1/

As Cassel said, in the second game with the Jazz, Yang Yiming finally waited for the opportunity to break out.

Section III.

The Rockets trailed by nine points at the Toyota Center.

In the second quarter, James Harden had scored 17 points to help the Rockets fill the hole of 19 points behind. But today, Paul's state is average, and the Rockets have been slow to open the three-point team, and to continue to chase points, a newcomer needs to stand up!

Coach D'Antoni waved the flag and sent No. 17 Yang Yiming to start in the third quarter.

The results are immediate!

Harden holds the ball, and Yiming runs to the bottom corner with Ariza's off-ball screen. The ball was out, he was ready to shoot, and the Jazz's defense moved quickly and immediately made up for it. Yang Yiming faked a real pass, dropped the ball to Ariza who covered him just now, and ran close to his teammates. Ariza and Yang Yiming played a hand-to-hand cooperation in a narrow position only a few meters in the bottom corner, the former helped Yang Yiming card out a path with one against two, and he went straight to the basket and made a layup! 57 to 64.

The Rockets defended the Jazz's mid-range shot, and the rebound was won by Capela, who passed to Yang Yiming, who transitioned to Harden. Harden singled out Jazz guard Burks to attract defensive attention, and two teammates, Anderson and Yang Yiming, had already set up the battery on the left and right.

Harden chose Yang Yiming, who had just scored, and he didn't hesitate to shoot, and the three-pointer went up and down. 60 to 64.

Yang Yiming felt that he felt good and took the initiative to ask for the ball to attack. It is said that athletes do technical movements on the field, and under the ever-changing super confrontation, there is almost no room for thinking, and it all depends on the muscle memory of daily training. This is not entirely accurate. Although shooting and passing, a series of technical actions are completed, and each step is indeed based on the player's training day after day, year after year, but what kind of action to perform in what situation still comes from the player's subjective choice. In addition to the subjective choice, there is also something mysterious and mysterious like "feel", which is not easy to explain in daily training.

When the touch came, to borrow the words of an NBA senior, "The basket is bigger than Lake Ontario in my eyes." ”

Yang Yiming had this feeling at this time.

He had another opportunity from beyond the three-point line, this time with Jae Crowder in front of him. He saw that Crowder lowered his center of gravity, and his heel was still half a meter away from the three-point line, obviously preparing to block the breakthrough, but he didn't expect Yang Yiming to think about it and shoot directly!

The posture is soft, the strength is moderate, and there is a premonition when you shoot. That's what it feels like to have an explosion of hands!

Sure enough, the basketball hollow into the net! 67 to 70.

The Rockets chased the score to a one-round gap.

First of all, you have to defend against a ball!

Mitchell held the ball against Harden, and continued to change backwards to prepare to break through, but Yang Yiming quickly approached to form a trap on him. This is the defensive routine that the Rockets have been playing since Game 1, and as long as Donovan Mitchell attacks on his own, the Rockets are ready to wrap up at any time, which can be regarded as giving the rookie enough face. But I didn't expect the Rockets to change, and the best rookie candidates themselves changed first.

Yang Yiming grabbed a step forward, ready to intercept Mitchell's breakthrough line, and formed a circle with Harden, but Mitchell did not choose to break through as before, but stepped back sharply, opening up space to pass the basketball to the bottom corner!

In that position, Joe Ingles had set up an ambush in advance.

It's a pity that Ingles's three-point shot came out of the basket, Yang Yiming grabbed the rebound and dribbled to the front court by himself, and shot on the spot to chase three points!

With a layup and three three-pointers, Yang Yiming scored 11 points in a row to help the Rockets erase the disadvantage!

Is this the X-factor that Kassel talked about to win?!

2/

Unexpectedly, Yang Yiming's state is bursting, but he is fighting alone, and the Jazz over there still have a set of X-factors that can give the Houston Rockets a series of critical hits!

On the first goal of Yang Yiming's equalizer, Donovan Mitchell faced Harden and his double pack, and instead of choosing to force himself into the box, he unexpectedly took a step back to distribute the ball to his teammates. The change ended with Ingles, who received the ball in the open position, missed, but after being forced to call a timeout, the Jazz instead intensified this tactical play!

With No. 45 super-rookie Donovan Mitchell as the starting point: Mitchell breaks through with the ball, and if it's one-on-one, he chooses individual singles. If the Rockets execute the pack, he will find Ingles, who feels no worse than Yang Yiming today.

Before he missed the three-pointer, Ingles had already made four of his three-pointers in the game. Sure enough, after a brief drop in the touch, Mitchell's burst found Ingles again, and the latter's position to get the ball was farther and worse than Yang Yiming's strong shot in front of Crowder just now, and the chances were even worse: Mitchell almost jumped up and turned around at the free throw line to find his teammate, and in order to avoid interception, Ingles retreated to two meters from the three-point line to receive the ball. But he only dribbled sideways, and with his height and long arms, he faced Chris Paul's defense and scored a three-pointer!

Renew the feel!

The two sides went back and forth and fell into a tug-of-war, from 70 in the middle of the third quarter to 91-92 with eight minutes left in the fourth quarter, with the Jazz leading but the Rockets having the ball.

Aggro! Yang Yiming advanced to the middle line and made a long pass to Ariza in the 45-degree corner. The Jazz made up the defense, Ariza didn't have a chance to shoot, and passed back to Paul, who was inserted. Paul single-handedly rushed to the basket, the Jazz doubled the bag, and Paul was quick to pass the ball back to Harden outside the three-point line. Harden made a pass feint, shook off the defender, and then made a light move of his own, ready to shoot. Unexpectedly, the Jazz's defense was faster, and the two pounced on Harden, but Harden was more of a thief, and his shooting was also false. He hooked the ball back to Yang Yiming and shot in a three-point position!

94 to 92, the Rockets overtake.

The audience is boiling!

But no one thought that this would be the last time the home team took the lead in the game!

Mitchell scored and assisted Ingles for two points. He threw the ball high and Gobert added two more points to the air relay. Gobert then made a basket of his own, and the Jazz re-established a four-point advantage.

And then...

Mitchell stepped up and killed the game.

He squeezed Gerard Green and the European stepped into the box and threw a shot into the front of the basket. The basketball was at least three meters away from the board, but I didn't expect Mitchell to pull it out on the spot, and under the three-person bag of Green, Capela, and Yang Yiming, he grabbed the board and grabbed the basket in the air!

The Jazz's bench was boiling — and a massive Toyota Center was dead silent.

What level of strength does this show? Throwing and grabbing, separated by three people, no run, dunk on the spot, Gerald Green, the shortest of the three defenders, is also 10 centimeters taller than himself...

It's not just the mysterious X factor, but also a string of exclamation points after the X!

Although the Rockets were still close to the score several times later, they could no longer erase the morale that was damaged by Mitchell's dunk, and with Ingles' continuous and stable projection, the home team lost G2. The main player Harden had 32 points, 6 rebounds, 11 assists and 2 steals, and the Rockets' X-factor Yang Yiming broke out with 19 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal, but he was still inferior to the combination of Jazz Mitchell's 17 points, 5 rebounds, 11 assists and 2 steals and Ingles' 27 points and 7 three-pointers.

The Jazz beat the Rockets for the first time this season.

Next game they will return to Salt Lake City, the capital of Utah, at the Devils' home arena, Energy Solutions Arena.

If the dual play of the main general and the bench still can't stop the Jazz, then the Rockets really have to come up with a new way, otherwise the direction of this round of playoffs will become confusing!