Standing on the court, Yao Ming and Chen Jie seemed not to know what the hug they just shared with each other meant to the whole of China and the entire Asian basketball world.
All the two of them are thinking about now is the competition.
Chen Jie, who was a little nervous after being stimulated by McGrady just now, tried his best to relax, bent his left and right legs respectively, and touched his sneakers. The sneakers he was wearing now were not his exclusive signature sneakers, and they were from Nike.
Although he signed a contract that was not small for a rookie, because he had not yet gained fame at that time, Nike did not immediately release Chen Jie’s exclusive signature sneakers. But now, as Chen Jie’s reputation becomes more and more prosperous,
Nike has put this matter on the agenda, but from design to production, it is a very long process, so what Chen Jie is wearing now is just a very ordinary sneaker.
In fact, many NBA players will do small actions like touching sneakers subconsciously from time to time. On the one hand, it is to stretch their leg muscles. On the other hand, such small actions can actually disperse some stress very well.
After completing this action, Chen Jie tried hard to stop looking at the empty stands and instead focus on the entire stadium.[
As for the cheering and shouting of the mountains and the tsunami, Chen Jie tried his best to block it out and tried not to be disturbed.
After Chen Jie and Yao Ming hugged and the players from both sides greeted each other, the game officially started.
The one who jumps the ball is Yao Ming on the Rockets' side, and Chandler on the Bulls' side.
Chandler and Yao Ming fought in the center circle, and the gap was immediately obvious. He was half a head shorter than Yao Ming. It seemed that Chandler's jump ball didn't have much hope.
But you must know that Yao Ming's speed and jump height are far from comparable to these black players. In fact, in terms of success rate of jump balls, Yao Ming has always been ranked at a very low position.
So at this moment, Chandler, who is not very tall, looks confident, but Yao Ming, who is the tallest, does not look very confident.
The result was that Chandler, who was slightly shorter in height, used his extraordinary speed to successfully defeat Yao Ming, who was 2.27 meters tall, on the jump ball, giving the Bulls the opportunity to attack for the first time.
After getting the basketball, Du Hong immediately passed it to Chen Jie. During the pre-game arrangements, Scales had made arrangements. Although Chen Jie was still the shooting guard, the important organizational responsibility also fell on him.
, Chen Jie did not play in the last back-to-back game. In addition, after so many days of rest, his physical strength should be no problem, and the first game of this long march to the west is particularly important, so the pressure Chen Jie bears must be relatively high.
A little more.
When Chen Jie got the basketball, his first thought was to see if there was any chance of a fast break, but when he looked up, Chen Jie saw that all the Rockets players had returned to the half-court defense, and the defensive formation had been set up.
.
Perhaps the Rockets have long been accustomed to Yao Ming's failed jump ball, so they were ready to retreat early.
Another thing is that the current head coach of the Rockets is Van Gundy Jr., a coach who is pathologically obsessed with defense. Under his coaching, although the Rockets' offense has not improved and basically relies on the personal abilities of Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady,
Defense has definitely improved by more than one level.
Today, the best defensive team in the league, except for the Spurs under coach Anthony Veach, is the Houston Rockets.
In terms of limiting opponents' scoring and limiting opponents' three-point shooting percentage, the Rockets actually rank first in the league!
Opponents playing against the Rockets sometimes feel really uncomfortable. Facing the Rockets' defense, sometimes it feels like they are stuck in a quagmire. They can't get in or get out. It's very difficult.
It's annoying.
Even if it is a victory, it is uncomfortable to win.
When the Rockets lose, they really don't have the kind of disastrous defeat after being hit by the opponent's offensive attack. They usually lose within ten points. Even if they win, I still have to peel off their skin. This is what the Rockets are like now.
Features.
Teams that are stuck with the Rockets' defense are like plaster, and it's annoying and hard to get rid of.
In this game, Chen Jie and his Bulls will experience the same kind of defense.
The Bulls' games this season have always been considered to be very exciting. Their wins are basically the result of mercury rain or very heroic individual singles. This is basically the same as the Rockets.
An extremely ordinary existence.[
Now, the Bulls meet the Rockets. To a certain extent, it can be regarded as a contest between spear and shield!
Before the game, Skiles repeatedly emphasized the characteristics and difficulty of the Rockets' defense, asking the Bulls players to be patient. However, preaching is one thing, and being mentally prepared is another.
On the other hand, the feeling of competing face to face is still different.
In the first attack, the Bulls failed. After several attempts to lead the ball without finding an open space, Du Hong, who was a little anxious, directly shot a three-pointer from the outside under the interference of defender Sura, and the rebound was collected by Yao Ming.
This ball made Skiles yell angrily off the court.
In the first attack, Du Hong failed to implement his pre-game arrangements. How could he not be angry?
