In the Rockets' defensive round, McGrady's opponent was Pierce, but he had already focused all his attention on Lin Yu. He is an offensive superstar, and his defense can only be said to be not bad, but he has not yet integrated offense and defense.
On the defensive end, McGrady was unwilling to contribute, leaving Pierce with a much easier chance of breaking through.
Dayao rushed to cover, but Pierce passed the ground with a pass that grazed his legs and found Perkins, who was free in the penalty area.
With a clang, Perkins dunked, hung up on the frame and let out a roar before landing.
The Kai team took the lead and returned to the defensive end. Lin Yu faced McGrady again.
McGrady, like Iverson, has some character flaws, but both have an unwillingness to admit defeat. In fact, if you think about it carefully, few people who can make it in the NBA are willing to admit defeat.
McGrady gritted his teeth and wanted to break through Lin Yu's defense. Of course, it was not just because he refused to admit defeat, but also because of the cruel words he said before the game.
He said he wanted to break Lin Yu's defense, but on the first ball of the game, he was blocked by Lin Yu. One mistake and one hit, this was not just a loss of a ball, strictly speaking
, it can even be said that we lost two goals.
McGrady wanted to regain the court, and his follower Karl was also sitting on the sidelines with a worried look on his face.
It was still a silent singles game. Compared to Iverson, McGrady was a little less fond of talking trash. He was still dribbling the ball continuously. McGrady moved forward in small steps, forcing Lin Yu to do the same.
Step back.
There is actually a detail here. Tracy McGrady chose to move forward in small steps, which seemed useless. In fact, he was disrupting Lin Yu's defensive steps and Lin Yu's rhythm.
Step by step, three or four seconds passed, and there were only the last ten seconds left in the attack time.
McGrady seemed to have found an opportunity and suddenly took the first step.
Lin Yu reacted in time and stood in front of McGrady again.
But then, amidst the exclamations, McGrady suddenly turned to the other side, and used his other hand to swat the ball wide.
After such a series of gorgeous moves, Lin Yu lost the initiative without any suspense. He could only continue to eat dust behind McGrady, trying his best to continue to entangle McGrady, hoping that McGrady would repeat the mistake of the previous goal.
McGrady also knew that he could no longer enter the penalty area. With Lin Yu's ability to pester people, as long as he did not completely pass Lin Yu and enter the penalty area, he would be giving Lin Yu a chance to attack from a flank.
When Lin Yu caught up, he suddenly stopped the ball again, slapped the ball hard, jumped up immediately, and stepped on the three-point line to pull out!
Lin Yu's reaction was a step too slow. When he turned around and pounced, the ball had already been released.
Whoosh!
McGrady returned the ball, and the Toyota Center burst into violent cheers.
Lin Yu didn't care, he knew very well that McGrady had tried his best on this ball.
"He can't play like this the whole game."
With so much effort on the offensive end, the defensive end will naturally have to struggle.
Faced with Pierce's impact, McGrady started paddling. Pierce easily reached the basket and hit a throw. The Celtics took the lead again, with a two-point difference.
On the offensive end, Lin Yu still got nothing. On the defensive end, he continued to face McGrady.
McGrady rested for a round and stood on the sideline with his arms akimbo, watching his teammates coordinate the attack. Alston used Yao Ming's screen to break into the paint and missed the throw.
The basketball bounced high and flew directly towards Lin Yu.
Lin Yu's rebounding ability was not strong, but he still grasped the rebound that came to his hand. With a snap, he clasped his hands together and grabbed the basketball tightly.
Then, seeing Pierce appear in front of him, he passed the ball without hesitation and ran straight towards the frontcourt.
The Rockets retreated a little slowly, and the Celtics counterattacked directly. Lin Yu hit the bottom corner.
Pierce, who was holding the ball, hit the frame from the middle and directly attracted the few Rockets who retreated. Faced with multiple defenders, Pierce jumped up.
Pass the ball!
Lin Yu in the bottom corner received the basketball, and the first scoring opportunity of the game appeared naked in front of him.
Whoosh!
The basketball wiped the net crisply, causing a burst of white net flowers. Lin Yu raised his right hand high and raised his index finger.
The Kai team's bench was in a state of excitement, with white towels flying everywhere.
At 9:4 in the opening period, the Celtics took a 5-point lead.
"China Lin restricted T-Mac very well, but no one in the Rockets could match Paul Pierce's defense. The trend of this game is not good for the Rockets."
"When Tracy McGrady was restricted, the only one the Rockets could rely on was Dayao. Why didn't they give Dayao the ball?"
