I'm not really a role player

Chapter 178 The Rocket's Bench Bandit

At the beginning of the game, McGrady took the ball and faced Li Ke.

This is a bit like the Halloween battle a long time ago, and the opening was one-on-one.

The difference is that this time it's not a simple one-on-one. McGrady asked Scola for a pick-and-roll, followed by speeding up and sprinting, trying to rely on the pick-and-roll to get rid of Li Ke's defense.

Chris Humphries pulls away, delaying.

Before Li Ke could bypass the screen and return successfully, McGrady made an emergency stop, pulled up, and threw the ball against Humphries' defense.

Swish-!
McGrady clenched his fists, as if cheering himself on, his eyes were no longer sleepy, and he was even a little bloodthirsty.

Yang Wu, Director Zhang was surprised: "Hey, he scored a high jumper at the beginning of the game. McGrady is in good form in this game!"

"The Rockets have won 20 consecutive victories, and McGrady has always been in good condition."

Yu Jia praised McGrady, but strictly speaking, before the 20-game winning streak, McGrady was in a bad state, and his scoring average dropped to about 21 points per game. Compared with his first three seasons in the Rockets, his decline is a bit obvious.

In contrast, Yao, who averaged more than 22 points, 10 rebounds and more than [-]% shooting, has been playing steadily. That is to say, relying on Yao, the Rockets can occupy a playoff spot in the highly competitive West.

As for the 20 consecutive victories, McGrady's so-called good condition is actually compared with the poor first half of the season.

If compared with Rocket McGrady in previous seasons, McGrady during the 20-game winning streak has actually recovered Rocket McGrady's normal state.

Specifically, for the first 20 consecutive victories of the 12-game winning streak, the Rockets are driven by dual-core.

Dayao averaged 21.5 points, 11.1 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game. He averaged only 14.7 shots per game. He didn't have much possession of the ball. It can be said that his performance was quite efficient.

McGrady, another core, averaged 22.1 points and 6.2 assists per game.

After Dayao was injured, McGrady's scoring average only rose to 8 points per game, and his assists dropped to 24.3.

As far as this data shows, if you say that he is in good condition, I am afraid that even McGrady himself will not recognize it.

But in this game, McGrady's state is indeed very good. A pick-and-roll in the opening game staggered Li Ke's defense and successfully scored a high jumper.

Then, when the Bobcats attacked, Lao Ai missed the middle distance, and McGrady rushed to the basket and grabbed the rebound.

Then he brought the ball to the front court by himself, another pick and roll, the same high-post pull-up over the screen, whoop!
"Two hits in a row at the beginning, this McGrady has found the feeling!"

Once again, Li Ke, who was blocked by a screen, crossed his hips. His first reaction was different from Director Zhang and Yu Jia. What he thought of was not how good McGrady was, but that it was impossible to defend against pick-and-rolls...

"Hey Chris, don't stretch the delay too far."

Humphries scratched his head: "But I'm afraid that if I stick too tightly, Trish will step over me..."

Li Ke patted Humphries on the butt: "You have to trust my speed around the screen."

Then, regardless of what Humphries thought, he turned around and devoted himself to the offensive end.

Bobcat's attack, Li Ke pulled away McGrady's defense, Battier stared at Hua's second...

With Lao Ai and Shark joining, the biggest benefit Li Ke enjoys is that he is no longer the focus of the opponent's marking. The old Aiwei who plays singles at the top of the arc and the old Shark who sits on Mutombo in the low post are all more threatening.

Battier's speed can't guard Lao Ai, but he didn't switch to Li Ke either, because the threat of Hua's second son is not small, and without Dayao, Battier still has to take on the responsibility of assisting defense.

Therefore, another difference between this game and the Halloween game appeared. On both offensive and defensive ends, Li Ke's opponents were McGrady.

McGrady's offense has declined. When it comes to defense, he squeezed his little finger and said, McGrady, who is serious, still has a little bit of defense.

But it is definitely not as good as Battier's duty is to defend. Generally speaking, on the offensive end, Li Ke's pressure is not great.

But this round, he still didn't have a chance to play, because the old shark sat on Uncle Mu inside, and then, Lao Ai gave the ball in.

Sitting on the inside, Lao Sha hit Lao Mu, turned around, hooked the ball and scored.

2 to 4, the Bobcats finally let go.

Then there was the Rockets' offense. Alston performed his duties and took the ball across the half court, and then it was McGrady who went around to the top of the arc to receive the ball.

Still under the cover of Scola, McGrady speeded up and rushed in one step.

But this time, Humphries pushed forward, waving his long arms awkwardly, trying to block McGrady's impact.

Although McGrady quickly used a turn and change direction, and passed Humphries in one step.

