On the next possession, McGrady got past Marion's defense, but his pull-up jumper failed to hit.
Kidd picked off the rebound.
The Mavericks launched a counterattack again.
Terry, who was feeling hot in his hand, quickly followed up and asked for the ball.
During the transition between offense and defense, the Rockets' five players did not defend against each other according to the arrangement.
Curry then switched defense and moved in front of Terry.
After Terry caught the ball, he started a singles at a 45-degree angle on the left side.
I saw him dribbling the ball from his hip, switching the ball to his left hand, and then making a beautiful crossover, which shook Curry's center of gravity away.
Upon seeing this, Terry immediately took a step back, further widening the distance between the two, and shot a three-pointer...
"Shua~"
The basketball hits the net!
9:5, the Mavericks expanded their lead.
As soon as the goal was scored, the fans at the scene cheered.
The spirit shown by the team today made them very happy.
Facing the league's No. 1 Rockets, the Mavericks showed strength to match.
This gave many fans hope of victory.
"Who wants to be the backdrop for historical records? We at Mavericks don't want to!"
one fan shouted passionately.
............
On the court, Curry half spat out his braces and raised his hands to indicate to his teammates that the ball was his problem.
Then he came to the baseline to catch the ball and whispered in his mouth: "Let me hit one."
McGrady smiled slightly when he heard this: "Hit me, let go."
Yao Ming also touched his crew cut to show encouragement.
Veterans like Yao Mai discovered very early... that after being selected for the All-Star Game, Curry's morale improved significantly.
The young man is trying to be like a star and respond proactively when faced with a challenge from his opponent!
...
The game continued, Curry dribbled the ball across half court and motioned to his teammates on the court to pull away.
When Terry saw this, not only did he not feel any nervousness, but he even smiled and clapped his hands.
"Come on, little rookie!"
It's obvious that Terry doesn't take the second-year Curry too seriously.
But soon he stopped laughing.
Curry, who was dribbling at a constant speed, suddenly dropped his center of gravity and at the same time reached out his left hand and made an in&out feint.
Terry didn't react in time and quickly moved in small steps, fearing that he would be passed by.
But Curry did not choose to break through. Instead, he looked up at the basket and moved his right hand toward his left hand.
This is his usual shooting stance.
Terry knew that Curry had a trick of fake shooting while moving (commonly known as worshiping the Buddha).
But in the flash of lightning, he had no time to judge the authenticity and subconsciously jumped up.
After all, with Curry's shooting speed, Terry would have no time to interfere if his reaction was slow.
The results can be imagined...
The next moment, Terry flew past Curry with a surprised expression.
The latter smiled slightly, took a step to adjust his center of gravity, and then calmly took action...
bingo!
Three-pointed sword, the flames of hell!
9:8.
The score between the two teams is still tight.
In the next few minutes, the two sides maintained a balance of power, and no one was able to widen the point difference.
It is worth mentioning that the ace players of both sides, Nowitzki and Tracy McGrady, have not entered "offensive mode" yet.
They unanimously chose an organization-oriented style of play and worked hard to drive the performance of their teammates.
It wasn't until halfway through the first quarter that the two started to exert their strength.
The first to attack was King Nuotian.
Facing Griffin's defense, he succeeded in two consecutive back-ups in the low post.
But looking back, McGrady responded quickly.
He first used a super-quick first step to get past Marion's defense and easily completed a layup in the paint.
Then t-mac held the ball in the middle and played singles, plucking green onions on dry land, and hit a three-pointer.
The two super giants came and went, which also pushed the atmosphere to a climax.
Not only the fans, but also Rockets coach Mark Jackson had sweaty palms.
This half of the game can be regarded as the most intense since he coached the team.
When the assistant coach saw that Griffin could not stop the King of Notre Dame, he whispered in Mark Jackson's ear: "Do you want to replace the big man and strengthen the defense?"
The Rockets coach thought for a moment: "Let the young people try again. I believe Blake can do it."
As soon as Mark Jackson finished speaking, Nowitzki launched another attack.
He caught the ball at the elbow, holding the ball with both hands in front of his chest while using his back to sense the defense behind him.
Griffin also gained some experience after suffering two losses.
He no longer focused entirely on physical confrontation, but kept observing the changes in his opponent's center of gravity.
Soon, Nowitzki moved!
He did not drop the ball, but made two movements of shaking his shoulders from side to side.
To King Nuo's surprise, Griffin maintained his position very well and his center of gravity was very stable.
When the plan failed, Nowitzki immediately changed his tactics.
"Bang~"
"Bang~"
"Bang~"
The German tanks fought hard three times in a row, forcing Griffin to retreat continuously.
But the latter is not worried.
After all, in the penalty area, there is Yao Ming, who is always ready to protect the basket.
Griffin speculated that regardless of the process, Nowitzki would eventually choose to take a shot outside the penalty area.
It turns out that he guessed it right!
After pressing into a deep position, Nowitzki suddenly shifted his weight to his left foot and raised his right knee.
This is King Nuo's signature stunt - golden rooster independence!
His raised right knee acted like a natural barrier, separating himself from the defender by about half a body.
But Griffin had already thought of a countermeasure.
I saw him turning sideways and jumping from Nowitzki's left side!
This was really beyond King Nuo's expectation.
But he had already taken off at this point and it was difficult to make any more changes.
Finally, Griffin's finger touched the basketball and successfully blocked the shot.
Yao Ming also immediately controlled the falling basketball.
The Rockets launched a counterattack!
In the transition between offense and defense, Curry holds the ball and advances at high speed.
He has hit two three-pointers before, and the Mavericks will be very afraid of him.
Just after Curry passed halftime, Kidd and Terry were ready to double-team.
But Rockets 30 did not panic at all.
He used his peripheral vision to observe Yao Ming following behind him, so he lowered his center of gravity and accelerated to the right to break through.
Kidd and Terry's attention was attracted by Curry and followed him to the right.
But the cute god suddenly flicked his wrist and used a behind-the-back pass to kill him!
After Dayao caught the ball, the surrounding area was wide open.
He raised the knife and hit a three-pointer!
At 28:25, the Rockets regained the lead.
"yes!"
Mark Jackson clenched his fists excitedly on the sidelines.
Griffin's success in single defense this time is very crucial.
At this time, there are only three minutes left before the end of the first quarter.
The 10 players on the field have all more or less entered a physical bottleneck period.
Mavericks coach Carlisle took the initiative to call a timeout.
The last time the two teams met, the Mavericks used short rotations in order to ensure the intensity of the game.
Only 8 players took turns playing, which directly caused their physical fitness to be at a disadvantage in the second half.
This time, Carlisle learned his lesson and expanded his rotation.
After the timeout, the four thirty-year-old men—Nowitzki, Kidd, Marion, and Terry—all came off the court to rest.
The Mavericks' lineup becomes: Barea, Stevenson, Butler, Mahinmi, Chandler.
The Rockets are in a similar situation.
Mark Jackson continued his usual bold substitution style and directly replaced all five main players!
At this time, the team's starting lineup became: Lowry, Roy, Danny Green, Yi Jianlian, and Oden.
This lineup is a bit like the Magic's "one star shooting out".
The emperor guards the inner line.
The remaining four players all have outside shooting ability.
This is also another bold attempt by Mark Jackson!
"Okay, now we have entered the first transitional period of this game."
"As we all know, the Rockets' bench has the most firepower in the league!"
"It is very important for the Mavericks to be able to withstand this period of time and ensure that the point difference is not widened!"