Chapter 482: A New Era in the NBA
The turmoil of Harden and Paul's quarrel with De-Anthony spread all over social networks in a blink of an eye.
In such a critical period as the Western Conference Finals, such a shocking thing happened to the Rockets, and the major media focused all their attention on the three people.
Some media said that maybe it was a chance for the Rockets, losing to the Kings by a big score, and without a complete change, there would be no hope of winning.
Some media also feel that the Rockets are completely finished, originally they could gradually adapt to the rhythm of the king through tactical adjustments, and slowly find a way to win, but now it is useless to do anything.
But no matter what the media says, the attitude towards Harden is completely consistent, as the team boss, he should find a way to solve the problem, instead of shifting the blame to the coach.
The mental quality is too poor, just because of a big loss, he can't control his emotions, and he behaves so irrationally, and there is still a long way to go before he becomes a superstar.
Things were in a uproar, and the Rockets management had to hold a special press conference for public relations, but neither the media nor the fans believed Morey's official way of speaking.
Fortunately, the second game between the two teams continued to play the next day, and all the attention was instantly shifted to the game.
Before the start of the game, De Anthony tried to squeeze out a smile and set up the tactics with the most volume and passion, but Harden and Paul still had cold faces.
As a result, in the first quarter of the game, the King scored 32 points, but the Rockets only scored 22, and Zhang Feng's personal data surrounded Harden and Paul in all directions.
In the second quarter of the game, Harden got rid of Zhang Feng's defense with the help of a high block, and once scored consecutive layups, but after the Kings played Willy as a center, they completely restricted Harden.
waited until the end of the second quarter of the game, and Harden scored only 12 points in a single quarter, and the Kings continued to march forward with a horn under the agency of Zhang Feng and Rose at different times.
At halftime, a staff member anonymously broke the news that there was a fierce quarrel in the Rockets locker room, and there was even a 'bang bang' sound.
After the start of the third quarter of the game, the Rockets uncharacteristically sent Anderson, who was too slow to move and would become the target of the King's attack, but the Rockets arranged a magical tactic: defensively, let him top the No. 4 position, block it if he can, and forget it if he can't block it; Offensively, he used his height and fixed-point three-pointers to play several high-post blocks. At one point, the difference was narrowed to within 10 points.
Unfortunately, the good times didn't last long, and the Kings turned around and sacrificed Zhang Feng Garros's dual-point guard combination, coupled with the lateral speed advantage of Willy and Giles, to make the whole Rockets unable to find north.
Anderson also became the Rockets' defensive colander because of his speed disadvantage, allowing the Kings to score eight points in a row.
Still, the Rockets were in much better form than they were in Game 1, and heading into the fourth quarter, they trailed the Kings by just 15 points. Moreover, Harden and Paul, taking advantage of Zhang Feng's time off the half, chased 8 points, forced David to call a timeout, and sent Zhang Feng back on the court in advance.
With Zhang Feng in charge, the Kings gradually regained control of the situation, and the game between the two teams was anxious until the last 2 minutes.
But Harden and Paul, because they played for too long, entered the end of the game, both of them were a little exhausted, and there were two passing errors respectively, and the King seized the opportunity to play a fast break and take the game away.
With a 2-0 lead, the Kings didn't slack off and went straight to Houston that night.
On the second day of moving into the hotel, some media claimed that Harden and Paul had shaken hands with De Anthony, and the three talked happily during the Rockets' in-house practice, and seemed to have found an excellent way to deal with the King.
Sure enough, after the start of the third game, the Rockets learned the Spurs' method of dealing with the Kings in the first round, except for the super big open three-pointers, all other shots were changed to interior layups.
It stands to reason that there is only one Capela on the inside of the Rockets, and he is not very good offensively, but the defense is very good.
In addition, Harden and Paul are both breakthrough masters, Zhang Feng can only defend one, and the referee's blowing standards for the king are also very strict, and the game only played 2 quarters, and the Rockets took a 16-point lead.
At halftime, on the way back to the locker room for the Kings, the Rockets fans on both sides of the tunnel started to taunt and provoke, but no one on the Kings team was angry or frustrated.
It's not because they're afraid of being fined by the league for scolding back, or because they can't react to being beaten by the Rockets, but because all the Kings players are very confident in their hearts, because they have specially practiced 'no-contact' defensive tactics, and as long as they are used, the referee's strict standards will be useless.
The 'no-touch' defensive tactic is not about not having any physical contact, but rather about anticipating and teamwork to strangle the attacker's passing lane, forcing the attacker to take more shots and reducing the number of layups the attacker.
To do both, you need a lot of defense on the inside and a lot of pressing on the outside.
Fortunately, the Kings did this in the third quarter, and although the process was more difficult, it gradually allowed Harden and Paul to shoot more three-pointers. With the Rockets' overall shooting percentage dropping, the Kings tied the score.
After entering the fourth quarter of the game, both teams worked harder on offense and defense, the Kings wanted to get the match point and win the series in one go, and the Rockets wanted to keep the home court and tie the big score.
The most important thing is that the referee's blowing penalty standard suddenly became extremely relaxed, and the players of both teams fought extremely fiercely.
In the end, the Kings paid the tragic price of Rose, Giles, and Carter and won the game by a narrow margin of 2 points.
Fortunately, the 3-0 advantage reassured the whole Kings team, even if three people were injured, in the fourth game, in the face of the crazy impact of the Rockets, they still stabilized the situation.
In the end, the Kings won the Western Conference Finals 4-0 and became the Western Conference champion for the first time.
On the fifth day after the end of the game between the two teams, the 76ers, who defeated the Raptors 4-3, eliminated the Cavaliers with a total score of 4-2, and met the Kings in the finals.
Zhang Feng couldn't meet LeBron in the finals, but Zhang Feng's meeting with Embiid, Simmons, and Fultz made basketball fans around the world even more excited.
Because, in the 16 years since 01, the finals have basically been divided by the Lakers, Spurs, Cavaliers, Heat, and Warriors, and Kobe, Duncan, and LeBron have won 12 championships.
Fans once sighed that where is the next superstar after LeBron, everyone originally thought it was Curry or Durant, but unexpectedly, Zhang Feng and Embiid jumped out first.
After the Finals, whether the Kings or the 76ers win the championship, the NBA will enter a new era.