Time flies, and soon the Lakers ushered in their first regular season game of the new season, their first game is not held at home, but needs to travel to the road, to challenge the Rockets in Houston, the Rockets actually did not have a particularly good summer, from a miraculous Western Conference finals a year ago, to last season's crane tail into the playoffs and the first round of defeat, the Rockets can be called one of the most obvious regression teams last season. The change of commander and the introduction of reinforcements in the middle of the process are like relieving the pain of a patient with severe disease, but they have not achieved the effect of curing it radically. The failure of the Ty-Lawson experiment is a microcosm.

Judging by the data, rockets are still typical of polarization. They are averaging 30.9 three-pointers per game, second only to the Warriors and fourth in total shots, but only 19th in shooting percentage (34.7%). The high shooting characteristics are reflected in the overall offense, combined with James Harden's single-core drive effect (29.4 free throws per game) and the seventh-fastest pace in the league, the Rockets still deliver 105.5 points per 100 possessions (8th) and 55.3% true shooting percentage (6th).

However, the defensive malaise cost the Rockets. The team conceded 105.6 points per 100 possessions, tied for 20th, and while the Rockets could rebuild 1/4 of the shots they conceded, they couldn't hold up the 72.8 percent defensive rebounding rate that was lowest in the league. In addition, the Rockets' turnovers are also high, with a turnover ratio of 14.2, tied for sixth from the bottom. And this season's Rockets directly chose to transform, due to Beverley's injury, the Rockets themselves lacked a good point guard, so they simply pressed Harden directly to the point guard position.

Judging from the media and fan reactions, the Rockets' offseason signings have received more attention than the lost players, which not only shows that the Rockets have made targeted reinforcements without hurting their muscles and bones (Terry is old, and the status and tactical roles of Warcraft and Jones have been weakened compared to the past), but it also highlights that the Rockets have limited exchangeable chips. At the end of September, the Rockets sent away Beasley, the "thigh", and Motel had a dislike with the Rockets' top management because of the delay in renewing his contract, which made people wonder what Daryl Morey was up to.

The addition of Anderson and Gordon shows that the Rockets continue to "hunt for guns". The two can share the offensive pressure of Harden, have a wide range, and Anderson, who is confirmed to be the starter, will also establish another reliable passing point for Harden. In response to questions about the health of the two, the Rockets gave a positive response, but the new season is still a time bomb. At the same time, while Anderson can handle the ball and Gordon has the ability to impact the rim, the second point of possession other than Harden is still vacant.

And "Thigh" did not escape the fate of working part-time in Space City after all, and exchanged with Ennis to the Bucks. The latter filled the gap left by Chris Middleton's injury for months (although trade talks were reportedly before Middleton's injury, but there is no doubt that his injury led to the deal), while the Rockets upgraded the No. 1 spot. At just 22 years old so far in his career, Ennis, who is modeled after Steve Nash, has 5.7 assists per 36 minutes and is favored to be part of the rotation of D'Antoni, who makes good use of point guards.

However, on the whole, the current rockets are difficult to find in the arms race, both in terms of lineup attractiveness and chips. D'Antoni's arrival has been eye-catching, and the industry is optimistic about his partnership with Harden, and his successful resume and unique style of play also make him more attractive to the Rockets as free agents. In fact, for the Rockets, who collectively declined last season, most of the players will stop falling and rebound will be the most significant "reinforcements" for the Rockets, not to mention that if the "bearded" who has won hundreds of millions of fat contracts is remodeled, it will be the biggest blessing for the Space City.

In the new season, D'Antoni and Harden have a responsibility of "no reason not to do well in the new season" in the offseason, and the run-in between the two of them is also a top priority. Harden ranked third on the list of assists made by teammates on three-pointers last season, with 106 assists on teammates' corner shots, well ahead of second-place LeBron James (95). Harden, who has a willingness to pass the ball, will be D'Antoni's preferred backcourt leader. Recently, D'Antoni also said that he would let Harden play the role of point guard, and joked that Harden is a "point guard", which can be seen in his reliance.

