The Way of the Center

Chapter 89 : Tit-for-tat (1)

I don’t know if it’s because of not jumping the ball for too long, Anjie actually lost to Robin Lopez, who is shorter than him in this link. Lopez shot the basketball one second faster than Anjie, and the Suns power forward “Little Overlord” Stoudemire took the ball.

Nash quickly ran towards the front court, and Amare Stoudemire immediately passed the ball to Nash. The Suns ran on their first offense in the opening game!

Borrowing Stoudemire’s pick and roll, the experienced Nash got rid of Westbrook’s defense directly. But at this time, the advantage of the Thunder’s new starting shooting guard Damien Wilkins is reflected. Although he is not a veteran, his experience in the NBA is still much richer than others.

Hearing the name of Damien Wilkins, people may find it a little familiar. Yes, Dominic Wilkins, who was once called the “Essence of Human Cinema”, is exactly this Damien Wilkins. Uncle of Si!

Although Damien Wilkins is not an excellent offensive player, he is definitely an excellent perimeter defender! Van Gundy didn’t understand that this person was not reused under Kalesimo. Therefore, as with Anjie, Van Gundy immediately activated the player who had been on the bench for a month in the first game after taking over the team.

Wilkins also did not disappoint Van Gundy. His good defensive awareness made him the right timing to block Nash’s shots.

But Nash is not an ordinary small guard, in terms of passing skills, he is the NBA’s top existence. Seeing that the shooting angle was blocked, Nash temporarily decided to change the shot into a pass. He glanced at the small forward Matt Barnes who ran outside the three-point line. Nash immediately turned his wrist and the basketball flew towards Barnes accurately.

Durant thought Nash was about to make a move, so he didn’t follow in Barnes’ footsteps. Unexpectedly, Nash suddenly passed the ball, and Barnes took the ball and shot it.

Durant, who was two steps away from Barnes, immediately went to block it, but it was of no avail. The Suns scored a three-pointer as soon as they came up!

“Nash’s beautiful assists, and only a guard like him can handle the Suns’ fast-paced offense in an orderly manner.” Mike Brin’s voice is very comfortable to listen to.

“Russell! Have you forgotten how we should stand during the pick-and-roll? You can’t just be restricted by one pick-and-roll.” Van Gundy yelled to Westbrook from the sidelines, and it seemed impossible for three days. Completely get rid of the defensive habits of these guys.

After 　　 changed to the Thunder to attack, Robin Lopez clearly remembered how his college basketball career ended. He has accumulated enough strength and hopes to be ashamed in the NBA. So he set up a posture near the three-second zone, ready to face the offender An Jie at any time.

Unexpectedly, Anjie stopped after running to the free throw line and did not continue to the penalty area to take a seat.

“This is?” Even so, Robin still didn’t dare to neglect, he quickly followed Angela out.

Seeing Robin being led out by himself, An Jie immediately raised his hand for the ball, and Westbrook also handed it over as An Jie wished.

At the same time, Durant ran back and cut into the penalty area. Matt Barnes hurriedly chased him, but he was still thrown out of his position by the suddenly activated Durant.

Half body position, this is enough for An Jie to pass the ball into the penalty area. Anjie held up the basketball near the free throw line, and suddenly a pass, Durant, who cut into the penalty area, slammed his horse.

Stoudemire had to leave behind Joe Smith to cover the penalty area, but Durant was not afraid of Stoudemire’s blocking, he layup directly after receiving the ball!

Stoudemire did not expect that Durant would choose to ignore his defense. He immediately took off and blocked shots, but Durant’s bounce and long arms made Stoudemire not touch the basketball.

During the fierce body collision, Durant’s ball did not make progress, but he succeeded in making Stoudemire a foul at the beginning of the game!

“Angel’s pass is very precise! When was the last time we saw a center come in to make a move? In my impression, it dates back to the time when the Kings played Princeton. That’s how Divac played at that time. An Jie really didn’t follow the wrong master.” Mike Brin saw more than Durant’s bravery, he also saw An Jie’s contribution.

On the offensive end, Van Gundy gave An Jie a more free position. He knew that An Jie’s offensive methods were rich, so Van Gundy did not restrict An Jie’s offensive position like Carlesimo did, but let An Jie listen at any time depending on the situation. According to your own instructions, you can choose whether to organize at a high position or find a breakthrough at a low position.

However, Van Gundy’s strategy for Anjie now is to take the role of organizer in a high position.

Van Gundy admitted that Westbrook’s impact is very strong, but as a point guard, Westbrook’s organizational ability is obviously unqualified.

In the past, Calesimo’s solution to this problem was to let Earl Watson, an authentic number one, match Westbrook in the backcourt, but in this way the defense on the Thunder’s guard line would be directly dragged. collapse.

In order to ensure the defensive strength, Van Gundy boldly abandoned the idea of ​​defending the offense, and instead gave Anjie the responsibility of organizing the offense. After watching so many videos of An Jie, and adding that An Jie is still a disciple taught by Divac, Van Gundy believes that An Jie must have this ability.

As a result, in this first offense, although An Jie did not get an assist, he still handled the ball beautifully.

