The Rockets attack, Boozer and Kirilenko switch defenses, Boozer goes to follow Battier, and Kirilenko guards Zhang Zhiyuan.
This trick works quickly.
Although Battier also has a speed advantage over Boozer, the advantage is very small, and it is difficult to rely on this advantage to score stably.
What's more, he is now the Rockets' fourth scoring point and has few chances to take action.
Zhang Zhiyuan was severely guarded and suddenly felt very uncomfortable.
He can only keep running and looking for opportunities.
At the same time, Alston and McGrady cooperated, and then McGrady met Deron with a three-pointer.
The ball didn't go in.
There's nothing wrong with this shot. McGrady has a height advantage over Deron.
But because it didn't hit, the fans felt it was a bit wasteful.
During the transition between offense and defense, Okur took advantage of Yao Ming's rest and not playing. He beat Mutombo under the basket and successfully scored.
The Rockets counterattacked, but Alston failed to break through and passed the ball to Battier on the outside.
Battier took a mid-range shot, but Boozer jumped to interfere and the ball missed.
Then the Jazz counterattacked, and Deron squeezed Alston away and rushed to the basket to take a shot, causing Mutombo to make a defensive foul.
Deron made two free throws.
23 to 24.
The advantage that the Rockets had worked so hard to accumulate in the first quarter was completely lost in an instant.
Zhang Zhiyuan can only worry. On the defensive end, he can only focus on Kirilenko and cannot help Alston. On the offensive end, he is locked up and can only play some role in attracting defense.
In short, he was betrayed by Kirilenko.
This is obviously a huge profit for the Jazz.
After two more rounds, Van Gundy couldn't sit still and replaced Yao Ming.
As soon as Yao Ming came on the court, the situation immediately reversed.
The Rockets were attacking, and Okur couldn't guard him at the basket alone.
As a result, Boozer ran to the basket and tried to double-team and sneak attack.
In the past, he often defended Yao Ming like this, and from time to time he could sneak in and steal after Yao Ming caught the ball.
However, the situation is different now. After he double-teamed Yao Ming, Battier was left empty.
Alston passed the ball and Battier made an open shot.
In the next round, Boozer was much more honest and did not dare to let Battier go too far.
Alston passed the ball to Yao Ming, but Yao Ming hit Okur under the basket and missed.
But it's not a big problem, at least the tactical intention is out. If the Jazz don't change their strategy, the Rockets can keep playing like this.
It's impossible for Yao Ming not to score every time. His success rate against Okur in singles is quite high.
There is no problem on the offensive end, but on defense, the Rockets have nothing to do with Okur.
This guy didn't go inside, he just shot from outside the three-point line.
Zhang Zhiyuan ran over and tried to block the shot, but the height difference was too big and he couldn't block it.
The ball goes in.
There are no weak teams in the NBA. This statement is somewhat exaggerated. At least the Knicks have been really weak in the past few years.
However, there are indeed no weak teams in the playoffs.
The Jazz's lineup on paper is much worse than that of the Rockets, but the fight was back-and-forth, not empty at all.
Yao Ming had nothing to do with Okur's three-pointer, and Okur was also tortured under the basket by Yao Ming.
Yao Ming turned and hooked with one move. Okur had no choice but to pray that Yao Ming's touch was not good.
Scored two points.
During the transition between offense and defense, Okur wanted to bet on a three-pointer, but unfortunately he didn't score.
His three-point shooting percentage this season is quite high at 39%, and he also takes a lot of shots, averaging almost five per game. He is an alternative among centers.
If the Jazz's offensive rebounding can be better and there are more secondary attacks, then they can defeat the Rockets by relying on Okur's three-pointer.
Now, Okur misses, Boozer is blocked by Zhang Zhiyuan, and Yao Ming easily grabs the rebound.
The Rockets counterattacked, and the Jazz focused their attention on Yao Ming. Alston signaled for the No. 3 tactic.
