In Guo Xu's previous life, the 2009 regular season MVP was LeBron James of the Cavaliers, with a league-best record of 66 wins.

James has already won an MVP once in his life, and it will be difficult for him to lead the team to the best record this season. It's just that if it's the first place in the East, there will definitely be a huge controversy for James to win the award, and the judges can say that the Suns star group, isn't the Cavaliers?

After the addition of Mo Williams, the Cavaliers formed an offensive trident, not a big three but suspected of huddles, and their total salary this season reached $91 million, second in the league behind the Knicks at 96 million, and fourth last season.

Looking at the Suns again, two top salaries and one middle class, and the others are low-paid players, with a total salary of $51 million. Roy was selected as a Western Conference All-Star last season, but he was a rookie selected by the Suns themselves.

In terms of the salary comparison of the two teams, the Cavaliers can't give the MVP to James with the best record, he has to be the president's father.

The other team in the East that could have the best record is the Celtics, with the Big Three sharing the ball and averaging less than 15 shots per game each, and scoring around 20 points will not be higher.

Yao Ming didn't shoot much in the Rockets, he didn't gain weight like in his previous life, and his average playing time was less than 35 minutes per game, only 33 minutes this season, plus pulling out to cover his teammates, and not always asking for the ball in the low position to attack the style of play, Yao Ming's health is good, but his data is not very good, averaging about 20 points per game.

Yao Ming's weakness has always been physical fitness, his figure is destined to consume more than others, he played in the finals last season, played the Olympics in the summer, such a high-intensity game, Guo Xu feels that he is lucky not to be injured this season. The Rockets' coaching staff has clearly thought of this as well, tightly controlling his playing time.

Guo Xu does have a good chance of winning the MVP this season, as long as his statistics are similar to last season, it is enough, and then the league will have to consider the thoughts of 6 billion fans.

ESPN livestreamed the game, and the commentators were former Rockets coaches Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson.

Before the game began, Jackson teased about Van Gundy, talking about how he couldn't coach the first round at the Rockets.

Van Gundy has been a commentator for three years, watched too many fast-paced games, and admits that he had a problem with his coaching thinking back then. "Yao Ming is in good shape right now, and if he is heavier, it will be difficult to keep up with the pace of the game. Jason Kuo has changed the NBA, and the interior is now starting to pull out and shoot threes. Mark, what do you think? ”

"If I had entered the league 20 years later, I would have been more open." Jackson sighed.

Jackson is a famous point guard in the NBA, entered the league in 1987, scored 13.6 points and 10.6 assists in his rookie season, and was selected as the best rookie in the second round. He can still practice a point guard who can shoot three-pointers, but it was not popular to shoot three-pointers in those days, so he shot relatively little.

Even if he wasn't born in an era that suited his style of play, Jackson had a successful career, with 10,334 assists in the regular season, ranking third in NBA history, ahead of Stockton and Kidd. He averaged eight assists per game in the regular season in his career, ranking 17th all-time.

After the players from both sides came out, Guo Xu and Yao Ming greeted each other and chatted in Chinese, saluting first and then soldiering. The core of both teams is not the kind of person who shows the desire to win by staring at others, so they rarely play with fire when they play against each other.

Gasol Jr. started again today, and the other four are Guo Xu, Morrow, Roy, and Xiaosi.

To deal with high school strikers, a meat shield is an indispensable choice. The Suns chose Gasol Jr. to replace Vallejo in the restricted area. He can put Yao Ming outside the penalty area, and let Xiao Si play the center is too much of a loss in height and weight.

Rockets starters: Billups, Afflalo, Prince, Scola, Yao Ming.

Yao Ming jumped the ball and the game began.

Billups received the ball and dribbled through the half, Yao Ming pulled out the middle to block and dismantle, Guo Xu reacted quickly and retreated to bypass the cover to chase the defense, and Billups brought the ball to the left side and passed to the middle.

