Although Francis is only a rookie this year, the head coach of the Rockets has set up several sets of offensive tactics for him, but these tactics are also some simple and easy-to-use tactics, such as Francis and Barkley's blocking and pick-and-roll cooperation, and Olajuwon's blocking and pick-and-roll cooperation, and Francis's breakthrough strategy, today's game Francis wants to complete Meng Xu at both offensive and defensive ends, so these tactics that need to cooperate with teammates are no longer in their own consideration. His offensive method today can only be to single Meng Xu, or break through or shoot, not only to blow him up on the offensive end, but also to repair him on the defensive end, so that he can know that he is the steal king of the ACC, and the best defensive team is not given for nothing. Fortunately, before the game, Francis was angry with Olajuwon and Barkley, and the two bigwigs of the Rockets were also very supportive.

"It's just a rookie, how can I be nervous, I wasn't nervous when I played Stockton yesterday." Looking at Meng Xu who was sticking up to him, Francis's heart beat faster in an instant.

Facing Meng Xu, who was a cut taller than himself, and the super long arm span, Francis gave up the plan to jump in front of Meng Xu, but was ready to choose to break through and get rid of him, but what surprised Francis was that no matter where he was going to break through, Meng Xu could seal the direction of his breakthrough in advance and stick to himself, fortunately, although Meng Xu looked much bigger than himself, he was not much stronger in strength, so he could barely support it and not be squeezed out of position by Meng Xu.

Francis held the ball outside the 3-point line and dribbled horizontally for a lap, but did not find a chance to break through Meng Xu, seeing that 24 seconds were approaching, he had to hurriedly shoot and shoot a 3 no-stick, the basketball was grabbed by Duncan, at this time a strange scene appeared, Duncan, who grabbed the basketball, could make a long pass to the backcourt and launch a fast attack, but Duncan did not do so, perhaps it was this tactic specially arranged by Popovich, Duncan waited until Olajuwon and Barkley retreated, and then passed the ball to point guard Avery Johnson, The Spurs still have to fight a positional battle with the Rockets and fight for attrition. While the average age of several of the Spurs' main players is already among the top in the league, it is clear that the average age of the Rockets is even older, especially Olajuwon and Barkley, both of whom are combined for 72 years old.

Because it is not clear whether Francis has the natural skills of ball control, so in this round of defense, Meng Xu did not take the liberty to steal Francis, according to Popovich, Meng Xu's steal is a gambling steal, once the steal fails, he will immediately lose his defensive position, after the game with the 76ers, Popovich criticized Meng Xu's defensive choice. It's just that what Popovich doesn't know is that Meng Xu has a skill like a sixth sense, and anyone who can clearly see the opponent's dribble trajectory can't control his urge to reach out and grab a handful. Fortunately, under the pressure of the system task this time, Meng Xu was still very cautious, and constantly warned himself in his heart, don't stretch out your hand, don't stretch out your hand.

After Johnson slowly dribbled the ball past half court, after seeing that all the players of the Rockets were back in place, after making a seemingly abrupt action, he passed the basketball to Meng Xu, who was located within the 45-degree 3-point line on the left side, Meng Xu was a little embarrassed after holding the ball, and his ability to break through or shoot was really a little low, but seeing his teammates all pulling away and waiting for him to play alone, Meng Xu could only bite the bullet, but looking at Francis, who was defending himself, Meng Xu was also a little inexplicably excited.

"This guy is just too short." Meng Xu, who is 2 meters tall and has an arm span of 220, only needs to jump lightly and throw the basketball out when facing the defense of Francis with a height of 191, and he throws the basketball out with a slight backswing, Jordan's backward jumper is basically imitated by a young player in this era, and Meng Xu is also one of them, but Meng Xu's bounce, air and body balance are indeed very different from Jordan, as for the picturesque back, not to mention, Meng Xu's weak jumping ability, with a somewhat stiff body, It's just how ugly and ugly it is, but fortunately, his arm span is long enough, and after he jumps, Francis can only look at the ball and sigh.

"Meng's shooting is really poor, should we do some targeted training for him." Watching Meng Xu in the same position, facing the same defender, in the same posture, after hitting the iron 3 times in a row, the assistant coach of the Spurs, Mike? Budenholzer really couldn't stand it.

"We don't need his offense right now, but let's let him go for a series of three-pointers." Seeing Meng Xu's embarrassment on the court, the always serious Popovich was also happy, how good Meng Xu's defense was, how bad his offense was. Before the start of this game, Popovich also deliberately looked for Johnson, asking him to feed Meng Xu a few more balls, so that Meng Xu could brush up some data and overwhelm Francis on the opposite side, but now Popovich saw that David Robinson's eyes had obviously shown a dissatisfied look, and he also yelled at Johnson, signaling him not to pass the ball to Meng Xu for the time being.

Meng Xu on the field noticed David Robinson's unfriendly eyes, but also a burst of embarrassment, in the face of a defender like Francis, he actually shot 0 in 3, the first two times of the defense Francis was still very hard, close, around the front, top people, Meng Xu was very uncomfortable, and even did not dare to break through with the ball, for fear of being cut off by Francis, he had no choice but to jump up and shoot on the spot, after two consecutive iron strikes, Francis looked at himself with some ridicule, and when Meng Xu attacked for the third time, Francis's defense was not so active, and after Meng Xu threw the ball, Francis only symbolically stretched out his hand, which was a great shame.

Seeing the scene in front of her, the little Loriana in the system space also laughed forward and backwards, and even told Meng Xu a joke, saying that in the next century, there will be a guard who is very versatile except for shooting, and every time the opponent defends him, he will take the initiative to let him shoot, and even more excessively, he will even directly empty him, and the defender will stand two meters away from him, watch him shoot, and then hit the iron.

Fortunately, although Meng Xu couldn't score points, Francis was not much better, and after being guarded by Meng Xu for 24 seconds, Francis gave up wanting to continue to single Meng Xu and began to call his teammates' blocking.

Just 9 minutes after the first quarter of the game, the two sides replaced all the main forces, and Meng Xu, who was sweating profusely, gasped and sat on the bench.

"Meng, how do you feel?" Popovich patted Meng Xu on the shoulder and asked.

"I'm fine." Meng Xu took the towel handed over by the assistant coach and put it on his head. In the first quarter of the game, Meng Xu shot 1 of 4, and only scored 2 points through the fast break after the steal, and because he put all his energy on Francis, Meng Xu's data was only 2 points, 1 steal and 1 rebound. The only thing that comforts Meng Xu is that although Francis has delivered 3 assists, he has not scored so far.

"The defense of both teams was really good, but I think Mr. Stern and the crowd must have hated it." After the end of the first quarter, Kenny Smith on the commentary bench quipped. In the NBA, there has always been a saying that defense wins championships, offense wins audiences and box office, and in order to promote the NBA to the world and attract more audiences, David Stern is also constantly modifying the rules, restricting interior players, supporting outside players, hoping to play a more beautiful game, this defensive battle between the Spurs and the Rockets is definitely against the trend of the times, and it must be a heresy in the eyes of David Stern and the audience.

In this 12-minute defensive battle, the final score was 17-15, and the Spurs led the Rockets by 2 points.