When the game was about to start, Alston was at his most relaxed in the locker room, constantly joking with his teammates. Speaking about the game, he laughed: "The Hornets are nothing big, we definitely won, they didn't even make the playoffs last season. ”

"Raff. Your opponent is very strong, don't be careless. Hayes kindly reminded. He knows that Chris Paul is a top disposer in the future, and he is already strong this season.

Alstom still had an indifferent expression.

At this time, Jeff Van Gundy walked over, slapped Alston on the back, and said loudly: "Raff, you can't look like this, Chuck is right, we have to fight hard every game, we have to make sure we win!" Don't underestimate anyone! ”

Alston smiled and nodded, looking like a "Weichen obeys the order", and stood aside and stopped talking.

It is said that Hayes, a sophomore rookie, should not have any status in the interior, but he also has the identity of head coach Van Gundy's "half-brother who finally met after being separated for many years". So now he is the recognized male No. 3 of the Rockets, only Yao Ming and Maddie.

Jeff Van Gundy has an investigative report on the situation of his opponent in his hand, which he has read carefully several times. Every NBA team in the league, in addition to scouts, also has staff who specialize in collecting information about opponents. It is part of their job to make an analysis before the game, which helps the manager to line up on the spot.

Jeff Van Gundy agrees that the Hornets have changed a lot from last season and are not that easy to deal with.

The Hornets are in great form since the start of the new season, and they are currently tied with the Rockets for first place in the Southwest Division with 2 wins and second only to the Los Angeles Lakers in the West, who have won all three games. And the first two games of the Hornets were all away games, and the trip to the East defeated the Boston Celtics 91-87 and the Indiana Pacers 100-91, which made people look at the team that only ranked 10th in the West last season.

In the away win over the Pacers, David West was the best player of the game, scoring a team-high 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting, along with six rebounds and three assists. Paul also contributed 16 points and six assists; Tyson Chandler grabbed 15 rebounds; Only Serbian shooter Stojakovic disappointed, scoring just eight points and five turnovers on 3-of-10 shooting.

Drafted by the Hornets with the 18th pick in the first round of the 2003 Draft, the 26-year-old West is a 206cm-tall power forward who has grown into an indispensable leader on the Hornets' interior this season, signing a five-year contract extension with the team this week and is the centerpiece of the Hornets' future.

Last season, West improved rapidly, playing a total of 74 games, averaging 34 minutes per game, contributing 17.1 points and 7.4 rebounds. And West has repeatedly stepped up at the most critical moments, and has also killed the Rockets with a mid-range shot, which has won the appreciation of the team's top management and fans.

Compared to West, former Bulls center Tyson Chandler, whom the Hornets focused on this summer, has had a poor performance, scoring just six and seven points in his first two regular-season games, and was sent off for six fouls in his first game against the Celtics. Fortunately, he scored a game-high 15 rebounds in yesterday's game against the Pacers, which temporarily quelled people's doubts about him. Another "rookie" Stojakovic is not in good shape, shooting less than 25% of three-pointers in two games, and only 1 of 5 shots yesterday, although the Hornets have won two consecutive games, but after the game, Stojakovic has received endless criticism, and people have begun to doubt whether the former "three-point king" of the league can return to his peak.

Contrary to Stojakovic's recent three-point misses, the Rockets' outside players seem to have "opened the mind". Battier, Alston, Azubuuk, Hyde and Novak are all very consistent in their three-point shooting percentage, and they also have Hayes as a three-point forward. In the battle with the Mavericks, the Rockets stunned the Mavericks with powerful outside firepower on 10-of-18 shooting, and if you count the 22-of-11 shooting in the first game against the Jazz, the Rockets have overwhelmed their opponents in outside shooting for two consecutive games.

The Rockets are now in high spirits and have a full roster, and if Stojakovic can't get his groove back, it will be difficult for the Hornets to win three in a row with Paul and West alone.

Rockets starting lineup: point guard Alston, shooting guard Maddy, small forward Battier, power forward Chuck Hayes. Center Yao Ming.

Hornets starting lineup: point guard Chris Paul, shooting guard Stojakovic, small forward Mason, power forward West, center Tyson Chandler.

Yao Ming lost the jump ball to Tyson Chandler, a 7-foot-long man with a bounce quality that comes once in 10 years.

Chris Paul launched an attack with the ball, West stepped forward to block and pick, and Paul used his speed to break through Hayes, who was switching defenses, and faced Yao Ming.

'Want to shoot? It's too easy to think. Yao Ming stared intently at Paul, who was approaching him, Paul was the shortest player on the field, and it would be a shame to let the opponent score easily.

