The Rockets have won five in a row after losing two in a row last time, and it's the same this time. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 infoThe strength of the next opponents is relatively average, and the Rockets are holding back their strength to play a wave of consecutive wins.

On December 17th, the Rockets went east to Cleveland, Maddie and 03 champion "Little Emperor" LeBron. James met for the first time. James, who was not yet 19 years old at the time, was far from being a future superstar, and he was soon lost in the rotation of Wallace and Turkoglou. James finished with 17 points and three assists on 7-of-19 shooting, while Maddie easily scored 33 points to teach him a lesson, 101-89 The Rockets took the opponent easily.

On the 19th, the Rockets defeated the Clippers by 22 points at home. Wang Zhizhi cut 16+6 in the face of his old club without mercy, and Maddie scored 24 points in only 3 quarters. Clippers owner Raheem Sterling is expected to be depressed for a while.

The next day, the Rockets went back-to-back to Phoenix to play, and the Suns' Stoudemire missed with a sprained left ankle, which gave the Rockets plenty of opportunities inside. Rookie Bosh performed eye-catching and scored 9+9, and Maddie scored another 30 points. The 102-97 Rockets won to avenge the loss at the start of the season.

After three straight wins, the Rockets are 21-5 and still slightly ahead of the Lakers at 20-5 and the Kings at 19-6 at the top of the league. But the moment of truth has come, around Christmas, the Rockets will play the Pacers and Lakers in a row.

***

On the 23rd, the Toyota Center welcomed the challenge of the first Pacers in the East.

The Pacers didn't make much of a move in the summer, and their rise basically came from the team's internal development. Team Soul 38-year-old Reggie. Miller is getting older, O'Neal Jr. is 25 years old, wing defender Artest is 24 years old, and sixth man Harrington is 23 years old.

"The Pacers' starting lineup this season is mostly a two-tower configuration, and the interior partner with O'Neal Jr. is Jeff of the big center 211cm. Foster. And the opponent's starting small forward, Artest, is also very strong enough to act as a power forward. Tang Shuai explained the tactics: "There is only one person in our team who can fight against Artest, Gerrard, and the starting No. 3 position depends on you." ”

"No problem, leave it to me!" Wallace replied happily, and his heart was sweating. He's a relatively strong No. 3 in the league, but he's still much thinner than a muscular man like Artest.

"The starting outside line is Tracy and Chauncey, the inside line is Yao and Chris, the burden on the inside line of this ball is heavier, Yao will defend O'Neill first, Chris pay attention to the defense, you have to come on."

"Me? Starting? Bosh looked confused, he didn't expect his first start in his life to be in such an important game.

"Of course it's you, follow the coach's command. You want Yao to face little O'Neill together, the burden is very heavy. Big Dream took Bosh away and began to pass on his experience.

Tang Shuai's design is the result of deliberation with the coaching staff, which naturally makes sense. The only ones in the team who can defend little O'Neal head-on are Yao Ming and Da Meng, while Foster's offensive ability is not strong, and he basically has no singles ability. Although Bosh is thin and weak, it is still possible to fight against this kind of rough brother, and Bosh's movement speed advantage will help Yao Ming. On the bench, the dream of the strongest defense rested and fully came off the bench to defend O'Neal.

What about the offensive end? The Pacers' impregnable defense is difficult to deal with, and it will be up to Maddy and Billups to do so.

The first section is almost developed according to the script designed by Tang Shuai. Although the two superstars Maddie and O'Neal Jr. are not directly opposed, they play back and forth lively, almost a goal for you and a goal, and the two teams are inseparable.

The Pacers suffered from the Rockets' targeted defense, Xiao Ao was not easy to play Yao Ming alone, and the agile Bosh would be in place at any time. O'Neill finally shook off Yao Ming and just got a chance to make a move, he ate a flying hat from Bosh.

But the Rockets suffered from the player's hand, except for Maddy, other players played iron one after another, like Bosh just hated O'Neal was excited, and when he turned around, his jump shot was also hated by Xiao O's way.

