Zhiba NBA

Chapter 12 ([-]) It's not easy to lose
2天后火箭仍然坐镇主场迎战弱旅快船，刚刚转投快船的大前锋埃尔顿.布兰德打出了26分13篮板3盖帽的漂亮数据（史上真实数据），年轻的拉马尔.还没泡卡戴珊.奥多姆则打出准三双。而火箭依靠麦迪32+10+7的精彩表现通过加时艰难战胜了对手。

On November 11, the Rockets played their third home game in a row, this time against the Timberwolves.Garnett went crazy and played 3+37+12 and completely abused the Rockets' insiders (this is also real data, which shows that the Rockets' insiders are really weak. The opponent's power forward broke out in three consecutive games).Substitute center Magloire scored 4 points and 28 rebounds in 90 minutes, which is the biggest highlight of the team.

On the 4th, the Rockets went to Phoenix to play back-to-back games, and Dameng took a break.Magloire, who started for the first time in his career (76 consecutive games off the bench before), lived up to expectations and scored 12 points and 10 rebounds, but the Suns double-gun Hardaway and Marbury both broke out, and the two scored 58 points together.And McGrady stayed on for only 30 minutes again, and the Rockets lost by 3 points.

6日，火箭回到主场迎战实力平平的丹佛掘金。尽管掘金中锋拉弗伦茨也打出了18分14篮板2盖帽的不错数据，但火箭替补中锋马格洛伊尔在短短23分钟上场时间内拿到11分12篮板2盖帽，竟不逊色几分。再加上麦迪的出色发挥，掘金93:99负于火箭。

8日火箭主场迎战上赛季的东部冠军76人队。但巨星艾弗森因伤缺席，之前0胜4负的76人显然不是火箭对手，很快就缴械投降。火箭主力打了半场就纷纷休息，替补出场的特科格鲁得到了14分5篮板4助攻1抢断1盖帽的全面数据。

"Rudy, I have to call you." Yuan Fei said anxiously: "We have won too many games recently, and this year's draft pick is very important."

"The recent opponents are really too weak. I know our plan very well. The only thing we accidentally won was the Nuggets game." Tang Shuai said helplessly on the phone: "Although the young people you selected can't shoot, they are all able to run and rush. They are full of energy, and they are not so easy to lose. But don't worry, tomorrow they will definitely lose in back-to-back Nuggets games."

"The next time we play the Lakers at home, we will play with all our strength to satisfy the fans. Do you think it is suitable?"

"OK! I'll let McGrady play for 40 minutes."

***
The Rockets, which started with 4 wins and 2 losses, still attracted the attention of the media. ESPN once again made a report on this: "The young Rockets have made a good start. The total of the two games they lost is only 2 points, which shows that they still have a lot of room for improvement. Apart from the core McGrady, the most outstanding performers at the beginning of the season are undoubtedly the backup center Magloire and the new starting point guard Parker. Dawson's insight has been confirmed again. Ke, and bravely used the team's No. 5 star in exchange for the Hornets' young backup center. Alexander's trust in Dawson has been fully reciprocated."

But then the Rockets slapped them in the face. On the 9th, the Rockets played an away game against the Nuggets in the Denver Plateau. The team announced that McGrady was absent from the game due to influenza, and Dream Thorpe also took a normal rotation.The Rockets, lacking a core and captain, were beaten by the Nuggets. Thomas, the best performer, contributed 24 points and 5 rebounds. The outside shooters continued to hit the iron. The team made 23 of 5 three-pointers. The Rockets lost 81:108.

11月13日，火箭回到德州客战马刺。考虑到马刺内线双塔的威慑力，汤帅让小马哥和大梦联手搭档内线打了很久，收效不错。马格洛伊尔打了30分钟贡献17分10篮板，面对19分9篮板的邓肯竟然没吃亏多少。帕克也打出了14+5+4的不错表现。这让波波维奇看得牙痒痒，选秀前他相中了帕克没想到被火箭提前截胡。最终火箭4分惜败给了强大的对手。

11月15日，4胜4负的火箭坐镇主场迎来了此前6战全胜的两连冠王者洛杉矶湖人队。这支湖人以史上著名的OK组合（大鲨鱼奥尼尔和飞侠科比）为核心，是NBA历史上最强大的球队之一。

Tang Shuai began to arrange tactics: "Today we tried to use three-pointers to curb the rhythm of the Lakers and reduce the head-on confrontation with O'Neal. We all know that after Hakeem gets old, there will be no center in this league who can play one-on-one with him. So today's starters are Hakeem, Thomas, Wilt, Tracy and Michael. Heaton and Dell are going to come off the bench in the first quarter."

"Haha, it's finally my turn to start." Williams said happily.Almost all of his playing time this season has been squeezed out by Jefferson and Turkoglu.

Jefferson was a little sullen, who made himself a bad three-pointer?When encountering a strong enemy with a big shark inside, it must be more difficult to break through and score.The above conversation was originally instructed by Yuanfei to Tang Shuai.According to Yuan Fei, it is necessary to stimulate the young players and force them to practice shooting.Does he know that Jefferson will become an efficient shooter in the future (in his previous life, Jefferson made 37.9% of his career three-pointers).

Tang Shuai continued: "Tracy, you can go one-on-one with Bryant today and play until you enjoy yourself. If you can't beat Bryant, and our insiders can't beat O'Neal, then the result of the game can be announced in advance."

McGrady smiled. He doesn't like to talk too much about this kind of thing, but his fighting spirit has been ignited.

"Go to fight, lads!"

