At this time, the starters from both sides have already walked to the center of the court and are ready to jump the ball.
Gasol walked silently to Yao Ming and looked at the latter warily.
Since landing in the NBA, his career has progressed very smoothly.
When he first arrived, Marc quickly became the Grizzlies' starting center, and now no one can compete with him for this position.
This year is his third season.
This season, he averaged 11.7 points, 7 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game.
Of course, data cannot fully reflect his value.
Gasol is tall and has long arms, and his basic skills on both offense and defense are very solid.
On the offensive end, he can either post up in the low post or move up to the high post to open up space for the "Black Bear" Zach Randolph.
Moreover, Xiaojia also has a beautiful pass.
He is extremely imaginative and creative, and to a large extent makes up for the organizational deficiencies of starting point guard Conley.
On the defensive end, Garfield can use his long wingspan and excellent position selection to protect the Grizzlies' basket.
Since Randolph basically has no assisting defense ability, it can be said that Xiaojia single-handedly supported the team's interior defense!
But having said all that, he is still just a 25-year-old young man who has just played in the NBA for two years.
When he saw Yao Ming standing in front of him, Xiaojia inevitably felt nervous.
On the other side, Rudy Gay looked at George with burning eyes.
His eyes were a little complicated, showing envy, jealousy, and unwillingness.
In 2006, Gay was selected by the Rockets with the 8th overall pick in the first round, but was sent to the Grizzlies without playing a single game.
Memphis is considered a bitter place in a beautiful country. The Rockets star Francis once rejected the Grizzlies in the draft.
After that, Gay's statistics increased year by year (his scoring average exceeded 20 in his second season), and he gradually became the leader of the new generation of forwards in the league.
Originally, he was relieved that the Rockets gave up on him, and just thought that the Rockets were blind and did not see his value.
But this year, the appearance of George gave Guy a renewed sense of unwillingness.
[Why did he have the opportunity to receive key training from the Rockets, but I was sold without even proving myself once?]
Gay and George are both very similar in height and wingspan, and both have top-notch athletic talents.
If there is no in-depth research, it will indeed give people the illusion that the two people have similar abilities but different circumstances.
But is this really the case?
............
As the referee throws the ball high, the game officially begins!
Yao Ming and Xiaojia took off at the same time.
The former relaxed his arms and successfully won the jump ball.
After playing so many games this season, this is the first time that Dayao has encountered someone who is not as good as him in jumping.
Rockets attack first!
Lawson passed the half court with the ball and began to organize the offense.
In the first round, as usual, he handed the ball to Yao Ming in the low post for injury.
After Yao got the ball, he started to play from behind.
At this time, Xiaojia was still relatively young, but his defensive ability was already very good.
After some hard work, Yao Ming found it difficult to get close to the basket and had no choice but to turn over and shoot a jump shot.
Xiaojia stepped forward, jumped up hard, and tried to block the shot.
Helpless, Yao, as big as Yao, actually used a fadeaway jump shot.
Gasol tried his best, but he could only reach his wrist.
"Shua~"
The basketball hits the net crisply.
2:0, the Rockets took the lead.
Offense and defense transition, Conley organizes the offense.
Rudy Gay got stuck at the 45° elbow area and immediately opened his hand for the ball.
Conley hit the ground, passed the ball, and then ran to the other side of the court, giving Gay plenty of space to attack.
"I heard that you are good at defense?"
Guy asked with a smile, with obvious disdain in his tone.
"Okay."
George was noncommittal.
"Then I want to see what you are capable of!"
As he spoke, Guy moved.
He first used his strength to hit twice, then suddenly turned around, pressed down half of George's body with his shoulders, and rushed towards the inside.
But with Yao Ming sitting under the basket, Gay knew not to force a break.
Therefore, after reaching the edge of the penalty area, he chose to finish with a pull-up jump shot.
However, when Guy took action confidently, a big hand appeared in his sight.
The person coming is none other than George!
His fingertips touched the basketball thrown by Gay and completed the block.
Moreover, since it was a risk, the ball did not fly too far.
George took off for the second time, controlled the ball, and launched a counterattack.
After arriving at the Grizzlies' half, he found his teammate Lawson, who was following up at high speed, and helped the latter get a layup.
4:0, the Rockets expanded their advantage.
In the next round, Guy refused to give up and chose to play singles again.
The difference from last time is that this time we adopt a frontal ball-holding attack.
But in this way, Guy's advantage in strength over George will no longer be able to be used.
I saw him dribbling the ball through his crotch like a butterfly piercing flowers, but he still couldn't get rid of Pickle's defense.
On the contrary, George kept reaching out to interfere with Gay's dribbling.
Although it did not directly result in a steal, it also caused the latter to lose its offensive rhythm.
Soon, Guy was forced into a blind corner, and there was not much time left to attack.
In desperation, he could only choose to take action forcefully...
"Duang!"
The ball hit the edge of the basket hard and bounced out of the frame.
Yao Ming took off the rebound and the Rockets launched another counterattack.
Guy watched his opponent run toward his own half, ran away, and immediately returned to defense.
But as he ran, he couldn't help but think:
"Isn't this Paul George a younger version of me with better defense?!"