McGrady understood, ran towards Zhang Zhiyuan, and helped Zhang Zhiyuan block Kirilenko. Zhang Zhiyuan received the ball and made a decisive three-pointer.
The ball goes in.
"This kind of attack is really smooth and smooth. It is much harder to defend than a simple positional attack."
Zhang Lili said.
In the past, the Rockets' offensive tactics were positional offense, which was too monotonous and made it easy for the Jazz to target defense.
But now that the Rockets have changed a lot, the Jazz suddenly feel a lot more uncomfortable.
Maybe they can work out countermeasures after the game, but now they can only rely on the players' intelligence and sense of smell to adjust themselves.
Next round, the Rockets attack.
The new Matt Halprin stared at McGrady, preventing him from cooperating with his teammates.
Zhang Zhiyuan had no help from his teammates and was locked up by Kirilenko.
The ball was in Yao Ming's hands again, Okur fouled, and Yao Ming went to the free throw line.
After making two free throws, the Jazz counterattacked and Boozer hit a mid-range jumper.
No one knows whether this was due to his poor touch or Zhang Zhiyuan's defensive interference.
In short, this credit was accepted by Zhang Zhiyuan.
Relying on the "buy up" combination of the Big Three, the Rockets defeated the Jazz in the second quarter.
They couldn't guard against the Rockets' offense, and they didn't feel good on the offensive end.
In the end, the Rockets beat their opponents 28 to 14 in the second quarter.
The score between the two teams was 33 to 52 in the first half, with the Rockets leading by 19 points.
This game actually feels like a waste of money.
Zhang Zhiyuan didn't score much in the second quarter, only 4 points. One three-pointer and two free throws.
However, Barkley gave high praise during the halftime break and even said that Zhang Zhiyuan played better in the second quarter than in the first quarter.
Such outrageous remarks naturally aroused the curiosity of fans.
Barkley explained: "He completely disrupted the Jazz's defensive system on the court. You must know that the Jazz rely on switching defenses, assisting defense and supplementary defense.
But now because Kirilenko has to guard Zhang, their original defensive system is in chaos."
"I still think he played better in the first quarter. He scored 9 points and 3 assists in just a few minutes, connecting the team."
Smith sang the opposite tune.
"But why did the Rockets only win by 5 points in the first quarter but win by 14 points in the second quarter? Why can't they win more if they play well?"
Buckley asked.
This is a very profound question. There are so many factors that affect the outcome of basketball that there is no completely correct explanation.
Although the two guys have differences, they also agree that Zhang Zhiyuan played an important role.
Therefore, with his presence, the originally even game became one-sided.
Even ordinary fans can see some of this effect.
"Damn, my brother Zhang is so strong?"
"As expected, he is one of the three giants. There is nothing wrong with this title."
"Hey, luckily I bought 100 yuan for the Rockets to win the championship. It seems that the Rockets really have hope this year."
...
The Rockets entered the second half with a huge advantage, but the game soon told them not to win the game easily.
After falling behind by 19 points, the Jazz played more tenaciously and fought for every ball.
Every time there was an offensive rebound, there were two or three Jazz players fighting for it, and even guard Deron went over to join in the fun.
The second half lasted for 4 minutes, and the two teams were extremely anxious going back and forth. Van Gundy replaced Zhang Zhiyuan, hoping that he could help the team open up the situation like he did in the first half.
However, Jerry Sloan had already made adjustments during the halftime break.
When the Rockets attack, Kirilenko still defends Zhang Zhiyuan.
But after Zhang Zhiyuan and his teammates covered the pick-and-roll, Kirilenko did not pursue him anymore, but chose to switch defense.
The person who fell in front of Zhang Zhiyuan became Matt Halprin.
This is Jerry Sloan's adjustment. He no longer insists on guarding Zhang Zhiyuan, but restores the team's defensive system.
This would give Zhang Zhiyuan a chance. When the ball came into Zhang Zhiyuan's hands, Zhang Zhiyuan made a fake shot and then started a breakthrough. Unfortunately, Halprin was not fooled.
