The Houston Rockets' performance has picked up recently, with a win rate back to 50%, but there is an undercurrent within the team.

First, the team's main point guard Jeremy Lin has been slammed by the local media in Houston due to his recent poor form, and a large number of fans have also questioned his main position on the team forum, and these rumors have also affected the team's normal preparations, and the players have also lacked normal communication with each other, and the atmosphere of the whole team's training and preparation is also extremely depressing

Second, the talented rookie Royce White and the Rockets drifted apart, and the two sides clashed over a series of issues: In response to White's depression, the Rockets advised White to go to Dr. Aaron Fink for psychological counseling, but White only trusted his personal doctor who had known him for many years, and then the Rockets wanted to send him to the secondary league, and White was absent from the team's practice, and the Rockets immediately fined him for refusing to accept the team's assigned doctor.

The scandal of White vs Rockets has also been hyped by the media, but in this turmoil, no one is a winner, and the situation is getting worse day by day, and White, who has not played a game this season, may leave the Rockets because of this.

"This is the league, it's a business from start to finish," Patterson said with a wry smile to the tall Zhuang sitting next to him, and today the Rockets will start a wave of road trips, and Patterson, who is a neighbor, and Gao Dazhuang will arrive at the Toyota Center in the same car.

"Yes, none of us will leave one day, maybe tomorrow will be me," said Gao Da Zhuang with some self-deprecation after parking the car.

"Hehe, with your current performance, the higher-ups won't let you go, but some people may leave the team at any time," Patterson said with a cold snort.

"The world is unpredictable, let's go" Gao Dazhuang stopped the topic at the right time and got on the Rockets bus with Patterson.

The Rockets embarked on three consecutive road trips, the first of which was a trip to the Rose Garden Arena to take on the Trail Blazers, the second meeting of the season, in which the Trail Blazers won 109-107 on the road.

Since joining the Rockets, Harden has been the focus of the league's attention, and Harden's firepower on the offensive end has surprised many people, although some people say that Harden has only been hot in the first two games in the real sense, but even so, he still leads the NBA player scoring list with Kobe Bryant with 26.4 points per game.

In the Rockets' loss to the Trail Blazers early in the season, the poor Harden still contributed 25 points, while his teammate Gao Dazhuang came off the bench to score 24 points, but the Rockets still lost to the Trail Blazers at home, where Trail Blazers rookie Lillard scored 30 points and 11 assists.

"I'm going to have to put in a better performance than the last matchup, we have a chance to win, and we're going to take advantage of this second chance to beat them," Harden said before the game that he was going to lead the team to win.

It is worth mentioning that Harden's performance on the road this season is better than at home, in the three away games, Harden can average 33.3 points per game and shoot 51.6%, while in the home game Harden averages 22.2 points per game and shoots only 38.9%.

"Gao, do you think Lillard will be the rookie of the year?" The tall and strong man who first arrived at the Rose Garden Arena in Portland was also pestered by the local media.

"Lillard? Yes, he's one of the strong challengers," and in the face of a provocative question from a Portland reporter, Gao Dazhuang very euphemistically stated that he was the one who occupied the first place on the rookie list, and the Rockets were full of confidence at the moment.

Gao Dazhuang still failed to enter the team's starting lineup, but as soon as he sat on the bench, he had already received a clear statement from Sampson, the assistant coach of the Rockets who was in charge of the whole game: "Observe the situation on the court, and prepare to play in the middle of the first quarter"

After the two sides jumped the ball, the Trail Blazers took the lead in attacking, and Matthews singled Harden with his back in the low post, and hit the first goal of the game with a step-back shot.

The Rockets also opened up space in the turnaround offense, handed the ball to Asik on the inside to beat Hikson, and went to the free throw line to score the Rockets' first point of the game after making a foul.

Jeremy Lin, eager to prove himself, also played aggressively, breaking through to the interior of the Trail Blazers with the help of a teammate's pick-and-roll, but Lin's layup bounced off Aldridge's interference.

Next, Jeremy Lin attacked the opponent's basket many times, but his shooting percentage was still not high today, so the Rockets were in a backward position at the beginning.

Fortunately, Harden, the core of the team, was in good shape today, and Harden showed his offensive talent at the Rose Garden Arena in Portland, where he often played against Batum in his first few offenses.

Batum is a defensive stalwart for the Trail Blazers, and his role in the team has also improved significantly this season, and in terms of height and reach, Batum undoubtedly has more advantages, but Harden's self-confidence will not show weakness to any opponent.

"Brushed" Harden to hit a difficult three-point shot, although Harden shot this ball very reluctantly, because Batum's defense was already in place, but Harden raised the shooting point and threw the ball hard.

Next, Harden relied on his breakthrough to score three goals in a row, making the Rockets bite the score.

However, at 4 minutes and 30 seconds into the game, with a scream, Harden fell to the floor in a counterattack layup, which startled the coaches and teammates on the sidelines, and also scared the majority of Rockets fans into a cold sweat.

