start with scouting

Chapter 661 The Cat and the Mouse
Eight p.m., Gold One Center.

In the live broadcast of ESPN, the host Mike Breen, together with the guests Van Gundy and Jackson, laughed and talked about the highlights of the game between the Kings and the Rockets. Behind them, a large group of fans wearing T-shirts with the theme of "Towards the Best with the Kings" were shouting with emotion .

"Mike, do you know? It may be because Yao Ming made many Chinese fans like the Rockets in the past, and Su Yang, the owner of the Kings, is Chinese. This matchup attracted more than 2000 million Chinese fans to watch the game. They analyze the trend of the game between the two teams, which is more exaggerated than the Super Bowl, this is a big moment in my life, I put on a new suit!"

Van Gundy told excitedly, Mike Breen and Mark Jackson next to him nodded in agreement, coupled with the ongoing arena lighting and special effects show, the atmosphere was a little excited, and the voice of the announcer's violent introduction of the two teams' starters sounded at the same time.

On the King's side, Curry, LaVine, George, Antetokounmpo, Cousins.

On the Rockets side, Paul, Harden, Tucker, Ariza, Capela.

The long whistle sounded, and the lighting special effects show ended.

The game entered the final preparation stage.

Su Yang gathered the whole team to gather around: "They will definitely defend very fiercely at the beginning, we can play according to the normal rhythm, in short, remember that this is a round of series, the team that wins four games can win, don't care too much about the gains and losses of a few rounds, Take it easy..."

Cousins ​​and others nodded one after another, and the whole team raised their right hands high, fisted shoulder to shoulder, and shouted in unison 123 King Come on.

A short whistle followed.

The starting players of the two teams entered the field, Curry high-fived Paul and others one by one, and Harden beat his chest to salute Su Yang.

Su Yang responded with a smile and gave a thumbs up, wondering if Harden really understood and gave up fouling with his arms from now on?
The announcer followed to announce the jump ball.

Cheers erupted in the arena, and the Rockets won the jump ball. The cheers suddenly turned into bursts of defensive shouts, and the rhythm was super fast.

Paul received the ball and passed it to Harden, went straight to the right corner of the front court, and made a wide screen for the oncoming Tucker, and Tucker quickly got rid of LaVine and rushed to the right wing, twisted his hips, turned and rushed 45 degrees, With the help of Capella's cover, stop at the top of the arc and set up the wall.

Harden immediately started to break through to the left, and Curry, who switched defenses, hurriedly stepped up to grab the delay, and then quickly turned and retreated.

I thought, George was about to step back and go around the screen to intercept Harden. Ariza pushed him back and slammed into Capela, who was raised up as a back screen, suddenly lost his balance, and the referee again No foul was called, and Harden was unguarded for a while.

"Foul! Foul by pushing!"

Instructed by Su Yang, assistant coach Di Brown yelled at the referee, but the referee still didn't blow his whistle, and Harden made a three-pointer.

bass!The basketball is hollow into the net.

Boos broke out in the arena, and the referee was stunned.

Su Yang looked up and returned to the defense, and found that Ariza's push and Capela's back screen happened almost at the same time. It was indeed easy for the referee to mistake it for a normal screen confrontation. The key was that Harden broke through with the ball and took away the big partial attention.

The Rockets' tactics are also very good. The WIDE screen is turned into a double screen, followed by a RAM screen, and then connected with a pick-and-roll and a cross screen. It is very suitable for Harden, but the Kings don't need to switch to Paul's first screen.

As long as Curry does not switch defenses, there is no need to delay and rush back to his position just now, but if he does not switch defenses, Paul can basket from the sidelines, and Harden's passing skills can completely pass the ball over the top of the arc. Paul rushing to the basket.

Anyway, that tactic is pretty cool.

"Don't worry about it, keep going!"

Su Yang clapped his hands and reminded him to implement the usual opening tactics. The kings will be in the formation of one inside and four outside.

Seeing that Curry took the ball across the center line, Cousins ​​started from the left 45-degree three-point line and made a screen to block Ariza, and Antetokounmpo took the opportunity to lift up, received Curry's pass, screened by the way, and then turned to pass the ball Moving to the right, Ariza shuffled after him.

Antetokounmpo's running position looks like he is going to find George on the right for pick-and-roll cooperation, successfully diverting the Rockets' defensive attention.

Suddenly, Antetokounmpo stopped abruptly and stood at the top of the arc, holding the basketball high with both hands, and passed Cousins, who was easily stuck in the penalty area.

Cousins ​​is 211 cm tall and 123 kg tall.

Capela is 208 cm tall and 108 kg.

The difference in size between the two is a bit big, and they are still facing each other in the penalty area. Cousins ​​directly bends his knees and lashes out hard, turning over is a dunk.

With a bang, the basketball was dunked and flew!
Sighs soared in the arena.

The basketball rebounded and flew to the LOGO position. Tucker grabbed it first, rushed two steps, and raised his hand to pass a long pass to the right wing of the frontcourt.

Ariza caught the ball and rushed to the basket, and was about to make a layup, but was ruthlessly held down by Antetokounmpo's big hands.

The ball is dead, and the referee blows his whistle for a faceoff.

Su Yang got some free time, looked up at the big screen, wanted to find out how Cousins ​​kicked the ball, but the live broadcast did not replay it, and turned around to look at the field, the players of the two teams had already settled down around the free throw line. The referee is ready to conduct a faceoff.

Considering that Antetokounmpo has a greater advantage, Su Yang arranges tactics casually, just play a back cover, and catch him by surprise.

Snapped!Antetokounmpo really hits the ball first.

