At this moment, Van Gundy and Barkley had the same idea, putting Al Jefferson and Asik in the position, attacking with their backs one by one, and Asik must have the advantage. Putting two teams in such a position to play must also have an advantage for the Rockets, and their team is designed this way.

The Rockets are such a half-court team, in the half, they have a low-post killer, an all-round scorer, and a system similar to a triangle offense, and the Rockets fight for the halfcourt, and the Pelicans have no advantage.

Therefore, if the Pelicans want to win this series, they must master the rhythm, that is, they will not let the opponent play the position, and they will try to play the position as little as possible, but get points in a quick and simple way.

Van Gundy had long been determined to do so, so he immediately stood up and gestured towards the court.

When Van Gundy was gesticulating, the Pelicans threw the basketball out again quickly. Li Feng ran wildly towards the opponent's half with the ball this time, and Li Feng added full speed at this time.

Harden is in the same situation as Terry, he is even more tired than Terry because he fights more when he plays the Spurs.

So once Li Feng's side accelerated, Harden's feet were a little soft, he didn't adapt to it, Li Feng passed Harden all of a sudden, and quickly passed the ball to Gasol who caught up on the side in the Rocket's restricted area.

Gasol's best skill is the air cut, he runs desperately and shoots the ball to make a layup.

The Rockets scored points, the Pelicans chased their butts and beat them for 2 points, the Rockets scored two points to several people to run, and the big man resisted several times, but the Pelicans didn't have to run anything to finish.

In this game, the Rockets still seem to have the advantage because they have long possession and clear scoring.

The Pelicans just have nothing, run, and then score on a layup and that's it.

But the Rockets, who seemed to have the upper hand, called a timeout first. McHale looked at the team's defense and couldn't keep up with the Pelicans' fast break, and today's Rockets game was a little too laid-back, it didn't look like a playoff game, but like an ordinary regular season. That's not going to work.

So McHale called a timeout, first getting the team up with the right attitude, and then arranging tactics to disrupt the Pelicans' fast break.

Now the rocket himself is slow and can't catch up with the opponent, he can only interfere with a pass first, not let the opponent pass out, and not let the player who receives the ball receive the ball comfortably. Run comfortably. The Rockets' intention was to keep the Pelicans from moving up from the source, a second or two slower, and their positional defense was established.

McHale is a good calculation, but he is not as determined as Van Gundy, and he is ruthless, Van Gundy directly replaced at this time, replacing Aljefferson with Kelly, and replacing Roten with Granger.

Both of Van Gundy's substitutions have only one goal, which is to be fast. Nothing that is slow-paced is allowed on his team.

Al Jefferson had a slow pace, he replaced Al Jefferson, Luo Teng was not slow, but he couldn't run, and he was also replaced.

Van Gundy made a big change in the opening two minutes. After the pause, the TNT foursome was shocked enough, and Director Zhang was also shocked enough here.

Even McHale couldn't understand why Van Gundy was crazy. Changed such a lineup so early? Do they still want to play showtime? Then my rocket is a rookie to fight?

McHale was very angry here, the name of the refrigerator was Refrigerator, and of course it was rare to get angry.

The fridge yelled on the sidelines. As soon as he got angry, the intensity of the rocket's attack immediately intensified.

When the Rockets came over, the basketball first went to Harden's hands, and Harden took the ball and the Rockets immediately pulled the space to the other side.

In this way, on the left side of the court, there are only two people left, Li Feng and Harden.

The topic of Li Feng and Harden was very fierce before the game, and now the two of them got together so quickly.

The center of New Orleans immediately roared, these two people met so quickly, even the foursome did not expect.

Barkley also exclaimed at this time:

"The singles of Harden and Li Feng are coming so soon, and there is a good show to watch now."

When Barkley exclaimed, Harden took the ball and broke through to the front, and when he felt Li Feng's tough hardness, Harden suddenly dribbled behind and pulled his body towards the opposite side.

Li Feng moved this side, Harden pulled the basketball back behind his back, and then leaned forward, Li Feng retreated slightly, at this time Harden dribbled behind his back and stepped back, and then stepped back to shoot, suddenly throwing off the space and shooting a mid-distance.

"Huh."

Harden's mid-range has indeed been practiced to an extremely stable state, and once an opportunity arises, even if it is an instantaneous opportunity, it is a steady shot.

In this offense, Harden fully demonstrated his speed, confrontation, superior technique, perfect rhythm control, and the touch of the group.

Li Feng faced Harden at this time, and some hardware conditions were far away from Harden, but there was no way to complete the defense.

