start with scouting

Chapter 471 Who Is The Real Dog
At [-]:[-] p.m., Sleep Train Arena in Saskatchewan.

Accompanied by the shouts of the announcer, Su Yang raised his right hand and waved in salute, and the cheers of the fans broke out simultaneously, wave after wave.

Cousins ​​followed closely to the middle circle of the court and took the microphone from the staff: "Good evening, everyone, welcome to the fans who are here, and welcome to fans from all over the world who are watching the live broadcast. I am here to represent the Sacramento Kings. Sincere thanks and best wishes to you all, we did it, we made the playoffs as promised in the offseason, we did it..."

Cheers resounded through the arena again, and the audience turned into a blue ocean as far as the eye could see. In the spectator stands closest to both sides of the stadium, many fans were holding Saskatchewan's unique horn bells, ready to shake them to give the Rockets an attack. strong distraction.

The cheers fell, and the long whistle sounded, and the first round of the first round of the playoffs between the Kings and the Rockets was about to start.

The central big screen shows the starting relationship of the two teams: point guard Vazquez V Beverly, shooting guard Thornton V Harden, small forward Antetokounmpo V Parsons, power forward Millsap V Terrence Jones , center Cousins ​​V Howard.

In the TNT live broadcast seat, the host Marvin Abbott said: "Rockets coach McHale was interviewed before the game, claiming that the Rockets came to Saskatchewan with an under dog mentality. He did not agree with many predictions and insisted that the Rockets were not so powerful."

Reggie Miller laughed: "That shows that he has a clear mind, but his defensive arrangements don't seem so correct."

Hearing this, Marvin Abbott said curiously, "Then let's see how the Rockets arrange their defense..."

On the field, Su Yang made the final speech before the game: "The Rockets lack a system in defense. If there is an advantageous matchup, they can hold the ball and launch a one-on-one match, or they can run around James Harden without the ball. Take advantage of his lazy mentality to create easy points. Chance…"

Marcus Thornton nodded in response, followed by a short whistle, and the referee Jason Phillips walked to the center circle with the ball.

Players from the two teams entered the arena one after another, and each stood around the middle circle. The game entered the jump ball, and the fans in the audience held their breath slightly.

Snapped!Kings win the jump ball.

Vazquez dribbled the ball forward, and the King's one-in-four-out formation started late.Millsap slowly reached the top of the arc, and immediately used Thornton's back to cover, and went straight to the left waist, while Harden watched without delay or switching defenses.

Seeing this, Vazquez ignored the interference of Beverly's teeth and claws, and relied on his height advantage to easily raise his hand to pass the basketball.

Milps received the ball and turned around. Seeing that Terrence Jones had just caught up to the side, his center of gravity had not yet stabilized. Pull the bar in the air to avoid Howard's defense.

boom!A basketball rebounds into the net.

Su Yang clapped and applauded. Millsap scored in one go. It seemed very difficult, but it was actually very easy.

The main reason is that Harden didn't delay the first time, Millsap got the opportunity to operate, and Howard's defense was useless.

The offensive and defensive transition on the court, Beverly quickly took the ball across the center line, and with the help of Parsons' early cover, he went straight to the left corner.

In a typical early offensive routine, Antetokounmpo decisively followed Su Yang's pre-match arrangement, switching defenses and intercepting Beverly in small steps.

Although small and big, Beverly did not have the ability to punish. He swayed the ball back and forth under his crotch for a while, and then used Howard's cover to re-enter the line to initiate a breakthrough, but the initiation of the breakthrough was fake. Horn Howard.

Cousins ​​didn't even think about it, and took the initiative to follow Su Yang's arrangement, sideways to make room for the bottom line, and induced Howard to go to the bottom line.

Howard followed suit without hesitation. He reached the bottom of the basket in two big strides, surrounded by Antetokounmpo and Millsap, and forced a backhand layup. The basketball rebounded and flew out of bounds. The referee whistled at the same time. Violation, the ball is given to the king.

Su Yang casually signaled to continue to attack around Millsap, bullying Terrence Jones' poor defense. Although Millsap didn't have Adelaide's straight-arm jumper like killing pigs with his height advantage, his face-to-basket skills were enough for Jones suffer.

Vazquez nodded to show that he understood, dribbled the ball forward amidst the cheers of the audience, walked to the left 45 degrees, pretended to cooperate with Cousins ​​who circled from the right, and actually passed the ball from the bottom corner. Antetokounmpo on the left wing starts the triangle offense.

Millsap received the ball from the left waist again. Jones, who was about to interfere with the front, failed to grab the position and was a little anxious, so he pushed hard.

The referee immediately blew the whistle and punished the pusher for a foul, and gave the left sideline the right to attack the ball for a second time. The King RIP started and ran.

Vazquez ran to the top of the arc to catch the ball, turned around and used Cousins ​​to cover, got rid of Beverly at once, and quickly hit the free throw line.

Howard squatted down to lower his center of gravity, and stepped back again and again, obviously not letting go, and Vazquez stopped suddenly to take off and throw.

The basketball bounced into the net with a slam, and it was specially smashed on the backboard to borrow the angle. It was strong, fast, and high-arc. It was useless for Howard to take off.

Su Yang raised his hands and applauded, thinking that the last time he saw a point guard playing like this was the guy named Stephen Curry. The point guard operated like that, with a long throw distance and a fast pace of the ball. Compared with the traditional You don't have to worry about interference from behind when throwing.

