I'm really not a superstar

Chapter 133

This timeout, everyone turned their attention to the Rockets' bench.

McGrady's old waist has become a major concern of the entire league.

There are even anxious media who have already drawn up the title of the news bulletin:
"Bad news! The rocket is going to explode before it takes off!"

McGrady's waist injury, like Yao Ming's Achilles tendon, is the Achilles' heel that the Rockets can't bear.

However, fortunately, after the timeout ended, McGrady did not follow the team doctor back to the locker room for treatment, but just sat on the sidelines to rest.

This shows that his injury is not serious, and he may play again in a while.

The Rockets temporarily used Artest (now renamed Metta World Peace) to play the 2nd position, and the original 3rd position was filled by Sean Battier.

This lineup takes the Rockets' strengths and weaknesses to extremes.

The advantage is that the Rockets' defense has suddenly improved to a new level. Battier and Metta World Peace are almost the best defensive players in the league.

The defensive characteristics of the two are different.

Battier is a representative of team defense. His defense is a line that can drive the entire team to rotate defenses. From the first position to the fifth position, he can fill in wherever he is needed.

Metta Shiping is the strongest point-to-point defender.

He is like a bulldog, fierce to the bone, rushing to the field is constantly biting, non-stop confrontation, all kinds of death entanglement, making the opponent breathless.

With his appearance, OJ Mayo's good days are over!
The previous offense and defense made Mayo a little swollen.

But the appearance of Ci Shiping let him know what NBA's defensive strength is.

As soon as he caught the ball, Ci Shiping swept over like a black whirlwind, and suddenly stuck to his body, with both hands dangling constantly, wanting to take the ball out of his hands at any time down.

This is completely different from McGrady's style of letting himself go just now, which made Mayo very uncomfortable.

Mayo wanted to dribble, but as soon as the ball left his hand, Ci Shiping's defensive strength suddenly increased by another point.

Mayo could almost feel the heat from the opponent's mouth on his face.

With just such a distraction, the body is squeezed by Ci Shiping, and the ball is gone!
In the next few rounds, Mayo couldn't even get the ball, let alone dribbling the ball calmly.

Wherever he ran, Ci Shiping followed him, stickier than gummy candy.

Mayo is really worried, with this guy's persistence, will he follow him to his house after the game!
If he knew that in the future, LeBron James, who is in full swing, will be guarded by Metta Shiping and Battier's combination, he might feel better!

But the shortcomings of this lineup combination are also obvious.

While the Rockets gained unprecedented defensive intensity, they also sacrificed their perimeter offense.

At this time, Ci Shiping has undergone "overhaul", and her speed and flexibility have been greatly weakened.

Even in the third position, his speed is a bit slow, let alone in the second position, which emphasizes breakthrough ability.

At the position of shooting guard, he has almost no ability to break through and score actively, nor can he send threatening passes. He can only be a setter and spot-up shooter.

And Battier's characteristics are similar. Although he has a certain three-point shooting ability, breakthroughs are not the "president's" strong point.

Coupled with the fact that there is Yao Ming who needs to be fed inside, the Rockets' lineup is almost completely dead.

The whole team can only count on Alston's surprise points.

And Ralph Alston is a nerve knife. Although in the streetball circle, he is like a superstar, but in the NBA arena, he belongs to the six-pulse sword, which is not effective at all times.

Sometimes he can make a very beautiful breakthrough, and even use streetball skills to tease his opponents; but the passing and shooting percentage after the breakthrough are extremely unstable, and he often does not say anything, and sometimes there will be some inexplicable mistakes.

It is a bit unreliable to expect the "streetball king" to be the engine of the rocket.

Adelman is also frowning. The Rockets' current lineup is more important than the outside. When McGrady can't play, the outside attack will not work!

Fortunately, this is the first game of the preseason, and the purpose of the preseason is to find problems.

Next, we have to make a fuss about the team's personnel reserves and lineup!

