Chapter 394: Punching Harden and Kicking Paul
Saying that Zhang Feng won the MVP, Kenny and Barkley have no opinion, after all, even if Harden performs better in this game, Zhang Feng is still the first in the scoring list, plus the team's operation and the league's hot favorite, Harden's threat is still not enough to pose a threat to him.
But O'Neal emphasized that the Kings would win the game before this sentence, and Barkley immediately disagreed with this statement: "Why do you see that the Kings will win in the end, the Rockets have completely controlled the pace of the game, and the difference will inevitably open up after the first quarter."
O'Neal shook his head and sat down, smiling wantonly: "I saw Zhang Feng's resolute eyes, such eyes only appeared when he played the Lakers last time, and as we all know, in that game, the king bloodied the Lakers."
"Oh? Just one look can make a certainty, could it be that Zhang Feng is LeBron, it seems to be a little inflated, right?" Barkley raised an eyebrow and squinted.
"I don't want to argue meaninglessly," O'Neill waved his hand and continued: "Again, I believe Zhang Feng."
On the court, the referee determined that there was no need to add a penalty according to the video, the ball was converted, the king attacked, Rose advanced with the ball, he called Zhang Feng to block after half time, plus Paul and Harden, the four of them squeezed together on the right wing, and after changing defenses, he faced Harden.
The previous confrontation between the two has proven that he can't compete with Harden for strength, and strength has never been his strong point. The opportunity was fleeting, and taking advantage of Harden's unstable footing, Rose bent over and slammed into the right.
The breakthrough came a little suddenly, Harden failed to keep up, Rose rushed into the interior in one step, and at this time Capela and Randolph stood under the basket, and after a little thought, he chose to continue to rush to the basket.
Seeing this, Randolph immediately spread his hands and put his back against Capela, holding back his strength to pull out scoring space for Rose.
If the time goes back to 4 years ago, Randolph at that time was still a 'black bear' with a 'fierce reputation', Capela was still a rookie who had just entered the league, and the two of them were stuck in the basket, not to mention the difference in strength, just relying on game experience, Randolph at that time could also complete Capela.
But now the situation is different, Randolph has degenerated into a fat bear without fangs, and Capela is the 'card emperor' who is in the limelight, so Randolph's cover has no suppressive power, Capela pushed with both hands, and saw Randolph involuntarily jump forward, almost falling and eating.
The embarrassed Randolph turned around and gestured to the referee, wanting to accuse Capela of pushing people for a foul, but the referee seemed to have not noticed it and was completely indifferent.
At this time, Rose had already taken two steps for a three-step layup, but saw a fierce Capela blocking the way. In the past, Rose must have forced a layup without anything, but now he has a lack of confidence in his heart, and there is a tiger-eyed PJ Tucker next to him, as a small man to stop the ball in the paint area, it is a big taboo, he decided to pass the ball to his teammates when he is free.
But to whom should it be passed on? Randolph's strength can't fight, and there is a high chance that the pass will turn into a rebound, Justin is also suffering from Ariza's front defense, Willy's position is good, but he was blocked by PJ-Tucker, and he can only look at Zhang Feng on the outside.
Paying attention, Rose turned his head to look for Zhang Feng, but was pleasantly surprised to find that Zhang Feng had already broken away from Paul's defense and rushed to the basket, Rose breathed a sigh of relief and rushed the ball before hitting Capela.
Zhang Feng successfully received the pass, then jumped high on the spot, turned into a two-handed ball in the air, and then picked up the basketball and spun it around.
"Bang dang", a powerful windmill slam dunk, accompanied by the sound of Capella's 'snap' after he landed.
The Rockets fans in the Toyota Center looked depressed, Harden had just blocked Zhang Feng, what a strong momentum, if the defense was good in this round, it was likely to be a wave of scoring, but he never expected Capela to lose back in a blink of an eye.
At the same time, the referee determined that Capela had violated the cylinder during the aerial confrontation, and Zhang Feng got a chance to add a penalty.
"Black whistle, black whistle, black whistle" Rocket fans, who were already very unhappy, finally caught the opportunity to vent.
Shouting and cheering for your own stars may motivate your own stars to play better and better, but shouting 'black whistle' at the referee seems to only get ignorance.
Easy penalty hit, the king opened the score again, in fact, the score is trivial, but it is Zhang Feng's momentum of bravely moving forward, which reassures the king up and down, they know that the familiar Zhang Feng is back.
