Chapter 249 Head-to-head confrontation! Warcraft vs. the Great Emperor!
Howard, on the other hand, glanced calmly at Oden beside him, feeling completely calm.
Warcraft knew that the opponent was a former talented player.
But so what?
A genius who can't even guarantee his health is not even comparable to ordinary players in Howard's eyes.
"Be careful not to get hurt, rookie."
Warcraft reminded.
Oden was the No. 1 pick in 2007, so he is no longer considered a rookie.
But considering his injury history (the total number of his appearances is probably less than that of a healthy player in a season), the title of Warcraft seems to be reasonable.
"Be careful yourself."
Auden responded coldly.
In this way, the two had their first verbal confrontation.
Immediately, the Rockets served from the baseline, and Curry held the ball through half court.
After a series of transmissions, the ball finally came to Paul George.
Facing Carter's defense, he chose to stop and shoot a mid-range jumper.
Oden keenly noticed that the trajectory of George's shot seemed to be a bit off.
He immediately lowered his center of gravity and moved towards the basket, trying to get into a good position to grab the rebound.
However, just as Oden started to move quickly, a figure suddenly stood between him and the basket.
"Bang~"
There was a muffled sound.
Oden hit Howard hard on the shoulder.
Poor emperor.
While he was running, his eyes were always following the basketball, and he did not notice Howard's sudden appearance at all.
This time, it was equivalent to Oden hitting Howard's shoulder blade with his fragile face.
He felt pain and his expression became ferocious.
But Oden did not stop or complain to the referee, but gritted his teeth and continued moving towards the basket.
Then, he and Howard began to fight under the basket.
The physical confrontation between the two was so fierce that the referee at the bottom line widened his eyes and quickly put the whistle in his mouth.
"duang~"
George's shot hit the edge of the basket and bounced out.
The next moment, Oden and Howard jumped together, like two dragons grabbing the ball in the air!
What's interesting is that the body language of the other players of the two teams at this time can be described as distinct.
On the Magic side, three of the four people were crouching and looking towards the Rockets half court.
Obviously, they were ready for a fast break.
On the other hand, for the Rockets, the four players except Oden are all looking for opposing Magic players.
Anyone with a discerning eye can see that they are preparing for the next defense.
The body language of both sides is different, but the thoughts are surprisingly the same - this rebound will definitely fall into Howard's hands in the end!
However, the reality exceeded their expectations.
Oden was in the air and had physical contact with Howard.
After the collision, the monster was knocked away and lost its advantageous position.
Oden took the opportunity to grab the rebound.
This is not over yet, Rocket 52 immediately took off a second time after landing...
"bang!"
He jumped high and put the ball into the basket with both hands.
This is an O'Neal-style dunk!
"wow~"
"Oh! my! God! What did I see?! He took the rebound off Howard's head and then dunked the ball in!"
"What kind of physical fitness is this? This strength, this jumping...it's simply a monster!"
The fans at Toyota Center were completely excited.
If we talk about the last game, Oden used defense to sound the clarion call for the Rockets to counterattack.
So today, he used a "kick in the face" to contain the ferocious monster!
At the same time, Howard stood aside, obviously still a little confused.
In the fight for the rebound just now, Oden's power was far beyond his imagination.
In addition, Warcraft consumed too much energy in the first quarter's confrontation with Yao Ming. It is not difficult to imagine that he was at a disadvantage in the collision this time.
"You wait!"
Howard said a harsh word and then ran towards the Rockets half court.
............
In the transition between offense and defense, the Magic's backup point guard, Alston, dribbled the ball through half court.
At this time, Warcraft was frantically trying to gain position in the low post, while Oden lowered his center of gravity and tried his best to fight against it.
In the blink of an eye, Howard and Alston made eye contact.
The next moment, Warcraft suddenly turned around and flicked Oden with his right hand.
In an instant, Rockets No. 52 lost its defensive position and was completely left behind.
Howard jumped high, caught Alston's pass in the air, and smashed the ball into the basket with both hands!
"bang!"
Perfect coordination, perfect alley-oop!
This is a common attack method used by the currently popular Warcraft.
Moreover, this is an answerball!
After dunking, Warcraft glanced at Oden fiercely, as if to say: "Come on, let's see who can dunk better."
But the interesting thing is that Oden's attention is not on Howard at all.
At this time, he was raising his right hand high, signaling to his teammates that the ball was his problem.
After Howard realized that he was ignored, his anger became even more intense.
He immediately decided to "fix" this ignorant and fearless rookie!
............
The offense and defense transitioned, and the Rockets launched an offensive from the outside.
Roy, who came on the bench, used Tucker's screen to rush to the free throw line and make a pull-up jump shot.
In fact, he just had the opportunity to rush to the penalty area and directly attack the basket.
But seeing Howard staring at him in the three-second zone, Roy was afraid of his terrifying bounce, so he changed his mind and chose to take action from the free throw line.
"Shua~"
The basketball hits the net crisply.
Looking back, Howard continued to take position in the low post.
Since the Magic's outside shooters performed well in the first quarter and hit multiple three-pointers, the Rockets now don't dare to double-team Warcraft rashly.
