Chapter six hundred and nineteen: difficult center road
On the first day of the NBA new season, fans were impressed by the exciting game.
In the same-city derby in Los Angeles, the Lakers, which were not satisfactory last season, showed unexpectedly powerful momentum after Howard's departure and Kobe's season reimbursement.
Paul Gasol was almost used by D'Antoni to use the All-Star inside last season and took on the banner of the Lakers. He was not afraid of Griffin and Jordan Jr. throughout the game, scoring 15 points and 13 rebounds.
In addition, the Lakers' new player, Belgian small forward Xavier Henry scored 22 points, also made Lakers fans at Staples Center very happy. The return of Jordan Famal, the Lakers' hero who won the championship that year, was also very high-profile. He used 16 points and 6 assists to make Paul feel a headache.
In this way, the Lakers, who were only Gasol and Nash in the Super F4 combination, unexpectedly defeated the Clippers, whose lineup was completely directed to the championship in the first game.
Such a fierce and unexpected showdown naturally became the second highest-rated game that night.
Another game of the opening game took place between the Chicago Bulls, the Eastern Conference upstart after welcoming Rose and last year's Eastern Conference champion Miami Heat.
This summer, Pat Riley was as calm as if there was no temperature. The Heat just picked up a few league abandoned players in pieces, Oden, Beasley and Mason. They also pardoned Mike Miller, who played consistently in the playoffs last season but was a little frequent in the Finals. The Heat did not make any changes to the difficult inside line.
Because of this, Carlos Boozer scored a full 31 points in the Heat's weak inside line. Jimmy Butler, who rose strongly during Ross' injury, also scored 20 points in front of the Heat.
Unfortunately, the Heat, who are eager to revenge, only have the opponent Anjie and the Trail Blazers in their hearts. The others are just stepping stones on the road to revenge.
Ross, who returned from injury, was so cruel that he was unable to find North. With their stronger overall strength, the Heat won the game 95-107.
As for the game with the highest ratings on the opening day, it was a showdown between defending champion Portland Trail Blazers and Phoenix Suns.
The Suns have been considered the biggest dark horse in the West this season before the game, while the Trail Blazers were the biggest winners in the West last season.
Such a showdown is enough to attract attention. What's more, there are still hundreds of millions of Chinese fans watching this game on a distant land.
Anjie and the Trail Blazers did not disappoint everyone. They did not like the Heat and the Lakers, leaving the game suspense to the end. Instead, they almost secured the victory in just two and a half quarters.
Although the game has long lost its suspense, the intensity of the game has not diminished at all. Every confrontation between Plumley and Angel is so exciting, and the exciting scenes of this game are much more exciting than the other two.
Because of this, this refreshing game became the most watched game of the day.
After the game, Anjie also showed off his shiny championship ring to the reporters. This picture has also become the news picture of many newspapers and online media today.
Although he won a great victory in the first game, Anjie and the Trail Blazers are still questioned.
A big tree attracts wind. This idiom from China applies even if it is placed on American land.
The Trail Blazers are a champion team, and there are naturally countless pairs of eyes around the champion team to monitor the entire process. Among these people, some will support the championship like Wu Hua and Bill Walton. But there will always be a few people with bad intentions.
Sam Smith, a famous reporter who had a crush on Angel last season, pointed out in his column.
"Last night's game, the Trail Blazers won a big victory. But I won't be happy for Anjie, but I feel ashamed of what he did! 33 to 17, this data is the total number of fouls between the two teams yesterday. How many times are Anjie's fake falls and acts? How many times are the league's favoritism and protection of the champion team. If the Trail Blazers are really the champion, they should use their strength to win the game, rather than relying on such a wrong way!"
Although Sam was immersed in the face for a while after being slapped by Anjie last season, a guy like him would never stop. Back then, he could not get entangled with Chuck Daly's bad boys army, and now, he will also fight Anjie to the end.
Everything has good and bad, and An Jie has long been used to this kind of life when he lives in other people's comments.
Whether it was Sam who was good to him or harshly speaking to him, Anjie didn't care.
