NBA Building Cardinals

Chapter 254 An Old Family Is Like a Treasure (35)

After the opening game, Liu Rui continued his strategy of defending Yao Ming.

The difference is that Gerald Wallace is in charge of facing McGrady in this game.

With the experience of this season, Wallace has changed a lot since the beginning of the season.

Playing so far, it can be said that both offensive and defensive ends have been greatly improved.

At the very least, if the whole team uses him to defend McGrady, it can greatly reduce McGrady's personal offensive efficiency.

Because Divac was standing outside the three-point line on the offensive end, Dayao was forced to defend from the penalty area.

As long as Dayao comes out of the penalty area, Liu Rui has already made arrangements for this before the game.

Based on the current lineup of the Bobcats on the field, it can be said that there are too many choices.

Especially Mo Williams and Kevin Martin, as ball-handling points, both of them can play Yao Ming through pick-and-roll misalignment.

After playing for a few minutes, Van Gundy also discovered Yao Ming's disadvantage, but he couldn't replace Yao Ming.

So Van Gundy set up a zone defense formation in advance to ensure that Yao Ming can always move in the penalty area, so as to avoid too many being transferred out of the three-second zone.

As for Van Gundy's defense, Liu Rui had guessed before the game, because if he was Van Gundy, facing Yao Ming's situation, he would probably defend the zone first.

After all, it is impossible to let Yao Ming off the court, because the Rockets rely on the offensive end, the combination of Yao and Mai can be said to be indispensable.

Facing the Rockets' zone defense, the Bobcats also directly made changes under Liu Rui's suggestion.

Due to the presence of Divac, the movement of the ball on the court can be made more neat.

Therefore, facing the zone defense, the Bobcats passed the ball many times on the court, trying to find opportunities to kill on the outside.

Relying on the wits and courage of the two teams, at the end of the first quarter, the Bobcats played away with:

26:22
Leading the Rockets by four points ended the first quarter.

Seeing the score in the first quarter, Liu Rui who was sitting off the court also let out a long breath
After all, winning or losing every game now is very important to the team.
Because this may directly rewrite the ranking of the Eastern Conference playoffs.

Although Liu Rui hoped to win both games before the game, the Rockets are a playoff-level team after all.

It's just that compared to other strong teams, the Rockets have some obvious advantages and disadvantages.

The Rockets have Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady, two players with very strong offensive capabilities inside and outside, but their weaknesses are also obvious.

That is, the Rockets only have Yao Ming and McGrady, and the rest of the players, whether they are starters or substitutes, can give Yao and McGrady very limited support.

So this is why even if Yao Mai can bring the Rockets into the playoffs, their upper limit can only be the playoffs.

With the end of the first quarter, Liu Rui breathed a sigh of relief because, in the contest between the two sides' substitutes in the second quarter, unless the Rockets' substitutes collectively convulsed, they made hundreds of shots from outside the three-point line.

Otherwise, it is impossible to be the opponent of the Bobcats.

Because Liu Rui took Jefferson to the bench in this game, that is to say, in the next second quarter, the Bobcats' bench will be led by Stoudemire and Jefferson.

So based on the Rockets' bench lineup this season, it can be said that they can't keep up.

Sure enough, in the contest between the two sides' substitutes, the Bobcats tried their hands first after the opening game, and after missing a few shots in a row, they fully opened up their offensive firepower.

In just over four minutes, the point difference was directly expanded again.

Faced with this situation, as Liu Rui expected, Van Gundy replaced Yao Mai in advance.

After all, McGrady's average playing time this season ranks second in the league, second only to Iverson.

Facing Yao Mai's return, Liu Rui was not in a hurry to replace his main lineup.

Because there is Ariza on the bench today, a full-strength Ariza, the entanglement he brings on the defensive end will not be much smaller than Wallace.

In addition, on the current bench, there are two strong players, Stoudemire and Jefferson, and it is better to give up than the starting players.

Therefore, there is no need for Liu Rui to replace his main lineup in advance.

Sure enough, even if the Rockets have switched back to the main force, they can only maintain the current score on the court and not be stretched.

The score on the field did not show any signs of being narrowed.

Until Liu Rui on the sidelines looked at the time, he felt that it was almost time. Taking advantage of the dead ball, he also replaced the Bobcats' main lineup.

The few players who got a full rest off the court played very resolutely on the offensive end after they came on the court.

This is also Liu Rui's explanation to the players off the court.

Because the total playing time of the Bobcats' main players this season ranks last in the league.

That is to say, the main players of the Bobcats will get more rest time compared to other teams.

That's why Liu Rui explained to the players that as long as they are on the field, they will go all out and don't worry about the distribution of physical strength.

Facing the frenzied offensive after the Bobcats' main force entered the field, the slightly exhausted Rocket generals also began to gradually fall into the disadvantaged.

This also led to the end of the half, the Bobcats with:
55:43
Leading the Rockets by 12 points, the contest in the first half ended.

During the halftime break, Liu Rui was in the players' locker room again, telling the players some key points for the second half.

But at this time, Liu Rui's heart has gradually begun to relax, because as the game continues, the advantage will gradually come to the Bobcats.

The overloading of the Rockets' main force on the field will completely explode in the fourth quarter.

Therefore, the balance of victory has gradually tilted towards the Bobcats at this time.

After returning from the second half, the momentum of the Rockets chasing points became very fierce.

Fortunately, after the Bobcats experienced a series of away trips, their mental resilience has also been greatly improved.

After a short period of confusion.The veteran Divac started to organize the offense on the field to help the young players stabilize their morale.

The young man who was familiar with the rhythm of the Rockets began to gradually regain his touch in the second half of the third quarter.

Especially Mo Williams, facing old Ward's defense, and then using Divac's pick-and-roll, shot from inside and outside and scored 11 points in a single quarter in the third quarter. He didn't understand what it means to respect the old and love the young.

At the end of the third quarter, the Bobcats had led the Rockets by nearly 20 points.

Although McGrady once had a miracle of 35 seconds and 13 minutes, after all, this is not a skill, and it is not something that McGrady can trigger if he wants to.

So Liu Rui, who was off the court at this time, also began to prepare to celebrate the victory of this game in advance.

The old star Divac was directly pressed on the bench in the fourth quarter.

Chatting and laughing with Bickerstaff and others, they have already started discussing the next game against the Warriors...

(End of this chapter)