The era of point forwards in the NBA

Chapter 197 Relaxed · Freehand · Elegant (ask for subscription, ask for monthly pass)
Standing on the field of the Toyota Center Arena, Lin Yue clearly saw the two championship banners and retired jerseys hanging high. Compared with the short history of the Thunder, Houston has a long history as an early team.

However, compared with giants like the Celtics and Lakers, they are much worse than their ancestors. It is thanks to Olajuwon's two consecutive championships that this team is no longer so embarrassing.

Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming were both injured and unable to play. This Rockets team lacks a backbone but is still competitive. The Rockets' record so far is 3 wins and 2 losses.

After the lack of Dayao last season, they were still able to reach the tiebreaker with the defending champion Lakers. This made Adelman very confident in his Rockets. Even if the Chinese giant is not on the court, his Princeton tactics are still very powerful.

The strength of this Rockets team cannot be considered weak. They have Kyle Lowry, Scola, Brock, Landry, Trevor Ariza, Battier, Hayes and other powerful players. Each player has left a deep impression on Chinese fans.

Of course, if the Rockets want to enter the playoffs this season, unless Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming return from injury, and still maintain a good strength.

This is not realistic.

As the fans entered the arena one after another, the game between the Thunder and the Rockets was about to begin.

Rockets coach Rick Adelman sent Brooks, Ariza, Battier, Scola, Hayes.

The Thunder's starters are Curry, Lin Yue, Durant, Ibaka and Collison.

At the start of the game, Collison beat his opponent on the jump ball.

Lin Yue dribbled the ball forward, and when he saw Ibaka hit Hayes with his back, he lobbed the ball to the opponent without hesitation, instead of passing it to Durant and Curry first.

Hayes' height is 198cm, which is ten centimeters shorter than the 208cm Ibaka. He is even a little shorter than Lin Yue, but he is the starting power forward in the Rockets.

In Lin Yue's impression, Hayes' defense is still very good. Even though he is at a disadvantage in height, he even occasionally plays the center position with a super stable foot.

When Yao Ming was injured last season, it was Hayes who guarded the Rockets' inside line on the defensive end. As a defensive vanguard, he is a more qualified frame protector than Scola.

After Ibaka received the ball, he pushed it up, and found that he couldn't push up his opponent. Hayes's bottom plate was stable, and his confrontation strength was not bad.

But Ibaka is tall after all, he turned around and used a hook action, even Hayes couldn't reach it when he jumped up. Unfortunately, because the distance was too far, his shot was not strong enough, and the ball hit the front and popped out.

Collison jumped up suddenly, grabbed the offensive rebound before Scola, and scored the ball in the second attack. Scola's basket confrontation was no match for Collison.

After entering the first goal, the Rockets launched an offense.

Brooks's speed is very fast, which is his characteristic, and what is more impressive is his convulsive style of play, the first nerve knife player that domestic fans came into contact with.

He can score 30 points in a game with high efficiency, or he can be so sluggish that he can't score in double figures on many shots. His extremely unstable performance also determines the direction of the Rockets.

At the beginning, he scored a three-pointer against Curry's defense after receiving a return pass from his teammates, igniting the atmosphere at home.

3 to 2, the Rockets temporarily lead.

In this first start, the Thunder can't take advantage of it at all.

After Curry dribbled the ball across half court, he passed the ball to Lin Yue at the top of the arc, but Battier's defense made him unable to break through. Lin Yue passed the ball to Durant. Ariza was also an excellent 3D player. Under his defense, Durant missed his first shot of the field.

In the first quarter, Lin Yue played soy sauce for 6 minutes before going down to rest. In this quarter, not only he played soy sauce, but other members of the Thunder team were also restricted. Curry was 2 for 0 at this time and scored 2 points with free throws. Durant was not much better, 3 for 1 and hit a 3-pointer.

At this time, the Rockets led the Thunder by 12 points 9 to 3.

After Lin Yue got off the court, he watched other players play. Sitting off the court, he found that Durant was really uncomfortable playing under Ariza's defense. Ariza's size was similar to him, and his defense was also good.

Durant gave the ball to Curry after realizing his shot was off.

Fortunately, Brooks' defense was not very good. Curry found the touch through the first few attempts, and finally it rained three-pointers with 2 minutes left in the first quarter, hitting two consecutive three-pointers.

At the end of the first quarter, with the strong performance of Curry and the inside line, the Thunder led the Rockets by two points 27 to 25.

In the second quarter, Lin Yue brought Kevin Ollie, Serge Ibaka, Sefoloza, and Etan Thomas to the field.

The Rockets' bench is Lowry, Ariza, Budinger, Landry and Anderson.

McGrady was injured and unable to play, sitting on the bench in a suit.

When the camera was shown to him, it caused a burst of cheers from the fans. The man who once performed miracles and moved God in 35 seconds and 13 minutes had to accept reality now.

McGrady himself is also very clear that in the eyes of the Rockets management, he is already a player whose contract is about to expire. There are rumors about his trade, and it is uncertain when he will leave the team.

Therefore, players should be selfish. If he hadn't had a closed injection, he might still be able to play healthily now, but McGrady has no regrets. He will not miss any chance to win, especially in the playoffs.

It's a pity that God's will tricks people, his and Yao Ming's partners are always injured, and the team has never had a good result.

The Rockets' bench lineup is not as strong as the starting lineup. Ariza led Lin Yue. This is coach Adelman's tactic. He studied the Thunder's game video before the game.

Lin Yue's scoring was concentrated in the transitional stage when the other two stars were not on the court. Therefore, in the second half of the first quarter, he replaced Ariza to give him sufficient rest time, in order to have an effect in the second quarter.

The idea is really good, but there is a tactic in basketball called cover.

Lin Yue dribbled the ball at the top of the arc, and Sefolosha ran to cover. At this time, Budinger, who was defending Sefolosha, had to switch defenses.

Ariza had no choice but to stare at Sefolosha. If he double-teamed Lin Yue rashly, the possibility of losing points would be greatly increased once the ball was passed to Sefolosha in the air defense.

Facing Budinger's defense, Lin leaped over him like crossing the road in the early morning, beautifully changing his body to Crossover to pass him, and hit his first personal goal of the field with an easy, freehand, and elegant backward shot.

Adelman didn't panic either. He didn't think he could completely limit Lin Yue's offense. After all, it's impossible for a guy averaging 16 or 17 points per game not to score.

This lineup also has the power to fight on the offensive end.

"Small Steel Cannon" Lowry used his physical advantage to directly go to the basket against Ollie's defense, and scored two points after a time difference.

The reason why the Rockets are still so strong is because of their excellent offense off the bench.

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(End of this chapter)