Since Westbrook began to control more of the ball, Durant has found that he is more and more comfortable playing off the ball. Especially when An Jie passes the ball to him on the court, as long as he runs out of the gap, An Jie’s pass will always find him.

“Although it’s only the first offense, we can already see that the Thunder now has a clear idea.”

After Durant made two free throws, the Suns made a baseline ball.

The Suns’ baseline ball is different from other teams. For safety reasons, when most teams serve the baseline ball, the point guard will stand on the spot, waiting for their teammates to deliver the baseline ball to their hands.

In order for the Suns to raise the rhythm and to maximize the characteristics of running and bombing, Nash received the baseline ball from his teammate while running.

So when Nash received the ball, he was about to pass halftime!

Anjie just ran to the defensive position and turned around, and saw that Nash had already hit the three-point line!

Not paying attention, Nash passed the ball again, Stoudemire caught the ball and went into the penalty area. Before Anjie could make up the defense, Stoudemire had already dunked.

This is the power of running and booming! Don’t you Van Gundy like to emphasize defensive positions? But before your players take their positions, the Suns’ offense is over!

Helpless Anjie did nothing and started to run towards the Suns halftime. He finally knew how bad the development trend of modern basketball is for the position of center. He is like Robin Lopez, in this offense, both of them only play back and forth.

Affected by Nash, Westbrook was unconsciously brought into such a fast pace. Although the person who organized the offense became An Jie, he was still the person who held the ball. Seeing Anjie hadn’t run up yet, he quickly launched an offensive.

This is also one of the powerful tactics of running and bombing. The Suns can always unknowingly bring their opponents into their own rhythm.

Westbrook passed the ball to Wilkins and then cut inward himself. Westbrook originally thought he would be able to run in front of the poorly-fitted Nash, but he found that Nash was on his receiving line all the time. Even if there is no physical contact, Nash is preventing Westbrook from having no temper.

Wilkins is a little overwhelmed with the ball. His role is a bit like Anthony Ben of the Tornado team. He is athletic and defensive, but he can’t do much on the offensive end.

Wilkins has been guarding the ball, waiting for An Jie to be seated before passing it out.

After receiving the ball, Anjie didn’t stay for one more second, and immediately divided the ball from his high point to the bottom corner. Durant got a fleeting opportunity, and he shot quickly.

Durant finally played the rhythm he likes, so the feel and confidence are not good enough. Matt Barnes has defended the ball in time, but Durant’s basketball still scored!

An Jie’s way of passing the ball is called “touch the ball with one foot” in football. The advantage of this type of pass is that it moves quickly and makes it difficult for the defensive team to keep up with the rhythm. The disadvantage is that the passer is very demanding and errors are prone to occur. However, judging from Anjie’s performance, it is not particularly difficult for him to control this kind of pass.

“Kevin Durant! Scored five points in a row! It is still a wonderful pass from Anjie. These two little guys have succeeded in Van Gundy’s strategy twice in a row.”

After 　　, the Suns and the Thunder couldn’t prevent each other from attacking each other. The Suns’ running and bombing made it impossible for the Thunder, which had only accepted the new system, to follow, and the Thunder’s center’s rare routine of organizing offensive also made the Suns impossible to defend.

With four minutes left in the first quarter, Anjie and Nash both went off the court. Nash got three assists, and Anjie got four! As a center, An Jie’s data is also very different.

“Ann! Later, when you are defending, you will lean a little more into the three-second zone. If necessary, you will stand in the three-second zone and wait!” Anjie went off the field, and Van Gundy immediately wrote on the small note. Said something to An Jie.

“But…” An Jie was interrupted by Van Gundy just as he wanted to say something.

“Don’t worry that you will defend the three-second violation. The Suns use this psychology to successfully attack the inside. Before you defend the three-second violation the Suns players have already rushed in!” Van Gundy’s analysis was very good, he was not just going to be on the sidelines.

“I will do the same as the boss.” An Jie nodded, and then paid serious attention to the direct match between the two teams’ second team.

Because Van Gundy made a lot of adjustments to the team’s rotation, the Thunder’s second team is not that bad. Although the defense is a little worse, due to the presence of Wilcox and Desmond Mason, the Thunder’s second team offense is their strong point.

Defense has not always been the Suns’ strong point, and the Thunder’s second team also made it clear that they would not defend. Therefore, the benches of both sides played extremely well in the rest of the time, even more dazzling than the starting players.

But under the alternate impact of Mason and Wilcox forwards, the Suns are still slightly at a disadvantage. After the first quarter, the score became 26-25, and the Thunder took a rare lead in the first quarter!

“Both sides scored high. Coach Van Gundy also proved with his second team that he is not only defensive.” Mike Brin admired the changes Van Gundy brought to the Thunder.

“The offense was good in the first quarter! We have to defend in the second quarter!” Van Gundy took a small bench and sat among the tall players and began to set up the tactics for the second quarter.

Everyone on the Thunder wants to play and continue to finish the thunderous game. They don’t look like a team that has only experienced a ten-game losing streak, they are full of fighting spirit!

The lineup is sparse, it’s really not an excuse to cover up the lack of coaching ability Book friends are welcome to visit and read, the latest, fastest and hottest serial works are all on Mobile Users please go to read.