When he woke up, Cheng Lei's head was very messy, the whole person looked very bad, and the training in the morning seemed a little absent-minded.

In the warm-up training before the afternoon game, De Shuai suddenly announced that in order to let the players meet the difficult schedule in the most healthy state, this game decided to start giving the players a rotation.

In this game, Cheng Lei and Paul were directly pressed on the bench, and Harden was allowed to lead the team alone.

The opponent is not very strong, and the Rockets began to learn the strategy of the Spurs, and appropriately let the main players get more rest time to avoid unnecessary injuries.

The Pacers also came to Houston early, although they know that if they want to win against the Rockets, the probability is not high, but their attitude towards playing is much more positive than that of the Nets.

It's just that when all the players came on the court for the final warm-up, they found out that the two big players of the Rockets didn't even change their jerseys and sat on the bench.

"Is this looking down on us?" Stevenson's anger suddenly came up.

For his temper, it's okay to lose, but you can't look down on me, looking at the Rockets like this, it's really a bit of a contempt for the Pacers.

"It's not clear what Coach D'Antoni is thinking!" Oladipo said as he dribbled the ball.

"Hmph, they'll have to pay later!" Stephenson said in a deep voice.

On the Rockets' side, except for Cheng Lei and Paul, who were sitting on the bench, the other players were on the court for the final warm-up.

"Ray, you probably haven't seen Harden at full fire on the scene!" Paul took a bottle of water to Cheng Lei and said with a smile.

"Not really!" Cheng Lei said truthfully.

Since Paul and himself came to the Rockets this season, Harden has also relaxed a lot and doesn't need to rush to attack every ball by himself.

"Maybe you can see a different Harden today!"

De Shuai, on his side, was chatting with the coaching staff about some things, obviously, for this game, he is still confident, although the two main players have been rested in rotation, but, according to the current lineup of the Rockets on the court, it should not be difficult to win the Pacers.

The only thing to note is that their young interior lineman, Myles Turner, is still growing up very fast, and now he is a threat on the inside, which should not be underestimated.

Fortunately, Capela has matured a lot this season compared to last season, and the arrival of Paul and Cheng Lei has improved his defensive level by a level.

On the offensive side, with Harden's presence, it attracts the defense, and other players will have a lot of opportunities.

Cheng Lei's rotation rested, and Ariza regained the starting position, so that the Rockets can also do both offense and defense.

Turner and Capela jumped the ball, both of them were young and could jump, after the ball flew into the air, the two had the opportunity to jump at the same time, Capela relied on his bounce speed, one step ahead of Turner, dialed the ball, and gave the ball to Ariza who was in a good position.

Because Blake is too inferior to Stephenson, Harden's role on the court has now become that of a point guard, and the equal point guard has become Gordon.

After Ariza received the ball, he held it directly, and Stephenson, who originally wanted to fish in troubled waters, had no choice but to give up the idea of digging the ball.

After the ball was in Harden's hands, Ariza started to cross half court and start running.

The Pacers have a lot of young people, but the defense is still very active, and after the Rockets are all over halftime, the Pacers' defense also comes up.

As an arrow task, the task of defending Harden is the top priority, and this task naturally falls to Stephenson.

Although Stephenson's offense sometimes has brain fever, it is undeniable that his defense is still very good, otherwise, he would not have blown in LeBron's ears back then.

Harden, who returned to the point guard position, did not stick to the ball, and after dribbling past half court, he first directed his teammates to start running.

The two people on the inside just started to fight each other, one is the core of the Pacers' future, and the other is the defensive gate of the Rockets' interior line, and the two sides do not give in to each other.

However, the offensive core of the Rockets is not on the inside, so the purpose of Capela's various positions is not to attack, but to make teammates run better.

No, after Anderson came to block it, Ariza rushed directly to the inside, bypassed Capela, and stood on the baseline to reach for the ball.

Harden shook his hand and stuffed the ball straight in.

After receiving the ball on the bottom line, Ariza seemed to be holding her breath and playing particularly tough, regardless of Bo Yang who chased after her, after dribbling the ball, she jumped and hit the basket, jumped again, pouted and blocked Bo Yang in her own hands, and scored two points on the board.

"Is Ariza so tough now?"

"Back in the starting position again, I guess I've been holding my breath!"

Today's Pacers, the pace of play is also relatively fast, after Oladipo got the ball, he quickly advanced to the frontcourt, which was also something that Harden did not expect, after a hesitation, he took a step slower and quickly chased towards Oladipo.

Although Oladipo dribbled quickly, his teammates did not quickly break fast, and there was no way, after halftime to the three-point line, Oladipo could only slow down.

Because on the Rockets' side, there is someone who is faster than Harden and has appeared under the basket to guard this, and that is Capela.

Seeing Harden defending himself, Oladipo's self-confidence also skyrocketed, Harden's defense has never been good in the league, so he is ready to break through directly.

After two disguises, he accelerated under his legs and rushed forward at full speed against Harden.

"Hehe..." After Harden sneered, he took the initiative to meet his body with a force.

Boom... Oladipo was caught off guard and plunged headlong into Harden's arms, when did Harden's defensive pace become so fast? This made Oladipo a little incredulous.

"This stupid boy, I really thought Harden couldn't defend!" Paul just wanted to laugh when he saw Oladipo burrowing into Harden's arms.

Although Oladipo himself has no place and is still in Harden's arms, his reaction is also extremely fast, and when he is about to make a mistake, he passes the ball directly.

I saw Stephenson appear on the passing route in time, and after getting the ball, he threw the ball directly without any extra movements.

Swish! The ball goes in and two points are scored.

"It's a pity, it's a little bit off!" Paul clapped his hands and said.

Harden controls the ball, and Stephenson wants to cut off Harden's ball, which is difficult, but Harden's opening strategy is also obvious, that is, to revitalize his teammates first and attack on his own.

It was still a pass, and this time, Harden chose to hoist the ball inside because he saw that after Pera and Anderson blocked and dismantled, there was an opportunity.

After Capela got the ball, after dribbling a step, he was ready to be strong, but Myles Turner also moved quickly, one step came, the opportunity was fleeting, and it was obviously not wise to play hard now.

Jumped up and passed the ball.