Harden carried the ball through half the court and came to the top of the arc to organize.
Cook started running from the bottom corner on the right, and finally came out from a 45-degree angle on the left.
On the way, Collison and Perkins set up pick-and-rolls for him, helping Cook successfully get rid of George's defense.
Harden's pass also came from man to ball, allowing Cook who ran out of space to receive the basketball immediately.
Cook catches the ball and shoots. The basketball leaves his fingertips and spins at high speed, drawing a beautiful arc in the air...
"Shua~"
Hollow into the net!
39:33, this three-pointer can be said to stop the bleeding for the Thunder!
In the transition between offense and defense, McGrady used an explosive first step to get past Sefolosha, and then strode straight to the basket.
At the same time, Danny Green and Tucker were in the corners on the left and right sides respectively.
George is also at the top of the arc ready to catch the ball.
Only Ben stayed under the basket, so the space under the basket was very wide.
As for the Thunder, except for Perkins, the other players did not dare to shrink the interior frame protection.
McGrady saw this, took three steps very calmly, and directly challenged Perkins.
Perkins is a heavy center.
Let him guard the opponent's center and he can do a good job.
But asking Perkins to protect the frame is somewhat overwhelming.
Looking at the menacing Tracy McGrady, Perkins could only grit his teeth, raise his hands high, and jump hard.
But McGrady jumped and reached a height that was difficult for Perkins to reach.
The latter only felt his eyes go dark, and the next moment he heard a "bang" sound.
McGrady showed no mercy and dunked Perkins directly!
39:35.
After the ball was scored, the scene was silent for a brief second, and then deafening cheers broke out:
"wow~"
"omg!!! What did I see..."
"Poor Perkins, he was knocked to the ground like this. Do you want me to call 120 for him?"
...
While the fans were going crazy for this wonderful dunk, McGrady smiled slightly and had already retreated to his own half, ready to defend.
Since breaking the "first round curse", t-mac's mentality has undergone subtle changes.
He no longer pursues statistics so much, nor does he get too excited about completing a difficult goal.
McGrady now has clear goals and a peaceful mind.
The only thing that makes him anxious is the outcome of the game!
The other side of the field.
Harden and Collison each pulled Perkins up with one hand.
At this time, Perkins' brows looked three-quarters lonely, three-quarters angry, and four-quarters helpless.
My face, which was already dark, is now even darker!
"It's okay, you've done your best."
Collison spoke to comfort him.
Perkins shook his head, did not respond, and just ran to the frontcourt silently.
Changing sides and fighting again, Harden once again launched an attack.
He first used the screen to rush to the free throw line, and then passed the ball to Cook on the outside.
George reacted quickly and immediately put the defense in place, blocking Cook.
Seeing that there was no chance to shoot, Cook passed the ball to Sefolosha on the baseline.
After Rui Shi Saber caught the ball, he looked up at the timer.
Seeing that there were only 7 seconds left in the attack time, he decisively chose to solve the problem by himself.
Sefolosha switched to back-up dribbling and began to rely on Danny Green.
After two hits, he made a right turn with a shoulder shake, then turned over and shot a fadeaway jumper...
Green did not lose his position, leaped high, and sealed the fingertips of Sefolosha.
The basketball was lightly touched by Green, and then missed.
Tucker jumped slightly and collected the rebound.
But just when he was about to pass the ball to McGrady, a pair of black hands suddenly stretched out from behind him and grabbed the basketball.
The next moment, Tucker felt a huge force coming from the basketball, almost throwing him away.
The owner of these black hands is Perkins, who was dunked not long ago.
He worked hard, as if he was pouring out the anger in his heart on Tucker.
But even though Tucker was "sneak-attacked", his hands were always firmly on the basketball.
Perkins gritted his teeth, combined his waist and horse and exerted force again, actually throwing Tucker's feet off the ground.
Tucker, who lost his center of gravity, finally lost control of the basketball.
After Perkins succeeded in "robbery", he immediately took off under the basket, preparing to regain the court with a dunk.
Seeing the basket getting closer, Perkins couldn't help but raise the corners of his mouth slightly.
But the next moment, Ben came out of nowhere and slapped Perkins to the ground with a slap from behind.
"Bang~"
There was a muffled sound, and the sound of the human body colliding violently with the wooden floor was somewhat intrusive.
But Ben showed no mercy at all. He immediately controlled the ball, and then with a big wave of his hand, he threw the ball to George who was about to play.
When Harden saw this, he jumped back and chased after him.
During this period, Brother Deng was still relatively light and his speed was above average for the back line.
