The Rockets and Timberwolves played a tough game and didn't decide until the final moments.

In addition to the toughness of the Timberwolves, one of the main reasons is the weakness of the Rockets' outside firepower. The Rockets, who averaged the highest number of three-pointers per game in the league, shot 7 of 12 from the outside of the game, and no one shot more than one three-pointer in this game.

Without Harden's 7-point threes as a fig leaf, the shooting percentage of the remaining Rockets players is simply miserable.

Chris Paul, 1-of-6; Eric Gordon, 1-of-7; PJ Tucker, 1-of-5 shooting.

Gerald Green, 0-of-3; Trevor Ariza, 0-of-4; Yang Yiming, 2 shots and 0 hits.

The Rockets knew that such a performance was not worthy of their championship dreams, so early the next morning after playing G1, none of these people made an appointment in advance, but all came to the training hall more than two hours in advance to practice three points before the team's joint practice!

1/

8:15 a.m. Yang Yiming arrives at the parking lot of the Houston Rockets' training arena, not far from the Toyota Center.

He was carrying a Nike bowling bag with all his equipment, and as soon as he got off the white Toyota van driven by Jose, he bumped into Derek Ross, who was driving a JEEP Wrangler, and drove into the parking lot at a gallop, stopping in the parking space next to Yang Yiming.

The Wrangler brought up a puff of dust, and in the smoke, Rose took off his sunglasses and jumped down from the door of the car with the hard top removed: "Yiming, why are you here so early?" ”

Yang Yiming fanned away the dust on his face with his hand, only to see the braids of "Rose", he pretended to tease Ross and said, "I want to practice three-point shooting." Why don't you ride a bike anymore, Rose? I remember when you were in Cleveland, you still commuted by bicycle, was it because Texas was too big to pedal? ”

Rose smiled a little shyly and pinned the aviator's sunglasses into the braid above his head: "The time spent on the bike is long gone, so I'd better concentrate and leave more time to prepare for the playoffs." ”

It was clear that Rose's dark years in Cleveland with no hope had faded from him, while he was enjoying basketball and focusing on the championship chase. Maybe this is the life that the former MVP yearns for the most.

"Preparing for the playoffs? Then why don't you come and practice your three-point shot? Yang Yiming knew that Rose's three-point shot was a weakness, so he deliberately teased him.

"No, no. I'll pass you the ball, and you can shoot it. Ross said as he waved behind Yang Yiming. Following the direction he waved, on the other side of the white Toyota, I saw that the cars of Trevor Ariza, Eric Gordon, and Chris Paul had also just driven into the parking lot and parked in turn.

SUV in black Mercedes G55, burgundy Bentley Continental, lemon yellow Ferrari 458. The cars of the three of them are cooler than the other, so compared to this, the white Toyota van that Yang Yiming is riding in looks much shabby.

"Dr. Yang, when will you change the car?" Gordon, who is most familiar with Yang Yiming and loves to play the most, said first.

"Let's talk about next season - why are you all here?"

"Let's get some practice." Ariza had a deep voice, sounding very serious. However, he glanced at Yang Yiming's van, patted the case cover of his Mercedes-Benz G55 with malicious intent, and added, "But you really should change cars, which is a bit inconsistent with the identity of our Rocket's best newcomer, hahaha." ”

"Don't be complacent, let me taste your championship first, and then it's not too late to change cars! (Ariza is the only player to have won an NBA championship among the men.) No, I'll practice for a while, let me beat you with three points first! Yang Yiming and Ariza are also old friends, the latter's professionalism has always benefited Yang Yiming a lot, and the two are joking and shouting at this time, which does not hurt their feelings at all.

"Then what are you waiting for, hurry up and start practicing!"

Paul interrupted everyone and led the way to the practice hall. The rest of the people didn't dare to slack off, so they hurriedly chased after them!

2/

In the training gym, PJ Tucker and Gerald Green have actually arrived one step ahead.

PJ Tucker has always been a model worker for the Rockets, he is diligent defensively, unconditional in any tactical position, and it's not unusual to practice himself on the second day of the playoffs. As for Green, while he retains a cynical hip-hop outfit, as a Houston native and re-drafted to an NBA team years later, he should also cherish the rare playoff opportunity that Green's 200-pound black mom, Yang Yiming, has seen (after the home win over the Suns). Coupled with this hot mom and cheerleader, it's probably hard to cut corners!

When Yang Yiming entered the arena, Green was doing stretching activities, and PJ Tucker was already practicing at the free-throw line on his own. The seven of them looked at each other, and they all immediately understood each other's minds.

"Then let's practice. After the warm-up activities, the team will play a three-point game. Five points, 100 balls per person. ”

The leader, Paul, took the lead and arranged the content of the "training." He pointed at Rose again and commanded, "Rose, you and I pass the ball to our teammates on both sides." Everyone needs to catch and shoot. ”

Everyone nodded in understanding.

