Atlanta, Georgia, Phillips Arena.

Wearing a baseball cap, Jiang Qi sat in the corner of the Hawks' home arena, waiting for the opening whistle of tonight's regular season game.

Coincidentally, the Hawks' opponent in this game is also an old friend for him - the Houston Rockets.

This season, the Eagles have clearly exceeded fans' expectations, especially on the defensive end, and the athletic impulse that swells in the bones, so that there is no shortage of explosive dunk performances on the court, which has made the attendance at Phillips Arena far better than last season's dismal.

However, it is clear that the enthusiasm of the audience tonight is beyond the ordinary, and this is also because of the Hawks' opponent today - the Houston Rockets!

The reason is very simple, just a week ago, Tracy opened her sleepy eyes, as if Guan Erye's Danfeng eyes would be splashed with blood every time they opened, this time the injured team is not far from Houston, they are called Spurs......

At 35.13 seconds, McGrady made all Houstonians crazy, and in the roar of "unbelievable" in the sky, many people began to realize that MM, the pair of inside and outside who went down the "OK", really had a chance to win the championship, and that night in Houston was amazing!

Such a Maddie, such a rocket, how can it not make people look forward to it...... As a result, Atlantans began to flock to Phillips Arena.

There is a big difference between this rocket and the Chinese race.

After brushing up on the eye-catching data for a season, Uncle Jim Jackson's ambition began to sprout, and he had the idea of wanting to be in a yellow robe. But it was a pipe dream to compete with Alexander's hard-won ace player for the outside ball, so the Rockets' small forward was sent away.

White small forward Nakba is also gone, and he and Jem Jackson have traded for veteran Hornets guard David Wesley.

Tyronn Lue, who can cosplay Iverson, is also gone, and the person who comes is Joan Barry, who has a bright head and is energy-efficient and environmentally friendly.

While it may seem like the Rockets are just two outside veterans, Joan Barry and David Wesley are actually the key to the Rockets' improvement in the second half of the season, and these two veterans have brought only two things to the team, a consistent open three-point shooting percentage and an excellent team tandem, which is something that players like Jim Jackson who like to fight for outside shots and fight for blacksmithing do not have.

As a result, Houston's starting lineup in this game was adjusted to point guard Bob Sula, point guard Joan Barry, small forward Maddy, power forward Juwan Howard and center Yao Ming.

In this lineup, the point guard and the point guard have a misplaced feeling, Sula prefers to shoot three-pointers and carry the defense to the basket, while Barry Sr. prefers to feed Da Yao and feed it more comfortably, Van Gandhi is obviously deliberately adjusting the balance of the team's perimeter, so that Barry Sr. just joined the team and got the opportunity to start.

Thibodeau's starting selection was clearly more aimed at the MM combination of the Rockets.

The center chose Chris Anderson to defend Yao Ming, and the 2004 Da Yao still had a terrifying range, Anderson could follow the defense, and at the same time, he could also use the bounce to suppress the height advantage of the little giant.

Power forward Al Jefferson is thoroughly used to occupy the low post, and his footwork has improved rapidly under the basket and has gradually become a consistent scoring point for the Hawks inside.

Dio, who has become the new fulcrum of the Eagles' attack, is in the small forward position, and the Frenchman is equally inside and out, and it is clear that fans are expecting him to perform.

The shooting guard is Iguodala, who still trusts Andre very much, and Iguodala is clearly on the court to guard one of the most terrifying outside linemen in the league today, McGrady.

The point guard was Jamal Crawford, and the veteran Van Exel suffered a thigh strain and was not included in the squad for this game.

Sure enough, this ultra-targeted arrangement made the field fall into a fierce battle as soon as the whistle opened. If the Rockets are attacked by Maddie, Iguodala will be entangled with him, Tracey's dry pull has been affected to a certain extent, if he chooses to break through, the Hawks will shrink in an instant, and if the Rockets focus on the inside line of Da Yao, Anderson will follow the defense in the high post, and Jefferson will defend in the low post, and then the Birdman classmates will be watching from the sidelines.

As for the convulsive Sula, Thibodeau will choose to defend Maddie when he breaks through, and if Sula hits a three-pointer with a hot hand, then Thibodeau will ask for a foul to interrupt his touch on his next shot.

After carefully arranging the Rockets' top three scorer, Thibodeau stood on the sidelines and watched the game, and the start of the game also verified the effectiveness of his defensive system, but after a few rounds of the Rockets' offense was frustrated, Van Gundy frowned and called a timeout, and the role of Barry Sr. began to show.

It was also Maddie's breakthrough, Barry began to accelerate to get rid of the Hawks players who were marking him, stood in an instant vacancy to receive Tracy's pass, and then feigned to briefly confuse the defender and calmly pushed the ball to the inside, Yao Ming just slipped to the basket to catch the ball and dunk, this transfer ball was very clear, and it really linked the two "M's" of the Rockets.

The Eagles' offense was also impressive with Crawford's excellent outside firepower and Dio's fulcrum, coupled with Jefferson's ability to play in the low post, and Thibodeau and Van Gundy, a pair of former partners known for polishing their defenses, both chose to be more elaborate on offense when they faced off, which also made the game even more turbulent.

The atmosphere at Phillips Arena was very warm, the live DJ was sparing no effort to stir up the emotions of the audience, and the game itself was exciting enough, with fast breakthroughs, domineering blocks, and lightning-like fast-break dunks...... Highlight shots are not uncommon, a change from the dull style of Van Gundy.

Jiang Qi sat in the corner, focusing more on Iguodala, where Maddie had begun to deliberately kill the players who were marking him.

In the second half of the first quarter, Maddie made a sudden breakthrough layup, a shaking and then dry shot, two consecutive attacks deceived Iguodala's offense, just when Thibodeau was just about to let Ariza come on the court to replace him, Andre stepped on the edge of the reasonable collision zone and made a foul by the referee directly blown into a block, and the first quarter was not over and he was burdened with three fouls, which was a very frustrating thing for Andre, although the audience booed and dedicated to the referee of the game, But it's an indisputable fact that Iguodala's playing time will be significantly shortened.

The most important thing is that after the referee's last harsh blow, Iguodala's mood was obviously low again, and when he came on the court again in the third quarter, he was a little shrunken in the face of Maddie, while the other two outside sharpshooters, Matt Barnes and Ariza, did not have such a face, and they all knew exactly what their goals were after they came on the court......

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