Back at home, Qiao Hai first used a status card, which was still given to Yao Ming.

Yao Ming exploded and scored 33 points, 15 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal, while Shaquille O'Neal only scored 25 points and 11 rebounds in this game.

And led the offense of his teammates, the injured Steve Francis watched from the sidelines, but Raf Alston, who started in his place, made four three-pointers and cut down 21 points and seven assists, and Ron Artest also had 22 points, five rebounds and five assists.

Substitute Boozer scored 16 points and Jamal Crawford also had 11.

The Rockets finally defeated the Lakers 108-91 and pulled one back at home! The aggregate score is 2:1.

……

On May 11, the Rockets played the Lakers again at home.

The last status card, Qiao Hai gave Yao Ming again.

In this game, Yao Ming scored 24 points, 8 rebounds, 1 steal and 2 blocks in the first half, and the Rockets led by 22 points at halftime, and the huge lead made the game quickly lose suspense.

After three quarters, both teams came to the bench.

In the end, the Rockets defeated the Lakers 111-92 and won two consecutive victories!

After two straight home wins, the overall score is tied at 2-2, and it looks like the Rockets have another chance to win this series.

……

But two days later, Los Angeles.

In Game 5 of the series, the Rockets played away from home without the bonus of the status card, and Steve Francis also continued to be suspended.

The Rockets were directly beaten into a sieve by the OK combination, and they had no chance under the weight of the Lakers.

Before the game came to an end, Yao Ming also twisted his left foot in the attack and withdrew directly from the game.

In the end, the Rockets lost 97-120 on the road, losing the match point battle, and trailing the Lakers 2-3 in the series.

……

Before returning to the home court, Yao Ming's injury report on his left foot was also released, with a slight strain in his left foot and a two-week break, Yao Ming also announced that he would miss this round of the series in advance, if the Rockets can make it to the Western Finals, maybe Yao Ming can still play.

But apparently, after the Rockets lost Steve Francis and Yao Ming in succession, they were no longer able to compete with the Lakers.

……

In the sixth game of the series, the Rockets returned to their home court, and the original lineup of a small Big Three, because of the injuries of Steve Francis and Yao Ming, suddenly became Ron Artest leading the team alone.

But in this game, Qiao Hai shouted the slogan: drag the series into a tie-break!

Without Yao Ming and Steve Francis, the rocket exploded in Qiao Hai's crazy chicken soup instead!

The pace of the game was pressed very low by the Rockets, and the Rockets played a defensive battle in this game.

In the first quarter of the game, Carlos Boozer, who was mentioned as the starter by Qiao Hai, broke out, and in the slow positional offense, he used continuous blocking and receiving shots to score 14 points in a row, Ralph Alston had 5 points and 1 assist in the first quarter, and Ron Artest had 6 points and 1 rebound.

In the first quarter of the game, the Rockets led the Lakers by 7 points at 27:20.

In the second quarter of the game, the Rockets continued to erupt, and there was no single outbreak in this quarter, and players from the starters and benches where the Rockets came out scored.

Relying on the scoring of all players, the Rockets won by 4 points in a single quarter at 25:21, and after halftime, the Rockets actually won by 11 points.

In the third quarter of the second half, the Lakers began to fight back, Love Alston got 7 points and 2 assists, Carlos Boozer 6 points and 2 rebounds, and the Rockets lost by 2 points at 27-29, but their lead still reached 9 points.

In the fourth quarter, the decisive quarter, it was still Ralph Alston who broke out, and he scored 8 points and 1 assist in this quarter.

The Rockets defeated the Lakers by 105:90, a difference of 15 points, and unexpectedly dragged the game into a tiebreaker!

In this game, the eruption of Ralph Alston and Carlos Boozer was the absolute hero, and their blocking and dismantling offense directly broke the Lakers' defense.

In the end, Ralph Alston scored 26 points and 4 assists, and Carlos Boozer had 24 points, 12 rebounds and 2 assists.

The Rockets relied on the outbreak of the two original substitutes to win the game, and the series entered a tiebreaker!

……

But in the tie-breaker, the Rockets didn't have such good luck, and Rick Carlisle made adjustments, reused Samaki Walker, and blocked the Rockets' pick-and-roll offense by constantly rotating defense.

In this game, the Rockets were completely dumb, and the offense couldn't be opened at all, and the only thing they could do was to slow down the tempo, increase the defensive intensity, and prevent the Lakers from playing an efficient offense.

The Rockets did well in the first half, and they played a 41-44 game with the Lakers, trailing by only three points.

But in the second half, with the outbreak of Kobe and O'Neal, the Rockets were finally gradually expanded to fall behind, and at the end of the third quarter, the Rockets were already 15 points behind.

In the end, the Rockets lost the tie-break battle with a difference of 80:99, 19 points, and the Western Conference semifinals were out!

As a result, the Lakers advance to the next round, where they will face the San Antonio Spurs, who beat the Mavericks 4-2......

Qiao Hai was also very helpless about the loss of this round of the series, the difference in strength led to the loss of the Rockets, but he was able to force the Lakers into this situation, and Qiao Hai was already very satisfied.

……

……

The public opinion environment after the robbery also thinks so.

Hoop Sports reported that despite the loss, the Rockets showed their tenacity, and in the case of successive losses to Steve Francis and Yao Ming, the Rockets were not defeated by the Lakers, but became more and more courageous, dragging the game into a tiebreaker.

Even in the tie-break, the Rockets played very tenacious, and their final loss was due to the lack of superstars, if Yao Ming and Steve Francis were there, the Rockets would not necessarily lose to this Lakers......

Even ESPN believes: "As a team that entered the playoffs in seventh place in the West, the Rockets have exceeded the expectations of most media and critics, they defeated the championship favorite Grizzlies in the first round, and they have played a tiebreaker with the Lakers, another favorite to win the championship, in the second round, and they have performed well enough and tenacity......"

Although they lost, Qiao Hai and the Rockets received all kinds of praise.

But for the Rockets and Joe, the playoffs are over, and if they want to make a comeback, they will have to wait until next season......

……

"This season is over, but for us it's not the end, this season, we are still a big gap with the real strong team, and next season, we will make reinforcements, we will be part of the strong team, we will launch a strong attack on the championship."

"If we do it again next season, we can't lose to the Lakers again!"

Qiao Hai's post-game declaration is still very domineering, and at the end of this season, he has already set his finger on next season.