"If you want to be the savior of the team's playoffs in the first year and the second year, I can tell you bluntly that it's impossible."

Sam Cassel talked about Olajuwon and then Drexler, but at the end, he left the most time for the newcomers. Perhaps his status as a first- and second-year rookie when he won the championship twice that year gave him the most lessons he could share. Yu Xiaochun and Meritis who invited Kassel also have the same selfish intentions: Kassel's championship experience may help Yang Yiming to the greatest extent.

"There are three principles that should always be remembered: the playoffs are not the regular season; The playoffs are not a game of the same level; If you forget, repeat the first two principles. You may be a genius, but when it comes to the playoffs, talent is just as important as experience — talent that isn't nourished by the playoffs can always be just a fist. You'll find that in the regular season, there's a good chance that it won't work, and an open shot, a dunk, a rebound, a throw-in, or even a drop ball that you can easily pass into place will have a hard time in the playoffs. Because once you set foot in the playoffs, there are only two ways to win and be eliminated. Before you can figure it out and wait to watch, those old guys who have been eliminated many times can't help but want to eat you alive. ”

"Eat it alive". Yang Yiming really has a personal experience of these four words.

The Jazz's overall defense is tougher than that of the Timberwolves, who are good at strangulation inside but are not systematic. By the end of the third quarter in the semifinals, Yang had already made three turnovers, far exceeding his season average. A pass out of bounds, a dribble hit, and a layup interception. In the fourth quarter, he was in a hurry to find his touch, just as the Rockets made three passes and two downs, and Joe Johnson attracted two defenders Gobert and Crowder in the restricted area, and he passed the ball behind to Yang Yiming. He can fill the basket with both hands while no one is defending!

Unexpectedly, just when Yang Yiming jumped up and was about to stuff the basketball into the basket, Claude, who was still facing the rebound just now, forcibly turned around, faced Yang Yiming, who was dunking, and put his arm on the latter!

Yang Yiming was pressed!

Foul?

The referee didn't blow the penalty!

Yang Yiming was hit to the floor by the force of the impact, and he wanted to protect the basketball with his arm, but his arm squeezed to the floor, and the basketball fell out. The opponent's center, Gobert, who weighs 111 kilograms at 2.16 meters, slides to the end and dials the ball to Mitchell on the outside!

This kind of situation will not happen in the regular season at all!

Not to mention Yang Yiming's vacant dunk, he usually dunks it. Crowder's defensive action is so big that he is estimated to have been whistled for a foul by the referee in the regular season. But now it's the playoffs, the playoffs where the athletes themselves decide where the game goes, and the playoffs where confrontation and physical contact are encouraged. Finally, the "French Tower" Gobert scrambles for the floor ball? If it weren't for the playoffs, when would Yang Yiming ever seen this scene?

"But there's no need to be afraid." Cassel encouraged his juniors two days ago, "No one can fit in the playoffs the first time, no rookie can come up and be a savior." Don't say I can't, you can't, LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Will Chamberlain, none of these people. No matter how talented you are, you can't escape the trials of the playoffs. Talent can only help you shorten the process, but it doesn't lead you directly to success. You're going to make mistakes, you're going to miss goals, you're going to have less minutes to play, you're going to question yourself. But it doesn't matter, talent will help you, you just have to keep believing – believe in yourself, believe in the process. ”

Kassel continued: "I've been through this process too. I'm certainly not the Rockets' chosen one, and I don't have the ability to represent the team as an All-Star in my first season, and of course, I don't look good enough..."

Here Kassel's self-deprecation was exchanged for a burst of laughter.

"But I know, myself, Sam Cassel, the No. 10 of the Rockets. I have a shot and I can put the ball in and the more tense the situation, the calmer I am. That's my strength, so as long as I am given the opportunity, I will play to my advantage without reservation. In the first year of facing the Suns' tie-break, that plan is like this; In the finals against the Knicks, he scored 7 points in a row at the end of Game 3, and the same is true. I know it's the opportunity I'm waiting for, the one that best suits my strengths, so I'm going to do everything I can to seize it..."

At the beginning of the fourth quarter, Yang Yiming's mistakes had come to four. He thought of Kassel's exhortation and decided to start with what he does best: rebounding and blocking.

Ariza made a three-pointer in the bottom corner, and Yang Yiming was ready to scramble for rebounds in advance. Ariza's shot hit the front of the basket, which was the angle that Yang Yiming predicted. He accelerated from outside the box to the basket, Gobert and Favors formed a double protection under the basket, and there was a Claude card on the wing, it seems that even if he predicts accurately, the chance of grabbing this frontcourt rebound is extremely slim!

But seeing Claude, Yang Yiming suddenly got up and decided to retaliate with a tooth for a tooth!

He went straight to Crowder, who was protecting on the flank, but with his back to the basket, and when he saw Yang Yiming coming in a straight line, he thought the rebound was behind him. He subconsciously took a step back, wanting to compete for this rebound at the same time, but he didn't expect to fall for Yang Yiming's trick. The retreating Claude bumped into Gobert, which instead limited the latter's movement, and Yang Yiming made a turn and bounced one-on-one with Favors at the top of the arc in the reasonable collision zone. He jumped out of more than ten centimeters, although it was not enough to grab the rebound directly, but it was more than enough to make up the basket with a little light!

One frontcourt rebound plus two points.

When it was the Jazz's turn to attack, Yang Yiming used his height advantage and prediction to block Alec Burks' layup!

"With enough patience and getting used to the intensity of the playoffs, the talent you've built up will eventually explode. You're still a rookie back then, but you're a world away from the rookie your opponent knows. You become the X-factor on the field, and your threat becomes infinite because no one understands it, even enough to determine the outcome of the match! ”

Yang Yiming knew what the X-factor was talking about in Cassel. In Game 2 of the Finals of the season that won the championship, the Rockets were on the home court of the Magic. In the first game, the Rockets miraculously relied on their opponent Nick Anderson to miss four consecutive free throws, and after grabbing the rebound, Kenny Smith hit a Finals-record seventh three-pointer to drag the game into overtime and eventually win narrowly. But in the second game, the Rockets were still underestimated.

As a famous ball critic once said: Winning or losing the playoffs is all about alignment.

O'Neal, who was young and vigorous at the time, was considered good enough to replace the old center Olajuwon. Healthy pennies Hada Wassen occasionally take off gliders, naturally. Nick Anderson, mentioned above, outperformed Rockets shooter Kenny Smith. And Hollis Grant, better than Robert Hawley...

The list goes on and on. In almost every position, the rocket did not have any advantage.

But they have the X-factor.

In the first season, there was almost no ball to play, and he was able to beat the Suns to finish the Knicks, and in the second season, he has been playing steadily and can play an average of 20 minutes per game.

He was the winner of Game 2: 31 points. His sharp outside shooting extinguished the Magic's frantic comeback at home.

The Rockets were enough to return home with a 2-0 advantage, and as it turned out, it changed the course of the series: the Magic, who had completely lost ground, lost in Game 3, and faced the next two seemingly insurmountable road games in Houston (the Finals were played in a 2-3-2 format), and the Magic surrendered in Game 4 to complete the sweep of the Rockets.

The power of the X-factor.

If it weren't for the outbreak of the second game of Kassel, the outcome of this round of the finals might have been completely different. It was the little people who destroyed the confidence of the big shark and penny combination in the sky.

It's a pity that Yang Yiming's X-factor performance time, the playoffs have been played so far, and there is no chance to appear, but... Take a look at the second battle against the Jazz tomorrow morning at 8 o'clock Beijing time! Perhaps, enough time to wait!