At the Toyota Center, the stands were largely empty.
Lin Yu was a little surprised: "Is the Rockets' attendance rate so bad?"
He was being interviewed. The person interviewing him was Duan Hai, a frontline reporter from Central Five. Before reporter Duan asked Lin Yu a question, Lin Yu had already asked one in return.
Reporter Duan has commented on countless Rockets home games, and he is very familiar with the phenomenon of empty stands in the Toyota Center at the beginning of the game.
He smiled and said: "When the second and third quarters come, you will find that the stands are full."
"What's the meaning?"
"The location of Toyota Center is too bad. Traffic jams in Houston are serious. Rockets fans are mainly white-collar workers. Before the game started, the fans had just gotten off work and were still stuck on the road. It was almost during the second quarter or halftime.
Then they will come in one after another.”
Reporter Duan then pointed to the Rockets fans who had already arrived on the sidelines: "These fans who have already arrived are either rich or don't have serious jobs."
Lin Yu laughed. After reporter Duan finished explaining, he greeted the camera behind him: "Okay, Dayu, let's ask two questions first, and we'll talk about the rest after the game."
"Okay, you look at the arrangements."
Lin Yu was naturally very cooperative. Just now, he met Zhang Jianwei, and Lao Zhang told him that his interview would be broadcast on CCTV in the next two days, and it would be uncut.
Yang Wu gave Yang Wu so much face, so naturally Lin Yu also wanted to give Yang Wu some face.
"Okay, audience friends, today is the day when the NBA's China Derby is about to start. Standing in front of the camera now to be interviewed by us is the Celtics guard player, our Chinese basketball player Lin Yu.
Come on, Dayu, say hello to the camera first..."
Lin Yu said hello to the camera, then answered two questions raised by reporter Duan, then turned around and left to warm up.
In the broadcast room of Central Five, far away across the ocean, the two coaches Zhang Weiping and Xu Jicheng were already sitting in front of the camera. After Lin Yu's pre-game interview ended, the camera cut back.
"The game is about to start. It's the long-lost China Derby in the NBA. Coach Zhang, who do you think will win this game?"
Xu Jicheng turned to Zhang Weiping, who analyzed with a smile: "From the perspective of the lineup, the Rockets should have a higher chance of winning. The Rockets have Dayao and Tracy McGrady, while the Celtics only have Pierce. Two against one, the Rockets have a higher winning rate.
"
Zhang Weiping stood on the side of the Rockets, and Xu Jicheng naturally had to stand on the side of the Celtics.
He took a look at the records of the two teams: "But in terms of record, the Celtics with 9 wins and 9 losses are far better than the Rockets with 4 wins and 12 losses."
"The record can't mean anything. The season has just begun. The Rockets were delayed a little due to injuries. Now, they are already on the highway of winning consecutive games to increase their winning rate."
"..."
McGrady came out to the cheers of the audience, followed closely by Yao Ming. As far as these two star players are concerned, the Rockets' lineup is obviously not bad.
But role players held them back. In the 2005/06 season, the Rockets' three starters besides Yao Mai were Juwan Howard Sr., David Wesley Sr. and streetball king Rafe Alston.
With two veterans and Alston, who was born on the streets, only Luther Hyde, Stromire Swift and Dikembe Mutombo are still available on the bench.
With such a lineup, there is not even a qualified small forward, and with two star players who are constantly injured, it is expected that the record will be poor.
In the next few seasons, the improvement of the Rockets' record will be due to the addition of Shane Battier and Artest, which will help the Rockets improve their offensive and defensive strength on the wings.
NBA managers in this era have obviously not begun to pay attention to the strength of wing players. Their eyes are still on the penalty area, and the center is the position they pay most attention to.
Both teams completed their warm-up, and after a brief coming-out ceremony, the game officially began.
When Perkins faced off against Dayao, in the jump ball session, Perkins was completely defeated by Dayao, who was 2.26 meters tall. The two jumped at the same level, but their heights differed by at least two levels.
The Rockets started to attack, Alston controlled the ball in the frontcourt, and Lin Yu directly faced McGrady.
McGrady plays the No. 3 position in the Rockets because their starting backcourt combination is Alston and David Wesley. Wesley is only 1.83 meters tall. With such a short height, he obviously cannot play the No. 3 position.
bit.
The Rockets can only use McGrady, who is 2.03 meters tall, to fill the third position.
Therefore, although McGrady is one of the four shooting guards, in the Rockets, he plays the small forward position.
On the defensive end, Lin Yu kept an eye on Tracy McGrady. At the beginning of the game, Dayao worked hard to squeeze out a gap, leaned against Perkins with his back, and opened his hand for the ball.
