Chapter 439 Warming up for Stephen, the dream starts with a thunderous thunder!
Shen Fei arrived at his exclusive box early.
After today's game, he planned to go to the locker room to see the players and inform the Arab League about their "eight-of-a-kind revelation".
With the successful experience last time, Shen Fei was sure that Yi Jianlian would not refuse.
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but look at the Rockets' bench.
Yi Jianlian was chatting and laughing with Jeremy Lin.
Lori on the side also said a few words from time to time.
It can be seen that Chinese players have integrated well into the Rockets.
Shen Fei has never seen the so-called discrimination against Asians.
This is partly due to the existence of the "great god" Shen Fei, but also to the fact that the players themselves are very strong.
Needless to say, Yao Ming is on the best first team.
Jeremy Lin has gradually become the second point guard in the team, and Yi Jianlian can also provide stable firepower on the bench.
At the same time, several Rockets starting players were doing their final warm-ups on the court.
Shen Fei immediately saw Curry shooting a long three-pointer in the tunnel.
You won’t know if you don’t look at it, but you will be shocked when you look at it.
Curry actually hit 5 super long three-pointers in a row!
"Take it easy..."
Shen Fei couldn't help but think of something and murmured.
............
CCTV will naturally not miss the Rockets game.
Today, Su Qun and Yang Jian came to Toyota Center together to commentate on the game together.
At this time, the two were doing warm-ups before the game.
"Hello dear viewers, TV5 is broadcasting the NBA playoffs for you!"
"What we bring to you today is the game between the Houston Rockets and the Oklahoma City Thunder."
"I'm Yang Jian!"
"Hello everyone, I'm Su Qun."
"Director Su, can you briefly analyze this game for us?"
Yang Jian asked.
"no problem!"
"The Rockets won the first meeting between the two teams two days ago very easily."
"But in that game, the Thunder's three young players - Durant, Westbrook, and Harden all performed very well. I didn't have a good way to deal with this."
"Especially Durant. Whether it's George or Tucker, the restriction effect on him is relatively average."
"Of course, there is a restriction on this sentence, which is when Durant's physical fitness is acceptable in the first three quarters."
"So in my opinion, if the Thunder wants to change the situation, the first thing is that other players must step up and help the three young players share the pressure. Let Durant have time to rest and maintain his condition in the fourth quarter."
Su Qun talked eloquently.
"Your analysis makes sense, but I feel that this is not realistic for the current Thunder team."
"Durant, Westbrook, Harden, and Ibaka, these four young people are young, capable, and get paid less."
"But the Thunder management did not make good use of this contract bonus period. The team is full of high-paid and incompetent players, and it is difficult to count on them."
"I think if the Thunder want to win, these four people need to perform together, or even perform exceptionally together!"
Yang Jian also expressed his thoughts.
"This may be the disadvantage of a small ball market."
"I took a look and found that the two highest-paid players in the Thunder are Nick Collison with $13.25 million and Nazr Mohammed with $6.88 million, but neither of them are core players."
"Their entire team's total salary is only US$55.91 million, while the Rockets' total salary is US$72.31 million."
Zhang Weiping introduced it while flipping through the materials in his hand.
"Just looking at the book, the Thunder are indeed at a disadvantage, but a young team can always give people unlimited illusions, let alone a team as talented as the Thunder!"
"Okay, now the game is about to start, let's turn the camera to the court!"
After that, Yang Jian waved his hand, and the screen turned and he came to the center of the stadium.
At this time, all starting players from both sides have taken the field.
In this game, the Thunder still chose to put Harden on the bench, and the starting lineup was: Westbrook, Sefolosha, Durant, Ibaka, and Perkins.
The Rockets have the regular starting lineup: Curry, McGrady, George, Griffin and Yao Ming.
As the referee throws the ball high, the game officially begins!
............
Ibaka jumped up hard and unexpectedly won the duel with Yao Ming.
Thunder strikes first!
Westbrook advanced with the ball and came to the top of the arc to organize.
Soon, Durant used the cover of his teammates to step out and catch the ball at a 45-degree angle on the right side.
George rushed over, his center of gravity sank, and he assumed a standard defensive posture.
Unexpectedly, Durant didn't make any unnecessary moves and just pulled out his hand against Pickle's defense...
"Shua~"
The basketball hits the net!
3:0, Thunder takes the lead!
"Wow, Durant played very resolutely today. George actually didn't lose his position on this ball. He didn't expect that KD would play so resolutely in the first attack..."
Yang Jian commented timely.
