Just how hot are the Houston Rockets this season?

The supreme arrogance of a person with great power? Hot and hot? Big red? If you want to find a suitable adjective, it may be the name of the Rockets themselves, and the soaring Rockets are the best epitome of their performance this season.

How hot is Team Rocket?

Looking at the record first, so far (before the game against the Knicks), the Houston Rockets have a 25-9 record, ranking fourth in the league, winning a full nine more games (eight less) than the same period last year (16-17), and also ranking in the top five in the NBA's official power rankings for a long time. Thanks to the team's excellent performance, James Harden, the star of the Rockets, has always been ranked in the top five of the MVP list.

Looking at the popularity, looking at the fan areas and sports social media of major basketball forums, in addition to Roy's Knicks and the two favorites Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers are still popular, the popularity of the Houston Rockets is not inferior to the above three teams, and the fans of "I am hot" are almost all over the world.

Speaking of the high popularity of the Rockets, part of it can be attributed to their dazzling "Run Bomb 2.0 play", and part of it is also thanks to Yao Ming and Maddie for their contributions in the past. Yao Ming, in particular, has long regarded the Rockets as half of their home team after eight seasons with the Houston Rockets. There are definitely a lot of fans of the Chinese Rockets, even compared to those old powerhouses, such as the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics.

Because of this, even if Kobe Bryant and O'Neal's Los Angeles Lakers played against the Houston Rockets, they would lose half of the popularity of the team.

Of course, time has passed, and the current Rockets are no longer the hard-core defensive Rockets under Van Gundy, and the current boss of the Rockets is the famous "eye defense expert" James Harden, who plays authentic run-and-gun tactics and three-point wave shooting tactics, referred to as "run-and-gun 2.0 tactics".

Under the careful training of Mike D'Antoni, the grandfather of run-and-gun tactics and offensive master, and under the management of Morey, the magical general manager known for data analysis, the current Rockets are playing an extremely alternative offensive play.

The Houston Rockets' offense is simple and brutal, and it can be summed up in two ways, one is that all the players line up on the outside and stand in good positions, waiting for Harden's pass to shoot a three-point shot, and the other is that Harden is alone and chooses to shoot a three-point shot or break to the basket.

It's that simple? That's right.

It is with these two tactics that are not tactics at all that the Houston Rockets have achieved a proud record of 25-9 this season, and the current league ahead of them is only the 29-5 Golden State Warriors (4-game lead), the 27-6 San Antonio Spurs (2.5-game lead) and the 24-7 Cleveland Cavaliers (0.5-game lead), in other words, the Rockets have become one of the strong contenders for the championship this season.

After talking about the external results, let's look at the inside of the Rockets, to say that the Rockets are really a magical team, they don't have a bunch of stars, the configuration of "several giants", and they don't have veterans who hug their thighs and "live Lei Feng" who lowers their value. At the end of the day, the Rockets are a low-cost team with a top star and a group of shooters and blue-collar workers, but it is such a group of players who are underestimated by others who can play the fourth record in the league.

With the support of Morey's "magic ball theory", the Rockets have brought in a large number of cost-effective and pragmatic players, including "High Battery Shooter" Ryan Anderson, Eric Gordon, the best sixth man and the same good three-point shot, "Iron Priza" Trevor Ariza who can defend, shoot and make trouble, Patrick Beverley, the intimidating defensive mad dog "Black Bey", Clint Capela, Montrez Harrell and Sam Decker, who slowly got in the draft, etc. It is their group of humble players who surround Harden and form a high-potential team that has the strength to compete for a championship.

The Rockets' players are characteristic, and their style of play is even more perverted. I mentioned the "Run-Bomb 2.0 Tactics" earlier, so what is the "Run-Bomb 2.0 Tactics"? The core of the "Run-and-Shoot 2.0 tactic" is to keep running, keep shooting, and this ball is not thrown casually, the Rockets don't throw three-point shots, they either don't shoot, and they shoot the most cost-effective three-point shots.

Needless to say, the Rockets must lead the league in three-point shots, and by the end of December, the Rockets are currently leading the way with a horrific 40.3 three-pointers per game. Their three-point shooting accounted for 46.22 percent of all shots, and the number of three-point shots was staggering to everyone, and they made 6.4 more three-point shots than the second-place Golden State Warriors, who feature three-point shooting.

