Chapter 457: The so-called leader
When the media learned that Anjie's punishment was "only" a one-game ban plus a fine of $15,000, there was an uproar in the circle. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info
Comparing Cousins' punishment, the league's handling of Anjie is simply painless. No one knows what Mr. Anjie said at that hearing that allowed him to get away with it. But the truth is that the media that hated Anjie were disappointed again.
"The coalition's verdict is very fair, and I gladly accept it. Although DeMarcus hurt us first, I'm not entirely wrong. In the face of Wu Hua's interview, An Jie was cheap and obedient. Everyone knew that An Jie had picked up a big bargain, but An Jie said as if he had been punished greatly.
"That's the privilege of a liar. And when Cousins learned that Anjie was only banned for one game, he also threw such remarks to the media. He has reason to believe that An Jie, a liar, must have bewitched those NBA officials.
After this incident, not only did it not damage An Jie's honor, but it made him the protagonist of basketball news for several days.
Moslav is now the happiest, and the greater Anjie's fame, the more commercial contracts there are. The more commercial contracts there are, the more wallets he and An Jie can guarantee. How could An Jie have imagined that punching Cousins would bring him so many benefits.
Of course, the most unbearable thing about this incident was the ban. There are no injuries, no personal affairs and he is in good shape, but he can't play. This kind of thing is simply torture on An Jie, a "workaholic".
Therefore, Anjie will always spend his excess energy on the training ground. And the ones who paid for this were naturally Thomas and Camby's "heirs", Hickson and Meyers Leonard.
Leonard is a fortress-type defensive meat shield, and although this guy is three centimeters shorter than Anjie, he looks bigger than Anjie.
But now seeing An Jie, who was thinner than himself, attacking him, Leonard still couldn't stop swallowing his saliva. The reason why Anjie is thinner than himself is not because Leonard is stronger, but because Anjie has a lower body fat content.
Against An Jie, you can indeed learn a lot from him. But correspondingly, every time Leonard plays an intra-team confrontation, he has to pay more sweat than others.
An Jie will never be soft on his opponent because he is just training. As the leader of the Trail Blazers, Anjie knows very well that the quality of training is a very important part of the team's desire to be excellent. Especially in the intra-squad confrontation, everyone has to make it close to the actual battle, so that Ricard can find problems and give solutions.
"Peng!" Just as Leonard was deserting, An Jie's back was stuck again.
Leonard didn't want to use his chest to scare An Jie, he took a step back and carried An Jie's power point with both hands, hoping to prevent him from advancing to the greatest extent.
Anjie didn't receive the ball, and Lillard was on the outside trying to finish with Iguodala at the moment. However, after several failed attempts to cut the ball, Lillard opted to throw the ball inside.
Anjie holds the ball, and Leonard grits his teeth. Leonard actually managed to carry it!
But as everyone knows, this is just An Jie's temptation, the second time, An Jie sat back, opened a little space and immediately turned around. He got past Leonard in just one step, and then smug layups.
"Smack. At this time, a scene that shocked all the Trail Blazers players in the stadium happened. Leonard actually fanned An Jie's layup with a block after An Jie's successful breakthrough!
After so many failures, Leonard, a rookie, has finally summed up some defensive experience. That goal just now is Leonard's gain after hundreds of failures!
"Well done. After being blocked, An Jie applauded Leonard instead. "If you can jam my turn space at the beginning, I'll be even harder......" After that, Anjie continued to teach Leonard his experience.
"This kid is becoming more and more like a leader. Divac and Ricard are very relieved to see this, Anjie used to just make himself better in training, and now this guy is trying to make the whole team better. And An Jie's sleek behavior also makes him very popular in the locker room. When Ricard asked Anjie to come to the Trailblazers, he wanted him to be the leader. Now, that goal has finally been achieved.
In the confrontational training that followed, both the main team and the substitute team performed very well. The Trail Blazers will play the Rockets again at home in the next game, but seeing the team's current excellent form, even if Anjie is unavailable, Ricard is still sure to break down Harden and win the game.
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With Anjie suspended, Rickard pushed Meyers Leonard into the starting line-up. Although the Rockets' interior line is not strong, Leonard, who is starting for the first time, is still a little nervous. After all, this guy is just a rookie who has been playing in the NBA for less than a month.
Rickard was drawing tactics on the whiteboard, but Meyers Leonard was a little absent-minded. His mind was full of scenarios of staying and fighting against opponents for a long time, after all, when Anjie was there, Leonard's playing time was not long. It's the same game, but playing for more than ten minutes and playing for twenty or thirty minutes are completely different concepts.
Sure enough, in the scrum, Leonard, who was taller than Asik, was defeated. Even Asik himself was amazed at how much he was able to get the ball.
Jeremy Lin quickly controlled the ball and advanced, but in the first attack, the Rockets did not look for Harden, but found Omir Asik, who had just won the ball for the Rockets!
Asik received the ball and threw Leonard behind him with an easy turn, and made an easy high-handed layup, and the Rockets opened up the situation with a rare interior player.
"Ahn's suspension is a tough test of the Trail Blazers' center reserves, and Meyers Leonard's first-shot performance will certainly not be satisfactory. "The commentators all know that Asik is a blue-collar worker in the bout. If even such a guy can wreak havoc under the basket, then Leonard's defense is no different from papier-mâché.