At the beginning, Harden hit such a ball, and after scoring, Harden also happily clenched his fists in celebration, and waved his fist fiercely in front of Li Feng.

Harden's half-court singles ability is indeed strong, so strong that it is almost impossible to stop. However, now Li Feng has no intention of comparing his half-court singles ability with Harden.

It's only the first quarter, Li Feng's priority is to run the team as a whole, and only when the team is in danger or the game enters the final stage, Li Feng will score desperately.

So after being scored by Harden, Li Feng didn't look at Harden at all, turned around and chased after the Rocket's half.

At this time, Kelly, who was kicking off from the baseline, simply ignored Asik's interference, raised the ball to his head, his hand was slightly off, and he threw the basketball suddenly, and the basketball went directly to the hands of Corey who was running in front.

Corey still has a big speed advantage over Terry, Terry can't catch up with Corey here, and when Harden turns around and wants to take care of it, Corey hits the ground and passes to Li Feng.

Li Feng received the ball and forced a three-step basket, Harden went to defend, Li Feng just relied on his body to hit the opponent with his shoulder, and raised his strong arm to protect the basketball. Throw the basketball towards the basket with your left hand.

Harden was suppressed by Li Feng with strength, and he couldn't jump, so he could only watch Li Feng make a layup.

Just now, Harden showed perfect technique, perfect individual singles, and Li Feng, who was extremely strong in defense in the half, was also shaken and had no way to defend.

However, at this time, the Pelicans called, but there was nothing, and it was easy to score points with one fast and one strong.

At this time, everyone thought of a phrase from the magician:

"We don't want a difficult half-court shot, we just need five players who can run to make a layup."

Today's Pelicans are the most vivid use of this sentence. Now the Pelicans have scored 8 points, all of which were scored by a quick counterattack.

However, the Rocket's 8 points were all scored by attacking the half-court position, and from the perspective of ornamentation, the Rocket's side held the ball for a long time, and it was very difficult to shoot, as if the Rocket's ability was stronger. However, it must be more difficult to shoot in a high difficulty every time than to score a fast break every time.

It's a simple truth, the closer you get to the basket, the easier it is to score, and McHale was angry just now, he felt that the other party had humiliated him. But now that the Pelicans can still play a fast break despite their delays, he is also a little enlightened.

The Pelicans' quick tactics are different from the Suns, whose offense is initiated by Nash. Nash doesn't have as much destructive power as Li Feng, and the Suns don't have a three-point accurate forward who can pass the ball.

The destructive power of the Pelicans' fast tactic is amazing, and the reason why the Rockets were able to play showtime back then was because the Magic was tall and fast. Irresistible in the midst of quick action? The current Li Feng part also has some conditions.

Realizing that he was underestimating his opponent, McHale hurried over and yelled at the team to strengthen their defense.

McHale rarely screams. Normally, he was sitting on the side with the old god there, or whistling and giving orders.

But now it is yelling, which is enough to show that the rocket has encountered some unexpected situation.

In this case, the rocket hit even more fiercely. The rocket also began to slowly increase its strength. The Rockets have indeed reached a pinnacle of this era in terms of half-court offensive tactics at this time.

As soon as the Rockets' twin towers came up, they were like two millstones, crushing the Pelicans' defense.

And the Pelicans' defense, since they want to play fast at this time, they have to put pressure on the opponent on the defensive end. The whole team is trying to get ahead and put pressure on the ball as much as possible, in this situation. The Pelicans are both easy to steal the opponent's basketball and easy to be caught by the opponent to pass a good ball.

At this time, the Rockets have two cores, one core is Harden, and the other core Asik, when this kind of encounter is preemptive.

Asik's ability was more obvious, taking the ball and shaking it, passing the basketball to Ariza in the weak corner.

Ariza took the ball with a three-point shot, and this season was also Ariza's best season, hitting a solid three-point shot.

"Huh!"

The characteristics of the Rockets' half-court offense are basically all played, and the Rockets' offense relies on the low post of the Twin Towers, Harden's singles, the three-point of role players, and Terry's cold arrows. Now the system is basically all the means out.

The Rockets also took this opportunity to score 11 points, and the Rockets' shooting percentage in the opening game was really good. They all feel very good.

At this time, the Pelicans came over and wanted to play the offensive and defensive transition, and the Rockets finally succeeded in delaying once, leaving the Pelicans slightly stuck in the backcourt.

In this way, the rocket came and set up a position, and the Pelican could only hit the position of the rocket. The Rockets' positional defense is still very good, and Kenny Smith also said at this time:

"The Pelicans hit the opponent's position in the first round, let's see how the Pelicans play."