After Howard got the ball, he started playing Oden one-on-one.
Different from using footwork to "outwit" Yao Ming, World of Warcraft just wants to use power to crush the opponent directly!
"Bang~"
"Bang~"
"Bang~"
The sound of clashing muscles was endless.
Oden was stunned and didn't say a word, and just accepted Howard's back-up attack.
The monster pushed harder and harder, but the more he pushed, the more guilty he became.
The young center behind him, who had just returned from injury, was able to withstand his full back attack!
At this time, Warcraft's wisest choice is to pass the ball out and let his teammates reorganize the offense.
But Howard just asked for the ball in such a big way, and if he passes it out now, it will inevitably be a bit embarrassing.
To put it simply, now is the moment when the arrow is on the string and has to be fired.
Howard suddenly turned around, then raised the ball with both hands, ready to give it a try.
At the same time, his pair of iron elbows were also highlighted...
"Bang~"
There was another muffled sound.
Only this time, Howard hit Oden on the cheek with his left elbow.
"Beep!!!"
The whistle sounded immediately and the referee stopped the game urgently.
At this time Oden fell to the ground and covered his face with his hands.
Howard looked annoyed, grabbed the ball with one hand, handed the ball to the referee, then turned around and stepped forward to ask about Oden's situation.
He knew he had done something wrong, but he was really anxious just now and did not do it intentionally.
"Are you okay, brother? I..."
Before Howard could finish his words, he was pushed away by Tucker and George.
Four Rockets players quickly moved closer and protected Oden.
"It's okay, it's okay, I'm fine, don't be nervous."
Oden was still lying on the ground, but he began to speak words of comfort to his teammates.
Soon, the team doctor entered the scene, and Oden finally released his hand covering his mouth.
"Fortunately, my lip was bitten, but my teeth were not hurt, so it's not a big problem."
The team doctor smiled and comforted Oden and took him to the sidelines for treatment.
After a few minutes of processing, Oden returned to the court.
Through replay, the referee determined that Howard's first-level flagrant foul was established.
Oden went to the free throw line and took the foul free throw.
"Greg!"
"Greg!"
"Greg!"
...
The fans at the scene chanted Oden's name.
Obviously, they are very satisfied with Oden's fighting spirit after playing!
The emperor enjoyed the cheers and made the free throw steadily.
After this battle, the fighting spirit of the Rockets generals increased significantly.
The most obvious one is Curry.
He didn't say a word when Oden was injured and fell to the ground, and didn't show much anger.
But after the game restarted, Curry's offensive desire obviously increased to a higher level!
In less than three minutes, he hit four three-pointers in succession.
Especially the last three-pointer was particularly exciting:
Curry passed the screen and took the initiative to change the defender to Howard.
In a one-on-one duel, he dribbled like a butterfly through flowers, created a certain amount of shooting space, and hit a three-pointer over Howard's head!
The Magic were directly blindsided by this wave of three-pointers, and the point difference also reached double digits!
Magic coach Stan Van Gundy quickly called a timeout.
............
On the way back to the bench, Curry gritted his teeth and excitedly high-fived Oden in celebration.
Shen Fei in the stands saw this scene and felt happy in his heart.
There are two things that make him happy.
First, after Curry was angered, he completely unleashed his offensive firepower.
That series of wonderful performances already had the shadow of Ku Ritian at his peak.
"He is indeed a player who transcends the era. His progress is really fast..."
Shen Fei couldn't help but sigh.
Curry has been back for less than a month, but now he has firmly grasped the starting point guard position.
No one on the team, whether players or coaches, dared to raise objections to this, including Lowry.
The second is Oden's tough performance.
This is only his second game since his comeback.
Everyone can see that Oden is far from his best.
But the talent and hard work displayed by the Emperor have benefited the Rockets a lot.
Shen Fei believes that Oden will find the feeling of playing in a short time.
By then, maybe he can really fulfill his talent and perform as expected as a "genius player once in 50 years"!
............
The timeout ends and the game continues.
Neither team made any adjustments to their lineups, so Oden and Howard faced off again.
In the following games, as soon as Warcraft gets the ball, the fans at Toyota Center will give them deafening boos.
Under such pressure, Howard's physical fitness was severely exhausted, and his performance began to decline.
After the continuous attacks failed, a frustrated expression began to appear on his face.
Misfortune never comes singly. In the next possession, Howard accidentally stepped on his teammate's foot while running.
"ah!!!"
The monster collapsed to the ground, clutching his ankle in pain.
Fortunately, he did not step on his foot while jumping, so the injury was not serious.
After being treated by the team doctor, Howard limped off the field through the tunnel.
Oden looked at the back of the monster as it left, with no happy expression on his face.
He has experienced the pain of injury, so he will never rejoice when others are injured.
Even if this person accidentally injured him not long ago.
Oden looked up at the game time on the big screen. At this time, there were less than five minutes left before the ten-minute playing time limit.
Oden knew that he was about to be replaced.
"Then I'll make one."
He thought secretly in his heart.
Since he came on the court, he has been fighting with Howard and focused all his energy on the defensive end.
Now that World of Warcraft has ended, Oden has also decided to try his skills on the offensive end!