The Rockets' regular season opener was at home against the Charlotte Bobcats.

Joe's Bobcats really have a bright future ahead of the season, as they have selected Anthony for the past two seasons. Davis and Victor. Oladipo.

The Bobcats' lineup for the new season is Kemba, the ninth overall pick in '11. Walker, Oladipo with the second pick in '13, Gerrard with the twelfth pick in '09. Henderson, the 12-year No. 1 pick in Anthony Henderson. Davis and center Al Brown, who signed this summer for three years and 41 million. Jefferson.

If this lineup is at its peak, it is definitely one of the top teams in the league, but unfortunately not.

The sophomore, Davis, should be able to average 20+10 double-doubles per game, showing the excellent potential of a future top star, but to really dominate the game, it will have to wait until the end of his rookie contract.

Kemba. In Walker's third season, he has grown into a point guard who can steadily contribute 18+6, but Walker has always had many problems throughout his career, including in the future, such as lack of stability on the offensive end, poor finishing ability, short stature and need teammates to help defend on the defensive end.

As for Oladipo, he is still a first-year rookie, and he can't be in the center of the team's attack.

Therefore, the Bobcats look like a good lineup, but from the perspective of Wang Chao as a traverser.

The real truth is that the Bobcats have no problem breaking into the playoffs with this roster, after all, the East itself is much less competitive than the West, but they are definitely not a strong team.

It only took half a game for the Rockets to end the suspense of the entire game.

At 55:39 at halftime, the Rockets led by 16 points.

Bobcat's Inner Line Twin Towers, Al. Jefferson shot 1-of-7, while Davis, a bushy browb, was also average on Garnett's defense, scoring 7 points on 3-of-7 shooting.

The starting lineup of the Rockets after the start of the new season is still the same as last year's championship-winning lineup, with Wang Chao as the point guard, with Butler and Leonard as the two swingmen, and Garnett and Da Yao Zhen guarding the basket.

This lineup is really very strong, both offensive and defensive are the top in the league, and against a team like the Bobcats with average combat effectiveness, it can easily form a crushing trend.

After the successful third quarter check-in, Wang Chao and other main players all went off the court to rest, and the substitute lineup played the rest of the game, and the final score of the two teams was 104:83, and the Rockets defeated the Bobcats by 21 points and won the start of the new season.

After winning their first win of the season, the Rockets followed up with back-to-back victories over the Dallas Mavericks and Utah Jazz on November 1 and November 2 to start a three-game winning streak, and the Rockets are about to repeat last season's 19-game winning streak and continue to dominate the league.

But on November 4, the Rockets challenged the Los Angeles Clippers away, but lost to the opponent 118-124, ending the winning streak.

As one of the league's strongest players recognized by people in the new season, the Clippers are of course undoubtedly strong, and they are still sitting on the home court, and it is normal to win a game.

But in the course of this game, there are many people who are interested in the problems or hidden dangers of the Rockets, in fact, this problem has been manifested in the first few games, but the Rockets are in a winning streak, and no one mentions it.

This problem is the team's defensive mainstay, Garnett's form has declined.

After the end of last season, in fact, many people have discussed the problem of Garnett, after all, Garnett, who will be 38 years old in the new season, is an inevitable result of the decline in competitive state with age, but at that time, people generally maintained a more optimistic attitude, after all, it was only half a year, Garnett took the initiative to give up the offensive end last season, and after devoting himself to the defensive end, he could still show about 8 percent of the defensive strength at his peak.

But this is not the case.

In the first three consecutive games, Garnett contributed an average of 7.8 points and 6.2 rebounds per game, and because garbage time came early in two of the games, the playing time was not much, and the data was barely understandable.

But in this game with the Clippers, Garnett played 29 minutes and only had 7 points and 4 rebounds, especially with Clippers All-Star power forward Blake. Griffin's opponent is completely at a disadvantage, unable to attack or defend.

It really proves that the 38-year-old Garnett is really old, and it is not only his body that is old, but also psychological.