The Pelicans came over at this time, and none of the five people got off the basket, and all five people were floating outside.

Corey and Granger went to the bottom corner, Gasol was at the top of the arc, Li Feng and Kelly were on the left and right flanks, completely opening up the Rockets' defense, at this time the Rockets had no way not to spread out, because these people all had long-range shots, although Corey and Li Feng were unstable, but they couldn't be unguarded.

In this case, the Rockets' defensive formation was also destroyed. Once the space is opened, the offense is easy to play, Li Feng catches the ball and moves towards the baseline to cover Corey, Corey gets the basketball with his hand, and continuously uses Li Feng and Gasol's cover to suddenly kill the basket.

Terry's speed is already slow, and once misplaced, Mortiyunas is not a talent to defend against small men. Just look at the seemingly powerful defense of the Rockets, and a hole was torn open in an instant.

Corey actually scored two points with a layup.

Corey's light breakthrough of the rocket's defense line is a thrilling topic, but don't forget about it.

At this time, the Rockets' lineup is still very bulky, and their players are still far away, in this case. It makes sense that Corey could make a breakthrough.

At this time, the four-man group who were waiting to see the Pelicans attack the position were stunned, and they all felt that it would take some effort for the Pelicans to hit the rocket position. You have to fight it anyway, but what they didn't expect was that the Pelicans were so simple.

One acceleration is all the same, and it's almost as simple as playing a fast break.

At this time, Webb, who supported the Pelicans, said:

"The Rocket's defense is so poor, it's so easy to break through, what are the Rockets doing. The outside line is equal to the corridor, which reminds me of China's helping grandma cross the road, today is simply helping grandma cross the rocket."

Weber said so, and Reggie Miller said:

"The atmosphere of today's game is not right, the Rockets should not be at this level."

Most people didn't expect that the pelican could play so lightly. Even Van Gundy himself didn't expect that Corey would actually break through the opponent's line.

At this time, McHale was also depressed, he had just called a timeout, and his team was beaten like this.

And McHale also saw it clearly. As for Corey's breakthrough, it is definitely not that Terry and Mortiyunas are not defensive enough, but that these two people really can't defend this point.

With this in mind, McHale hurriedly asked Corey Brewer to warm up. As long as there is a dead ball, he asks Cory Brewer to replace it.

The Rockets opened with several very exciting half-court offenses in a row, and at this time, the Rockets finally missed once.

Asik hit Kelly with the ball under the basket, and when he suddenly rolled over, Granger rushed in to steal and harass.

Asik hurriedly wanted to throw the basketball out. When he was pressed, his passing was also a lot softer, and Li Feng chased the basketball in the past. After chasing the basketball, Li Feng immediately turned around and came again towards the half court of the Rockets.

At this time, Harden had already committed a foul and didn't dare to make a move, and if he did, he wouldn't play in the first quarter.

At this time, Ariza was understanding, went up and gave Li Feng a foul, and stopped Li Feng in the half.

Ariza made a tactical foul on his side, and finally there was a dead ball, at which time McHale quickly replaced Cory Brewer on the court. At this time, what the Rockets need is to speed up, and first block the point of point guard.

At this time, the Rockets foul count has not yet arrived, and the Pelicans are on the sideline to reopen the ball. The Pelicans reopened the lineline, and the Rockets took advantage of the opportunity to secure their position in the halfcourt.

The Rockets held their ground in the halfcourt, and on the Pelicans' side, Corey tried a breakthrough again, and the result was that Cory Brewer was faster than Corey and was in good health, and Corey's breakthrough was immediately suppressed.

At this time, the team's ball was returned to Li Feng's hands, and Li Feng didn't need too much to get the ball here, or to block and dismantle with Gasol.

Li Feng and Gasol made a little blocking, and the defensive attention of the Rockets was immediately focused on Li Feng, so that Gasol, who was behind Li Feng, was relaxed, and Li Feng passed the ball back to the European big man.

Gasol took the ball and threw a small mid-range shot at the free-throw line, and Gasol's action of this small mid-range shot was a bit clumsy.

The movement is not pretty, but the hands are big and the feeling is very sharp, and Gasol also hit this small mid-range shot.

As a result, the Pelicans are ahead, and Gasol has played mediocre in the previous two series. When he played the Nuggets, he didn't shine as much as McGee, but now that this series has met the Rockets, his ability is immediately useful.

Because the Rockets' interior Motiyunas is slower than him, his chance is coming soon.

