NBA: I am the god of basketball

Chapter 256 Howard: If I Can Do It Over...

Howard and Dayao's jump ball, of course, the former wins. Even if he is affected by injuries, his explosive power is not as good as before, but Howard's jumping and explosiveness are still at the top level in the league. Besides, Yao is also affected by injuries. I don't jump much on the top anymore, and I completely hit the floor.

After the Spurs had the ball, Tony Parker dribbled the ball at halftime, glanced at Wang Chao standing in front of him, and passed the ball directly to Duncan without thinking too much.

Duncan vs. Garnett is also a more interesting matchup in the past ten years, but now the two 38-year-old veterans are facing each other again, and things have changed.

Duncan took advantage of his tonnage and strength, squeezed his back to the basket, turned around at a 45-degree angle to hit the rebound and shot, and scored the ball to take the lead.

2: 0.

The Spurs took the lead, their only lead of the game.

Because as the Rockets got the ball here, the Rockets were always in the lead in the subsequent games.

The Spurs have nothing to do with the Rockets' offense. Although they have the league's strongest inside defense combination, Howard + Duncan, their outside defense is still seriously insufficient. After all, Leonard, the core player of the team's inside and outside defense, ran to the Rockets. there.

The Rockets are precisely a team that focuses on outside shooting and plays small ball tactics and even magic ball tactics.

Garnett played for a few minutes, showed his face a little, and then left, replaced by Middleton.

Wang Chaoding personally guards Duncan from the position of power forward, which will not let the opponent's offensive efficiency skyrocket because of Garnett's end. On the defensive end, Duncan has to frequently pull out to defend from the outside. As a shooter, if you don't guard against going out, you will be greeted with a hollow three-pointer.

All the Spurs players were forced to pull out to the outside, leaving only Dayao and Howard's solo inside.

Still the same sentence, your uncle will always be your uncle.

Even though he couldn't run fast and couldn't jump, Dayao was still able to use his superb skills to sling Howard under the basket.

This is the crushing of body, skills and IQ. If it was Howard at his peak, he might be able to take revenge by taking advantage of the decline in Yao's competitive state, but now Howard is not in a strong state. He can play good statistics in the regular season The performance is entirely a credit to the Spurs' tactical system.

At this time, without the assistance of Duncan and other players, facing Dayao alone one-on-one, Howard once again became the Warcraft who was manipulated by Yao at will, eating, sleeping, and playing.

It is also thanks to Dayao that he is not as good as before. After taking a few shots from Howard at the basket, he is a bit physically exhausted and weak. It did not embarrass Howard, who is the three-time best defensive player. The unfavorable situation of the team has improved.

It was Whiteside who replaced Dayao.

Howard looked at Whiteside, who was full of talent and seemed to be on a spring under his feet, and his eyes were full of the shadow of his peak.

Of course, Whiteside is not capable or qualified to be compared with Howard at his peak, but against Howard in his old age, at least he has more advantages in terms of mobility and rebounding inside.

The Spurs have been unable to gain an advantage inside, and there is no chance outside. Even if Ginobili came on the bench, he would have to face Leonard and Butler at the same time. There is no chance at all.

The Spurs only took the lead once at the kick-off in the whole game, and then there was no chance of equalizing or even overtaking.

In the first game, the strength gap between the two teams was already obvious. The Spurs were no match for the Rockets. After all, a clever woman cannot cook without rice. No matter how well Popovich strategizes and teaches well, the cards he can play are still limited. A few, except for Howard, only GDP and role players such as Green, Diaw, and Mills.

But when it comes to the depth of the bench, no team in the league can match the Rockets.

With Thomas Jr., Chandler Parsons, Middleton, Whiteside and Gobert sitting on the bench, the only worry about the Rockets is who should get more playing time.

Compared with the Rockets, the Spurs can be said to have no advantage in any position, and they have no way to limit Wang Chao's performance, so how could they win the game?
The Spurs, who lost the first game of the Western Conference Finals, lost again in the second game of the Western Conference Finals on May 5, trailing behind by a total score of 21:0.

Although they lost 12 more games in the regular season than last season, the Rockets have never lost at home since entering the playoffs, and they only lost one game in total in the first two rounds.

Dayao's return from injury made the Rockets' strength once again extremely terrifying, far ahead of the entire league.

On May 5th, after returning to San Antonio, the home of the Spurs, the Spurs finally managed to get back a victory, relying on Howard and Duncan Twin Towers at the same time, one scored 25 points and 28 rebounds, and the other scored 16 points and 24 rebounds.

