Super all-around point guard

Chapter 116 Psychological Warfare with Harden

At this moment, all the fans in the Toyota Center Arena were furious.

Fans can accept the Rockets losing the game, but they absolutely cannot accept the player's ineffective defensive behavior and defensive attitude!And this is not done by role players, it is Harden, the cornerstone of the team!

"What the hell is James Harden doing? Did he wander off to a nightclub the last few seconds?"

"Oh, I can't believe he didn't even reach out, just stared at the opponent the whole time."

When the fans at the scene were puzzled, McHale shook his head helplessly. It is estimated that this shot will be selected into SHAQFOOL, but he does not know how O'Neill will tease Harden at that time. However, at this moment, netizens all over the world have already started to tease him.

NBA bar, Hupu basketball forum, weibo, all kinds of comment posts about the ball just now poured out in an instant.

"Now I am announcing the official establishment of the Eye Defense Master Support Club, please fans and attention!"

"Harden's eye defense is obviously not well practiced. The ball just now, if the eyes were sharper and more fierce when defending, maybe Xie Chen was defended!"

"Sakuragi Hanamichi's killing people with his eyes was bewitched by the gorilla Takenori Akagi, and Harden's defensive eyes, I guess, was bewitched by Howard. This is the picture I just took. Look, after Xie Chen hit the ball, Howard is actually smiling!"

James Harden on the court felt that he had no face at all. It would be better if he was on the road. At home, facing so many fans who like him, this really made him feel ashamed.

However, after releasing the water, the promise was fulfilled, which made Harden heave a sigh of relief. Next, he no longer has any worries, and he vowed to fight back hard for Xie Chen's actions!
Harden walked towards Xie Chen and said coldly: "This is the end of your performance and your conspiracy! Don't get too complacent. From now on, I will defend you personally. I will prove to everyone that I am not the one who defends players with eyes!"

Xie Chen smiled, and felt a little embarrassed to see the overwhelming complaints against Harden from the fans, but Harden is also self-inflicted, who asked him to speak rudely in the nightclub first?

Since the defensive performance just now disappointed everyone, Harden's offense was very determined this time, and the ability of the league's No. [-] SG was also fully demonstrated. He made a foul with an accelerated break through the European step layup.

Harden's ability to draw fouls on layups is really strong. His layup speed is very slow, and he deliberately slows down. During layups, Harden puts all his strength away to keep his body in a state where he can make adjustments at any time.

Harden's free throw percentage is more than 80.00%, but these two free throws were missed, which made Harden very annoyed. He wanted to prove himself, but he didn't expect to get the chance of free throws, and he didn't even score!This shows how much a person's emotions affect the state of the game.

The fans at the scene also shook their heads, becoming more and more disappointed with the performance of the head star.Today's game is not important, but because both teams have this season's MVP contender, it adds a lot of highlights, and it is also an opportunity for the two to prove themselves. Xie Chen made an effort as soon as he came up, showing his MVP temperament, while James Harden's offense was mediocre, and his defense was terrible.The two judged against each other, and anyone could tell that Xie Chen was more qualified to be this year's MVP.

It was the Heat's turn to attack, and the ball was transferred to Xie Chen again. Everyone panicked, thinking that no one could stop Xie Chen, but at this time, the fans were surprised to find that it was James Harden who was defending Xie Chen!

Harden even took the initiative to defend Xie Chen!
Harden concentrated on his defensive posture: "Come on, kid, I will definitely guard you to death this time, in order to repay the laissez-faire I just gave you!"

Xie Chen dribbled the ball easily. Seeing Harden's seriousness, he knew in his heart that Harden must try his best to prove himself after losing face, so he said with a smile: "Then you have to be on guard, I can break through very fast!"

As he said that, Xie Chen's footsteps moved instantly, and Harden also followed up quickly, but while Xie Chen was moving, he passed the ball behind his back to Luol Deng.
Playing psychological warfare is Xie Chen's strength. Harden can't wait to compete with Xie Chen to prove his defensive skills and attitude, but Xie Chen refuses to give him this opportunity. The more anxious Harden is, the more abnormal his performance on the court will be. Especially the impact on shooting will be very large. As long as Harden is in a mess, it will not be difficult to defeat the Rockets.

"Xie did not attack in these two rounds. It stands to reason that James Harden defended him. He should be very confident."

"This shows that James Harden's defense put pressure on him. I think the defensive eyes just now were just a moment of carelessness. James Harden's defense is still very good. You forgot the last game against the Kings. Harden still took Cousins ​​behind his back, and there were two steals in that game!"

