"Hey, boss, it's always nice to face your old club, right?" Lance-Stephenson whispered as he stood beside the tall man.

"There are too many memories of me here, half a year has passed in a blink of an eye, time flies so fast," said Gao Dazhuang with a sigh as he looked around.

"They certainly can't imagine that you can reach this height in half a year, or they wouldn't have traded you in the first place, and now they will only regret it," Lance Stephenson said with a pout.

"That's not necessarily, maybe I'm just better suited to Brooklyn" In fact, Tall and Strong can't talk about "hatred" for the Houston Rockets, after all, this is where he stepped into the NBA, and there are many fans here who support him.

……

"The Brooklyn Nets player who plays below is this year's No. 3 pick, from China - tall and strong, welcome him home~~~!" As Lance Stephenson and the tall man whispered, the DJ at the Toyota Center in Houston screamed loudly.

At this time, the entire Toyota Center erupted in a round of applause and cheers, which were far more loud than the other players who had just played in front of the Brooklyn Nets, and it seemed that Houston fans still missed the former "bench player".

Gao Dazhuang also slowly ran to the center of the court, stretched out his hands and waved to the fans on all sides, as an opponent can still get so many Houston fans in the Toyota Center Arena, Gao Dazhuang still has a trace of emotion in his heart.

Then the tall and strong trotted all the way to the Houston Rockets' rest area, and shook hands with the Rockets' head coach McHale, players James Harden, Jeremy Lin, Omo Asik and other old teammates one by one.

Although this game is crucial for the Houston Rockets. But at this moment, the tall and strong performance once again won the applause of the Houston fans at the scene.

This is actually the second time this season that Gao Dazhuang played against his old club Houston Rockets, and in the last home game at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, Gao Dazhuang handed over 44 points, 6 rebounds and 7 assists, and led the team to a one-point narrow victory over the opponent with a stunner.

This has made many Houston fans feel conflicted, they love and hate Tall Strong, and there is also a trace of controversy among fans, although the core of the team James Harden has performed well this year, there are still a large number of Rockets fans who question the team's move to trade Tall Strong, they believe that keeping Tall and Strong, the Houston Rockets will be more competitive.

There are even some fans who believe that the Houston Rockets should build a team with a tall and strong core. And not James Harden. Of course, it's too late to say all this.

……

At 7:30 p.m. local time in the United States, at the Toyota Center Arena in Houston, the Rockets' home game against the Brooklyn Nets is about to begin.

After losing to the Denver Nuggets on their last road trip to the West. The Brooklyn Nets never lost again. They put their record into 54-26 with a staggering 13-game winning streak.

As a result, the Brooklyn Nets are currently 2.5 wins ahead of the New York Knicks, who have 52 wins and 29 losses. In fact, they had already secured the second place in the East before this game, and the remaining two games were just training for the play-offs.

But their opponent today, the Houston Rockets, is different, and the battle for a Western Conference playoff spot has reached a fever pitch. The slightest mistake can undo a season's hard work.

With two games left in the regular season, the Golden State Warriors are sixth in the West with 45 wins and 35 losses, the Rockets are seventh in the West with 44 wins and 36 wins, and the Los Angeles Lakers and Utah Jazz are both eighth and ninth in the West with 43 wins and 37 losses.

That means the Houston Rockets will have to win one of their remaining two games to secure a playoff run, but the Houston Rockets' last two opponents won't be easy to play against.

Today's Brooklyn Nets are second in the East, they have not lost since April, the only good news is that the Brooklyn Nets have completed the regular season ahead of schedule, and they may not give their best in today's game, and may send the Houston Rockets a ride.

If the Houston Rockets lose to the Brooklyn Nets today, the situation will be extremely unfavorable for the Houston Rockets, as their last opponent is the Utah Jazz, who are currently ninth in the West.

This is definitely a "dead-end" battle, because the Los Angeles Lakers' remaining two opponents were squeezed out of the playoffs early, and it is not difficult for them to win back-to-back, which means that whoever can win this life-and-death battle between the Houston Rockets and the Utah Jazz will be able to successfully enter the playoffs.

Of course, the Houston Rockets would prefer to settle the battle today, and the media is widely bullish on them, because the Houston Rockets are playing at home and they have more reasons to win.

And the Brooklyn Nets are trying to create enough scoring opportunities for the tall and strong, so that he can continue to maintain the "scoring" advantage over Kevin Durant in the final two rounds.

As a result, the lineups of the two sides in this game are completely different.

The Houston Rockets fielded their strongest main lineup: center Omo Asik, power forward Al Jefferson, small forward Chandler Parsons, shooting guard James Harden, and point guard Jeremy Lin.

In fact, the starting lineup of the Rockets is still very powerful, even in the entire league, it is very competitive, but the main problem that plagues the Rockets is that there are many mistakes, and then the bench rotation players are not strong.

Compared with the Houston Rockets, the Brooklyn Nets are much more casual, and they sent a large number of "rotation" players in this game without ranking pressure.