Curry received the basketball nearby, turned around and quickly took it across the center line. With the help of Cousins' back cover at the top of the arc, he made an emergency stop for a three-pointer.

The basketball bounced back with a clatter.

There was another sigh.

Su Yang raised his hand and applauded. The tactics have already come out, but he just failed to make a shot. There is no problem.

The two teams switched offense and defense. Harden dribbled the ball to the top of the arc. With the cover of Capela, he pretended to break through to the right. In fact, he pulled the ball back and easily got the opportunity to single out George. Road, suddenly braked to a sudden stop.

George didn't pay attention and retreated too much. Harden got up again for a layup, jumped up steadily, let the ball hit the board, and scored two points.

Cousins ​​reached out to catch the falling basketball, and was in a hurry to grab the fast break. He never wanted to bump into Harden who was back on the field, and pushed Harden two steps away. The referee next to him, Tony, rushed Go up to pull people, yell don't mess around, take it easy.

Cousins ​​looked confused, and Harden walked away clutching his chest. The referee took a look and felt something was wrong, signaling to watch the replay.

"I'm mad, isn't this a technical foul?"

Su Yang felt very bad, and then saw the referee gesture to the technical statistician, and shouted to explain, giving a technical penalty.

Cousins' eyes were bloodshot: "WTF! I didn't do anything, why? Why?"

George and the others quickly grabbed Cousins, and Su Yang patted his shoulders to reassure him not to worry, after all, he did bump into someone, even if he didn't intend to.

Technical foul free throws followed.

Harden made a hollow hit and scored 6 points in a row.

The on-site announcer saw that the game was behind 0-6 in the start, and hurriedly took the lead in shouting, and the fans on the scene then shouted cheers in unison.

The king launched an offense, the simplified version of the zipper tactics started, the high post and the low post used the cover to initiate a run at the same time, and tried to pass LaVine for a while, but the Rockets did a particularly good switch defense. The top singled out Harden.

The three-threat action made a tentative step, and suddenly turned into a cross start, passing Harden in one fell swoop, and went straight to the basket.

The other Rockets players did not dare to help defend, and watched Curry succeed in an empty basket. Van Gundy was excited and complained that Harden's defensive focus was too high.

The two teams switched offense and defense.

The Rockets opened the game again: Ariza started from the bottom corner on the right, used Paul and Capela to cover continuously, and rushed to the top of the arc to cover Harden.But this time the Kings had been prepared for a long time, and the situation dragged on, turning into Harden holding the ball at the top of the arc to single out Curry.

Assistant coach Mike Brown said: "The referee can actually call Ariza to move the screen. He has been pushing Curry in his hand, but he didn't see it. This is forcing us to increase the difficulty. I don't know if we can use the same method action."

Su Yang chuckled: "Ariza took the risk of creating a physical confrontation. The main purpose is to consume Curry's physical strength. There are a lot of ideas..."

During the conversation, Harden stepped back and hit a three-pointer.

The Kings started 2-9 behind.

Ariza ran back and shouted at Curry, the content was probably 'You can't guard Harden'.

Curry ignored it completely.

The king of Yibian attacked, Antetokounmpo got stuck and caused Ariza to foul, reorganized the offense, Antetokounmpo made another pass error.

Fortunately, Antetokounmpo snatched the ball back, but he hurriedly passed it to LaVine who was about to return to the defense. He made an open shot and hit the iron with a three-pointer.

The king seemed to be bewitched, and basically ran out of tactics, but he couldn't throw the ball into the basket. Apart from the influence of the referee, it was more because of his poor hand feeling. Fortunately, on the Rockets side, Harden gave the ball to Paul. And Paul hit the iron with consecutive three-pointers.

The Kings recovered and seized the opportunity to catch up to only 1 point away. On the Rockets side, Eric Gordon came on to replace Paul.

Gordon took a step back when he came up, shook LaVine and made a three-pointer, which re-ignited the Rockets like a prairie fire.

In the blink of an eye, the Kings trailed by 7 points.

Su Yang thought for a moment, and didn't call a timeout, not because he wanted to pretend to be a master, but because the players were in good condition and the rhythm was not chaotic.

With 4 minutes left in the first quarter of the game, the Kings trailed by 9 points, and the players showed a little irritability.

Seeing this, Su Yang asked for a timeout, and didn't talk about tactics. He just replaced center Cousins ​​with Thompson.

Maybe it was a timeout to find the rhythm, the king re-entered the stage, played a wave of 7 to 2, and finally ended the first quarter 29 to 30.

The game entered the second quarter. The Rockets led the team with Paul, Anderson and Gordon and forced them through the rotation stage. The score was tied at halftime.

The whistle sounded, and Su Yang led the team to the players' tunnel without any panic in his heart, everything was under control.

However, related discussions on social networks exploded, and many fans expressed that they were very happy to see a team that could withstand the Kings' offensive.

In the locker room, Su Yang picked up the data sheet.

"We didn't have an advantage in the first half, the main reason was the deviation of the touch. In addition, Cousins ​​and Giannis were bothered by fouls, which made many of our offenses and defenses fail to execute efficiently, but our plan was successful. Harden halftime Efficiently scored 24 points, only 2 assists, and only 4 free throws, as long as he returns to normal performance in the second half, we will win!"

The meaning is obvious, Harden's super god adds a side whistle, and the Rockets can tie with the Kings. If both are normal, they will lose.

While discussing, Van Gundy pointed out that Paul failed to play the role of the second giant, with only 2 assists in the half.

"The Rockets are falling into the king's trap. The two playmakers have only 4 assists in the half. observe…"

(End of this chapter)