There are still ten seconds left in the attack time. Why are you anxious? When playing against a team like the Rockets, you just can't be in a hurry. You have to guide the ball more, be patient, and look for opportunities slowly. Just hope that it will take more than ten seconds as before.
Is it possible to solve the attack?
Even the Suns and Mavericks wouldn't dare to be so aggressive when facing the Rockets!
Skiles jumped on the sidelines, shouted an American curse at Duhon, and then yelled: "Pass the ball to me, even if it is a 24-second violation, pass the ball to me!"
Naturally, Duhong didn't dare to go against Skiles. Although Duhong was actually a bit thorny in temper, but he hadn't made a name for himself with the Bulls yet, Duhong didn't dare to throw away his future just like that.
Being scolded by Scales, Duhong could only listen in despair and nodded repeatedly.
The Bulls' offense here didn't score, which made Skiles very crazy. The Rockets' offense on the other side also made Van Gundy, who didn't have much hair off the court, keep scratching his scalp.
Why?
It's very simple, because Yao Ming has obviously got a good position in the paint and is holding up Chandler. As long as the Rockets defender lobs the ball in, Yao Ming can easily put the ball into the basket with a turn.
But even with such a good opportunity, Sulla still did not pass it to Yao Ming. Sulla, who kept carrying the ball, looked at Yao Ming for three seconds without passing the ball, until Yao Ming was afraid that he would be called an offensive three if he continued to stand.
After the second violation, Sulla stopped dribbling after coming out of the three-second zone and raised the ball above his head, as if he wanted to pass it to Yao Ming at this time.
But seeing that Yao Ming had no chance and the ball could not be passed, Sura could only pass it to McGrady next to him to reorganize the attack.
Not only was Van Gundy very angry at Sura's hesitation, but even the three people in the CCTV broadcast room were a little dissatisfied.
Although Zhang Weiping is now Chen Jie's core supporter, he hopes that the Bulls will win this game. He should be happy that the Rockets wasted such an opportunity, but after all, the person who wants the ball is Yao Ming, who is also a Chinese player. Zhang Weiping is not only unhappy at this moment, but also a little
He said ironically: "Sura should have passed the ball long ago. This opportunity is fleeting. This little defender, hey..."
Next to them, Yu Jia and Yang Yi had an idea with Zhang Weiping this time.
"With such a point guard, Yao Ming is really helpless and can only smile bitterly. The Yao-Mai combination sounds good, but they really need a good point guard now, otherwise the Rockets want to compete for the championship.
, it’s still very difficult!” Yu Jia takes a long-term view of the problem.
Next to him, Yang Yi smiled maliciously: "What can I say to such a teammate? Judging from Yao Ming's expression, he didn't take it seriously. I guess during training, Sura had never passed a ball like this.
Yao Ming has long been used to it, and his job just now was to gamble on luck and see if Sura's brain works well today. Now Yao Ming has the answer, but Sura still has a brain cramp today."
Yang Yi's words made Yu Jia and Zhang Weiping next to him laugh. Just when Yu Jiagang was about to add something, Zhang Weiping, who had been watching the broadcast, suddenly shouted in surprise: "Look at this ball, oh, it's beautiful, Tracy McGrady's layup.
She’s so beautiful, Chen Jie, hey, it’s a pity, it’s just a little bit short, I think I can touch the basketball with my fingertips!”
After being called out by Zhang Weiping, both Yu Jia and Yang Yi returned their attention to the court.[
It turned out that after Sula passed the ball to McGrady, there were about fifteen seconds left in the attack time. McGrady did not choose to pass the ball again, but played alone. Facing Chen Jie's defense, McGrady first made a very realistic shooting fake.
Although Chen Jie was not deceived into taking off, his center of gravity subconsciously moved forward. It was this movement that allowed McGrady to seize the opportunity. McGrady, who immediately broke through with the ball, squeezed out Chen Jie.
However, Chen Jie's reaction was very quick, and he immediately followed up, not giving McGrady an open layup opportunity.
But faced with Chen Jie's pressing pressure, McGrady didn't get impatient. About in front of the reasonable collision zone, McGrady took off.
Chen Jie also took off and tried to block the ball, but in the air, McGrady changed hands while gliding, and the basketball passed through Chen Jie's fingertips.
Then, McGrady passed through Chen Jie's block and made a left-hand layup, scoring the first point for the Rockets.
McGrady is now almost at his peak. He has just created a McGrady moment. It is still very simple for him to make such an action.
For Chen Jie, defending such a McGrady is undoubtedly a very stressful thing.
This attack made Chen Jie understand what kind of opponent he was facing today.
This year, McGrady and Kobe are still on par, and even a bit better than Kobe and McGrady.