Not only the inside twin towers, the Spurs' outside three-point shooters also showed their strength at the same time. Danny Green made 9 of 6 three-pointers, Mills 5 of 3, and Diaw 3 of 3.

But even with such a super-level performance, the Spurs only narrowly beat the Rockets by three points 112:109.

The victory in this game did not make the Spurs fans happy at all. They only felt desperate. The gap in strength between the two teams was visible to the naked eye. Although the Rockets lost in this game, the Spurs played at a super level. In this way, you can't expect the Spurs to be like this every game in the future, can you?

Besides, anyone who is interested can see that the Rockets did not try their best in this game, as can be seen from the Rockets' conservative use of Dayao.

Dayao, who has just returned from injury, is like a cherished animal in the Rockets. He strictly controls his playing time and does not do any dirty work on the court. He just catches the ball and attacks at the basket and it is over.

In this game, facing the Spurs at home in the league, Dayao played for a very short time, only playing a total of about 18 minutes. Even when the Rockets were behind and the situation was precarious, Yao Didn't show up either.

This is enough to show that the Rockets did not pay attention to the outcome of this game, or they selectively released water and chose a milder blunt knife to kill.

This is also understandable. As a veteran team in the league, the Spurs are not very clean. Even if Bowen has retired, there are still players in the team who do this kind of dirty work.

If the Spurs beat the Spurs 3-0 in this game, no one can guarantee whether the opponent will make any dangerous behaviors in the case of an imminent loss.

Of course, Wang Chao is not afraid. With his talent of steel and iron, he will not be injured at all unless the opponent draws a knife and stabs him 21 times, or performs an American-style Juhe, but Dayao can't.

It was not easy to come back from injury, Wang Chao didn't want Dayao to be crippled after not playing two games.

In Wang Chao's view, although the Spurs have strength, they are not a strong opponent after all. Moreover, the Rockets have already led 2:0, so they can slow down the pace a little to avoid unnecessary troubles.

Sure enough, although they lost to the Spurs in Game 5, the Rockets immediately won back in Game 27 of the Western Conference Finals on May [-].

It was also a home game, but the Spurs in this game no longer had the momentum of a beast that was driven to a dead end. The result was that Wang Chao led the team to win the game 107:94, rewriting the total score to 3. :1.

In the case of being behind 3:1, there are not no examples in history of finally winning three cities in a row, but there are still too few, especially on the stage of the Western Conference Finals. Considering the Spurs' aging lineup and outside scoring ability Insufficient, the probability of a comeback is almost equal to zero.

as predicted.

In Game [-] of the Western Conference Finals, the venue returned to the Toyota Center Arena, home of the Rockets.

On their home turf, the Rockets showed their terrifying offensive ability to the fullest, scoring 67 points at halftime, and the team scored 95 points higher at the end of the three quarters!
On the other hand, the Spurs only scored 71 points in three quarters, 24 points behind.

Spurs players such as Howard and Duncan sat on the bench and watched the whole game in the fourth quarter.

After all, with a point difference of 24 points, it is almost impossible for a team like the Spurs to catch up with a team with a low offensive rhythm.

Howard sat on the bench, his eyes slightly complicated.

Before I knew it, it had been two years since I left the Magic.

In two years and two seasons, Howard has completely changed his mentality from the smug player who just won three consecutive championships and became the league's number one center.

Whether it was to form a super F4 combination with the Lakers and Kobe Bryant, or come to the Spurs to partner with Duncan to form the league's top twin towers, or to lead the Magic alone after Wang Chao left the team, several attempts ended in failure.

The three consecutive championships in the Magic team, I thought it was just the beginning of a brilliant career, but I didn't expect it to be the heyday.

At this time, Howard still thinks of the days when he fought side by side with Wang Chao from time to time, and also imagines, if Wang Chao stayed in the Magic at that time, and he was willing to be Pippen by his side, would they be the same now? Already charging for a second three-peat?

It's a pity that there are no ifs in everything. Howard made his choice, and Wang Chao also has his own plans. The three consecutive championships of the super magic combination is destined to be just a past worth remembering, nothing more.

4: 1.

The Rockets defeated the Spurs at home and eliminated the Spurs 4:1 to officially enter the finals. This is the third consecutive year that the Rockets have reached the finals.

In the first year, because of Dayao’s injury, the Rockets narrowly lost to the Heat in the finals. Then in the second year, they won the Big Three, one of the Big Three of the Celtics. In the finals, they swept the Heat 72:10 and took revenge.

But now, in the third year since Wang Chao came to the Rockets, the Rockets broke into the finals again and launched a charge in the direction of the defending champions. The old rival Miami Heat is most likely to stand in front of them.

(End of this chapter)