After the warm-up, the six men were divided into two teams from black and white (Rose was not involved, only responsible for passing). Paul, Tucker, Ariza split into a team; Yang Yiming, Gordon, and Green were divided into another team.

The extra training game begins!

Ariza and Green took the lead, with Paul passing the ball to his teammates and Rose passing the ball to Green in Yang Yiming's group. Ariza threw steadily, the tempo was slow, and it was basically a tiptoe throw with her toes off the ground. Green shot in a hurry, and his shots at this time were somewhat similar to those on the court, all of which were jumpers on the spot. As a result, Green made all 100 balls from 5 points, and Ariza still had 10 balls left in the last corner. But it's a game of accuracy, and speed is not the point of contention. Green, who shot first, made 49 of 100, and Ariza, who still had more than 10 balls to shoot, had already hit 45 goals, and even under the full coaxing of Yang Yiming's team, he still hit 7 more goals in the end, and successfully overtook 52-49.

What followed was a showdown between Tucker and Gordon.

Both men learned the lesson of Gerald Green this time around, taking a shot on the spot each time they caught the ball, or paused to make a shot on tiptoe. Tucker and Gordon shot each other to each other in a very slow matchup, giving Gordon a narrow 38-37 lead before starting the final shooting point.

Because the game doesn't set the order of shooting points, both men save their best (or think they do best) positions for last. Gordon chose to face the basket at the top of the arc, while PJ Tucker kept the left corner!

The penultimate goal, two people shot at the same time!

As Gordon's teammate and friend, Yang Yiming originally hoped that he would take advantage of the top position of the arc to further expand his advantage and tie or even surpass the Paul team. But I didn't expect Gordon, the former All-Star three-point contest champion, to miss a series of shots at the point he felt he had the biggest grasp!

In the first 10 shots, Gordon actually only made 2 shots, and Tucker maintained his shooting rate of nearly 50%, shooting 5, 42-40 in one fell swoop!

The back-to-back shots clearly affected Gordon's mentality, and his next 10 shots were even more outrageous, and there was even a hollow outside the basket. Tucker went from strength to strength, finishing with a six-game winning streak that ended at 49-42.

The total score of the two teams, Paul 101, Yang Yiming 91, a full 10 goals behind!

The pressure of the last fight all fell on Yang Yiming, who was about to appear!

Yang Yiming to Paul.

The three-point shooting rate of the season, Yang Yiming's 39% is only a slight advantage of one percentage point over Paul's 38%, and if he wants to complete a 10-goal comeback in a 100-ball game, he needs to play at a super level!

Unexpectedly, at this critical juncture when the eyebrows were burning, the door of the training hall was pushed open again.

The one who has changed into a Red Rockets training uniform, with golden headphones hanging around his neck, and who began to shout loudly before he arrived, is the team boss who went down to earth the night before and slashed 44 points, bearded brother Harden!

"It's not challenging for you to cast like this, so let's make it more difficult."

He couldn't have come at the right time! Increasing the difficulty? Yang Yiming held the basketball under his armpit and looked at Harden in a daze. I saw him pick up a basketball on the sidelines with his toes, and walked into the court while dribbling the ball under his crotch. He motioned to Yang Yiming to throw away the basketball under his armpit and said:

"For the last 100 balls, I suggest this: 5 points on the court, starting from the bottom left corner, followed by shooting points 1-5. Every time I pass the ball to you, I shout any number from 1 to 5. The shooter has to run to the shooting point corresponding to the number I shouted, and the ball cannot be adjusted to catch the ball, so he shoots directly. It's like simulating a real race! ”

Running non-stop to catch the ball and shoot 100 balls?! Yang Yiming panicked all of a sudden-this additional training project has too high requirements for physical strength and shooting feel!

"Ready? Here's a demonstration! ”

Harden didn't wait for Yang Yiming to hesitate, and he had already shouted out a number. “4！” 45 degree angle on the right side! Yang Yiming hurriedly slid two steps and moved to the No. 4 position, and Harden's ball arrived immediately. It's flat and urgent, it's all the speed of the game, forcing the receiver to shoot immediately!

He jumps to the basket and the ball swipes out of the basket. Harden took the rebound and shouted the second number in the air, "1!" ”

Yang Yiming didn't have time to hesitate, and went straight to the bottom left corner diagonally to throw the second ball.

Still didn't get in.

Harden took the rebound. This time he didn't pass the ball again, just shouted at Rose at the other end of the field: "That's what it means, Derek, do you understand?" ”

"I'm fine here." Rose, who was going to be in charge of passing the ball to Paul, replied.

"Okay, then the last 100 goals, because it's difficult, one goal counts as two. So Yang, you still have a chance! Let's go! ”