Paul rushed to Yao Ming with lightning speed, suddenly stopped, and threw the ball high into his hand.

Yao Ming, who was about to open his big hand to let Paul taste the "Yao-style hot pot", stopped his steps, and when he saw the arc of Paul's shot, he knew that it was crooked, and it was very crooked.

Yao Ming immediately realized a problem: 'This is not a shot!' ’

As soon as Yao Ming turned around, he saw a spring jumping up behind him, no, a team member. Tyson Chandler dunked the ball into the basket with both hands in the air.

The Rockets attacked, Maddie received the ball and began to work alone, dribbling a few times and then pulling out a jumper to "hit the iron", his hand was still as bad as on the court, and the rebound was taken by Tyson Chandler.

The Hornets immediately handed over to Paul to launch a fast attack, and Alston returned in time. The Hornets fell to the ground, and West stepped forward to block again.

"I'm rubbing! A trick that has been used once against the Saint Seiya is useless. Hayes shouted in his heart, and quickly changed his guard from the side with small broken steps, blocking Paul's breakthrough route at once.

Paul immediately changed his tactics. He points between his legs, slaps the ball between his legs with one hand, and passes it backwards. He didn't look back, didn't even look at the form, and handed the ball to West, and the two had a tacit understanding.

West used his height to eat Alston hard and hit a high jumper.

In the defense, West and Paul high-fived and celebrated, and the Hornets used the Rockets' usual cooperation, which made Hayes's heart burn!

What's even more infuriating is that Maddie started to go solo again in the second half. In the same position, the pull-up jumper "struck the iron" again. This offense was even more unreasonable, as Yao Ming and Hayes hadn't yet landed well on the inside, and the rebound was easily taken by the Hornets, and they played a counterattack, and Mason made a layup.

Hornets coach Byron Scott couldn't stop smiling when he saw this scene, and the worse the opponent's star played, the better the game would be. He silently prayed in his heart that Maddie would play this way all night.

Jeff Van Gundy's expression turned ugly when he saw the ball: "Tracy, is that what you are the centerpiece?" It's just that you don't train hard, why has your basketball IQ been reduced? ”

Yao Ming was bypassed the front defense, Alston had to find Maddie again, but Maddie still did it alone, this time he chose to break through, just past Stojakovic, was Paul's quick steal from the side, and the Hornets played a fast break again. West received the ball and handed it to Stojakovic, who followed in the back row, and Stojakovic hit a solid three-point shot from the left, and the Hornets' outside line was also opened.

9-0, a terrible start.

Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy stopped yelling at the court and directly called a timeout.

"Tracy rests, Luthor (Hyde) plays."

"Coach ......"

Jeff Van Gundy interrupted Maddy's words and said firmly, "Needless to say, you calm down first." The offense is mainly on the inside. Yao Ming came to the main attack, and if someone assisted in the defense, he would try to guide Chuck as much as possible. ”

The time came when Rocket had to step up and everyone was feeling the pressure. Alston implemented the tactical idea and handed the ball to Yao Ming, and this time the Hornets did not wrap the clamp and directly changed the front. Chandler slapped Alston's pass down.

If Yao Ming's biggest weakness is definitely not his slow speed, but his catching. In almost every game, Yao Ming can be seen making mistakes due to unstable balls.

Paul relied on his speed to grab the basketball and handed it to Mason, who passed to Stojakovic. Stojakovic catches the ball and throws it.

Hayes jumped up from the side and covered Stojakovic's shot off the sideline.

"It's dangerous, if you hit another three, the game will be too difficult. Luckily, the bet won. Hayes breathed a sigh of relief when he landed, and he let go of West completely in the retreat and lunged straight at Stojakovic. His idea was that it was better to score two points than three, and he didn't hesitate and managed to cover it.

The defense was successful, and the Rockets still trailed by nine points. Van Gundy's mind was not focused on chasing points, and after looking at Hayes's block, he began to think: "Chuck can attack and defend, and he has a talent for passing, even Barkley is optimistic about him." If there are shortcomings, maybe only too little experience. What if I used him as the heart of the attack? ”

Hayes' block saved the Rockets a bit of morale.

Paul misses a jumper, and Yao Ming gets the rebound. The Rockets attacked, Yao Ming received the ball with a low back and made a foul on Chandler, and after hitting both free throws, the Rockets finally scored.

Hayes followed David West closely.

"He didn't attack with the ball once, and it seems that he is really not good at breaking through with the ball as described in the information." Hayes made up his mind that he would never give West another open shot and would dwell on it to the end.

