After Yao Mai came on the court, Zhang Zhiyuan did not score again, but the Rockets had a 15-8 spurt.
After playing a game on the court in person, Zhang Zhiyuan felt more clearly that a player's strength and role cannot be entirely determined by data.
He just led the team to score a lot of points, but his help to the team is not as good as not scoring a single point now.
At the end of the first half, the Wizards were already 55-70, losing by 15 points.
At halftime, Van Gundy asked his players to strengthen their defense in the second half.
With the Wizards' firepower, chasing 15 points at halftime is not impossible.
If you want to win the game steadily, the best way is to slow down the pace.
Zhang Zhiyuan didn't agree with it in his heart. He preferred to attack each other.
But this is the coach's request and he can't object for the time being.
In the second half, Zhang Zhiyuan took a rest first, and Hayes came on.
This is to strengthen the protection of the backboard, and Zhang Zhiyuan did a very bad job in this regard.
When playing power forward, he averaged less than 5 rebounds per game in 30 minutes.
Shameful data.
Zhang Zhiyuan is also helpless about this. Rebounding also requires talent, which is the so-called rebounding sense.
Barkley and Rodman are not tall, but they often win the rebounding championship. This is also an inexplicable talent.
On the court, the Wizards attack.
Butler failed to break through and passed the ball to Arenas. Arenas also had no good chance and could only shoot a jumper.
The ball missed, Hayes blocked Jamison, and Yao Ming took off the rebound.
The Wizards' two inside players had no time to retreat, but Alston did not launch a fast break like he did in the first half.
He stood there, waiting for Yao Ming to throw the ball to him, and then slowly advanced with the ball.
He didn't need to advance so quickly, he had to wait for Yao Ming to get to the Wizards basket to gain position.
The Rockets will not launch an attack until Yao Ming reaches the opponent's penalty area.
By the time Yao Ming reached the penalty area, more than ten seconds had passed.
Later, Yao Ming was double-teamed. Haywood pushed him from behind, while Jamison went around in front of Yao Ming to prevent him from receiving the ball.
Hayes was left open, Alston passed the ball, and Hayes made a jump shot, but unfortunately the ball missed.
Yao Ming struggled for a while under the basket.
Zhang Zhiyuan watched in the audience and shook his head secretly.
Thanks to Yao Ming's good temper, otherwise he spent so much effort fighting for position under the basket and ended up not even touching the ball.
If it were anyone else, he would have gone crazy a long time ago.
O'Neal before him, Howard after him, and many other inside players complained about this, and even had a disagreement with the team and left the team.
The attack failed, Yao Ming and others quickly returned to defense and started another sprint.
After finally getting back to his own penalty area, Yao Ming was ready to fight.
As a result, Arenas threw a three-pointer from the outside.
The ball was scored, and Yao Ming ran lonely again.
The Rockets offense is at a slow pace again.
"Shet, why don't you go to Zhang? Hayes is too useless."
Some Rockets fans vaguely felt that the game was not as good as the first half. They didn't know the reason. They could only attribute it to Hayes' problem.
McGrady broke through and drew a foul, scoring two points steadily.
The Wizards attack, another positional battle.
Facing the Rockets' iron barrel formation, the Wizards' breakthrough was difficult.
In the end, this offense ended with Arenas' three-pointer.
The ball missed and Hayes took off the rebound.
The two teams played like this for six minutes, and the Rockets scored very little, only 8 points.
However, Van Gundy was very satisfied because the Wizards they defended only scored 9 points.
Keep this rhythm and the Rockets will win.
However, Yao Mai's physical exertion was a bit high, and Van Gundy had to substitute players to let them rest.
"Be steady."
Van Gundy gave Zhang Zhiyuan some important advice.
The rest of the Rockets are used to Van Gundy's rhythm and will not mess around. Only Zhang Zhiyuan likes to fight randomly.
"I know."
Zhang Zhiyuan reluctantly agreed.
The game continues, the Rockets attack, Zhang Zhiyuan patiently moves, looking for opportunities.
A not-so-good opportunity appeared, and Zhang Zhiyuan reached out for the ball.
Unfortunately, Alston did not pass the ball and continued to control the ball.
Zhang Zhiyuan could only continue to move, but unfortunately the opportunity did not appear again.
The opportunities for others are not very good either. Without Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady to contain the defense, it will be difficult for the other Rockets to have a chance.
Seeing that the attack time was approaching, Alston finally passed the ball to Battier. Battier had no choice but to take the shot and missed the ball.
Zhang Zhiyuan secretly breathed a sigh of relief. If Alston passed it to him, he would most likely be a blacksmith.
The Wizards counterattacked, but Arenas seemed a little tired and passed the ball to his teammates without attacking.
Daniels missed the shot.
The Rockets made a substitution, Lutherhead replaced Alston.
As a substitute, Lutherhead is not as decisive as Alston.
Seeing Zhang Zhiyuan asking for the ball again, he passed the ball over.
Zhang Zhiyuan turned around and broke through, getting to the basket for a layup.
He hadn't scored for a while, so much so that the Wizards were a little lax on his defense.
"I should have passed the ball to Xiao Zhang a long time ago. Yao Mai is not here, and Xiao Zhang is the strongest firepower."
Zhang Lili complained.
His words were recognized by many Chinese fans.
Unfortunately, the development of things did not go as everyone wished.
Zhang Zhiyuan only played three minutes, and Tracy McGrady was replaced again.
Subsequently, Zhang Zhiyuan became the second point of attack.
McGrady hit one after another in singles, but he had a good hand today and hit one after another.
For a while, there was nothing wrong with Zhang Zhiyuan.
In the third quarter, 18 to 22, the Rockets still led and won by 4 points.
After three quarters, the Rockets had won by 19 points.
The Wizards, whose mentality had collapsed, also performed poorly in the last quarter.
There were two mistakes at the beginning. The Rockets seized the opportunity and continued to widen the point difference.
After five minutes of play, the score difference reached 27 points, and the Wizards replaced the main force and surrendered.
There is no hope for this game. There is no need to waste the energy of the main core. It is better to win the next game.
The Wizards are currently ranked eighth in the Eastern Conference and have the possibility of falling out of the playoffs, so they need a reasonable strategy.
The Wizards replaced their main players, and the Rockets also replaced their main players, including Zhang Zhiyuan.
The rest of the time was a scuffle between the two teams' substitutes.
The scene was lively, but no goals were scored.
Finally, the game is over.
96 to 118, the Rockets beat their opponents by 22 points.
Arenas scored 20 points, Jamison 18 and Butler 17.
The Wizards Trident scored 55 points together.
In comparison, the Rockets' Big Three are much more powerful.
McGrady played 32 minutes and scored 28 points.
Zhang Zhiyuan played 30 minutes and scored 27 points.
Yao Ming played 28 minutes and scored 22 points and 8 rebounds.
The three giants combined for 77 points, which doesn't seem like a lot.
But it should be noted that they did not play for long today.
If the game hadn't been disrupted too early, the three of them would have scored at least 90 points today.
"Those who say Zhang will regret it can go to sleep. It is obvious that Zhang has the potential to become a superstar, and he himself knows this very well."
Smith said.
Although Zhang Zhiyuan's current performance is not stable enough, he only breaks out occasionally.
But that's enough for a rookie.
"Fortunately, the Rockets only signed him for one year, otherwise such a Big Three would be too scary."
Barkley officially called this combination the Big Three, which was regarded as recognition of Zhang Zhiyuan.
After the game, the Big Three of the Rockets instantly became a hot topic.
A team with the Big Three cannot be underestimated.
