Chapter 301 The curtain is opened, and the game is exciting!
At this time, the starters from both sides had already taken to the court one after another.
The Rockets still have the regular starting lineup: Curry, McGrady, George, Griffin, Yao Ming;
The Mavericks sent out: Kidd, Terry, Marion, Nowitzki, Tyson Chandler.
It is worth mentioning that in this game, both teams played with full strength, and the injury list was empty.
As the referee throws the ball high, the game officially begins!
Yao Ming relaxed his arms and won the duel.
Rockets attack first!
Curry held the ball through half the court and came to the top of the arc to organize the offense.
In the first round, the Rockets handed the ball to Yao Ming inside as usual.
Dayao hit his back twice in the low position, then turned over and shot...
"Shua~"
The basketball hits the net!
2:0, the Rockets took the lead!
Chandler actually defended this ball very well. When Dayao made the shot, he had already blocked it in the face.
It can be said that the goal was scored purely because of Yao Ming's personal ability.
Offense and defense transition.
Terry used the screen to come out from the baseline.
Kidd watched all six directions, led others with the ball, and guided Terry to the most suitable position.
The moment the "Jets" caught the ball, there were no Rockets defenders around, and he completed the shot very comfortably...
bingo!
2:3, the Mavericks took the lead.
"Both sides played very fast from the beginning and showed strong tactical execution capabilities. This is a typical Western Conference game!"
Yang Yi commented timely.
After changing sides, the Rockets once again handed the ball to Yao Ming inside.
Facing Chandler's defense, Dayao wanted to repeat his old trick, but this time, the latter made a sideways move when he turned around and swatted the ball away.
Curry and Kidd reacted immediately and rushed towards the dropped basketball.
At this time, the advantages of young people's speed and explosive power became apparent.
Curry took the lead, controlled the ball near the baseline, and stepped out with his right foot, dribbling under his hips to break through.
Kidd was caught off guard and retreated quickly, trying to block Curry's way.
But the next moment, Meng Shen dribbled back from behind and returned to the starting point.
The change of focus from time to time made it difficult for old Kidd to resist.
When he wanted to "brake" and pounce on Curry again...
"Click..."
There was a slight sound of bones rubbing together.
It turned out that Kidd accidentally sprained his ankle when he made a sudden stop and started.
The old Kidd was rich in experience. The moment he discovered that he had sprained, he gave up exerting force and sat down on the ground to minimize the pressure on his ankle.
However, the fans naturally couldn't help but scream in surprise after he fell to the ground.
"woo..."
Without any physical contact, Curry actually ended Kidd's ankle.
ankle.breaker(ankle terminator)!
This time, there was no one in front of Curry.
He paused for a moment, adjusted his rhythm, and then calmly took action...
"Shua~"
4:3, the Rockets overtook the score!
Kidd, who has always been experienced, was knocked to the ground by a second-year rookie.
This made him somewhat embarrassed...
After being pulled up by his teammates, Kidd shook his head, smiled bitterly, and raised his hand to indicate that he didn't guard the ball well.
Although Kidd is old, it does not mean that he is no longer competitive.
After this almost "humiliating" goal, he also planned to regain his place!
People's impression of Kidd is probably that he is a coquettish passer, has good defensive ability, and also developed a three-pointer later in his career.
But his ability is actually much more than that.
When Kidd was young, his physical fitness was very strong, and he was extremely explosive, and he could often perform wonderful extraordinary feats.
As he grew older, he gradually lost his athletic ability, but he used his body better than when he was young.
In this round, Kidd held the ball at 45° on the right side and signaled his teammates to pull away.
Then, he used a small but very realistic crossover to shake Curry half a step away.
In this half-step space, Kidd immediately started to use his full strength, seizing the position with his shoulders, and firmly stuck Curry to his side.
Just like that, he carried Curry all the way into the elbow area and was about to take three steps for a layup.
Dayao, who was guarding the penalty area, saw that his teammates were out of position, so he had to move sideways to cover.
But at the moment when his center of gravity shifted, Kidd flicked his wrist and threw the ball into the sky...
The next moment, Tyson Chandler appeared!
He jumped high, caught Kidd's pass in the air, and slammed the ball toward the basket...
"bang!"
A powerful two-handed dunk sent the Mavericks into a frenzy.
4:5, the Mavericks took the lead again.
After scoring the goal, Kidd glanced at Curry with a smile, his expression was quite boring and coquettish.
However, before he could be happy for long, Curry received Yao Ming's quick baseline ball and began to advance at high speed.
Kidd did a very in-depth study before the game and knew several of the Rockets' perimeter players, and he really likes to use sudden cold arrows during transitions between offense and defense.
He immediately realized that Curry probably wanted to respond to the ball, so he quickly rushed to the latter's side.
Then, the experienced Kidd did not try to steal rashly, but left half a step of space.
From this distance, if Curry shoots, he can interfere immediately; if Curry breaks through, he also has time to react.
[Perfect position selection, this is the role of pre-game analysis!]
Kidd secretly thought that he was very satisfied with his defensive choice.
Then...