Yibian Rockets attacked, Paul advanced with the ball, Capela advanced to the left wing position, before the game Zhang Feng took the time to read the Rocket's tactical analysis report, he saw at a glance that this is not the Rocket's regular tactics, obviously intended to create opportunities for Capela, and then take the opportunity to get back to the field, after all, a center was violently deducted by the guard windmill, not just to swallow that breath.
Considering that Capela did not have the ability to attack with the ball at the three-point line, Zhang Feng predicted that after Paul broke through with the help of blocking, he would definitely pass the ball to Capela, so he quietly moved his steps to the left a few steps.
Sure enough, Paul bypassed Rose, Randolph chased the defense, Paul took a few steps inside and threw the ball into the air with a big hand, and at the same time, Capela was also going to the basket, and an empty connection was immediately achieved.
It's too late, it's fast, Zhang Feng exerted force on the soles of his feet, his whole body jumped to the inside line like a spring loosened, he and Capela were in a corner swing, and at the same time launched an impact on the basketball flying in the air.
In such a fierce scene, Rockets fans, like the players on the court, could not help anything, but could only clasp their toes and wait for the result.
"yes!that's my boy, such an excellent interception and steal in the air, the whole league can't find a second one" In the TNT live broadcast room, O'Neal clenched his fists with both hands and hammered the table, Zhang Feng grabbed the basketball and let him shout loudly, without hiding his inner excitement at all.
If you just grab a basketball, it might not be so shocking. What really made O'Neill uncontrollable was that Zhang Feng did not suffer a loss in the collision with Capela in the air, but Capela seemed to hit a wall and fell directly to the ground.
Zhang Feng, who had a successful steal, immediately picked up his arms and threw out a long pass after landing on the ground, and Rose immediately opened full speed when he received the basketball, sweeping across the halfline like a tornado, even if there was Paul's pursuit and defense interference, it did not affect Rose to go straight to the basket.
Holding the ball with both hands, jumping in three steps, and turning into a one-handed move in the air, Rose completed the whole move in one go, followed by a tomahawk slam, and Paul could only look behind him and sigh, followed by the sigh of the rocket ball.
The Rockets attacked again, and Harden directly reached out for the ball, and then took on a three-threat posture and confronted Zhang Feng at the top of the arc.
"MVP, MVP, MVP" The Rockets cheered unwillingly, and Harden seemed to move when he heard the sound, he dribbled with his right hand, opened the way with his left hand, and followed Zhang Feng to the right short corner. Zhang Feng, on the other hand, just raised his hands high and only relied on his body to block Harden's advance.
The seemingly lax defense is actually a hidden mystery, first, Zhang Feng knows that Harden is a master of foul making, and he must try to avoid physical contact with him; Second, Harden's breakthrough strategy may not be to rush to the bottom, and he can only respond to changes with his hands high.
may have eaten the sweetness of the previous emergency stop and retreat, and Harden made the same move, but unfortunately this time Zhang Feng caught up instantly, and Harden could only slow down and dribble back and forth in his crotch to find opportunities.
Even Harden will be affected by the failure of the first breakthrough, as the offensive time passes, the expression on his face becomes more and more anxious, and he chooses to collect the ball when several tentative steps fail to deceive Zhang Feng.
According to the standards of modern basketball, Harden's technical movements have almost no shortcomings, but they may be limited by his own style of playing, and a series of action cycles such as closing the ball and jumping before each dry pull-out shot are a little longer than those of Curry, Wei Shao, Durant and other players.
The more time to prepare, the more prepared the defender will be, and Zhang Feng sees the opportunity to jump and block before Harden can shoot.
The block was not covered, but fortunately, Harden didn't hit the shot, and the rebound was also grabbed by Willie, but Zhang Feng's hand slapped Harden in the face, and a 'pop' sound resounded through the arena, and Harden immediately covered his face with both hands, fell to the ground and shouted in pain.
To be reasonable, Zhang Feng knows that his strength is not great, and Harden's reaction is so exaggerated, it can only be a drama that goes along with the current, who will show it? Naturally, it is the referee.
The game was suspended, and the referee walked to the technical table amid a boo, needless to say, to watch the video replay.
The big screen at the scene also broadcast the replay at the same time, judging from the video, the moment Harden played the ball, Zhang Feng's hand also followed, but Zhang Feng's hand was a little slower, and in the case of the empty basketball, it hit Harden's face.
As long as you are not blind, you can see that Zhang Feng definitely didn't mean it, but the strange thing is, why did Zhang Feng's hand appear on Harden's face?
Generally speaking, when a defender makes a block attempt on the outside, he either blocks early or puts his hand on the offensive player's hand, and a situation like Zhang Feng's failure to block should belong to the latter.
