From today on is the king

Chapter 608 607. As if hearing the sound of heartbreak

刘莽打了9分钟拿到3分3个助攻，罚球4中3，布泽尔2分3助攻，两人都铁了心的消耗姚明。

Boozer did exactly what the boss told him to do, and this time it matched his appearance very well, with the temperament of a troubled gangster forced to follow the new boss.

Kwame Brown's 12 points and 3 rebounds in the first quarter complemented Yao Ming's 14 points and 2 assists.

No one thought that the two teams would be a match between two champions!

Stockton brought Jason Terry, Prince, Muhammad and Kwame Brown on the field.

Liu Mang rests regularly, Boozer consumes Yao Ming, and he is tired enough, but Kwame Brown is the easiest. Defending him is a jumper like Howard. Originally Mike Woodson wanted Kwame Brown to defend Yao Ming. Liu Mang felt that Kwame Brown would be beaten to death by Yao Ming.

Kwame Brown had 12 points and 3 rebounds in the first quarter, 7 of 5 shots, and 5 of them were dunks. He also caused a foul by Yao Ming and two fouls by Morris Taylor, which combined caused three fouls inside the Rockets, one of which was two plus one, and there was not much consumption!The only pity is that he only made 5 of 2 free throws. In addition, his physical fitness is already comparable to Howard. He feels the same as when he first played.

At the beginning of the game, due to Yao Ming's big inside advantage, the Rockets have been focusing on the inside, and Francis didn't consume much, bringing Mark Jackson, Clarence Witherspoon, Scott Padgett and Kevin Cato up.

Entering the rotation lineup, the Eagles began to have an advantage. Jason Terry only needs to be responsible for scoring points. When Stockton is around, every time he appears in a position where he thinks he can shoot, he already knows how to play with him. It is much more beneficial than Francis’ starting and pointing at him alone. Jason Terry came up and scored 8 points in a row under Stockton’s pass. attack.

After the first quarter, the Eagles tied the score at 29.

Looking at the score, Liu Mang felt that he was not used to playing in the West, and they were all soaring points. However, this kind of Eastern and Western teams have completely different styles of play, which made Liu Mang very interesting. Unlike the future, the entire league only knows how to shoot three-pointers.

After the start of the second quarter, Stockton continued to lead Jason Terry to play with Barnes, Boozer, and Muhammad for almost half of the time. The Hawks relied on the advantage of the rotation to overtake the score in the first half of the second quarter. In the 5th minute of the second quarter, the Hawks pulled the score to 47 to 39. Seeing that the Hawks were about to overtake and expand the point difference to 10 points, the Rockets called a timeout!
Seeing that the time was almost up, Liu Mang took off his training clothes and walked to the field, ready to start the offensive mode!

He didn't make many shots in the first quarter. If he continued to play like that in the second quarter, Liu Mang felt that he would be alerted by the opponent. Even if he wanted an assist, he still had to maintain his offensive threat.

Of course, the overall strategy is to continue to consume Yao Ming!
The Eagles forced Yao Ming to play for 9 minutes in the first quarter, allowing Yao Ming to rest for almost half an hour before playing in the middle of the second quarter. During this period, the Eagles relied on the substitute lineup to catch up with the score and lead the lead when the starting lineup was not dominant, which proved that this tactic was feasible.

In just the second season, Yao Ming is already the Rockets' leading scorer, rebounding leader and strongest defensive pillar. Although the statistics are not very gorgeous, averaging 19+9+2 per game, and his ability evaluation is not as high as Francis, Yao Ming is undoubtedly the most critical point for the Rockets to have a chance to compete for the fifth place in the Western Conference.

Coach Kruger and Mike Woodson ignored Liu Mang, who was a hot shooter himself. Although they felt bitter, they still had to make perfect arrangements for the defensive plan proposed by this kid.

Coach Kruger, a college coach who is proficient in many tactics, and Mike Woodson, one of the best defensive assistants in the league, are the biggest backing for Liu Mang's tactics that seem weird to people today.

……

For the Eagles, Liu Mang, Jason Terry, Raheem, Boozer, and Kwame Brown played.

