Chapter 405 A tragic equalizer! Records and scoring champions are in danger!
Once a young team like the Thunder gets going, it's hard to hold back.
McGrady knows this very well.
Therefore, after Harden helped the Thunder score consecutive points, t-mac immediately realized that he needed to stand up!
Rockets' offensive possession.
McGrady carried the ball through half the court and came to the top of the arc to organize.
Tucker came up and set up a cover for him.
McGrady used the screen, took a cross step, shook off Harden's defense, and then jumped up to shoot.
And Ibaka, who was assisting in defense, seemed to have predicted this a long time ago.
He took off early and jumped to the extreme height with all his strength.
But Tracy McGrady just pulled up on the spot and didn't take off sufficiently.
If he takes a shot at this moment, there is a 50% probability that Ibaka will block it.
In a flash of lightning, McGrady spotted Danny Green who suddenly moved out of position.
He immediately changed his mind, waved his hand, and passed the ball.
Durant, who was guarding Green, thought that McGrady was definitely going to shoot, so he relaxed his vigilance and has not noticed Green slipping away until now.
Danny Green stretches out his bow and arrows, catches the ball and shoots...
The fans at the scene seemed to have seen the basketball hollowly entering the net, so they stood up one after another, raised their arms and prepared to cheer.
The Thunder generals looked horrified.
Although Danny Green is only a substitute for the Rockets, his shooting ability is something that the coach repeatedly emphasized to pay attention to in the pre-game meeting!
[Oh, it’s finished...]
Harden thought to himself.
The Thunder finally managed to gain some momentum, but once the ball was scored, they had to start all over again.
but...
"Duang!"
The ball hit the back edge of the basket and bounced out.
Durant rushed into the paint, jumped high, and grabbed the rebound.
Then, he immediately took up his long legs and rushed towards the Rockets half court.
After moving to about two meters outside the three-point line, Durant suddenly stopped the ball, faced Danny Green's defense, and took a shot...
The basketball left his fingertips and spun at high speed, drawing a beautiful arc in the air...
"Shua~"
Hollow into the net!
At 35:27, the score difference returned to single digits!
After the ball was scored, Green was very upset.
If Durant's unreasonable three-pointer can be explained by his talent gap and inability to defend, then the open three-pointer just now was so inappropriate!
Green first put his head in his hands, then raised his hands to apologize to his teammates: "It's my fault for this ball. I didn't play well..."
None of his teammates blamed him, and Tucker, who was passing by, patted Green on the back to express comfort.
The game continues.
In the next few minutes, the two sides fought hard.
Although the Rockets are superior in lineup configuration, the Thunder seem to be fully prepared for this "ultimate basketball" lineup.
Durant and Harden didn't panic at all when facing the Rockets' endless defense changes.
They invariably used the pick-and-roll, replacing the defender in front of them with Ben Wallace, and then conducted singles outside the three-point line.
Although Ben is the four-time Defensive Player of the Year, he is not good at guarding perimeter players.
Whether facing Durant or Harden, Ben is at a disadvantage in terms of speed.
Both Thunder players use dribbling movements to pass them by, and then easily attack the basket.
Shen Fei in the stands frowned slightly when he saw this.
Although Ben has returned to the physical condition of a 30-year-old, his lateral speed is still not enough to defend against small players.
This is almost a common problem among traditional centers.
Ben Wallace is no exception.
Although he is only a little over two meters tall, in terms of tonnage, he is no less than a big center.
This kind of weight naturally limits Ben's lateral movement speed.
To put it simply, within the three-point line, Ben Wallace is the gatekeeper guarding one side.
But outside the three-point line, he is just a slightly clumsy ordinary insider.
What Shen Fei is worried about is that after watching this game, the Heat will use the same strategy against the Rockets in the future.
[Wade can’t defend him, and James is too weak...]
[At that time, Spoelstra should ensure that one of these two people is on the court at any time to deal with our ultimate basketball lineup.]
Shen Fei thought to himself.
However, he wasn't too worried.
After all, the meaning of unlimited defense changes is not to defend every ball.
In other words, no defensive method can be 100% successful.