It turned out that at the moment when Harden made the basket, the Trail Blazers' Batum had already chased after him, but after landing on the ground, Harden's right foot stepped on the surface of Batum's foot and twisted.

After the injury, Harden immediately sat down on the spot, regardless of the advice of the team doctor, tied his shoes tightly, and did a simple treatment, although from Harden's expression, it was still more painful, but it was obvious that he still wanted to keep playing.

"Toot" But the Rockets coaching staff didn't want to take this risk, so the Rockets made a decisive substitution, tall and strong, and replaced the injured Harden.

After "hey" came on the court, the tall and strong played more aggressively in the face of Matthews' defense, and took the initiative to ask Jeremy Lin for the ball after getting stuck in position.

However, Jeremy Lin did not pass the ball, but took a step back and shot directly after a false shot.

With a "dang", Jeremy Lin's shot bounced out of the basket, but fortunately, Rockets center Asik grabbed the frontcourt rebound, and the ball returned to Jeremy Lin's hands.

In this game, Jeremy Lin's offense was very strong, and he deceived Lillard with a false point and hit the Trail Blazers basket again, but his layup still missed.

Although he missed several attacks, Lin did not intend to give up, and there were many good passing opportunities during the period, and Lin chose to attack independently.

At 11:22, the Rockets' shooting rate was extremely low, and it could be seen that there was no tacit understanding between the players on the court, and the score was gradually pulled away by the Trail Blazers, and before the first quarter of the game ended, the Rockets were already 10 points behind the opponent.

At the beginning of the second quarter, just as Jeremy Lin was about to attack again, Rockets assistant coach Sampson decisively interrupted him, and with a big wave of his hand, he replaced Jeremy Lin on the backup guard Douglas.

Jeremy Lin's downfall also made Gao Dazhuang a real offensive core on the court, and Gao Dazhuang did not disappoint his teammates.

"Brush", "brush" tall and strong immediately used two consecutive outside three-pointers to let the Rockets close the score.

Next, Gao Dazhuang made a jumper on the left baseline, and the Trail Blazers' Batum pounced to block and received a foul, and Gao Dazhuang calmly scored on both free throws from the free throw line.

10 seconds later, the tall and strong defense interrupted Matthews's ball and counterattacked, and Batum, who chased back to the defense, failed to block and paid a foul, so Gao Dazhuang made a wonderful 2+1 for the Rockets to equalize the score.

Just when Gao Dazhuang was playing vigorously, the Trail Blazers suddenly strengthened their defense against Harden, and sometimes there were bags, and Gao Dazhuang fell silent for a while, but Gao Dazhuang quickly made adjustments, no longer fully focused on offense, but instead guided the whole team to attack, during which Gao Dazhuang made several wonderful shots in a row under the continuous package of the Trail Blazers, including Patterson and Asik became beneficiaries.

At 53:55, under the leadership of Gao Dazhuang, at the end of the half, the Rockets chased the difference to only 2 points, and Gao Dazhuang firmly controlled the ball in his own hands throughout the first half, scoring 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting, and handed out 7 assists.

"It's not just me these days, it's the whole team that has learned a lot, both offensively and defensively, and we need to be able to bring the individual and the team together," assistant coach Sampson stressed at half-time.

At the start of the second half, Harden was back on the pitch.

Harden's presence has undoubtedly enhanced the team's offensive power, and the Rockets are also on the upside.

The tall and strong performance in the first half attracted the attention of the Trail Blazers' defense, but Harden's presence immediately stretched the Trail Blazers' defense.

Sure enough, soon after two consecutive pick-and-rolls between Gao Dazhuang and Harden on the court, Gao Dazhuang assisted Harden to score a mid-range jumper.

1 minute later, Gao Dazhuang and Harden played his blocking tactics again, Gao Dazhuang used the cover to break through and pass back to Harden, Harden hit a long shot again, and the Rockets overtook the score.

Then the two teams entered a tug-of-war, with the tall and strong hand-outing ball to Asik in the low post on the left baseline, and then ran along the baseline empty-handed to take away the defenders, giving Asik a chance to form a single Hikson.

Asik leaned his back against the defender, made a quick turn to the baseline and easily got rid of it, scoring with both hands.

In the process of the Trail Blazers' counterattack, Gao Dazhuang broke Batum's ball to launch a fast attack, and Harden received Gao Dazhuang's pass and counterattacked the fast attack to the front court and was no longer defending, and a flying two-handed dunk scored.

"Oh" At this time, the Rockets players on the sidelines let out a burst of cheers, 85:90, and after three quarters, the Rockets who were playing away led the Trail Blazers by 5 points.

After three quarters, Harden had scored a game-high 24 points, and Gao Dazhuang also had a double-double of 16 points, 10 assists and 4 rebounds.