After the game against the Heat, the Magic challenged the Houston Rockets away from home.
The Rockets are performing very well this season. The addition of Kidd allows Jeff Van Gundy's zipper offense to be perfectly implemented. With Kidd's excellent wing singles and Yao Ming's top post-up singles ability in the league, it creates opportunities for other Rockets players.
There are a lot of open offensive opportunities, and the team's record is quite good. It is now ranked fourth in the Western Conference and is impacting the SuperSonics' third position.
Because Howard has not yet become the future Warcraft, this game is not labeled as a super center showdown like it was later, but the showdown between the top picks of two generations of centers is still quite a gimmick.
Although the Rockets under the guidance of Van Gundy played very slowly and were not very entertaining, relying on Yao Ming's super popularity among the Chinese, the attendance at Toyota Center has been very impressive. Today, they encountered the team with the most points and the most beautiful play style in the league.
, the fans of the Orlando Magic, who had the most explosive dunks, were naturally even more excited. The 18,300 seats at the Toyota Center were packed, and the entire arena was filled with a Chinese-style noise, which made Edison feel very cordial, and he could see Chinese characters everywhere he looked.
Posters written for Yao Ming and banners cheering for him.
Before the game started, Edison brought Thibodeau and Ewing to say hello to Rockets' Jeff Van Gundy.
Because Thibodeau served as an assistant coach in the Rockets last season and is very familiar with the Rockets, especially with Van Gundy. Before joining Edison, Thibodeau had been with Van Gundy for many years. The two were inseparable, and Meng was inseparable.
According to current terms, they are really good friends.
It's a pity that there is no such thing as a forever gay friend. After Edison's actions, the two were separated. However, they were still friends after separation. Thibodeau and Van Gundy held hands and kept saying some sincere and emotional words.
The same goes for Ewing. He has followed Van Gundy since he was a player, but he was poached because of his own ideas. Now he is not very comfortable with the Magic. Edison led the team with a strong record, but his original plan to usurp the throne was hit in the head.
Coupled with the fact that Thibodeau, the experienced assistant coach, is here, his time as the head coach of the Magic is like looking at the moon in the mirror, almost completely ruined. However, there has been some improvement recently, so he began to actively participate in team activities, which he did not do before.
How to go to away games, now also joined.
After Ewing greeted Van Gundy, he shook hands with Yao Ming. Two giants over 7 feet tall are naturally easy to get close to each other, and the two talked happily.
This time Thibodeau and Ewing came to Toyota Center and it was like returning to their old club. Naturally, they were filled with emotions.
After Thibodeau and Ewing, Edison also came to Van Gundy. When he saw Edison coming, Van Gundy immediately became serious.
Edison greeted him with a mean smile, "Jeff, I met your brother the day before yesterday, and he asked me to say hello to you."
After hearing this, Van Gundy couldn't say anything and could only greet Edison with a sullen face.
"But Thibodeau and Ewing have really helped our team a lot, and I would like to thank Houston for your generosity in letting them go."
The most despicable behavior in the world is to be good and behave when you get an advantage. When Van Gundy heard Edison say this, his nose became angry, "What does it mean for the team to let people go generously? If you don't poach people, why should we let people go?"
After shaking hands with Van Gundy, Edison found Yao Ming again. Although he is white now, his heart is still yellow. Seeing the pride of the Chinese people, he naturally wants to get close to him.
"Dayao, I've prepared a big meal for you today, try it later." Edison spoke authentic Mandarin with the accent of "Er".
His Chinese is good, but compared to Edison's Chinese, the meaning of his words is more worthy of consideration. Edison disturbed Yao Ming's mind and broke through his psychological defense with just one sentence...
"Hello everyone, welcome to the game between the Houston Rockets and the Orlando Magic. I'm Bill Varrel."
"I'm Drexler." In NBA game commentary, a famous star of a team will usually be found to participate. Drexler, as the team's champion, naturally has this qualification.
In comparison, the Magic were much shabby. The team was built in too short a time, and the management was so incompetent that the team now didn't even have senior members. Edison felt chilled when he thought about this.
The Rockets' starters are Yao Ming, power forward Mourning, small forward Ryan Bowen, shooting guard "Mickey Mouse" Wesley, who was acquired from the Hornets, and point guard Jason Kidd.
Yao Ming and Howard jump ball. Although Howard is a point guard in Yao Ming's eyes, and he is completely superior to him in height, the jump ball is not only about height, but more importantly, bounce.
I won’t go into detail about Yao Ming’s jumping ability, everyone knows it.
In fact, when it comes to jumping ability, there is a more intuitive way to look at the person's Achilles tendon. If Howard's Achilles tendon looks like a sword, then Yao Ming also looks like a sword, but this sword is turned sideways.
It's not standing up.
As soon as the ball was thrown, the ball was swatted away by Howard before Yao Ming's feet even left the ground.
After Iguodala received the ball, he handed it to Nash honestly. Nash looked at Iguodala with an expression of "Brother, you are very sensible", and then advanced with the ball.
