Bidding farewell to Houston, the Rockets briefly visited the Motor City of Detroit for a day to play an away game against the Pistons.

The previous game day, the Pistons had just lost to the Philadelphia 76ers by 36 points, and with guard Reggie Jackson and center Andre Drummond both absent, the away win should have been deserved.

But the world is unpredictable, and the Pistons taught the visiting Rockets a lesson with the high-quality blocking and dismantling of two backup centers at Auburn Hills Palace.

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To say that Yang Yiming is in front of Orlando and Carl Malone, he is by no means a top blocking and demolition master, and he can't even say that he is well versed in various blocking and dismantling routines. Although he played in the CBA's new army in China, he was only drafted this summer and has not yet been polished by the professional league. China lacks the high-intensity competition of collegiate leagues like the NCAA in the United States, where young players can learn tactics systematically before stepping into the world of professional basketball. China's training system selects outstanding basketball seedlings to be trained in the echelons of various provincial teams, and the significance of their physical training is no different from that of the future NBA-level beasts in the American high school team. While the CBA teams are now building their own youth teams, there are still very few tactical ideas that young rookies are implementing – young people have poor execution, rely more on physical talent to eat, and lack decent games to put theory into practice.

So, although Yang Yiming can understand the deep meaning of Karl Malone's face-to-face teaching, it is indeed another thing for you to let him really play blocking and dismantling cooperation, and practice it on the field.

The most important tournament that Yang Yiming played before landing in the United States was actually the Tianjin National Games men's basketball game in the summer of 17, but as a newcomer to the team in that game, he was not assigned much tactical weight, and relied more on his own basketball intuition to respond to the ball in the low post, so it is not an exaggeration to say that Yang Yiming's understanding of various blocking and demolition tactics has learned more from Yu Xiaochun, a basketball madman. High blocking, low-post blocking, double blocking, three-person blocking, and even up to four consecutive pick-and-rolls, as well as the blocking and dismantling of the strong and weak sides of the off-ball man, so that everyone can participate in the pick-and-roll like the Golden State Warriors, and even Stephen Curry can cover the pick-and-roll for Draymond Green, and eventually return to the usual blocking and pick-and-roll tactics of the Rockets.

However, it is shallow on paper, and you need to do it to know it. Yang Yiming, a new recruit in the NBA, wants to really step on the rhythm and integrate into the team's blocking and dismantling tactical system, probably never more effective than practicing in person.

Or, be taught a lesson yourself!

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The Rockets' opponent in the last game, the Golden State Warriors, has already said that they are the pinnacle of the evolution of contemporary blocking and pick-and-roll tactics. If you take the martial arts of the rivers and lakes as a metaphor, the warrior's blocking and dismantling is probably like the exquisite Dugu Nine Swords, one of which is that there is no move to win the move, and no sword is better than the sword. Put it on the basketball court, it is a target when the block is unfolded but nowhere to be found, everyone participates in it, but who is the person who launched the fatal blow in the end, but it is like a sword flower that is dancing more and more chaotically, only when you really make a move, you can see it really. Although Yang Yiming watched it lively, it may be a lie to say that he really saw through how many Ming Dao he had.

Compared with the magnificence of the warriors from the IT capital, the automobile city, which symbolizes the prosperity of the previous generation of industry in the United States, is much more rustic. As the older brother of former Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy, Pistons' big Van Gundy is not only obsessed with defense like his younger brother, but also a head coach who emphasizes basic skills. The core tactics are not necessarily complicated, but they are solid, like a clever and unskilled Xuantie sword, which pays attention to simplifying and complex, and reducing weight to lightness, but in the eyes of beginners like Yang Yiming, it is easiest to imitate and learn.

The Pistons' No. 0 Andre Drummond "Zhuang Shen" was absent, and Big Van Gundy first replaced Eric Moreland, who was 2.08 meters forward, as a center substitute, but he didn't expect to receive a miracle effect.

Although "Zhuangshen" Drummond has greatly increased his mobility this season, his range of motion has shifted from a stump-mounted center who is stuck in the three-second zone to a playmaker who can raise the free-throw arc. But in the blocking and dismantling cooperation, Zhuang Shen's biggest weakness happens to come from his role as the "first center", once there is a chance to hold the ball, he is easy to think too much, and fall into the redundant consideration of "what should I do with the ball", and finally run counter to the principle of "big skill without work", and the tactical opportunity is fleeting.

Substitute center Moreland clearly didn't have that kind of burden, and with Zhuang Shen and Reggie Jackson out today, he was called up on the spotlight and understood the role of his two outside linemen, Tobias Harris and Avery Bradley. In the first quarter, he first mentioned the high post, caught the ball and stepped on the three-point line with one foot, and passed the ball to Harris, who was running sideways without the ball. After Harris got the ball, he rotated his pivot foot, facing the rim and squeezing under the basket, helping Harris create space to shoot and block defenders who followed. Harris catches the ball and hits a three-pointer.

The second pick-and-roll is a four-man tie-in. Moreland and Bradley made another pick-and-roll near the left three-point line, and the former repeated the old trick after handing over the ball, squeezing to the basket again for a shooting opportunity. The Rockets finally learned from their experience this time, with one stubbornly resisting Moreland to block the way, and the other switching guards in time to entangle Bradley. Unexpectedly, there was no chance on the strong side, but there was a hole on the weak side of the Rocket, Harris gave another forward Reggie Bullock a no-ball cover, and as soon as the gap came out, Bradley's transfer ball followed closely behind, and the ultra-long shot hit three points!

If Moreland's pick-and-roll is still relatively unpretentious, just like an accurate assembler on the assembly line of the Motor City, Serbian giant Taboban Marjanovic, who came off the bench in the second quarter, brought a touch of exoticism. With a height of 2.21 meters, Marjanovic is a rare giant who can almost be compared to the little giant Yao Ming, not only with similar height, but also with delicate wrists that are difficult for Americans to compare in offensive skills.

At the beginning of the second quarter, Marjanovic sat in the bottom left corner and played a very small range of continuous blocks with the two Pistons small guards. The two small guards stood at 0 and 15 degrees outside the three-point line on the left side, and there were defenders in front of them, so there was very little room to operate. The 0-degree defender hoisted the ball to Marjanovic and then ran to the 15-degree defender, who rushed straight to the middle of the two Rockets defenders, to Marjanovic's side!

This sudden change of position caused the two defenders of the Rockets to be unclear, one did not have time to keep up with the 0-degree guard who changed positions, and the other did not have time to turn around and chase the 15-degree guard who cut the air, the latter squeezed through the narrow gap between the baseline and Marjanovic, Marjanovic people to the ball to pass the ball, and also stuck half of the body to the Rocket chaser, the 15-degree guard took the ball to the basket, it was already a smooth road, easy layup hit two points!

Seconds are bumpy, but easy and freehand, and come effortlessly!

This is probably the essence of great ingenuity.

It's also the mystery of all blocking tactics after simplifying them.

Yang Yiming saw it really and was taught silently in his heart!