The Rockets put on the main lineup, Francis, Mobley, Jim Jackson, Kevin Cato, and Yao Ming played.

Jeff Van Gundy replaced Kevin Cato, there is really no way, as long as Yao Ming is pulled out, the inside is empty, Maurice Taylor flanks Boozer, Kwame Brown dunks, Yao Ming can't chase back, and even Maurice Taylor didn't follow, Boozer ran with Yao Ming, exhausted Yao Ming's energy, and he was tired enough to throw the basket directly. Lela couldn't pull it off.

No one thought that the main point of the Eagles today was Kwame Brown!Well, even Coach Kruger didn't think that Kwame Brown would be the main attack point before discussing tactics with Liu Mang and Mike Woodson before the game. He just thought it would be more reliable than floating outside, so he tried it, and it really succeeded.

The Rockets are now starting to pay attention to Kwame Brown, which they had neglected the most. Yao Ming and Cato formed the twin towers under the basket, one is a giant, and the other is doing dirty work, guarding the basket.

Back from the timeout, Liu Mang saw the Rockets’ new lineup, and he could see that the Rockets wanted to change their style of play to relieve Yao Ming’s pressure. The Rockets’ two-tower combination, on the contrary, allowed Yao Ming to have better space to play high than the pitchers they sent in at the beginning. But as long as they catch the ball, they can avoid the physical exertion of using footsteps or strong strikes. How can Liu Mang let them do what they want?Seeing Francis pushing forward, Liu Mang pressed directly towards Francis to defend, preventing Francis from passing the ball easily.

Liu Mang stuck to Francis like a dog's skin plaster, constantly putting pressure on Francis' hands to control the ball. Francis had no chance to lob the ball. If he picked up the ball, he might be shot off. The most important point is that this year's defensive penalty scale is too loose. Liu Mang is not afraid of Francis' waving iron elbow to defend repeatedly. The referee did not call fouls on both sides.

Francis couldn't pass into the inside, and Mobley's non-stop running outside couldn't get rid of Jason Terry, who was very excited today. Jim Jackson was also entangled by Raheem, and Francis had to come by himself!
Francis' strong attack!Liu Mang stuck close to Francis, screaming in his heart that Jamaica fell, but his body still honestly "enjoyed" the breakthrough that Francis tanked like a crush, but he didn't let go even a step, and stuck to Francis with his speed advantage, not giving him a chance to pass inside.

Francis crushed Liu Mang and charged inside, the six people under the basket crowded together like dumplings, Francis forced a throw and missed!
The basket was in chaos, Boozer and Kwame Brown were almost hanging on Yao Ming, trying to block Yao Ming, trying to consume Yao Ming, Cato pushed Liu Mang away and scored two points.

Just now, sweat appeared on the foreheads of the six people under the basket, and the confrontation became more intense!

But this is exactly what Liu Mang wanted!
The Rockets quickly returned to defense after scoring a goal, fearing that they would be counterattacked, but this time Liu Mang did not rush to launch a quick move, and advanced at a normal speed after receiving the ball, waiting for his teammates to settle down.

The Eagles attacked, Liu Mang advanced to the frontcourt, and saw Boozer pull out. Obviously, it was not Yao Ming who followed, but Cato.

Without asking Boozer to pick and roll, Liu Mang waved Boozer to the middle distance on the left to open up the space, commanding his teammates to open up, and he wants to play singles!

Raheem went to the left baseline and was ready to respond at any time, taking Mark Jackson away, Jason Terry went to the right corner to open up the space, and took away Mobley, Kwame Brown pulled to the outside of the three-second zone on the right side of the basket, and opened up the distance between the right sideline of the three-second zone and the three-point line of the bottom corner, but Yao Ming did not follow.

It's not that he looks down on Kwame Brown's shooting... well, he just looks down on Kwame Brown's shooting, mainly because of Yao Ming's height and weight. Unless it's O'Neal, even if the future peak Howard rushes in, he can directly slap him to death, at most it is a foul.

