ask if you agree

Chapter 239

A year ago, when the Rockets played against the Supersonics, the fledgling Qin Fei caused a lot of trouble for the Rockets.

After a year, the Rockets met Qin Fei again in the playoffs. This year, Qin Fei was stronger than last year, and the Rockets had no choice but to use Drexler to defend Qin Fei.

This choice is actually very painful. Once the glider returns to the guard position, Barkley can only let go of his powerful inside lethality and run to the small forward position to defend as an outside line.

When he was young, Barkley was fast and powerful, and he didn't have much problem playing small forward, but when he was old, he encountered some tall and thin jumpers, and it was difficult to truly form a defensive shock.

What's more troublesome is the problem of opening up space on the offensive end.

The Rockets' own system was "one star and four shots" in the early days. Barkley is not a particularly good three-point shooter, and his three-point shooting percentage is just over [-]%.

The harm between the two powers is the lesser, Tomjanovich can only make adjustments first, and then see how to solve other problems in the follow-up.

Because if you don't restrain Qin Fei, the Rockets themselves will have to explain in this game, regardless of the system or not.

Drexler is a perimeter player with excellent offensive and defensive skills. In his career, Drexler has been compared with Jordan most.

However, the glider's "excellent offense and defense" honor is actually mostly due to his superhuman stealing ability.

Good steals, almost accompanied Drexler's entire NBA career.

But his height is not short, more than 2 meters. As we all know, the taller the person, the higher the center of gravity, the greater the range of motion, and the harder it is to complete steals. However, Drexler averaged 2 steals per game in his career, comparable to a small guard.

In addition, the glider's ability to fight is also very strong, and its strength is very good. It is definitely a big challenge for Qin Fei to face him.

Immediately after the two matched up, Drexler stretched out his long arms, trying to disrupt or even steal Qin Fei's dribble.

However, Qin Fei was good at protecting the ball. He turned sideways and used the width of his body to block the glider from taking out the ball.

On the wing, Payton asked for the ball again.

Qin Fei gave the ball to Payton.

Payton believes that since the Rockets have adjusted, it is not a particularly good choice for Qin Fei to attack. He should continue to use the supersonic dynamic offense to complete the overall division of the Rockets.

He took the ball on the wing and called Geiger to cover Schramf on the weak side. At the same time, Qin Fei also tried to use Kemp's screen to get rid of Drexler's defense.

Maloney's defense deviated slightly, and Payton's eyes lit up.

Immediately dribble the ball under the crotch, pretend to change hands to pass the ball, and actually break through directly.

This was a one-on-one breakthrough. He did not follow the traditional pick-and-roll route. Maloney was at a disadvantage in terms of speed, strength, and confrontation.

At this time, Barkley subconsciously moved his feet to help defend, and Schramf mentioned a high position.

Payton made a point to the weak side, and Barkley turned around and bumped into Qin Fei who was covering for Schramf.

Drexler reacted quickly and was about to switch defenses to find Schramf. The latter fired directly from outside the three-point line. With nearly [-]% of the three-pointers, the basketball hit the net.

"Shh!"

The hearts of the Rockets fans are picking up, I really can't help it

Restricted by Drexler's defense, Qin Fei's activity on the court has dropped significantly.

At the same time, other Supersonic players have performed well. After entering the rotation, veteran Sam Perkins, new aid Michael Smith, and even Eric Snow and others all performed well.

The Rockets trailed the Sonics by 46 points 59 to 13 at halftime.

The two teams have met for three consecutive years, and seeing the Rockets being taught to be human again, Rockets fans really hate the Supersonics as much as they want.

And the supersonic luck also makes them feel jealous.

Why is the Supersonic lineup so complete all the time? Why is it that the Supersonics traded away the main players, but they can continue to dig out the firepower on the offensive end? Why are they so strong and still select Qin Fei, who can be called the top five in the 96 class with the [-]th overall pick?

If you want to interview Rockets fans' greatest hope for the Sonics now, it is "please disband quickly."

However, the two core players of the Supersonics, the big head and the second head, have both signed long-term contracts. At least four or five years later, this classic supersonic pick-and-roll scene will still exist.

"Is it possible that we change the low-post tactics?"

A Rockets assistant coach pitched a vision to head coach Tomjanovich.

Tomjanovich is not a stubborn coach. In fact, he has been thinking about the Rockets' offense. In the first half, the Rockets' offense was also a problem compared to the Supersonics.

"I think you can consider the high pick-and-roll."

The assistant coach's ideas are far from the tactical philosophy that the Rockets have always followed.

"The pick-and-roll doesn't work, we don't have such a good guard, and the inside speed is not fast enough."

