Wang Chao's pull-up layup made a good start for the Rockets.

However, the Rockets did not play well in the first quarter of the game, and as Wang Chao expected, the whistle began to sound frequently from the beginning of the game.

Da Yao was whistled for two fouls in two minutes, all of which came from Joel, who was opposite him. Embiid.

I have to admit that although he is only a first-year rookie, Embiid has shown the potential of the league's top interior center in the future, although his height and tonnage are far inferior to Da Yao, Embiid can rely on flexible foot movement and a certain medium and long-distance range to contain Da Yao, and when Embiid breaks through the frame, Da Yao's defensive action is slightly larger, and the referee's whistle comes as scheduled.

After 2 fouls, Da Yao was substituted.

Rockets head coach McHale protested loudly on the sidelines, and fans in the stands booed continuously.

Judging from the slow-motion replay, the defense of the Rockets is indeed suspected of fouls, but the referee's blowing penalty is this, many actions in the NBA can be blown for fouls in the strict sense, but in fact, only a small part of them can really blow the whistle, and more importantly, the referee's penalty should be in a unified standard to be considered fair.

In the first quarter of the game, the referee's blowing standard was obviously biased in favor of the Cavaliers, and with the same defensive action, the Rockets would be whistled for defensive fouls, but the Cavaliers would not.

James and Irving were like gods with the help of the referees, and they were unstoppable with the ball, scoring 11 points and 10 points in the first quarter to help the Cavaliers take a 34-29 lead in the first quarter.

On the Rockets' side, there were many players with fouls in the single quarter alone, including Da Yao 2 fouls, Whiteside 2 fouls, Leonard 1 foul, and Wang Chao 1 foul.

"It's a bit of a bad situation for the Rockets, and if they can't solve the foul problem in the next game, I'm afraid they will lose the first game of the series on their home court."

"Black Whistle! The referee is so TM black! Is this taking money from the Cavaliers? Or bought the ball? How can you blow the game like this, you have the ability to blow all the five main players of the Rocket team off the court! ”

"Free throw brigade Cavaliers NB! In order to stop Wang Chao and Da Yao's three consecutive championships, the alliance really doesn't want to have a face! ”

Far away on the other side of the ocean, the live broadcast rooms of major sports portals are being frantically swiped, and countless Chinese fans are angry and complaining for Wang Chao and the Rockets.

During the break, on the bench, head coach McHale frowned.

"Wang, you must control your actions and emotions next, the next game is also not easy to play, not only do we have no home whistle at all, but even in the whistle is still in a disadvantageous situation, the next score can only be as far away from the basket as possible, with three-point shots and mid-to-long distance to finish."

Wang Chao nodded, "I know, the next step is to try to avoid falling into the positional battle to create a chance for the opponent to make free throws, and the lineup in the second quarter of the game should be adjusted, and then ......"

As he spoke, he naturally took over the tactical board from McHale's hand, and the surrounding players all gathered around, listening carefully to Wang Chao's arrangement, including McHale, this scene looked like there was no sense of disobedience.

Soon, the second quarter of the game began.

James appeared on the stage, looking at the lineup of the Rockets on the side, his brows furrowed slightly.

At this moment, there is no center among the five players sent by the Rockets, namely Wang Chao, Belinelli, Middleton, Butler and Leonard.

Death five small.

Due to the existence of Belinelli, a guard with a height of 1.96 meters, the Rockets' lineup is no longer described as a super five forward like last season.

But this season, the Rockets' small-ball lineup is no less lethal than last season, and Belinelli is inferior to Chandler in terms of height and athleticism. Parsons, but there's only one thing he's better than Parsons, and that's the three-point shot.

In the 13-14 season, Belinelli's three-point shooting rate could reach 43%, ranking among the top in the league, and this season, although the shooting rate has declined slightly, it has also remained around 40%, and the deterrent outside the three-point line is full.

In the Rockets' small-ball lineup, Belinelli's task is very simple, that is, to stand in the bottom corner, hang up and wait for Wang Chao to pass the ball to him, in fact, Middleton and his responsibilities are similar, the two occupy two bottom corner positions on the left and right, just like a pair of hum two generals, but these two shooters with a three-point shooting rate of 40%, no team in the league dares to let them go to the empty position.