It’s not that I won’t give it, it’s that I can’t give it.
When he first entered the league, Yao, who was 2.26 meters tall, was simply a killer in the paint. He was a big man who could pull up mid- to long-range shots. How to defend against this?
But later, NBA coaches gradually discovered that Dayao's ability to hold the ball was insufficient and his ability to catch the ball was average. So they made various inventions, defended in front, and attacked from the front and back, and used various methods to prevent Dayao from catching the ball.
This also led to the critical moment for the Rockets, when only Tracy McGrady could rely on, because Dayao disappeared under the strict defense of his opponent very early.
McGrady was severely restricted by Lin Yu. Although he could still score, for every point he scored, he had to give up two points on the defensive end. Overall, the Celtics continued to take the lead.
Just five minutes after the opening, the score became 16:9, and the Celtics led by 7 points. Jeff Van Gundy called the first timeout of the game amid boos.
"Lin, the defense is beautiful!"
Lin Yu walked to the sideline with some heavy steps and gave Rivers a high-five.
Then, Rivers announced the substitutions, Lin Yu was replaced, and Ricky Davis came on. Rivers wanted to further strengthen the offense.
Of course, there is also a reason why Lin Yu's physical condition is not excellent.
In each game, Lin Yu's physical fitness is already the limit for playing for about 20 minutes. If he plays for more than seven or eight minutes in a row, he will be exhausted.
Rivers knew this very well, so he strictly controlled Lin Yu's playing time, giving Lin Yu only half of his playing time in each quarter, so that Lin Yu always maintained sufficient physical strength.
After the substitution, McGrady's pressure on the offensive end is not that great.
But because he was 7 points behind, McGrady still didn't pay much attention to defense and continued to devote all his energy to the offensive end, but the results were somewhat poor.
With a bang, McGrady faced Ricky Davis' defense and made a pull-up jump shot again.
"t-mac's state is a bit bad. From the beginning when he was defeated by Lin Yu's defense, his offense has become extremely unstable. The first step of the breakthrough is always seen by the opponent, and then he can only use one
One after another, he has made pull-up jump shots to deal with his opponents, and as of now, he has made 3 of 10 shots, with a shooting percentage of only 30%."
By the middle of the second quarter, McGrady, who had yet to recover from his injury, was completely exposed.
Under Lin Yu's defense, McGrady's shooting was 1 of 4, a 25% shooting rate. When Ricky Davis defended, the Celtics added some outside attacks to continue to limit McGrady's performance.
.
The shooting percentage of 2 of 6 shots was still somewhat improved compared to the first half of the first quarter.
But obviously, the overall 30% shooting rate was still unqualified. McGrady's poor performance also seriously hindered the Rockets. Before halftime, the Rockets were already 13 points behind.
There was a buzz, the timer buzzed, another official timeout, and Rivers called Lin Yu from the bench.
"China Lin reappeared, and he faced T-mac again..."
Facing McGrady again, Lin Yu found that McGrady seemed less confident. He clearly remembered that on the first ball, McGrady's expression was quite disdainful, and he played straight singles without taking Lin Yu seriously.
After 3 out of 10 shots, everything was different.
McGrady became more and more impatient, but no longer dared to underestimate Lin Yu's single defense.
Still in single defense without flanking, McGrady received the ball again and began to face Lin Yu's defense. He called Yao Ming's screen, which was a very wise choice.
Dayao's screen blocked Lin Yu solidly, and then Perkins opened his arms to delay McGrady's breakthrough.
On the other side, Lin Yu bypassed the cover and formed a pincer attack on McGrady from behind.
In this double attack, the Rockets' offense was once again defeated. Tracy McGrady wanted to find Yao Ming, but after Yao Ming blocked it, he failed to move in time.
After McGrady passed the ball, the offense in this round turned into a singles attack by Yao Ming and Perkins retreating.
Yao Ming couldn't hold off the solid Perkins, and there was not much time left to attack. He could only turn around and force the mid-range shot, and with a bang, it also hit the frame.
This ball became the epitome of this game and even the entire Rockets season. In his previous life, Lin Yu was also a Rockets fan for a period of time.
He also understands this. Jeff Van Gundy is very capable of coaching defense, but on the offensive end, he failed to make Yao Ming a better big man.
However, it was later that Adelman, who overused Yao Ming, took office and truly helped Yao Ming become an offensive giant.
But now, Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady are more like two star players working on their own, unable to connect together at all. If Tracy McGrady misfires, Yao Ming also misfires, and they cannot play the role of 1+1 equals 2.