After playing the Warriors, the Rockets rested for two more days and then continued to play at home against the Timberwolves.

The Timberwolves made the playoffs again last season after Joe left the NBA, and this season, they continued to strengthen by bringing in Troy Hudson, who had performed well with the Magic last season, and signing back Joe Smith, who had previously been penalized for them in the draft.

Veterans Kendall Gil and Rodstrickland were also signed.

With Philip Saunders having a lot of role players available at his disposal, plus Kevin Garnett and Wallis Zebiak, who has improved significantly, the Timberwolves are currently in the top five in the West and are strong.

For this game, Qiao Hai's goal is still to win, and he wants to continue the team's current good momentum, use a wave of consecutive wins, quickly surpass the Suns, and rush into the playoffs.

Therefore, before this game, Qiao Hai did a very detailed study.

This Timberwolves team has two strong points, one is Kevin Garnett, and the other is Wallis Zebiak.

Kevin Garnett naturally doesn't need to say much, this is the top ten supergiants in the league today, with strong personal strength, and the Timberwolves can have their current results, and Kevin Garnett has contributed a lot.

It can be said that Kevin Garnett's offense is top-notch inside, and his defense is super top-level, with him as the core of the defense, and even able to build a super defense at the historical level.

Another strong point, Wallis Zebiak, is a swingman with projection and penetration, and his defensive ability is not particularly outstanding, but he is very effective when defending some heavy small forwards.

All in all, this is not a top-tier star player, but because his partner is Kevin Garnett, he can be shown in all aspects.

Other than these two strong points, this Timberwolves team has few players to pay attention to.

When the Timberwolves traded Stephen Marbury for Trill Brandon, he withdrew from the NBA because of a serious injury last season, and now, the Timberwolves' starting point guard is new recruit Troy Hudson, a nerve knife, and can even defeat the Lakers, Grizzlies and other top giants by himself.

For Troy Hudson, Qiao Hai's defensive strategy is that Steve Francis follows one-on-one and doesn't let him shoot easily.

The other starter on the outside could be Kendall Gill or Anthony Piller, and the difference between the two of them is that one doesn't have a three-point and the other has a three-pointer, and there is no difference in defense.

The starting point of the Timberwolves at the center position is Mark Jackson, who performed well in the Warriors in his rookie season, in this era of emphasizing defense, the size of the center is important, and Garnett is reluctant to play center, therefore, Joe Smith can only come off the bench, Mark Jackson is a pseudo-starter, there is no need to worry.

On the bench, Rodster Strickland is an experienced veteran point guard, plus Joe Smith and small forward Gary Trent, who moved from the Mavericks, the Timberwolves have quite a good bench.

Qiao Hai had another tactical meeting, and the final result of the discussion was that the starting lineup for this game was going to change, first of all, facing the Timberwolves' interior line, they would strengthen the interior height.

Therefore, the starting interior combination will become Yao Ming and Kevin Cato, and Cato's task is to defend Garnett throughout the whole process.

……

On January 7, the competition began.

In addition to the change of the interior starters, the Rockets' starters are the same as in the previous games, with Ron Artest, James Posiga and Steve Francis on the outside.

On the Timberwolves' side, the starting five Tigers are point guard Troy Hudson, scoring guard Anthony Piller, small forward Wallis Zebiak, power forward Kevin Garnett and center Mark Jackson.

It was Garnett and Yao Ming who jumped the ball, and this set of jump balls should be evenly matched, as one has a bounce and the other has a height.

As a result, Garnett bounced too fast, directly ahead of Yao Ming, and grabbed the opening ball.

The Timberwolves began to attack, and Qiao Hai stood on the sidelines, watching the Timberwolves' first attack.

At the beginning, the Timberwolves played straight, and Troy Hudson brought the ball to the frontcourt, which was immediately a tentative breakthrough and failed.

The ball went to the right and went to Wallis Zebiak.

Szzambiak held the ball and faked it, shook it for a while and then threw it, but was still interfered with by Atai, and with a bang, the long-range two-point shot didn't go in.

But Lester Hudson on the inside grabbed an offensive rebound in the long crowd and hit a layup.

Qiao Hai clapped his hands angrily, reminding the players on the field to pay full attention.

Then, the Rocket's offense is still the same old-fashioned, Steve Francis and Yao Ming's blocking and dismantling cooperation, after blocking and dismantling, Francis gave the ball to Yao Ming, Yao Ming hit accurately, 2:2!

The Timberwolves' offense, Troy Hudson gave the ball to Garnett in the middle distance, Garnett forced Kato, pushed two steps with his back, and finally leaned on Cato, turned and missed the jumper.

Yao Ming grabbed the rebound and gave it to Francis.

Francis advanced to the frontcourt, and after breaking through, he split the ball again Ron Artest, Artai missed the shot, and Garnett grabbed the rebound.

The Timberwolves' offensive rhythm is slow, and Troy Hudson, who received the ball, also directly slowed down the tempo, and began to press the time when he controlled the frontcourt.

Then he gave the ball to Garnett again, and the rest of the Timberwolves ran down the line, and Garnett hit a one-on-one jumper.

Bang, and it didn't go in again.

Steve Francis grabbed the rebound, pushed to the frontcourt, and went straight to the fast attack.

But Francis's breakthrough was met by Troy Hudson's strict defense, and while Francis was not blocked, Hudson reached out and successfully broke the ball.

But then, Kevin Garnett's inside single attracted a pinch shot, split the ball to the wing, and Anthony Peele's jumper hit the iron again.

Mark Jackson grabbed an offensive rebound and scored two points on a layup.

The Rockets' offense, Steve Francis scored a shot of his own, and a mid-range step-back jumper still didn't score.

All of a sudden, the game turned into a battle of iron, or in other words, a battle of defense, and the situation was not in favor of the Rockets, and this disadvantage was quickly reflected in the score.

The Timberwolves' offense, they grabbed the inside, and Garnett used his flexibility to force the penalty area.

After encountering Yao Ming's supplementary defense, he passed the basketball directly to the basket, and Mark Jackson dunked under the basket to score another 2 points, and the score became 6:2.

Then, Steve Francis forced a foul on Mark Jackson and went to the free throw line to make 1 of 2 free throws.

Turning, Garnett hit a 2-pointer.

Then Steve Francis broke through the assist and cut diagonally into the inside Ron Artest dunk, and the Rockets finally had a goal in the athletic battle.

But in the next wave of the Timberwolves' offense, Anthony Peeler missed an outside jumper, and Wallis Zebiak grabbed the offensive rebound again.

Then he passed to the outside, and Troy Hudson scored two points on a jumper!

After this ball, Qiao Hai stood up without hesitation and called a timeout, and the score on the court had become 5:10, and the Rockets were 5 points behind.