In the 2008-09 season, Dwight Howard averaged 20.56 points, 13.84 rebounds and 2.92 blocks per game. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

This season, Howard was named Defensive Player of the Year for the first time and is only the fifth player in history to monopolize the rebounding and blocking titles in a single season, joining Bill Wharton, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Olajuwon and Ben Wallace.

At 23 years old, Howard was the youngest player to win the award.

This season, he led the Magic to 59 wins in the regular season this season, just one win short of the best record in franchise history. And he also took the Magic to the NBA Finals.

Howard was terrifying in his prime, with the ability to bounce to kiss the basket, the power to run rampant in the restricted area, his long reach and the explosiveness of a gas explosion. He can use his amazing physical fitness to frequently stage a good dunk on the side, not to mention jumping high and picking up rebounds angrily.

At this time, Howard had unrivaled dominance under the basket, and was even considered by many to be no less than O'Neal.

But his shortcomings are also obvious, after leaving the restricted area, Howard's threat dropped sharply, because he has no shooting ability, and the hook hand that he has practiced for half his life is also ineffective, just like Duan Yu's six-vein divine sword. He also doesn't have the low-post back-to-back ability of a traditional center. And that terrible free-throw ability......

And when his physical fitness was still declining due to injury, the short peak period passed mercilessly.

After leaving the Magic in 2012, Howard's points per game average could no longer maintain the 20+ level at his peak, from 17.05 points per game in 2012-13, to 18.27 points per game in 2013-14, then 15.76 points per game last season, and then 13.3 points so far this season!

Without the aura of the first center, Howard gradually degenerated into a high-level blue-collar worker!

Howard's dominance under the basket is no longer there, so it is natural that the current Rockets team will not reach the height of the Magic team that broke into the Finals.

And there is no one in the current Rockets roster who can activate Howard's interior player like Turkish "agent" Sidhu Turkglu.

Howard, who originally wanted to come to Houston to "play happy basketball", was originally a big man who giggled all day long and had a childlike smile on his face, but now it is difficult to see him smiling on the court anymore.

The increasingly gloomy face shows that he is becoming more and more unhappy in Houston.

Because now the whole Rockets team, except for Harden, basically no one passes the ball to Howard.

The Rockets' ball transfer handling was extremely poor, with a lot of one-on-one play taking up too much space for the team's play, and team-mates basically working together in a flash of inspiration.

And Howard's own singles ability has never been practiced, and the success rate of low-post back play and hook hand is not high, and he gradually loses the trust of his teammates after coming and going. Unless it's a great opportunity to attack the basket, it's hard for him to get a pass from a teammate.

On the defensive end, the Rockets' defensive system is very problematic, and the inside line is lifted to cover the outside ball carrier, expecting the gambling pinch to get a steal and play a defensive counterattack, but since it is "gambling", of course it is cool to win, and losing is to be the rhythm of the bottoms.

After extracting the bag and clamping the ball carrier on the inside line, the steal is naturally easy to say; And if the pinch shot fails, the opposing ball carrier can play the ball smoothly, and the result is that the opponent's inside line will either perform an empty catch or become a master passer.

The inside line is raised, and the back door of the Rocket Team is wide open, which can really be described as "the flower path has never been swept by guests, and the **** is now open for you"......

The backdoor was stabbed, there was no one to protect the basket, and they either lost rebounds or were cut by opponents - the Rockets were pretty much the worst team in the league.

Every time Howard goes up to cover the opposing ball carrier, he has to face the crisis of being blown up, how can you make him happy.

All this was a sign that he seemed to be leaving the place that made him more and more unhappy. Just next summer, he signed a four-year, $88 million contract with the Rockets, with an option to terminate early for the final year, at which point he will be able to enter the free agent market again.

When the time comes, maybe he will use "Happy Basketball" as an excuse to leave Houston.

Back in the game, after Howard won the jump ball, Harden gave him the Rockets' first offensive opportunity.

Well, the first ball made Howard single......

That's interesting!

After receiving a pass from Harden in the low post, Howard found that he was behind Hibbert and secretly rejoiced.