Maybe it's because Leonard's defense is weak, and James Harden has also changed his usual style, and today he actively attacked the basket, as if the Trail Blazers' interior line was open.
James Harden's finishing ability under the basket is not bad, coupled with his superb "touch porcelain" skills. In the blink of an eye, Harden scored a lot of points, and Leonard was saddled with two fouls.
Two fouls were saddled before the first quarter was played, and Rickard had to take Leonard down temporarily. At present, Leonard's first experience of playing as a starter is simply miserable.
The camera immediately showed the Trail Blazers bench, and a close-up of An Jie's face in a suit and leather shoes appeared on the TV screen at this moment. But in his expression, you don't see the slightest hint of anger or dissatisfaction.
After Hickson came on the court, although the Trail Blazers lacked a height advantage inside, their defense was much better. On the offensive end, the excellent play of Lillard, Aldridge and Iguodala made the advantage that Harden had just built for the Rockets disappear.
It didn't take long for the Trail Blazers to complete the comeback. Seeing that the team played better without himself, Leonard's self-confidence took a serious hit.
It was at this point that Leonard felt someone pat him on the back. He turned his head to look, and he didn't pay attention to when An Jie, who was in a suit and leather shoes, sat next to him.
"There's nothing to be afraid of, that Asik, very bad athleticism. You don't sit and fight him, get moving, use your all-round skills and faster steps to get him. And James Harden, don't stick it up to him. A lot of the time, the purpose of this guy's breakthrough is not to make a layup, but to make a foul. As long as you keep a certain distance from him, you can not only block, but also avoid foul trouble. As for Jeremy Lin......" An Jie said, pointing to the people on the basketball court. Meyers Leonard listened with relish, and his psychology changed from initial fear to expectation.
Ricard and Divac, who were on the other side of the bench, couldn't help but smile when they saw the scene. Leader, the kind of person who can help his teammates even when he's not present!
The first quarter of the game ended with the Trail Blazers trailing by five points, and the Rockets wanted to take advantage of Anjie's absence to steal a song from the Rose Garden today, so the Rockets were everywhere today, and anyone could score.
As soon as the game came up in the second quarter, seeing Meyers Leonard back on the court, the Rockets couldn't hold back again.
James Harden took the lead and was the first to attack the Trail Blazers' interior.
"This guy, did you just give up defense?" Seeing that Leonard's defense was not as tough as in the first quarter, Harden accelerated his breakthrough speed and jumped to attack the frame!
Just when Harden took the basketball out, the basketball was about to start falling. A big hand suddenly appeared in Harden's field of vision. An Jie didn't play today, so the owner of this big hand can only be ......
"Meyers Leonard, beautiful block! Damion Lillard picked up the basketball and pushed it fast, he threw it into the air!Andre Iguodala! one-handed dunk! Wonderful aerial coordination! The Trail Blazers' fast break is as sharp as ever!" And Meyers Leonard, because of the block just now, regained confidence and won the recognition of fans and teammates.
Later, the unbelieving Rockets asked Asik to try to attack on the inside. Although Leonard failed to treat Asik to hot pot, he did not let Asik score again.
The Trail Blazers' interior defense became different in an instant, and today due to An Jie's absence, the Trail Blazers' manpower in the interior position was already tight. Leonard's excellent performance now undoubtedly saves Ricard a lot of trouble.
The defense is better, and the Trail Blazers' offense has become more fluid. The Rockets are a team that is better offensively than defensively, and from James Harden to Omir Asik, none of them are defensive stalwarts. In particular, Harden's "eye-catching" defense has given Lillard and Matthews a lot of opportunities.
In the second half of the game, the confident Mayers Leonard was not only on the defensive end, but also on the offensive end, and this white man inside line also gave Asik a taste.
As soon as he saw Anjie smiling on the pitch below, Leonard knew he hadn't messed things up. And An Jie's shouting and celebration again and again on the field also gave great encouragement to the players on the field.
"You know man, I guess Ann is more than just the leader of this bunch. Divac naturally sees all of this in his eyes, and now that the Rockets are just one step away from a complete collapse, the Trail Blazers should have a chance to win.
"What's that?" Ricard looked at Divac with a grin.
"Ann, it's still the spiritual pillar of this group. Even if he doesn't play and just sits on the bench, the guys above will feel a lot more at ease. Divac said and looked at Anjie's stupid boy, maybe he didn't even know that he was already such an important role in the team.
"It would be great if that was the case. Ricard continued to stare at the arena as Leonard completed another slam dunk on Asik's head. An Jie immediately "bounced" off the bench and waved a towel frantically for Leonard. Leonard laughed, but Angel gave him more than just a smile.
In the end, the Rockets lost the game "inexplicably" on the road. James Harden was very poor, and he recorded 29 points, 6 assists and 6 rebounds in the all-around statistics. But the Rockets still couldn't avoid a 107-113 defeat.
Kevin McHale had planned to take advantage of Anjie's absence to steal a victory, but he couldn't calculate it, Anjie was off the court, and he could also affect the game!
Mayers Leonard recorded a career-high 15 points and 11 rebounds, and in an interview with reporters after the game, the slightly shy white man said to reporters: "I have to thank Ann, I have to follow him, and I am willing to face any challenge with him." ”