In the end, Zhang Zhiyuan reluctantly took the shot and missed the ball.
Jerry Sloan was very upset at this time and regretted his defensive strategy in the first half. He paid too much attention to Zhang Zhiyuan and forgot that Yao Mai was the biggest threat.
As for Zhang Zhiyuan, he can definitely be dealt with by switching defenses.
Even if this will give Zhang Zhiyuan a chance to play out of position, the problem is that Zhang Zhiyuan's advantage against Halprin and Boozer may not be that big.
At least, it's definitely not as big as Yao Ming's advantage at the basket.
If Zhang Zhiyuan takes more shots, Yao Ming will take fewer shots, which is not a big loss.
To put it bluntly, Jerry Sloan was intimidated by Zhang Zhiyuan's 9 points and 3 assists in the first quarter and overreacted.
The Jazz counterattacked and scored.
It was time for the Rockets to attack again, and Zhang Zhiyuan also vaguely noticed that something was wrong, but it was difficult for him to think of what went wrong for a while, and he could only rely on experience and intuition to make adjustments.
He tried to play a pick-and-roll with Alston, but unfortunately he failed. Deron defended very well.
The tactics failed and the Rockets fell into a positional battle. The ball was in Yao Ming's hands and Yao Ming missed the shot.
The Jazz counterattacked but failed to score.
When the Rockets attack, Zhang Zhiyuan once again gets a mismatch opportunity and can beat Boozer alone.
Unfortunately, Boozer had already learned more about Zhang Zhiyuan at this time. Although it still seemed difficult to defend, Zhang Zhiyuan's fight was equally difficult.
He reluctantly took the shot again, but failed again.
Barkley and Smith were silent, and they complained bitterly about Zhang Zhiyuan, this cheater.
The two of them praised them too much just now, but in the second half, Zhang Zhiyuan came up with two consecutive irons. This was not a blacksmith, it was clearly a slap in the face of both of them.
In the next round, Zhang Zhiyuan finally broke through Boozer and scored a layup.
But Jerry Sloan was not panicked at all, and was even a little happy.
He scored 2 points on 1 of 3 shots, which was totally acceptable. He wished Zhang Zhiyuan could make more shots.
Zhang Zhiyuan also realized that it was not good to play like this, but he couldn't give up if he was given the opportunity to beat Boozer, otherwise how could he force the Jazz to make adjustments.
Next, Zhang Zhiyuan made two more shots, hitting one of the two shots. The efficiency seemed pretty good.
But he didn't know that his continuous shots had affected the team.
For the sake of the championship, McGrady can tolerate being on an equal footing with Zhang Zhiyuan, and together they can become the Big Three in the eyes of the fans.
But he couldn't tolerate Zhang Zhiyuan taking more shots than him, and he couldn't accept his status as the third leader.
A ring that cannot win championships with a core position is meaningless for an All-Star starter like him.
Steve Kerr also won three rings with Jordan, but no one would think that Kerr is better than Barkley.
Afterwards, McGrady began to frequently ask for the ball, making his presence felt.
He also chose to take action on some opportunities that were obviously not very good, and struck gold one after another.
From the perspective of pseudo-fans, this is a decline in the Rockets' feel.
But the underlying reasons are complex and diverse.
Fortunately, Zhang Zhiyuan vaguely felt this change, so he began to resume his playing style in the second quarter, choosing more to attract the defense and then hand the ball to Yao Ming.
Let Yao Ming create pressure on the Jazz at the basket first, so that outside players like them can have better chances to take action.
He and Tracy McGrady were just thrown around blindly, and Yao Ming, the core of the Rockets, became a spectator. This is undoubtedly a huge waste.
Under Zhang Zhiyuan's adjustments, the Rockets returned to a style of play with Yao and Mai as the core.
Although this style of play cannot create a crushing advantage over the Jazz, it is still much better than the blind play just now.