In fact, he has some psychological obstacles for low-post back play. When he encounters a meat shield-shaped center with a steady lower plate, he can't beat it at all.

His lower limbs are not strong, and in addition to providing him with unusual bounce ability and explosive power, he can't output too much static power, which causes him to always be pressed to the ground by Yao Ming to rub even at his peak.

But Hibbert, though taller than him, was too thin. Against such an opponent at the No. 5 position, Howard felt like he was going to be a real man today.

With two back-to-backs, Howard made a sharp turn and squeezed away Hibbert for a layup.

Howard opened the scoring for the Rockets.

Hibbert didn't say anything about the ball, silently picked up the ball and sent it to Clarkson outside the baseline.

Clarkson advanced with the ball, but was met by Beverley's strong defense.

Patrick Beverley, who entered the NBA Draft in 2009, was selected by the Los Angeles Lakers with the 12th overall pick in the second round and was subsequently traded to the Miami Heat.

But at this point he didn't make it to the NBA, and instead continued his work before the draft - playing in Europe.

In 2010, the Heat signed Beverley to a two-year contract worth about $1.2 million. But that didn't lead Beverley to the NBA, as he was cut before the end of the preseason after playing in the summer league for the Heat.

Subsequently, he went to play in the Russian Basketball League. In the league Spartak St. Petersburg, played for a year and a half.

Those players who wander between NBA teams are already very happy compared to Beverley. Even the players who were sent to the Development League by the NBA were happier than him.

Because as a Chicagoan, Beverley's basketball wandering career was between wandering and international - from North America to Europe, from the United States to Ukraine to Russia!

Therefore, for the hard-won opportunity, Beverly cherishes it extraordinarily.

In 2013, the Houston Rockets officially signed Beverley to a three-year contract and relegated Beverley to the NBDL-affiliated Rio Grande Valley Vipers.

And the injury of Jeremy Lin, the Rockets' main point guard, gave Beverley a chance.

With a ferocious drive, Beverley went from the bench to the starter and was increasingly appreciated by head coach Kevin McHale. McHale once praised his disciples to the media, "Defending generally starts with pressure on the ball, and Patrick has done a fantastic job of keeping the pressure on and has been very active. ”

Because of his fierce and fatal style of play, he can easily injure the opposing players, so he also got the nickname "Heibei".

People think that he plays dirty and black, but in fact, he just fights too hard and doesn't leave any measure.

If he doesn't show such an attitude to play, with his talent, what will he do to survive in the NBA, where there are as many geniuses as dogs?

In this game, from the first second of the start, Beverley was fully engaged. Seeing Clarkson advance with the ball, he pounced like a vicious dog snatching food.

While avoiding Beverley's harassment, Clarkson secretly scolded himself: This is just the beginning of the game, dude, you are too serious, right?

He has also heard many players in the league complain about Beverley, and in his mind, he has already formed the impression that Beverley is ruthless.

Don't be afraid of 10,000, just in case.

Clarkson was worried that he would do something wrong, so he didn't go straight to Beverley. So he opted for passing.

Yi Feng received a pass from Clarkson and faced Harden.

Harden's first impression of him was not what his figure was or what he looked like.

Harden's unforgettable beard impressed Yi Feng too deeply. With such a thick beard, how is Harden going to eat and how to sleep? How much time do you have to spend organizing each day?

But it's game time, and there's no time to think about it.

Yi Feng broke through Harden with a few simple shakes.

Harden's offense is one of the league's best - Harden's one-point shot, James' two-point shot, and Curry's three-point shot are the most difficult to defend in the league.

But his defense is not flattering. "Eye-gaze defense" has become a label that everyone knows and ridicules Harden, and the master of "staring defense" is a title that belongs exclusively to Harden.

It's not that Harden doesn't have defensive ability, it's that he doesn't have a good attitude on defense.

Yi Feng found that his breakthrough was easy this time, and sure enough, the rumor that Harden had a "master" defense came true.

After the breakthrough, Yi Feng found that Howard immediately made up for it.

Surprised by how quickly the Rockets defended, but at the same time he quickly split the ball as well.