Other than that, rockets are all about the X-factor. Under D'Antoni, the team emphasized precision-guided passing, and the Rockets inevitably started with Harden and ended with Harden, where the weak wings and the inability to play a tandem role will be the shackles of D'Antoni's tactical implementation. This also lays the groundwork for the possible arrival of Rudy Gay and the possible retention of Motel. After all, Guy is an upgrade compared to Trevor Ariza and Corey Brewer, and Motel's low-post offense and strategy are also scarce in the post-Warcraft era for the Rockets' interior line.

And some experts believe that "Harden decided the lower limit of the Rockets, and the upper limit was given to Capela". With Warcraft and Jones gone, Clint Capela will be pushed to the forefront, and few people other than the veteran Brazilian Beast can challenge him. However, his rise also poses a new challenge to the Rockets' sluggish defensive rebounding. Defense isn't what D'Antoni is good at, but the good thing is that the Rockets arm the coaching staff to the teeth; Infinite defense is a strong medicine prescribed by the industry to the Rockets' defense, and whether Harden can play an exemplary role in both defense will be a question mark, and all of this will be concluded in the first game of the season.

Soon after the Lakers came to Houston, the game began, led by Ye Xuan on the Lakers' side, scoring guard Wade, small forward Solomon Hill, power forward Randle and center Gasol, the reason why Jordan Clarkson was put on the bench was different from the preseason, because Jordan Clarkson was more capable of playing alone, and he could get more opportunities to shoot on the bench.

And the Rockets are a little sad on their side, the lineup looks very civilian, the starting point guard is naturally Harden, needless to say, and the position of the scoring guard, the scoring guard who has just been poached from the Pelicans - Gordon. Small forward Ariza, power forward Ryan Anderson, and center Capela. This lineup last season, except for James Harden's thigh, was basically the soy sauce role of the team, not to mention Anderson and Gordon, they were the fourth and fifth offensive options in the team's starters, and the ball order was even behind Holiday . And Ariza was basically in such a state when he was with the Rockets, with few shots. As for Capela, it was even worse, he was the third center in the team last season, and he snickered when he could play 10 minutes a game, but now because Howard and Motai have run away, they are directly promoted to the center position.

Ye Xuan saw the opponent's lineup and also felt that this game might be easier, but soon after the game started, Ye Xuan knew that he was very wrong, because he didn't expect that the Rockets' three-point shooting would not be inferior to the Lakers. In addition, after Harden transformed into a point guard, he found that he played very well, and as a result, the Lakers had to fall into a hard battle.

First of all, it is naturally Ye Xuan's point, he basically has no players who can defend him one-on-one in the point guard position, and all the people in the point guard position are either physically inferior to him, or they are not flexible enough, but he didn't expect that he would play so hard in the face of Harden, the legendary originator of eye defense.

Harden's physical fitness doesn't seem to be special, and he doesn't even see eight-pack abs on his stomach, but what Ye Xuan didn't expect is that Harden didn't have abs, but practiced the ninth-pack abs, ninety-nine to one, and the power has increased greatly, so Ye Xuan is not in the same way as in terms of physical fitness, and Ye Xuan is not in terms of flexibility, so this makes Ye Xuan not be able to unilaterally crush when attacking and defending like against other point guards.

However, Harden's side is not having a good time, Ye Xuan is also a player who defends for a while, so Harden's strong offensive effect with the ball is not very good, and the reason why the Rockets have been able to support it for so long is also because their other players on the outside are full of firepower, so they did not let the Lakers pull the difference apart.

In the first quarter, the two teams were in a stalemate for nearly ten minutes. The Lakers finally took the lead in personnel adjustments, replacing Clarkson, Yang Shaoxia and Larry Nance Jr., while the Rockets also replaced some of the main players, leaving Harden to continue to play against Ye Xuan on the court. But the Rockets' bench problems are a bit serious, they are not the opponents of the Lakers' bench lineup at all, and in the remaining two minutes of the first quarter, the Lakers used their offensive and defensive conversion and defensive intensity, and suddenly beat the Rockets a 7:0 to open up the difference in an instant.