He managed to catch George near the free throw line.
But as soon as the two reached a level position, Paojiao actively sought physical contact, knocking Harden staggering.
Harden's center of gravity was unstable and he staggered toward the baseline.
But when George collected the ball and prepared for a layup, Harden casually reached behind him with his right hand...
The next moment, a scene that surprised the fans happened.
Harden's "look back" seemed to have eyes in the back of his head, and it hit George's ball accurately.
After the basketball was knocked down, it happened to land on the instep of Pickle Pepper, and was kicked out of bounds by him...
Thunder ball rights!
Two CCTV commentators were shocked by Harden's actions and couldn't help but comment.
Su Qun said: "Well... I have been watching football for so many years. I have seen no-look-pass, passing the ball without watching people, and I have also seen Kobe's no-pass-look (watching people without passing the ball), but not
This is the first time I’ve seen someone take out a ball.”
Yang Jian couldn't help but smile and added: "And this steal is inexplicably a bit joyful! Harden actually completed the steal easily and made George make a mistake."
George, who made a mistake, looked at his hands and then at Harden who was not far away, feeling somewhat confused.
To be honest, Pickle Pepper still doesn’t know how Harden cut the ball.
[I have clearly clicked him away with secret force.]
George thought to himself.
............
Thunder serves.
Harden dribbled through half court and then signaled Perkins to come out for a pick-and-roll.
Naturally, Ben followed Perkins to the outside line.
"Look at this posture, Harden is going to continue to name Ben Wallace?!"
Su Qun said with some surprise.
As soon as he finished speaking, Harden used the pick-and-roll to replace the defender in front of him with Ben Wallace.
Ben didn't get used to him either, and immediately started to press closely after changing defense.
But this time Harden's center of gravity sank, he changed direction with a cross step, and instantly got rid of the defensive Ben Wallace.
After completing the pass, Brother Deng accelerated towards the Rockets restricted area.
After reaching the free throw line, he raised the ball with both hands and placed it near his knees.
When Tucker moved to the three-second zone to prepare for defense, Harden suddenly raised his hand...
"Snapped!"
There was a crisp sound, and the two people's arms came into close contact.
"Beep!"
The referee immediately blew the whistle and Tucker committed a defensive foul.
But it's not over yet!
Harden relied on his strong upper body strength to still complete the layup after contact.
Since it is a continuous action, the two points for the layup also count!
"andone!"
After scoring, Harden roared excitedly.
Tucker, on the other hand, held his head in his hands, looking shocked.
He obviously didn't make any downward movement with his hand, but somehow it hit Harden's hand...
"No, referee, that's not right!"
"It was Harden who hit my hand just now!"
Tucker reacted and immediately complained to the referee.
The referee was stunned when he heard this.
After so many years of law enforcement, this was the first time he heard the saying "offensive players hit defensive players' hands".
This was clearly beyond the referee's scope, so he ignored Tucker's complaint.
Tucker had no way to complain and could only look at his teammates around him for help.
Rookies like Green and George are also confused.
Maddie frowned slightly. He saw some clues, but he was not sure.
And Ben Wallace was just behind Harden, so he didn't see the latter's movements clearly.
Tucker had no choice but to swallow this bitter pill.
However, when Harden stepped to the free throw line, the big screen at the scene began to play the slow motion of the foul just now.
The next moment, the fans quit!
Deafening boos echoed throughout the audience.
The referee was confused and looked up at the big screen, only to realize what had just happened.
He immediately found a linesman to talk to.
"What do you think of this kind of ball?"
the referee asked.
"Harden did deliberately go for Tucker's arm, but for this kind of ball... there seems to be no problem with calling a defensive foul."
The linesman replied.
"Well, I have similar thoughts."
"According to the rules, offensive players are protected. If Tucker's hand does hit Harden's hand, it will be a defensive foul, no problem!"
The referee nodded and said.
The two referees reached a consensus, and Harden also made the extra penalty despite the boos from the sky.
A minute later, a similar situation happened again.
Harden used a beautiful crossover to pass Ben Wallace and hit the inside again.
This time, it was Tracy McGrady who made up the defense.
Just as T-MAC was preparing to defend the penalty area, Harden suddenly raised his arm and completed a layup while clamping McGrady's arm...
Missed!
But the referee's whistle sounded again - McGrady committed a defensive foul.
Now t-mac can see it clearly.
Harden is in trouble!
However, McGrady did not rush, but calmly walked to the referee, bent down, and whispered:
"He just took the initiative to find my hand. Does this count as a foul on my part?"
