With less than half an hour to go before the start of the game, the Compaq Centre was already in full swing.

In the first game of Qiao Hai's tenure, the attendance rate of the Compaq Center was not bad, and there were almost no vacant seats in the four stands in front and back, left and right.

On the court, the players were warming up, and before the game, Qiao Hai found Pacers coach Isaiah Thomas, and the two shook hands, and Isaiah Thomas welcomed Qiao Hai's return.

"Qiao Hai shook hands with Isaiah Thomas, and after less than a year, we met Qiao Hai again in the NBA coach's box."

"It's another big challenge for Qiao Hai to coach this time, the Rockets have been struggling for three seasons in the post-Hakim Olajuwon era, missing the playoffs in three seasons, and this season, before this game, they have lost six games in a row! Once again, they are far from the ranks of the playoffs. ”

"In this game, their opponent is the Indiana Pacers, the top three Pacers in the East, for the Rockets who have lost six in a row, this game is extremely difficult, and their hope of winning is very small, but as Qiao Hai's first game in office, he must be very eager to use a good start as a good start for him to coach the Rockets!"

On the commentary bench, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley commentated on the game.

After Charles Barkley kissed the donkey's buttocks, he didn't have so much prejudice against Yao Ming, and in his pre-game analysis, he also said: "If the Rockets want to win, there is only one way, Steve Francis and China's Yao Neiwai unite and join forces to break out, otherwise, this game will be very difficult!" ”

……

……

The Rockets want to win and end the losing streak, the difficulty of this game is needless to say, and Qiao Hai is also under a lot of pressure.

The game started quickly, Yao Ming stood in the middle circle position, jumped the ball, and his opponent was Jermaine O'Neal.

Beep!

A whistle blows, and the referee throws the basketball into the air above the arena!

"Jumping ball, Yao Ming jumped lightly, grabbed the basketball before Jermaine O'Neal, and the Rockets got the ball for the first offense in the opening game!"

Steve Francis quickly controlled the ball and advanced to the frontcourt, at the top of the arc, Yao Ming stopped directly and gave a cover on the spot, and Steve Francis took advantage of this cover to go directly into the inside.

One step inside the free throw line, Francis shoots straight away!

"Mid-range jumper, in!"

At the beginning, Boss Fergus seemed to be in good shape, scoring a goal directly after a small hit after the cover, and at this time, the game had just started 11 seconds.

After a quick wave of offense, the Pacers' comeback came.

Isaiah Thomas's Pacers, the defense continues the toughness of the Larry Bird era, and the offensive characteristic is - fast! It's the kind of fast interspersed with the outer line and the fast cut in the inner line.

It can be seen from the offensive and defensive data of the Pacers, their offense ranks in the top ten in the league, but the defensive statistics are only in the middle of the league, which is not that the Pacers' defense has deteriorated, but that they have played faster, and when the number of rounds increases, the defensive statistics will naturally decline.

The Pacers' offense, Reggie Miller's quick interspersed from the outside, but James Posey stared at him stubbornly, Jermaine O'Neal cut inside, the Pacers found an opportunity, and Jamar Tinsley quickly passed the ball in.

"Jermaine O'Neal received the ball, and he was about to dunk it when it bounced!"

Bang!

Charles Barkley, who was in the commentary seat, exclaimed in surprise: "Oh no! Volleyball cap! Chris Anderson rejects Jermaine O'Neal's slam dunk! ”

With a bang, the Compaq Center went completely crazy, and everyone cheered hoarsely.

"Just a minute ago, we were questioning the nobody's starter, and now we know why Chris Anderson is in the starting line-up, it's such a beautiful block!"

Chris Anderson yelled in excitement and jumped up and hammered himself in the chest.

"Chris is passionate." Stan Lefu said with a smile.

Qiao Hai clapped his hands and applauded, and nodded with a smile: "That's right, such players are very good, they do dirty work on the field, but they can use their every move to boost the morale of the team." ”

……

The game continued, and the basketball flew out of bounds, so it was still the Pacers' possession.

After reorganizing the offense, Reggie Miller moved sideways from the outside, caught the ball and pressed the whistle, bang, missed!

Yao Ming grabbed the rebound inside, the Rockets' counterattack, Steve Francis held the ball and quickly advanced to the frontcourt, and the Pacers' retreat was also very fast, and the counterattack was not successful.

In the frontcourt positional battle, this time, Yao Ming fell into position on the left side of the waist, Chris Anderson rushed to the basket, and suddenly a reverse run returned to the top of the arc.

After giving Steve Francis a cover, Boss Freud took advantage of the cover and rushed into the penalty area again.

I have to say that Steve Francis is very strong and not slow, once he rushes up like a tank, Jamal Tinsley's one-on-one defense is still quite difficult, and Tinsley didn't defend this ball, and let Francis rush into the inside.

With Brad Miller's dispensable frame, he scored a layup!

In the opening game, Steve Francis scored 4 points in a row, and the Rockets led 4-0.

The Pacers' offense is still the rapid interspersed running of inside and outside players, and the opportunity soon appeared, Ron Mercer ran out of an opportunity, received the ball and raised his hand to shoot, smack, the ball went in!

At 2:4, the Pacers pulled back two points.

The Rocket's offense, Yao Ming once again pulled to the top of the arc, and it still looked like the old trick - the cover of the top of the arc, and the Pacers quickly made changes.

After Francis broke through, Brad Miller and Jamar Tinsley flanked Francis.

So, Francis passed, Yao Ming in the high position received the ball, jumped slightly, and the long-distance two-point shot, with a bang, the ball went in!

"Yao Ming's shot also went in, Francis plus Yao Ming, the inside and outside combination fired, and the Rocket's chance came!"

In the first half of the first quarter of the game, the Rockets relied on Steve Francis and Yao Ming's high-post blocking and dismantling covers, which directly ate the Pacers' defense.

But Isaiah Thomas wasn't a wooden man either, and he quickly called a timeout and made a change to defend the Rockets' play.

In the second half of the first quarter, the Rockets had to add changes, but the offense was much more difficult.

Fortunately, their defense did a good job, and at the end of the first quarter, they took a 5-point lead at 25:20, Yao Ming scored 6 points on 3-of-3 shooting, and Francis also scored 11 points, and the two of them combined to contribute a 17-point lead.

Kenny Smith on the commentary bench was also discussing the changes to the Rockets after Joe Hay took over.

"Obviously, after Qiao Hai took over, Yao Ming's role was much more important, and throughout the first quarter, the Rockets' offense was almost a two-person turn between Steve Francis and Yao Ming, perhaps, this is the biggest change."

After Kenny Smith finished speaking, Charles Barkley added: "In addition to increasing the proportion of Yao Ming's role, there is actually another change in the Rockets' offense, that is, they have a lot less strong play, and the offensive end is always looking for cooperation, using a variety of blocking and covering to get easy scoring opportunities." ”

"There's also a lot of change on the defensive end, and in addition to the one-on-one defense, the Rockets have added some rotation defense, and their defense seems to be forming a whole."

"Judging from the changes in the first quarter of the Rockets' game, Qiao Hai is indeed a good coach, after the game the day before yesterday, Rudy Tomjanovic resigned, yesterday's day off, today is the game, Qiao Hai used such a short time, immediately brought changes to the Rockets, and it was a good change!"

Kenny Smith nodded: "It seems that even if this game can't be won, Qiao Hai has the ability to lead the Rockets to reverse the current bad state!" ”

Charles Barkley shook his head: "No, Kenny, you're wrong, this game, the Rockets have a good chance of winning, and in the first quarter of the game, they have already suppressed the Pacers!" ”