Especially when the opponent is a giant like Durant, if you can restrain him to a certain extent, it will be considered a success!
Whether it is Durant or Harden, they may be able to successfully play alone, but they will undergo high-intensity physical confrontation every time.
This is bound to consume a lot of physical energy from both of them.
If the Thunder can crack the infinite defense change method, the only way is Duden and Duden playing in singles...
Then in the second half, the Rockets' advantage will slowly emerge!
After all, human physical abilities are limited.
............
His eyes returned to the playing field.
After all, Durant and Harden are young and powerful.
During the second quarter, they used singles one after another to push the Thunder forward.
The two teams remained in a stalemate, with the point difference remaining at 5-8 points.
With 6 minutes left in the second quarter, the score reached 46:40, and the Rockets led by 6 points.
Taking advantage of an official timeout, both sides made adjustments to their lineups.
On the Rockets' side, Mark Jackson directly replaced four players with a wave of his hand, and the lineup became:
Curry, Roy, Danny Green, Griffin, Yao Ming.
The Thunder coach, Brooks, decided to continue to fuck the core players.
Durant and Harden still stayed on the court, and Westbrook, Perkins, and Nick Collison came on the bench.
With all three players on the court, the Thunder are no less talented than the "mixed" Rockets.
As soon as he came up, Westbrook used a sharp breakthrough to reach the Rockets' restricted area.
This time, facing Yao Ming's defense, Guigui no longer took the lead, but calmly distributed the ball to the outside.
Durant catches the ball and shoots from outside the three-point line, relying on his excellent static talent to make Danny Green marvel at the ball again...
bingo!
The basketball hit the net.
46:43, the Thunder are only 3 points behind!
Looking back, Curry faced Westbrook's defense and immediately responded with a step-back three-pointer.
49:43.
In the transition between offense and defense, Harden used the screen to get past Roy and hit Griffin for a layup.
49:45.
Rockets offense.
Roy made a huge crossover and passed Harden. After taking one step, Roy stopped at the free throw line and shot a jump shot...
answer.ball!
51:45.
In this way, the two teams went back and forth, still maintaining a balance of power.
But overall, the Thunder have a slight advantage at this stage.
With Durant's fiery touch, they narrowed the point difference little by little.
When there were only two minutes left in the second quarter, the score became 61:58. The Thunder were only 3 points behind and still had the ball!
Mark Jackson had no choice but to call a timeout.
After the timeout ended, the Rockets replaced all starting players.
But as I said before, once a young team gains momentum, it is difficult to suppress it.
When they are excited, adrenaline will be secreted crazily, which allows them to often perform beyond normal performance and be tireless!
At the end of the second quarter, the two teams tied at 66, actually returning to the same starting line!
This result made the Thunder generals extremely happy, but also made the Rockets players not satisfied.
It is worth mentioning that Durant scored 18 points in the first half, while McGrady only scored 10 points.
This means that if the coach chases 9 more points in the second half, he will surpass Tracy McGrady and reach the top of the scoring throne!
............
After returning to the locker room, Mark Jackson saw the depressed players.
"What's going on? We don't seem to be falling behind, right?"
Mark Jackson asked with a smile.
Everyone shook their heads.
“It’s really uncomfortable to have a big lead and be caught up.”
"We won by 15 points in the first quarter, only to give it all back in the second quarter. This is really hard to accept."
"But I think this half of the game is not without good news."
Mark Jackson continued.
The players' mood recovered a little because of his words.
"What's the good news, coach?"
Lori asked.
"At least... on the Thunder side, Kevin didn't rest for a minute, and Russell and James also played for a long time."
"And we strictly follow the rotation plan and reasonably allocate everyone's physical fitness."
"If nothing else happens, our physical advantage will gradually be revealed in the second half."
Mark Jackson said seriously.
"The three on the opposite side...except for Russell, none of them are good at physical fitness."
"In the second half, we can strengthen the physical confrontation and continue to consume the energy of Kevin and James."
"This way our advantages can be reflected faster."
Teacher Tony analyzed.
Mark Jackson nodded repeatedly after hearing this.
"Yes, so we must increase the intensity in the third quarter."