The Rockets encountered a problem today, how to defend it, it seems that they can't prevent the Pelicans, blocking a Corey and Gasol, saying before the game that the Pelicans seem to be worse in all positions, but when it comes to the court, the Rockets have encountered problems.

At this moment, McHale is also even more deeply frowned, what should I do about this problem?

The Rockets trailed by one point and came back to play, but the Rockets still pursued a steady basket. Mortiyunas arrived at the basket and desperately squeezed Gasol.

Gasol, for his part, was not afraid of this kind of pure power confrontation, and he pushed it out under the basket to prevent Morty Yunas from using his strength.

Mortiyunas is also rare to meet an opponent who can resist him, Mortiyunas is a guy who usually bullies a center forward who has no strength, and it's not bad, but when he encounters Gasol, who can withstand it, his performance is more average.

Turning around and attacking the basket a little softer, Kelly immediately stuck Asik under the basket and firmly controlled the rebound in front of Asik.

The Rocket's twin towers, which met the Pelicans' young twin towers on the inside, were not too cheap. The Rockets missed two consecutive offensive shots.

The Pelicans also got the backcourt rebound. In particular, it also allowed Kelly to catch the rebound in the backcourt, which was more troublesome this time.

Kelly turned around and made a long-distance pass, the basketball went directly to Corey, Corey took the ball and dribbled forward desperately, although he couldn't get into the Rocket's basket at this time, but he successfully drove the rhythm, once the rhythm was up, he turned around and passed the basketball to Li Feng.

Li Feng took the ball while on the move, and it was still quite unreasonable style. Leaned on Harden with one side.

"Bang bang" dribbled in two steps, and forcibly squeezed to the basket, and when it came to this position, Harden desperately harassed Li Feng from behind.

Li Feng took the ball and fought against Harden. Seeing that Harden and Li Feng were fighting hard under the basket, Asik wanted to pick up the cheap and block Li Feng from above.

But at this time, Li Feng seemed to have eyes in the back of his head. A behind-the-back pass threw the basketball out of the box and into Kelly's hands just outside the three-point line.

Kelly took the ball and threw out a three-pointer directly, "Whew!" Kelly's three-point shot.

In this way, the Pelicans are ahead of the Rockets. The Pelicans also opened with a high shooting percentage, but the Pelicans' high shooting percentage was not the same as the Rockets before.

The Rockets are all kinds of half-court strong shots, as well as difficult shots, but the Pelicans play all fast breaks, and they also shoot two.

Therefore, the Pelicans are much higher than the Rockets in terms of offensive efficiency, and seeing that the Pelicans are playing more and more vigorously, their own team just can't stand it, and McHale pulled Josh Smith up from the bench again.

Under normal circumstances, the Rockets play about 6 minutes on Josh Smith in the twin towers and play a mixed lineup, but today's game only started for 4 minutes. Jackson couldn't help it, he wanted to go to Josh Smith.

The Rockets came here, but the twin towers were still resisted, it was not easy for Morty Yunas to eat Gasol lightly, it was not easy for Asik to forcibly eat Kelly, and it was difficult for Harden to force Li Feng to beat him.

The triangle attack focuses on having a sharp point to eat the opponent and cause the opponent's defense to change, so that he can get the ball running.

But now the Rockets are struggling to attack on their own, and the ball is sluggish and can't run, and Cory Brewer has a bit of an advantage when he comes up to beat Corey, but he is not efficient when he stays away from the basket.

came to beat Corey strongly, but he himself made a mistake, and the Rockets failed to attack for three consecutive rounds.

At this time, the Pelicans immediately chased after the ball, and the Pelicans have always been fast enough. At this time, the Pelicans caught up, and Li Feng immediately hid in the bottom corner first, and seeing Kelly's cover coming up, he suddenly appeared to the top of the arc.

In this position, Harden ran a little slower because he was blocked, just such a step, Li Feng broke through a step with his left hand dribble, bringing Harden to the left, and suddenly a crotch dribble pulled the whole person to the right, and threw a middle distance with his hand.

As soon as Li Feng made a shot, he also hit the basketball.

"Huh."

The Pelicans led the Rockets by six points at 17-11. Before the game, everyone said that the Rockets were stronger, but it was the Rockets who were the first to suffer on the court.

McHale hurriedly called a timeout again, and the rocket still had to adjust. If the game goes on like this, the Pelicans will control the big rhythm of the whole game.

The Rockets called two timeouts in a row, and the score was still behind, which surprised many people, and fans in the New Orleans Center exclaimed in disbelief.

Although the Pelicans had the advantage in the previous matchups between the two teams, the Rockets had a strong momentum in the late season, and the playoffs were even different from the regular season. (To be continued......)