Howard used this dunk to announce to the world that he was still the omnipotent Howard back then.

Today's Howard performed extremely hard, and it is estimated that after coming out of the Rockets, he was holding his breath in his heart, and this game broke out all at once.

It's a bit bad to go on like this, and we have to find a way to restrain Howard, and D'Antoni decisively called a timeout when the Hornets' morale was high.

"Let's change our tactics, start now, play more inside, Howard has already fouled twice, as long as he fouls more, there will be some restraint on the inside!" Coach D'Antoni pointed it out sharply.

If the Rockets want to limit Howard's play now, it seems that they can't rely on defense, so they can only find another way.

For Harden, making fouls is what he does best.

In the next round, Paul rushed inside first, his breakthrough intention was not to score, but to divide the ball, Harden responded in the back, and after the ball was in Harden's hands, Harden continued to break through inside.

Paul's first breakaway had already brought some of the defenders over, and now that Harden is making a break, it's going well.

The continuous breakthrough of the two finally made Howard start to make up the defense, and this is really the effect that the Rockets want.

Howard also knows that Harden is good at touching porcelain, so when he comes up to make up for the defense, he raises his hands high, just to show others and tell everyone that my movements are clean and there are no fouls.

Harden doesn't care so much about you, first a small step back, allowing Howard to follow the move, and then, quickly breaking forward, making a European step, regardless of where the basket is, sticking to Howard and jumping.

It's okay for Howard not to move, but he moved just now, and Harden's jump directly stuck to Howard, and the two collided together.

After his arms fluttered wildly, the whistle remembered decisively.

touched the porcelain successfully, Harden deliberately covered his nose and kept retreating.

Howard's face turned blue, and if he wanted to go crazy, he could only hold back, otherwise, if he was whistled for another technical foul, it would be worth the loss.

"Referee, there should be no fouls in this defense!" Walker walked up and reasoned with the referee.

The referee replayed the decision in slow motion on the spot, and Howard defended the foul.

Before the second quarter was over, Howard had three fouls, and if there was another foul, he would have to go down early.

After winning two free throws, Harden rubbed his nose and walked to the free throw line with a relaxed face.

Cheng Lei raised a big finger in admiration, Harden deserves to be the player with the most free throws per game, and this ability to make fouls, it is estimated that no one else can compare with him.

Harden's foul made a subtle change in the form of the court, and Howard didn't dare to come out easily to make up for it.

Moreover, when Howard is under the basket, he has also relented, and if he fouls again, he will have to go off the court early, which has eased the pressure on the Rockets' interior a lot.

Paul and Harden continued to take turns to break through, and Cheng Lei's task became relatively simple, he only needed to ambush in the bottom corner and suddenly release cold arrows.

Cheng Lei maintains a very good relationship with the two bigwigs of the team, which also brings him a lot of opportunities to shoot, as long as he appears in the vacant position, the two bigwigs will pass the ball to themselves whenever they have the opportunity.

Sometimes, it's still very good to be a fixed-point shooter, Cheng Lei got an easy shot in the bottom corner, and scored a three-pointer without pressure, which was very good.

Howard would now rather let Harden break in and score than go up to defend him, which made it easy for Harden to get a couple of layups.

Towards the end of the second quarter, D'Antoni replaced Tucker and Zhou Qi and replaced Anderson and Capela, so that the two could find a feeling, so that the third quarter would not feel cold due to too long a break.

From trailing by five points to leading by five points, the Rockets realized very well as a whole in the second quarter.

At halftime, D'Antoni asked everyone to continue to pass the second quarter, and Harden and Paul both looked for opportunities to attack each other's interior.

There are Cheng Lei and Anderson on the outside line to ambush, and two cold arrows from time to time are fine.

Harden and Paul are now on the court, basically spare no effort, at halftime, came to the locker room, took out an energy drink and poured a few sips, and in the second half of the game, they were almost full of blood.

This is the biggest benefit that Cheng Lei brings to everyone, originally Harden's defense was very loose, but now, because the physical recovery is guaranteed, it is much more active than before, and the situation of eye defense has also decreased a lot.

In the Hornets' locker room, Howard threw the towel on the act and yelled, venting his frustration.

"Cody, in the next game, pay attention to protect the inside line!" The coach of the Hornets said.

He also realized that the Rockets' current intention is to constantly attack the interior and create Howard's fouls, and Harden's talent in this area is so outstanding that it is almost impossible to prevent him from touching porcelain.

"No problem, leave it to me!"

Cody is also very clear about his duties, and at this time, it is time for him to come out and block the gun.

During the intermission, the commentators at the scene began to discuss the two teams.

"Howard's performance today is a bit like he is back at the top, I don't know if the Rockets will regret it and let him go!"

"The current tactics of the Rockets don't match Howard, and if they are forced together, they won't have too good results!" Another commentator said.

The current bombardment tactics of the Rockets pay attention to speed and three-pointers, and the center they need is the kind of flexibility and a certain long-range shooting ability, and Howard's style of play is just inconsistent with the Rockets.

At the beginning of the third quarter, after the Rockets players came on the court, they were all alive and well, as if they hadn't played in the first half.

Cheng Lei thought about how he should get a few more steals in the second half, this game, until now, he has only one steal, and if it goes on like this, I don't know when I will be able to complete three hundred steals.

In the entire first half, Cheng Lei scored eight points, one steal, three assists, and in terms of data, it was very bland, which was the data of a normal substitute.

At the beginning of the game, in the first round, Paul showed a hand called ball sense, and after a large disguise, he quickly made a back dribble and a small jump, and was tripped by Walker, and the whole person fell to the side.

Seeing that the ball was about to be broken, Paul clasped his hand, a tall one, and before the ball got out of control, he moved in the direction of Cheng Lei.

Cheng Lei started quickly, ran towards the ball, grabbed in front of Walker, and grabbed the ball.

A high hang, hoisted the ball into the hands of Capela on the inside, Capela was holding his breath, and now, Howard has three fouls in hand, and Capela is also a fearless attack.

It doesn't matter if you can get in or not, it's just to slap Howard.

Boom!

In the confrontation between the two, Capela twisted and threw the ball.

Toot toot...

The familiar whistle sounded.

Howard and Cody both raised their hands at the same time.

(End of chapter)