The last time the Rockets made the playoffs was in 2009.

After Yao Ming's reimbursement that year, the rocket entered a period of reconstruction.

With Maddie being traded, Yao Ming retiring, Artest leaving, and the Rockets won the lottery championship for three consecutive years.

They're trying to make the playoffs while staying competitive, developing low-potential players, and then they're constantly trading in the hope that the gross ticket will be exchanged for a whole dollar.

James Harden is the result of what they have been waiting for for three years.

This season, James Harden has improved from a sixth man who averaged 16.8 points per game to a core guard who averaged 25 points per game.

His scores, assists, rebounds, steals, and turnovers all set career highs.

And not a little higher, but a big rise.

His All-Star selection proves that he is indeed a superstar embryo who can be a core player on the team.

This is his fourth season in the NBA, and he's only 23 years old, and the possibilities are endless.

Just like the Rockets, the starters are all young people, Jeremy Lin, Parsons, and Asik.

This summer, they will have huge salary cap space to sign an All-Star player.

So, for the Rockets, they made the playoffs as the eighth place, and the task was done.

Against the Lakers, they don't have much chance of winning.

If you can win one game, you will earn it, two games will be earned by blood, and three games will be super gods, if you win four games?

It is estimated that the forum on the Chinese side will explode directly, and then the NASDAQ will be listed.

After playing their final regular-season game against the Lakers, the Rockets played directly in Los Angeles for three days.

The players train during the day and then flock to Los Angeles in the evenings to relax.

Although Houston is also a big city, and strip clubs are well-known in the United States, they are still inferior to Los Angeles.

In short, the spirit of the two teams was not quite the same before the game began.

The Lakers players all had serious faces, and the purple lights hit their faces, one by one like sculptures.

The Rockets players relaxed a lot and felt like they weren't there for the playoffs, but for an exhibition game.

Of course, that doesn't mean the Rockets players will let out water when they play.

A playoff game is a playoff game, and when you go to the court, everyone will fight hard.

After the opening ceremony, players from both sides stood on the yellow floor of Stamps.

For Li Lianglai, it really feels no different from the regular season.

The opening ceremony didn't get any grander, the stars who sang the national anthem weren't very big, and the Los Angeles audience never made any gimmicks like uniform costumes and towels.

Everything doesn't look much different from a normal regular season.

If there's one difference, it's that Mike Brown has a lot more nagging before the game than he did during the regular season.

For some regular season games, Mike Brown didn't do much preparation, and let the players play on their own anyway.

The playoffs are different, and Mike Brown has been in constant meetings with the coaching staff these days, watching videos and working out tactics.

Although it is the first round, the opponent is the eighth-ranked Rocket, which still cannot be underestimated.

The Rockets' starters in this game are Harden, Asik, Jeremy Lin, Parsons and Smith.

It was a very young starter, with the oldest Asik at 26 and the youngest Greg Smith at 22.

On the Rockets' bench, the oldest is Garcia, who is only 31 years old.

The other 30-year-old player is Delfino, and the other Rockets players are all young people in their 20s.

In comparison, the Lakers' side is a retirement home.

But in the playoffs, it's the veterans that you watch.

The tournament officially begins at 2:30 p.m. Pacific Time.

The first game of the playoffs is always scheduled on the afternoon of a rest day.

Because the time zone in the United States spans a lot, especially Los Angeles on the Pacific Coast.

If the game is normally scheduled to be played in the evening, then the spectators in the eastern region will have to watch the game in the early morning.

So for the sake of live streaming across the United States, in order for viewers across the United States to watch the playoff premiere, the game will be scheduled in the afternoon.

As a result of such a game schedule, Chinese fans are miserable, and they need to wait until the early hours of the morning to watch the first game of the playoffs.

The Rockets and Lakers are the two most popular teams in Chinese, and I don't know how many night owl fans stay up late to watch this playoffs.

Howard and Asik stand in the center circle, jumping balls.

Howard won the ball first, Nash got it, and the game began.

The 2013 playoffs kicked off.

On the first shot of the opening game, Howard went to the horn position to answer it, and Nash passed the ball to Howard.

Howard received the ball sideways, suddenly turned and accelerated, cut into the basket from the middle, and forced a breakthrough layup!

Li Liang stood in the bottom corner and looked stunned.

Well? How did Howard get the ball himself?

Where do you seem to have seen this scene?

Mike Brown: Did you study with Carlisle?

Anyway, Li Liang didn't listen to much tactical arrangement, and how to open was Howard's singles.

Howard hit the inside with the ball and forced a one-handed throw, only to have no basket touched.

Asik stood straight in front of Howard, and the Turk's height of 2.18 meters and muscular figure were not given for nothing.

The ball missed, the two grabbed together, and the ball flew straight to the bottom corner.

