Unlike the dull scene when the main lineups of the two sides are on the field, the rhythm between the substitutes of the two teams is relatively much faster, and there are more corresponding mistakes, not that the substitutes are not working hard, but their ability is limited, and the tactical execution is also a lot worse, and the confrontation between the substitutes has dropped by more than two grades compared to the main lineup, even if both teams have players like Duncan Barkley on the court, they can't play the rhythm and intensity of the game in the first quarter. For the current situation of low physical intensity on the court and a useless perimeter defense, Spurs small forward Chakey Brown also played at the level of last season again, scoring 8 points on 4-of-6 shooting in less than 5 minutes. Together with another backup guard, Terry Burt, they hit two 6-0 spurts in the second quarter in a row, which also gave the Spurs a five-point lead over the Rockets at 38-33 at the official timeout in the second quarter.

After the timeout, the two teams switched to all their main forces, and after Francis dribbled across the halfway line, he did not slowly dribble beyond the three-point line as he did in the first quarter, but began to pick up speed near the center circle and lowered his center of gravity.

"If you want to break through in this way, you won't succeed." Looking at Francis, who was accelerating, Meng Xu greeted him without hesitation, and stood in a good position on Francis's dribbling route in advance, if Francis does not change the dribbling route, then he is likely to hit people with the ball, if he chooses to change direction at this speed, unless he has the ability to change direction without slowing down like Iverson, as long as he slows down, he can calmly paste it.

"Not good, he's not a breakthrough." Just as Francis was about to crash into Meng Xu, Francis stopped less than half a meter away from Meng Xu and jumped high.

As the whistle sounded, the entire Compaq Center boiled, and Francis, who was embarrassed by Meng Xu's defense in the first quarter, scored 2 points with a pull-up jump shot, and also caused Meng Xu's foul.

"Boy, see no, this is called shooting, you better go back to the NCAA and practice for a few years." After scoring this goal, Francis also patted his chest at Meng Xu excitedly, indulging in the anger in his heart.

Standing near the free throw line, watching Francis score this goal, Meng Xu thought back to the moment just now with an expressionless face, just before Francis jumped, Meng Xu had already noticed that Francis was going to shoot instead of breaking through, and his body jumped up subconsciously, but what was a little embarrassing was that when Meng Xu was about to land, Francis jumped up, and just leaned on Meng Xu, and a 2+1 was born. In Meng Xu's view, this is caused by his inability to fully use the skill of the sixth sense, the sixth sense successfully predicted Francis's attempt to shoot in advance, but the fault is that what he perceives now is actually the moment after 0.7 seconds, and after Meng Xu jumps at the same time, Francis will only jump after 0.7 seconds.

After being beaten by Francis to 2+1, Meng Xu began to force Francis at any cost, as long as Francis passed half the court, Meng Xu would take the initiative to paste it, no matter whether he had the ball in his hand or not, as long as he sensed that Francis had the intention of catching the ball, Meng Xu would take the step around to force his teammates, and did not dare to pass the ball to Francis easily. In any case, Francis can no longer be allowed to score easily, let alone score more than 10 points.

"FACK, YOU KID, ARE YOU A MAD DOG?" By now that the game has been played, Francis is not just depressed, it is already painful. Since that 2+1, this kid began to defend himself at all costs, not only is it extremely difficult for him to shoot, but even it is very difficult to catch and dribble, unlike the clean defense in the first quarter, this guy began to use a much stronger body than himself to constantly collide with himself, and even tore his jersey, and even used his arm span and speed to wrap himself to death, every time he called to block and throw him away, or less than 2 seconds, this guy will stick it up again.

"This kind of defensive pressing, the Spurs' rookie defense is so good, Francis is completely frozen, no wonder Michaels praised his defense as historic, and the last player in the entire league to have such a strong defensive ability was Scott Pippen, which is incredible." Looking at Meng Xu, who was frantically defending Francis on the court, Kenny Smith was also a little frightened, in the history of the NBA, there has never been a rookie with such strong defensive ability.

"If the Rockets can't solve this point of Francis, then this game is dangerous, and Olajuwon and Barkley don't have enough physical strength to last a game."

"How so, how so." After Francis dribbled on the court over half the court, Meng Xu met him again, this time Francis lost his previous calmness, and made a mistake in dribbling under Meng Xu's pressure, looking at Meng Xu's figure hanging on the basket, Francis had an expression of disbelief.

After this break, Meng Xu also relaxed his pressure on Francis slightly, firstly, because his physical strength was no longer enough to support such a high-intensity defense, and the other point was that Meng Xu had determined that Francis must have a talent for ball control, but it was obviously not up to Iverson's level.

At this time, the head coach of the Rockets, Tomjanovich, is also walking around on the sidelines to relieve the anxiety in his heart, as long as he calls a timeout and replaces Francis, he may be able to change the unfavorable situation on the court, but Francis is the focus of the team and his own training, and is the future boss and successor of the team.

At this time, Popovich on the bench of the Spurs, looking at the anxious look of Tomjanovic opposite him, was relaxed and proud, Francis was completely restricted by Meng Xu in this game, if Tomjanovic did not make changes, I am afraid that the third quarter would become garbage time.

Eventually, after a strong psychological struggle, Tomjanovic called a timeout, replaced Shanton Anderson with Catino Mobley, and replaced Francis at point guard with Catino Mobley, pushing Francis to the point guard position.

"If I play the whole game like this, I'm going to fall apart." Taking advantage of the moment of the dead ball, Meng Xu leaned on the sidelines with his hands on his hips, and the direct consequence of his physical strength pressing Francis was that after only 14 minutes on the field, his physical strength was close to exhaustion, but fortunately, the first half was almost over.

Like Meng Xu, Francis now also hopes to rest early, this game is really difficult.