Other assistant coaches immediately retorted that pick-and-rolls are not suitable for every team. Generally, teams that focus on pick-and-rolls either have relatively good guards or strikers with outstanding mobility. The Rockets do not have these two prerequisites. Blindly imitating, how can they surpass.

Coach Tom is also thinking about the problem.

What he thought was not about the Rockets' traditional offensive concept, but about the choice of defending Qin Fei.

Using Drexler to defend Qin Fei, of course, made Qin Fei's offensive firepower decline, at least after the first half. Qin Fei scored a total of 8 points in the first half, of which the first 6 points were obtained when he was not defending with a glider.

But this kind of defense has brought about other chain reactions. The most troublesome thing is the front line defense. Originally, the Rockets' front line was connected. Although the backcourt was not good, the front line defense was still good.

"What about Jordan's Law?"

Tomjanovich considered it and found that it was still not possible.

The Supersonics are not an offensive system that relies on Qin Fei. They are a whole. Qin Fei will not have the opportunity to become Jordan, and the Supersonics do not want to rely on a certain player to save the team. His idea is just wishful thinking.

He sighed slightly.

Next to it, several assistant coaches argued endlessly, but there was no result.

Seeing the way Tomjanovich sighed, the first assistant knew that the head coach was worried about the game, but they couldn't do anything about it, showing shame on their faces.

At the beginning of the second half, the Rockets continued to stick to the strategy of the first half, and Drexler marked Qin Fei.

The Supersonics continued to bloom more points. Among them, Payton continued to put pressure on the Rockets' backcourt defense, and Qin Fei was looking for some opportunities to switch defenses.

Qin Fei played very rationally, and his personal data declined, and he didn't intend to fight for good data.

Such patience is not like an ordinary second-year player at all.

Drexler was anxious, took the ball and singled Qin Fei with his back, and took the initiative to talk trash.

"Don't you like heads-up most? Why don't you have any fighting spirit?"

Qin Fei was very surprised.

"The player who likes heads-up is Kobe, okay, I'm just an average Seattle starter."

Drexler didn't expect Qin Fei to answer him like this. When a normal player is said like this, it must be a direct confrontation. At least the momentum of his mouth cannot be lost.

But Qin Fei didn't have this awareness at all, and passed by with a side-kick.

He didn't say a second word, but bumped Qin Fei with his back twice, then turned around and dribbled the ball suddenly.

As a result, Qin Fei still stood firmly in front, and when defending close to him, a pair of big hands circled around to cut the ball.

Drexler had already sensed the evil big hand, and immediately avoided Qin Fei's hand with his crotch, then changed the direction and took another step, and took off to shoot.

The mid-range jump shot in sports is one of his special skills, and Qin Fei threw himself on his face to interfere.

The shot was big, and the basketball went out of the frame.

Every game will have some one-on-one chances to fight one-on-one, defending against one-on-one goals, and the momentum bonus to defense is also considerable, at least Payton with a loud voice will not let the Rockets go.

Yell over there.

"Clyde, give up, Qin Fei's defense is the strongest, you can't beat him!"

What he said was the strongest was actually compared to Qin Fei's other skills, but Drexler sounded even more uncomfortable, as if he was provoking.

Although Peyton may really mean it.

On the other hand, at the end of his career, Barkley's offensive success rate has also been declining.

In the past, he could fly up to the basket like a ball and push the ball into the basket, but now his explosive power has declined, and it feels more difficult to meet Kemp at his peak.

This year, Barkley averaged only 15.2 points per game, a drop of 4 points from last season.

Although Kemp's personal offense is relatively average, but in terms of the ability to eat cakes, he is better than Barkley, and he played pick-and-roll with Payton to flourish.

Qin Fei was seized by Drexler to play a few singles, and most of the balls were blocked.

Drexler's hit rate was not good, and seeing that Qin Fei didn't fall into the confrontational state he hoped to see, he shook his head in disappointment.

After the general time of the third quarter passed, Drexler and Barkley accidentally switched defenses during the Supersonic outside running. When Qin Fei received the ball, he directly faced the Jazz's defense.

Buckley:

Barkley knew that he was slow and could not stop Qin Fei by moving laterally, so he took a step back to defend as soon as he came up.

Qin Fei really wanted to break through, but when he saw that Barkley had retreated a little far, he suddenly pulled up on the spot.

The shooting point is very high, and the shooting speed is relatively fast. Barkley rushed forward, and Qin Fei completed the shot.

"Shh!"

The basketball went into the net hollow, and it was a three-pointer!

Although Qin Fei's three-point shooting percentage has not reached the state of a top shooter, his ability to shoot cold arrows outside the three-point line is getting stronger and stronger.

