The NBA preseason kicked off first, with the Rockets playing their first game of the preseason on the first day against the Spurs.

The Spurs are still the "GDP" triumvirate plus a bunch of veterans, and although the average age of the Rockets' old rival is a little older, the overall strength should not be underestimated.

After the two sides completed the warm-up before the game, the starting lineup came on one after another.

On the Rockets' side, except for Billups, the other four are all regular season starters, with Sun Yue and Maddy on the outside, Petrus and Scola on the front, and Yao Ming at the center.

Spurs over there wave. Povich didn't go as big as he did last year, and he started all the games.

Parker and Roger Mason on the outside, Finley and Duncan on the front, and Oberto on the inside.

With a whistle on the sidelines, the game officially began.

Yao Ming gets the Rockets the chance to attack first.

Sun Yue held the ball to the front court and handed the ball to Yao Ming, and the Rockets began to play infinite air cutting tactics.

Yao Ming sent a second pass, and Maddie cut to get an easy layup.

But I don't know if he hasn't adjusted from the offseason yet, and he didn't improve a near-empty opportunity.

Duncan turned and picked up the defensive rebound.

Parker advanced to the front court with the ball, signaled for Bonnera to make an empty basket, and handed the ball directly to Duncan in the low post.

Duncan hit Scola with his back and went to the basket to draw a foul on the latter's beater.

With both free throws, the Spurs took the lead.

The Rockets' offense, Sun Yue returned the ball to Yao Ming after half time, Yao Ming passed to Petrus, and Petrus made a three-point shot in the bottom corner.

"Bang!"

Petrus's three-pointer was noticeably shorter and smashed out of the frame.

The rebound was picked up by Oberto.

On the Spurs' offense, Parker carried the ball to the frontcourt, played a block with Duncan, and after the ball was dismantled, he made a breakthrough stop-and-go throw.

Petrus was noticeably slower to react and slapped Parker on the hand.

"Huh!"

"Toot!"

Parker's throw also caused a foul on Petrus's beater.

The scene was in an uproar.

Tang Tian frowned at this time, got up and motioned for the team to play more inside.

Parker hit a solid free throw and the Spurs started the game 5-0.

Sun Yue took the ball to the front court and handed the ball to Yao Ming, Scola pulled to the high post at this time, Yao Ming saw that West was pulled out, and turned around directly to hit Oberto.

With a beautiful turn, Yao Ming easily shook off Oberto's hook to score.

The Rockets finally broke the scoring drought.

However, in retrospect, Parker took advantage of Scola's lack of defense, and accelerated to score a layup after blocking and Duncan.

The Rockets attacked, Maddy made a mistake in breaking through the ball, and Finley gave the ball to Mason as soon as he stole it, and Mason hit the front court with a one-handed dunk.

That's not all, Petrus's dunk after receiving the ball on the offensive end turned out to be dunked, and Parker's fast-break assist Finley hit a three-pointer.

12-2, the Rockets were directly stunned.

Tang Tian got up at this time and called a timeout.

What he feared, it still happened.

In the long history of the NBA, there are many strong teams, but there may only be the Celtics, Bulls, and Lakers who can be called dynasties, and the Spurs are not in this ranks.

Aside from uncontrollable factors such as injuries and luck, team turmoil, aging, and squad maintenance are all headaches.

Because of Tang Tian's presence, Team Rocket perfectly avoided these problems.

But in addition to these problems, there is another factor that is no less fatal: the heart.

Robert Horry, who won the championship with three different teams and won six championship rings, once said in an interview that he had seen too many teammates lose their morale after winning the championship, and the team finally failed to defend the title because of this.

Take Maddie, for example.

Money? There are 2 years left in the maximum salary;

Champion? It's been two consecutive championships;

Personal honors: Last year's first team, finals FMVP.

He had already gotten all the goals that everyone else was pursuing, and for him, there was nothing worth desperately trying to motivate him to.

One glance at the bench shows that this kind of problem is not one or two people, but a common phenomenon.

"Others open up some space on the offensive end, Yao, you play more under the basket, and Petrus on the defensive end pays attention to West." Tang Tian retracted his thoughts, and after the players left the field, he directly adjusted the tactical arrangement.

After the timeout, the Rockets made tactical adjustments, significantly increasing Yao Ming's individual offensive proportion.

This one adjustment has a noticeable effect.

The national team's games and the hard training in the offseason allowed Yao Ming to maintain his excellent form, and instead of declining due to age, he felt like he had reached his peak.

The main players of the two sides played half the court, and Yao Ming scored 17 points, 7 boards, 5 assists and 2 blocks, and his state was amazing.

But except for Yao Ming, everyone else seemed to be out of shape, playing iron frequently, making mistakes, and by halftime, the Rockets were still trailing by as many as six points.

In the second half, both sides began to substitute to scout the newcomers, and by the way, they practiced new tactics.

But it was at this time that the Rockets, who had been dominant in the past, were shocked, feeling cold in their hands, and their defense was out of position, not only did they not overtake, but they were pulled away a little bit.

In the end, the Rockets lost the first game of the preseason 91-101.

Barry Sr. shot 1-of-4, Hart made 0-of-4, Petrus made 1-of-7, and Gasol Jr. shot 1-of-6, and the Rockets' bench group looked even bigger than the main one.

After the game, Tang Tian held an interim meeting of the coaching staff to discuss the status of the players.

Because it was only the first game, he didn't make a big splash, and in the end he just asked Thibodeau and Cole to go to the players privately to do the work, and order a little first.

After a two-day break, the Rockets had their second game of the preseason against the Hornets.

The Hornets were eliminated by the Rockets in the playoffs last season, and even the preseason is holding back their momentum.

And the state of the Rockets players has still not adjusted.

Maddy's dunk, Petrus's three-pointer, Gasol Jr.'s layup across the bridge......

At halftime, the Rockets trailed the Hornets by a full 10 points, 47-57.

"Don, it seems that this problem is much bigger than we thought." When he returned to the dressing room at half-time, Thibodeau said helplessly.

Tang Tian didn't speak, he had never encountered such a situation, but it also showed that this kind of problem could not be solved by saying a few words.

Coming back in the second half, both sides pulled down their main forces.

On the Hornets side, Posey, Devin Bu. Lang, Julian White, Armstrong and Antonio Daniels started the game.

On the Rockets' side, Dragic, Weaver, Morrow, Yi Jianlian and Jordan Jr., who did not play in the last game, also started.

"With the Rockets at the moment, they're likely going to have two straight losses in the preseason." Home commentator Daniel Gorman spoke.

"Yes, it looks like the Rockets are in big trouble for the new season." Thunderbolt Miller nodded, although the preseason is irrelevant, no champion team in history has started the game this way.