Yao Ming got a rare opportunity to catch the ball, and Alston directly passed the ball over.
After catching the ball, Yao stepped out with his left and right feet continuously. After a series of gorgeous footwork, he directly faced the frame and shook Perkins away. He made a mid-range shot, and with a bang, he successfully hit!
The broadcast room of Yangwu has already begun to cheer: "It's so beautiful, Dayao's shot is so beautiful!"
"Perfect footwork. Perkins on the opposite side was stunned and didn't know how to defend."
In the first round of the game, Tracy McGrady was too busy, and even Lin Yu didn't appear much.
During the Celtics' offensive round, Pierce received the ball. McGrady reluctantly ran to Pierce to defend him. There was no other way. No one else in the Rockets could guard Pierce except McGrady himself.
Pierce rolled McGrady into the three-point line, advanced with his back, and suddenly made a turn-over jumper. With a bang, he successfully scored the first goal of the game.
McGrady was even more dissatisfied after being scored one-on-one. He spread his hands and complained to the sideline, meaning that he was not to blame for not being able to defend the ball.
Indeed, McGrady's real position is a shooting guard. It is uncomfortable enough for him to play as a small forward and face larger defenders in every game.
When facing opponents like the Celtics, Cavaliers, and Nuggets, McGrady has to personally defend the opponent's star, which makes him feel even more uncomfortable.
"The team needs a true starter at the third position, and I'm going to look for Dawson as soon as this game is over."
Back on the offensive end, McGrady felt that he needed to vent. It happened that Yao was already deep in the penalty area and had no chance to catch the ball.
McGrady went directly to the top of the key and took the basketball from Alston.
Then, he faced Lin Yu.
One-on-one, there was no flanking attack, only help defense hidden in the penalty area. McGrady felt that the Kai team looked down on him a little, but similarly, he also looked down on Lin Yu's single defense.
After two consecutive crotch dribbles, McGrady, with eyes blurred, started immediately.
At his peak, McGrady had the fastest first step, but now, McGrady's first step is no longer so scary. Even so, there was still an exaggerated scream from the sidelines the moment McGrady started.
Later, the screaming fans discovered that McGrady was not able to get rid of Lin Yu's defense.
"With his fast first step and terrifying ability to follow up, China Lin did not lose. It's incredible!"
McGrady was entangled by Lin Yu again. He was a little surprised. Although he was no longer at his peak, his strongest first step was still his most powerful weapon so far.
As a result, his most powerful weapon was shattered in front of Lin Yu.
Unable to get past Lin Yu in the first step, McGrady could only dribble with a change of hands behind his back, twist and take a step laterally, and continue to look for space to break through.
Lin Yu's defensive awareness has reached its extreme. He clearly knows that McGrady will definitely move laterally again, but he doesn't know whether McGrady will move laterally to the left or right.
He could only judge from McGrady's dribbling trajectory, and then decisively moved half a step to one side.
As a result, McGrady slipped towards the other side...
Wrong judgment!
But it didn't matter. Lin Yu turned around and leaned forward again. McGrady had already gained a breakthrough space. He accelerated directly and headed towards the penalty area.
Obviously, McGrady never touched Lin Yu's defense. He only knew that there was room for breakthrough in front of him, but he forgot about Perkins lurking in the penalty area.
Reaching deep into the penalty area, Perkins directly stepped up and cooperated with Lin Yu from the side to complete a deep flanking attack.
This ball was directly killed...
"Double attack, t-mac is trapped in a tight siege, and it is difficult to advance or retreat."
McGrady held the ball with both hands and turned his head back and forth looking for opportunities to pass the ball or directly attack. Lin Yu found the right moment and cut the ball directly.
There was a beep and a clear whistle sounded.
Lin Yu subconsciously spread his hands to explain that he did not commit a foul, it was a very clean chip, and the superstar whistle was not necessary.
After turning around, I saw the referee pointing to the baseline. What was called was not a foul, but that the ball was out of bounds. The ball was in the frontcourt and the Rockets had the ball.
Lin Yu looked up at the attack time again. There was only a little more than 2 seconds left. This ball was destined to be no threat.
The Rockets passed the ball out from the bottom line again, and it was McGrady who caught the ball. He faced Lin Yu's defense and hit a three-pointer.
boom!
The basketball hit the frame hard and bounced out, and Pierce collected the rebound.
"A very successful defense. China Lin made T-mac suffer again. I have to say that this guy's growth rate is too fast. Both AI and T-MAC suffered under his defense. Jason Terry
I personally praise his defense, China Lin's defense may be the best in the league."