When the referee saw that it was McGrady who was asking, he patiently explained: "Harden's lifting movement is a little unnatural, but the rules don't say that you can't use this posture to come up."
"So I'm going to avoid his hands, right?"
Maddie asked.
The referee was stunned when he heard this and was speechless.
Maddie did not receive a satisfactory answer, and the smile on her face gradually disappeared.
The on-site director immediately started replaying the foul round just now.
Now the fans are completely angry!
When Harden stepped to the free throw line, there was a uniform cry:
“referee.sucks!”
“referee.sucks!”
“referee.sucks!”
............
In the box, Shen Fei shook his head.
He didn't expect that Harden would use "drawing fouls" as a conventional weapon so much earlier than the original time and space.
This technology will undoubtedly greatly improve Harden's scoring ability in a short period of time.
But at the same time, "drawing fouls" is also a double-edged sword and will become a shackles for Harden at critical moments.
In his previous life, Shen Fei witnessed many times that Harden was obsessed with drawing fouls at critical moments, and ultimately delayed the opportunity, leading to the team's defeat.
Of course, given the Thunder's current situation, Harden's ability to draw fouls will definitely be beneficial to the team.
Moreover, the league currently doesn’t know much about the arm-arm layup, and this trick is still in its welfare period.
Harden's success rate in using it to draw fouls should be quite high.
However, Shen Fei is still very confident in the Rockets.
He believes that a team that aims to win the championship cannot be defeated by such trivial tricks.
............
Harden walks to the free throw line.
After he made the first free throw, Mark Jackson made substitution adjustments.
Curry, Roy, and Yao Ming all appeared.
The Rockets' lineup becomes: Curry, Roy, Tracy McGrady, Tucker, and Yao Ming.
Soon, Harden hit the second free throw, the score became 44:35, and the point difference returned to 9 points again.
However, even though the score difference was large, the Rockets generals were not too anxious and remained very calm.
In transition between offense and defense, Curry passed half court with the ball.
McGrady dropped directly to the low post and began to get stuck in for the ball.
Sefolosha, who was guarding him, lowered his center of gravity and kept using secret force with his hands, trying to push McGrady out of the penalty area.
Curry made a lob and passed the ball.
After McGrady caught the ball, he held the ball with one hand in his right hand and raised the ball high in front of him. At the same time, he leaned back and felt the defense behind him.
Sefolosha felt that McGrady was almost lying on top of him, so he subconsciously wanted to retreat to make McGrady lose his center of gravity.
Unexpectedly, as soon as his center of gravity shifted back, McGrady followed his force and completed his turn.
T-mac's turn was wide and fast, and he passed Sefolosha cleanly.
When the latter tried to pursue him again, McGrady had already swept away with his super-fast first step, leaving only a handsome figure behind.
After arriving in the penalty area, McGrady took a step forward and then jumped off his feet.
In the air, he drew in his abdomen slightly to avoid Collison's block, and succeeded in a layup.
44:37.
In the transition between offense and defense, Harden repeated his old tricks, trying to use the screen to call out Yao Ming.
But Roy, who was guarding him, chose to squeeze through the screen.
Harden saw the right opportunity and took advantage of Roy's gap to squeeze the screen and decisively shot a three-pointer...
"Duang!"
The ball hit the side of the basket and bounced out.
Tucker collected the rebound and passed the ball to Curry beside him.
The Rockets launched a counterattack!
During the fast break, Curry used his deft dribbling to dance gracefully among the Thunder generals.
After attracting a lot of defensive attention, Meng Shen made a freehand dribble behind his back and passed the ball to Tracy McGrady who was following up.
T-mac caught the ball two meters outside the three-point line, raised his hand and hit a three-pointer!
The basketball left his fingertips and spun at high speed, drawing a beautiful arc in the air...
"Shua~"
Hollow into the net!
At 44:40, the point difference was instantly reduced to 4 points!
"Harden's foul seemed to have angered McGrady a little! During this time, McGrady's desire to attack has obviously increased, and his shots are not so 'reasonable'."
Su Qun explained with a smile.
"Yeah, even though McGrady always looks sleepy, this time when he gets angry, his momentum is completely different!"
Yang Jian added.
On the Thunder bench, Westbrook and Durant could no longer sit still.
They all looked at Brooks, waiting for the coach's call.
"Kevin, Russell!"
Brooks, who was standing on the sidelines, turned around and shouted.
Second Young Master Dewey stood up in a flash.
Young people naturally recover their physical fitness very quickly.
The two of them were so lively at the moment that no one could tell that just a few minutes ago they were panting like dogs.