Hibbert, who was vacated by Howard on the inside, received Yi Feng's split and didn't go straight to the basket because Capela made up for it.

Hibbert isn't a rookie either, and Capella, a second-grader can't scare him. Throwing it to the basket lightly, Randle roared and took off, shoving the ball into the basket with a rough and violent push, and the basket shook under his tug.

Sure enough, the Rockets foresaw the loophole of the ball handler going up to the inside to wrap the clip, and it was immediately exposed, and the Lakers performed an inside pass inside the air catch dunk.

2:2, the first attack of both sides was successful.

The Rockets served from the baseline, and after Beverley took half court, he handed it to Harden to organize the team's offense, and he walked away with Clarkson.

Harden seemed to be in some game form, and this one he decided to come on his own.

The reason why Harden's "one-point shot" is so difficult to defend is because of his ability to "touch porcelain" in the league.

Generally, players break through and score layups for the primary purpose. But Harden is different, he almost every time he breaks away at the defender, and his goal is to make fouls rather than layups. It can be said that he is "sideways".

His skills, in addition to the ability to make fouls and cheat free throws, are not very reliable in the middle distance of the step-back step, how solid the back-to-back skills are, how smooth the footwork, turns, etc., and how soft the hook and throw cannot be said to be soft......

It can be said that if he did not have the ability to make fouls "from the side", with his skills, he would definitely not have the status in the league today.

In 2012-13, he made 10.2 free throws per game and scored 8.6 points on 85.1 percent free throw shooting, compared to his 25.9 points per game this season.

In 2013-14, he made 9.1 free throws per game and scored 7.9 points on 86.6 percent free throw shooting, compared to his 25.4 points per game this season.

In 2014-15, he made 10.2 free throws per game and scored 8.8 points on 86.8 percent free throw shooting, compared to his 27.4 points per game this season.

Judging from these data, if he doesn't have the ability to make fouls, it remains to be said whether he can average 20 points per game.

But then again, the ability to make fouls is also his ability. And without the acknowledgment of the league's top brass, Harden wouldn't be in the mix.

Even if he's a scoundrel, you can't stop him from playing. As a result, the remaining 29 teams in the league had to face Harden and had to study how to deal with him.

Harden's height is not outstanding in the No. 2 position, 196cm can only be said to be average, but his tonnage and strength are second to none in the No. 2 position. So he was able to carry one or even two players, and he could shoot the basketball.

His speed is also not outstanding, and his lateral speed is very average, which may be one of the reasons for his poor defense. So he broke through and relied on his speed.

Just like this breakthrough Yifeng, Harden used his rhythmic shaking to look for opportunities to break through.

It was the first time for Yi Feng to encounter such a breakthrough rhythm, and he felt that he could be broken through at any time.

In order not to allow Harden to break through easily, Yi Feng also used trash talk skills.

"James, you're so sexy with this beard!"

Seeing that Harden ignored him, Yi Feng continued to talk trash and interfere with his offense, "Actually, there is a sentence I have always wanted to ask you, when you sleep, do you put your beard inside the quilt or outside?" ”

Unexpectedly, Harden was not affected by Yi Feng's trash talk, but Yi Feng himself was distracted because he was interested in the question of "where does Harden put his beard when he sleeps".

Harden seized the opportunity and broke through Yi Feng's defense.

Harden's breakthrough was not fast, Yi Feng easily chased after it, and also took back the lead.

But Harden's strength is amazing, and even if Yi Feng is in front of him, he is pushed hard by Shengsheng.

Harden pushed a few steps inside, and then took a European step, swaying from side to side, leaving Yi Feng to retreat.

And after he collected the ball, he put his arms in front of him and held the ball in front of his chest with both hands, and his movements were not fast, attracting Yi Feng to steal.

Yi Feng couldn't hold back and stretched out his hand......

Syllable!

Ahh

As soon as Yi Feng's hand touched Harden, Harden seemed to have been greatly violated, screaming loudly and throwing the ball out.

The ball flew to the basket, spun around twice, and fell into the basket! (To be continued.) )