Super Evolution of Basketball

Chapter 492

In the second round of the playoffs, the third quarter of the game between the Rockets and the Lakers.

D'Antoni thought over and over again, and finally took Harden to the court again.

He looked at Harden's beard full of sweat, and felt a little unbearable in his heart, but he couldn't help it. If he didn't fight back now, this season would be over.

James Harden, who had recovered a little bit of physical strength, was fully fired after he came on the field, making two consecutive three-pointers, and the Rockets took the lead again.

Every time Harden scored a goal, Murray, who was in charge of defending him, would look back at Walton. Walton didn't give him any instructions. He wanted Murray to learn to deal with the situation at hand.

Walton is more stable than D'Antoni, because the absolute initiative is on the Lakers' side at this time.

Yuan Qingshan couldn't stand it anymore, and began to help Murray double-team Harden.

Murray breathed a sigh of relief, Yuan Qingshan patted him on the shoulder: "I can't give up, come on!"

With Yuan Qingshan's defensive intervention, it will be difficult for Harden to score goals. He has no choice but to turn around and mobilize his teammates.

It's a pity that every point of the Rockets except Harden was taken care of by the Lakers. Harden created a lot of opportunities, which were wasted by his teammates.

Griffin's eyes were red, and he kept asking Harden for the ball inside. Harden would choose a slightly better opportunity to pass it to him. After Griffin grabbed the ball, he attacked like a wild beast.

Rao Whiteside couldn't stand it anymore, and he frequently succeeded near the penalty area.

This section of the game is about to end, because of Griffin's sudden outbreak, D'Antoni and Harden were relieved at the same time.

The score between the two sides began to be anxious. The Lakers did not lose their footing because of Griffin. The players on the field cooperated calmly under the command of Yuan Qingshan. It was the same sentence. The Rockets used 12 points for every goal, while the Lakers became more and more calm.

During the intermission, Wharton asked Whiteside if he was under too much pressure facing Griffin. Whiteside expressed his confidence to defend well. Griffin just broke out, not his true level.

Walton arranged that if Griffin feels so good, Towns will start double-teaming when Griffin is two steps away from the penalty area. He would rather let Capela empty outside the penalty area than let Griffin slip into the penalty area so casually.

The rest time is not long. Yuan Qingshan has been doing ideological work for Murray. Wharton may not feel it off the court, but Yuan Qingshan can clearly feel the pressure Harden brought on Murray on the court.

But Yuan Qingshan also knows that this is a hurdle that Murray has to overcome by himself, just like he wanted to face Westbrook, Stephen Curry, Lillard, Chris Paul and other stars one after another.

After the game came back, both sides did not change their formations.

The commentator O'Neal flipped through the technical statistics and said with emotion: "This year's Lakers are indeed terrible. You can see that this game seems to be the most anxious of these three games, but what is the real situation? The efficiency of the Lakers is much higher than that of the Rockets."

Partner Barkley sighed: "The last round of the Lakers ended Chris Paul's dream of the Western Conference Finals. Are they going to send James Harden away with their own hands this time?"

O'Neal said: "This is not a pity at all. I bet that for the Warriors, the Lakers are a more difficult enemy than the Rockets. If Steve Kerr was selected, he would definitely prefer to face the Rockets in the Western Conference Finals."

Barkley: "You are right about this. The Warriors will not have a good time in the Western Conference Finals. When they stand in front of LeBron James again, I am afraid that only half of their lives are left."

O'Neal's tone was displeased: "Old man, don't give the Lakers a death sentence right now. I hope it's the Lakers who will challenge James this year. Watching the Warriors play the Cavaliers for several years in a row, isn't it tired?"

Barkley realized that he had said the wrong thing, and hurriedly said: "Yes, yes, fresh is always more attractive, but no matter who can make it to the conference finals, they are the well-deserved kings of the Western Conference."

O'Neal nodded. It's fair to say that, otherwise the Lakers' 60 billion fans might spray you to death on the Internet.

The final quarter of Game [-].

The Rockets still focused on Harden. Harden played several times in a row as soon as he came on the court, and his shooting percentage was close to 50.00%.

Griffin became annoyed when he saw that the ball could not be passed to him, and yelled at Harden while asking for a position.

It's not that Harden didn't want to pass the ball to him, but after learning the lesson in the second half of the third quarter, Whiteside began to go around the front to defend Griffin, just not giving him a chance to catch the ball comfortably.

One of the biggest characteristics of Griffin is that his hands are short, and Harden dare not lob the ball rashly.

The Lakers' offense is much easier. Harden and Griffin are not particularly resilient defenders, especially Griffin. After he focuses on the offensive end, he relaxes on defense.

So on the offensive end, Towns and Whiteside switched positions back again. Towns frequently attacked Griffin and attracted him to high positions many times, even near the three-point line, which greatly consumed Griffin's physical energy.

D'Antoni also wants to switch defenses, but it's a pity that Capela can't defend Towns, and Towns' shooting range is much greater than the Rockets imagined.

Eight minutes into the fourth quarter, Harden and Griffin finally bottomed out.

But D'Antoni didn't dare to make substitutions. He had already played to this point. Substituting them would mean giving up the game.

Eric Gordon is on the court, and he wants to relieve Harden and Griffin a little, but as soon as he gets the ball, Yuan Qingshan will defend it mercilessly.

Gordon played for a long time in this game. Originally, he had no advantage under Yuan Qingshan's defense, and it was even worse after physical exertion. He tried to attack several times, but succeeded only once, and the efficiency was terribly low. D'Antoni yelled from the sidelines, telling Gordon not to waste the opportunity.

The coach actually said that he was wasting an opportunity?
Gordon's mentality exploded at that time, and his shot selection was even more outrageous. Later, Harden didn't dare to pass it to him.

In the end, the Lakers won the third game with a score difference of 121 to 104 and 17 points, and successfully won the match point at the Rockets' home court.

When the whistle sounded for the end of the game, Griffin almost sat down on the ground.

Harden walked out of the player tunnel without looking back, his face no longer had the confidence at the beginning of the series.

The Rockets lost three games in a row and fell behind 0-3 by a big score. Looking at the history of the NBA, this can be regarded as a desperate situation.

The Rockets staff met Harden head-on in the player tunnel, but no one dared to provoke him. Although Harden is usually easy-going, everyone knows that he is a ticking time bomb during a fiasco.

The Rockets fans couldn't accept this result, so that after the game, many people stayed in their seats and watched the score on the big screen in a daze.

All the players left the field. In the locker room of the visiting team, there was no lively scene as imagined. In fact, the Lakers players were also exhausted. It was not easy to win the Rockets at home.

Wharton cleared his throat and shouted, "Boys, you all did a good job tonight!"

"WOW!" Only Nick Young responded hoarsely.

Then made everyone laugh.

(End of this chapter)