ESPN summarized Huoyang's first battle with the title of "Tang Shuai Captures the Key Points of the Sun", and the article believes that Tomjanovich's lineup is the key to the Rockets' away victory. He skillfully released a high-impact backup point guard Parker to attack Nash, the core www.biquge.info of the Suns, and effectively protected Yao Ming as the final trump card until the fourth quarter exploded. The conservative D'Antoni was dwarfed in terms of personnel, and the Suns maintained an eight-man rotation so that the players' fitness was greatly troubled in the fourth quarter, and finally the Suns collapsed in the fourth quarter and lost to the Rockets.

The rocket uniform team has been recognized by public opinion, and Yuanfei is also excited. He specifically promised to invite the whole team staff to have a big meal at the Yao restaurant in the trial opening after playing this series. Yao Ming helped him contact Brother Yu, the shareholder of the restaurant, and Brother Yu was very happy and thought that this was also a great opportunity for promotion. The two sides hit it off, and it was tentatively scheduled for May 21, 2005, which happened to be the first day of the official opening of Yao Restaurant, which was also a good luck.

On May 9, the second battle of Phoenix. The Suns have no way to retreat, and the tragic situation of the Mavericks being eliminated by the Rockets in the last round and finally eliminated at two home courts is vivid, and the Suns categorically do not want to repeat the mistakes of the past. As soon as he appeared on the stage, he opened the posture with murderous momentum, and was about to slash the rocket under the horse.

Although the rocket side is in a brave state, it does not have the momentum of saber rattling at all. Yao Ming has a smile on his face, Maddie looks lazy, Billups and Bosh next to him are talking and laughing, how can there be the tension before the war?

But it was different when he entered the game, Yao Ming fought for the ball, and Bosh came up to meet Marion and hit a jumper to stand up first.

Marion was not convinced and returned a jump shot in the same position, but unfortunately his mid-to-long range shot was not so reliable and he missed the iron. But Xiao Si got up and pulled out the frontcourt rebound, Nash got the ball and Marion made a block and went into the restricted area, the Rockets contracted the defense but he was divided into the corner, and Richardson hit a three-point shot, 2:3.

But that was the Suns' last lead in the first half.

Yao Ming dominated the first quarter with a great show of power, and he completely blew up the Suns' interior on 5-of-5 shooting. The defensive end also had many wonderful performances, and Richardson was served in a big hot pot. Maddie and Billups didn't score much, but they made wedding clothes for interior players and kept sending assists. Bosh also scored 6 points and 5 rebounds in the first quarter, and performed well. In the second quarter, the Rockets hid Yao Ming, and the Suns finally set off a storm of counterattacks under the leadership of Nash, but the Houstonians struggled to maintain the lead under Maddy's cut, leading 54-48 to end the half.

"If we continue to play like this, we will end the season!" The elegant Nash finally couldn't help but start complaining, as he was as efficient as ever in the first half, shooting accurately and constantly delivering wonderful passes to his teammates. But the inside line was constantly blown up by the Rockets, losing rebounds and losing the frame, and several pitchers were also in mediocre state and had no performance.

"We're the champions in the West, and the last time the Suns led the West was in 1993 during the Barkley era." D'Antoni encouraged the players: "The Suns were knocked down by Jordan's Bulls in the Finals that year, and now the ambition of the seniors to win the championship is on your shoulders. Now we're back at the top of the league, we just need to win 12 more games and the championship is ours! ”

"We've won 62 wins in a regular season, isn't it okay to win just 12?" Xiao Si yelled.

"Sink the rocket!" Marion felt full of fighting spirit.

"Sink the rocket!" The players echoed in unison.

***

The whole team of the Suns showed the momentum of breaking the boat, and the Rockets gradually began to be unable to parry, and the score was quickly overtaken in the second half. But after all, the superstar is still there, and the Suns are just about to widen the difference, and Maddie brushes two three-pointers in a row and chases them back. Nash relied on his skillful run-and-shoot system to make a block with Marion, and Marion received the ball and hit the basket to widen the gap to 5 points again.

In the final 23 seconds of an attack, Maddie calmly dribbled the ball and consumed time. The Suns players didn't dare to slack off, staring at him one by one.