But it was only a matter of turning around, Li Ke swung his elbow across, swept away Scola, and appeared in front of McGrady.

"Walking around the cover very quickly, Li Ke faced McGrady again!"

When McGrady pulled out the third goal of the game against Li Ke's defense without any change, Director Zhang thought that the goal was about to be scored again.

"McGrady, it's better to pull it out, there it is!"

Bang-dang-!
There was silence in Yangwu's broadcast room. On the court, amidst the cheers, Lao Sha grabbed Uncle Mu and grabbed the rebound.

Chris Humphries stared blankly at Li Ke, he was shocked, was Scola's cover quality so poor?

But thinking about the first two goals, Scola's screen quality is not good, but I don't think it's bad.

Thinking of this, Humphries just wanted to give Li Ke a thumbs up.

Li Ke, on the other hand, kept a calm expression on his face, staring at the basketball in Lao Sha's hands with a basic expression. He didn't turn around until Lao Sha threw the ball to Lao Ai, and rushed forward.

McGrady followed Li Ke closely and missed one shot, but he still scored two in the opening game. Therefore, he was expressionless and didn't think Li Ke's defense was targeting him.

Instead, turning around to counterattack the Bobcat, Li Ke's quick sprint made him feel the crisis.

He followed closely, but still said he was a step behind.

Li Ke rushed to the frontcourt and beyond the three-point line. McGrady continued to put pressure on him. He gave up the idea of ​​chasing the three-pointer and rushed in at a faster speed.

"Counterattack, Li Ke rushed into the three-point line..."

There was no one at the basket, and McGrady was a big step behind.

"He's empty, it's time to pass, Iverson!"

Director Zhang was still a little anxious, Lao Ai's pass was unhurried and appeared as he wished.

With a bang, the basketball bounced off the floor and appeared directly in front of Li Ke.

"A pass was made ahead of time, and Li Ke received the ball..."

In the next second, there was a loud bang, and Li Ke used all his strength to smash the ball into the basket.

"The dunk of the counterattack, Li Ke also scored!"

The cheers at the Time Warner Center were as warm as the sun in July and August on the South Coast. Li Ke, who was hanging on the frame, shook his fist excitedly, reminding McGrady of another power forward who played hard and passionately in the West: Carlos Boozer, who once threw his fist in celebration but hit the referee.

McGrady squinted his eyes, or rather, his eyes had always been squinted, but after Li Ke dunked to equalize the score, his eyes became deeper.

In the Rockets' offense, Alston took the ball across the half court and directed his teammates' running positions.

It seemed that the Rockets were going to play another routine with this ball, but McGrady still came out and shouted: "Give me the ball!"

On the sidelines, Rick Adelman frowned.

He looked at McGrady and forced the basketball from Alston.

There is no Scola's pick-and-roll, it's not that McGrady is floating, but McGrady feels that in the previous offensive round, Scola's pick-and-roll put him in a difficult situation of being flanked. This pick-and-roll is better than not having it.

No pick-and-roll, McGrady doesn't have a different routine, face-to-face one-on-one, quick first step, he rushes a step...

However, the so-called fast first step here, fast is to put a double quotation mark.

"McGrady, breakthrough, Li Ke's defense has caught up!"

With a 360° turn and a large change of direction, McGrady was consuming his knees, but Li Ke still accurately judged the direction, moved sideways in small steps, and appeared in front of McGrady again.

At this time, McGrady's breakthrough was already unsustainable.

He could only make a sudden stop, added a retreat step, then pulled out, and threw the ball out in a slightly backward posture.

Bang-dang-!
Li Ke's big hands tightly covered Mai Di's face.

The sound of iron striking sounded as expected.

Then there was a fierce confrontation at the basket and hysterical roars. The old shark defeated Lao Mu again and protected the rebound.

Li Ke turned around and rushed to the front court, but McGrady's expression became serious.

Li Ke's tough defense was beyond his expectation.

Speaking of it, McGrady, like Kobe, hadn't experienced Li Ke's S-level single defense before the second game of the season.

There are still some differences between him and Kobe. At least, Kobe played a round with Li Ke in the All-Star Game, and he also experienced Li Ke's one-on-one defense one-on-one. Therefore, Kobe was surprised in the previous game against the Lakers. It was only that Li Ke's defense without the ball was so against the sky.

It was Chunchun's first time for McGrady, and he experienced a completely different single-defense strength from the Halloween battle.

Among other things, McGrady has already tried his best for the ball just now.

Even so, he still failed to kill Li Ke's defense.

Recalling Li Ke's big hands that blocked his eyes and forced his shooting angle, the confidence picked up by relying on 20 consecutive victories was almost lost in an instant...

"Counterattack counterattack!"

As the old shark handed the ball to Hua Er, who was closer, the Bobcats counterattacked again.

