start with scouting

Chapter 665 He Only Stated the Facts (Gageng)
At [-]:[-] p.m., Game [-] of the Western Conference Finals between the Kings and the Rockets will continue in the Golden No. [-] arena.

The big screen in the center simultaneously showed the pre-match interviews of the Rockets players, mainly talking about whether there are too many singles. Harden, Paul and others said that the singles still have to be singles. Only Eric Gordon said that it is difficult to play singles for a long time, and he can try Change.

Seeing that kind of interview, Su Yang thought it was a bit strange, how come only Gordon said that, it's too abnormal.

Before thinking too much, the game started to jump the ball.

The Kings won the jump ball, Cousins ​​received the pass from Curry at the top of the arc, directly lowered his center of gravity and started a strong charge, crushed Capela and rushed all the way to the basket, successfully attracted Harden to help defend, and finally passed to the short on the right. LaVine, who was in a wide open corner, scored two points in the mid-range shot.

The Rockets turned to attack and did not force Curry.

After Harden broke through with the help of a screen, he stopped suddenly and made a mid-range shot.

Although he voted for three non-sticks, Su Yang still raised his eyebrows.

"Only Gordon speaks the truth in his feelings. Harden took the lead in making changes, and he even used the mid-range shot. Smoke bombs..."

With a slightly surprised expression, Su Yang continued to observe.

It soon became apparent that the Rockets had changed a lot.

Obviously let Paul take the ball first to find the rhythm, and he was not obsessed with consuming Curry's physical strength. Instead, he wanted to use the pick-and-roll to beat Cousins. Playing a short pick-and-roll style, after Ariza covered Paul or Harden, he quickly disassembled and cut to the basket, caught the ball and faced Cousins ​​for defense, and then passed it to Capela to eat the cake.

And it's not limited to Ariza or Capela covering the top of the arc to clear the inside line, Tucker also participated in the screen.

Harden has been passing the ball in the first few minutes to try to drive the Rockets team. It should be that he has a deep understanding that he can't play like that in the first game.

Between you and me, as Gordon made two free throws, the Rockets led 22 to 20, with 4 minutes and 04 seconds left in the first quarter.

Harden scored only 3 points, but sent 5 assists, 1 more than the first half of the first game, a huge improvement.

According to the previous big data analysis results, Harden has more assists, which is more conducive to winning the game, and needs to be contained.

"You guys play new tricks, I'll do some too!"

Su Yang casually asked for a short timeout, removed Cousins, let Antetokounmpo go to the top center, and arranged for Covington to play as a power forward. By the way, he told the king's generals: "We have exerted pressure on the league before and it has paid off. Now whistleblowing is normal. , can enhance the defensive strength.

Also, watch out for Harden fouling..."

Brother Antetokounmpo and others nodded to express their understanding.

The game continues.

There are also lineup adjustments on the Rockets side, Capela and Paul are off, Troy Williams and Anderson are on.

The king's frontcourt arc shifted from strength to strength, George took the ball to face Harden, walked to the bottom line, stopped and turned around, and scored with a mid-range shot.

Easy side Rockets attack, Harden slowly dribbled the ball across the half court, pretending to single out Curry with the help of a screen, but in fact cooperated with Troy Williams' slip to unpack the running position in advance, successfully induced Curry to step forward, and then put the ball Pass to Troy running to the open.

It's a pity that the 45-point line on the right is too far from the basket, and Troy's shot is off. Although there is an open space, he still chooses to break through.

Antetokounmpo immediately shrank from the short corner on the right, and Troy chose to pass the ball to Ryan Anderson who was in the open.

Anderson took the ball and took advantage of the situation, and flew towards Antetokounmpo and threw a shot in his hand, with a snap, the limit cap.

Exclamations erupted in the arena.

Su Yang applauded and shouted. He really didn't expect that Brother Antetokounmpo could block the ball. It felt like a peak Howard cap. The key point was that Anderson was a power forward with a height of 208 cm. Although he didn't take off, his shot was very high.

Between sighs, the Kings played 4 on 4 in the frontcourt, George rushed to the basket to attract a siege, hit the ground and assisted Covington to score a backhand layup.

The Rockets immediately launched a counterattack.

It took Harden just four seconds to bring the ball across the center line, and he was back to his old style, finding Curry on the screen, and suddenly raised his hand and fell back.

It was clearly a foul.

However, when Su Yang reminded him, Curry quickly moved his hand away. Harden failed to touch the porcelain and threw a three-no-stick.

The King got the rebound and counterattacked, cheers were everywhere in the arena, but it was a pity that George stopped and chased and missed a three-pointer.

The Rockets then launched a counterattack. Harden slowed down to face LaVine at the top of the arc, changed direction and slid continuously under his crotch, and suddenly crossed and stepped to the left to break through. Deng rushed to the short corner on the left and stopped the ball by himself.

Seeing that Harden was in trouble, Gordon rushed to the left corner to get the ball, tried three threats for a while, and suddenly broke through.

It's a pity that the time node is not stuck, the basketball has not been shot, and the whistle of the 24-second offensive violation is played in advance.

Rocket sync request paused.

In the TNT live broadcast, former Rockets head coach Kevin McHale chuckled: "The Rockets' rhythm has slowed down again. If Harden hadn't wasted so much time at the top of the arc, Gordon should have scored two points in this breakthrough. The position is not as good as the attack..."

Between the speeches, the pause ends.

The Rockets replaced Harden with Paul, the Kings replaced LaVine with Brogdon, and Thomas Jr. replaced Curry.

The game continues.

The king kicked off from the sideline of the backcourt, Thomas Jr. ran across the center line with the ball, handed it to Brogdon, then passed it to Antetokounmpo at the top of the arc, then transferred it to Covington on the left wing, and finally fell into George's hands, singled out for physical comparison Skinny Troy Williams.

