The Way of the Center

Chapter 23 :Mystery gift

It was very cold in Bethesda in February, and one could only see a snowy world from the 13th floor of the inpatient department. Everything in the winter looked lifeless and lifeless, including the ward where Morris lived.

Morris has been taken back to his hometown by his parents, this small city in Bethesda, Maryland. Seeing that the NCAA March Madness Championship is about to start in one month, although the regular season has not yet ended, the Tornado team is very likely to be selected for the competition. Now the Tornado team is only one game behind the first place University of Kansas. . But that has nothing to do with Morris, he is now a person who can’t be independent even the most basic daily life.

“In order to restore the Achilles tendon to its best condition, it takes two months to walk with a crutches. It takes six to eight months to walk carefully and independently without the crutches. To return to the basketball court, I think it takes ten. More than a month. Of course, all of this can only be done when the recovery is smooth.” The doctor in Bethesda responded to Morris and Ricard. If Morris wants to play basketball, that’s the best At least we have to wait until a year later.

There are indeed hospitals in the United States that can do better than this, but only professional athletes can afford that level of treatment. Although Iowa State University agreed to Ricard’s application and is willing to pay a certain amount of medical expenses to the Morris family every month, how much is a university willing to pay for a student player?

The outside environment is lifeless, and Morris’s dark eyes are like stagnant water.

…………………….

The training enthusiasm of the Cyclone players is getting lower and lower, and the shadow of injury has enveloped every player’s heart. This does not mean that they are lazy in training, but the atmosphere in the entire stadium is very depressing and heavy.

In this atmosphere, the team played three more games with one win and two losses. If the Tornadoes can’t even hold the second place and let such a decline develop, then whether they can enter the March Madness Championship is really uncertain. Because in addition to the automatic popularization of league champions, whether all other teams can enter the March Madness game depends on the performance of the season, and then the committee will select the participating teams based on factors such as performance, league strengths, and the Big Twelve League It is not a very strong alliance, so the number of places that can be selected may not be too many.

Ricard can’t stand it anymore. Morris won’t be better than anyone here when he is injured, but the fall of his teammates can’t be an excuse for these guys to abandon themselves!

“You guys are just a bunch of waste!” During daily training, Ricard, who was sitting on the court meditating, yelled without warning, and even Divac, who was instructing Anjie and Asakin on the side, was frightened. Jumped.

Everyone in the stadium is staring at Ricard.

“If one of you is injured and Morris is still here, he will definitely pay ten times as much effort as you to replace the truce teammates to win the game. In order to play, he did not hesitate to accept the difficulties I proposed. I know that in the end he can stay is the result of the joint efforts of all of you, but the person who has the courage to take up this challenge is Morris! If you change to someone else that day, you may have given up long ago! You are the fans. Disappointment, let us down, let down Morris who is still lying on the hospital bed!” Ricard blushed with anger.

“Morris was injured not to see you cowards lead the team to failure! The reason why he was injured is because Morris wanted to send us all to March Madness! Let’s We are blowing a whirlwind on the national stage! Now it is you who want to motivate Morris with victory! Instead of waiting for Morris to motivate you with a walking stick!” This is not the first time Ricard has lost his temper in a stadium, but he But no time has it been as excited as it is now.

“Train well, everyone! The boss is right. We can’t let Morris see our jokes in the hospital bed!” Mike Taylor is now undoubtedly the captain of the locker room. Apart from the coach, the players are the most convinced. it’s him. Not only because of Taylor’s good performance on the court, but also because he has leadership skills that others don’t have.

After Ricard’s scolding, the players’ training attitude gradually became serious. The Tornado team can be said to be well in the hands of Ricard, the head coach, and the players did not know what to do if they did not hear the coach scolding for two days.

The coach can fully control the team while maintaining rapport with the players. As a rookie college coach, Ricard has done a very good job in this regard.

…………………….

On February 15, in the penultimate game of the Big Twelve League regular season, the Iowa State University Tornadoes played against the Ohio State University Orange Cowboys at home. If this game wins, they will compete with Kansas. The University Jayhawks had a tie record and then decided the final winner in the final game. The temperature in winter is very cold, but the Big 12 games continue to heat up.

Anjie took out a jersey from the locker of Morris in the locker room and immediately tried it on his body.

“Well, it’s a bit tight, I don’t think it will be exposed.” An Jie waved his arm and tried the tightness. Although Anjie is thinner, his height and shoulder width are higher than Morris after all, so Morris’s jersey is still slightly tight on Anjie.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Mike Taylor wrote something on his white lined vest with a marker.

