Zhiba NBA

Chapter 19 (Eighteen) Yao Ming's First Battle
On October 10, the first game of the season, the Rockets went to Indiana to challenge the Pacers (translated as Pacers in Taiwan).

On the bus from the hotel to the arena, Reid looked left and right, admiring the street view of Indiana, and said: "The first two seasons were played at home. This is the first time I played away. I'm not used to it."

"It's not good news for our rookie big man to play away from home." McGrady looked at Yao Ming and said with a smile, "But it also shows that we have a new start and a different season."

"Very well said, Tracy." Tang Shuai continued: "In the past few seasons, due to some inconvenient reasons, our record was poor. But now we have great players and strong strength. As I said in training before, we must reach the playoffs this season."

"The Pacers are very strong this season, we can't be careless." Olajuwon told the young players like a big brother.

"That's right, unlike the Eastern Conference champion Pacers more than two years ago, that team had Miller and Rose as the core. In the current Pacers, Miller is old and Rose is gone. But Jermaine O'Neal (different from the Lakers' Shaquille O'Neal, usually called Jr. O'Neal) has grown up. With the strong Artest and Harrington, the Pacers have the strength to reach the playoffs and even the top four in the East." Tomjanovich suddenly sighed: "Unfortunately Jason is not here, Otherwise, let him analyze it for you.”

At this moment, Wang Yuanfei is waiting for the game to start in front of the TV.Data analysts usually do not go to away games with the team, not to mention that Yuanfei still has studies to complete on a daily basis.

***
The game started, and the game has also attracted the attention of hundreds of millions of fans in China. China's largest media-CCTV broadcasted it live.According to media reports, the number of viewers of the game was close to 2 million.

The Rockets' starters are Olajuwon, Thomas, Jefferson, McGrady and Billups.Pacers are O'Neal, Harrington, Artest, Mosser and Strickland, veteran Reggie Miller missed due to injury.

Xiao Ao won the big dream with a jump ball. After getting the ball, Moser dribbled the ball to the three-point line. Facing McGrady's defense, he chose to pass the ball to Artest.Artest singled Jefferson with the ball, and he crushed in with a bulldozer-like physical advantage, and Thomas couldn't help defend.Artest succeeded in picking the basket, and the Pacers scored first.

Billups took the ball leisurely and pushed it across half court at an unhurried pace.Jefferson reached out for the ball, and Dameng also leaned against Xiao Ao to prepare to catch the ball and play singles.But Billups took care of the ball leisurely.

"This guy's ball control is weird, with a wide range from left to right. Usually such a dribble is easy to be intercepted, but his center of gravity is very low, so it is not easy to steal him." The defender Strickland made an instant judgment.

Chauncey swayed left and right to break through. Strickland was about to block, but found himself blocked.It was Thomas who stepped up and made a solid pick-and-roll.Billups made a fake three-pointer with a step-back step and scored!The Rockets overtook.

The Pacers counterattacked, Xiao Ao's singles had a big dream, and the goal was scored! 3:4.

Chauncey dribbled the ball exaggeratedly again, and this time Dream stepped up to the pick-and-roll.Xiao Ao didn't dare to leave the three-second zone too far, and stayed in an awkward position closer to the basket. Moser hurriedly defended.Chauncey is like a blind pass to McGrady with long eyes on the back of his head. McGrady catches the ball open and throws a large two-pointer, and the goal is scored! 5:4 The Rockets once again overtook.

After 8 minutes in the first quarter, the two sides drew 17.Tang Shuai waved his hand, changed people, and went up and down.The players on the field became Magloire, Okur, Turkoglu, Reed and Billups, and only Billups continued to play.

"Coach, do you want to test my resilience?" Billups greeted Strickland with a smile. He knew that this third-rate point guard was not enough to deal with him.Under his exaggerated and large-scale dribble, the ball flew into the hands of Okur in the bottom corner at some point.Harrington's defense did not keep up in time, and he scored a three-pointer. Okur scored the first goal of his career!
Under Billups' easy scheduling, the Rockets led the Pacers 25 to 22 at the end of the first quarter.

"Chauncey, you played very well." Shuai Tang was very satisfied. Billups played with ease in both lineups, fully reflecting the style of a general. "Just playing our rhythm with Chauncey and Tracy."

第二节的火箭更加生猛，因为火箭的板凳替补比步行者强得多，麦迪和大梦等主力也休息得很充分。这一节麦迪9投5中得到了13分。火箭也以51:44扩大着领先优势。

But an accident happened at the beginning of the third quarter. Dameng accidentally sprained his ankle while fighting for rebounds with O'Neal.Although the injury didn't look serious, Tang Shuai safely sent him to the infirmary for treatment and signaled Yao Ming to play.

As the little giant stepped on the floor of the Conseco Arena for the first time, the local Chinese fans in Indianapolis cheered. Although Yao Ming was a player on the visiting team, the Chinese fans didn't care about it at all.It's great to see the champion from China making his debut!

"Give me the ball, and I'll teach that rookie a lesson." Jermaine O'Neal shouted to his teammates.

