"Three..."

"Two..."

"One!"

The white light is dazzling, and the curtain falls. Smoke is everywhere and rockets take off. Playoffs G1 begins!

1/

Yang Yiming's G1 starts from the bench next to the sideline.

Although it was a player bench, Yang Yiming, like all the Rockets players around him who did not start, leaned forward 45 degrees, as if he was about to rush to the court to fight at any time.

Behind them were nearly 20,000 Toyota Center home fans. Today, they were all dressed in black, like the ancient Chinese Praetorian Guards, and together with the five Rocket generals who started on the field, they were ready to kill the invading wolves.

Clint Capela, PJ Tucker, Trevor Ariza, James Harden, Chris Paul.

On behalf of the black sea of the audience, the five people standing in the center of the floor!

The Rockets are united, and the connection between Harden and Capela is the first to attack. At 16-8, the Rockets quickly closed the margin to double digits, forcing the Timberwolves' head coach Thibodeau to call a timeout.

After the timeout, Downs tried to implement the coach's tactical arrangement of attacking the Rockets' interior, and hooked his hand behind Capeira's back, but he didn't expect to be blocked by the latter. On the one hand, the interior has Capela receiving the basket and Harden's breakthrough layup, on the other hand, the interior opening to contain the opponent's Rockets, and the three-point shooters are all set up in the battery. It's a pity that the Rockets didn't feel good in the first quarter, and only ended the first quarter with a 6-point lead by virtue of the inside killing.

In the bench lineup, Mike D'Antoni deployed his troops, first replacing Nene and Gordon, replacing Capela and Harden, hoping to continue to put pressure on the Timberwolves inside and outside.

The effect of this change is mixed in half.

Inside, Nene still has the advantage of experience and skill against the Timberwolves' backup center, not only hitting hard, but also competing for rebounds in the frontcourt. But Eric Gordon's outside touch was much worse, and he tried to shoot from the left and right threes, but the shots were ridiculously crooked. The three-point failure Gordon changed to break through again, but it was also ineffective, and the shot came out of the basket.

In fact, not only Gordon, Yang Yiming sat on the sidelines and saw very clearly, almost all the Rockets players felt very bad. He was no more than five or six meters away from his teammates, and he could almost hear the thumping of muscles on the field. He'd heard about the intensity of the playoffs, but he really saw it today. It was really hand-to-hand combat, and the strong and tight upper limbs were wrapped around and countered, bursting out with even more terrifying force. Front chest and back, back and shoulders, upper limbs and forearms, forearms and heads, no one wants to show weakness, no one wants to lose in this hand-to-hand combat.

But Yang Yiming saw it really. His teammates wanted to win too much, too much to give up an inch of land. Even in hand-to-hand combat, they have to fight to the flesh and attract blood. Every muscle fiber of their muscles is tense, and they are always looking to fight, but this state is not conducive to their shooting!

Especially the three-point shot that pays attention to the soft feel!

On the contrary, this is the style of play that the Timberwolves like: a master of interior scuffle, the team with the most two-point shots in the league, and simply give up without a reliable three-point shooter!

They are not afraid of hand-to-hand combat, and the short and fat, sharp-faced Coach Thibodeau in the coach's seat opposite has even made a name for himself with his defensive debut in the fighting system, and he is enjoying the scene on the field at the moment, squinting and snickering!

Unknowingly, the Timberwolves actually closed the score in the second quarter. This made Paul, who has always been calm, a little confused, the pass was broken, the dribble went out of bounds, and even the best shot with a small hit was repeatedly missed, and the Timberwolves in turn exceeded the score!

The Rockets took a timeout, and coach D'Antoni called on Yang Yiming and Derrick Rose to replace Ariza and Paul, respectively.

There are 8 minutes and 54 seconds left in the second quarter!

2/

Rose was one of Thibodeau's favourite protégés and the most knowledgeable about his tactical intentions on the pitch. Ross saw that Thibodeau intended to fight in two parts and give up three points, so he decided to treat him the way he did.

Usually, "Rose's" three-point shot is his shortcoming, but in today's situation, it has become a rare advantage.

Since three points are not accurate, let's just compare two points!

Nene grabbed the backcourt rebound and handed it to Rose to advance. Rose was on the air at his feet, dribbling across the court, past Jamal Crawford, and facing former Bulls teammate Ty Gibson for a pull-up layup. Two points plus a penalty!

Carl Towns made a long two-pointer and immediately returned the game.

Eric Gordon catches the ball and the three-pointer is wide again. Fortunately, in the crowd of Nene, Yang Yiming slammed into Gibson and grabbed the rebound in the front court. Yang Yiming quickly observed that Rose in the bottom corner was in an empty position, and he hit the ground and passed the ball to him, who faced Teague's supplementary defense, did not hurry to fly to the defense, and shot a hollow shot inside the three-point line!

- What if "Rose" is not good at three-point shooting?! There is also a solid mid-pitch!

On the first day of the playoffs, Yang Yiming watched the game with friends in the bar and felt very nervous. He was afraid that he would not meet the playoff standards, and second, he was afraid that he would drag down his teammates' hopes of competing for the championship, but Nina secretly hypnotized him while he was unprepared and made some psychological adjustments. The effect of hypnosis is really magical, a white light flashed, and when he woke up, he had completely forgotten about his nervousness, and he actually kept his excitement and dazed state until today's game!

It wasn't until he saw his teammates' frequent iron in the first half that he realized that he had stepped on the edge of the playoffs!

Not only himself, but everyone in the field, every ball that could have been easily thrown in training but was out at this time was because of this suffocating playoffs!

Yang Yiming breathed a sigh of relief.

Since everyone is so nervous that their movements are deformed, what is there to worry about being ashamed of being a rookie by themselves?

At most, it's the same as these veterans!

Thinking of this, he was confident again. The Timberwolves attacked, and he guarded the restricted area. Teague hoisted the ball to Gibson, and Yang Yiming saw that Gibson dribbled and slapped it, as if he was going to eat it. He expected that he could use a little dexterity in the moment of saber rattling, so he took a step forward and stuck his feet outside the line of the reasonable collision zone. Gibson rushed too hard, and as soon as his shoulder touched Yang Yiming, he took advantage of the situation and hit the ground, and the referee's whistle sounded! Timberwolves offense foul.

Ball to Rockets!

The Toyota Center erupted in applause like "revenge".

Rose was in control of the basketball again, dribbling past half the court, and directing the Rockets to launch a pick-and-roll strategy while dribbling. I saw Yang Yiming and PJ-Tucker standing at opposite ends of the free throw line, and Rose used these two big men to leave the opposing Teague behind. He wiped it over Tucker, who went down first, forming a local two-on-one. Yang Yiming's defender Gibson was forced to make up for the defense, Rose continued to dribble, Yang Yiming formed an empty position under the basket, he jumped up one step, Rose threw the ball to the rebound, Yang Yiming grabbed the ball in the air, and abused the basket and dunked.

Wiggins, the Timberwolves' young leader who came from the wing position, became the background board for this dunk match.

To be precise, it is Yang Yiming's crotch minister!

With this wave of offense, the Rockets finally got back the score and won by 1 point in the second quarter. 54-47, the home team led by 7 points at halftime!