Xiao Si defended and interfered with the shot in front of Yao Ming, while Gasol Jr. defended near the penalty area. This twin-tower hybrid defence was deliberately arranged by Thibodeau to play to the strengths of the respective players.

Yao Ming didn't have a chance to shoot easily, and gave the ball to Prince on the right.

Prince has a height advantage over Roy, and if he plays alone, the Suns' defensive pressure will be much less. He belongs to the kind of person who can do anything, has no tricks, and is a role player who is strong and weak in attack.

Prince's desire to attack has not been strong, and he brought a one-step pass to Scola.

Scola took the ball and shook the frame to break through and failed to pass Gasol Jr., leaned on his back and turned around to the middle, the movement was very smooth, but Gasol Jr. did not jump or lose position, raised his arms to interfere.

Scola's right-handed throw dodged the block and the ball went wide.

The ability of a meat shield center to interfere with the opponent's front of them is their strength. Gasol Jr. has met a lot of inside players in Europe, and Scola has also developed his skills in Europe, and he has met opponents.

Xiao Si grabbed the rebound and launched a counterattack, Guo Xu took the ball towards Billups, the center of gravity was very low, and when he was about to collide, he relied on his speed to change direction and break through. Billups defended against a loss, and if the retreat speed was slow, it would not work if he withdrew too far back, Guo Xu could stop and shoot three points.

Guo Xu rushed inside after passing, and made a layup in three steps without waiting for Yao Ming to run back to the basket. 2 to 0.

Van Gundy sighed: "His speed is too fast, and he can hit the basket in a few seconds in the backcourt, and Billups can't defend it alone." ”

"As long as Jason wants to score, no one else can defend him," Jackson said. ”

The Rockets attacked, Yao Ming went to the low post on the right side to ask for the ball and singled out Gasol Jr., and was pushed outside the penalty area.

Don't look at Gasol Jr.'s fat body, in fact, he is an excellent instant fighting force, and he has much more game experience than Jordan Jr., which can make up for the lack of athleticism to a certain extent. D'Antoni will be on when he needs to defend the star, and Jordan Jr. will be considered when he needs to step up his rebounding and fast-breaking.

His strength is not small, but his explosiveness is poor, it doesn't matter if he doesn't jump on the defensive end, he relies on his 216CM height, and his 230CM arm span can still interfere with shooting.

Compared with Gasol Jr., Yao Ming's 220CM Tyrannosaurus Rex arm span is a tragedy.

Yao Ming leaned on his back twice and couldn't move, turned to the baseline and leaned back to shoot a jumper, Gasol Jr.'s defense was in place, almost close to the interference. Gasol Jr. can't block it, Yao Ming can score by feeling, this time he didn't grasp the feel well, and the distance from the basket was a little far.

This is where the value of Gasol Jr. lies, and there is a clear gap between Yao Ming's mid-range shooting and close-range two-point shooting.

Gasol Jr. won the rebound in position, making it easier to find his teammates without jumping, and turned and passed to Roy, who was not far away.

Roy launched a fast attack and was blocked by Aflaro with only one step, unable to advance quickly, and Guo Xubai ran away.

Afflalo has been the surprise of the Rockets this season, he is very hard defensively, and his three-point ability is better than Sefrosa's, averaging 1.4 shots per game and shooting 40.9%, so he has been appreciated by Nelson Sr.

When Afflaro, Billups and Yao form a triangle on the strong side, it will be difficult for opponents to cover the low post, and last season they were able to let one of Prince and Safrosa pack Yao Ming, and those two mid-range shots were not good enough.

Nelson Sr. prefers to fight offensively, and spent a lot of time playing double guard last season in order to strengthen the offensive perimeter, and Sefrosa did not play much. Afflalo has improved this season, and the Rockets are starting to consider trading Sefrosha out after the season, and it will be difficult for him to stay and get a contract extension.