Chapter 255: Champion-level opponents

At the moment of the end of the game, Wu Hua immediately raised his camera and shot wildly in the field. But today, the main subject of his photograph is not Anjie, but Anthony, who is holding a basketball and standing on the court.www.biquge.info

His declining eyes, his lips closed, and the traces on his face that I don't know whether it was sweat or tears, were not let go by Wu Hua.

An Jie's opponent is also part of An Jie's career. And Anthony has now become the saddest one.

Even Van Gundy has to admit that if George Karl is here and leads the exact same lineup, it's hard to say whether the Thunder will be popular.

But the fact can't be reversed, Anthony and his Nuggets are coming to the Lakers, the Finals, and the championship!

"It's my responsibility, I'm ...... I didn't limit the play of the opposing defenders, but I was tied up by them. In the post-match press conference, Chauncey Billups took all the blame for the loss on himself. Dantley and Anthony were silent, Dantley knew that his head coaching career would be over, and Anthony had the idea of changing places......

He's hungry for championships, he's hungry for honors. Maybe going to the East like that guy from James will be a lot less stressful, right?

Look at the opponent of the Cavaliers in the first round, they are also young people leading the team, but the Bulls in the East can't hurt the Cavaliers at all. Look at the Thunder in the West, who once again defeated themselves 104-112 today. Anthony felt like he had changed, and he felt as if he was more ...... than he had been before It's more utilitarian.

Now that I've played in the NBA for seven years, it's time to think about championships.

Unlike the sad atmosphere of the Nuggets, the Thunder won at home, and the boys were happy. On the field, they celebrated for about ten minutes. Now back in the locker room, this group of guys can't contain their joy.

Perhaps for some teams, there's nothing to be happy about just qualifying for the second round of the playoffs. But for everyone on the Thunder team, every step they take, they are setting records and surpassing themselves.

From the first playoff win to the first advance to the second round for the first time, this has been the case.

An Jie took off his jersey, wearing only a pair of baggy football pants, and sat casually in the locker room. Looking at his teammates who were celebrating wantonly, An Jie also grinned. But he didn't want to move at all, he just wanted to seize every second to rest. Maybe the second round will be more grinding than the first.

"The Thunder three young ones picked off the Denver Nuggets!

"4-2 perfect defeat, the West Final team was eliminated by the Thunder. ”

"Cameron Anthony: I underestimated my opponent. ”

For a while, in addition to the Spurs' Black Seven victory over the Mavericks, the news of the Thunder's elimination of the Nuggets became the hottest topic.

Of course, in addition to this, the end of the first round of the playoffs also indicates that the winners of the various regular season awards are beginning to be announced one by one.

At the end of April, the NBA league announced the awards for Best Sixth Man, Best Coach and Best Defensive Player.

The Sixth Man of the Year is naturally nothing to do with the Thunder, after all, they don't have a particularly good scorer on their second team. Serge Ibaka may have been the brightest performer on the bench, but defense alone wasn't enough to contend for the award.

The Best Defensive Player was once again won by "Warcraft" Howard, which is also the second consecutive year that Warcraft has won this award. And An Jie is only ranked second after Warcraft. It's a pity that there is only one award, and it doesn't make much sense to get a second place.

However, what is surprising is that the award of best coach was won by the Thunder. The dramatic changes that Jeff Van Gundy led the Thunder have finally been discovered.

As a leading scorer, the Thunder are among the top five in the league in defensive efficiency. As a team that was at the bottom of the previous year, the Thunder are now not only in the playoffs as fifth in the West, but have just made it to the second round.

At first, people were surprised to see Jeff Van Gundy win this award. But when they found out about Van Gundy and the Thunder's progress, they all felt that Van Gundy deserved to win the award.

"I'm very happy to be recognized, of course I don't think this award belongs to me personally, he belongs to my coaching staff, belongs to my players, belongs to management, belongs to the whole Thunder team!" Van Gundy did not hide his joy in an interview, but he did not forget the comrades who supported him. Without Presti's support, without the combined efforts of the coaching staff, without the hard work of the players. How could this best coach award fall into his hands.