The referee was puzzled, put the headphones back on, and checked that the height after the jump was too high from several new angles, although the height was high, it was precisely because of this situation that Zhang Feng's hand was close to Harden's hand for too long, resulting in the failure to block successfully.
It is precisely because of the high jump that the two show an angle of up and down, so Zhang Feng's hand appeared on Harden's face.
Finally figuring out the ins and outs of the matter, the entire Toyota Center fell silent, and the referee also made gestures ---- no fouls.
As if affected by the disappointment, the pain on Harden's face disappeared, and he silently pushed away the team doctor's hand and got up, patting his ass and walking to the frontcourt as if nothing had happened.
Seeing this scene, Zhang Feng suddenly remembered the NBA's classic fake fall highlights, in which Harden and Ginobili touched each other, and the picture was almost like in front of him.
"It's not a loss that I've seen a player who has seen 'big winds and waves', and he can't find a foul, so he left in such a dashing way......" O'Neal really couldn't help complaining, Barkley didn't answer, and Kenny smiled embarrassedly.
On the court, the timeout ended, the Kings attacked, Rose ran with the ball, he handed the ball to Zhang Feng in one step outside the three-point line, and Harden put on a posture and waited.
The Rockets have scored only a handful of points since the official timeout, and if the Kings' offense can't be prevented this time, the difference between the two teams will reach more than 10 points.
It is worth mentioning that Zhang Feng also feels that this round is very important, as long as it is scored, the king can basically enter the second quarter with an advantage of more than 10 points, and then the starters will have a longer rest, and the second team of the king can also get better exercise, for the second team, it is rare to have a chance to play against a strong team like the rocket.
To be on the safe side, Zhang gave up singles, and he beckoned to Rose for pick-and-roll support.
"Coward! Don't dare to go head-to-head", "Go to your wife, the NBA's tough style is not for you", "Don't you dare to play with the help of the referee?" ”
Seeing Zhang Feng calling for a block, the Rockets fans at the Toyota Center seized the opportunity to shout.
After Rose leaned over, Zhang Feng immediately dribbled to the right, but Paul was prepared and quickly caught up with him.
"Did you choose the wrong opponent and forget the embarrassment of being unable to break through by my defense?" Paul brought up the old story again, wanting to undermine Zhang Feng's confidence.
"Thank you for the reminder, I'm worried that I don't know how to score on my head," Zhang Feng said excitedly, and then directly pulled up and jumped out of his hand.
But he didn't expect that when he jumped into the air, he felt that his pants were pulled by something, and then he felt that his lower body was uncontrollable, and his legs involuntarily glared out, but fortunately, he reacted quickly enough to throw the ball before he fell to the ground.
Falling to the ground, Zhang Feng raised his head slightly, and found that the shot hit, and the king scored another 3 points, his goal was achieved, and he smiled with relief.
"Zhang Feng, garbage, Zhang Feng, garbage, Zhang Feng, garbage" The Toyota Center suddenly sounded in unison The sound of scolding the street, Zhang Feng felt that Mo Min was wonderful, and he quickly stood up with a carp.
He was stunned as soon as he got around, only to see Paul fall to the ground, clutching his chest in pain, and judging from the expression on his face, it looked like he had been hit hard, and he was very uncomfortable.
The three referees on duty got together, but after summing up, they failed to reach their will, and the referee had no choice but to stop the game again, and then walked to the technical table to check the replay.
"Let's take a look at what is going on, if Zhang Feng fouls, it will be at least a malicious foul, and it will be impossible to expel him from the game directly" TNT live broadcast room, Barkley's tone was full of anticipation.
"First of all, Zhang Feng has never had a record of bad crimes since he entered the league, and secondly, Paul lying on the ground is a player who fell to the ground as soon as Cousins stretched out his hand, according to my guess, this time it must be Paul faked a fall" O'Neal's tone was full of disdain.
"Stop arguing, stop arguing, the video is out" Kenny hurriedly called off the argument between the two
"See? Zhang Feng stretched out his legs, and he kicked Paul in the chest, which was obviously ......"
Barkley stopped abruptly halfway through his words as if he had eaten, and O'Neal shook his head and looked proud.
It turned out that according to the camera footage on the left and right sides of the court, before Zhang Feng jumped, Paul grabbed his pants with his usual small movements, and his movements in the air were not backwards, but were deformed by Paul's small movements, so his statement that he deliberately kicked Paul cannot be established, and if he really wants to be investigated, he should be punished for Paul's malicious foul.
"It's awesome for my peak, punching Harden, kicking Paul, it's inflated" O'Neal deliberately said the opposite, and Barkley's face was flushed.