In this regard, George Karl is very tolerant of him. If it was such an unreasonable shot by other players, George Karl would have taken it long ago.

But Qin Fei is different.

Qin Fei is young, has outstanding potential, and has a relatively high stealth status in the team. Moreover, this dry jumper from outside the three-point line is indeed a relatively high blow to the opponent's morale.

Qin Fei has used this method to save the team at critical moments many times, which also made George Karl acquiesce in the existence of Qin Fei's unreasonable offensive methods.

But there won't be too many in a game, at most try once or twice, if you don't make it, Qin Fei won't easily waste another chance to use the phone.

The result is now in.

The Rockets fans wailed in their hearts.

House leak happens to rain all night

Qin Fei hit such a goal in the third quarter. In the subsequent games, he was watching his teammates perform. The Rockets recovered a little point difference, but the overall situation of being suppressed was still serious.

In the fourth quarter of the game, the Rockets relied on three-pointers, cheered up their spirits at the beginning, and recovered a little point, even chasing within 10 points at one point.

But soon, the supersonic will make adjustments.

The non-resting Iron Man No. [-] Kemp and the non-resting Iron Man No. [-] Payton have their own performances. The two players who are in their peak period continue to sprinkle salt on the Rockets' torn wounds with their vitality.

Until 3 minutes left, the Rockets trailed by 13 points, and Tomjanovich had to be replaced by a substitute and announced his surrender.

In the end, the Sonics defeated the Rockets 114 to 98 at home.

The Rockets' offense in the second half was okay, but the overall performance was not as good as the SuperSonics.

Six players from the Sonics scored in double figures, and only Geiger did not score in double figures among the starting five. Michael Smith and Sam Perkins also scored in double figures on the bench.

The Sonics belonged to multi-point blooming, and the front line contributed 60.00% of the points.

The forward line is only used as a point of "fierce pincer attack, defensive counterattack". Unexpectedly, the offensive end has been opened up today, which makes George Karl quite satisfied.

But he also knew what was going on.

So even if Qin Fei only had 14 points, 6 rebounds and 1 steal, he knew in his heart that this was an All-Star level of restraint. The Sonics really had their own "Big Three", and they were younger, stronger, and more impactful than the Rockets.

The Rockets, who lost the first game, silenced the Houston media.

There were more and more voices about Tomjanovich's crusade.

Even if it's the champion coach, when it's time to take the blame, he can't escape at all.

In fact, this voice has already appeared after the Rockets lost to the Sonics for the second consecutive year last year. However, in the playoffs last year, the two teams fought fiercely for many games.

It's not like this year, there is a difference of more than ten points, and there is no way to fight back.

In a blink of an eye, Tomjanovich has been coaching the Rockets for seven years.

If Tom's greatest achievement is to say, it is undoubtedly to appease Olajuwon's heart and heal the scars between the uniform team and the team's Hall of Fame players. This is the reason why the Rockets were able to win the championship.

But now, the Hall of Fame players are old, and the formation of the Big Three of the Rockets seems to have failed. Anyone with a discerning eye can see that the Rockets are about to go to the old road of reconstruction. If it is reconstruction, is it appropriate for the head coach to be Tomjanovich?

The media used "change" to describe this experience. Maybe Tom is a good coach, but now, the sweet period between him and the team has passed, and after all, it is difficult to endure the seven-year itch.

These media also speculated wildly, and the team didn't take the outside voice too seriously, and even within an hour after the game, they nervously threw themselves into the preparations for G2.

George Karl said: "The Rockets will not sit still. They have the heart of a championship. Although we have a more organized lineup and a good state, we may not be better than the Rockets in terms of fighting spirit. We must not be careless."

After saying this, in the locker room, the players expressed their opinions one after another, meaning to go all out for the G2 game.

The result is still a problem.

As soon as the G2 game opened, the Rockets, who were under attack, played a wave of 13 to 2, directly beating the Supersonics.

Then there was Maroni, who was ashamed and courageous. Today, he shot from outside the three-point line without missing a shot. One after another, there was no sound in the key arena.

Fortunately, the veteran Schramf stepped forward in time and scored 5 points in a row from inside and outside to help stabilize the situation.

The Sonics trailed the Rockets by 23 points 34 to 11 in the first quarter.

Qin Fei was still defended by Drexler, but G2 was different from G1. In this game, the other Supersonic players were obviously in average condition, and only Schramf was okay.

Qin Fei took the initiative to attack in the second quarter, looking for some opportunities to stagger with Drexler.

It really didn't work, facing Drexler, he also attacked.

This made the glider very happy. After waiting for a long time, it finally arrived today.

(End of this chapter)