Chapter 121: A stark contrast
As soon as Anxi played, Harden was suppressed, and the Rockets were at a disadvantage, after adjusting on the offensive end, they could score, but the defensive end was still a mess, even so, McHale was still reluctant to replace Howard. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info
However, McHale attaches great importance to the team's offense, and when the team's offense is unfavorable, he replaced Chandler Parsons and replaced Terrence Jones, and the main small lineup on the court.
However, in this way, it gives the 76ers more opportunities to expand the score on the offensive end.
As soon as Anxi holds the ball, the Rocket continues to wrap the bag, the double bag and even the multi-person bag, and as soon as the Rocket holds the bag, Anxi passes the ball.
The teammates also have a tacit understanding, as soon as Anxi breaks through, they immediately start running and pulling, forcing the Rockets to have to make up for the defense everywhere, but in the end, there will always be a position that leaks, and in the end, Anxi's accurate pass can find an opportunity.
Taking advantage of the Rockets' slackening defense, Francisco Garcia hit two more three-pointers in what could be his best game in Philadelphia.
After hitting three points in a row, the last attack before the end of halftime, Francisco Garcia also took advantage of the opportunity that all the players of the Rockets were paying attention to Anxi's breakthrough, cut into the inside, and received the ball and went straight to the layup.
In the end, the 76ers scored another 35 points in the second quarter, and at halftime, the score of the two teams was already 73:52, and the Rockets trailed by 21 points.
"Look at the situation, the 76ers are going to clock out in three quarters again, this lap their western road trip is very smooth, the last game in San Antonio was an unexpected three-quarter clock-in, as long as there is no accident in the third quarter of this game, it may also be a three-quarter clock-in."
"That's right, now that the regular season is almost over, the rankings of the Eastern and Western playoffs have basically been determined, the 76ers and the Rockets are the same, they are all in the third, fourth and fifth places in their respective divisions, and there is little point in competing for the top rankings, if they are about 20 points behind in the third quarter, maybe Kevin McHale will give up this game."
Coach Zhang and Yu Jia discussed the issue of clocking out in the third quarter, at halftime, Kevin McHale was furious in the locker room, he hoped that the team could make efforts in the second half to narrow the current point difference, McHale focused on criticizing Harden, after the first half, Harden shot 5 of 16, and scored 16 points on free throws, it seems that the score is not low, but Harden's efficiency is too low, only 16 points on 16 shots.
If you count free throws, Harden wastes even more shots.
On the other hand, Anxi scored 36 points alone in the first half, and only took 15 shots, 10 of 15 shots, which was more than one step more efficient, and even Amy Johnson of Turner Sports believes that the Rockets' backwardness in the first half was because Anxi beat Harden, and now the 21-point difference is actually the difference between Anxi and Harden, or even more.
In the second half, Anxi continued to play, and the main forces of both teams came on, and after McHale turned on the hair dryer mode in the midfield, everyone in the Rockets was expressionless and looked very combative.
Beverley broke out first, Harden controlled the ball in the front court and passed the ball to Beverley, who was running without the ball, Beverley seized the opportunity outside the three-point line and shot a three-pointer, although it is much better than the beginning of the season, but McCarvey's current defense is still a big shortcoming of the 76ers.
Beverley scored a cold shot to bring the score to 73:55, narrowing it to 18 points.
The 76ers' offense, Anxi intended to return a ball, but the Rockets were very closely marked against him and had no chance, so Anxi made a gesture and immediately began to break through.
Jack Leod began to run after he understood, and Anxi rushed into the inside line from the bottom line, and immediately a group of people surrounded him and blocked Anxi.
Jack Crowder rushed to the bottom corner, and it was another set of tactics to respond to the bottom corner, but the Rockets were still fooled, Jack Crowder was unguarded in the bottom corner, and Anxi passed!
Jack Leod took aim for the basket in the corner and then took a shot, and Chandler Parsons turned and pounced, but to no avail.
Bang, the ball goes in! Anxi assisted on Jack Crowder and returned a three-pointer.
76:55, the difference is still 21 points.
The Rockets continued to attack, but the 76ers quickly increased the intensity of defense, Howard singled inside, Anxi broke the basketball with a timely bag, and then the offense and defense changed, the 76ers launched a fast attack and rushed to the frontcourt, Anxi took advantage of the Rocket's failure to defend and made a three-point shot!