In this game, the Brooklyn Nets' Deron Williams, Kaulvay Leonard, Kenneth Faried and Marsin Gortat and other four main players all played, and even Deron Williams appeared directly on the sidelines of the court in a suit.

The Brooklyn Nets players who remained on the court at this time were: center Timofey Mozgov, forward players were Gerard Wallace and Kyle Korver, and the guard line fielded Lance Stephenson and Tall Strong.

In this lineup, only tall and strong are the main force of "iron fighting". Obviously, the Brooklyn Nets have begun to "practice" for the playoffs, and many Rockets fans sighed secretly when they saw Brooklyn's on-court lineup, and there was no reason why the Houston Rockets, who were fully played, could not defeat the Brooklyn Nets, who were mainly benched.

With a "beep", with the referee's whistle, the game officially began.

With a "snap", the Brooklyn Nets took the lead in the jump ball, and Brooklyn Nets young center Timofey Mozgov unexpectedly beat Rockets center Omo Asik in the scrum.

Tall and strong jumped high and picked up the basketball in the air. Immediately hold the ball and move forward quickly. At this time, Chandler Parsons of the Houston Rockets quickly met up, and it seemed that the Rockets were preparing to use Chandler Parsons to defend the tall and strong.

However, among the entire Houston Rockets, Chandler Parsons is relatively close to tall and strong in terms of height and speed, and is indeed an excellent candidate for defensive tall and strong. At least more reliable than the Rockets' backcourt duo of James Harden and Jeremy Lin.

"Peng" sounded. Tall and strong with his back dribbling close to Chandler Parsons. But instead of a frontal breakthrough, he took advantage of a simple change of direction with the help of teammate Timofey Mozgov's block. Easily got rid of Chandler Parsons' defense.

As the absolute core of the Brooklyn Nets, Tall and Strong is definitely the object of the opponent's tight defense, but the other players of the Brooklyn Nets will also try their best to cover for Tall and Strong, which is a spear and shield duel.

The big center's pull-out block also mobilized the opposing center's Asik, which made it easy for the tall and strong man who got rid of the defense to get inside the line, only to see his feet jump on the line of the restricted area, dodge Al Jefferson's defense in the air, and pull the rod to the other side of the basket to shoot a backhand layup.

With a "brush", the layup was hit, the tall and strong whole action was done in one go, and the feel control when the shot was completed was even more wonderful, just like Jordan possessed.

2：0

Tall and strong fully showed his strong attack power and took the lead to win a ball.

The Houston Rockets' Jeremy Lin then broke through the wing and made a layup, but his layup bounced off the basket with the interference of the tall and strong.

The Brooklyn Nets immediately launched a counterattack, and after receiving a pass from a teammate in the frontcourt, the tall man did not stop, and once again played a pick-and-roll cooperation with teammate Kyle Korver.

However, this time, the tall and strong did not choose to break through, but immediately jumped and shot after receiving the ball.

At this time, the referee's whistle sounded in time, and it turned out that Rockets defender Chandler Parsons reached out and hit the tall and strong arm.

But after the whistle blew the opponent's foul, Gao Dazhuang actually threw the ball to the basket with one hand.

With a "brush", the ball fell into the net accurately again, and the penalty was added!

Although the opponent scored 2 goals in a row, the Rockets fans in the Toyota Center Arena still gave a lot of applause to Gao Dazhuang, with appreciation, regret, and definitely chagrin.

"Brush" the tall and strong penalty hit, and the game continued.

"Play beautifully" Tall and Strong suddenly heard James Harden say next to him, "but we can't lose, we have a lot of talented players in the team at the moment, I think we will have some achievements, so we have to make the playoffs!" ”

Obviously, James Harden doesn't just talk about it, he looks like a different person than usual, and he plays resolutely.

Soon the "bearded" James Harden showed his "grandiose" face, and he actually caused a foul on Gerard Wallace under the basket, scoring two points on both free throws.

Got close to getting down on another counter-attack and got a dunk in front of Kyle Korver.

Then he hit a mid-range jumper near the free throw line, and one person scored six points in a row, and the Houston Rockets took a one-point lead at 6:5.

In the ensuing game, James Harden played extremely tough and showed great aggression under the mark of Brooklyn Nets small forward Kyle Korver.

In terms of speed, strength, and skill, Kyle Korver can be said to be behind James Harden in an all-round way, and he can't stop James Harden's offense at all.

A "beep" sound, after James Harden beat Kyle Korver again. The Brooklyn Nets were the first to request a timeout.

After the timeout, the defense of James Harden was replaced by another Nets stalwart, Lance Stephenson.

However, this targeted adjustment by the Brooklyn Nets did not have the slightest effect, and in the face of Lance Stephenson's close marking, James Harden made a feint and stepped back sharply and hit a decisive three-point shot.

After that, he hit another shot with the help of his teammates' pick-and-roll, and he scored seven consecutive points in just 45 seconds.

In the final moments of the first quarter, James Harden hit another buzzer-beating three-pointer in front of Lance Stephenson.

