing the blockages in his heart, the pressure will naturally be reduced a lot.
However, Anjie can decompress himself, and the rest of the Thunder team may not be able to find a way. An Jie is not the only one who feels stressed and physically exhausted. You must know that most of his teammates are also rookies who have just entered the league.
On the second day of training, the players still worked hard. They conscientiously completed every task and every training assigned by Van Gundy. But Van Gundy could also see that the young men were walking heavily.
The lively atmosphere of training is gone. Now everyone's mind is how to beat the Lakers, how to beat Kobe. As for the rest, I don't have the heart to think about it at all. The more it happens, the more pressure the players have, and the more pressure they have, the more they want to find a way to win, and so on.
Everyone's emotions can affect the people around them, and now except for Van Gundy and Anjie, everyone else has a heavy heart. Anjie is a good center forward and Van Gundy is a good coach, but neither of them is a good counselor. Anjie did try to decompress his teammates in the locker room, but in the end they all failed.
Just yesterday, the Celtic Big Three defeated the Cavaliers, who have a small emperor and a big shark, and eliminated their opponents with an aggregate score of 4-2. What does this mean, this means that in the entire second round, only the Lakers and the Thunder have not yet decided to lose.
Now, fans all over the world only have this NBA game to watch. Thunder fans all over the world hope that the Thunder, who got the match point, can fight their way out. These expectations are heavily pressed on this group of guys who are just in their early 20s. Is there no pressure on the Lakers? As the defending champions, they have more pressure! But let's not forget, they were champions, and they've been through these moments for a long time, and they've been used to them for a long time. But for everyone on the Thunder team, every step is a first. Every first time, it will overwhelm them.
The Thunder work hard, and they won't give up. But everyone has a heavy psychological burden in their hearts, and the Thunder team also ushered in the sixth matchup with the Lakers at home in this heavy atmosphere.
"We've got to win!"
"We've got the match point, and we're going to advance in one fell swoop!"
"The Thunder are definitely winners, we have match points, we play at home, we have everything we can do!"
In the locker room before the game, the Thunder players didn't say a word. They were nervous, they were afraid of how many people they would disappoint if they didn't win, if they didn't advance. The outside world seems to have decided that the Thunder will be the winner, but the Lakers don't think so. The Thunder players know that, and they're just afraid they won't be able to live up to the imagination of the outside world.
For young people, this is a normal psychological problem. But in the brutal playoffs, a little psychological burden will affect your performance.
When the game started, people thought it was a little weird. The Thunder are still the same Thunder team, and their performance is normal, but it just feels weird, and I can't say what's weird.
"The Thunder played too cautiously! They couldn't let go of their hands and feet, they didn't dare to make a move! Westbrook could have shot the ball just now, but he was afraid, afraid that he would waste his chance, and the opportunity just passed him by. It wasn't until Kenny Smith made an analysis that fans realized what was strange about the Thunder.
Yes, this young team is no longer frivolous, no longer bold, and no longer playing vigorously.
"This battle of Tianwang Mountain is really important to the boys of the Thunder team, you know, this is the only home court of the Thunder team, if they can't win the Lakers today, it will only be more difficult to advance in the next game! It's a good thing to be cautious, but everything has to have a degree, and after being too cautious, the Thunder team doesn't play well, and many advantages can't be played. Reggie Miller is in a hurry, the Lakers are in a really average state today, and the Thunder have a good chance of winning the game and advancing to the Western Conference Finals as long as they play a little better than usual. But it is precisely because of their excessive caution that they have not been able to get the initiative in the game.
The Thunder are always only 5 to 8 points behind the Lakers, so it can be said that the difference is not that big. But this group of young men who are very good at chasing points have been unable to fill this small gap for a long time. Although the Thunder are at home, the rhythm of the entire game has been under the control of the Lakers.
Thunder fans roared hoarsely until nothing could be heard. But even so, it still can't help the young people on the field to untie their bonds.
Anjie was the most sober of them all, successfully setting up his team-mate's score with a couple of highly entertaining passes. But Anjie is not Kobe, he can only temporarily boost the morale of his teammates, not like Kobe Bryant can keep the morale of his teammates for a whole game.
In the end, Bryant shook off Sefrosa and burst inside, Artest had a good hand today, shooting three-pointers three times in the previous game, and it was for this reason that Durant hesitated when faced with a crucial decision.
This is the same as before, and Durant will definitely not hesitate to move sideways to stop Kobe. But today, he was afraid, he was afraid that Artest would get the ball and hit three points after he made up for the defense, he was afraid that Kobe Bryant would get the opportunity to make free throws if he made up for the defense, he was afraid of all kinds of situations, and finally he chose what he thought was the most conservative plan and continued to defend Artest!
It was precisely because of KD's hesitation and excessive caution that Kobe Bryant easily made a pull-up jump shot in the three-second zone. An Jie's defense was very fast, his fingers almost touched the basketball, but it was still a small gap.
After scoring this goal, the Lakers stretched the gap to 5 points again, but the time left for the Thunder was only 8 seconds......
After that, the Thunder team who dared to fight and fought still did not recover, and excessive caution at critical moments was even worse. Durant didn't dare to shoot without completely getting rid of the defense after getting the ball according to the tactical arrangement, and the result was that he wasted too much time, which eventually led to the Thunder's inability to recover.
108 to 103, under the watchful eye, the Thunder team lost the battle of Tianwang Mountain and lost the advantage of holding the match point.
After the game, Bryant punched the audience at the Chesapeake Energy Arena, you all want to see us eliminated here, sorry, your hopes are disappointed!
And everyone on the Thunder team just stood there with their heads down. They lost, but not in vain. Everything they feared also became a reality at this moment......