Although there is no Dayao, the Rockets' retreat speed is still painfully slow. Adelman is very anxious on the sidelines, but it is useless to be anxious.

McGrady, who had just been blocked from the front, slowly returned to the defense, with a pair of doubtful eyes, as if he was full of questions.

But in the frontcourt, Li Ke had already rushed beyond the three-point line, received a pass from Lao Ai, chased him, and made a three-pointer!
Swish-!
Cheers erupted, and Yang Wu and Yu Jia shouted: "Li Ke is good at it. He hit a three-pointer and the Bobcats overtook the score!"

It was 7 to 4, Li Ke scored 5 points in a row, Adelman stood on the sidelines with his hands folded, watching the Rockets' round, McGrady was about to pass the ball again.

Then there was the same ball, McGrady held the ball, broke through, pulled out, and with a bang, hit another iron.

开场2中2的火热状态，转眼间就变成了5中2，正面面对李恪的防守，麦迪3中0……

As the Bobcats grabbed the rebound and another wave of counterattacks, McGrady's defenders were indifferent, and Li Ke rushed to the basket and ate another pie.

In this way, he completed the explosion of scoring 7 points in a row, which formed a sharp contrast with McGrady.

At the same time, the referee's whistle sounded.

"Li Ke scored 7 points in a row, the Bobcats led 9-4 by 5 points, and Adelman called a timeout!"

Rockets suspended, Adelman showed a very strong dissatisfaction with Tracy McGrady.

"I have been emphasizing that we need to move the ball. We have always done so in the first 20 consecutive victories, but in this game, I can't see our ball running. Trish, what are you doing?"

Speaking of the Rockets' 20-game winning streak, Yao Mai's team contribution is definitely the top two, but their performance can only be said to be normal, and it is the Rockets' role players who really broke out.

The Rockets won 20 consecutive victories. In the first game, McGrady was absent. Yao scored 36 points and 19 rebounds.

In Game 22, Carl Landry scored a career-high [-] points.

Game 17 was Alston's 15 points and Battier's [-] points.

In Game 12, the five starting players all scored in double figures. In Game 7, Novak’s three-pointer made it through. In Game No. [-], [-] players scored in double figures...

Then Dayao was injured, and in every game the Rockets scored in double figures, relying on the team to win.

McGrady's performance is sometimes ineffective. At the best time, he can score 41 points, and at the worst time, he can only score 8 points.

Therefore, the role players and Adelman contributed more to the Rockets' winning streak. The Princeton tactics played a role role player of the Rockets.

Just like the king's bench gangsters back then, Adelman is also in the Rockets, pulling out a bench gangster.

In the post-Yao Mai era, the Rockets have been able to secure the lottery championship position in the fiercely competitive Western Conference for many years, relying on the ability of Adelman and Princeton to tap the bench tactically.

To put it bluntly, under Princeton's system, the Rockets can't fall into the situation of one player singles and four players watching for a long time. Adelman stopped McGrady in time.

After the timeout, Li Ke saw McGrady with a dark face.

In the Rockets' offense, McGrady passed the ball over the top of the arc, and then passed the ball.

Finally, it was Alston who caught the ball from mid-range and took two steps forward, and shot a close-range shot that was almost unmarked. With a bang, he made a successful hit, and the Rockets' offense came back...

In the second half of the first quarter, the McGrady faced by Li Ke turned into a McGrady with less sharp minions.

He can still catch the ball and play singles, but his strength is gradually not as good as in the opening game, and several shots also ended in iron strikes.

The overall offense of the Rockets went smoothly. Alstom, Scola, Battier and even Mike Harris and Luther Head who came off the bench all played well...

"In the first quarter, the two sides finished the battle, the score was 28 to 25, and the Bobcats at home led by 3 points..."

A 3-point lead is definitely not enough for the Bobcats who are aiming to end the Rockets.

Especially when McGrady was locked in by Li Ke, this lead did not meet expectations at all.

Li Ke's performance is actually perfect: "Li Ke played a very good first quarter, scoring 6 points in 5 of 12, which is the highest score on the field so far. At the same time, on the defensive end, under his defense, McGrady scored 7 shots and only scored 2 goals."

Excellent offense and defense, we are talking about Li Ke in this game.

But in fact, Lao Ai, Lao Sha, and Hua Er Er also performed well, but the performance of the Rockets, Alstom and Scola was also on par.

"The Rockets' role players and substitutes are really amazing..."

Li Ke saw the little black bean Aaron Brooks looking at the water dispenser from the depths of the rocket bench, and was a little emotional.

In this game, he originally imagined that he defended McGrady and the Bobcats won easily, but judging from the situation, it should not be as easy as he imagined.

(End of this chapter)