"As long as we can interrupt their momentum and regain control of the rhythm of the game, victory will still belong to us!"
The Rockets generals nodded.
"By the way, there is one more thing you can pay attention to."
"Tracy has a good chance of winning the scoring title this season. Let's try our best to give him as many balls as possible."
"Also... Durant needs to focus on him, he is the only competitor."
Mark Jackson said.
There are many unspoken rules in the NBA.
One of them is - when a player has the opportunity to win an honor or break a record, teammates should try to be as beautiful as possible.
This is almost an unwritten rule. Once someone violates it, not only the fans will be unhappy, but even the teammates will be unhappy.
The most classic case is that Irving did not pass the ball to Love, causing the latter to miss the record for the highest score in a single quarter.
Of course, this has not happened yet in this time and space, and it may not happen.
The Rockets generals continued to nod.
But there is one exception, and that is Tracy McGrady himself.
"I don't care about scoring champions, I really don't care."
"Everyone can just play normally. I only have one goal, and that is to win."
Maddie said solemnly.
"Don't worry Maizi, there will be victory, and there will be your scoring champion."
Yao Ming responded with a smile.
"Okay, okay, the game is about to start, let's get together and cheer up."
As Mark Jackson spoke, he walked to the center of the locker room and stretched out his right hand:
"In the second half, increase the intensity! Let the Thunder understand why our Rockets are number one in the league!"
"one.two.three!"
"go.rockets!!!!"
............
The timeout ends and the game continues.
At the beginning of the third quarter, the Rockets players began to increase their intensity just as Mark Jackson arranged!
To this end, they adjusted the starting lineup and replaced George with Tony Allen.
The appearance of Teacher Tony directly became the beginning of Durant's nightmare!
In the first half of the game, the Rockets basically used George and Danny Green to defend the coach.
Both of these two defenders are good, but both are defenders who are more skillful than aggressive.
But Tony Allen is different.
His defense is full of physical confrontation, like a piece of dog-skin plaster that sticks to the opponent's body!
In the first round of the third quarter, Teacher Tony rushed towards Durant with a "dance of joy".
His exaggerated body language is like a demonstration to Xiaoshuai!
But Durant wasn't timid.
He still dropped to the low position, opened his hand and started to ask for the ball.
But when Westbrook lobbed the ball, Tony Allen behind him suddenly took a step forward, jumped high, and destroyed the pass!
Curry has quick eyes and quick hands. He controlled the ball immediately and launched a counterattack.
During the fast break, Tracy McGrady came in from the right side at high speed.
After receiving Curry's pass, he took up his long legs and ran straight to the Thunder's inside line.
Ibaka quickly returned to defense and stayed in the three-second zone.
Seeing this, t-mac speeded up again and jumped into the air to face his opponent.
"Bang~"
The two had a physical confrontation in the air.
One is a shooting guard and the other is a power forward.
But McGrady relied on his sprinting momentum and his strong core strength to survive the confrontation!
After bouncing Ibaka away, he relaxed his arms and sent the ball into the basket with a light shot.
"Beep!"
The whistle then sounded.
t-mac scored two points and had to add a penalty!
After a steady hit from the extra penalty, the score reached 69:66.
The Rockets regain the lead!
Offense and defense transition.
Tony Allen began to press Durant closely from the Thunder's half.
During this period, he also said a few rubbish words from time to time.
It can be clearly seen that Durant's expression is already a little impatient.
Thunder offense.
With the help of the pick-and-roll, Westbrook broke through to the free throw line, stopped for a zombie jumper...
Blacksmithing!
Griffin jumped high and collected the rebound.
But just as he was about to pass the ball to Curry, he found that Westbrook was already blocking him in the middle.
Griffin turned around and looked for McGrady again. Sefolosha was already in place.
Looking for George again also failed.
Griffin gritted his teeth and simply dribbled the ball forward.
In fact, Lifen's ball control skills are very good at the power forward position.
His ability to protect the ball is very strong, he is rarely intercepted, and he can perform some tricks from time to time.
It's just that there are too many people in the Rockets who can push forward, and Griffin has never been able to perform.
This time, it is a rare opportunity.
Griffin rushed towards the Thunder half court like a bull!