Winning the championship is like an obsession that plagues Garnett, and winning the championship with the Rockets last season seems to have achieved the ultimate goal all of a sudden, which made Garnett's entire tight string instantly relaxed, and this loosening, and then trying to tighten it again, is not so easy.

As a result, Garnett's form in the new season has fallen off a cliff, and his performance on the court, especially on the defensive end, has plummeted, and he has changed from the original top defensive interior player to a laggard.

Why are there so few teams in the league that can create dynasties? In the entire history of the league, only the Celtics, Bulls, Lakers, and the Magic team of the Super-Magic combination have done it.

Of course, there are many reasons, the team's long-term high-intensity confrontation will make the players fatigue and induce injuries; The value of players who play is rising, and it is extremely difficult for the team to leave all the championship-winning credits; After winning the championship, the mood was relaxed, especially the lack of motivation for the veteran to continue to defend the title.

Garnett apparently accounts for the vast majority of them, especially the lack of power.

Even if he wins another championship with the Rockets, for Garnett, his historical status will not be much improved, and the high-intensity confrontation may also lead to injuries and shorten the length of his career.

Even from Garnett's personal point of view, it would be a good idea to continue his career as much as possible and earn some salary, so he is not as the court as he used to be.

Of course, the premise of all this is based on the fact that Garnett is getting older and his competitive state has declined significantly, and Garnett feels the change in his state and will adjust his playing style accordingly.

Considering Garnett's average of 6.5 points and 6.6 rebounds per game in the Nets during the same period in history, Wang Chao was actually mentally prepared, but he didn't expect Garnett's state to decline so quickly, and he couldn't even maintain his state with the blessing of his own sparring potion.

What's worse is that it's not just Garnett who has problems, another interior core of the Rockets, and Da Yao's performance in the new season is also a little unsatisfactory.

Although Da Yao is only 34 years old in the new season, he is much younger than Garnett, but he does not have Garnett's physical fitness.

Da Yao should have officially announced his retirement in July of 11 years and completely stayed away from the basketball game, but just last season, in the 12-13 season, he was still active in the NBA, selected for the best second team and as the core of the Rockets' interior offense, he won a 72-10 record in the regular season and won all the playoffs with the team.

All this is naturally thanks to Wang Chao, but also with a bit of luck, Wang Chao did not expect that the system would actually have the existence of a reward prop such as a knee pad, which successfully helped Da Yao avoid suffering from injuries in the second half of last season.

But that's where the problem lies.

The effect of the knee pad only lasted until the end of last season, and Da Yao returned to his original form in the new season, so he faced the same problems as Garnett, who had a lot of appearances and high-intensity games last season, which accelerated the wear and tear of his body.

On Nov. 5, the Rockets defeated the Portland Trail Blazers on the road and the Los Angeles Lakers at home on Nov. 7.

In the first six games of the regular season, although they lost one game to the Clippers, the Rockets still achieved a 5-1 record, ranking at the top of the league.

But no one expected that on November 7, in the rematch between the Rockets and the Clippers at home, Da Yao was accidentally injured.

In a pick-and-roll inside combination between Paul and Griffin, Griffin used his speed advantage to shake off the already old and slow Garnett, and Paul passed the ball to Griffin with a ground-hitting pass, who jumped directly on the spot to split Huashan to the basket.

Da Yao, who was standing under the basket, didn't think about it, and immediately stepped forward to defend, the bodies of the two collided violently in the air, and the violent dunk like a Griffin beast was slapped by Da Yao, but after the two landed, Da Yao couldn't get up, but fell to the ground in pain while holding his ankles.

Wang Chao, who saw this scene, "chuckled" in his heart, knowing that he was going to suffer, and called a pause as soon as he got the ball.

Da Yao, who was lying on the floor, had a painful expression on his face, and couldn't even stand up on his own, and finally returned to the locker room with the help of his teammates.