Maddie worked hard, scoring 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting on the offensive end, and frantically chasing Miller, the god pitcher, on the defensive end, prevented Miller Sr. from failing to shoot in the first quarter.

At the end of the first quarter, the Rockets trailed by four points at 21-17. O'Neal Jr. scored just 6 points on 2-of-7 shooting, but contributed 4 rebounds, 1 steal and 1 block, supporting the Pacers' impregnable defensive barrier.

"It stands to reason that we didn't fall far behind in the first quarter except for Maddie. If it feels better, it should be able to get it back. Yuanfei said to Smith.

But basketball is a sport full of unknowns, and sometimes it's really unreasonable.

As soon as Maddie rests, the rest of the Rockets players won't play. Jefferson, who has the strongest ability to play on the outside, was also targeted by Artest, Billups continued to send exquisite passes, and the Rockets players who lost their touch wasted opportunities again and again, especially the open three-pointers. In the end, Yao Ming could only solve the problem by single, and Oku, who came on the bench, pulled Xiao Ao away from the three-second zone, and Yao Ming singled Foster to solve the battle.

But after 2 hits, the Pacers are not stupid. Foster and Okufang went out, Xiao Ao defended Yao Ming, and Da Yao was not so easy. After a few dribbles with his back and found that there was no chance, Da Yao had to pass to the outside, and the offensive time of 24 seconds was almost up (small knowledge: The NBA stipulates that the offensive team must shoot within 24 seconds from the moment the ball is obtained, otherwise it will be judged as a 24-second illegal ball exchange. There are some point guards who deliberately let the ball roll on the ground for a few seconds when receiving the ball without picking it up, because it doesn't take 24 seconds if you don't catch the ball), and Billups can only force a three-pointer against the defender and hit another iron. Tang Shuai saw that the situation was not good, and hurriedly replaced Maddie again.

And this time Maddie didn't make the Rockets much better after he came on the court. The Rockets had a terrible offense in the first half, trailing by double digits at 47:37.

In the third quarter, the Rockets eliminated the important X-factor of eliminating the Lakers and ran to a small lineup. But even this trick of pressing the bottom of the box has lost its magic. In the fourth quarter, Maddie turned on the god-killing mode again and scored 12 points in a single quarter, but it was too late.

At 89:84, Maddy scored 33 points alone, and the Rockets lost another time at home.

***

The 24th was Christmas Eve, a traditional American holiday, and the Rockets players did not rest. Having just lost the top spot in the league, they are still practicing hard. After discussing with Tang Shuai, Yuanfei suspended the training and asked everyone to sit together to discuss the reasons for the loss.

The players discussed a lot from tactics, strains, state and other factors, Yuan Fei took out his notes and cleared his throat, and everyone suddenly fell silent.

"The overall strategy of our coaching staff is fine, especially the defense of O'Neal Jr. in the first quarter and the deployment of the small lineup in the third quarter is a good choice." Yuan Fei said: "But why didn't a good strategy get good results?" On the one hand, there is a problem of form, and on the other hand, there are indeed deficiencies in the players and the coaching staff of our team. Losing to the Spurs, Timberwolves, and Pacers, these three teams have a lot in common, and they all have All-Star power forwards as the core and build a very strong interior defense. We all came up in the face of a strong defense and lost our sense of proportion, and we couldn't open up on the offensive end. From the first quarter, he fell behind until the end, and he didn't chase back. ”

"Yes, but we seem to have a strong bench and we chase points every time in the fourth quarter." Yao Ming stood up and made a review first: "I am responsible as the starting center, every time we come up, we lose too many points. ”

"It's not your fault, our power forward is a little weaker. Gerrard is too short, King doesn't defend well, and Chris is too young. Against Duncan, Garnett and O'Neal Jr., it must not be compared. Yuanfei continued to analyze: "But we should have the advantage on the outside, but we always can't open the situation." Here I criticize one person by name! ”

Billups's face darkened, and he said to himself: This clearly shows that he wants to criticize me.

"That's you, Tracy. Mcgrady! ”