***
The Lakers won the jump ball. On the first attack, O'Neal forced Olajuwon to shoot at the basket. The ball fell off after 2 laps on the basket.Lakers small forward Fox grabbed an offensive rebound and passed it to point guard Hunter, who made another shot.O'Neal grabbed the offensive rebound again and scored a dunk!O'Neal smiled disdainfully, as if to say: "Your basket is so weak!"

McGrady was unmoved, calmly and slowly advanced the organization's offense, facing Kobe's defense.Thomas stepped forward to cover, and McGrady easily broke through Kobe, who was stuck by Thomas, and faced Ao Pang's supplementary defense.McGrady gave the ball to Reed, the Lakers Fox rushed up, Reed then scored Williams, opened a three-pointer, and the goal was scored!The Rockets led by 1 point.

Kobe dribbled through McGrady, turned around and forced a fallback jumper. McGrady reacted fast enough and almost blocked the shot when he stretched out his hand.Missed the shot, Dameng protected the rebound this time.Reed advanced to the frontcourt and found that there was no chance, and passed it to McGrady.

McGrady broke through again and passed to Thomas under the basket. Thomas forced a layup and was blocked by Lakers power forward Walker.Back to this end Walker made a 2-pointer and the Lakers took the lead.Turning around, Reid returned a three-pointer, and the Rockets took the lead again.

The scores of the two sides continued to rise alternately.The Rockets rely on precise three-pointers, while the Lakers rely on a strong inside line.Defensive giant Samaki Walker prevented Thomas from scoring in the first quarter, and Dameng only scored 2 points.With Dell Curry's final three-pointer at the buzzer, the Rockets entered the second quarter only 25 points behind at 22:3.

Kobe, who only made 5 of 1 shots in the first quarter, finally showed his power. In the second quarter, he scored 4 points on 4 of 8 shots, leading the Lakers to widen the point difference to 14 points.But at the last moment of the first half, the main players of the Lakers rested, and the backup shooting guard Mitch Richmond (who was also a 6-time All-Star, but he was 36 years old at this time) came on the court. McGrady broke out decisively against the old man, scored 5 points in a row and sent an assist to bring the point difference back to 8 points, ending the first half.

The situation in the second half was still difficult.The slightly immature Xiao Ma was fouled four times by O'Neal early on, and had to be replaced by Tang Shuai to rest.Dameng was forced to play against the sharks again.

"Coach, why don't we try to break through the paint and foul O'Neal?" Jefferson asked off the court, "If O'Neal commits 5 fouls and rests, the Lakers as a whole will collapse."

"It's better to let you go up and try." Tang Shuai waved his hand, and Jefferson came on the bench.

It wasn't until Jefferson went up that he felt that Walker, Holly, Fox, George, and Bryant in each position of the Lakers were defensive champions.Their rotation marking made Jefferson very uncomfortable. After finally breaking through, he was blocked by O'Neal.Not to mention fouls, it's not easy to shoot.Only then did he understand that the Lakers' three-second zone is not easy to advance.However, Jefferson's shooting was not completely accurate, and he still scored a three-pointer after playing.

Seeing that Jefferson had suffered, Tang Shuai immediately rearranged.Turkoglu, Wallace, Parker replaced Jefferson, Thomas and Reed.Parker served in the frontcourt and gave Turkoglu a three-pointer directly, and the goal was scored.The Lakers' pass was intercepted by McGrady, and then passed to Turkoglu, and the ball scored again!The Lakers fans exclaimed that the Rockets still have a small forward who can shoot well, and the point difference is only 2 points.At this time, McGrady took over the game again, scoring consecutively and assisting his teammates to make the Rockets overtake.The Lakers Kobe Bryant was not to be outdone, and scored 2 goals in a row to overtake the score again.Then he made a mid-range shot against McGrady's defense and scored!Kobe played a wave of 6-0 alone!

"You want to fight with me, you're still young!" Kobe said, looking at McGrady coldly after shooting the goal.Slowly step backwards back to your own half and set up a defensive stance.Although McGrady only entered the league one year later than Kobe, for Kobe, who has won two consecutive championships, McGrady is just a junior.

McGrady smiled, seemingly casually accepted Parker's pass, suddenly swayed left and right, made two fake moves, and then pulled up a three-pointer.Kobe, who was thrown off the center of gravity, had no time to block the shot, not to mention McGrady's wingspan was longer than him, and his shot point was higher.

The ball is hollow into the net! 74:73 The Rockets were only 1 point behind.

With only the last 30 seconds left in the third quarter, Kobe, who was "screwed" by McGrady, asked for the ball with a livid face, while McGrady stared at the ball with wide-eyed eyes, his attention was highly concentrated, and his brain was also working rapidly.At this time, McGrady thought in his heart: Kobe will definitely hit back a ball by himself.If Kobe were himself, the most likely next step in the current left hand holding the ball would be to swing left and right.

Kobe moved!Change hands and change direction, the ball hits the right hand and takes a step forward, leaning back.McGrady, who had predicted it, followed, and his hand almost sealed Kobe's face.

The ball bounced out of the frame, Dameng protected the rebound and passed it to Parker to launch a fast break.Parker received the ball and advanced quickly.He looked up at his watch. It was the last 10 seconds, and George and Fox were surrounded. Do you want to force a foul?Parker chose to pass the ball. Reed caught the ball and was unguarded. He calmly raised his hand and shot a high arc.

The goal was scored, and the Rockets overtook again at 74:76!With only 2 seconds left, the Lakers failed to organize an effective offense, and the third quarter ended.

(End of this chapter)