15 years as a head coach and watching generations of superstars rise and fall. When he was ready to give up his coaching career and turn to commentators, who would have thought that this man with increasingly thin hair could get the honor at this time.

As it turned out, Van Gundy was the right choice to take over the Thunder, who seemed to have no future at the time.

The team advanced, Van Gundy was awarded, and the Thunder had a lot of happy events lately. But with the first round all over, Van Gundy and his players had to face tougher enemies after a brief period of euphoria.

After the first round was all played, the Thunder's 4-2 victory over the Nuggets was a big surprise. The Suns' 4-2 elimination of the Jazz was expected. And the Spurs completed the black seven and defeated the Mavericks with a score of 4-2, but it was not surprising.

The Mavericks are a notorious regular-season team, and the playoffs have never been the stage for the Texas Cowboys. The Spurs were able to complete the comeback in seventh place, and it seemed that the result was predicted by the fans before the game. Despite the fact that the Spurs' regular season record this season was the worst year since the 21st century, when it came to the playoffs, the GDP was unambiguous.

It can also be seen that these teams all won and advanced by winning 4-2. But only the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Trail Blazers by sweeping and advanced to the second round. And the Lakers, who performed the strongest in the first round, are the next opponents of the Thunder!

"If we had known that we would have been ranked lower, we would have been able to play the Suns. Van Gundy looked at the results helplessly, not that the Suns don't have the strength, but compared to the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers, the Phoenix team is obviously much less dangerous.

Anjie and Morris are not afraid of the outstanding Stoudemire at all, but against the Lakers, the Thunder are not sure that they can limit Kobe.

In the regular season this season, the Thunder played against the Lakers, but only in the game that was dragged into overtime by Anjie at the beginning of the season, the Thunder won. In the remaining games, the defending champions all cleaned up the three less.

On paper, the Thunder can't compare to the Lakers at all. Just one Kobe Bryant is enough for the Thunder to drink a pot. Plus that Paul Gasol, Andrew Bynum, Artest......

Of course, the Thunder also defeated the Nuggets to advance without a dominant lineup on paper. But Lakers coach "Zen Master" Jackson is not sick, although Van Gundy is the best coach of the year, he does not think that he is more shrewd than "Zen Master" now.

After all, Phil Jackson's championship ring as a head coach can wear a pair of hands. And the controversial triangle tactics of the "Zen Master" were born for the playoffs and the championship.

This time, the Thunder really ran into a championship team. Not because they have the potential to win a championship, but because they are synonymous with a championship!

The battle between the best dark horses against the best giants, the Thunder and the Lakers, has even become the focus of attention in the entire second-round series.

"I'm going to meet Ann again, I fought with you in training camp last summer, and I didn't expect you to become one of my biggest opponents this year. Kobe Bryant looked very relaxed on the other end of the phone, which also showed that he was confident in defeating the Thunder!

"I'm not happy to see you again, I just left Denver and I'm going to Los Angeles, God. And An Jie did not belittle the strength of Kobe Bryant and the Lakers because they were opponents of each other.

Anjie knows and admits that the Lakers are strong, very, very strong. If you want to beat this kind of team, you have to use everything you can. Fake falls, dark elbows, small movements, trash talk, An Jie has been fully prepared. Don't look at the fact that he and Kobe Bryant are chatting on the phone now, three days later in Staples, Black Mamba and Butcher will definitely not show mercy to each other.

Hanging up the phone, Kobe Bryant picked up the basketball and continued to shoot. Against the Thunder, the rest of the Lakers believe they have met a suitable opponent, and they believe that the Thunder are weaker than the Suns and Spurs. However, Bryant knew that the No. 16 center had the same desire for victory as himself.

The Trail Blazers were easily swept in the first round, and even against the Thunder, who were participating in the playoffs for the first time, in the second round, Kobe Bryant knew that they would not be easy.

The re-encounter between the Blue and White Lightning and the Purple and Gold Legion will not be as harmonious as before. In the playoffs, it's not you who die, even if I live!

Western Conference semifinals, Los Angeles Lakers vs Oklahoma City Thunder, May 2, start on time!