You should cross the mountains like a brave man

Chapter 447 Only Prayer
At the end of the first quarter, Yao Huang left the field, and McGrady returned to the game after adjusting for 2 minutes, and once again faced Wei Xia, who was about to play the first quarter.

The conflict between the two began when Wei Xia made McGrady an unbearable joke—Wei Xia thought he was humorous—during the festival, McGrady had a tendency to explode, but the Rockets' offense could not find the core.

Both want to play tricks both inside and outside, but also want to have role players shine brightly, but the result is that both sides lose their momentum in humility.

Compared with the Rockets' hesitant and timid style of play, the Lakers' performance is more bright.

Compared with last season, Wei Xia has made great progress in all aspects.

His defense against Tracy McGrady is textbook-style.It feels like Kobe in his defensive prime, or Bruce Bowen in previous years, and Michael Jordan in the DOPY season.

In one-on-one defense, he has a clear sense of presence and oppression.

While McGrady's shooting rate in the first quarter was only 20%, through continuous back and forth double-teaming, the little giant was forced to make 3 turnovers in a single quarter.As long as he stands on the court, as long as he keeps running, he can cause a lot of trouble for the Rockets.He impressed the fans with his defense alone.

What's more, his offense also played a leading role.

Kobe, who stayed on the sidelines most of the time, saw Weixia score 10 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists in a core posture.

Kobe's own role player has 4 points, 2 rebounds and 1 assist.

Old Thompson joked: "If Wish continues to play like this, Kobe's market will drop!"

Dedes played with a sick sentence: "That's really unfortunate! (mish)"

At the end of the first quarter, 27 to 18, the Lakers led the Rockets by 9 points.

In the second quarter, Wei Xia and McGrady started the game with the second team of substitute players.

As soon as the Lakers came up, Ryan Hollins cut into the inside and dunked successfully. Mutombo tried his best to hide but was called 2+1 foul.

Seeing the referee brag like this, McGrady complained both annoyed and unhappy.

"Shut up Tracy, a foul is a foul."

Imagine the tone of the referee as "We are just blowing the home whistle, are you angry? Are you angry?" There is no sense of disobedience.

The joys and sorrows of human beings are not connected. Seeing the gnashing of teeth of the opponents, Wei Xia has already forgotten how aggrieved he was when he was targeted by the referee in the away game.While it's not true, it happens at every home court.

Since it has existed for so many years, it is necessary and reasonable to exist.

So Wei Xia not only did not sympathize with the Rockets, but also helped the referee fan the flames: "Sir, I support all your rulings!"

The referee sneered, and of course Wei Xia supported it. Anyway, it's not the Lakers who suffer.

Back on the offensive end, McGrady caught the ball from the weak side corner with the cover of Mutombo. He angrily rolled Wei Xia, who was a few centimeters shorter than himself, into the penalty area, and scored near the restricted area.

In the next round, McGrady, who was in the state, grabbed the defensive rebound and pushed forward. Without passing the ball, he turned to the low post and hit Wei Xia.

The Rockets successfully defended again. McGrady continued to ask for the ball at the same position, continued to turn back before receiving the catch, and took off against Wei Xia's arm. McGrady, who thought he was fouled, didn't pay much attention to the strength of his shots.

However, for this obvious thug foul, the referee did not blow his whistle.

Adelman, who always wanted to play a role, finally couldn't stand it anymore.

He yelled in a tone as if he was going to blow off the mustache on his mouth: "Call foul! Don't you blow it? Let's do something!! If you go on like this, this game will still...",
The next sentence was so angry that he only said half of it.McGrady also clapped his hands and complained to the referee. Wei Xia walked away like a normal person, hoping to gain more advantages for the Rockets, which aroused the impatience of the referees, and they immediately called the Rockets a technical foul.

The audience laughed, and McGrady broke out briefly. Although no one in the Lakers could give the strongest counterattack, they would not let him do whatever he wanted alone.

Wei Xia responded to the shot before, and Hollins also cut into the dunk performance, and now he was called a technical foul again, and the momentum he just got up was suppressed again.

That's the home whistle, no one will deny it.

Wei Xia has never been ashamed to use the power of referees to get rid of opponents. The referee's involvement is also part of the game.Most people want the players to decide the course of the game themselves, but that is simply unrealistic. Referees are everywhere and can exert their influence on the game anytime and anywhere.

As pros, they can't expect enlightened referees every night.So since Weixia High School, he has been very concerned about the referee's performance.

Every game day, he will spend a few minutes to observe whether the referee is normal. If the referee is a normal person and can safely hand over the game to him, Wei Xia will not think about using their power to influence the opponent.Conversely, if the referee is not a normal person, then his abnormality can also be transformed into an advantage to attack the opponent.

Wei Xia made two free throws for technical fouls.

