Rewind the clock to the first half of this hot night, and before the pool discussion begins, the Houston Rockets poured cold water on the visiting Chicago Bulls at the Toyota Center, which turned on the cold air in advance.

With James Harden and Clint Capela rested, the Rockets still outscored their opponents by 32 points.

Replacing Capela in the center position, Yang Yiming contributed 25 points, 16 rebounds, 5 assists and 5 blocks in 36 minutes, dominating the interior line by himself. 25+15+5+5 dazzling data, the last rookie season to achieve this result was the Rockets' historical legend, "Big Dream" Olajuwon.

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Although Yang Yiming and Capela have changed positions, Paul, who is in charge of the point guard, has not changed, and the empty work is still familiar to the Rockets. Within three minutes of the opening, Yang Yiming and Paul played two aerial relay cooperation. The first time was the cover he gave Paul, one block and one dismantle, and he poured his hands into the basket; The second time is Paul's personal ability, after slipping the bottom line to break through, he attracted the defender in front of Yang Yiming, Paul threw it casually, and he ate the cake for the second time.

chiseled the inner line, and Yang Yiming pulled the outside line to show a hand. He hit a three-pointer from two corners, and his third shot was 45 degrees on the right, and after the shot was missed, he started early, and with good anticipation and a little luck, he grabbed the rebound and hit the opponent's Finnish rookie Lauri Markkanen.

Markkanen and Yang Yiming partnered at the All-Star Rookie Game, and the two had a tacit understanding at the time, and they met again to greet each other today, but when the game started, they really couldn't take care of their friends.

Seeing that Yang Yiming blossomed inside and out at the beginning, Markkanen was of course not to be outdone. His height of 2.13 meters set up a fort on the outside line, and he also returned two consecutive three-pointers with a knife in his hand, and after scoring, he deliberately came to Yang Yiming's side and touched his waist with his elbow, which probably means: "I also scored, it's time to see you fight back." ”

Since someone challenged him, Yang Yiming didn't plan to show mercy to this international friend. He took advantage of his size and stuck in the depths of the box to wave to his teammate Eric Gordon on the perimeter. Gordon hit the ground, Yang Yiming turned around after receiving the ball, and used his left shoulder to resist the thin Markkanen, and the small spinning top hit the basket with his right hand.

The power of the rocket is not only that even the rookies represented by Yang Yiming have extremely strong individual combat ability, and the direct connection of each attack point is also very skillful, which is unguardable. Karmanin responded with a missed three-pointer, and the Rockets immediately pushed for a counterattack. In the same position under the basket, the ball was handed to Yang Yiming again. The same turning action, but this time Markkanen stepped up his vigilance, and he jammed Yang Yiming's left arm, making it impossible for him to easily adjust the position of the ball and make a shooting action. Who knew that Yang Yiming was not ready to attack at all, he flicked his right hand outward, and the basketball was distributed to Gordon's chest outside the three-point line, and the latter did not need to be adjusted, and shot directly!

The cooperation of the Rockets generals is not over yet, even if it is a substitute, it is not ambiguous. "Another double call" is Yang Yiming's singles in the same position in the low post, and Markkanen, who has been deflated twice, simply gave up resistance, took a step away from him, and only symbolically resisted with one palm. Yang Yiming swayed left and right, and he was not in a hurry to turn around, and under the stalemate, he saw a black figure with a corn head stabbing obliquely. It's teammate Gerard Green! Yang Yiming divided the ball from his armpit, Green received the ball and entered the penalty area, Markkanen made up for the block, Green's layup was a little heavier, and Yang Yiming, who was just following up, directly dunked into the basket!

Over and over!

With a wave of offense, the Rockets stretched the score to a full 40 points in the third quarter, and finally won the 61st win of the season without bloodshed!

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Behind an easy victory, the competition for the Rookie of the Year award "Eddie Gottlieb Cup" has entered the white heat.

After sweeping 25+15+5+5, Yang Yiming's season statistics rose to 13.7 points, 5.7 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.6 blocks and 0.9 steals, which is an improvement from before the All-Star break.

According to ESPN's rookie competitiveness rankings on Monday, March 26, Beijing time, the top three are Donovan Mitchell, Ben Simmons and Yang Yiming. They will also be the most likely to appear on the list of candidates for the NBA's "Eddie Gottlieb Cup" in the 17-18 season.

