New Orleans Hornets vs Houston Rockets!

The arena DJ introduces the Rockets players in a deep voice.

"First of all, welcome to the head coach of the Rockets, Rich Adelman!"

There was a sparse round of applause from the audience, "Starting point guard - Aaron Brooks, scoring guard - Kevin Martin, small forward - Sean Battier, big forward - Luis Scola, finally!" ”

The DJ suddenly turned up the pitch an octave and shouted in a high-pitched voice, "Let's welcome Yao Ming, a player from China!" ”

Cheers erupted, dragging the name several notes long to show respect for the player, as NBA arena DJs routinely do.

"Substitutes Zeiss Battinger, Chuck Hayes, Kevin Lowry, Brad Miller, Jordan Hill, Patrick Patterson, Jordan Jeffries, Courtney Lee."

"Let's welcome the Hornets players!" DJ shouted that the introduction of the Rockets started with the starters, but the Hornets did start with the bench when they played.

"First of all, of course, the head coach of the Hornets, Monty Williams!"

There will also be a sparse applause from the audience, Williams has only been in office for two months, and many people are not familiar with him.

"Let's welcome the king of the three points from Serbia, Peja Stojakovic! Player Darius Sangela from Lithuania! Sean Marx, a veteran from New Zealand! This year's two rookies, Craig Blaggins and Quincy Pondesek! And Aaron Gray on the bench! ”

Aaron Gray suffered a calf muscle strain and was out for 1-2 weeks, so he wore a suit and cheered on the team from the bench, and after introducing the members of the second echelon, the following DJ began to introduce the members of the first echelon, and the first one to appear was the backup point guard - "Let's welcome Marcus Thornton, a player from Louisiana!" ”

Cheers erupted.

Thornton, a native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, plays for his hometown team and has played pretty well in the first few games, so Thorton gets a lot of cheers here.

"Down next is the team's starting point guard, Marc Belineri from Italy!"

Belineri didn't play well in the first few games, especially on the defensive end, almost everyone saw who exploded, and his thin body couldn't stop the wolf-like Americans at all, so among the players in the first echelon, Belineri received the least cheers, even less than Peja and Sangella.

"The player who came down next was the starting small forward, Trevor Ariza from Miami! He averaged 15 points per game and a team-high 1.5 steals! ”

All the players in the Hornets believe that Ariza's mood is the most complicated, last year Ariza experienced a very gloomy season in the Rockets, he was used as the main training, but did not play at the expected level, just one season, the Rockets management has completely lost confidence in Ariza, Rockets, Hornets, Pacers, Nets four teams five ** trade, Ariza became a failure was dumped to the Hornets, last year he was with Battier, Brooks, Hayes, Scola, Including Yao Ming, who was constantly injured last year, are all comrades-in-arms who fought side by side, and this year standing on the court as an opponent, I believe that Ariza's heart is more eager to prove himself than anyone else!

"Down next is Emeka Okafor, the starting center from Houston!"

Okafor's main task tonight is to fight against Yao Ming, the data shows that Yao Ming averaged 24.5 points, 9.8 rebounds, 3 assists and 1.5 blocks per game in the first three games, shooting 58.6% from the field, while Okafor currently does not find much feeling on the offensive end, only 8.2 points, shooting 44.4%, But he can average 14.5 rebounds per game, including 4 frontcourt rebounds and 2.3 blocks, Yao Ming can shoot in the offensive end, can play back, can grab the front court rebounds for the second offense, and the left and right hands will hook hands, especially the last one technology, I have never heard of anyone who has blocked Yao Ming's hook hand, whether Okafor can limit Yao Ming tonight will be a major uncertainty factor in the game!

"Down next is starting power forward David West from New Jersey!"

In the first three games, West averaged 18.8 points per game, 5.3 rebounds, and a shooting rate of 55.6%, and most of his offense was near the free throw line, it was not easy to maintain such a shooting rate, and Scola averaged 14.5 points per game, 8.7 rebounds, and a shooting rate of 48.6%.

"Below!" The court DJ roared in a voice that almost tore apart, "Below, it's the team's starting point guard, Chris Paul from North Carolina!" ”

The New Orleans fans gave a standing ovation and Paul flew out of the tunnel waving his arms to high-five everyone before being surrounded by the players in the center for some special celebrations.

In the NBA, it's an unwritten rule that the home team boss is always the last to play.

In the first three games, Paul played an average of 37 minutes per game, scoring 22.3 points, 6.6 rebounds, 9.0 assists, shooting 52.7% from the field and 42.5% from three-point range, while Aaron Brooks played an average of 30.8 minutes per game, with 17.8 points and 4 assists, shooting 45.5% from the field and 38.9% from three-point range. The quality of his play is related to the success or failure of the team, and for the Houston Rockets, Paul must be fully contained in order to have any hope of winning.

Okafor and Yao Ming stood in the middle of the court to pick up the ball, and the referee gave an order, and the game began!

Paul has the ball and prepares to attack.

Xiaobu is characterized by fast, not only the speed of breaking through, the change of direction between the lines, and the speed of dribbling are very fast, but Paul's speed is not slow, and Paul is stronger than Xiaobu, so Paul's defense of Xiaobu is crushing, and several times without reason forcibly impact the basket, either to score a layup, or to make a foul kill, for this, Xiaobu is really helpless.

The situation in the No. 1 position is not bad, the most headache for Adelman is the No. 2 position, although Kevin Martin can share a lot of pressure on Yao Ming in the offense, but on the defensive end, he is even thinner than Bailey, he is not the opponent of the strong and tough Thorton, Martin is really trying, but he just can't prevent it, Thorton a few cross steps, forced to the right, or to the left to break through, can cause Martin's blocking foul.

The third position Ariza is against Battier, a typical "pair", both of them are strong in defense and offense, and have been teammates for a year, the style of play between each other, the attack area they are good at are very familiar, Ariza and Battier can not score easily, Okafor consecutive rebounds.

At the end of the first quarter, the score was 31-28, the Hornets were ahead, Paul and Thorton played well, almost beating Xiaobu and Martin, but the Rockets did not fall behind by a big score, the reason is that the Rockets have Yao Ming.