James Harden, the sixth man of the year last season, was sent off for questioning the referee's decision, and the Rockets took advantage of the situation to launch a wave of 10:2 attack to close the score, and then Rockets coach McHale once again sent starting point guard Jeremy Lin and starting center Asik to launch a counterattack.

Contrary to the Rockets, although Thunder coach Brooks also made adjustments to the personnel on the court, he pressed the "Thunder Twins" to the bench.

Pre-season has different meanings for different teams: some teams are for "training players", allowing the main team to find the feeling of the game, while looking at the fringe players to decide who will eventually stay; And some teams are in order to "train the team", run in the rotation lineup, and practice the team's offensive and defensive tactics.

Today's Thunder team belongs to the former, and the Rockets clearly belong to the latter.

The current Thunder is already a mature team, the core lineup and technical and tactical routines have stabilized, while the situation of the Rockets is completely different, after the offseason operation, the main players in the team last season have only Kevin Martin and Chandler Parsons, the whole team is full of new faces, for them, let the new players learn the team's style of play and cultivate a tacit understanding with each other is the most important thing.

In the end, the Rockets made two free throws in the last five seconds to win 107-105 in the away game against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

"Rookie" Tall and Strong played 33 minutes, cutting 32 points and 7 rebounds, Jeremy Lin played 20 minutes, delivering 3 points, 6 assists and 3 steals, and Asik, another core of the interior who just joined, delivered 9 points and 7 rebounds in 17 minutes of playing time.

On the Thunder's side, Durant and Westbrook scored 20 points in each half, while Harden, one of the Thunder's three less, was trapped in fouls and played only seven minutes and scored eight points.

At the press conference after the game, the tall and strong who played well did not appear, and it was Jeremy Lin, a Chinese player who did not play well in this game, who attended the press conference with Coach McHale.

The Taiwanese American has become one of the league's most sought-after players in New York last season, but Lin struggled against Westbrook, the league's best offensive point guard, scoring 20 points at halftime.

"It's inevitable when I'm playing against these good point guards, I don't play well, the opponent is doing well, I can't defend against Westbrook, I'm a little too passive on the offensive end" Jeremy Lin was obviously quite unhappy with the play in this game "I've been trying to make things for Westbrook on both ends of the offensive and defensive ends, but those didn't work, I seem to be a little too passive, I'm not sure, I just didn't feel like myself today, I'm not sure, I didn't play at my level, I'm going to try to be more aggressive in the next games and create more chances for myself and others and do better than I did today."

However, for Jeremy Lin's statement, the team's head coach McHale has his own opinion, McHale believes that this is the first time Jeremy Lin has returned to the game since his injury in March, Westbrook has just finished the Finals with the Thunder, and he has also played a good game in the London Olympics, and his performance today can even be compared to 43 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists in the fourth game of the Finals, so it is inevitable that the two will reflect the gap in the matchup.

"Westbrook hit a lot of balls today, a lot of them were difficult in front of Jeremy Lin, he shot a lot of balls with our very good defense, a lot of balls we had with our hands up -- it wasn't a surprise to me that Westbrook played like this" McHale said, "I think Jeremy Lin will continue to play like this, he did a good job today, but he passed a lot of the balls he should have shot, he wanted to be as selfless as possible, and Jeremy Lin was very consistent overall."

When asked by reporters about Gao Dazhuang's performance in this game, Rockets head coach McHale showed a rare smile: "Although Gao still has a lot of problems on the defensive end, he is like a sharp sword on the offensive end, stabbing the opponent fiercely, he is a very potential player, I am very happy that we can select a talented player like Gao in the summer, he is like a gift from God......

Although he did not attend the post-match press conference, after the game, Gao Dazhuang was interviewed by CCTV's sports channel outside the locker room.

"How did you feel about the game?" The CCTV reporter is Yang Yi, a tall and strong old friend and acquaintance.

"Overall, it's still a good game, hehe, of course, the game is still a little tight at the beginning, the pace of the game is not very good, after all, it's the first game, it still takes time to get used to," replied the winning tall man with a smile.

