The Rockets' victory over the Lakers seems to be back in the limelight. Many experts www.biquge.info realized that the Rockets are still the number one favorite for the championship, and the Lakers with a luxurious lineup are just an alternative. Some of the media outlets that have been touting the Lakers have finally shut up.

That's right, the Lakers are missing Gasol and the lineup is not complete, but the Rockets are missing the more famous MVP Maddy. Without Maddy's Rockets can play an 11-game winning streak, so how terrible should the full lineup of Rockets be?

An analysis article from ESPN duly pointed out that the scariest thing about the Rockets is not the superstars, but the ability of management to constantly change blood. This team will either find success with the low pick (Reed, Spanolys) or trade in the right player with the high pick (Bosh, Roy). Especially their surprise selection of the unpopular Brandon. Roy has now become an integral part of the Rockets' rotation. It is precisely because of Roy's excellent play that the Rockets without Maddy can not have shortcomings in position. Judging by the current age of their core players, the team is likely to remain competitive for years to come, not only to challenge for a third consecutive championship, but also to challenge for the Celtics' eight-game winning streak.

On December 21, the Rockets beat the Raptors by 17 points at home. Yao Ming was rested, and Billups scored a game-high 21 points and dished out 11 assists. At the post-match press conference, the media naturally raised questions about the 8th consecutive championship.

"8 in a row? Spare me, won? Yuan Fei spread his hands helplessly and said: "Our Rockets are a solid team, and we don't want to think about the future so far." We wanted to win three in a row, but the other 29 teams in the league weren't so negotiable. Three consecutive championships is a very difficult and great undertaking, and eight consecutive championships are simply impossible to replicate. Let me point out that the Celtics' eight-game winning streak began in 1959 when there were only eight teams in the league, and by the time of the eighth championship there were only nine. Even the current Eastern Conference championship is out of 15 teams, and if there are only eight or nine teams in the East in the league, the Pistons have won two consecutive championships. ”

"Mr. Wang, are you questioning the gold content of the older generation of superstars?" A yin and yang strange voice sounded, and Yuan Fei didn't need to look at it to know that this was Woking.

"Times are developing, and the NBA league has also developed from a barren small league to the world's No. 1 basketball league today." Yuanfei stared at Woking defiantly and said: "If I say that today's basketball level has not improved compared to the 50s of the last century, and the competition today is not more fierce than then, then I am insulting the older generation of basketball superstars, and also insulting all the players, owners, head coaches and league staff in the past few decades." ”

Jason. Wang's tough and ingenious answer won the applause of most basketball practitioners. A few hours later, Celtic legend and eight-time champion Bill Brown. Russell generously recognized Jason in an interview. Wang's view.

Even the Lord of the Rings, the first person of the older generation of superstars, has spoken, what else do others have to say?

(Note: Russell's superstar Wilt. Chamberlain died in 1999, while another superstar, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, was a junior to the two, followed by Magic, Big Bird and Jordan. So Russell is the first surviving old supergiant)

With a record of 8 consecutive championships, Yuanfei has no extravagant expectations, but another record that can be grasped is approaching, which is the winning streak in the regular season. Speaking of this record, it is held by the Lakers in 1971-72, who have won an unprecedented 33-game winning streak this season. The second place also came from that era, with the Bucks' 20-game winning streak in 1971, followed by the 19-game winning streak created by the OK Lakers in 2000. Generally speaking, winning more than 15 in a row is a remarkable achievement and deserves a lot of media hype. The Rockets have won 12 consecutive victories, and the next few opponents are not strong, and it seems that 15 consecutive wins have been secured. A 20-game winning streak is not out of reach, and there is hope for the second-highest winning streak in history.