Served, and it was in Wei Xia's hands again.

He confidently singled out McGrady.

"His offense with the ball has improved a lot compared to before. Whether it is the change of rhythm or the speed of dribbling, it has reached the standard of a ball-handler..." Brian Shaw exclaimed, "It can be seen that he did not waste time during the offseason. He is improving himself every day."

"That's why Wish 'disappeared' as soon as the offseason hit," Tex Winter said.

Kobe's reaction was much milder than theirs.

These people are bystanders, they can't empathize with Kobe like Bryant.Kobe knows best what Weixia needs to pay to get to this point.

This person who has been "the most diligent Lakers player" since his rookie season has never lowered his requirements for himself.

Compared with the improvement of his ability to handle the ball facing the basket, what surprised Kobe most was the improvement of his ability to handle the ball behind his back.

At this time, Wei Xia's sudden acceleration made McGrady unexpected. With an emergency stop, he completely threw off McGrady's defense, made a jump shot freely, and scored another 2 points.

Yao Huang wasn't on the court, and McGrady was in a good state when he was blown by the referee's technical foul, and he was in a bad mood.

The Rockets still let McGrady and Mutombo find the pick-and-roll.

Dashan Africa has no shooting threat at all, and Wei Xia was ready to drill the screen from the beginning.This time, Mutombo firmly pressed it down. After the Rockets' pick-and-roll offensive counterattack was blocked, the rebound fell to Wei Xia.

On the way to a quick counterattack, Wei Xia found Vaughn Weaver and scored a three-pointer.

The Rockets, who are already close to double-digits behind, continue to play pick-and-rolls.

McGrady has the sense of smell of a genius organizer, and even in a flustered and irritable state of mind, he couldn't even display his talent normally.

He failed!

Unwilling, McGrady switched from left to right and continued to pick and roll. Mutombo found a position to catch the ball and missed the hook shot.

The defensive rebound popped head-on, and Wei Xia jumped up to grab it.

Another scene the Rockets don't want to see the most.

Wei Xia dribbled all the way to the frontcourt, facing Mutombo, who was quickly retreating, a light cross step changed direction, and the African who didn't know how old he was flew to the bottom line for an easy layup, widening the point difference to 11 points.

The Rockets stopped, and Wei Xia, who had scored 6 points and 1 assist in a row, walked to the bench with a relaxed face, but he was not excited or proud. Even if the excited Weaver bumped his chest to celebrate, he did not see any coquettish intentions.

Wei Xia is in such a good state that Jackson wants him to continue playing.

"Is your physical strength still able to persist?"

Wei Xia held a paper cup containing Gatorade and replied, "It's absolutely fine."

"Okay, you go on!"

A few minutes into the second quarter, Jackson had no intention of replacing Kobe at all.

The timeout ended, and in order to show respect for Wei Xia, Adelman kept McGrady away from Wei Xia.

The person who played against Wei Xia was Battier who had previously played against Kobe.

Battier's close-to-body marking not only provides enough physical confrontation, but also restricts Wei Xia from receiving the ball. Even if he receives the ball, there is still a hand in front of him at any time to prevent him from looking at the basket.

"Do you think this trick will work for me?"

For Bryant, Battier right when he was provocative.Wei Xia's tone was full of doubts.

Suddenly, Wei Xia pretended to stand on the right corner, Battier was a little careless, the former suddenly turned around and cut to the basket, and Lowry caught the ball. The two of them often had similar cooperation in college.

The Lakers selectively dropped Mutombo's defense and put him one-on-one with Hollins.

Mutombo is not in his 40s, and his figure is an absolute advantage in front of Hollins. He scored 2 points with a zombie hook.

The inside offense can only help the Rockets properly relieve the pressure.

However, the reality they have to face is that Wei Xia has entered an invincible state.

Battier pursued with all his strength, but Wei Xia cut out the ball from the corner, and then took away the defense through the pick-and-roll, and Wei Xia singled out Mutombo.

"This scene is simply cruel!"

"Dikembe can only pray...!"

"No, it's the rocket, only prayer!"

"Pray for Wish to stop! This may be the only thing they can do!"

In the words of Dedes and old Thompson, Weixia quickly collected the ball and shot it after a trial dribble, and scored a three-pointer. In less than 4 minutes in the second quarter, he scored 11 points with sudden shots.

With more than half of the second quarter remaining, his personal score has reached 21 points.If Jackson doesn't replace him, if he's determined to set a record, the Rockets can't stop him.

About another 3 minutes later, Wei Xia's score increased to 25 points.

Seeing that Kobe was about to replace him off the court, he fouled himself and handed over to Kobe.

When he went off the court, the Lakers led by 15 points and the victory was in hand.

Statistics - 25 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists, and the shooting percentage is close to [-]%.

Such a first half was indeed brutal.

(End of this chapter)