The Houston Rockets launched a wave of 10:3 attacks at the end of the first quarter to end this tournament, and the score on the court became 22:31, and the Houston Rockets temporarily took the lead.

James Harden shot 6-of-7 from the field in the first quarter. 2-of-2 from three-point range. He made 2 free throws and scored 16 points in an extremely efficient manner.

And this James Harden performance has just begun, the second quarter of the game has just begun, James Harden has twice in a row to go head-to-head with Lance Stephenson. and caused a defensive foul on Lance Stephenson in a row.

"Brush", "brush", "brush", "brush" James Harden hit 4 free throws in a row. The difference between the two sides was extended to 13 points. And forced the Brooklyn Nets to make substitutions.

Veteran CJ Watson was called upon to replace Lance Stephenson and take over James Harden.

CJ Watson immediately showed some defensive ability when he came on the court. Limit James Harden from the receiving side.

In the next game, the two teams with good offensive ability began to fight to defend, and the shooting percentage of both teams was not high.

The Houston Rockets even hit just one shot in the next 5 minutes and 47 seconds, but their core player James Harden relied on sharp breakaways to keep standing on the free throw line.

James Harden made 10 free throws throughout the second quarter, and he made all 10 free throws to keep the team ahead.

At the end of the second quarter, the tall man stepped up and hit two three-pointers in a row, but soon James Harden also returned the favor with a long-range three-point shot.

At halftime, the Houston Rockets still led the visiting Brooklyn Nets by 12 points at 45:57.

James Harden, the core player of the Houston Rockets, played well in the first half, shooting 7-of-13 from the field, including 2-of-4 from three-point range and 12 from the free-throw line, scoring a staggering 28 points in the half.

Last season, fans weren't clear about James Harden's abilities, and quite a few fans thought he could match Ginobili.

But fans don't know if James Harden can become a leader like Kobe Bryant, but as the season progresses, James Harden has accumulated enough experience, and it is precisely because of his good performance that the Houston Rockets have let go of the current "hot" player in the league - tall and strong.

Although the Houston Rockets are a little "annoyed" by his current tall and strong performance, James Harden is still playing well for the Rockets, averaging 17 shots per game this season and playing one of the most unique and interesting offensive patterns in the league.

James Harden's offense is mainly reflected in two aspects: three-point shooting and breaking through the basket, and his mid-range shooting is as rare as shaving.

But whether it's catch-and-shoot threes or dribble threes, James Harden's shooting percentage is above the league average.

James Harden is shooting 39 percent from three-point range this season, with the main shooting areas concentrated at the top of the arc and on the right wing, where he has taken 351 shots and made 135 of them.

Only five players have scored more three-point goals than Harden this season, but that doesn't say enough about how good Harden is, and his excellent three-point ability can open up enough space for him to use other lethal weapons on the court.

James Harden combines speed, power, balance and the "European step" and is one of the best players in the league at breaking through the basket.

And in the first half of today's game with the Brooklyn Nets, James Harden made his free throw shooting this season to 631 with 12 of 12 free throws in the first half, breaking the dust for 31 years. Malone holds the Rockets' record for free throws made in a single season.

In addition, James Harden averaged 10.1 free throws per game this season and 8.8 free throws per game, both of which ranked first in the league.

"The Bearded" James Harden's ability to make fouls has made many opponents suffer, and he likes to actively look for physical contact, make fouls to get free throw opportunities, and is also nicknamed the "porcelain touch" king by fans.

What's more valuable is that James Harden's way of making fouls is not like the other two "porcelain" masters in the history of the Rockets, Kevin? Martin and Kassel.

The latter two are good at shaking up opponents with feints, and then rely on opponents to shoot and make fouls.

James Harden is attacking the basket, using rhythm and change of direction to create physical contact and win free throws.

James Harden's speed and explosiveness are not particularly outstanding, he mainly relies on his strong body and strength to make fouls, and he is very confident that he will not be stealed by opponents in the process of dribbling.

James Harden is the player with the most 2+1s this season, and if converted into every 40 minutes of play, Harden can get 0.93 2+1s, while the second and third places are all interior players: Howard with 0.83, Griffin with 0.80, Tall and Strong with 0.76 2+1s and Durant with 0.75 are fifth.

This season, many reporters have asked James Harden about the secret of making fouls, but he has not been noncommittal: "I'm just hitting the basket, I don't know how to explain that, I'm just hitting the basket."

James Harden also made a point of emphasizing that he didn't go for free throws when he broke through, but focused on scoring layups.

"I hold the ball tightly, and if the opponent tries to touch it or even break it, sometimes they get lucky to get the ball, but sometimes they pay for a foul, and that's how I play, I go to the basket with the ball, and I focus on the layup," James Harden said "sincerely."

At least for now, James Harden is among the top shooting guards in the league. (To be continued......)

PS: I'm sorry, brothers, I can't update it on a business trip, either I don't have the network, or I don't have time! 5555555, it's almost like the playoffs!