At the end of the first quarter, the Rockets temporarily trailed by five points.

At the start of the second quarter, Rivers continued to keep Li Yang on the court, possibly wanting to stretch the score further in rotation time, while replacing Gortat with the younger, super-athletic Harrell.

Rivers wants to use his containment to open up space for Li Yang, or increase the speed of offensive and defensive transitions, and play fast defensive counterattacks.

At the same time, the Reeds replaced Beverley, plus Bamot and Alexander, forming a rotation lineup to face the menacing Rockets bench bandits.

The Rockets' McCarvey became famous in his debut that year, scoring a quasi-quadruple-double in the first game, 22 points + 7 rebounds + 12 assists + 9 steals, his debut was the peak, and then fell as quickly as a comet, but his defensive ability has continued to improve in the past few years, and the true plus/minus of defense ranks eleventh in the empty position.

However, he is strong, he is strong, Lao Tzu is Li Yang!

In this game, he, like Tucker, was completely blown up on the defensive end, and he couldn't keep up with Li Yang's nimble footsteps at all.

Li Yang's breakthrough and footsteps, in their opinion, were as fast as a cheetah, and every time they started, they were thrown away.

Next, because Reed's organizational ability was too ordinary, the heavy responsibility of training the whole team could only be returned to Li Yang again.

Li Yang's excellent vision does not need to be said too much, he is a combination of inside and outside, he can often send unexpected passes, the entire first half of the second quarter, in just four minutes, he once again sent four assists, two of which were behind-the-back passes without looking at people after the breakthrough, which immediately amazed the audience.

"Oh my God, Young is so good, every game is improving, and I can now say that the Clippers are not picking up a treasure, they are picking up a superstar. Oh my God, the integration of offense and defense plus organization and tandem, even if there are some mistakes now, but the future potential is huge. ”

Kenny Smith stood up as he spoke, showing how surprised he was at this moment.

If you only felt that Li Yang's offense was excellent before, then the tandem team ability shown at this time is indeed extremely outstanding.

During this period of time, while concentrating on organizing the offense, Li Yang occasionally shot two three-pointers with a cold arrow, and both of them scored, and the shooting was very efficient, which is what makes people feel terrifying.

"Charles, I seem to see in Yang the figure that once made me feel extremely annoying and helpless." Big shark O'Neill said with a serious face.

Barkley squinted at him, and immediately thought of the figure in his mind, and immediately quipped, "Who?" Could it be Kobe? ”

"Knowingly ask!"

O'Neill snorted coldly, indicating that the baby didn't want to speak, and turned his head to leave the other party with a round back of his head.

"Wow, you really dare to say it, although I saw that he has the same talent as Kobe, but compared to that stubborn nagging, Yang has just started on the road, he still has a long way to go, don't kill him too much." Kenny said disapprovingly.

"But he has that potential, doesn't he? That damn talent! ”

O'Neill snorted, gritted his teeth, and exaggerated a look of being very unhappy, as if even if he retired for many years, the two still looked down on each other, which immediately attracted a burst of laughter from the home fans.

Kobe Bryant?

All the home fans stared at the young boy who had been replaced by Rivers and was resting on the bench, with a faint expectation in their expressions.

It was a basketball legend that they wanted to pursue more than LeBron.

With more than seven minutes left in the second quarter, both sides returned to the court with all their main forces.

In this quarter, Harden, who faintly felt some pressure, significantly increased the number of shots, constantly broke through to score under the basket, and also hit a three-pointer to overtake the score in one fell swoop.

In this quarter of the game, he shot 3 of 6 two-pointers, delivered 4 assists, and hit a long-range three-pointer with a quasi-pressure whistle 3 seconds before the end of halftime, and scored 10 points, 4 assists and 2 steals in a single quarter.

At halftime, the two teams were tied at 53-52, and the Clippers led by one point into the second half.

Reed's performance on the offensive end made the home fans unbearable to look at directly, and a series of iron strikes ruined the big lead in vain.

Rivers was also helpless, he obviously found that Li Yang was a little too consumed, and could only pray that the other main forces would share more, so that the latter would have more time to rest.