“Of course, in front of the entire stadium, in front of the full camera.” Anjie put his jersey on the outside of Morris’ jersey again. It fits very well. If you don’t look carefully, you can’t tell that he wears two layers.

Just then, the other players who went out to warm up just came back.

“What are you two doing secretly in the locker room?” Anthony. I would have never seen these two guys return to the locker room early when warming up.

“Nothing, nothing.” An Jie waved his hand grinningly.

“Okay guys!”

Hearing this sound, the players immediately sat in their seats, they knew that Ricard was about to appear in the locker room.

“Time flies so fast, the penultimate game of the regular season, everyone. We have already stepped into the NCAA March Crazy Championship circle with one foot, but we may be pushed out at any time, our goal There is still only one, victory!” Ricard finished speaking and began to write his name on the whiteboard.

“Costa Kufus! Anjie, another powerful opponent, remember what you said the other day!”

“Of course, leave it to me.” An Jie is gearing up below, saying that there are a lot of excellent centers playing in the Big 12 League. But after a season of NCAA regular season baptism and Divac’s months of teaching, Anjie is now full of confidence when facing any opponent. Before entering the league, he weighed less than 100 kg and now he has risen to 108 kg. Although he is still not as good as others, his progress has never been interrupted. The strength of his upper and lower limbs has also been greatly improved during continuous training. Ricard did not miss this shy big man who played on the field. The extent of his efforts and the speed of improvement are very surprising.

Of course, this does not mean that Anjie can easily defeat today’s opponent Kufus. If An Jie is a dark horse that came out this season, then Kufus is already a star center in high school.

Like Anjie, Kufus is not an American, but from Greece, the origin of the Olympic movement, but Kufus came to this country of basketball when he was in high school.

This gentle-looking boy slaughtered all quarters in the American high school league, and it was commonplace to cut a large double-double. This experience is very similar to Anjie’s experience when he was born in the NCAA. So far in the regular season, Kufus has averaged 14.4 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game. Although the average data is not as good as Angel’s 18.2 points and 10.1 rebounds per game, this is because At the half of the regular season, Kufus’s state suddenly declined, pulling his stats down too much. But no one knows when this tall man will regain his bravery, so no one dares to underestimate him.

At the beginning of this season, Kufus was considered the top ten player in this year’s NBA Draft. But I don’t know why he suddenly played poorly in the half of the regular season, which also caused his team to almost lose hope of marching into March Madness. However, in the last few games, Kufus and Ohio State have improved their status. It was at this point that the Tornado team met them.

“The shooting percentage is 65.6%, and the three-point shooting percentage is as high as 42.9%! Kufus is an opponent with a larger shooting range than you! Don’t let him shoot, I will send Asakin and you Form a double-center lineup. When Kufusla goes out, I want you to follow him every step of the way. The inside line will be safely handed over to Asakin to protect!” Ricard finished speaking and glanced at Anjie. This kid never I haven’t let myself down, I hope he does the same today.

“I will stick to my opponent like Anthony Ben.” Anjie patted Ben, who was sitting next to him, on the shoulder.

“Listen, maybe your hearts will become negative and sad for Morris’ misfortune, but have you ever thought about how uncomfortable Morris is in your heart! I really hope you can help him realize this crazy March dream , To bring the team to the top 64 in the country, this is the greatest return you can give him for his hard work! Tell Morris that his hard work is not in vain! Let’s play!” Ricard pushed the dressing away. At the door of the room, the hustle and bustle of the stadium suddenly passed in.

An Jie looked at himself wearing a two-layer jersey, and felt that his whole body was full of strength. On the jersey, under Anjie’s name is Morris, and they are still fighting side by side on the court.

“Let’s go Morris, it’s time for us to play.” An Jie lowered his head and kissed the two jerseys on his body lightly, and then rushed out of the player channel with Taylor and the other players in the lead.

Morris watched the live broadcast on TV from the hospital bed. The picture was showing his teammates coming out of the player channel consistently. How much he hopes he can be in that team, how much he hopes he can also appear on the court. Now his teammates have formed a circle on the court. This is a ceremony they must do before the game to encourage each other, but now Morris can only lie in the hospital and stay out of the matter.

He wants to turn off the TV to escape reality, but he can’t press the off button on the TV remote control for a long time. This is a team he regards as his family, and the players on the field are all his brothers! How can I abandon them at this critical moment! Morris simply threw the remote control aside and stared at the TV screen in silence.

“Good performance, only if we win, we will have the opportunity to present this gift to Morris.” Before the two sides jumped the ball, Taylor touched Anjie with his elbow.

“No one can stop us today.” An Jie changed his usual humble tone, and after hammering his chest twice, he walked towards the center circle with two layers of jerseys.

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