The second quarter ended soon, and Xie Chen's score still remained at 26 points. These few rounds have been refraining from playing, just to anger Harden. Now, the Rockets are slowly recovering, and the score is getting closer. If they don't make a move, outsiders will think that they are afraid of Harden.

Xie Chen received the ball at a 45-degree angle, dribbled the ball under his crotch, changed direction, accelerated and passed Harden, and jumped for a layup. Harden chased after him. Seeing that Xie Chen was about to make a layup, he pulled Xie Chen off from behind!

"What a fierce defense! It would be great if I had this attitude when defending against Xie's shots before!"

Although Xie Chen was given two chances to foul, Harden was very happy because he let the fans see his defensive attitude. I am not someone who defends with his eyes!

Xie Chen made 27 free throws and scored [-] points.

Attacking again, Xie Chen caused Harden's foul again. After making two free throws, Xie Chen scored 29 points in the first half!Everyone was exclaiming, is Xie Chen really going to get 60+ in this match?

After being fouled twice by Xie Chen, Harden was replaced by coach McHale. Not long after, Xie Chen was also replaced for a rest, and the score stayed at 29 points.

The Heat led by 6 points at halftime.

In the locker room of the Rockets' home team, coach McHale asked Harden with a rare look of anger: "Can you explain to me, after the fast break in the second quarter, what happened to your defense against Xie's three-pointer? Why didn't you step forward to defend after he stopped the ball? Why didn't you even interfere when he shot?"

James Harden first scolded Xie Chen in his heart, and then said guiltily: "Coach, I'm distracted!"

"Missed? Is your answer that simple?" McHale was obviously dissatisfied with the answer.

"It's that simple!" Harden couldn't find any other excuses.

At this time, Howard stood up and spoke to Harden with a smile: "Coach, after playing so many games, it's normal for this to happen sometimes. Besides, you also saw Harden's defense afterwards. He didn't hesitate to foul in order to stop Xie. How could he deliberately not defend Xie like this?"

"Yeah, coach, Xie this guy is too insidious. He often takes surprises. The more everyone thinks he is going to shoot, he just doesn't shoot. I have been fooled many times!" Beverly also helped Harden speak.

Coach McHale didn't bother with this issue anymore, and then conveyed a task to the whole team: Xie Chen's scoring must be curbed in the second half!
After halftime, Xie Chen was a little excited, because he scored 29 points in the first half. Wade was not there this time, and Bosh was in a mediocre state. The ball was basically in his hands. There is no problem with scoring more than ten points in the second half. That is to say, in this game, Xie Chen may score a new career high!

But in the second half, the Rockets obviously paid more attention to their own defense. They no longer sent Terry, Beverly or Harden to defend themselves, but sent Ariza with tall arms and long arms!
Ariza's height of [-] meters basically curbed Xie Chen's chance to shoot three-pointers in singles, and Xie Chen's ability to break through with the ball and make fouls was not as strong as Harden's, so Xie Chen's scoring in the second half was no longer as crazy as it was in the first half.

Although scoring slowed down, assists and rebounds came up.

Once the Heat attacked, Hassan received a dunk but sent the ball flying. The ball bounced to where Xie Chen and Ariza were, and the two quickly jumped up to grab a rebound.

Looking at the physical gap between Ariza and Xie Chen in the distance, Harden expected that Ariza would get the ball [-]% of the time, so he stepped forward quickly, waited for Ariza to receive the ball, and then reached out for the ball. At that time, he made a fast break to the basket and scored a dunk, so as to ignite the atmosphere of the scene!
Harden's wishful thinking was pretty good, but the rebound was beyond everyone's expectations. When Xie Chen snatched the rebound from Ariza in the air, he squeezed Ariza away, hugged the rebound in his arms, played a pass the moment it landed on the ground, and quickly passed the ball to Hassan under the basket. Hassan didn't miss again this time and dunked successfully.

Harden had already passed halftime, and after Hassan scored, Harden was still there, panicked: "Xie's physical confrontation is stronger than Trevor Ariza! How is this possible?"

Ariza was also very depressed. He lost to a small guy in rebounding and was squeezed away by him in the air. Although Ariza was not strong, he was still heavier than Xie Chen. He didn't understand how Xie Chen did it. It was too embarrassing.

Luol Deng, who had been bumped by Xie Chen N times for rebounding, was also stunned, and said inwardly, "Xie was able to bump away Ariza! When Xie bumped into me before, he didn't feel that he was so strong in physical confrontation. Could it be because I was a teammate and Xie took the effort? In this way, should I still be grateful to him..."

(End of this chapter)