Li Liang stood still, and the ball flew to his side, jumped lightly, and took the ball down.

The man stood in the bottom corner, and the ball came from heaven.

In the regular season, Li Liang can shoot this ball.

In the playoffs, Greg Smith flew over to defend.

Li Liang made a shooting feint, and Smith flew out.

Li Liang dribbled to the bottom line to break through, and Asik and Parsons both came over to help defend.

Li Liang hit the ball and passed the ball to the inside, and Howard received the ball under the basket and dunked vigorously with both hands!

The first cheer of the afternoon erupted at the Staples Center!

Li Liang played extremely calmly with this ball, because Howard's basket did not touch the basket, so the offensive time did not return to the table.

In this case, Li Liang made a feint, and he could actually cast a step inside.

But instead of shooting, he drew more defense and made a clever shot to the interior that allowed Howard, who had a bigger grasp, to attack the basket and score his first point of the playoffs.

The attack time has passed 20 seconds, and it will be timed out after a little more grinding.

Li Liang's calmness was really unexpected.

Mike Brown on the sidelines was also worried about the volatility of Li Liang's first playoff game.

After all, they are rookies, and many rookies have managed to adapt to the regular season and be taught to be human beings as soon as they play the playoffs.

Judging from the first goal, Li Liang did a good job, and Mike Brown opened by arranging for Howard to play more and play with a success rate.

Li Liang must have listened to his own arrangement before passing the ball.

In fact, Li Liang didn't listen to it at all, he just passed it on purely when he saw Howard have a chance.

And he feels that the defensive intensity of the Rockets seems to be inferior to that of the Magic.

It was the Rockets' turn to attack, Jeremy Lin quickly passed the half, Asik in the middle covered, Jeremy Lin passed the ball to break through, there was no chance, and the ball was returned to Parsons on the outside.

Smith gave Parsons cover, and Li Liang came out to delay, and then recovered.

Parsons didn't stand a chance either.

The Rockets' two pick-and-rolls on the outside did not pose a threat to the Lakers defense.

Because the two screeners, Asik and Smith, didn't cover at all.

Their cover is really just a cover, just like Big Ben.

The ball finally passed to Harden, and if the tactics couldn't be played, it was up to Harden.

Harden faced Kobe Bryant at 45 degrees on the right side, and after continuous crotch dribbling, he shot directly outside the three-point line!

Hit!

It seems that Harden feels good and has not been sucked dry by the nightclubs in Los Angeles.

Li Liang walked up to Kobe Bryant and said, "What are you guarding against?" You don't pounce? It's up to him to vote? ”

Li Liang just fought with Maddie, and he tried his best to save any shot from Maddie.

Kobe Bryant just defended well and didn't give Harden a chance to go inside.

But Harden suddenly jumped and he stretched out his hand and ignored it, which is not to be scolded.

When it comes to the playoffs, Li Liang will not be polite to anyone.

Of course, he wasn't very polite in the regular season.

Both sides started with a good feeling and scored the first attack.

Then, Li Liang began to cover Nash on the outside.

The Rockets' defense in Game 1 was still tentative, and it was undoubtedly a mistake for them to put Greg Smith against Li Liang.

Although Smith is tall and has long arms, it seems that he can effectively interfere with Li Liang.

But his footwork and defensive judgment are a problem.

After Li Liang and Nash blocked the demolition, Smith hesitated about whether to delay Nash.

As a result, Nash went straight into the three-second zone with the ball, and Parsons on the wing had to come over to help defend.

Nash immediately played the ball to the vacated Ci Shiping.

Ci Shiping received the ball and hit a three-point shot.

5:2, the Lakers are in good shape.

The young men of the Rockets were undoubtedly a little nervous, and the next offense, they cooperated for a lap, and finally gave Asik a low single Howard?

The Lakers watched Asik single, and then ate a Howard hat.

Nash got the ball and launched a quick counterattack, and Li Liang rushed ahead first.

Nash saw Li Liang rushing so fast, a long pass thrown high.

As soon as it was passed out, Nash felt that something was wrong, did it spread big?

This is Bruce Lee, not Marion.

As a result, Li Liang jumped high, received the ball in the air, and under Parsons' interference, he dunked the ball into the basket with both hands!

It also caused a foul on Parsons!

An air relay from Li Liang!

Nash laughed at this ball, but he didn't expect Li Liang to catch it and dunk it.

Because Li Liang's bounce has improved, bounce is not only useful for defense.

Standing on the free throw line, Li Liang hit a free throw, and the Lakers hit an 8:3 in the opening game.

McHale immediately called a timeout, and the game had just started less than three minutes into it.

Li Liang thought, the playoffs, that's it.

Also, the flight attendants are so much fun.