Of course, James knows that the Rockets will send such a lineup in order to weaken the impact of the Cavaliers' free throw kills as much as possible.

The speed of the small ball lineup to the extreme counterattack will also make the Cavaliers' side break through the ball to a certain extent, after all, when Gasol and Embiid are on the court, the Cavaliers are at an absolute disadvantage in terms of speed.

It's just that...... The Death Five is not invulnerable, and the reason why this small-ball lineup can appear in this league and carry forward is ultimately due to the lack of high-quality interior centers in the league.

In the case of absolute strength and height of the inside line, the inside line of the small ball lineup will be completely lost, even if there is outside projection ability and mobility, how can it be possible to win the game?

With James thinking so, the Rockets are already serving from the baseline.

Wang Chao dribbled over half the court, and just stood outside the three-point line, Middleton in the bottom corner immediately ran over to cover for Wang Chao.

In charge of marking Middleton, it was Paul who came off the bench. Pierce.

At this time, the Cavaliers' lineup is Irving, James. Jones, Paul. Pierce, James and Embiid.

It is James who is responsible for defending Wang Chao, and the target shooter Middleton, who is naturally in a declining competitive state, is no longer as flexible as Pierce before.

was just blocked by Middleton, James had to keep up with Middleton to prevent him from receiving the ball in the open position, and it became Pierce who was opposite Wang Chao.

Once upon a time, Pierce was also a player who had a fierce collision with Wang Chao, during the three consecutive championships of the Magic team, Wang Chao and Pierce can be described as a needle-to-needle against Maimang, although each time it ended in Wang Chao's complete victory, but the defense of the old fritter Pierce can also make Wang Chao take off a layer of skin, after all, Wang Chao at that time did not have the talent of steel and iron bones, and could only carry it hard, and his body was often blue and purple.

But this time is different from the past, today's Pierce no longer has the ability to compete with Wang Chao at all, in the face of Pierce's defense, Wang Chao is just a disguised acceleration and easily passes the opponent and goes straight to the inside.

The Cavaliers' interior is a flat ride, as all the players were pulled to the perimeter, including Embiid, who had to follow a Rockets player to the outside of the three-point line, and the shooting ability of the Death Five is no joke.

Wang Chao, who jumped one step from inside the free throw line, ended the attack with a gliding tomahawk slam.

was easily scored by the Rockets using a small-ball lineup, but James was not in a hurry, but slowly dribbled forward, and did not rush to attack after halftime, and waited until all his teammates were in place, and then hoisted the ball to Embiid on the inside.

Embiid's player at this time is Wang Chao.

The huge height gap between the two is completely a great opportunity to play small.

Last season, Wang Chao did play an extremely shocking season as the center of the Rockets, and even won the honor of rebounding king.

But no matter what, Embiid still has an absolute height advantage in the face of Wang Chao, plus Embiid is still a technical flow center, can shoot from mid-distance, and knows how to dream of footsteps, and can fully use the advantage of height, plus the current Cavaliers have the advantage of a whistle, James feels that even Embiid, a first-year rookie, can completely compare with Wang Chao twice.

It's just that he's obviously overthinking.

Embiid, who received the ball at the baseline position, tried to move the inside with his back to the ball, but did not move.

Wang Chao's strength itself is not bad, and there is also a fighting maniac talent to bless the ability to fight, and Embiid's strength as a center is not particularly strong, at least Wang Chao can completely withstand it.

But what Embiid relies on is not strength in itself.

After sensing that his back against Wang Chao would not have an advantage, Embiid decisively turned around and threw a small shot.

Embiid's touch is indeed quite soft among centers, and he can reach beyond the three-point line when he first enters the league, and his interior skills are solid and proficient, after all, the draft template is Olajuwon.

With the advantage of height and reach, Embiid's shot is difficult for Wang Chao to block, but Wang Chao has no intention of physical interference.

"Ha ——!"

At the moment when Embiid was about to make a move, Wang Chao suddenly yelled at Embiid, and his voice exploded loudly, which scared Embiid's hand to shake, and with a "frame-", the basketball bounced back on the back edge of the rebound and was directly taken into Wang Chao's arms.

The closer the distance, the louder the sound, the better the effect.

Wang Chao, who protected the defensive rebound, directly dribbled the ball and rushed towards the front court.

