Chapter 59: The Rocket Can't Lift Off

At the beginning of the second quarter, Yao Ming sat on the sidelines.

His physical strength can't support him to play a full 48 minutes in the NBA's high-profile and high-paced games, in fact, if Yao Ming's physical strength can support him to do this, not to mention Mewtwo Chasing Sharks, but it is definitely on the same level as the four major centers.

Unfortunately, that huge size gave him endless pressure in the low position, and also increased the physical exertion of his energy, especially his legs, his thick thighs allowed him to be firmly nailed to the floor, which was important, because otherwise, he would not be able to effectively get stuck in the low position, but the weight of 300 pounds also put him under too much pressure, especially when his double script was scarred.

Without Yao Ming, the Rockets replaced Dekeembe Mutombo, an older center whose actual age is unknown, is still in good shape on the court, grabbing rebounds in defensive positions, and occasionally delivering shocking hats on the defensive end. But none of this can change the fact that he is at least forty-five years old, and no matter how good his condition is, the decline in physical fitness is still inevitable.

And Scola, although he has a good ability to make offensive fouls on the defensive end, but this can only be regarded as a small cleverness, and he cannot support the interior of the Rockets with his height of 206 cm. So, when Yao Ming went off the court, the Rockets' interior defense began to fall.

Scola was completely unable to stop Zhang Kong, and his proud foul-making skills had not been successfully displayed on Zhang Kong's body today. This is because Zhang Kong hardly gives him time to predict his next move and respond. The two are too different in terms of physical fitness.

However, on the offensive end, Luis Scola can still cause a little trouble for Zhang Kong, his skillful footwork and many fireworks-making feints make Zhang Kong dare not easily steal or block, and his ability to make fouls is too strong, almost similar to Kenyon Martin of the Kings.

Zhang Kong has now gradually learned how to control the number of fouls he has made, and he is not in a hurry to block Scola in the face of Scola, but chooses to block his shooting vision and shooting angle as much as possible. For the Cavaliers, keeping themselves on the court is far more important than a few caps.

Under Zhang Kong's defense, Scola was indeed not hated much, but his offensive efficiency was greatly reduced, and his shooting percentage plummeted when Zhang Kong always blocked the shooting space, and he failed to enter the basket for several consecutive balls

And Mutombo defended Ilgoskas, every time he saw Ilgoskas slowly shooting in the middle range, Mutombo looked resentful, if it was ten years ago, no, five years ago, no, even three years ago. If Ilgoskas dares to shoot so slowly in front of him, he will slap it down with a bloody hat to let the European know that he is not a vegetarian.

But now...... The years are unforgiving.

On the Rockets' side, after a break in the second half of the first quarter, Maddie seemed to be unable to find the position of the basket for a while, and several shots flew out. As the Cavaliers' lead began to widen, Adelman had no choice but to call Yao Ming, who had only a three-minute break in the second quarter, off the bench. Under normal rotation conditions, Yao Ming will not play so early, but if Yao Ming is not allowed to play now, I am afraid that this game may enter garbage time without waiting for rotation time.

He knows that Maddy has the ability to score 35.13 seconds, but you can't expect Maddy to score 35.13 seconds, this kind of thing is completely characteristic, just like you can't expect Nick Young to possess Jordan every night.

After Yao Ming came on the court again, the Rockets, who couldn't find the offensive direction, naturally handed over the basketball to him to deal with, and played two consecutive strong attacks under the basket very beautifully, and also caused a foul on Ilgoskas, but in retrospect, Mike Brown replaced Gibson and Ilgoskas, replaced Drew Gooden and Shannon Brown, James immediately took the ball to raise the offensive and defensive speed on the court, and took advantage of Yao Ming's slow speed and slow positioning, and played a fast attack.

Shannon Brown struggles to make a difference once he gets into positional battles, but in the fast break, he can play some good performances with his explosive physicality when there is a lot of room for attack.

And Yao Ming, running back and forth behind the butts of several Cavaliers attackers, often he has completed an attack before he runs his own penalty area, and then he has to immediately turn around and run back to the Cavaliers' penalty area to prepare for the next attack, so that although he can score some goals, his physical strength is rapidly depleted.

Yao Ming's weak physical strength is known throughout the NBA, and James's IQ is not abnormal, since he is forced to play outside of rotation time, it is natural to use a faster speed to further consume his physical strength. Yao Ming, who has sufficient physical strength, is an unstoppable killer in the low position, but once his physical strength is exhausted, he can only sit on the sidelines and gasp.

This is Yao Ming's weakness, and it is even more of a rocket's weakness. The Rockets don't have a qualified bench who can replace Yao Ming's on-court role when Yao Ming is off the court, no, it can even be said that the Rockets' bench lineup is really short enough. Their main lineup is definitely the best in the league, but their bench lineup is really stretched, and even the Cavaliers' bench can make a mockery of the Rockets. Alexander, the harsh owner, can almost be said to be the most angry one in the NBA, not only is he unwilling to pay the luxury tax, but he is not even allowed to break through the soft salary cap, among the 30 teams in the NBA, only Jordan can be as little as Jordan can be compared with Alexander, Jordan is really not rich, although he makes a lot in the NBA, but compared with these business predators, it is only a drop in the bucket. And Alexander ...... That's a real cut!

Although it is 50 steps and 100 steps, there is at least a 100-step gap, isn't it?

Zhang Kong looked at Yao Ming who was panting and running back and forth, a lot of thoughts flashed in his head, he really didn't feel any pressure from Scola and played very relaxed, which even made him feel in the mood to think about Yao Ming's experience, and then think about himself.

Zhang Kong was substituted for the first time in the last minute of the second quarter, and he didn't play again after the end of the game because the fourth quarter went into garbage time. The score gap of more than 30 points on the court made the Rockets players weak, Yao Ming consumed his physical strength prematurely because he did not rest enough, although he rested for a period of time in the third quarter, but in the case of a score difference of more than 30 points, it no longer makes sense for Yao Ming to appear again.