However, Yao Ming's attention was still focused on Kwame Brown. Kwame Brown scored 9 points in 12 minutes of the first quarter. Yao Ming's three views were refreshed. This parallel import champion who entered the NBA the year before, followed Liu Mang.Can't help but Yao Ming doesn't pay attention, they are all No. [-] picks, how can the talent be poor, even Olowokandi, the sugar man, still has three tricks.

Liu Mang read the opponent's defense, saw Yao Ming's defensive tendency, and felt that the opportunity had come!
Just this time!
Break through Francis first!
Although Francis' defensive rating is only 75, which is in the middle of the league, it is a bit higher than the average level but can only be considered good, which is far from excellent, but when there is Yao Ming, a center with enough intimidating power at the basket, Francis only needs to stop Liu Mang from fully accelerating.

Liu Mang watched Francis sticking tightly, took a step back, and began to dribble casually.

Seeing Liu Mang's dribbling posture, Francis was not careless, and followed Liu Mang to press up, guarding against Liu Mang's one-step shot across the three-point line. Liu Mang has already ranked second in scoring this year, and all opponents value him very much.

Seeing Francis take a step forward, Liu Mang acted immediately!First, he slapped the ball to the left and forced himself to break through to the left. When Francis immediately moved laterally to the right, Liu Mang caught the ball with his left hand, slapped the left foot behind his back, and suddenly changed direction to the right!

Good defense is just good after all!

It was too easy for Liu Mang to beat Francis. Liu Mang dribbled the ball into the inside!
But Francis's defensive enthusiasm is much better now than in the first year. With a good center, he also feels that his basketball career has hope. After being passed by Liu Wei, he is not discouraged.

At this time, Kwame Brown rushed out from the bottom line. Yao Ming did not follow up, but stayed at the basket. In the first quarter, Liu Mang made a similar breakthrough. Liu Mang broke through from the bottom line against Francis' close defense, attracting the attention of Francis and Yao Ming.

but!This time, Kwame blocked Francis who was chasing behind Liu Mang to prevent Liu Mang from being interfered by Francis' chasing block. After Liu Mang entered the basket, he rushed all the way to the right edge of the reasonable collision zone without being interfered by Francis.

Liu Mang rushed straight to this position, and Yao Ming was more sure. Liu Mang was going to play the ball for Kwame Brown, guarding the center of the reasonable collision zone to prevent Kwame Brown from running out, and then counter-run and cut from the middle. His eyes were fixed on Kwame Brown, who was 1.8 meters tall. Liu Mang is a dwarf among dwarfs, just avoid being fouled by Liu Mang.

Just when Yao Ming's attention was all on Kwame Brown who cut into the middle after blocking Francis, suddenly, a head popped out of Yao Ming's sight, and the Chinese face that was rarely seen in the NBA entered Yao Ming's sight.It's too late!The head of a dwarf on the other side was parallel to his own, and it was too late for Yao Ming to take off and block the shot!
Liu Mang rushed inside and came directly to Yao Ming's side. Instead of taking off early, he might be slapped off by Yao Ming. Instead, he was careful. This time it was his turn to use Kwame Brown's previous threat to deceive Yao Ming's attention. The pick-and-roll master triggered by Kwame Brown's pick-and-roll also met the trigger conditions for the strongest first step.

Yao Ming didn't have time to react, he just raised his left hand, completely failing to disturb Liu Mang!Liu Mang jumped up on the spot and smashed the ball into the basket through Yao Ming!

Liu Mang dunks Yao Ming!

What's more, when Yao Ming reached out his left hand to pull Liu Mang, not only did he fail to pull Liu Mang, but he was called a foul!
Seeing this scene, the Eagles players are going crazy!
From the perspective of others, Liu Mang pulled up the button directly against Yao Ming's defense!Because Liu Mang and Yao Ming are almost face to face!
Watching Liu Mang and his teammates celebrate wildly, Yao Ming seemed to hear the sound of heartbreak. He scored 9 points in 14 minutes of the first quarter. He had already seen himself dominating the opponent in the confrontation with Liu Mang, but now, 14 points in a single quarter is nothing!The picture of Liu Mang holding him in place has already spread to thousands of households in China...

(End of this chapter)