Yuan Fei didn't know how much help his previous speech could give Yao Ming. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 infoThe next day the players flew to the East and played back-to-back away games. The first destination is New Jersey.

The Nets have been the dominant team in the East in recent years, finishing fourth in the league behind the Spurs, Pistons, and Pacers in defense last season, but they have not been doing well lately. Core superstar Kidd has not returned from knee surgery in the summer, and the two main players, power forward Martin and shooting guard Kittels, have been sold off again in the offseason. The only person in the rebuilding team who can be considered a big name is Alonzo, who has undergone a kidney transplant. Mourning. Speaking of Mourning is definitely a legend, in the summer of '03 the Nets brought in the star center to fight the imaginary rivals Duncan and O'Neal, but he soon found symptoms of kidney failure again. Doctors forced him to retire in November 03. A month later, Mourning underwent a kidney transplant and soon after made a surprising comeback – the third time in his career that he had overcome his illness.

The Rockets face such a team with a broken lineup, and winning should not be a problem. Maddie also rushed to New Jersey with the team and said that he could make a comeback, but under the strong request of Yuanfei, Lao Tang promised to only let Maddie simply play and practice.

As the saying goes, a rotten ship also has three pounds of nails. Although the 34-year-old old Mo Ning is sick, he is a two-time best defensive player after all, and his basic skills are still there. Yao Ming failed to attack a few times, but was fouled twice by Mo Ning and was replaced early. Maddy, who had just returned, also had a bad hand and repeatedly hit the iron, but the Rockets were a cut above the overall strength, leading 20-17 under Billups to end the first quarter.

Yao Ming only got 0 points and 1 rebound in the first quarter, and his performance was relatively poor. He was also dissatisfied with his performance and was a little anxious inside. But at this time, he remembered Yuanfei's words yesterday, and his mind gradually calmed down.

"It's true that the center player is constantly being weakened on the offensive end, but it still can't be replaced on the defensive end."

In the second quarter, the Rockets players saw a more resolute and decisive Yao Ming.

"Chris, I'll go up to defend against Morning, pay attention to help me make up for it!"

"Richard, watch out for someone going up to block it."

"Tracy, keep an eye on No. 10 Pranić!"

Maddie glanced at Yao Ming with a little surprise, no one but Olajuwon had ever directed him to defend like this. After all, he is the boss of this team.

Tang Shuai nodded secretly, and Yao Ming seemed to be a little more mature.

Eric. Williams forced a layup under Bosh's defense, Yao Ming had already assisted in the defense, and with a huge palm, he stretched out his big hat to cover the sky and the sun!

Jefferson picked up the ball and countered quickly. At 30:17, the Rockets came up in the second quarter and defended well, hitting the opponent with a wave of 10-0 climax.

Although Yao Ming was plagued by fouls and was substituted after half a quarter, and Maddie was not in good shape, the Rockets played high-intensity defense that made it impossible for opponents to close the score. In the second quarter, the Nets scored only 13 points in a single quarter, which also drained their morale. By the start of the fourth quarter, the score was 68:49. With the offensive firepower of the Nets players, chasing 19 points in the final quarter is tantamount to a dream.

Tang Shuai was also relieved to replace the substitute players, and the substitutes who didn't play much time such as Daba, Vallejo, and Barrett all had the opportunity to show themselves. These bench players play very seriously and have an attitude that is not inferior to that of the main team. Because playing time is precious to them, even if they can't stay with the Rockets in the future, other teams can throw an olive branch from them. But what Tang Shuai didn't expect was that the most positive performance was actually the bus.

"Anderson, I'm - No. 35, you - rebound!" The English of the bus was not very good, but it was clearly expressed.

"Andrew, pick-and-roll, pick-and-roll!" The bus stepped forward to cover, and Barrett was a little confused and didn't know how to organize the attack, and saw the bus's cover break through decisively. Nets guard Best managed to twist his body around the huge body of the bus, only to see Barrett pass the ball back.

"Oops!" Barrett felt wrong after passing the ball, "This is Monk and not the king, a center holding the ball at the top of the arc, isn't it bad?" ”

The bus calmly aims, shoots three-point, hits! At 80:59, the margin has widened to more than 20 points.