Again, with so many crazy shots, they also hit the most three-pointers in the league at 14.4, in other words, the Rockets can score 43 points per game from three-pointers alone!

Such a crazy three-point shooting Rockets team can easily score more than 110 points per 100 rounds, and with such scoring ability, their game scene is naturally full of passion. Of course, there are drawbacks to such a bizarre style of play, that is, the Rockets also concede high points, conceding more than 105 points in 100 rounds. However, who will care about this, the management does not care, the media does not care, and the fans do not care, as long as the scene is good and the game can be won, the goal of Morey and D'Antoni has been achieved.

Finally, I must also talk about James Harden, the ace player of the Rockets, this season is definitely a year of Harden's full explosion and full harvest. So far, James Harden has played MVP-level stats, averaging 27.8 points, 7.9 rebounds, 11.9 assists, 0.4 blocks and 1.4 steals in 36.3 minutes per game. Just these data can already make Curry, James and other old MVPs ashamed, even compared with the "big brush" and "triple-double king" Westbrook, Harden's data is not inferior.

In short, under the premise that general manager Morey does not pay the luxury tax, he has selected such a group of players with different characteristics from various teams and rookies, and head coach D'Antoni has created a unique "long-range rocket" in the league according to local conditions after Morey has brought in such a bunch of magical players, and Harden has played the most gorgeous season of his career under D'Antony's peculiar tactical system.

So, to sum up, it is impossible for such a Rocket team not to be popular.

The fiery Knicks and the hot Rockets are going to face off on the final day of 2016, and there are so many topics to be raised in this game.

For example, who is the most supportive team of Chinese fans between the Knicks and the Rockets, such as whether Roy, who was completely suppressed by Harden in the first round, can complete revenge, and for example, what kind of game will the two teams that are good at outside offense and run-and-gun tactics give to everyone.

Before the game, a reporter specially interviewed Morey, the general manager of the Rockets, and Yao Ming's old friend spoke highly of Roy, who believes that Roy is definitely a super rookie who has emerged in the NBA in recent years. Not only is he able to shoot well, but his ability to read and control the game is far more mature than his actual age. Anyway, Roy's characteristics are very suitable for the current Houston Rockets, and if he is to go to the Rockets...... It's a pity that Morey can only YY now.

When asked who is stronger, Roy or Harden, Morey played another trick, he thinks that just by looking at technical ability, then Roy is already very close to Harden. But Harden, as Roy's senior, is naturally stronger than Roy's game experience and mental quality. Of course, if it takes time, it will be difficult to say, yes, everything is false now, and there are still fewer examples of NBA injuries to Zhongyong? Besides, isn't it also a suspense which team Roy will play for in the future, and what kind of coach and teammates he will meet?

After the interview with Morey, Jeff Van Gundy, another double meritorious coach of the Knicks and Rockets, was immediately invited to the front desk by the media, he was one of the commentators who witnessed Roy's miraculous reversal of the Celtics.

In this interview, Van Gundy once again expressed his affection for Roy, and he even compared Tracy McGrady, another Super No. 1 he once coached, to Roy. In terms of talent, both of them are top talents in the league, but Roy's opportunities are better now than Maddy's, and his skills are also improving quite quickly, from outside offense to interior offense, from scorer and playmaker to defensive core and team leader, Roy has brought too many surprises in these two months.

Van Gundy has a lot of reasons to like Roy, because Roy can almost do what two people on Van Gundy's playboard do, and he doesn't have that much affection for Harden. Van Gundy bluntly said that defense is Harden's biggest dead end, and if Harden's defense can be strengthened, the Rockets' record may be even better.

Finally, there is another person that the media will never let go, and that is, of course, Yao Ming, a veteran of the Rockets, a Hall of Fame player, and the number one person in Chinese basketball.

Yao Ming appeared, and the media had more questions, about Roy, about the Rockets, about Chinese basketball, in front of the camera, Yao Ming still adhered to his humor, he jokingly said, "It's really difficult for me to make a choice between the Rockets and Roy, or whoever reimburses me for the round-trip ticket money, I will support whom." ”

The players are in place, the guests are in place, the media is in place, and a big battle is about to start......