The Rockets launched a counterattack in a hurry, but Harden took the ball slowly, taking a walk across the center line, and broke through with Howard's cover.

Cousins ​​squatted at the free throw line, the rest of the Kings stood still, and Thornton squeezed through the screen and chased after him, not giving an easy shot.

Harden deftly launched a face-to-basket back hit, bent his knees to protect the ball, raised his big butt to separate the space, and slowly moved to the left.

Howard disassembled and went down at the same time, Harden suddenly accelerated and rushed, still dribbling with his left hand, Vazquez shrank and pinched when he saw this.

In a hurry, Harden, who was dribbling with his left hand, had difficulty passing the ball to Beverly, who was in the left corner. The corner ran out to meet Beverly, and then took advantage of the opportunity to set up a wall to cover.

Beverly took the opportunity to start dashing, buried his head deeply and accelerated, completely ignoring the road conditions ahead, and forced a layup against the encirclement of the three.

boom!Antetokounmpo extreme pegboard cap.

Cheers broke out in the Sleep Train arena, and Vazquez, who followed up, caught the falling basketball, turned and pushed forward.

"Harden is starting to turn into a magic ball..."

Su Yang recalled that Harden got the space before, but he didn't make an emergency stop to make a mid-range shot, but forcibly looked for an opportunity to attack the basket. He couldn't help shaking his head and sighing.Harden didn't like CIC when he first entered the league, and he was traded to the Rockets, which fits well with Morey's magic ball theory, and he abolished his martial arts.

While thinking about it, Vazquez dribbled the ball to the left wing, and it was still Thornton and Millsap's cross-screen routine to start and run.

This time, Harden switched defenses aggressively.

A dislocation duel appeared, Vazquez hesitated for a moment, and continued to pass the ball to Millsap according to Su Yang's request.

Seeing this, Su Yang raised his eyebrows, and smiled slightly at the corner of his mouth, thinking: "Here he is, here he is, the low-level DPOY is here!"

Before the fun was over, Millsap turned over and took off to make a mid-range shot, finally enjoying a height advantage, and had no intention of being tough at all.

Harden instinctively raised his hand to interfere, but did not take off. Although it was true that taking off was useless, it seemed like a perfunctory defense.

The basketball went into the net hollow, 6 to 0.

"Low-post DPOY is only suitable for defending players with average shots like Siakam and Antetokounmpo. It is useless against players like Millsap..." Su Yang couldn't help but think back to the All-Star Game, Harden's low post against Siakam and Antetokounmpo. The picture of Antetokounmpo.

The offensive and defensive transition on the court, the Rockets started with a screen routine, Parsons ran to the top of the arc to catch the ball, and Howard, who provided the screen, continued to move down to the right waist, and then came across the paint from the bottom line Harden, also provides the next screen.

Amid the defensive shouts all over the court, Harden ran to the right 45-degree three-point line to catch the ball, but unfortunately he couldn't get rid of Thornton's close pursuit.

Seeing this, Su Yang chuckled, thinking that Harden is not suitable for this kind of running without the ball, such a big fat guy, it takes a lot of effort.

Harden fiddled with the ball on the court, had no chance to serve, and raised his hand to pass back to Parsons, but Parsons had no chance, instead, he took the ball again and passed it to Howard, who was on the right waist. The ability and defensive reading ability are full, and there is no confusion.

Howard took the ball and turned to face the basket, striding ahead to block the space, resolutely not going to the bottom line, Thornton simultaneously contracted and double-teamed.

In that situation, Howard didn't pass the ball back, and Harden didn't ask for the pass back. Instead, he started and ran towards Antetokounmpo, feebly setting up the wall as a split cover. There was no personal confrontation at all, and his left heel didn't even land. Visible to the naked eye.

Antetokounmpo easily squeezed through to catch up, Parsons naturally didn't run out of the open space, and Thornton double-teamed even more when he saw this.

Howard had nothing to do, and forcibly passed the ball to Parsons who was not open. With only five seconds left, the three-pointer suddenly rose into the air.

when!Basketball hits the basket and hits the iron.

Millsap grabbed the rebound, landed and turned around and passed it to Vazquez. The Kings Five launched a fast-break counterattack and the audience cheered.

Only four of the Rockets returned to defense in time, and three of them chose to retreat into the paint, while Harden ran the wrong route and lost Thornton.

Vazquez made an emergency stop and raised his hand to make a vigorous cross. Thornton received the ball wide open on the right wing, calmly aimed at the basket for a second, and took off steadily for a three-pointer.

bass!The basketball went into the net hollow, 9 to 0.

Instead of a timeout, the Rockets made a fast break. Harden caught the ball and rushed to the frontcourt, making a strong three-pointer and scoring the ball from the right corner.

Parsons catches the ball and shoots a three-pointer, the basketball hits the basket again, the King grabs a rebound and counterattacks, Thornton makes a three-pointer and hits the iron.

Antetokounmpo followed up and grabbed an offensive rebound, easily tipped and scored, helping the Kings lead 11-0, and the Rockets requested a timeout.

Cheers erupted in the arena, TNT guest Miller said with a smile: "The Rockets obviously only have the dog mentality, but they don't have the execution ability to go dog. They are far from the Kings in spirit. Harden doesn't seem to want to win. Howard Just be in a hurry."

Marvin Abbott answered: "From your point of view, the king seems to be the real dog. After all, more people are optimistic about the Rockets..."

(End of this chapter)