Curry looked up at the basket and Kidd flew out...
The cute god took a step forward, collected the ball, turned around and smiled at Kidd, who was completely out of position, then turned back and took the shot easily.
The basketball left his fingertips and spun at high speed, drawing a beautiful arc in the air...
"Shua~"
Hollow into the net!
answer.ball!
The American Airlines Center, which had been cheering a moment ago, fell silent for an instant.
At 7:5, Curry scored five points in a row to help the team take the lead again.
"Hey, I didn't expect that today, one old and one young, the two point guards competed first~"
Yang Yi smiled.
"Interesting! The two have very different styles. It can be said to be a competition between the old and new generations of point guards!"
Yu Jia added.
After the goal, Curry passed by Kidd and couldn't hide his smile.
Kidd couldn't afford to lose. He smiled and patted Curry's butt: "Respect the elderly."
"I think you are still difficult to beat."
Curry responded with a smile.
............
The first quarter of the game came to an end in the confrontation between the two teams.
Neither the Rockets nor the Mavericks can do anything against the opponent's offense.
The two teams' respective main players, Tracy McGrady and Nowitzki, invariably chose to link up with their teammates in the first quarter without much personal offense.
To put it simply, the first quarter is a stage where the two top teams test each other.
The score of 32:32 is not surprising.
After a short break, the game resumed.
At the beginning of the second quarter, it was the regular rotation time, and the two teams sent out substitute players.
For the Mavericks, Nowitzki took the field again after a short break at the end of the first quarter.
Together with Butler and JJ Barea, he leads the Mavericks' transition lineup.
As for the Rockets, Mark Jackson has made large-scale adjustments as usual——
Danny Green replaced Curry, Tucker replaced Griffin, and Ben replaced Yao Ming.
At this time, the Rockets' lineup is: McGrady, George, Green, Tucker, and Big Ben.
As soon as these five people appeared on the court, the CCTV commentators were shocked.
"Eh? What kind of tactic is Rockets using?"
"What a guy! These five people are almost the same height standing together!"
"Is this what Pat Riley calls the 'ultimate basketball'?"
Yang Yi said in surprise.
As a commentator for so many years, this was the first time he saw five people with such similar heights appearing at the same time!
"Em... if we arrange the formation like this, Tracy McGrady should play point guard and Ben should play center..."
"I can't really determine which position the other players will play."
"I feel that with this Rockets lineup, the positions of the five players on the court are all vague. This is completely different from traditional basketball where each player performs his or her own duties."
Yu Jia analyzed.
"This fantastic lineup looks like Shen Fei's work at first glance..."
"Dear viewers, maybe today we will witness the real 'Ultimate Basketball'. You can wait and see."
Yang Yi was both excited and confused.
As the host, he doesn't want the game to exceed his expectations by too much.
The Rockets game has always been a headache for Yang Yi.
Because you don’t know when, it will give you a whole life, and it will be a “life” that you have never seen before!
When the Mavericks generals saw the five Rockets members, they were also confused.
Substitute center Haywood walked up to Ben Wallace and asked doubtfully: "Brother, are you playing against me?"
Daben glanced at him and ignored him.
Although Haywood is an average player, he is not easy to mess with because of his fat body.
It has been a long, long time since Heywood encountered someone like Ben who ignored him directly.
He originally wanted to express his dissatisfaction with some trash talk, but when he saw Ben's steel-like muscles, he swallowed and swallowed all his words.
............
The Mavericks serve.
Barea advanced with the ball and met McGrady's defense.
Looking at his opponent who was much taller than him, Barea, who was known as "Puerto Rico's mountain", subconsciously wanted to break through.
But as soon as he started, he was surprised to find that McGrady's pace was not slower than his.
Accelerate, pull back the crotch, stop and start suddenly...
Barea's operation was as fierce as a tiger's, and when he looked closely... McGrady was still in front of him.
Yishan sighed and raised his hand to signal his teammates to come over for a pick-and-roll.
Nowitzki didn't have the airs of a superstar at all, and he put up the cover without any hesitation.
After bypassing the pick-and-roll, Barea successfully got rid of McGrady's defense and replaced the defender with... Tucker.
As soon as the shoe king came up, he gave a mountain a greeting gift with his chest.
Barea was pushed and staggered back two steps.
Before he could complain to the referee, Tucker gained the upper hand and bullied him again.
Barea stepped back repeatedly and turned sideways to protect the ball.
Soon, he was forced to the sideline.
At this time, George, who was not far away, suddenly gave up his opponent and came to double-team Barea with Tucker.
For a moment, all Barea could see were four big hands.
He couldn't see any teammates at all and could only hold on to the ball to prevent it from being stolen.
[The second quarter has just begun, would it be inappropriate to call a timeout?]
Barea thought to himself.
Just when he was hesitating, George suddenly reached out his hands and grabbed the basketball in his arms.
Then, Pickle's center of gravity sank, his waist and horse became one, and he threw it to his side with all his strength...
The "petite" Barea jumped into the air with a surprised expression.
"Beep!"
The referee's whistle blows, let's fight for the ball!