"Today's opponent, the Raptors, has a special meaning for management. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 "The Raptors' first-round picks this season have been traded to us, so we've got to get rid of them," he told the players in the locker room. The lower we rank them, the better it will be for our draft next year. What's more, this is our first home game of the season, so to win beautifully. ”

"The Raptors aren't the Finals-caliber team they used to be right now. Only Carter and Francis can count on two people on the team, and their center Antonio. Davis (34 years old that season) entered the late stages of his career and then declined significantly. Tang Shuai analyzed the opponent: "Our strength is stronger, but our disadvantage is that we only played away in Denver yesterday, and we are not well rested and have poor fitness." The good thing is that our bench depth is strong. ”

"I wasn't tired yesterday, so it's okay to play 40 minutes today." Maddie took the lead, playing just 28 minutes in Denver.

"Good, Tracy." Tang Shuai laid out the tactics: "Today our starters are Jamal, Kenny, Richard, Tracy and Chauncey, and our main tactical arrangement is ......"

Yao Ming remained silent, but he felt a little sad in his heart. Magloyer is still the main centre-forward, and I don't know when I will be able to start.

"Tracy, is this the legendary Jason?" Billups whispered to Maddie, "I'm too young, it's completely different from what I thought." ”

"Yes, he's only sixteen or seventeen years old, but he has a lot of prestige in the team. Almost all of the current team members were built under his planning, including bringing you in is also his idea. ”

"I thought it would be a bearded dad with glasses, but I have the impression that data analysts are such serious people." Billups said seriously.

"Poof-ha-ha." Maddie couldn't help but laugh. "Jason is very nice, you're going to be friends."

***

The game went unexpectedly, and in the opening six minutes Vince Brown. Carter's departure from the game with an injury was the turning point of the game, when the Rockets had already led by a score of 17-7 (a real event in history).

In the later game, the Raptors who lost Carter were like a loose sand, although Francis went all out to cut 28+8+5, but it was difficult to support itself, and the Raptors lost 86:108. The Rockets got off to a good start at home.

Magloyer and Yao Ming played 24 minutes each to split the playing time. Yao Ming scored 8 points and 4 rebounds on 4-of-7 shooting, which was quite an improvement (real data), while Xiao Ma contributed a double-double of 11 points and 12 rebounds.

For Yuanfei, the joy of a three-game winning streak was quickly overshadowed by the shock of bad news.

"Jason, there are players who have asked to be traded to other teams." Manager Dawson brought the bad news.

"This ....... is Jamal. Magloyle? I did think about that because Yao and Memet shared his playing time. ”

"No, no, it's Kenny. Thomas's agent made this request to me. ”

"What? It's Kenny? Yuan Fei was taken aback, "But if you think about it, it's okay." Kenny was a regular last season, averaging 14+7 in 34 minutes per game. Although he is still a starter this season, because Memet is mostly playing in the number 4 position, Gerrard is also much more mature than last season, and his playing time has been divided a lot. ”

"yes, Jason, what do you think? As soon as the team was about to improve, the starting power forward wanted to leave. ”

"Even though Kenny is a nice guy and we have a lot of feelings, he's really not in our plans for the future." Yuanfei gritted his teeth and said, "The only players who are older than my team are Kenny and Hakim, and I am reluctant to let Kenny go." But to be honest, the team doesn't really need him. Now the No. 4 position is enough to deal with the tall and strong interior line, and the short and flexible inside line Gerrard can completely defend, and he is redundant in the middle. And he doesn't have much of an advantage in terms of age and future improvement, so we can sell him. Or sell Jamal and let Oku play more of the number 5 and give Kenny more playing time. ”

"Then I'm going to ask for the price like this?"

"That's right, let's go to the bottom and see which way to make more money. We want picks in '03 and '04. I'm also thinking if there's any other way to fix the problem. ”

***

On November 5, the Rockets, who had rested for two days, welcomed the SuperSonics at home. The two teams were also under-favored but won the opening three consecutive wins, and this ball was hailed as a dark horse battle.

"The SuperSonics are still known as veteran Gary. Payton is the core team, strangle him and strangle the soul of the supersonics, so Chauncey, it's up to you. Tang Shuai nodded to Billups and said, "Another 4-year-old Rashad. Lewis has gradually grown into a second-in-command, and Mason, who has played for 2 years, also has a certain strength. ”

"I add, watch out for No. 77 Radmanovic." Yuan Fei continued: "He averaged only 6.7 points per game last season, but he shot more than 40% from three-point range, and he is a very potential shooter. In the last game against the Jazz, he came off the bench and scored 15 points. ”

"No problem, I'll defend him. We're going to win. "Jefferson was in high spirits.

Yuan Fei noticed that Tang Shuai seemed to frown slightly.

***

The start went as smoothly as the Houstonians expected, with Maddy, Billups, Thomas and Magloyer each hitting a goal as the Rockets opened the game with a 0-8 run. But Payton then took full control of the game, and he continued to assist Lewis to score in the face of Billups' defense, diching out six assists in a single quarter and leading the Rockets by just three points after the first quarter.

