Although there are four games in the opening game, each of which is full of highlights, the game between the Warriors and the Lakers still attracts the most attention.
After all, it was a battle between the defending champion and the newly promoted Four Heavenly Kings!
They were given high hopes and considered the only team in the Western Conference that could challenge the Warriors for the throne, but they were defeated by 53 points!
This is something no one expected.
People took this to re-recognize the power of warriors.
…
After three days of rest, the Warriors faced the challenge of the Rockets at Oracle Arena.
The Rockets made a lot of changes in the offseason. They sent away Kevin Martin, welcomed Harden, and snatched Jeremy Lin and Asik from the Knicks and Bulls.
The Rockets management has high hopes for Harden, and Harden has proven his strength with practical actions!
The Rockets' first game of the new season is an away game against the Pistons. This is Harden's first official game on behalf of the Rockets.
In this game, Harden played 44 minutes, made 14 of 25 shots, scored a game-high 37 points, and had 12 assists.
In the second game that followed, Harden once again showed his prowess in the away game against the Hawks, making 14 of 19 shots from the field. He was extremely efficient and scored a game-high 45 points!
At this time, Harden has shown his true qualities as a porcelain king. He made 17 free throws in the game, as many as the entire Hawks team!
Harden scored a total of 82 points in the first two games, which is the highest score in NBA history by a player in the first two games for his team!
Through these two games, Harden has also established his status.
Before the start of the season, before Harden's trade happened, Jeremy Lin had always been the face of the team.
On the side of the airport expressway from Houston's George Bush International Airport to the city, there are many large Rockets billboards, with "A NEW AGE" written next to the portraits of the main players.
Initially, these billboards basically featured Jeremy Lin's face and caused a great sensation.
The industry believes that these billboards send a signal to the outside world that Jeremy Lin is currently the team's most important player.
Of course, Jeremy Lin is not the only Rockets player in those promotional ads. Although he is at the front and has the most important position, there are Parsons, Royce White and Motiejunas behind him.
Using the heads of four people as a promotional selling point also shows that the Rockets management is not fully confident about Jeremy Lin's performance in the new season.
To put it bluntly, Jeremy Lin is not a one-sided star.
After Harden joined, he became a backcourt partner with Jeremy Lin, and the Rockets entered a "dual-core mode."
Due to the "Big Beard's" performance in the first two games, he has now overtaken Jeremy Lin and become the team's boss.
For this reason, the Rockets also launched a new promotional advertisement in time, with Harden replacing Jeremy Lin as the absolute protagonist.
Different from the previous billboard, the new advertisement contains a total of 3 plans, and Harden is the absolute protagonist. Jeremy Lin only appeared in one of the advertisements symbolically, and Harden exclusively took two photos.
(The other is a photo with Jeremy Lin).
It should be noted that the promotional slogans are all designed for Harden - "Beard Crazy," "Houston, we have a beard!" and "The beard is coming!"
It can be seen from the three slogans that Harden has now become the "savior" in the eyes of the management.
Jeremy Lin?
It’s better to be a second boss!
Of course, judging from his performance on the court, Harden is indeed worthy of the status and title of the team's boss. Not to mention scoring 82 points in the first two games, his offensive power is far greater than Jeremy Lin. This is an indisputable fact.
.
When the game reached critical moments, he stepped forward to save the team many times, and his teammates were accustomed to handing the ball over to him. These details all show that Harden is more qualified to play the role of team leader than Jeremy Lin.
Deng Fang knows how powerful Harden is.
Today's game is the Rockets' third game, and the Warriors' second. In terms of physical fitness, the Warriors have a great advantage.
The Warriors only played one game, a big victory over the Lakers, while the Rockets won two games, each of which was a narrow victory.
A narrow victory is also a victory. This record is very satisfying for the Rockets, who have won the lottery for many years.
Although it was a back-to-back, the Rockets were full of fighting spirit and did not look tired at all.
That's the defending champion, the defending champion for three consecutive championships!
Winning one game with the Warriors is more meaningful than winning several games with other teams!
In order to cope with the Warriors' speed and accuracy, McHale removed Greg Smith and replaced him with Beverley, playing a three-guard lineup.
The two teams started an offensive battle as soon as they came up.
The Rockets' starters are Beverley, Jeremy Lin, Harden, Parsons and Asik, while the Warriors' starters are Curry, Klay, Kirilenko, Hayward and Yao Ming.
Beverley, Harden, and Parsons all have three-pointers. Jeremy Lin can attack with the ball and is equally powerful when he goes crazy. Asik is a pure defensive player. This lineup is very mobile and good on both offense and defense.
But that's compared to other teams, and compared to the Warriors, it's a bit worse!
In order to deal with Harden, Deng Fang specially arranged a special defensive strategy, which was to flank Harden!
Harden has three-pointers, breakthroughs, and the ability to draw fouls and free throws. However, he has a weakness at this time, that is, his assist ability needs to be improved and he makes a lot of mistakes.
Harden has always made a lot of mistakes.
Although Harden played very well when he was with the Thunder, most of the time the ball was in the hands of Durant and Westbrook, and Harden rarely controlled the ball.
No matter how good the raw jade is, it must be polished, and no matter how good the talent is, it must be tempered!
If Harden is given a few years of opportunities, his assisting ability will be sublimated and he will become a top passer, but Harden is not good enough now!
The person guarding Harden is Kirilenko, who is tall and long-armed and has rich defensive experience. Even LeBron James has a headache!
Taking on Kirilenko alone would be a huge challenge for Harden!
The best way is to pick and roll!
But as soon as the Rockets set a pick-and-roll, the Warriors double-teamed Harden!
A very determined pincer attack!
Harden can certainly take advantage of the Warriors' double attack to provide assists, but he also makes many mistakes!
Mistakes are not a big problem when facing other teams, but not when facing the Warriors!
One of the Warriors' biggest advantages is accuracy, and another advantage is speed!
Other teams take 8 seconds for a fast break, but the Warriors may only need 3 seconds!
The ball was passed to the frontcourt, and the Splash Brothers caught the ball from outside the three-point line and threw it!
Giving the Splash Brothers an open three-point opportunity is better than letting others dunk!
The first quarter lasted for more than 5 minutes. Harden did not score a point and only sent out 3 assists, but he also made 5 turnovers!
The Warriors threw in 5 three-pointers and 3 dunks!
26:8, the Warriors led by 18 points in less than half a quarter!