Maddie kicked in, and he suddenly accelerated to a big step, and at the same time, several of the Rockets' pitchers, Billups, Dazhi and Reed, understood and immediately began to move flexibly in and out of position.

"Keep an eye on Reed!" Stoudemire yelled and pointed at Reed, who ran to the bottom left corner, this guy's three-point shot in the last game left a deep impression on him, "I'll make up for it when I come in!" ”

But Maddie didn't get in, he made a quick stop and seemed to be about to shoot dry, but he collected the ball in the air and distributed it to Wang Zhizhi on the right wing. Marion was one step behind, and given the height difference between the two, it was impossible for him to interfere with Dazhi's shot.

Ball in! At 80:82, there were only 2.1 seconds left in the third quarter.

The Suns failed to make an offensive attack, and the Rockets managed to close the gap to one goal.

In the fourth quarter, as Yao Ming and Parker returned to the court, the Rockets stepped up their attack on the Suns' interior. Stoudemire is struggling, he is not good at defending with a frontal tough big center, not to mention that the opponent is a 226cm monster like Yao Ming?

In the final 2 minutes of the game, the Rockets led by 2 points and possessed the ball. Maddie again gave the ball to the physically fit Yao Ming, who forced a basket to cause a foul on Stoudemire.

Xiao Si was already sweating, he had been carrying Yao Ming for 43 minutes, but at this time, he had to grit his teeth and hold on!

Yao Ming steadily hit both free throws, with a 4-point difference!

The Rockets players have the winning chance in their hands and are particularly strong in defense. The Suns had no chance but to give it to Xiao Si, who forced a jumper at the free throw line, but Yao Ming didn't defend it.

Goal Score, 106:104!

"So lucky!" Xiao Si secretly screamed luck, he was so tired that he couldn't lift his arms.

The Rockets handed Yao Ming a single again, but saw Marion throw away Bosh and run to Yao Ming to help defend. And Yao Ming happened to be turning his head and back, and he didn't see this scene.

Bosh was about to make a reminder, but saw that Yao Ming had already turned around to shoot the basket. Marion rushed up and slapped the ball from behind, and the block was successful! Jackson grabbed the ball and handed it to Nash, and the Suns commander ran tirelessly to the Rockets half, but the alert Billups was already in front of him.

Nash motioned for a pick-and-roll, and a tired Stoudemire stepped forward to cover for him. Nash started, Xiao Si followed, and Yao Ming immediately pounced on Nash. The ball is in Xiao Si's hands, and he makes a layup!

Unfortunately, because he was so tired that his movements were a little deformed, the ball bounced on the basket a few times and still fell. But Stoudemire rose to his feet, pressed his knees, squatted down and jumped higher than usual, and he touched the ball first.

Hit the rebound, 106 draws!

There were only 40 seconds left in the game, and the two sides were tied!

Stoudemire fell to the ground with a bang and couldn't get up.

The little bully of the Suns, for the sake of this team, took all his strength to make up for this crucial goal. But he was so tired that he didn't have the strength to hold on until the last moment.

Perhaps struck by the courage of his opponent, the usually calm Billups made a mistake when his pass was tackled by Richardson. Nash dribbled frantically to the frontcourt, but a tall figure was already in his way. McGrady, the tall guard of the All-Defensive Team, is staring at Nash, who is much thinner than him.

"Let's fight it out!" Nash didn't hesitate to shoot head-on!

At this moment, a lot of memories came to his mind: I was just an ordinary member of the Mavericks, and even the Kuban boss refused to renew my contract and kicked me out of Dallas. But the Suns trusted me and built the team around me, a 30-year-old guard. My team-mates trust me, respect me and believe that I can lead them to win consistently.

I'm not a genius like Maddie, but I have my insistence! I'm going to win the game for the trust of these people!

The ball scored, 106:109 The Sun overtook it!

The Rockets' final shot went to Maddy, who made a three-point shot that only a die-hard Maddie fan can tell how many key shots he made, and he's saved the team countless times, including that 35.13-minute miracle.

But this time God seems to have been moved by Phoenix's fighting spirit. Maddie's shot hit the back edge of the basket and popped up, Yao Ming missed the basket, and the game was over!

"11 games left!" Marion's roar resounded through the arena.

With a big score of 1:1, the suspense of the series was brought back to the Toyota Center Arena. (To be continued.) )