And the Lakers finally breathed a sigh of relief, if they can't even kill the Rockets team with only one Harden, then let alone win the championship this year, it feels difficult to even enter the division finals, but fortunately, the benches still showed the level they should have, especially Clarkson, who signed a new contract, and at the beginning of the second quarter, after Ye Xuan was replaced, he teamed up with Felton to make the Rockets suffer a heavy blow again.

By the time Ye Xuan returned to the court, the Lakers' lead had been extended to 15 points by his teammates. It can be seen that the Rockets' defensive efficiency when Harden and Ariza are on the court and when they are not on the court are simply very different, and similarly, the offensive efficiency of the Rockets has also decreased a lot after Harden goes down, and both teams have new signings in the team, but it can be seen that the Lakers' side has a higher degree of cooperation, and the Rockets' side, the lineup needs to be polished again.

At the end of the second quarter, Harden was replaced, and the Lakers were also a little slack, and they were chased by the opponent continuously, but Gasol was still very stable, and at the critical moment when the opponent was chasing points, he received Ye Xuan's breakthrough and hit a 3-pointer, which temporarily contained the opponent's offensive, and then the Lakers quickly adjusted their state and blocked the Rockets' counterattack.

At halftime, the Lakers temporarily led the Rockets by 12 points with Ye Xuan's 14 points, 7 assists and 3 rebounds and Wade's 11 points and 2 steals. Gasol's data today is not particularly outstanding, only 8 points and 5 rebounds, but he has played a big role in the team, first of all, he naturally helps Ye Xuan to cooperate after various blocks and dismantles, because Gasol's passing touch is delicate, so many of the effects that Ye Xuan cooperated with in the past can be played with Gasol, plus Gasol has passed the age of pursuing data, and now he is enjoying basketball, so he can still help Ye Xuan Kaka from time to time, Let Ye Xuan brush up on rebounds or something.

The plot of the second half is very similar to the first half, the Rockets still want to use their outside firepower to open up the situation, but the feeling of this kind of thing is not what you want him to have, he can have, the second half of the Rockets' three-point feel disappeared instantly, 18 three-pointers in the first half, and in the third quarter, it became 11 shots and 3 shots, which not only wasted a lot of shooting opportunities, but also allowed the Lakers to seize a lot of opportunities to counterattack, and the gap between the two sides in the lineup was also instantly reflected, The Lakers have more blossoms, while the Rockets can only rely on Harden alone to steal points in this hand-to-hand combat, and they will naturally lose in the end.

At the end of the third quarter, the Lakers had already taken an 18-point lead, and Wharton Jr. also replaced all the main players with a big wave, and D'Antoni also knew that this game was basically hopeless, so no players were arranged to continue to play in the fourth quarter of the game. At the end of the game, the Lakers finally defeated the Rockets at the Toyota Center in Houston for their first win of the new season.

Ye Xuan spent a lot of energy in the confrontation with Harden today, so the statistics are not particularly eye-catching, only 24 points, 11 assists and 5 rebounds, but in any case, winning the game is the most important thing. Today, the Lakers played the most outstanding game is naturally Wade, although there are only 11 points and 2 steals at halftime, which looks very average, but it was his sudden outburst in the third quarter that made the game enter garbage time in advance, he not only hit all 7 shots in the third quarter, but also shot two three-pointers, and scored 16 points at once, and the 27 points in the game are also the highest for the Lakers.

As for Harden, there is a bit of a tragedy, although after experiencing last season's Waterloo, Harden has matured a lot, of course, there is a big reason for this and his breakup with Kardashian, in short, Harden is not at all as addicted to nightclubs this season as he was last season, and there is no longer a criticizing eye defense on the court, but the helpers around him have gone, injured injuries, and if you want to do something this year, it is estimated that it will be difficult.