Zhou Xuan and D'Antoni chatted about tactics for a while, Leonard can play the No. 2 position, increase the height on the court, be responsible for the main defense of Beverley, and can directly play the low post on the offensive end, whether it is against Harden or Beverley, he has a height advantage.

D'Antoni felt it was feasible and planned to use Matthews as a substitute to focus on positional warfare. Matthews did not object, and he was willing to sacrifice his personal data for the team's victory.

Small forward Parsons also has a height advantage and can shoot three-pointers. Nick Young continued to come off the bench, and if he didn't have the ball in the starter, he couldn't play his best.

The tactics were decided by the way during the meal, and all three Mikes on the coaching staff agreed. Zhou Xuan is good at preventing "European step" breakouts, forcing Harden to make jumpers on the perimeter can reduce efficiency. And Zhou Xuan is the main defense, Harden's strongest ability to make fouls will be discounted, and there will be no referee who blows Zhou Xuan's foul and lets him off.

This year, Harden has also started to enjoy the star whistle, and the improvement is somewhat surprising.

When the Rockets completed the trade with the Thunder, many NBA players talked about everything.

Most people think the Rockets made money, like Malik Allen said, "The Thunder probably got one of the worst defensive players in the league, not to mention that he (Martin) played that position (No. 2)!" My God......"

Martin played off the bench in the Thunder stats dropped. Harden exploded, scoring consecutive high points after the start of the game, and once ranked in the top five of the league's MVP list, leading the scoring list.

Harden has just dropped out of the top 10 of the league's MVP rankings recently, and after the madness of the start to the game, Harden is gradually returning to normal levels. His performance is declining, both in terms of breakout success and shooting percentage. After each team started studying Harden, Harden fell into a small slump and the Rockets fell out of the top eight in the West.

This also makes sense, considering that the rocket is being rebuilt. The reason why Zhou Xuan proposed to play against Harden was to improve his stats on the premise of winning. The Rockets' defense is terrible, and Harden's defense is the worst on the team, and he has the confidence to score more. So far, he averages 16 per game. 7 points 2. 8 rebounds and 13. The 6 assists statistic, while pretty, is a step back from the previous two years. If you don't improve a little, I'm afraid there will be fans who will question it, and it will be difficult to compete for MVP in the regular season.

The standard that fans like about players is the stats, and that's not going to change. Harden is now averaging 23 per game. 4 points 4. 8 rebounds 5. 6 assists 1. 8 steals. The stats are even better than Wade's, with more than double the number of fans in ten games.

On the 24th, the Rockets' home court was full, and fans wanted to see the home team compete with the strongest team in the East.

Harden was giggling when he came out, not doing anything right, and didn't seem to care about winning or losing. Beverley is serious, he signed a big contract, the stats are not good, and Rockets fans are unhappy with his play. Forty percent shooting, averaging less than 3 assists in the early 10 points per game, it is really bad enough to be the starting No. 1 position.

After the warm-up, players from both sides come on. The Knicks five, Zhou Xuan, Leonard, Parsons, Scola, Chandler.

Rockets Beverley, Harden, Jerebko, Patterson, Asik.

Jump ball Chandler won, Asik is a floor streamer.

The Knicks attacked, Zhou Xuan got rid of Beverley by covering, Jerebko changed defenses, Zhou Xuan stepped down to dribble and break through, Jerebko followed from the side, raised his hand to interfere, and Beverley chased after the defense from behind.

Zhou Xuan distributed the ball to the middle, and Scola was a little excited against his old club for the first time, catching the ball and shooting wide, Asik grabbed the rebound. The Rockets immediately counterattacked, Harden received the ball in the frontcourt and was a single fast break, and Leonard defended.

Zhou Xuan hopes to play against Harden, and the Rockets will not let him get his wish easily. Harden was very resolute in attack, and in the first round, Leonard took a feint, no foul, and Harden scored in the basketball. 0 to 2.

Knicks attacked, Zhou Xuan and Leonard blocked and dismantled, Leonard was too thin, the blocking effect was not good, after Zhou Xuan passed, Leonard faced Harden again, hung the ball to Scola, Scola made a mistake when passing the ball to Zhou Xuan again, Beverley followed very tightly without the ball, reached out and made a successful steal, and passed to Harden who was about to go, Harden received the ball and scouted, and shot 60 degrees three points on the right side, and the ball went into the net hollow. 0 to 5.

Today, Harden is in a brave state, which makes Zhou Xuan a little embarrassed. It was he who proposed to let Leonard play the No. 2 position, but the opening was scored in a row, and D'Antoni trusted him a lot, so he arranged it directly according to his idea.

In the next round, Leonard singled Harden in the low post, Asik made up for the interference, although Leonard dodged the block, but the shot was missed, Jerebko grabbed the rebound in the backcourt, and the Rockets went on a fast break.

Harden passes to Patterson, who grabs a three-pointer, the ball makes a beautiful arc, and hits! 0 to 8.

Patterson developed three-pointers on the offensive end and worked hard in the summer. As a power forward with a height of 206CM, the rebounding is not strong, and it is difficult to become a starter if you can't shoot. Now he's managed to squeeze 14th pick Marcus Morris onto the bench.

The Knicks attacked, Chandler went out to block and dismantle, Zhou Xuan broke through the ball to Chandler who cut in the air, and his shot under the basket was blocked by Asik. The basketball is picked up by Patterson.

