Chapter 31 First victory in the preseason, ready for a new deal!
After the dunk, other Rockets players stepped forward to congratulate Griffin.
George bumped his chest with him, and Lowry gave him a high-five.
Veteran Shane Battier rubbed Griffin's head.
The latter's efforts can be seen by everyone during this period, and they are naturally happy for his outstanding performance at this moment.
Griffin stood on the free throw line, listened to the cheers of the fans, and made the free throw steadily.
At this time, there is only one second left in the second quarter.
As Vince Carter missed a long-range three-pointer, at the end of the half, the Rockets led the Magic by 11 points, 62:51.
The progress of this game is obviously somewhat different from everyone's expectations.
Yang Yi vowed before the game that the Magic would have a huge advantage.
At this time, I was slapped hard in the face, which was a bit embarrassing.
During the break, he analyzed the first half of the game:
"The Magic were trailing by double digits at halftime, mainly because the mentality of their core player, Dwight Howard, has changed."
"We have watched a lot of Rockets games. Everyone knows that the Magic have always been afraid of the Rockets."
"Especially Howard. Even in the season when he led the team to the finals, he still looked very powerless in front of Yao Ming."
"Dayao was finally absent due to injury today, and Howard probably wanted to perform well. Unexpectedly, the Rockets adopted a resolute double-teaming tactic, and the new guys responsible for defending Warcraft are also very tough."
"This made Howard more and more impatient. In the end, he no longer cared about reasonable offense and just wanted to put the ball in."
Yu Jia nodded when he heard this and added:
"And the performance of these newcomers on the Rockets is remarkable."
"The perimeter defense composed of Lowry, George, and Battier made it very difficult for the Magic's veteran stars."
"What surprised me the most was that George showed no stage fright when facing Vince Carter and even had the upper hand."
Yu Jia's tone was filled with admiration for George.
"You've finished praising the three players on the outside, so let me talk about the Rockets' two young inside players."
Yang Yi took over the conversation and continued his analysis:
"Power forward Griffin has just returned from injury, and his performance in the first half perfectly met the fans' expectations of him."
"Made 6 of 8 shots, scored 15 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 blocks."
“I wonder what the Clippers’ boss would think after seeing Griffin’s outstanding half-quarter performance?”
Speaking of this, Yang Yi glanced at Yu Jia with a smile.
"What else can I say?"
"If Griffin can stay healthy, the Rockets will definitely make a lot of money from this deal."
"If I were the owner of the Clippers, I might have to fire the general manager."
Yu Jia said jokingly.
"Let me continue. Center Jordan Hill also played very well in the first half."
"It can be seen that he has only recently started to play the fifth position. Today he faces Howard again. It will definitely be a big challenge for Hill."
"Although I don't know why Mark Jackson asked him to move to the center position, judging from the first half, Hill completed the coach's task very well."
"And he also got a lot of shooting opportunities in the first half. He took 5 mid-range shots and hit 4 goals. His score was even higher than Howard."
Yang Yi analyzed.
"These young people performed really well!"
"I must say something very objectively. After becoming the general manager of the Rockets, Shen Fei boldly hired new people and achieved good results."
"Based on this alone, I am very optimistic that he can go far as a manager!"
"Okay, the second half of the game will start soon. Let's return the camera to the front."
Yu Jia said with a smile.
............
Easy side to fight again, the Rockets serve.
In the first round of the second half, George launched an attack at a 45-degree angle.
He waved to the inside and asked Hill to come out for the pick-and-roll.
Also coming out with the latter was Howard.
As the only man in history to have three consecutive dpoys, Master Huo can not only turn the basket into a no-fly zone, but can also follow and defend smaller players on the outside.
But Carter, who is defending with him, has a somewhat slow lateral movement speed due to his age.
George saw the right moment, accelerated to throw away the defense, and rushed towards the basket.
Howard followed closely beside him, raising his right hand high, ready to block shots at any time, and raising his left hand sideways to guard against George's pass.
With just one action, you can see that the title of best defensive player is not in vain.
But George is very good at adapting to circumstances.
Under the cover of Howard, he suddenly passed the ball behind his back and handed the ball to Hill who was following up.
The latter rushed to take a mid-range jumper before Carter could take over...
"Shua~"
The basketball went hollow into the net, allowing the Rockets to continue to expand their advantage.
After being scored, Howard spread his hands helplessly.
No matter how strong his personal defensive ability is, he can't take care of two people at the same time. It feels like he can't defeat four people with two fists.
Offense and defense transition.
Old Carter made up for it, singled out George, and hit two points.
The duel between the two was very exciting, with Paojiao almost completing the steal.
But Carter was experienced and suddenly changed his tactics at the last moment. He turned around and wiped George past him, making a difficult fadeaway.
Looking back, George, who was unconvinced, also chose to challenge Carter.
I saw him first dribbling the ball with a butterfly piercing his crotch, and then suddenly accelerated.
Old Carter hurriedly moved sideways to defend.
Unexpectedly, George didn't follow martial ethics and relied on his physical advantage to rely on Carter to complete the layup.
Just as he was about to succeed, a giant hand suddenly appeared in the sky and slapped the ball out of the baseline with one palm!
It was Howard who was holding back his energy!
After two rounds of attack and defense, George's attempts ended in failure.
But Shen Fei in the stands only felt satisfied after watching it.
In his opinion, George had done an almost perfect job defending Carter.
In the same situation, if Carter were to shoot 10 more times, he might not score a second time.
In the offensive round, George broke through Carter's defense very easily.
It can be said that after three months of training and the addition of the [Spiritual Time Room], Paojiao's current level can already serve as the team's starter!
............
In the following time, the two sides entered a tug-of-war.
The scores of the two teams increased alternately, and the point difference remained at around 10 points.
Since it was a preseason game, the Magic coach asked five substitutes to wait on the sidelines with 7 minutes left in the third quarter.
Once the ball is lost, they will use a full substitute lineup.
Upon seeing this, Jordan Hill immediately signaled to Mark Jackson that he wanted to defend Howard alone in the end.
The Rockets coach nodded and agreed to his request.
Then...
"bang!"
As Howard turned around, he exerted a little force with his right elbow, making Hill groan, and then completed a dunk on the latter's head.
"excuse me..."
Hill fell to the ground and complained helplessly.
After the goal, both sides quickly replaced each other with substitutes.
The only starter left on the court is naturally Jordan Hill.
Jeremy Lin, who came on as a substitute, became the person who supplied him with ammunition.
pj-Tucker went all out on defense, allowing Hill to better devote his energy to offense.
With the help of his teammates, Hill scored 15 points in the second half. He scored a total of 25 points, 12 rebounds and 3 assists. His performance was very eye-catching!
In the end, the Rockets defeated the Eastern Conference powerhouse Magic 125:100!
After the game, Shen Fei immediately called the team's publicity director and asked him to post Jordan Hill's highlights on major social media.
"Next, your propaganda department has only one task, which is to create more heat for Hill."
“Whether you are buying traffic or asking big Vs to comment, it’s all fine.”
Shen Fei ordered.
After hanging up the phone, he breathed a sigh of relief.