First published on ESPN, then reprinted on the NBA's official website and translated into Chinese, this feature by veteran basketball writer Zach Loe is called:

"Stealth thruster for a historic rocket: Yang Yiming".

The body of the topic reads:

In the final round of the game against the Portland Trail Blazers, the Rockets' offensive time was only 3 seconds, and Chris Paul, who was entwined with CJ McCollum at 45 degrees on the right side, began to dribble and break through. The score was 113-111, and if McCollum managed to defend Paul's shot, there would be about 4-5 seconds left in the game, which would be enough for the Trail Blazers to call a timeout and launch a three-point attack that turned the game into a victory. While their star Damian Lillard missed all seven three-pointers, Aminu and Harklistan on the wings both hit hot shots on the night.

- if they succeed in defending first.

Interfered with Paul's shooting, forced him to barely shoot, protected the defensive rebound, and called a timeout.

CJ McCollum seemed to do the first two steps perfectly: Paul spent too much effort to shake off his arm that was trying to pull the ball, and the referee chose to ignore this obviously suspected foul action.3 With only his right hand free, he balanced the basketball with one hand and threw the ball, but the ball didn't go to the basket as expected!

The Trailblazer's ploy seems to have succeeded?!

Number 17. No. 17 of the red jersey. The red, like the most popular flag color in his host country, symbolizes burning blood, unyielding passion, and youthful strength. The "red" who was still at the top of the three-point arc to assign the ball to Paul just now has already hit the basket with Paul's shot. But unlike the rebounding routine we usually see, the "red" breakthrough is more like a ruse in the Art of War, where he moves forward and retreats, as if discussing with Paul, turning his head to the free throw line and embracing the offensive rebound that has rebounded five meters away.

The Trail Blazers had only the option of fouling. Aminu rushed up and hugged "Red", but the red light of the timer in the distance was on.

"Red" clung to the basketball, buried his face in the crook of his arm, and crouched on the technical table and roared for a long time. Although the referee ruled that the game needed to be reclocked by 1.2 seconds, everyone in the arena knew that the game was over.

"Red" steadily threw two free throws, and the Rockets led by four points at 115-111, and the game was completely out of suspense.

And 115-111 was also the final score of the game.

The "red" who grabbed the key offensive rebound and hit two free throws is the biggest gain of the Rockets this season, his name is Yang Yiming, and it was originally just the Rockets Plan B to replace the injured "Zhou Qi" in Morey's eyes.

Yang Yiming. His name comes from a "proverb" in Chinese, which means that some people behave like a sacred bird chirping for the first time, and they can suddenly breathe people's hearts.

Yang's experience with the Rockets is as good as his name, even if he's not a shy guy with a lot of words.

"Young, you had two offensive rebounds and one block in the final game of today, how did you do that?" In the locker room after the game, Yang Yiming was surrounded by reporters from all walks of life, and his attention was not lost to the team's other two leading stars, Harden and Paul.

"I—" the young man shyly touched the back of his head, a slight grin on his lips, "probably thanks to my serious homework after the race." Coupled with the daily training and intra-team confrontation, our bench players are looking forward to Harden and Paul throwing the ball, and after a long time, they are impressed and find the way to offensive rebounding..."

"So how far do you think the Rockets can go this year, and what kind of help can you give the team?"

"Our goal, of course, is to wrestle with the defending champions. They seem to have had some problems lately and the impact of injuries on the team has been huge. What I can do for Team Rocket, of course, is to stay healthy and avoid such a tragedy as much as possible! ”

Although the red No. 17 did not answer much, and his English was not as good as his predecessor in the last few seasons of the Rockets, the Great Wall of China "Yao", it seems that Yang Yiming was born with a sense of smell to deal with the media. Sharp, funny, straightforward, and just right.

It's like his natural sense of smell on the basketball court.

In a separate interview at the beginning of the season, Rockets head coach D'Antoni even took the initiative to admit to the media that he was not optimistic about the prospects of a young man like Yang Yiming who didn't even have CBA experience in the league at that time. In his eyes, the team's move to bring in Yang should be interpreted as a "business expansion behavior", a kind of "confession" to Chinese fans who have long regarded the Rockets as their personal home team, and a kind of "self-defense" when various professional teams are expanding their territory in the East.

And now?