On December 23, the Rockets came to the Denver Plateau to challenge the Nuggets. Don't look at the Nuggets' strength, they are still a strong contender for the third place in the West. This is all from the Northwest District, which is lagging behind in strength. As of this time, the Nuggets, SuperSonics, Timberwolves and Jazz, which have a winning rate of less than 5 percent, are difficult to solve, ranking 1-4 in the Northwest Division. Whoever can win one or two more games will be promoted to the first place in the Northwest Division and the third place in the West. In this case, the already talented Nuggets players are naturally motivated.

The Nuggets injured big man Nene and sent out an interior combination of Marcus. Camby and Kenyon. Martin, Carmelo. Anthony and Andrew. The Miller duo is also famous. As soon as they came up, they felt very smooth, Anthony was omnipotent with back-to-back shots, breakaways, and jumpers, and scored 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting in the first quarter. Camby was also in good shape today, although he couldn't beat Yao Ming head-on, but he also had a hand shot, pulled it out and hit it again and again, and cut down a double-double of 11+10 in the half. At the end of the first half, the Rockets actually trailed by as many as 15 points at 39:54.

The players' faces are a little unsightly, after all, they have won so many strong teams before, and this time they met the weak team Nuggets, and there was a tendency to overturn. Adelman has always been too gentle and less likely to reprimand his players. If this was the Lakers, Van Gundy would have scolded him a long time ago, but Ah Shuai just said gently: "Everyone didn't do well defensively in the first half." ”

The players immediately pricked up their ears and waited for the coach to give instructions on the next step.

But Ah Shuai said slowly: "How we defended when we won the championship last season, let's defend now." ”

Everyone was stunned when they heard it, old man, are you kidding us? Are you a coach or are we coaches?

At this time, Curry's mobile phone rang at the right time, it was Yuanfei's call. He was afraid that the players had left their phones in the car and called the assistant coach. Yuanfei exchanged a few words with Curry and then asked Adelman to answer.

"Mr. Adelman, would I like to give a few tactical advice to the players?" Yuanfei asked. He knew that Mr. Adelman's ability to motivate the players was fine, but the on-the-spot command was a little worse. And he has a good temper and makes some claims on his own, and the old gentleman will not be angry.

Sure enough, Adelman gladly accepted and transferred the phone to the public.

"The Nuggets shot just 32 percent from three-point range, which is the lowest in the league. The team's two interior players don't have long-range shooting, and neither do the two core Anthony (note: Anthony sucks three-pointers in the early days and improves a lot in the middle of the game) and Miller. We're going to shrink and play like we did in training, just keep an eye on DeMar in the starters. Johnson and a couple of substitute goalscorers will do the trick. ”

"But Anthony threw in 2 three-pointers in the first half!" Jefferson discerned.

"Let him keep throwing, I won't believe in evil!" Yuan Fei smiled: "Last season, his three-point shooting was only 26.6%, and he didn't improve in the first month and a half of this season, so I don't believe that he can shoot suddenly, but he just got 2 shots." ”

Sure enough, the Rockets' combined defense paid off, and Anthony and Miller's backs were often harassed by Bosh and Roy, and they began to lose their sights. After Anthony missed three three-pointers in a row, George. Karl finally reacted to adjust a few shooters, but the margin had narrowed to a mere 3 points.

Demar. Johnson, Grieg. Buckner and Earl. Watson came on, and these are the Nuggets' more reliable three shooters. But these three are on the bench together, which means that the Nuggets have pressed their better players on the bench, especially Miller, and as soon as he gets off the court, Spann can't hold it anymore. Buckner, who is 193cm, and Watson, who is 185cm, suffered a lot on the defensive end. Roy and Span, the two bench bandits, were full of impact, and immediately disturbed the Nuggets inside, and Yao Ming also took the opportunity to exert his power and caused Camby to foul again and again. The rocket is another wave of climax, and the instant reversal is made.

At 104:98, the Rockets defeated their opponents without danger and maintained their winning streak.

The last three opponents of the month, the Jazz, Hornets and Warriors, were limited in strength and failed to cause much trouble for the Rockets. They ended December with a winning streak and a 16-game winning streak to start 2006. (To be continued.) )