When Nash passed halftime, Kidd was already in position. He was waiting for Nash about one meter in front of the three-point line.
"This is the biggest highlight of this game, Kidd vs. Nash. Now these two players are the best point guards in the league. Needless to say, Kidd has both offense and defense. He has been one of the best point guards in this league since his rookie season.
The representative of the top point guard. After Nash spent several good seasons with the Mavericks, he completely broke out in Orlando this year. Now he averages 14 points and 12 assists per game. This is the first time since Stockton retired.
After that, he is the first person to have the ability to average 12 assists per game. Therefore, the performance of Kidd and Nash in this game will directly affect the course of the game." Bill Warrior was analyzing on the sidelines, while Drexler was
Nod in agreement.
Kidd's defensive ability is very strong. He is just 32 years old and has not started to decline. His speed and strength are at their peak. Coupled with his rich game experience, no one dares to relax their vigilance in front of him. Because of a
If you're not careful, Kidd will steal your ball and launch a fast break like his famous boss.
Nash, who has been in the league for many years, naturally knows Kidd very well, so Nash puts his focus at a lower level to prevent Kidd from stealing.
As he got closer to the three-point line, Kidd suddenly moved. He took a step forward and guarded Nash closely. This is also an increasingly popular defensive method in the league. Because Nash's body is so poor,
So as long as a physically fit point guard gets close to him, Nash won't be able to break through because he can't get past him, so the defender just has to prevent Nash from shooting, and the defensive choice will be simple.
But Nash never expected to get rid of Kidd. He firmly protected the ball, took a step forward from the three-point line, and then moved laterally.
Kidd stuck to Nash like candy, took a step back with him, and then moved laterally. But as soon as Kidd took a step laterally, he couldn't move. The path to the left was blocked by someone, and Nash passed by.
The person blocking Kidd was naturally Nash's good partner Josh. After Nash got rid of Kidd, Mourning, who was originally guarding Josh, stepped in. Facing Mourning, Nash followed the paint line and walked to the baseline.
When he was on the line, he suddenly made a fake move and lightly lit up Mourning, and then threw the ball towards the basket.
Josh was already ready. After the pick-and-roll, he followed Nash and cut to the basket. When Nash passed the ball, Josh just crossed the free throw line. He knew what the opponent was thinking when he saw Nash's posture, so he hurriedly
Take off, get the ball just in front of the basket, hold the ball firmly with both hands, then bow down, press down with both arms, and smash the ball into the net...
"Beautiful alley-oop, the Magic played very passionately when they first came up. Drexler, please comment on that dunk just now."
"Excellent. We know that there are four basic factors that determine whether a dunk is exciting: height in the air, time in the air, the stretch of the player's body in the air, and whether the ball enters the basket neatly. All other actions are extra.
With the best, even if not, as long as the above four places are in place, it will be very exciting. Just like Josh's goal just now, when we watch in slow motion, his head is already level with the basket, which is very high. Because
It was during a game, and it was an alley-oop, so the lag in the air was not obvious, but his movements were very stretched. Before dunking, his back naturally bent backwards and opened very wide. In the end, the ball entered the basket with enough force. It was obvious that
Look at how deformed this basket is. If I had just entered the league, the backboard would have broken with such force." As a first-generation dunker, Glider Drexler commented on and analyzed the quality of other people's dunks.
The ideas are clear and logical, making the listeners very convinced.
The people in the commentary box were still analyzing, and Edison on the sidelines was also yelling. He was not cheering for Josh's goal, but urging the players to return to defense quickly.
"Hurry back, don't delay, be careful of the opponent's fast break." Edison made his hands like a trumpet and shouted to the players on the court.
You must know that good point guards all have one thing in common, that is, they are both good at playing long passes and fast breaks. In terms of fast breaks, Kidd and Nash are at the same level. As long as their teammates can run, they can immediately kill them.
The ball is passed in place.
Fortunately, the Magic usually focus on this tactic, so the players are well aware of fast breaks, and Iguodala and Marion withdrew immediately. On the Rockets side, only Ryan Bowen can run.
And the speed is not particularly fast. It's 1 vs. 2 in the frontcourt. The ball is passed by Kidd and it doesn't mean much.
Howard was talking to Yue as he ran back, "Damn, brother, you don't know, when Nash passed the ball to you for a dunk just now, I couldn't even see the basket when I was standing there, I could only see the guy's head.
.He is too tall, I don’t think even the leader Guan Xiaoming can look at him at eye level even if he borrows a pair of shoes.”
Josh thought for a while, "Then let Guo Xiaosi borrow a pair of shoes to try. It should be even higher."
"That makes sense. You're thinking faster."
After the Magic players were all in position, Yao Ming led the Rockets players and slowly came over.
Edison stood off the field, shook his head helplessly, and said secretly, "Da Yao, I don't want to either, but there are no brothers on the field. As a brother, I can only feel sorry for you."