As the regular season enters its final month, the Rockets are leading the league with a 57-14 record. They have a four-game lead over their biggest rivals, the "default" champions and the four-star Golden State Warriors. They are expected to end the season with home-court advantage over any playoff opponent, and the discussion has shifted from "what are the chances of the Rockets challenging for a championship" to "If the Rockets win the championship, how good will this team be in history?" ”

I can tell you how good this rocket is.

The 14-15 Golden State Warriors have not yet had Kevin Durant who abandoned the enemy to shoot, and after winning 51 games in the previous season, they retained the vast majority of their main lineup, and won 21 of the 23 games after the opening game, and finally ended with 67 wins and won the championship that year. The Golden State Warriors' defensive lineup ranked first in the league in defense and second in offense, up 12 spots from the previous season.

On the other hand, the Rockets, James Harden, who lost to Westbrook in last year's MVP race, ushered in an even more honor-hungry 33-year-old Chris Paul, who started the season with a record of 25 wins in 29 games. The Rockets, who are currently 57-14 and expected to win the same 67 games, rank second in the league in offense so far, and are in the top 10 in the league in defense, a significant improvement from 18th last season. And most importantly, the Rockets can also play an infinite change of defense comparable to Golden State's "Death Five".

The Houston Rockets have the 20th best point difference per 100 possessions since '83-84 — the all-time teams ahead of them (including Jordan's Bulls four seasons, Duncan's Spurs three seasons, and the Lakers two seasons — respectively, with the OK and Magic and Abdul-Jabbar, and the Golden State Warriors in the first three seasons), and the vast majority have won at least the divisional title. And the few teams that didn't make it to the finals either lost to injuries to the roster or lost to bad playoff luck...

And for now, the healthy and leading Rockets don't seem to have any of these concerns.

Defend.

Between the five positions on the field, "infinite change of defense".

The Rockets' offensive firepower is by no means its first season. But what really elevated the Rockets to such an all-time level is their vastly enhanced defense.

The four words just mentioned. Magical champion "password".

can finally spell out this password, in addition to Paul's joining and the maturity of the team's interior line, the rise of rookie Yang Yiming is undoubtedly the biggest surprise for the Rockets. He can play as a defensive elite at the No. 3 position, averaging 1.6 blocks per game that is among the top outside in the league, and has a three-point shot rate close to 4 percent (38.7%), unlike his fellow star rookies Ben Simmons, Donovan Mitchell, and Lonzo Ball, who needs a lot of ball possession, and Yang Yiming, who catch-and-shoots (catch-and-shoot), can almost seamlessly connect with the Rockets. But don't forget, the Rockets also have veteran Trevor Ariza who is also known for his 3-and-D in this position, and even Bamot will make occasional appearances... It wasn't until D'Antoni inadvertently began to rein up to the main lineup in the first few games and Yang Yiming got more playing time that the Rockets discovered that Yang Yiming could be the final piece of the puzzle for their "password".

Yang Yiming stood next to Clint Capela, two 208cm foreign players, one is not a traditional center, the other is not a traditional No. 4 position, but they provide incomparable mobility for the infinite change of the Rockets' defensive system. Before Yang Yiming, the Rockets' No. 4 position was usually reserved for PJ Tucker or Ryan Anderson, but the former was slightly shorter in height and less athletic than Yang Yiming; The latter is an outside battery with more than enough attack power and defense that is always criticized. But Yang Yiming is different, except for his humble "team player" label, he can achieve Capela's lack of responsiveness in attack; In defense, he still has height, strong impact, fast movement, can defend inside and outside, and one hand blocking is already intimidating, but now he has the ability to dig up offensive rebounds, so it is not surprising that the scene at the beginning of this article happened.

Space City lineup at the time of the decisive battle with the Trail Blazers: Capela, Yang Yiming, Ariza, Harden, Paul. This is the rocket version of the "Death Five"!

And the decisive offensive rebound is the best way for China Red to repay the trust!

In my opinion, the NBA public opinion hasn't given Yang enough attention and praise — and that's one of the purposes of this article — and if the All-Star starter is due to a bit of luck and the world's most populous country's desire to export mainstream sports icons, he definitely deserves to be included in the discussion of the most valuable rookie at this point.

Just look at this season's MVP James Harden's attitude towards this little brother: after doing all the interviews with reporters, Harden went to the training gym to start practicing without seeing Yang Yiming, as if he had hired a trainer for many years. There is no one in the league who can stop Harden, but he doesn't choose others, but he wants to choose "China Red" and use his defense to continue to polish the offense!

Oh, and hasn't given the MVP award to Harden yet?

Is this still a question worth discussing?