After a big victory and the verbal battle between reporters, Anjie still got up early the next day, ate the breakfast prepared by Catherine, kissed his wife goodbye, and drove out in the somewhat old RX-7.
He has no time to care about those boring remarks, nor has he time to compete with these guys. Training, training, training...An Jie is always the first to start training every day and the last to finish training. Such hard work day after day is the secret to his success.
How difficult is it to survive in the NBA? If you have the leisure to go to BB, the basketball statistics website, you will find that among the players registered in the NBA this season, only 22 pure centers with no more than four years of age. This number of people cannot even fill in the 30 NBA teams. For comparison, there are 89 pure guards and 84 pure forwards.
These young players were told that the center position is no longer popular now, and it is difficult for active centers to get any big contracts from capitalists. The team will not build a team around you. Even if you build a team around you and give you 40 minutes of playing time, you are still easily injured. Even a big man like Anjie who has achieved success will be reimbursed for a year in the season? Last season, Anjie only persisted with injuries?
In such a general environment, centers are no longer a good career. It is not unreasonable that Anjie is called "the last large traditional center". After all, people in the league who play basketball like Yao Ming, O'Neal and Anjie can count without a wrench, because this number is 0.
Even though "Black Yao Ming" Roy Hibert's performance in the Eastern Conference Finals was like a huge Australian lobster last season, which left a deep impression on people. But everyone still focused more on the topic of Paul George's jump shot like McGrady. People don't care how dark Yao Ming is or how much Yao Ming is, because even with Hibert and Angel, the fact that the center is destined to wither.
There is no way, it takes about four years to train an excellent center, while it may only take two years to train an excellent guard. After all, whether it is consciousness, skills or physical, it is very long to increase a center from the NCAA level to the NBA level.
Thinking about the scene where An Jie was easily pushed away by others when he was playing NBA in the first year, An Jie has experienced these difficulties.
In addition, the league has now introduced a series of restrictive rules, from the expansion of the three-second zone of offense and defense, to the differential treatment of the penalty scale for physical contact between the internal and external lines, from the setting of the interfering ball to the relaxation of regional defense. These rules all open the doors for the outside line and put small shoes on the inside line.
In such a difficult environment, Anjie became a double MVP and won the championship, not entirely due to luck and talent.
An Jie is indeed lucky. He can always meet a group of like-minded comrades. An Jie is also very talented. First of all, his height is something that others cannot learn. Secondly, An Jie has a very strong learning ability, which also allows him to be stronger every season than the previous year.
But what supports An Jie to truly reach today is his tireless efforts and matching diligence.
It is precisely because of this that An Jie has adapted to the NBA game faster and successfully promoted the center forward.
Let them entertain themselves with the remarks of Sam Smith and his colleagues. Now Anjie only has training in his eyes, of course, and only their next opponent, the old rival, the Denver Nuggets!
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This season, the Nuggets' lineup has changed a lot. They introduced the shortest dunk king Nate Robinson who shone in the playoffs last year, and signed Russian center Mozgov. In addition to Darrell Arthur and Anthony Randolph, who are good at shooting, the Nuggets' inside lineup is definitely enough to make other teams in the league look envious.
By the way, the joining of J.J. Hickson, the hero of the Trail Blazers' championship last season, gave the Nuggets a shot of heart-warming agent.
Faced with such a variety of inside players, the new Nuggets coach Brian Xiao will definitely fight against Anjie in a rotating way.
He didn't expect any of the people in this group to defeat Anjie, but it was possible to do it with the strength of all of them to drag Anjie down.
Anjie has started his new day of training at Moda Center, and j.j. Hickson also practices for himself at his new home court, Pepsi Center.
After practicing more, Hickson learned this thing from Anjie. Although he has a good relationship with Anjie, it is because of this that Hickson is more eager to compete with Anjie in the game.
"I really don't want to meet you so early, old man. But don't worry, I will do my best! I won't let you down in this game!" During the training break, Hickson sent Anjie a "Battle Book" through text messages.
Another meeting between old friends, another rare inside duel.
Can Brian Xiao's inside group drag down Anjie, and can Anjie survive alone in this long jungle?
Chapter completed!