In the second quarter, Maddie began to exert his strength, and he scored 12 points in a single quarter on consecutive shots. But supersonic substitute Desmond. Mason and Jerome. James also kept scoring points, but the margin failed to widen. At 50:53, the Rockets entered the second half with a slight lead.

"Boys, you're so proud." Tang Shuai expressed his dissatisfaction. 'I know you've had the last two bad seasons and it's a good feeling to start winning now. But the first three opponents were not top teams, and it's not too late to talk about pride when you win the Lakers and Kings. You didn't have a good attitude towards this game. ”

The players were silent, and Tang Shuai was also silent. He sensed that people didn't seem to be listening to him.

Sure enough, as Tang Shuai expected, the supersonic counterattacked at the beginning of the second half. Payton broke through Billups' defense in the opening stanza and made a wonderful pass to center Drobiak, who made a good shot to make it 52-53.

Maddie also scored 2 points. Payton attacked on his own, but shot iron. Turning around, Jefferson missed a three-point shot, and the ball was given to the supersonic again. Payton assists Barry to hit a three-pointer, tied at 55!

Jefferson held the ball and was blocked by Lewis to break through the line and have no chance. Jefferson barely passed to the high-ranking Magloyer, who dribbled twice and hit the back with a hook hand. The ball came to Payton again, and Payton assisted on Lewis's mid-range shot, 57-55.

Maddie hit another 2-pointer. Peyton broke through and disrupted the Rockets' defense, Payton was assigned to the outside Mason, Maddie hurriedly pounced to fill the position, and Mason divided Barry again, and the position was vacant! Brent. Barry shot. Goal 60:57!

Yuanfei sighed, Brent. Barry is a sharpshooter who has shot over 40 percent from three-point range for three consecutive seasons, so it's certainly not a good idea to give him an open shot. Now the team basically relies on Maddy to play alone on the offensive end, and the defensive end is not good at defense.

Thomas missed the shot, and Payton assisted on another Drobiake dunk. At 62:57, the Rockets players began to get anxious. Billups hit a single jumper, and Magloyer squeezed out of position desperately, and finally scored 2 points on the rebound.

Payton and Maddie each hit the iron once, and the ball was still in the hands of the SuperSonics. Payton passed to Lewis, who ran out of space, and the shot was 64:59. The rocket was forced to call a timeout.

After the timeout, the Rockets brought on Wallace and Turkoglou and finally found a little bit of a touch on the defensive end, barely able to contain wave after wave of SuperSonics. But there is nothing to be done on the offensive end, and the score difference is still slowly widening.

In the last two minutes of the third quarter, the supersonic shooters broke out en masse, Mason, Radmanovic and Lewis hit three-pointers one after another, and the Rockets hit iron again and again, but fortunately, Payton missed the three-point shot at the whistle, and the Rockets ended the quarter with 80:68 trailing by 12 points.

Facing the depressed players, Yuan Fei grabbed ahead of Tang Shuai and spoke: "I'll say two words first, Gary. Peyton is 34 years old. He had five points, three rebounds and eight assists in the first quarter. ”

The players couldn't hold their heads up in shame, especially Billups and Parker, who simply couldn't contain Payton Sr. But Yuanfei spoke again to comfort them.

'The defensive problem wasn't exactly in the number 1 position, Chauncy and Toney defended well. Payton has only made 5-of-16 shooting so far, but has dished out 16 assists. Our overall defence needs to be strengthened. ”

"With 12 points down in the third quarter, we didn't lose to the point where we should have given up." Tang Shuai encouraged the players: "Boys, do you still want to win?" ”

"Of course!" Maddie loudly agreed, and he was the only one in the team who was playing normally. But the other players were dejected and limply agreed.

"Don't tell me that's what you're capable of." A tall figure walked through the door.

"Captain, why are you here? How's your injury? The players immediately got up and came up to greet them. The one who came, of course, was the superstar with the highest status in their minds - Olajuwon.

Olajuwon waved his hand to stop the crowd and said, "We have lost a lot of games, and of course we can lose, but I don't want to see you lose like this." Chauncey, were you scared by Peyton's trash talk? ”

"Of course not!" Billups' eyes widened.

"You're the oldest big brother in the team when I'm not around, and you're going to lead them forward. Go and defeat Peyton! ”

Billups nodded heavily.

***

The game was over, and Billups sat on the floor, seemingly exhausted. He got 12+4+4 in the fourth quarter, completely suppressing Payton Sr. And Maddie was on fire under his organization, scoring 14 points in the fourth quarter.

Payton walked up to Billups, gasped and said, "You're going to be the league's first-line point guard, you're really good." ”

Billups smiled at him. A few months ago, he wasn't even a star, and his parent club wasn't even willing to secure his starting position. And now, one of the league's two big point guards (the other is Jason. Kidd) recognized him as an opponent of the same level. At this moment, winning or losing is no longer important, and he feels that he has found himself and his dream of basketball.

At 107:105, the Rockets lost to the SuperSonics by 2 points and lost for the first time of the season.