After the game, I have to have a good talk with the Mosaic manager!
In fact, Coach Adelman has long thought about this issue. After much deliberation, he thinks the best solution lies in trading.

But now the Rockets don't have many bargaining chips.

If you choose a player who should be traded most, Adelman believes that it is Kenny Thomas on the field.

Thomas is not the player the Rockets want, and his annual salary of $800 million is a complete garbage contract.

The reason why he came to Houston was completely an addition that the king wanted to add.

This is also the price that must be paid to get Artest.

The game started Kenny Thomas for three main purposes:
One is to let him strengthen the running-in with the team and get familiar with the tactics;
The second is to further investigate him to see his real strength.

The third is to hope that he can play his worth, attract the interest of other teams, and take the initiative to send a transaction offer.

In other words, from the very beginning, deep in the heart of the Rockets coaching staff and management, Thomas has been labeled as an alternative.

And Thomas really "lived up to expectations" and played a disaster-level performance.

His actual height is only 2 meters, and he is like a second-class cripple among the long-standing insiders.

When he was young, he could still make trouble in the interior by rushing, but as he got older, his motor function has declined very obviously.

Forced to do nothing, he forcibly practiced a mid-range shot.

However, in the last two seasons, his mid-range shooting percentage has also shown a clear downward trend.

In this game, after playing for 7 or 8 minutes, the technical statistics were all 0, all three shots were ironed, and Gasol also got a big hat.

Moreover, physical strength has also declined significantly.In desperation, Adelman could only replace him.

Replaced the original main power forward Luis Scola.

After Scola came on the field, he used his excellent skills and rich experience to immediately change the situation.

Although the bounce is almost 0, but relying on technique and footwork, dodging around the basket, making the young Gasol and Hakim hard to defend, jumping around like the Mario brothers, but they can't block Si Cora's shot.

More importantly, Scola can respond to the pass and connect Yao Ming with the outside line.

This provided vitality for the Rockets, which were already standing dead, and made the ball run.

People are more dead than people, and goods are thrown away.

Scola's outstanding performance, but also set off the mediocrity of Thomas.

At the end of the first quarter, the Rockets took a 15:8 lead by virtue of their tough defense and inside advantage.

However, Dorsey didn't take a second chance to play.

At the beginning of the second quarter, the two sides replaced their main players to rest.

The inside of the Grizzlies sent Dorsey's old acquaintance Darrell Arthur.

Dorsey was eager to try, and even couldn't hold back anymore. It was hard to beat others, but killing Arthur was absolutely easy.

However, Adelman still did not replace him.

Instead, Hayes temporarily replaced Yao Ming.

"Haiye" is only 1 meters and weighs 98 kilograms. He may be the shortest center in the league.

But he is a top defender full of wisdom, strong and fast, with an excellent sense of position. Although he is half a head shorter than his opponent, he can withstand the opponent and get stuck in the position.

In front of him, rookie Arthur, it was difficult to comfortably attack the ball, let alone put the ball in the basket.

However, "Hai Ye" also couldn't get the ball into the opponent's basket.

He has almost no offensive ability at all, can't shoot, and can't bounce, which makes him neither long-range attack nor finishing ability at the basket.

The east is not bright and the west is bright.

The Rockets' interior offense was hindered, but the outside line was alive again.

The appearance of Brooks and Weaver solved the breakthrough problem that plagued the Rockets in the first quarter.

Moreover, the two younger brothers can shoot three-pointers, long shots and short shots, and they play very lively.

The score was further expanded.

As the game progressed, Landry, Mutombo and others also got the chance to play.

In the middle of the second half, the main players also went into battle again.

And McGrady also played again.

Seeing his teammates making appearances one after another like a revolving lantern, Dorsey scratched his heart with anxiety.

Keep looking at coach Adelman standing on the sidelines commanding.

But he still couldn't wait for the order to let himself play.

Why exactly?He obviously performed very well in training!
Let me play now...

(End of this chapter)