In the next game, the whole Rockets team was sleepwalking, and even Wang Chao didn't have much heart to play, and in the end, the Rockets lost to the Clippers for the second time 94:105.

After the game, Da Yao was sent to the hospital for examination as soon as possible, but then the results of the MRI showed that Da Yao had a stress fracture in the middle of his left ankle, and the preliminary judgment was that he would have to recover for at least 3 to 5 months, and it was basically impossible to return to the court before the playoffs.

This is really a bolt from the blue, Da Yao is reimbursed for the regular season, and the blow to the Rockets is quite deadly, you must know that Da Yao is the second scorer in the team, and no one in the league can defend against the offense of the first hand, he was like O'Neal under the basket last season, and the reason why the Rockets can show such a strong dominance is that Da Yao is indispensable!

Many angry Huaguo and Houston fans scolded Griffin for being bloody, seeing him as the culprit who caused Da Yao's injury, and if he hadn't used such dangerous movements, Da Yao would not have been injured.

But only Wang Chao knows that Griffin is a black pot, this guy's playing style has always been like this, otherwise no one would give him a nickname of White Monster, the explosive power and impact like a beast have always been Griffin's selling point, Griffin has staged many violent slam dunks before, including Perkins's dunk of the century and the brutal dunk that overturned Gasol.

The slow-motion footage of Griffin's physical confrontation with Da Yao was repeated many times after Da Yao's injury, and there was no additional action in the physical contact between the two, and Da Yao's leg did not touch Griffin when he landed, and the fierce collision caused his body to lose balance, and the unstable landing and twisting to his ankle was the real reason for Da Yao's injury.

To put it bluntly, although Da Yao has lost a lot of weight under Wang Chao's suggestion, his height of 2.26 meters and weight of more than 130 kilograms are still too much for his ankles.

In other words, Da Yao has been able to stay relatively healthy in the past few seasons, which is already a blessing or a miracle.

It's just that Da Yao's season reimbursement is still too big a blow to the Rockets.

Da Yao's contract with the Rockets was originally signed with a four-year, 90 million contract, and this season is the third year of this contract, Da Yao's annual salary of up to $23 million this year is the highest salary on the team, and he also has a player option next year.

Even if Da Yao is injured, the Rockets must pay him wages and fill the salary space with no gaps to sign other players to fill Da Yao's vacancy.

In this case, the Rockets management was completely panicked and didn't know what to do.

The Rockets' reputation in the league also changed overnight, and the odds of winning the championship fell sharply, and they were quickly surpassed by the Heat, Spurs, Thunder and other teams.

——

"Da Yao's season is reimbursed, Garnett is not in good shape, and in the blink of an eye, the Rockets' Big Three are only left with Wang Chao, and the prospect of winning the championship is worrying!"

"Under the leadership of Wang Chao's single-core team, how far can the Rockets go this season? It is true that even without Da Yao, as long as there is Wang Chao, the Rockets are still one of the top teams in the league, but they will undoubtedly withdraw from the championship ranks. ”

"It's a pity that even if Garnett can maintain the form of last season, the Rockets will still be the favorites to win the championship.

The analysis of the Rockets' next championship prospects can be seen everywhere on the Internet, and the conclusions are completely unanimous - unless Da Yao can return to the playoffs, it will be difficult for the Rockets to defend the title, which is still too unlikely considering that Da Yao is 34 years old.

The management of the Rockets held a meeting for several days in a row, and the general manager specially invited Wang Chao to attend the meeting to discuss countermeasures.

According to their thinking, the team should try to find a suitable replacement player before the All-Star break, even if it is to use future first-round picks as a trade chip, to bring in reinforcements to ensure that the Rockets are capable of winning the championship.

In the past, the management has discussed several centers in the league that have performed well recently, and then it is good to negotiate with the opposing team for a price.

"What do you think, Wang?"

The general manager of the Rockets team is still very clear about his status in the team, so before making a decision, he still obediently asked Wang Chao's opinion.

(End of chapter)