West is 206 centimeters tall, which is not very tall among power forwards, so there is no way to rely on height to eat Hayes. If the opponent hits hard, Hayes will definitely be happy. But West is not stupid, he doesn't take the initiative to ask for the ball, and only blocks Paul for him.

West and Paul's pick-and-roll coordination is too sharp, and once the position is switched, there will be holes in the Rockets' defense. It's a lot like the Rockets' tactics in the previous two seasons, except that Paul was faster than Maddy.

"I'm going to practice this kind of blocking and dismantling more in the future, but how to prevent it now? Abominable wasps. Hayes muttered to himself. He knew that if he switched guards to Paul and go to Paul, he would miss West. Alstom can't prevent West, and the physical disadvantage is too obvious.

If you don't change the guard in time, the result will be even worse.

After Paul broke inside again, he scored a pull-up layup, and also caused Yao Ming to make up for a foul and hit a free throw to successfully hit a three-pointer.

The Rockets players are all in a slump, and Chandler is also doing well in defending Yao Ming. The Rockets dug themselves a big hole in the opening stanza, trailing by 15 points at 33-18.

"It's only the first back-to-back game, are you bored? Chris Paul is just a sophomore rookie, and you gave him 7 points and 6 assists in a single quarter. And Chandler got 8 rebounds, is he going to have more than 30 rebounds by the end of the game? Jeff Van Gundy frowned and roared like a pig.

Usually he is a good person, but when the team falls behind by a big score, he becomes a fan maniac. The reason why he is bald is probably because he likes to scratch his head with both hands when he is in a hurry......

Jeff Van Gundy flickered for a moment, forced himself to calm down, and began to lay out his tactics. "Chuck, Yao Ming, you must protect the backcourt rebounds in the second quarter, otherwise it will be difficult for us to turn the tables around. Tracy, you're going to have to step up your breakout, and then you're going to shoot when you're at a good opportunity. Are you the core understood? Core! Cheer up and set an example for everyone! ”

Jeff Van Gundy asked Hayes separately: "How's it going, can you keep West?" ”

"If you prevent one, I can prevent it. But it's not easy for him and Paul to block and dismantle, and I'd suggest a regional defense, because they're not very accurate on the outside. Hayes whispered.

Onlookers can see that although he is the shortest and the weakest, Paul is the real core of the Hornets, and it is his sharp breakthrough and excellent passing awareness that revitalizes the team's offense, twisting the originally loose Hornets into a rope, and the blocking power of West and Paul is definitely greater than one plus one.

Jeff Van Gundy certainly sees this, too. Announced the abandonment of half-court man-to-man marking and switched to regional joint defense. Focus on Paul's breakouts and balls.

The move paid off in the second quarter. Paul broke through by blocking and breaking through into the crowd, and when he was surrounded by people, even if he had eight hands like "Paul the Octopus", he couldn't shoot the ball.

There was no chance to shoot, Paul could only find teammates, there was only one Stojakovic pure three-point shooter, Jeff Van Gundy arranged for Maddy, who had rested for most of the quarter, to defend, and Maddy, who got serious, was not bad at defense, and successfully stared Stojakovic, so that he didn't score a point in this quarter.

Because of the joint defense, it was difficult for West to get open shots, and he missed several shots.

Mason also received Yao Ming's big hat after a breakthrough. Mason was once a slam dunk champion and has amazing physical qualities. But he is usually only a threat when he runs, and he is not very good when he lands his position.

Yao Ming covered Mason's dunk, but fortunately he was more honest this time.

Why? Because Yao Ming and Mason have a holiday.

When the Hornets played the Rockets last season, Mason was blocked by Yao Ming in a row, and when he was hit to the ground for the third time, Mason accumulated enough rage points. He didn't get up immediately, angrily carried Yao Ming's body with his back, and threw Yao Ming out fiercely. The giant's body made a loud "bang" with the floor of the court, and he lost a lot of blood......

After the game, there were many bricks and beasts on the Internet who analyzed the game through the slow mirror of the game and concluded that the move was likely to be the starting style of the close-quarters killing "Arashiyama", but fortunately, the players on both sides stepped forward in time to stop Mason and did not let him use the combo. Of course, it was these people who saved Mason. According to Maddie, an insider, Yao Ming was also angry at the time, and he was waiting for the big move "Super Dragon Fist". Chinese netizens believe that they are all the kings of boxing, and Yao Ming definitely wins more than one.

In short, since then, Mason has become an enemy of Yao Ming, an enemy of the Rockets, an enemy of all Chinese fans. Crossing the street Mason, everyone shouted and beaten. He never dared to show up on the streets of Houston again.

