On December 14, Chuck Hayes once again embarked on an away trip with the team.

This is the scariest stretch of the year for the Rockets, with five consecutive away games. First meet the Warriors, back-to-back against the Lakers, then challenge the other team in Los Angeles, the Clippers, then fly to Portland against the Trail Blazers, and finally meet the strongest opponent San Antonio Spurs on the 23rd, this is not over, after playing the Spurs, they will fly back to Houston immediately, and the next day will play the Clippers back-to-back.

If it weren't for the fact that the Rockets could rest for a full day in Los Angeles, the schedule would have been shady.

In the first game against the Warriors, the score was 112-95, and the Rockets won very easily.

Yao Ming scored 21 points in the first quarter, which was not the key to the Rockets' victory.

The point is that the Warriors' number one star Byron Davis left the game with an injury in the first quarter.

The league's toughest point guard, one of the things he does best is stabbing people with a big beard (why is this number one?). The second is to play basketball well with a strong body. The last time he was on the home court of the Rockets, he used his strength to clean up the Rockets' guard line.

Byron Davis is the strongest of the guards and should have safely bullied the guards with his body. But this time, he was overconfident in his power and picked on the Rockets' stronger small forward.

Just two minutes into the opening game, Hayes, who played as a small forward, rushed inside with a pick-and-roll. After Byron Davis switched defenses, he jumped up to try to stop Hayes from dunking, and Barkley, who is often referred to as the smaller one, participated in the dunk contest. Hayes is the successor of Buckley's handwriting! The ball went in anyway, and Davis was knocked to the floor and sent off the field after being checked.

It was the first quarter again, and it was the Lakers' second leader Odom who left the game; This time, Hayes directly injured the Warriors' boss.

After the game, Hayes was interviewed by a Golden State reporter (Golden State Warriors) on the court, and he deeply regretted Davis's injury and hoped that Davis was okay and would not affect the rest of the regular season.

He thinks Davis must be fine, because the other party didn't leave like a leg or knee injury, and he didn't need to be helped, at most it was a sprain.

The results were announced the next day, and after an examination, Byron Davis suffered a coccygeal injury and will be sidelined for at least a month.

Two games in a row, hurtful at the beginning. The media began to denounce it, and Hayes collapsed directly.

I rub! Hurt the coccyx? Is that okay? Is it the action of Guanyin sitting on a lotus when this goods falls?

The Golden State Sports newspaper used the headline "Rocket Monster Hurts Again" to gently condemn Hayes - "People say that Shrek is kind-hearted, but in essence he is a monster, and he should be more restrained on the field." ”

The Rockets played the Lakers back-to-back.

As the most improved player this season, Hayes can often be heard cheering on the road, and fans have put up Shrek slogans hoping that he will join next season.

However, there were no cheers waiting for him tonight at the Angel City Staples Arena. Slogans such as "Swamp garbage", "Dirty guys" and so on are everywhere.

As soon as Hayes came out, he was even booed, and some fans raised their middle fingers.

Fans want to see Kobe Bryant lead the Lakers to a successful revenge on the Rockets. However, that hope turned into extravagance soon after the start of the race.

In this game, the Rockets did not have the same hands-on feel as they did when they played the Lakers at home. Yao Ming and Juwan-Howard easily broke down the Lakers' interior line. Hayes played as a small forward, which made the Lakers very uncomfortable. If a tall player is used to defend Hayes, Howard has a chance to take advantage of his height on the inside.

Without the tall players to defend Hayes, the Lakers are even worse, and Luke Wharton even eats ass skills. Hayes was going to study a new style of play, and wanted to make himself tougher, so he directly experimented with the skinny Wharton.

The inside line can't be guarded, and the rocket's outside line is even less careful.

Kobe, who swore revenge, did not show the energy he should have, played averagely, and after half the game, the Lakers fell behind by more than 20 points.

As the game drew to a close, the atmosphere on the pitch changed. Quite a few Lakers fans are already applauding the mighty Rockets.

104-81, the Rockets swept the Lakers away. Their win was undisputed, with two new signings, Jamario Moon and Van Weaver, also getting their chance to play. Weaver did well, scoring seven points and putting on a wonderful two-handed back dunk to raise his eyebrows in front of his old club.

Yao Ming had 26 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists, Hayes had 22 points, 11 rebounds and 4 assists, and veteran Juwan Howard had 18 points and 8 rebounds.

With 21 wins and 2 losses, the Rockets got off to the most perfect start in club history without Maddy. Their insane performances won over the visiting fans.

It was the fifth-best start in NBA history, and experts have analyzed that if the Rockets can continue this momentum, they could potentially claim 72 wins in the regular season.

72 wins! This is something that only Michael Jordan's Bulls have achieved, and can the Houston Rockets catch up with that Bulls?

Judging by the data comparison, it is too likely.

Let's talk about offense first, the Bulls averaged 105.2 points per game that year, first in the league, and the Rockets are currently averaging 104.8 points per game, second in the league, not much difference.

The two teams have different offensive focuses. The Bulls have Jordan and Pippen's golden partnership on the outside, and the Rockets have Yao Ming, Hayes, and Maddy inside and out.

