The strongest champion puzzle

Chapter 93 Fighting the Rockets Again
After playing two games on the sofa with his girlfriend, Zhang Xiaotian began to reflect on whether he was too depraved.

He decided to do a few more sets of strength training before going to bed, Yang Feiyu pouted and went back to the room humming.

Tomorrow we have to play an away game again. There are not many away games in March, but playing away games is troublesome.

Flying by plane, staying in a car and staying in a hotel, how can it be fun at home, Zhang Xiaotian is obviously not as adaptable as the old players.

But it's the same on the court. He is the fastest only when he adapts to the court.

When they came to Houston, the fans on the other side of the ocean were very excited. This is the game they were looking forward to.

The main attack points of the Rockets are Harden, Jeremy Lin and Parsons, but as the season progresses, with the impact of injuries and performance, the role players have changed. Donatas-Motiejunas and Patrick- Beverly and others got their chance.

Among them is the problem of Harden and Jeremy Lin's possession of the ball. Both of them need to have the ball in their hands. Now that the Rockets' performance has not met expectations, Harden is the team's future opportunity. Jeremy Lin will naturally take responsibility. His position in the team has been compromised. to weaken.

Jeremy Lin's state was affected because of this, and Zhang Xiaotian is also thankful that he sat on the bench in college and developed his psychological quality. Now he can steadily improve his strength without having much ball possession.

The two teams are quite familiar with each other. The first half was inextricably fought, and both Duncan and Leonard performed well.

For the Rockets, Harden was as sharp as ever on the offensive end, but Beverly emerged from the bench, performed better than Jeremy Lin, and got a lot of playing time.

The turning point came in the third quarter, when James Harden broke out again. Both Danny Green and Ginobili suffered from each other.

Harden's ability to make fouls is too strong, no less than Ginobili's European step and strong body, making the players who defend him miserable.

For the Spurs, although Parker and Duncan were very stable, the Rockets immediately took the lead because of Manu Ginobili's miss.

The advantage of the score was obtained by the Rockets who took the lead in improving, and they did not intend to play on the slow Motiejunas. The Spurs originally wanted to take advantage of the inside line, but the Rockets' center Omer Asik lacked offensive ability. Defense is doing well.

The inside line cannot break the game, and the Spurs also have people outside.

Ginobili was entangled by Beverly, but Zhang Xiaotian got a chance. The Rockets' defense all depended on their personal ability, and the overall defense was a mess. He now has the ability to single-handedly, which can just be used.

After he came on the court, he cooperated with Leonard and successfully hit a three-pointer.

Then he broke through and assisted Split for a layup. The Rockets' defense, as long as there is a pick-and-roll, there will be an opportunity to attack.

The opposite is their offensive ability. The Spurs are scoring, and the opponent is not idle. Harden is difficult to limit. The key is that he has a good vision after scoring.

In fact, Zhang Xiaotian also wanted to try to defend the core of the Rockets, but the opponent's style of play would not be able to fight him hand-to-hand. It was even more slippery than Kobe, and it was not the type he was good at dealing with.

During the defensive rotation, he was cheated once by the opponent. He was used to hard-hitting strikers. Harden's rhythm was not suitable for him, so he was called a foul on the spot.

Not only him, Leonard also encountered the same situation.

The scores of the two sides have been stalemate like this, until the last 5 minutes when the two sides played a decisive battle, this situation finally changed.

Manu Ginobili showed his defensive smarts in place of Danny Green. He didn't give Harden a chance to draw a foul and forced the opponent to shoot from the outside.

To be honest, Harden's shooting percentage is not so ridiculously high, but he is good at inducing defensive players.

Zhang Xiaotian has also realized that the so-called defensive skills are sometimes not reflected in physical fitness, and different methods are used to face opponents with different characteristics, so as to maximize the defensive effect.

At this moment, he seemed to be enlightened, and suddenly became much clearer.

In fact, he and Leonard have asked questions about defensive skills many times, but the one who cares about words is like gold, and the expressions of the two sides often have not directly raised their arms and fought to understand.

As for Leonard's extraordinary talent, Zhang Xiaotian couldn't learn it.

Now that he saw Lao Yaodao's defense, he knew where the defense needed to be improved.

The Rockets hit the iron several times. Parker seized the opportunity to make a mid-range shot and made a foul to help the team tie the score.

Parker is also a master at drawing fouls, but unlike Harden, Parker mainly relies on speed to catch opponents off guard.

The Rockets requested a timeout and replaced Jeremy Lin, who was underperforming, with Ginobili's fellow Carlos Delfino.

Jeremy Lin's fans are also full of grief and indignation. After getting a good contract and coming to the Rockets with a high profile, his status has dropped a lot before finishing a season.

Zhang Xiaotian thought of how high-spirited he was when he bumped into Jeremy Lin before, and when he saw him unwilling to return to the bench, he was also secretly vigilant.

Professional basketball is a cruel place, and you must have value that cannot be replaced by others.

It's just that after the timeout, the Rockets' touch didn't recover, and Beverly also hit the iron.

During the Spurs' counterattack, Zhang Xiaotian caught the ball and squeezed past Delfino in one step, just pulling up and hitting two points.

91:89, the game was approaching the last 2 minutes, and the Spurs finally took the lead.

Harden, who has hit the iron several times, finally made a hit this time, and it was a three-pointer.

But Parker felt hot at this time, and then hit another two points.

Because the Rockets now have a three-guard lineup, Zhang Xiaotian did not face Parsons. Parsons actually played well in this game, and he also wants to stand up at this time.

He just wanted to catch the ball, but Ginobili reached out from the side and broke the ball.

You know, the Spurs' Leonard, Ginobili, Zhang Xiaotian, and Danny Green are all fast-handed players, and there is no certain way to really get stuck when they are on the ground.

During the Spurs' counterattack, Parker succeeded in the shot again, and the Spurs led by three points.

The rest of the Rockets didn't dare to hold the ball anymore and gave Harden all the time.

Seeing that the time has entered the last minute, Harden finally found a chance on the outside and made a three-point foul.

He made two of three free throws and the Spurs still took the lead.

At the last moment, the Rockets' defensive attention was also very focused.

In the next attack, Zhang Xiaotian didn't catch the ball, but Duncan missed the singles at the last moment.

The court has become extremely tense, and the Spurs' current defense is also impeccable, especially against Harden.

After Harden didn't get a suitable opportunity in singles, Asik stepped forward to cover. Harden bypassed the defense and immediately accelerated. Facing Zhang Xiaotian who rushed up to help defend, he threw the ball to the basket.

(End of this chapter)