Sure enough, as a first-line star in the league, O'Neal's strength is not comparable to that of the fledgling Yao Ming.He hit three offenses in a row, and even Thomas couldn't stop him by stepping up to help.Beads of sweat were already showing on Yao Ming's head, not from fatigue but from tension.

Xiao Ao succeeded in singles against Yao Ming again, and caused him to foul, scoring 3 points in a row.Tang Shuai shook his head and sent Magloire.

"You're so weak, rookie!" Jermaine O'Neal yelled at Yao Ming who was walking off the court.The referee glared at him, but said nothing.

"I'm sorry, coach." The tall Yao Ming bowed his head like a kid who made a mistake.

"You don't need an apology. You're still going to be sent in the fourth quarter, get ready."

Yao Ming looked at Tang Shuai with gratitude in his eyes. "yes!"

小奥尼尔第三节单节就得到了11分2篮板2盖帽，步行者将比分反超为72比75。由于步行者的篮下优势明显，火箭得分也变得艰难了起来。

Yuan Fei kept shaking his head in front of the TV.The biggest weakness of Billups is that his ability to break through is relatively weak, and his shooting rate of rushing to the basket is only about 50%, and he is not good at attacking tough points at all.At this time, we can only rely on McGrady to use his personal ability to break the deadlock.Fortunately, Wallace of the Rockets played well in this field.He trained hard this summer and finally showed his talent for defending the gate. He defended well against Harrington and Artest successively, curbing the two main scoring points of the Pacers.

Tang Shuai once again mobilized his troops, Xiao Ma, Okur, Wallace, McGrady and Parker played in the fourth quarter.This lineup has an absolute advantage in size, and it will fight to the end with the powerful O'Neal at the basket.Sure enough, the Rockets relied on the breakthroughs of Tracy McGrady and Parker to tear apart the Pacers' defense time and time again, and the ball missed by the guard was returned to the offensive rebound by the Maho Twin Towers many times.The Rockets regained the advantage, and Yao Ming played again.

O'Neal, who was exhausted after nearly 40 minutes of playing, was gradually unable to push Yao Ming easily. Although he still had an absolute advantage, he was no longer as comfortable as before.McGrady is still attacking the Pacers' basket time and time again.

With Harrington's last shot, the game ended.Yao Ming Jefferson and other players stood up and applauded their teammates loudly. 97:95 Rockets relied on Tracy McGrady and Billups' outstanding performance to beat the Pacers in an away game.

这一场比赛，小奥尼尔打出了24分10篮板3盖帽的不错数据，阿泰斯特也有20+6+5。火箭方面麦迪打出了39+8+4，三名新援中比卢普斯出战30分钟得到了13分7助攻；奥库出场19分钟得到7分4篮板；姚明出场11分钟1投0中未能得分，只得到2篮板2失误3犯规（史上真实数据）。中国小巨人在NBA的第一步，走得颇为艰难。

"Boys, you are great!" Tang Shuai praised the players loudly in the locker room: "You have started the season well. But don't be proud, the Pacers will have a team spirit after Miller, and their real strength will be stronger. But we will also be stronger. Rookies Yao Ming and Okur will grow up, and other young people will play better and better."

"The team doctor said I'm fine, but I need to rest for one to two weeks. During this time, the inside of the Rockets will be handed over to you guys." Olajuwon looked at Xiao Ma, Yao Ming and Okur and said, "I will go to the Denver Plateau to play the Nuggets the day after tomorrow. The opponent is very weak and we must win. Not only must we win, but we must win more!"

"Hakeem is right. Denver's record last season was not as good as ours. This season they lost the top scorer Van Exel and the main center LaFrentz. They can only rely on a few rookies to win the world. They are not our opponents at all." Thomas also shouted.

"How do you feel?" McGrady patted Yao Ming's shoulder and cared about him.McGrady knows that whether the Rockets can win the championship in the future depends on how well the big man in front of him can grow.

"I played so badly, I am very upset." The honest Yao Ming said truthfully.

"Come back in the next game, no problem." McGrady encouraged Dayao.

"If I don't score in the next game, I'll treat the whole team to Chinese food." Yao Ming said loudly.

"I love a rookie like you." Thomas hugged Yao Ming and laughed.

Tang Shuai smiled and looked at his disciples.This team is no longer something the current Nuggets can stop.

(Xiaoyu: On the same day, the famous media person Yang Yi rushed to the locker room after the game. He wanted to comfort Yao Ming. Yao Ming saw that he was grinning and said that the list of the first show was the first show on the same day. Being a character is indeed determined to be mindful, can laugh at adversity, and be good at thinking for others.)
***
As expected by the dream, the Rockets beat the Nuggets 11:1 in an away game on November 93.The Nuggets didn't even have a stable scorer due to the absence of top card Juwan Howard. James Posey, the team's highest scorer, only had 74 points.Rockets rookie Billups contributed 16 points and 21 assists, Okur 5 points and 6 rebounds, Yao Ming only made 5 of 5 shots, got 1 points and 2 rebounds (real data in history), and finally opened.

That night, the Rockets flew back to Houston.What awaits them is the back-to-back game the next day, the first home game of the season.

(End of this chapter)