Van Gundy ultimately didn't take Tang's advice, and in his opinion, defense is the foundation of winning and the best way for the Rockets to win a championship.

You know, two years ago, the Pistons won the championship by relying on defense.

Two days after the end of the game against the Heat, the Rockets sat at home and ushered in the same five-game winning streak and in good form of the Mavericks.

The Rockets used a new offensive system to increase their strength, and the opening game with the Mavericks was inseparable, but after entering the rotation, Tankhouse made a sudden shot to directly pull the score away, and the Rockets have been in a situation of struggling to catch up.

In the end, despite Yao Mai's combined score of 50 points, the Rockets still lost 90-106 to their opponents, losing in this strong dialogue and suffering their first defeat of the season.

And that's just the beginning.

The Rockets faced the Chicago Bulls back-to-back, and Tyrus Thomas, who was limited by Tang Tian in the preseason, played the best game of the season against the aging Howard, cutting down 20 points, 10 rebounds and 4 blocks, and the Rockets finally lost 101-102.

After a two-day break, the Rockets finally won against the Memphis Grizzlies, but the whole process was ups and downs, the main team took a dozen points lead, was caught up after coming off the bench, pulled away and was caught up, and finally relied on Maddy's last-minute harvest to win the game.

Although the losing streak is over, the atmosphere in the team seems to have become turbulent again, Novak, who contributed to the stunner, has never had a chance again, and the "European Kobe" Spanouerys, who was recruited in the summer, has never played so far this season.

In a restless situation, the Rockets lost to the Jazz, one of their main rivals in the Western Conference, after a day off.

After a wave of five consecutive wins, the Rockets lost 3 of 4 games, and they lost the momentum they had at the beginning of the game.

The dark clouds that had already dispersed seemed to gather over the city of Houston again.

General Manager's Office.

Dawson sat at his desk frowning, and he was delighted with the Rockets' five-game winning streak at the start of the season, especially the victory over the defending champion Heat in that kind of heart-wrenching way, which made him look forward to the Rockets.

But the recent wave of 4 games and 3 defeats made his expectations disappear all at once.

Although the opponents who lost are strong, if they lose all of these games, then what is the championship?

"Boom~"

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

He pulled his thoughts back and continued, "Come in." ”

The door opened, and in came Jalen Rose, the team's assistant coach in charge of the team's shooting drills.

Seeing that it was Rose, Dawson motioned for him to close the door, and then asked, "What's going on lately?" ”

As a general manager, you need to have a real-time grasp of the team's situation, and in addition to getting information directly from the head coach, an "undercover agent" is a must, and Rose is the monitor he has arranged with the coaching staff.

"It's not a big deal, it's just a week ago, after I just reported to you last time, at the regular meeting of the coaching staff, Don made some proposals for team rotation, but Jeff turned them down." Rose spoke.

"Some proposals?" Dawson had a good impression of Tang Tian, especially after knowing that the last attack against the Heat was arranged by Tang Tian, he recognized Tang Tian's ability quite a lot.

"Yes, that's right......," Ross continued, recounting the events of the day's regular meeting from beginning to end.

After hearing what Ross said, Dawson fell silent.

The last few games he has lost are all at home, he has seen it, rotation is indeed the main reason for losing, Tang Tian can have this foresight in advance, it is really unusual, but what bothers him is that Van Gundy didn't listen to it at all.

Just imagine, if Van Gundy had taken Tang Tian's suggestion, would the Rockets have won 9 in a row now?

A nine-game winning streak has never been seen before in the history of the Rockets.

How can this Van Gundy be so stubborn!

"You go down first."

With Ross gone, Dawson's mind was full of thoughts.

Van Gundy is an NBA coach who led the Knicks to the Finals, which is the main reason why the Rockets chose Rudy Tomjanovic as their successor.

But as a veteran coach in the NBA for 17 years, Van Gundy really seems a little too stubborn.

The league is changing, basketball is improving, and it's definitely not okay to stick to the rules.

He, who has been with the Rockets for almost 30 years, realized that he didn't expect Van Gundy to be so stubborn.

Although he doesn't want to make a big deal about it before he retires, it's his duty as general manager to knock it out.

He picked up the phone and called Van Gundy to ask him to come to the general manager's office.

The head coach and general manager's offices weren't too far away, and within five minutes, Van Gundy knocked on the door and came in.

"Sit." Dawson motioned for Van Gundy to sit down at his desk.

"Mr. Dawson, the responsibility for the recent losing streak lies with me." Van Gundy sat down and spoke.

Dawson's face was happy, Van Gundy is this self-awakening?

But before he could show his joy, Van Gundy's next words made him helpless.

"It's my responsibility that I didn't manage the team well and that didn't play as hard as I should on the defensive end."

"Ahem, Jeff, I heard those things Don said at the coaching staff meeting." Dawson coughed dryly twice and continued.

Van Gundy looked up suspiciously, but he didn't seem too surprised, the general manager would definitely know about the coaching staff meeting.

"I've watched the last few games, and rotation is really a big problem, and Don's suggestions are quite constructive, so it doesn't hurt to give it a try." Dawson said in as calm a tone as he could.

But as soon as he finished speaking, Van Gundy's expression became ugly.

He was really upset.

Before, Dawson asked him to hand over the offensive power, and he listened, but now Dawson still wants him to listen to Tang Tian even in rotation, so what's the point of his existence? It was a violation of his managerial dignity.

At the beginning of the Knicks, he resigned because the management interfered too much in coaching matters, but he didn't expect to meet again in the Rockets.

"If the Rockets feel that I'm no longer a good fit to be a head coach, I can offer to resign." Van Gundy said directly.