"This big guy will shoot threes too? Isn't it Mengjin? "Not to mention the Nets players, even Barrett didn't know that the bus was hiding a three-point shot.

(In history, Daba has made a total of 15 three-pointers in the NBA, hitting 5 of them, and the shooting rate is still above passing)

"Looks like we can give Monk more playing time." Tang Shuai secretly pondered: "No, I still want to exercise Valejo, it's really hard to choose." ”

In the end, the Rockets defeated the Nets 90-69 away. Yao Ming was trapped in a foul and only played 22 minutes, scoring 6+3 on 3-of-11 shooting, but contributed 3 blocks; Maddie scored just 15 points on 5-of-16 shooting. The Rockets relied on an overall solid defense to achieve a big victory when the two leading stars were not feeling good.

However, what made Yao Ming a little depressed was that this win was still after Maddie's comeback. It's hard to lead the team to win on your own.

On Nov. 16, the Rockets flew to Atlanta to fight the Hawks back-to-back. The Hawks' draft pick for next year is the Rockets', and the Rockets have a better chance of getting a high pick if they play the bottom of the Hawks League.

Unexpectedly, the strength of the Eagles was much higher than estimated. Harrington has a certain amount of strength, plus Rockets veteran Joe. Johnson, high pick rookie Childres, Josh. Smith and second-year Boris. Dior, this lineup is also quite combative. Of course, the shortcomings of the Hawks are also obvious, they have poor tactical discipline, poor defense, and not enough points on the offensive end, and several major rotation players like to hold the ball in their hands.

In the final five minutes of the game, the Rockets still led by double digits at 83-73, and the situation was very good. But the singles team like the Eagles is unreasonable, and as soon as it feels good, it suddenly sets off a wave of strong counterattacks.

Billups hit a jumper, and Harrington forced Maddy and passed to center Drobiake, who hit it easily.

Jefferson was attacked by Joe. Johnson made a steal and Walker added two more points on a mid-range shot to make it 83-77.

After Maddy missed a three-pointer, Yao Ming grabbed the rebound and fouled, and the Hawks won the ball. It was Johnson who fouled Jefferson and made 2 of 2 free throws, just four points away.

Maddy's pass was again tackled by Johnson, who scored two points on an unmarked layup to make it 83-81. The Rockets were called a timeout, and the game entered the final 2 minutes.

"Joe, this guy is really ruthless!" Jefferson grumbled.

"Don't panic, we're still the lead, defend well! Attack slowly, make sure you don't make mistakes! Tang Shuai commanded calmly.

After the timeout, at least the Rockets did not make a mistake and completed an attack steadily, but unfortunately Billups missed a layup. The Eagles' offense is not disciplined, and it basically depends on individual ability. Walker was about to make a jump shot when he got the ball, but Bosh jumped up violently, his fingers blocked the ball and changed the line, and the iron missed. Drobiak grabbed the frontcourt rebound and tried to dunk it, but Yao Ming slapped it out with a big hat on his head. Billups grabbed the ball, and the Rockets finally held on to the offense.

Jefferson still missed a jumper, but Bosh grabbed the rebound and gave it to Billups. After the latter's strong breakthrough, Yao Ming succeeded, 85:81!

Joe. Johnson singled Maddie with his back and caused a foul. It's a pity that only 1 of 2 free throws is made. It's still 3 points away, but time is running out.

The Rockets patiently consumed 24 seconds before Maddie missed a three-point jumper in the final minute. The Eagles have the ball and there are only 20 seconds left on the clock. Walker made a mistake in the middle of the game and made a bad pass, and Maddie made a steal. Johnson could only foul, and Maddie made 2 free throws to declare the game out of suspense.

After the game, the Rockets players had a chat with their old teammate Joe. Johnson hugged and greeted. Joe has gradually grown into the core of the new generation of the Eagles, and he contributed 17+7+5 in this game, and it was his excellent play with Walker that allowed the Eagles to hold on to the battle until the last moment.

At 87:82, the Rockets narrowly won away. They only hit one open goal in the last five minutes, but relied on tenacious defense at key moments to successfully contain the Eagles' comeback and ensure the final victory. (To be continued.) )