Compared to the Bulls' star invincibility mode, the Rockets' offensive points are a bit more scattered. Jordan can easily score more than 30 points in a single game, and Yao Ming, the current top scorer of the Rockets, only averages 22.8 points per game, but the average number of players on the team who average double-digit points per game has reached 5, namely Yao Ming, Hayes, Maddy, Wells, and Alston. Aside from Jordan and Pippen, the Bulls are the only ones with Kukoc who can reach double figures.

Three-point shooting is the Bulls' offensive weapon, Jordan shot 42.7% from three-point range that season, and Kukoc is also a sharpshooter on the outside, not to mention Kerr, who shot 51.5% from three-point range on the bench.

The Rockets have been tougher from the outside this year, with almost everyone shooting three-pointers. Hayes shot 43.2 percent from the outside, Battier 40.4 percent, Hyde 44.7 percent, and Novak 42.8 percent...... The Rockets are the only team in the league to shoot over 40 percent from three-point range.

The Bulls have Michael Jordan who can often shoot the shot. Aside from Hayes' free throws against the Pistons, the Rockets haven't had a final shot this season. It's even more terrifying because they rarely fight people until the last moment.

Looking at defense, the Bulls conceded an average of 92.9 points per game, and opponents shot 44.8%, the first in the league. The Rockets' defense was even fiercer than the Bulls of the year, and the defense could be described as "impregnable", conceding an average of 89.3 points per game and shooting 44.3% from the field.

With Jordan, Pippen, and Rodman, can the Bulls' defense not be strong? In the NBA All-Defensive Team that year, the Bulls occupied three spots. These three were the core of the team at that time, and when they were taken apart, each of them had a strong individual defensive ability. Jordan was voted the NBA's All-Defensive Player in 1988; Rodman was also voted the best defensive player twice in 1990 and 1991; Pippen was also named to the All-Defensive Team seven times. If it weren't for center Langley dragging his feet, there would have been fewer points conceded.

The Rockets, on the other hand, have the defense-oriented Van Gundy as their coach, and their defensive skills are unquestionable, and they have mainly played half-court man-to-man defense in the first two seasons. This season, the joint defense system was added. The Rockets are the only team to concede under 90 points, which says it all. There is the giant Yao Ming on the inside, the all-round defender Hayes is in charge, there is defensive expert Battier on the outside, and even Maddy, who has worked in the blue collar before, except for the Alstom handicap, the Rockets' defense has almost no weaknesses.

Comparing the data of the main players of the two sides, it can better reflect the unstoppable momentum of the Rockets.

In the 95-96 season, the average data of the Bulls Big Three is 55.3 points, 25.9 rebounds, 12.7 assists, 4.5 steals and 1.6 blocks. The three of them are all veterans of the alliance for many years, and if they do their part, the Big Three will naturally be formed.

The Rockets' Big Three averaged 60.4 points, 24.3 rebounds, 12.3 assists, 3.2 steals and 3 blocks per game in the new season. Not inferior to the Bulls at all, and the score is even stronger.

Moreover, the Rockets already have a gang of tough bench bandits. Bunch Wells, who is strong enough to compete for the best sixth man, three-point shooters Hyde and Novak, Spanoulis who is good at team basketball, newcomers who work hard defensively, Mutombo, Howard, etc......

Maybe the only thing the Rockets are worse than the Bulls is the coach.

Phil Jackson's ability to pair with star players is unmatched, and he can make Jordan and Pippen the most tacit pair, and he can also knead the Lakers OK combination together. Phil Jackson's tutelage of Rodman is also a successful example. Tactically, the triangle offensive tactics that Jackson admired were well known. The only thing he's been criticized seems to be that he will always be with a superstar.

Relative to Jackson's scenery, Jeff Van Gundy has received as few accolades as the hair on his forehead. He's more of a defensive pro, and his best result before coming to the Rockets was taking the Knicks to the Finals.

After 15 consecutive wins, no one doubts the strength of the Rockets, they are definitely capable of attacking the championship!

After the game, the players usually go into the locker room to take a shower, and when the players are done, they can be interviewed by the media. The away team's locker room, which was supposed to be deserted, was flooded with media today, and reporters rushed in before Yao Ming even finished taking a shower. It's time to take a "Giant Bathing Photo" for Yao Ming.

They are babbling about what they want from the Rockets. The veterans need to break the news, and Rocket is now the best interviewee. A day ago, they were hoping the Lakers could end the Rockets' winning streak. Now that the Lakers have been dealt with, public opinion suddenly realized that the Rockets were going to catch up with the 72-10 Wonder Bulls 10 years ago, so they rushed over one after another.

"Man, it's only been 23 games now." Hayes smiled and said to a young reporter, "Isn't it too early for you to say that we can break the Bulls record now?" When the time comes, if we don't play well, we will be sprayed, these days, there are more and more non-mainstream and trolls, you don't know, right? ”

The reporter was dizzy to listen, the Yankees didn't know what trolls and non-mainstream were at all, they only knew how to analyze the data and draw conclusions.

Faced with the sudden contrast with the bull, the low-key Yao Ming said: "Let's not mention this in the future." The schedule behind us is not easy, it is too far to surpass the Bulls, we can only fight one game at a time, and try to play every game well. ”

The Rockets had already figured it out. The Bulls went 41-3 that season, and if the Rockets really want to get into that area, they need to go at least a month without losing.

The rocket is not far from the big test. The Clippers and Trail Blazers are not strong and almost negligible. But the Spurs are a hurdle they must overcome!

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