It was quite difficult for Troy to defend. In a hurry, he made a mistake and bumped into George. The referee whistled to stop the foul.

Amidst the cheers of the audience, George made two free throws, and the Kings played a 6-0 attack wave, leading the Rockets 26-22.

The two teams switched offense and defense.

Paul, Tucker, and Gordon gathered on the right wing and handed each other, and the basketball was finally passed to Anderson for a three-pointer.

The main reason is to take advantage of Thomas Jr.'s short height and it is difficult to squeeze through the off-ball screen in time, but against Antetokounmpo, it is for nothing.

The basketball slammed like iron, Thomas Jr. got the rebound and led it all the way to the left wing of the frontcourt. Su Yang reminded the tactics nearby.

Thomas Jr. and George understood the code in seconds, and the two pretended to start a split, but in fact they played a pistol.

Paul's reaction was a little slow, Thomas Jr. took over the hand-to-hand pass back, made a sudden stop and jumped out of his hand to make a two-pointer.

Cheers erupted in the arena.

The Kings played a 8-0 attack wave.

The Rockets rushed to attack, and after some cover, Paul dislocated on the left wing and faced Antetokounmpo, a classic small game.

I saw Paul bowing and rushing forward, suddenly pulling the ball, changing hands and retreating, jumping before Antetokounmpo flew, and made a mid-range shot with an extreme fallback.

The basketball hit the front basket and bounced back.

No way, in order to avoid being blocked by Antetokounmpo, Paul's shot arc was too steep, resulting in a short basketball flight distance.

George got the rebound, took it to the frontcourt one-stop, made an emergency stop again and shot a three-pointer, still hitting the iron.Thomas Jr. flew off the court to save the ball, but it was a pity that George retreated too quickly and actually caught the ball in the backcourt, which made Thomas Jr. a return error in vain.

"Do you need to remind George not to be so impatient?" Assistant coach Di Brown asked, ready to play the villain.

"No need, we need this kind of momentum now." Su Yang shook his head and refused, and George could accept it with two strikes.

Infield Rockets attack.

With the help of double screens at the top of the arc, Paul confidently forced Thomas Jr., but he was double-teamed and the basketball fell directly to the floor.

Troy followed up and picked up the basketball, hurriedly passed it to Gordon who came up to meet him, and set up a wall as a screen to block Brogdon.

Brogdon and George decisively started the ICE strategy, while Gordon forcibly walked the sideline to break through, and the referee suddenly whistled.

Stepping on the line is illegal!

The ICE strategy was a great success, putting great pressure on Gordon.

The big screen in the center immediately showed the turnover statistics of the two teams after the opening game. The Rockets had already made 5 turnovers. In the first half of the first game, the Rockets only made 4 turnovers.Probably the team style of play brings disadvantages. Harden has been playing singles and has really made fewer mistakes.

Taking advantage of the dead ball, the Rockets Ariza debut to replace Troy.

There were cheers in the arena, and the king launched an attack.

Thomas Jr. looked for a screen and misplaced to face Ariza. He felt that he couldn't play, so he passed to George, and George took the ball to play back, but actually passed it to Covington. , toss and hit the board.

The basketball hit the basket and failed to hit, but Covington took advantage of the unresponsiveness of the Rockets' basket and grabbed the rebound to make up the dunk.

The basketball blasted into the net, and the Kings played a 10-0 attack wave. There were more than 50 seconds left in the first quarter.

There were waves of cheers in the arena.

Su Yang himself didn't expect a sudden offensive climax. Since the timeout, the Rockets have found it particularly difficult to score.

While thinking about it, Paul hit Antetokounmpo again and caused a foul. After the kick-off, he continued to hit Antetokounmpo and made a strong shot head-on.

The three-pointer hit the iron, never thought that Ariza would grab the offensive rebound, but the hook shot from the spot, also hit the iron.

The King grabbed a rebound and counterattacked, and George chased him again for a three-pointer, but he also hit the iron, obviously entering a super ghost state.

With 27 seconds left, the Rockets got the rebound to press the rhythm, and Paul used the cover to make a dislocation and beat Antetokounmpo.

Antetokounmpo was about to switch defenses, but Paul raised his hand and hit the ground to pass the ball, trying to assist Anderson who was rushing down to the basket.

But Anderson was unprepared, and was tricked by Paul's fake move, and the basketball rebounded and flew into Thomas Jr.'s hands.

The King suddenly launched a three-line fast break. Thomas Jr. rushed to the basket, stopped and turned around and passed to Brogdon. Brogdon took the ball and quickly scanned the half court, and then divided George, who was temporarily unguarded on the left wing, for a three-pointer. Followed by liftoff and gliding.

bass!Hollow into the net, the whistle sounded synchronously.

George finally hit a three-pointer.

The Kings also played a 13-0 attack wave and ended the first quarter 33-22, which can be said to have laid the foundation for winning the game.

During the inter-section pause, discussions on related topics on Twitter and other social media broke out: Without Harden, can the Rockets score?
Fans who support Harden pointed out: Since Harden left the court, the Rockets have not even played a decent offense. Those fans who have been complaining for Paul, how to explain Paul's performance of pulling the stride, hitting the iron twice, and almost passing the ball .

Fans who opposed Harden pointed out: There is a problem with the Rockets' lineup. Why did Anderson play center instead of pick-and-roll?
The neutral fans pointed out: Don't argue, the King's defense is so strong, the Rockets have already GG this time, in fact, Su Yang never speaks harshly, just stating the facts, because the King is too strong, even though the Rockets have changed a lot, it is still not enough for the King beat.

(End of this chapter)