The world of basketball

Chapter 131 New Rocket
The strength of a team is not reflected at the beginning. Just like the Rockets last season, they almost hit the bottom of the league at the beginning, but they also reached the second place in the league in the end.

But Paul's leg, Paul's leg, the leg that lost the chain at the critical moment.

This is no longer a critical moment, because Paul had a new injury during training in the team, and he was in danger of being reimbursed for the season. After constant inspections, he announced his comeback in April.

For the old Paul, this is very bad news. His peak period is about to expire, but God made such a joke for him again.

In April, the regular season is almost over, and Paul's 4000 million takes up a large part of the team's salary space. It is difficult for Morey to make effective reinforcements even if he is as shrewd as Morey.

When the news of Paul's injury came out, it caused an uproar in many basketball forums. Most of them felt sorry for Paul, but there were also many people who felt that Paul was occupying nothing and cheated the Rockets.

Regarding the evaluation of the Rockets' strength, all major websites have made adjustments. ESPN directly dropped the Rockets from second in the West to ninth in the West, and they couldn't even make it to the playoffs.

Deng Ge was very annoyed when he heard the news. He had repeatedly posted his dissatisfaction with the media on social media, threatening to lead the team to wait for Paul's return.

Lao Nene renewed his contract for another year last season with a basic salary of 200 million yuan. In fact, the team does not need to let him do too much in the rotation, but his experience and the locker room can help the team. very many.

The Rockets retained most of the lineup from last season, but Knight was helpless and could not stay in the Rockets. Ennis played the best season of his career with the Rockets last season, but he did not take the opportunity to raise the price, but he was more expensive than before. His net worth rose by $100 million.

Today, it was the game between the Spurs and the Rockets. After defeating the Mavericks, the Spurs won the Heat and the Hornets, two relatively weak teams in the East, and achieved a three-game winning streak. The Rockets won the Timberwolves and lost to the Nuggets. , now the record is one win and one loss, they really need this victory to avoid the embarrassment of their losing streak.

"Hey guys, today we invited the old Shaq to watch the game with everyone." Kenny Smith said: "Mr. Shaq has been keen on the entertainment industry recently, and he hasn't interacted with you for a long time. How about the Shaq actor? What? Time to get an Oscar?"

O'Neal turned a blind eye to the cynicism of his old friend. Friends who have watched the Tucao conference should know O'Neal's performance on it, and they should also be able to know that this big man is a bit shameless in many cases.

"It's been a year, Kenny, your mouth still smells so bad." O'Neill said, "Hey man, you're paid, can you work hard? It seems that TNT is really in decline."

"Okay, we see the starters of both sides, the Spurs side is Woodbell, Kyle Kuzma, Rudy Gay, Jimmy Butler, Jeremy Lin; the Rockets side is Eric Gordon, James -"

Before O'Neill finished speaking, he was roughly interrupted: "Hey, hey, Mr. Shaq, we just invite you to make a guest appearance. Please pay attention to the order of the guest of honor, and don't take the job of the host." Kenny said.

With the gags between the two, the scene gradually heated up, and then it was the ceremony where Dj introduced the players into the field.

Xiaobei's opponent in this game is naturally Capela, but Kuzma is not very comfortable because his opponent is Zhou Qi.

Yes, D'Antoni didn't know why he started playing the Twin Towers.

The role of Capela can more or less see the shadow of Stoudemire back then, but D'Antoni, a player like Zhou Qi, seems to have never used it. Could it be Channing Frye?Or Shawn Marion?
Mu Xiaobei and Capela had never lost a jump ball before, and it was the same this time. Jeremy Lin advanced to the frontcourt.

Paul's accidental injury greatly disrupted D'Antoni's layout, because Gordon was originally arranged to play as a substitute as a ball-holding point, but Paul was injured, and on the basis of Knight's failure to stay, Gordon had to start on top, so The second team lacks a ball-holding point.

Gordon defends Jeremy Lin, Mu Xiaobei picks and rolls in a high position, and then cuts outside the three-point line at the top of the arc.

The two teams played against each other in the playoffs last season, so they are naturally relatively familiar with each other in terms of system, style of play, and lineup.

Capela jumped to the top of the high arc without hesitation, and Mu Xiaobei waited sideways for Kuzma to come out and run tactics. Sure enough, Kuzma also ran out around the three-point line. Waiting for Capela to assist in the defense, waiting for Mu Xiaobei to cut to the basket.

But Zhou Qi and Capela switched defenses very quickly. It can be seen that the Rockets have studied this lineup for playing the Twin Towers for a long time.

Now the top of the arc on the offensive end of the Spurs is huddled together, the [-]th and [-]th positions of both sides are raised to the high post, Gay and Butler check the screen, Mu Xiaobei passes the ball to Butler, Butler catches the ball and drives Ennis straight up basket succeeded.

In the past, the Spurs basically only had two people at the second position, Lonnie Walker and Belinelli. Lonnie Walker has a very strong impact and destructive power in air cuts, but he just doesn't have the ability to shoot. Belinelli has the ability to contain the outside line Very strong, but with a lot less impact.

And the arrival of Butler is like a fish and a bear's paw, he can have both. He can hit the inside line without the ball, and he can also stretch to the outside line.

Most importantly, his ability to hold the ball is also very strong. Butler hit a total of five lore shots last season. This kind of big heart is enough to prove that his single-handed ability is very strong.

Harden held the ball and advanced to the frontcourt. In the year when he won the best sixth man, Gordon still played the No. [-] position, but with the arrival of Paul, he no longer needs him to play the No. [-] position outside. Now it is gone. Paul let him play the No. [-] position again, but he was a little uncomfortable, so D'Antoni simply returned to the season that Paul did not start, and let Harden score and assist. This way, the record in the regular season was also very good. As for the postseason Sai Harden is easy to be targeted for his lack of size. Well, Paul will come back in the playoffs.

Zhou Qi pulls to the bottom corner, Capela puts up a high pick-and-roll and then rolls down immediately. Mu Xiaobei did not form a defense switch with Butler, but Mu Xiaobei's shrinking defense gave Harden a delay, that is, gave Harden a delay. Deng directly pulls up the chance to shoot.

But Harden still hesitated, maybe because of the bad rhythm, so Butler finally kept up with Harden.

Harden waved his hand to show that there is no need for pick-and-rolls. This is a signal that Harden wants to play singles. All other Rockets players pulled away, except Capela.

No matter how hard he pulled it away, he couldn't get anywhere.

The league's most powerful spear and the most powerful shield met. Harden accelerated to the left after consecutive crotches. Butler did not lose his position at all. Harden pulled back and then retreated to three Outside the line, shoot directly.

when--

The ball bounced out of the frame, and Mu Xiaobei received the rebound.

(End of this chapter)