"Not good!"

James' eyelids jumped and he hurriedly returned to defense, but at this time, the advantage of the Rockets' small-ball lineup began to be revealed.

The five players rushed towards the frontcourt almost at the same time, and the only three players on the Cavaliers' side who could defend at the first time were James, Irving and Jones, and even Pierce was left behind due to his old age and slow pace.

After Wang Chao came to the three-point line, he braked sharply and stopped, and James immediately pounced on the defense without thinking, resolutely not giving Wang Chao the opportunity to shoot three-point shots easily.

But at this time, the Cavaliers' defense was already in shambles, Wang Chao threw the ball directly in the direction of the basket, and Butler jumped high from the wing and poured the ball into the basket in the air.

"Boom ——!"

The beautiful empty dunk successfully detonated the atmosphere of the fans, and the Rockets scored 4 points in a row, and also caught up with the difference in the first quarter, only 1 point behind the Cavaliers at this time!

Referee: "......"

This TM, the first quarter of the game helped you so much, but the second quarter of the game just came up in the blink of an eye, and the advantage accumulated in front of it was gone?

At this moment, the referee only felt deep exhaustion.

Some of the Rockets fanatical fans on the sidelines were already scolding his eighteenth generation of ancestors.

Even if he consciously favors the Cavaliers, he can't be too straightforward, in case something really happens in the future, it must be him, a working boy, who is behind it.

Wang Chao was full of firepower in the second quarter of the game, frequently using the fast break between blocking and dismantling cover and conversion, shooting 7 of 11, including 3 of 5 three-pointers, and scoring 17 points in a single quarter.

Under his leadership, the Rockets, who sent a five-man lineup of death, beat the Cavaliers 39-31 in the second quarter to achieve a score overtake.

At halftime, the Rockets held a 3-point lead at 68:65.

But in the third quarter, the referees began to exert their strength again.

Da Yao, who had been recuperating off the court for a long time, just appeared on the court for a few minutes, and before he even touched the ball, he was fouled by Irving, who rushed into the basket with the ball to cause a kill.

The uproar and boos from the Rockets' home fans grew louder.

"Black Whistle! The referee gets out of the court! ”

The referee was unmoved, but affected by the whistle, the Rockets not only had problems on the defensive end, but also frequently suffered on the offensive end, and all throw-ins were the ball of the Cavaliers, and it was easy to be whistled for fouls when grabbing offensive rebounds, let alone when defending opponents.

The Cavaliers made a full 19 free throws in the third quarter, compared to the Rockets' six.

A large number of free throws led to the fragmentation of the entire third quarter of the game, and the Cavaliers also took advantage of it to regain the initiative on the court, and the score of the two teams was 100-95 at the end of the third quarter, and the Cavaliers entered the final quarter with a five-point advantage.

Things are getting worse.

At the end of the third quarter, many people on the Rockets' side committed several fouls, with inside player Da Yao committing 5 fouls, Whiteside committing 4 fouls, Gobert committing 2 fouls, and Wang Chao also committing 3 fouls on the outside side, Leonard committing 3 fouls, and Butler committing 2 fouls.

The frequent fouls not only made the Rockets players impetuous, but also restrained their actions on the court, not daring to make any big moves, so the Cavaliers offense was also very smooth, scoring 35 points in a single quarter.

Wang Chao didn't think that the Cavaliers would have the referee's support in the finals, but he didn't expect that this was the first game of the series, and the referee would give such a lot of intensity as soon as he came up, which was somewhat exaggerated and frustrating.

Many commentators who commented on the live broadcast of this game didn't know what to say at this time, and foreign people could still criticize two sentences, such as the commentator of CCTV Sports Channel, Yu Gui, angrily criticized the referee of this game.

"As a referee who blew the NBA Finals, he simply violated competitive sportsmanship and blew a very shameful game! If the Rockets really lose the series because of this, it will definitely be a non-war defeat, and the NBA championship this season will also be the most humiliating championship in history! ”

In contrast, the vast majority of media commentators in the United States are much more silent, and everyone knows that the reason why this is the case is because the league does not want Wang Chao to win the second triple championship of his career, surpass Jordan with seven crowns, and become the new god of the NBA as a Chinese.

Of course, this definitely does not include Barkley.

(End of chapter)