The game continues, the Rockets attack.
Curry hit the ground pass to Yao Ming in the low post.
After Dayao caught the ball, he started to beat Perkins on his back.
Perkins is a tough guy.
He is not good at anything else, but he is good at guarding the center!
Even Yao Ming had a hard time playing behind Perkins.
After finally opening up some space, Dayao turned around and threw the ball with a small hook...
But the next moment, a group photo appeared, and the ball flew out of the baseline with a palm slap!
This person is naturally the Thunder's interior defensive pillar-Ibaka.
After completing the block, he excitedly high-fived Perkins to celebrate.
After seeing the defensive round just now, Shen Fei in the stands immediately realized that the Thunder were well prepared today!
Use a meat shield center to defend, and then let the power forward with excellent jumping block the shot from behind...
This is a classic tactic for defending a super center.
As far away as the Celtics against Chamberlain, as close as the Pistons' double Wallace against Shaquille O'Neal, this tactic is one of the few defensive methods that can limit super centers.
Of course, this kind of defense requires a blue-collar man who can carry it, and a power forward who can "fly".
Rockets serve from the baseline.
Through deft movement, Curry got rid of Westbrook's defense and caught the ball outside the three-point line.
Westbrook struggled to catch up, but Curry's shot was too fast, and he could only watch the ball and sigh...
"Duang!"
The ball hit the front edge of the basket and bounced out.
Perkins blocked Yao Ming, Ibaka jumped high, collected the rebound, and handed the ball to Westbrook.
After the Turtle got the ball, he immediately accelerated and rushed straight into the heart of the Rockets.
During the march, he first turned and passed Curry, and then suddenly changed his tactics just before the layup, using a behind-the-head pass to find Sefolosha who was following up.
The Swiss Army Knife faced an empty basket and dunked easily!
5:0, the Thunder got off to a good start.
After scoring the goal, Sefolosha looked up to the sky and screamed.
In the first game between the two teams, Sefolosha was not only "ravaged" by Tracy McGrady on the defensive end, but he also made no achievements on the offensive end.
He played for 25 minutes and only scored one point on free throws.
After the game, Sefolosha was trolled on social platforms by some extreme Thunder fans.
Even under some pictures of his family on Instagram, there are a lot of dirty words.
The overwhelmed Swiss Army Knife could only shut down all social media and seek inner peace.
Tonight, Sefolosha knew that there was no way out and could only fight hard!
He knows that he cannot influence the situation of the battle with his own abilities, and all he can do is try his best!
Curry, who arrived late, shook his head slightly.
The open three-pointer just now was a sure thing for him, but in the end it failed.
Five points here, inside and outside, is a bit demoralizing.
But after Curry was briefly frustrated, he quickly adjusted his mentality and returned to the game.
Rockets offense.
Curry and George played a pick-and-roll at the top of the arc.
With the help of the screen, Meng Shen successfully got rid of Westbrook's defense.
Then he changed direction and passed Durant, even staggering the latter!
Just like that, Curry broke through all the way to the free throw line.
At this time, one of the two Thunder insiders was fighting with Yao Ming, and the other was worried about Griffin's alley-oop dunk and did not dare to act rashly. No one stepped forward to help Westbrook defend!
Curry was also stunned for a moment when he saw this.
After entering the league for nearly two years, it is very rare for him to be directly released.
Curry immediately collected the ball, stopped mid-range and shot...
"Duang!"
The ball hit the front edge of the basket again and bounced out.
Ibaka was originally preparing to serve from the baseline, but found an unexpected surprise and immediately jumped to protect the rebound.
Thunder's counterattack strikes again!
This time it was Durant dribbling forward.
KD stepped up his long legs and rushed towards the Rockets half court at full speed. His speed was no less than that of an ordinary defender.
George has been defending beside him, following Durant all the way to one meter outside the three-point line.
At this time, Durant suddenly braked hard and pulled the ball back with his crotch.
George didn't react in time and leaned forward and took two more steps.
By the time he adjusted his center of gravity, Durant had already collected the ball and shot!
The basketball left his fingertips and spun at high speed, drawing a beautiful arc in the air...
"Shua~"
Hollow into the net!
8:0.
The Thunder's start is a dream!
On the sidelines, Mark Jackson frowned slightly, hesitating whether to call a timeout.
After a battle between heaven and man, he chose to let the players on the court solve the problem themselves.
The person who solves the problem is naturally the absolute core of the Rockets - Tracy McGrady!