The Rockets attacked, Zhou Xuan defended Harden, the bearded man took the ball and dribbled under the crotch twice on the periphery, relying on the height advantage and bounce speed to pull up the right side and shoot, dodging the block, and the ball went in again. 0 to 11.

The home fans shouted excitedly, they didn't expect the Rockets to be so fierce.

Su Qun was also surprised and sighed: "The Rockets' offense this year has left a deep impression, they are also playing fast offense, one big and four small, if you have the opportunity, you can shoot if you have a good hand, and you may win any team if you feel good." ”

Yang said: "D'Antoni has not asked for a timeout yet, let the players adjust themselves. ”

Zhou Xuan beckoned to find a double block and dodged Beverley. The problem is again, Asik doesn't come out on the inside. Chandler is cleared in the middle.

If the "boxing king" could shoot, he would have been an all-star long ago, but unfortunately he can't, so he can only be a blue-collar worker. Because of his presence, the Knicks offense has weaknesses. The coach can't do without him because he has the best defense.

Beverley chased the defense from behind, Zhou Xuan crossed the middle, Parsons relied on Chandler's no-ball cover to get rid of the defense, this time Asik defended it, raised his hand to interfere with the shot, Parsons made a pull-up jump shot that missed, Asik turned around and stuck again, and won the backcourt rebound.

Jerebko was about to go down, Harden retreated and took the ball and passed to the frontcourt, Jerebuko misplaced Zhou Xuan, caught the ball and shot a three-point shot. 0 to 14.

D'Antoni asked for a timeout. In the opening game, the opponent made four consecutive three-pointers, and the outside line was all open.

The Knicks players came off the court feeling like a dream, and it had been a long time since they had played like this against an opponent. Zhou Xuan was also sighing in his heart, how did this happen? Harden, this guy made a wish to the gods yesterday on Thanksgiving, right? Paying 10 years of life to win a game against us, that's why he has a bearded face and looks like he is about to retire. (His life is worthless)

D'Antoni did not make a substitution, asking Zhou Xuan to defend Beverley, Leonard keeping an eye on Harden, focusing on the outside line, and leaving only Chandler on the inside. Grab the rebound and immediately counterattack, don't let the Rockets fall into position. The Rockets' interior defense is still very good.

From the Spurs, the Bulls poached Jerebko and Asik, which makes people feel that Morey has a lot of two-pointers, and in recent games, Asik averaged 11 points and 12 rebounds per game, and he was able to cut a double-double, and his defensive role was obvious.

Jerebko was an excellent team player, having started under Popovich. He is 208CM tall, the leader of the Swedish team, a swingman at the front, and can shoot, just like Turkoglou with poor organizational skills.

He had a 9 at the Spurs. 2 points and 6 rebounds, as a forward rebounding efficiency passed, because of the impact of two newcomers on his position last season, he had fewer opportunities, the Rockets poached people, and the Spurs did not match the offer. For him, the Rockets also let go of former starting small forward Badinger.

In addition, the Rockets coaching staff has also changed. People sent McHale, nicknamed "The Refrigerator", to replace Adelman. Princeton is a thing of the past.

McHale was once an NBA interior star, then manager of the Timberwolves, and eventually head coach.

McHale made Harden explode as soon as he arrived. He likes to use single-core tactics. Whether it's Garnett or now Harden. McHale admires a superstar who is surrounded by a bunch of role players. Objectively speaking, this style of play is not suitable now, and it is difficult to win the championship. In the case of more and more teams with superstars huddling and using dual-core or even tri-core, the Rockets lineup looks a bit shabby. But Morey is a wise man, and his style of building the team has developed in the direction of the Knicks.

McHale likes team basketball, but doesn't give much power to point guards, which is also a good fit for the Rockets. Given Beverley the ball, there's no way he's going to average 20+ or hand out 10 assists per game. Defending and shooting from point to point is what he does.

Now people see a brand new Rockets who have a mediocre record but can already captivate fans with their fluid offense.

The game continued, and the Knicks began to defend the perimeter. Zhou Xuan's defense breakthrough is good, he is shorter than Harden, and on the whole, Leonard's defense is the most suitable. The Rockets won't let Harden defend Zhou Xuan either.

The Knicks blocked, and Zhou Xuan misplaced Jerebko to the baseline. Scola stood up high to attract the defense, and Beverley quickly bypassed the chase and was very aggressive. He didn't hate Zhou Xuan, and he was still grateful, if it weren't for the Rockets' bid being too high for him to refuse, he would definitely stay with the Knicks. Now he guards against Zhou Xuan strictly because he wants to prove his worth. So far, there has not been a "Mage Terminator" in the Alliance.

Zhou Xuan saw Beverley come up, hit the ground and passed to the middle in the gap between the two, and Scola got the open space again, this time he didn't waste the opportunity and shot into the net. 2 to 14.

Su Qun shouted: "The Knicks have finally scored, as long as Zhou Xuan attracts the bag and passes, the others must seize the opportunity." ”

Yang Jian said: "Asik's defense under the basket is very good, I think at this time I can consider replacing Chandler and replacing Anderson, so that Asik has to defend out." Zhou Xuan singled him out, it would definitely be easier to break through. ”

D'Antoni was not in a hurry to make a substitution, he believed that with one less shooting point, Zhou Xuan would have a way to recover the score.