"What's going on? The rocket has adjusted?"
Jerry Sloan was puzzled that Van Gundy didn't even call a timeout just now.
In the show, both Barkley and Zhang Lili complained about Van Gundy.
Zhang Lili said when the Jazz were chasing points frantically: "I feel like we can call a timeout to stabilize it. It should be called a timeout. Why haven't we called a timeout yet? What's wrong with Van Gundy..."
Barkley complained: "Van Gundy's old problem is back again, poor adaptability. The Jazz are gaining momentum, but he can't make adjustments at all..."
Fortunately, as they vomited, the situation on the court eased up, and the Rockets stabilized the situation on their own.
"Zhang has taken fewer shots. He has the same crazy desire to take shots as Kobe, but he is calm and can control himself."
Phil Jackson said to himself.
The Lakers have a game tomorrow, but they only have an hour or two to prepare for the game, so Phil Jackson chose to watch the Rockets game.
Seeing Zhang Zhiyuan's outstanding performance, Phil Jackson couldn't help but regret it again.
He even made up his mind to persuade Zhang Zhiyuan to return to the Lakers during the offseason.
If the Lakers want to win the championship, they must have such a calm person to restrain Kobe on the court.
At the end of the third quarter, the score was 28 to 21, and the Jazz won by 7 points.
Although the Rockets still led by 12 points, the game became suspense again.
A 12-point advantage is not stable at all.
Zhang Zhiyuan took 7 shots in this quarter, only hit two and scored 4 points.
Fortunately, Tracy McGrady performed worse than him, taking 7 shots and only hitting 1, plus 3 points from free throws.
If it weren't for Yao Ming's 4-for-4 performance and Alston's 1-for-1 performance, the two of them would have killed the Rockets long ago.
"We are still in the lead, but we cannot be careless. We must be steady in the last quarter, have a good success rate, control the rhythm, and retreat in time..."
During the break, Van Gundy still emphasized defense.
He was still very relaxed at this time. In his opinion, 12 points was a huge advantage. As long as he held firm, he would definitely win this game.
At the beginning of the last quarter, Zhang Zhiyuan and Yao Ming rested off the court, while Tracy McGrady and Battier led the substitutes and lasted for 4 minutes.
In these four minutes, the Jazz chased another 3 points.
But the problem is not big, the Rockets still have the advantage.
Then, the final moment of decisive battle arrived, and the Rockets came on full force.
Zhang Zhiyuan continued his style of play in the second quarter, which made the Jazz very uncomfortable.
Although they have tenacious fighting spirit, the Rockets players also have a strong desire to win.
At this time, we still have to look at the competition of hard power.
In the end, in the next 8 minutes, the two sides were tied.
At the end of the game, 90 to 99, the Rockets won by 9 points.
Fortunately, Zhang Zhiyuan had forgotten the scores of the two teams in the original time and space, otherwise he would have vomited blood and died.
In the original time and space, the Rockets also won by 9 points.
In other words, there is no difference with or without him.
What's even more fortunate is that no one in this time and space knows what happened in the original time and space, so no one thinks that he is redundant. Instead, they all think that he played well and helped the team.
He played well. He made 8 of 18 shots, 3 of 6 three-pointers, 1 of 2 free throws, and scored 20 points, 3 rebounds and 5 assists.
Yao Ming made 9 of 18 shots and 10 of 12 free throws, scoring 28 points, 12 rebounds and 2 assists.
McGrady made 7 of 18 shots, 1 of 5 three-pointers, and 6 of 8 free throws. He scored 21 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists.
The Big Three combined for 69 points, 20 rebounds and 11 assists.
The Jazz had more success, with Boozer scoring 13 points, Deron 15 points, Okur 13 points, Halprin 14 points, and Fisher 10 points.
Everyone else's performance was fine, but Boozer, the leader of the team, only scored 13 points, which was obviously a failure. What's even worse is that he was facing off against Zhang Zhiyuan for a long time.