After the transition between offense and defense, t-mac dropped directly to the low post and began to get stuck in the position to get the ball.
Defending him was the Swiss Army Knife of Sefolosha.
Sefolosha knew that he was not as talented as McGrady, so he was eager to use physical confrontation to affect the latter's rhythm.
Before catching the ball, he kept harassing McGrady with small moves.
The referee stood not far from them and was observing.
I have to say that Sefolosha's control of scale is very good.
Although he kept making small moves, there were no obvious foul moves.
In addition, McGrady's reaction was dull and he did not make any complaint to the referee, so the referee did not call the penalty in the end.
Curry waited until McGrady was completely stuck before passing the ball.
After catching the ball, McGrady shook his shoulder to the left, then quickly dropped the ball and turned to the right.
In an instant, Sefolosha was thrown away.
Not long after he pounced, Tracy McGrady was already flying into the air!
t-mac dances effortlessly, moving as light as a cat.
But with just such a slight jump, he reached a height that was beyond Sefolosha's reach.
No matter how hard the latter jumped, the height that his fingertips could reach was only McGrady's elbow.
"Shua~"
The basketball hits the net!
8:2, Rockets finally opened!
After changing sides and fighting again, Westbrook charged towards the Rockets penalty area.
He accelerated past Curry's defense and went straight to the basket.
But Yao Ming has been waiting in the penalty area for a long time.
Westbrook moved forward bravely, took three big steps and soared into the air, with only the basket in his eyes.
"Bang..."
With a muffled sound, the two collided in the air, like a train hitting a city wall!
Westbrook was hit so hard that he lost his center of gravity and could only throw the ball casually.
The basketball hit the upper part of the backboard randomly and didn't even touch the basket after rebounding.
But the referee's whistle sounded at this moment...
"Beep!"
Yao Ming blocked the foul!
After hearing the penalty, Dayao was shocked.
"Referee, I took off vertically, and I was in the reasonable collision area. There is no way I could have committed a foul!"
Yao Ming quickly explained.
The referee looked embarrassed.
Just now, Westbrook's breakthrough speed was extremely fast. His line of sight was blocked by a Rockets player, and then he saw Westbrook being bounced away...
So the referee didn't think much and called a blocking foul.
But there were no "challenge" rules at this time, so Yao Ming had no choice but to suffer this dumb loss.
When Westbrook stepped to the free throw line, the fans at Toyota Center shouted in unison:
“referee.sucks!”
“referee.sucks!”
“referee.sucks!”
...
Westbrook smiled slightly as he listened to the boos, took the basketball from the referee and made two free throws.
10:2, the Thunder continued to lead.
In the stands, Shen Fei watched the game calmly.
Although the Thunder's opening three strikes were fierce, he was not too worried.
Because of the previous few attacks, the Rockets actually created good opportunities.
It's a pity that Curry didn't feel well today and has already missed two must-goals, which resulted in the lagging situation.
[You can’t be wrong for a whole scene, right?]
Shen Fei didn't believe it at all.
............
As the game progressed, Shen Fei had to start to believe it.
In the first quarter of the game, Curry played for 7 minutes and took 5 shots in total, but all of them missed!
It can be said that this is the worst game he has played since joining the Rockets.
What's even more outrageous is that such a dismal shooting percentage is not due to how well the Thunder defended him.
On the contrary, Westbrook often loses focus when defending without the ball, giving Curry, who is good at running without the ball, many opportunities for easy shots.
But even those shots that Curry usually made with great success were all rejected by the basket today!
When Mark Jackson replaced him, Curry lowered his head and shook his head.
In contrast, the two Thunder players felt hot tonight!
Durant hit all of his first four shots.
Whether the defender in front of him is George, Griffin or McGrady, he has a variety of ways to get the ball into the basket.
Although Westbrook's shooting percentage was less than 50%, he used breakthroughs again and again to kill the Rockets' inside line.
Just halfway through the first quarter, Yao Ming received his second foul and had to take a rest.
After that, Oden went into battle and was fouled twice by Westbrook in less than three minutes.
The Emperor stared with innocent eyes and walked back to the bench sadly.
When he came off the court, he looked up at the scoreboard - at 20:29, the Rockets were 9 points behind.
Oden scratched his head. Since he joined the Rockets, there have been only a handful of times when the team fell behind in the first quarter.
On the sidelines, Mark Jackson changed his formation again.
With a wave of his hand, he directly formed the "ultimate basketball lineup" - Tracy McGrady, George, Danny Green, Tucker, and Ben!