On December 6, the Rockets played back-to-back games against the Pistons at home.

This season, the Pistons brought in Steve Francis and James Posey, and achieved excellent results, with an excellent record of 14 wins and 6 so far this season, which is already the first place in the East.

With such an outstanding record, the 16-2 record against the Rockets is obviously much inferior.

But unlike the Rockets, the Pistons' progress this season has long been expected by many, and with the addition of Steve Francis and James Posey, the Pistons have been given the outside ball they desperately need.

Steve Francis fits perfectly into Larry Brown's system, although he still forgets about passing.

James Posey also became a starter, always stepping up to defend the opponent's arrowhead player.

Because of the addition of Steve Francis, the offensive pressure on the outside Richard Hamilton is much less, and he is good at running without the ball, which is exactly the right fit for Steve Francis.

Coupled with the team defense brought by the interior Ben, this Pistons are in the weak East and already have the strength to compete for the championship.

However, at this time, Joe Dumas is still looking to strengthen the team, and the Pistons' current power forward position is the rotation of Memetoku and Elden Campbell, in this position, the Pistons feel that they still need to make a reinforcement to fully win the championship.

……

In the battle with the Pistons, the Rockets, who had not had time to change their tactics, could only continue the conventional tactics in the previous winning streak in order to win.

As a result, the game was still a boring defensive battle.

From the very beginning of the game, the two teams continued to play iron, and in the first three minutes, the two teams played a 6:6 against each other, and it seemed that both teams were half-hearted in both defense and offense.

But in the next game, the Rockets suddenly ushered in a wave of outbursts, first Yao Ming singled out Big Ben in the middle distance, and scored 2 points with a step-back jumper.

Immediately after, Steve Francis made a foul and hit one of two free throws from the free throw line.

The Rockets grabbed the rebound and played a wave of counterattacks, in which Ron Artest hit a three-pointer! The Rockets lead by four points.

In the Pistons' offensive round, Steve Francis singled and scored two points under the basket.

The Rockets hit the iron, but the Pistons failed to seize the opportunity to tie the score, Big Ben took the ball inside, turned around and was about to go to the basket, and Chris Anderson, who defended him, pulled it directly and contributed a foul.

Big Ben's free throws are about the same as Shaquille O'Neal's, both poor.

Before the free throws started, Charles Barkley on the sideline commentary bench was already repeating a sentence: "The Rockets' foul is worth it, Ben Wallace can't hit both free throws!" ”

His crow's beak worked, Big Ben missed the first free throw, hesitated for a long time in the second free throw, and finally turned it into the basket.

One of two free throws, and the Rockets still led by one point.

Then, in the Rockets' offensive round, Yao Ming took the ball in the high post, pressed a step inside, and after attracting the defense, he found an open space and transferred the ball to the weak side.

Ron Artest received the ball, rushed to the baseline position, flew up with a lunge, crossed the big base of the defense, and scored directly with a bang.

The Rockets led by three points, and then, the Pistons' offense, James Posey received the ball in the bottom corner, and the three-pointer hit the iron.

In turn, the Rockets' position attacked, Yao Ming was still a mid-distance single, pushing with his back, and the Pistons did not pinch him, Yao Ming pushed a step into the free throw line, turned around and jumped directly.

Elden Campbell raised his hand directly and contributed a foul.

With a bang, Yao Ming's shot still went in!

Then, Yao Ming stood on the free throw line, hit the free throw, and directly played 2+1, scoring 3 points, and the difference suddenly expanded to 6 points.

The Pistons' offense, Steve Francis took the ball and quickly rushed forward, and in the process of rushing, Gary Payton, who defended him, reached out to break the ball.

With a snap, the ball was broken!

There was a cheer at the Toyota Center, and Gary Payton, who had successfully broken the ball, made a layup and scored two points, and the Rockets' lead reached 8 points.

Larry Brown had to call a timeout.

The Rocket's 12:4 offensive wave obviously caught the Pistons off guard, which also proves one point from the side - the Rocket's offensive ceiling is still very high.

"12:4, have we ever struck iron in these few minutes?"

Qiao Hai turned his head to look at the group of assistant coaches on the bench.

Tang Yi, who has been watching this game intently, gave a statistic: "Once iron, Gary Payton's shooting is iron." ”

Qiao Hai smiled: "So, our offense still has potential." ”

This wave of outbursts, Qiao Hai is almost certain, the Rockets' offense should be a matter of rhythm, so the half-time speed should be an effective change of trick, and it will not affect Gary Payton's habits.

In the first quarter of the game, after Larry Brown adjusted, the Pistons' offense improved slightly, and after the first quarter, the Rockets led by 6 points at 28:22.

In this game, the two teams still fought defensively, and in the second quarter, the Rockets played a 20:19 and led by 7 points at halftime.

In the second half, the Pistons fought back, and the difference was narrowed to 2 points at one point.

But in the middle of the third quarter, more than five minutes, the Pistons played crazy iron and didn't score a point, and the Rockets extended the difference to 14 points in a wave.

In the fourth quarter, the Pistons fought back wildly.

But with 4:33 left in the fourth quarter, the Rockets still led by 11 points.

The Pistons had no hope of winning, and the game was over.

In the end, the Rockets won another game 86-80, and after this victory, the Rockets won another wave of four consecutive wins.

……

After back-to-back games with the Pistons, the Rockets had a day off before restarting their training day.

Because it was a wave of home games next, Qiao Hai changed the original training schedule and added a few training days.

Many players are puzzled by Qiao Hai's change, as their rest time has been greatly reduced.

Veterans such as Gary Payton and Greg Ostertag even believe that the Rockets' current record is 17-2, such an excellent record, and the Rockets should do something good at this time, rather than suddenly increasing the amount of training as they are now.

Qiao Hai did not explain, and on the first training day after the back-to-back, Qiao Hai handed out the new training plan he had prepared.

And, very rarely, supervised the entire training day again.

"The first training, physical training, is the same as the pre-season training camp, running in circles!"

After hearing the word physical training, everyone was stunned, and very reluctant, some veterans have even blown up this reluctance in their faces, and the pain of physical training, veterans know better.

But Qiao Hai's performance was undoubted, and the players could only start running.

Running and running, several players found that Qiao Hai did not tell them how long they were going to run, such as Boris Dio.

After running a few laps, Boris Dio began to constantly look at Qiao Hai, who had been standing on the sidelines to supervise, and he found that Qiao Hai had no intention of shouting to stop at all.

"Keep running, don't stop!"

Some players wanted to stop and rest, but they were also urged back by Qiao Hai.

This run is two hours......