Intermission.

In the visiting locker room at the Staples Center, Rockets coach D'Antoni had a cold face, he was very dissatisfied with his team's performance in the first half, and he warned several bench players with an elongated face before explaining the tactical setup for the second half on the tactical board.

After everyone understood, he said to Harden alone: "James, the opponent's No. 13 rookie seems to be in full shape, since we can't prevent him, then you try to score in the second half and open the score." ”

"In the second half, you have to work on your individual offense, you know?"

"Understood, Coach!" Harden understands that it looks like it's time to make a big difference in the second half.

"Hmm!"

D'Antoni nodded, he was most assured of Harden's ability, the other party was already the strongest offensive guard in the league, and he was the MVP of the regular season last season, and he had strong confidence in Harden.

D'Antoni thought about it for a long time, but still stressed uneasily: "Although he is only a rookie guard, his shooting cannot be so accurate throughout the game, and he is likely to make mistakes in the second half due to lack of fitness." ”

"But this game is very hot, I have scored several threes, I don't want any accidents to happen!!"

"Therefore, I want you to completely prevent him, especially P.J., and your main task in the second half is to show me him. Eric, if necessary, you're going to help P.J. defend. As long as you keep an eye on him, the Clippers won't be able to roll over any big waves. ”

A group of Rockets players sat on the bench, listening intently to the head coach's arrangement, and Tucker and Gordon, who were named, nodded with serious expressions.

Tucker is known for his fierce defense, and Gordon's defense is actually very tough, so how to limit the Clippers' No. 13, they already have a rough idea in their hearts at this time.

"Yang, in the second half, they will definitely find someone to target you, and they will even find a way to provoke you and disrupt your position. Therefore, you have to learn to judge the situation, don't blindly act recklessly, your task is still to attack me. ”

"Okay coach, I'll try my best!"

Li Yang didn't say too much, after all, under high-intensity defense, this was a great test of his physical strength.

Rivers nodded, his face solemn, he glanced at the Clippers players around him, and said again: "Wait for the reed to start, then the bench needs someone to step up, Alexander, I hope you can carry the team's offensive banner in the next bench time and try to help the team as much as possible, understand?" ”

"Good!"

The reeds whispered.

He is relatively taciturn in the team, but it does not delay his performance on the field, and he is very stable.

"Hmm!"

Rivers gestured to Gallinari and Reed, "In the second half, I need you to mention the top arc to block and create opportunities for Yang as much as possible. ”

'I think they're going to be more attacking in the second half, so we're going to have to take the risk and play against them.'

"Understood, Coach!"

Seeing the two generals nodding, Rivers pondered for a while, thinking carefully about what else was missing.

The reason why he changed Reed back to the starting point was that he was worried that the original lineup would not be able to block the opponent's run-and-bomb attack, once he was crushed, no matter how awesome Li Yang was, he alone would be able to fill in the hole.

When Reed returned to the starting line-up, he had the confidence to fight with the opponent in an offensive battle, and as for the substitute, he could only pray for Alexander's super performance.

When half-time came, Kenny and Barkley glanced at the lineup and both looked surprised.

"Doug adjusted the starting lineup, replacing the tough defensive Beverley with Reeds, is he going to fight with the Rockets to attack?"

"Obviously, the main force of the Clippers can't resist the rocket's running and bombing at all, and they can only concentrate all the strong points against the strong points to have any hope of victory." The big-mouthed Buckley only had a slight bow of his head to understand what medicine was sold in Rivers' gourd.

"In the second half, the two sides played against each other, it depends on who has the best endurance, tsk, the game started to become more exciting."

"I want to see how Yang drives the reeds next? In the bench, the reed can break out casually, but it is not easy to say in the starter. Smith said he was not optimistic about Li Yang's starting performance.

"This is not necessarily, in the substitute time, he may be more prominent, but in the starter, in the face of the opponent's strong points, maybe he will be more motivated." Barkley retorted.

"Then we'll see!"

When the two sides entered the court, Harden playfully looked at Li Yang standing in front of him: It seems that the coach's plan has failed, but with my strength, I don't need any plan at all, just take the ball and do it!!