Some of the other former contenders have slowly withdrawn from the fray:

For example, Lakers duo Lonzo Ball and Kyrie Kuzma. The former has been implicated in injuries and has been lacking in appearances, and although he has shown defensive talent and a rare sense of the big picture, he has lacked long-term consistent performance; The latter ranked in the top five rookies in scoring and rebounding, but unfortunately the team and itself lacked more convincing stunning performances, which seemed a bit too obscure in the era of exposure.

Another example is Jason Tatum, who was named Yang Yiming's "lifelong enemy". 13.7 points, 5.1 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 0.8 blocks, and 0.9 steals are exactly the same as Yang Yiming. But from leading the league in three-point shooting at the beginning of the season to a big dive in the second half of the season, Tatum's data output has been as stable as his Green Army Celtics, but it has been studied and discussed as a typical example of encountering the "rookie wall". In the rampant selection of "Impression Emperor", Tatum, who "drives high and walks low", obviously does not have an advantage.

The Mavericks' Danny Smith, the Suns' Josh Jackson, the Kings' Daron Fox, and even Yang Yiming's on-court opponent Lauri Markkanen. They are all the key training targets of the league's weak teams, and the team's record has hard injuries, so don't mention it.

So the real possibility is only Mitchell, Simmons, and Yang Yiming.

Mitchell won in an explosive surge. With an individual score of 20.3, he not only leads the Jazz team, but also leads all rookies by a wide margin. The 1.5 rookie second-place steals also relied on his superior physical fitness. The Utah Jazz have a 41% chance of winning the Rookie of the Year if they make the playoffs under Mitchell.

Simmons wins across the board. After dormant for many seasons, the 76ers finally exploded with talent and locked up the Eastern Conference playoff spot ahead of schedule. Simmons, who has been injured all season and has exploded this season, is the team's hero, scoring third in the rookie (15.8) and leading in rebounds, assists and steals in the rookie (8, 8, 1.7, respectively), but maybe Simmons also lost on his terrifying all-round performance. After impressing everyone with multiple triple-doubles at the start of the season, any subsequent performance seems to be "aesthetic fatigue" - everyone is criticizing Simmons's one-dimensional offensive approach, but no one cares that he played such a "luxurious" data package. In the league where individual heroism is paramount, ESPN gave him a 37% "championship probability" second only to Mitchell.

The remaining 22% belong to Yang Yiming and "others".

But as analyzed above, there is no such thing as "anyone else".

The one who has the best chance to wrestle with Mitchell and Simmons is the Rockets' Chinese rookie Yang Yiming.

Being on the top team in the league, he has a guaranteed result.

In terms of ability, he proved that he can not only be qualified for the 3D type of outside line, but also the No. 4 and No. 5 positions. Being able to find a place under D'Antoni, who has a high demand for tactical ability, Yang Yiming is already a mature all-rounder in the frontcourt.

Statistically, the block that best reflects defensive skills, he leads all rookies with an average of 1.6 per game. Scoring, rebounding, and steals can all be ranked in the top 10. When everyone is starting to tire or stay in the playoffs, Yang Yiming has delivered a double-double in eight of his last 10 games, which has greatly improved to an average of 2.0 offensive rebounds per game, which is already second...

And most importantly, compared to the all-round Ben Simmons, Yang Yiming has more highlights:

The story of him coming straight into the league without going through the draft is legendary in itself.

He had the crazy experience of being named an All-Star starter in his rookie season.

He had a crazy block show of the season, and at this point set off the offensive rebounding run!

He has killed, anti-lore - the object is the first person in the league, the little emperor, has scored four points, shot three points in the middle circle, and his blocks and frontcourt boards have directly affected the battle situation; He started off the bench and scored 52 points in the Development League; After suffering injuries and returning quickly, he and the team experienced five consecutive defeats, but in the end, they came out on top and led the league with a record record in team history.

He is now the face of the world's largest market, in the United States, and is loved by thousands of people. He is a living sports inspirational drama in his own right.

These highlights will inevitably be Yang Yiming's biggest advantage in winning the award!

So it remains to be seen who will kill the deer!