"The attention of domestic fans to you has skyrocketed, and you have become the most watched athlete in China, what do you think?" Yang Yi then asked.

"I'm really under some pressure in this regard," Gao Dazhuang replied calmly.

"How many inexplicable fouls did you have in this game?"

"Yes, the NBA rules are somewhat the same as the CBA rules, so you have to change some habits through training when you foul the foul."

"What do you think is the most urgent need to improve in the NBA?"

"A lot of things, the body, the rhythm of the game, the confrontation, including the control of fouls, a lot of things need to be strengthened and improved"

"What do you think of your teammates in Houston?"

"Very good, from the beginning to the end of this game, my teammates supported me more, because I am a rookie, my teammates take care of me"

……

After the game, the mainstream media in Houston also reported on the game at length, giving a very high evaluation to the "rookie" of the Rockets, the "Houston Chronicle" pointed out that "the tall and strong first game is perfect, and the Rocket rookie combination is exciting", the article pointed out that as long as the tall and strong, Jones, and Lamb can play a good score, the new season of the Rockets is worth looking forward to.

In fact, the youth army rocket team has indeed shown a new look.

Two days later, the Houston Rockets defeated the New Orleans Hornets 95-75 at home to win two straight preseason games.

New Orleans Hornets' No. 1 pick Anthony Davis didn't play due to a groin injury, which made the game a lot less suspenseful and interesting.

In the first half, the New Orleans Hornets could still compete with the Rockets, but at the beginning of the second half, the Rockets playing at home played a wave of 15:3 attacks, and the situation began to tilt in favor of the Rockets.

Without the champion show Davis, the Hornets failed to show enough competitiveness on both offensive and defensive ends, Anderson's consecutive scores failed to help the Hornets narrow the gap, but the Rockets' Asik staged a violent dunk, and the tall and strong also made two foul free throws in a row, compared to the Hornets fell into a scoring drought, and the difference between the two teams continued to widen.

In the game, Robin Lopez made a vicious foul and knocked Gao Dazhuang directly over, but he couldn't prevent Gao Dazhuang from hitting both free throws, and at the end of the third quarter, the Rockets led the Hornets with a score of 69:51, and the outcome was out of suspense.

The biggest highlight of the game came on the inside, when Asik, the Rockets' starting center who scored only six points, grabbed 15 rebounds and dominated the three-second zone.

In the summer, the Rockets smashed a three-year "** contract" worth $25.1 million on Asik, who averaged only 3.1 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1 block per game last season.

In the game against the Thunder, Asik had 9 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 block in 17 minutes, and he grabbed 15 rebounds in today's game against the Hornets, of which 13 were backcourt rebounds and 2 were offensive rebounds.

Asik's biggest role for the Rockets is reflected on the defensive end, and the interior line guarded by him has become a no-fly zone: Vasquez broke through to the basket and was blocked by Asik hot pot, and Lopez tried to hit Asik with his back but was quickly pulled out from behind by the latter.

Last season, Asik was already a rebounding beast and a defensive giant, but his playing time was rarely unnoticed, and the data site Synergysports gave him the league's first defensive rating, and when he was on the floor, the Bulls conceded 7.6 fewer points per 100 possessions, and his rebounding rate was also the fifth highest in the league.

As ESPN stats expert Hollinger put it, with Asik's height, defense, and rebounding ability, as long as he maintains his efficiency last season after playing at a start-level level, he deserves the Rockets' fat contract.

Of course, in addition to Asik's accident, the Rockets also played extremely smoothly, the "champion" was absent due to injury, but the "Tanhua Show" was tall and strong and scored a game-high 22 points, the Rockets' starting point guard Jeremy Lin was in good shape, sending 9 points and 7 assists, Martin scored 13 points, Parsons and Patterson also scored 11 points each, plus Motai Yunas who scored 10 points on the bench, Douglas who scored 9 points and Delfino who scored 8 points, this is a team without superstars, But everyone can find a new rocket with accurate positioning on the team.

After the game, ESPN also commented: From the first preseason game by the rookie to the collective frenzy today, this new Rockets team is gradually developing legendary chemistry.