The basketball flew into the net and turned the net upside down.
8:5, the Rockets continue to lead!
After scoring the goal, George still kept following the shot and kept looking at KD's position.
Instead of being angry, Durant nodded to Paul George, as if in recognition of the wonderful three-pointer just now.
Maddie was also very happy. She ran to her little brother with a smile and reached out to stroke George's crew cut a few times.
"Not bad, not bad, very sultry."
t-mac joked.
George smiled down, still a little shy.
The game continues.
Durant did not give up and continued to attack.
But this time, he did not choose to hold the ball from the outside and hit hard. Instead, he relied on the cover of his teammates to reach outside the three-point line and make a successful jump shot.
At 8:8, the Thunder tied the score again.
"Durant made three out of three shots as soon as he came up and scored 8 points! Is this the strength of the strongest scorer of the younger generation?!"
Yu Jia commented.
At this time, the Rockets coaching bench.
Mark Jackson stretched out his hands and made a gesture.
The players on the field immediately understood that this was asking them to adopt a double-teaming tactic.
George was not happy about this.
He never imagined that his single defense would fail at the beginning of the game.
[It seems that we still cannot underestimate the heroes of the world...]
George thought so.
............
At the same time, Shen Fei, who was far away in Houston, was following the game in real time through the TV in the general manager's office.
Next to him sat the Rockets' new signing, Brandon Roy.
Shen Fei specially invited Huang Mamba to watch the game together today.
After all, he has already accumulated 500 reputation points. As long as the Rockets win five more games, the Asian young man can buy [Holy Light Treatment] again to treat Roy.
Today, Shen Fei wanted to take advantage of the opportunity of watching football together to have some communication with Roy.
"Brandon, what do you think of George?"
Shen Fei asked casually.
"Paul's talent is very high. But this is only his first year. It's too early for him to deal with Durant now."
"However, I can see that he is very high-spirited and will not be afraid of confronting powerful opponents. This is very important."
Roy analyzed carefully.
"Well, you have roughly the same idea as me."
"Actually, I take this game very seriously."
"Durant, Westbook, and Harden will all grow into superstars in the future. Therefore, the Thunder may not be a stumbling block on our way to the championship this year. But in the future, if we want to break out of the Western Conference, we will have to
You have to get through them."
"Among them, the most difficult one to deal with is Durant."
Shen Fei said lightly.
Although the system only issued him the task of winning this season, Shen Fei has always been an extremely ambitious person.
Now that he has become a professional manager, he wants to take the Rockets to a higher level - to build a dynasty!
In the next few years, Shen Fei believes that there are three teams that will be the most competitive - the Heat, the Spurs and the Thunder.
Among them, the Thunder is the most variable team.
In the original space, the detonators, led by Presti, chose to trade Harden in order to save money.
But if they don't make mistakes and keep these young Big Three, then once the three young players with MVP potential grow up, the Thunder will definitely become a very scary team.!
And Shen Fei is a perfectionist and likes to minimize risks.
The Rockets he wants to build must be able to defeat the Thunder in the "ideal state"!
So, how to restrict the Thunder's three young players, especially Durant, has become a big problem.
"It's impossible to completely prevent him, we can only limit him as much as possible."
"George may not be able to guard him now, but with his talent and diligence, he may be able to compete with Durant in the future."
"And we have other defensive heroes on the team, such as Tony Allen and PJ Tucker. I think these two are very suitable for guarding KD."
Roy replied.
When Shen Fei heard this, he couldn't help but nodded.
Roy is worthy of being an All-Star player, and he does have a unique vision.
When Shen Fei signed these two players from the free agent market during the offseason, they considered that the Rockets would face super giant small forwards like Durant and James in the future.
Therefore, flank defense becomes even more important.
Among the two, Tony Allen's defense against "young" Durant is outstanding!
Shen Fei believes that once Paul George's defense fails, Mark Jackson will replace Mr. Tony on the field.
After all, once KD's performance can be restricted, the Rockets' probability of winning this game will be greatly improved!
............
Sure enough, while Shen Fei and Roy were talking, Durant still succeeded frequently under George's defense.
When KD feels hot, even double teams cannot stop him.
Several times when Lowry had just arrived to help defend, Durant had already chosen to force the shot and still hit it.
In just 5 minutes of the first quarter, he scored as many as 15 points alone, and his explosive scoring power was terrifying!
Mark Jackson had no choice but to send Tony Allen on the court in advance and replace Lowry; he also replaced Yao Ming with Tucker to improve the team's defensive mobility.
"With this lineup, the Rockets may want Tracy McGrady to play point guard."
Yang Yi commented timely.
If you ask Tracy McGrady, what have you gained from these two years of wandering?
t-mac may answer-organizational ability.
With the loss of physical functions, McGrady is unable to break through and finish as he did in the past. He can only rely on the vision brought by his static talent to create opportunities for his teammates.
Now that he has returned to his peak form, he still has good organizational skills, and he is more than enough to serve as a point guard.
"Also, have you noticed that the Rockets' current lineup is very average in height."
"Tracy McGrady, Tony Allen, Paul George, Griffin, and Tucker are all about two meters tall. This is a bit like the 'Magic Calculator' - the 'ultimate basketball' lineup called by Pat Riley. !”
Yu Jia added.
The so-called ultimate basketball lineup was proposed by current Heat general manager Riley.
To put it simply, it means placing five players with a height of about 2.05 meters.
A player of this height not only has enough size to protect the frame, but also maintains mobility to deal with the opponent's perimeter.
The most important thing is...you can play unlimited defense changes!
In this way, all pick-and-roll attacks can be rendered ineffective!
“I don’t know what kind of effect the Rockets’ version of Ultimate Basketball will have, let’s wait and see!”
Yu Jia said excitedly.
............
The game continues.
After Tony Allen came on the court, he immediately began to closely mark Durant.
His defense was extremely aggressive, and he began to circle around KD from the backcourt.
Moreover, Tony Allen's defensive style is very different from George's, which also made it difficult for Durant to adapt.
In the first round, kd barely received a pass from his teammate after a series of physical confrontations.
But his hasty shot failed to hit due to Allen's interference.
In the second round, Durant did not believe in evil and continued to challenge Tony Allen.
This time, he chose to play singles with the ball on the outside.
Unfortunately, although Durant has rare ball-handling skills for a small forward, his height of nearly 2.10 meters determines that his center of gravity must be high.
Under Tony Allen's close combat, KD made a mistake and was directly intercepted by the former.
The unsuccessful attacks in these two rounds also gave the Rockets an opportunity to switch offense.
During the fast break, Tracy McGrady fired cold arrows one after another, broke through the inside line one after another, and scored 5 consecutive points in a short period of time, helping the Rockets open the score in one fell swoop.
At the critical moment, another core member of the Thunder team stepped forward!
"Kevin, take a break. Leave the rest to me!"
The one who spoke was none other than Turtle—Westbrook!