With the rest of the offense unfavorable, the Hornets are left with only center Tyson Chandler on the court. As for his offense...... He can shoot backwards and jumpers, that's decoration, and he never goes in. Small hook hand, pure spoof. That's right, free throws, baskets and leaks are Tyson Chandler's main food. Can such an offense shake the Rockets' interior line?

After playing regional defense, the Rockets didn't let the Hornets take advantage of it again, and the pick-and-rolls of Hayes and Maddy were also quite powerful.

The Hornets also used a zone defense for a while after a timeout to try to break the Rockets' pick-and-roll. After two rounds, I found that it didn't work. Because the Rockets are different from the Hornets, their interior is not a spring man who can only grab rebounds and dunks.

Yao Ming and Hayes both have mid-range shooting ability, and Hayes can also pull out and shoot three-pointers. After the Hornets played the pick-and-roll, the players were all dead. Yao Ming twice tortured the Hornets' nerves with turnaround jumpers. Yao Ming of the Hornets defended the front line, and the Rockets played to Hayes. He relied on his strength advantage to sit and play inside, which also made the slightly weaker West suffer a little.

At halftime, the Rockets relied on interior offense to chase the score to 51-45, only 6 points away. While they're still behind, the pressure has shifted to the Hornets.

'Good, that's how it was in the second half. Continue to attack the inside and give the ball to Yao Ming. Jeff Van Gundy said. He didn't pay attention to it, Yao Ming sat listlessly in his chair panting, playing two games in a row, and he had to quickly return to the rhythm of this wasp, and most of his physical strength had been consumed.

Hayes, who was sitting next to Yao Ming, noticed this, but there was nothing he could do.

Propose to Jeff Van Gundy that Yao Ming go down to the rest meeting and be responsible for supporting the Rockets' interior line? Hayes wasn't confident he could do it yet. In fact, after the first half, he also started to feel tired. Playing a tough game back-to-back is a double torture for any player, both physically and mentally. The only thing the players can do is be patient.

The Hornets made lineup changes in the second half. Sending Devin Brown, Rassell Butler, and Janello Pargo to rotate around to bolster their three-point firepower.

The two teams began a tug-of-war.

In defense, the Hornets constantly used the front defense and the bag defense to deal with Yao Ming, Yao Ming every time he received the ball, the crowd around him couldn't move, and the situation was to the meat in the hamburger, he passed the ball out, and the outside players couldn't open the situation for a long time.

Fortunately, "striking iron" is contagious. The Hornets are also not very efficient offensively. During this time, players from both teams all played with hammers.

The Rockets trailed by seven points heading into the fourth quarter.

In the fourth quarter, Yao Ming's physical strength was almost overdrawn, his mistakes began to increase, and he was unstable at the beginning and was blown a step. Without physical strength, Yao Ming's deterrence on the defensive end also began to decline. The Hornets frequently burst into the interior and fouled Yao Ming. Hayes executed the tactical arrangement, and in order to keep his ace, he sacrificed himself in front of Yao Ming many times after the opponent broke through.

With 8 minutes and 14 seconds left in the game, the Hornets couldn't shoot, the "rebounding machine" Chandler saw the real opportunity to get the frontcourt rebound, Hayes fouled, prevented Chandler from dunking, received his fifth foul of the game, and went down to rest.

Because Rockets veteran Juwan Howard was found to have injured his finger when he played the Mavericks, he was unable to participate in this game, and the Rockets' interior line was even weaker, so they could only send a defensive "colander" Novak at a critical moment, and use Battier as a power forward to mark West. The Hornets seized on the weakness of the Rockets' interior emptiness and attacked continuously.

With five minutes left in the game, the Rockets trailed by as many as 13 points.

Hornets coach Byron Scott is on his shoulders and confident.

Jeff Van Gundy didn't even want to stand anymore, sat on the bench, and rubbed his bald head countless times. He was going crazy, and he tried everything, but he couldn't make the rocket improve a bit.

The Rockets couldn't open the offense in the second half, just relying on Yao Ming's support, and now anyone can see that Yao Ming is too tired. Although there is still time, it will be difficult for the Rockets to turn the tables around.

―――――――――――― Segmentation――――――――――――

Deleted the original 12th chapter that everyone hated.,I didn't expect it to be so troublesome.,In the end, I had to resend it again.。 I will try to write it well in the future, and I will never let a big change happen again! In the next chapter, Hai Ye is going to be powerful.

Please support Hayes and ask for recommendations! Collect!

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