With a bang, chase three points and hit again! At 79:55, Kevin McHale almost couldn't help but call a timeout at the beginning.
After a difference of 24 points, the Rockets continued to attack, Chandler Parsons broke through the ball, and Terrence Jones on the other side faked a real shot from the outside, but his luck was not good, and the layup that broke into the interior did not score, and the rebound was also taken into Asik's arms.
The Rockets missed consecutive offenses, and the 76ers took advantage of the situation to expand the point difference, Anxi passed the ball to McCarvey and cut inside, McCarvey broke through to attract the defense, and the ball was given to Pau Gasol, Gasol made a layup from the other side of the basket, 81:55, and the difference came to 26 points.
At this moment, McHale sat back in his seat, and there was no intention of calling a timeout.
Director Zhang was surprised for a moment, and then analyzed: "Maybe Coach McHale thinks that the score difference has reached 26 points, and the 76ers' state and feel are so good, the Rockets don't need to struggle, just throw the game to the players to play freely, if the score difference is too big after three quarters, the Rockets will give up the game directly." ”
The team couldn't score in a row, and Harden was also anxious, because Anxi had too much defensive pressure on him, so Harden learned to be obedient in the second half and created more opportunities for his teammates.
As a result, his teammates couldn't score, and Harden thought about it and decided to play a ball himself.
Singled Anxi with the ball on the outside, and after continuous outside crossover steps changed direction, Harden accelerated and broke through Anxi, and Anxi also moved sideways and entangled it.
Rushing to the inside, Harden made a sharp stop and made a jump shot, and Anxi jumped up and reached out to interfere with the ball.
Bang, Harden didn't score either.
However, Howard on the inside grabbed the rebound and scored 2 points on the dunk.
The Rockets scored, but the 76ers lost their offense, Anxi's mid-range jumper missed, Howard grabbed the rebound again, and then passed to Harden to launch a fast break.
Howard grabbed two rebounds in a row, but Yu Jia questioned McHale: "Howard grabbed two rebounds in a row, and it is not early to use such an inside barrier, and McHale is also responsible for the loss of the Rockets in this game." ”
Director Zhang nodded, and then turned his eyes to the sidelines, Harden rushed to the front court first, An Xi also quickly retreated, and the two faced each other in the front court again, and it was one-on-one in the fast attack.
With a bang, Harden picked up the ball and went to the basket, An Xi directly slapped his big hand on the basketball, and with a neat block, the basketball flew away!
"Another cap! Anxi once again locked up Harden, even if it was a fast break opportunity, Harden couldn't break through Anxi's defense! Director Zhang shouted excitedly again.
The basketball flew to the front court of the 76ers, and was picked up by McCarvey, who rushed to the backcourt to defend, turned around and launched a fast break, rushed into the interior and slammed to complete the dunk.
83:57, the margin is still 26 points.
But then, the Rockets relied on Howard's strong singles on the inside to score consecutive points, and the 76ers relied on Anxi's offensive threat to shoot three points in a row, and after two or three minutes, the Rockets' offense was no problem and kept scoring, but the difference expanded to 29 points.
At the end of the third quarter, the Rockets trailed by 28 points, and Kevin McHale replaced all the main players, replaced the bench, and conceded defeat.
The 76ers also followed the Rockets and switched to the bench.
So, Anxi completed another three-quarter clock-out, Anxi scored 42 points in the third quarter, plus 6 rebounds, 10 assists, 2 steals and 3 blocks, 12 of 20 shots, and also hit 8 three-pointers, completely blowing up Harden on the offensive end.
The same was true on the defensive end, with Harden shooting just 6-of-20 from the field, scoring 22 points from the free-throw line, along with 5 rebounds, 8 assists, 1 steal and 6 turnovers.
Both offensive and defensive ends were completely blown up by Anxi, and in this game, Anxi completely realized his plan, and he blew up Harden.
The game is over, the 76ers defeated the Rockets 129-108 away, the 21-point victory gave them a 12-game winning streak, the team's state is getting hotter and hotter, and the Western road trip is a wave of two consecutive wins, both of which are three quarters clock-out, and the Rockets and Spurs are also the top five teams in the West, such a victory is obviously very convincing. (To be continued.) )