NBA villain

Chapter 231 Outside Suppression
Yang Di's defense is already very good, but Yao Ming's performance is even better.

Last season, Yang Di was on the Heat's bench and once defended Yao Ming very uncomfortable.

This season, Yao Ming paid more attention to low-post offense, increased his low-post offensive skills, played more rhythmically, has stronger confrontation ability, and his stability has increased significantly. The reason why the statistics are similar is entirely because of some changes in the team's style of play. , It is no longer a core offense around him, but a core offense around him and McGrady.

Moreover, neither of them is the kind of player who is particularly eager for the ball. Under normal circumstances, other Rockets players also have a lot of shots. Yao Ming plays the role of a central axis and attracts double-teams.

"It's impossible for Yao Ming to attack like this for the whole game." Richardson came to comfort Yang Di.

"I know, we beat them with speed. This is the strategy we set up before the game. They lack good perimeter defenders." Yang Di nodded, his face didn't change at all—it was just that he was hit twice in a row. It's just a ball, and it hasn't reached the point where the mentality is out of balance.

Richardson was relieved, and after dribbling the ball for halftime, he commanded Pietrus to run back to the bottom corner.

Pietrus' counterrun was purely to open up space, but Murphy's off-ball screen for Fisher had a good effect, and Richardson directly hit the ground and scored.

Fisher dribbled in and broke through, turned around and passed the ball to Murphy.

Facing the defensive Bob Sura, Murphy made a jumper and hit it. 8 to 6, the Warriors trailed by 2 points.

Bob Sura advances and passes to Jim Jackson on the wing.

Jackson stepped forward and broke through. The referee blew him a step the moment he passed.

"OH, SHIT!"

Jackson shook his head, speechless.This kind of whistleblowing is more common in the NBA, and it is usually a flash of inspiration from the referee, because when outside players break through, [-] to [-]% of them may have violations.It's just a matter of whether the referee noticed it or not. If he noticed it, he would call a foul. If he didn't pay attention, it would be fine to take a step or two.

The Rockets made a mistake, and when it was the Warriors' turn to attack, there was also a coordination problem.

When the pick-and-roll went down, Richardson gave Yang Di a big ball. Yang Di stretched out his hand and missed it, and the ball flew off the baseline.

The two sides came and went, halfway through the first quarter, the Rockets led the Warriors by 14 points 11 to 3.

At this time, McGrady suddenly broke out.

In the first half, he made a total of one shot. At this time, he got a chance to shoot a three-pointer from the outside. Facing Pietrus, who came to defend later, he made a dry shot.

The Rockets led 17 to 11 by 6 points.

Fisher passed the ball to Richardson, Richardson turned over and missed a jumper, and Yao Ming pointed the rebound to Zhuwan.

Then McGrady dribbled the ball to the front court, facing Michael Pietrus' defense, dribbled the ball continuously under the crotch, lowered the center of gravity, and shook his shoulders so that it was impossible to discern his movements.

A strong step to the right to break through, scared Pietrus to take a step to defend.

However, McGrady still made a jumper, standing up and shooting from a position one step inside the three-point line, without warning.

Pietrus rushed forward and seemed to be defending well. In fact, McGrady shot high in the air and was hardly disturbed.

"Shh!"

The white net flowers are flying, the Rockets lead 19 to 11, and the wave is 5 to 0 in an instant.

This has just passed the rocket's long timeout less than a minute and a half, Montgomery couldn't sit still anymore, stood up and asked the referee for a timeout, and after Fisher dribbled the ball for halftime, the referee blew the whistle to interrupt the game .

"We must play aggressively. The Rockets are a traditional positional offensive player. Positional warfare is not our strong point. We must find opportunities between offense and defense. We must pass the ball, share the ball, and dominate the ball. Everyone Run, don't stay where you are!"

While roaring loudly, Montgomery took out the tactical board and gave instructions to every player standing.

Yang Di took a towel and wiped his face, and then threw it to the staff. In the live broadcast, he suddenly gave him a close-up of his back, and then gave Yao Ming a close-up of his back, black No. 11 and red No. [-] , as if there are two symbols in the memory complex, deeply branded in the hearts of fans.

The two sides returned to the field, Yao Ming and Yang Di stood together, the camera framed the two just right, the special meaning of the Chinese derby, the fans couldn't help but become more excited.

Yang Di moved his feet laterally and ran out of the three-point line to catch the ball.

He intended to set up a hand-to-hand pass screen for Richardson, but unfortunately, Jim Jackson, who was defending Richardson, followed the ground very tightly this round. The ball pulls through.

He turned around and faced Yao Ming's defense directly.

Yang Di put one hand on his crotch, switched it to his left hand, then pressed down with his left hand, and changed direction in front of his body to control the ball with his right hand. After a shake, he opened a little distance from Yao Ming, stepped with his left foot to the right, and broke through sideways.

This is also a characteristic of Yang Di. In this era, there are few centers who can dribble like him, and some of them will not be so tough in the game.

Many head coaches would not approve of this style of play, and Montgomery never agreed with it, but Yang Di sometimes played well in this way, so he let him play.

This forceful burst had an instant effect, Yao Ming couldn't keep up with Yang Di's footsteps, and rushed behind to chase and defend.

Juwan Howard's fake defense didn't work at all.

Yang Di avoided the frontal defense and leaned forward to fly to the basket. Yao Ming's ability to chase and defend was not good, and he couldn't cover the ball at all. He could only press Yang Di's body from behind, hoping to interfere with him with confrontation.

Yang Di's shot was very gentle, but the strength was a little heavier, and he failed to make progress.

He stood under the basket, occupying an absolutely favorable position, took off again, flicked the ball with one hand with his right hand, and sent the ball into the frame.

13 to 19, forced an offensive rebound.

The Rockets attack, McGrady still holds the ball from the outside.

This time it was replaced by a three-threat attack. Facing Pietrus, McGrady made a direct test step on the 45-degree line to test Pietrus' defensive strength and center of gravity.

The 22-year-old Pietrus is also very nervous, facing McGrady, the league's scoring leader in the first two years, and the most talented man in the post-Jordan era.

The others opened up the space, as if they knew that McGrady was going to play singles, and the air became quiet because of this.

Yang Di squinted his eyes, quietly let go of Yao Ming, and landed in front of the basket to guard the penalty area.

McGrady started suddenly, stepped out with only one white legging on his right leg, and blocked Pietrus' disturbing arm with his left hand. The first step was frighteningly fast.

Pietrus moved quickly to keep up, but McGrady suddenly stopped after two steps.

Leap high, stop jump shot.

Pietrus tried his best to block, to cover up the interference.

"Shh!"

It was another three-game winning streak, 21 to 13, and the first quarter was equal to Yao Ming and McGrady teaming up to play one after another.

Yang Di silently picked up the basketball, and when he looked up, he saw the two championship banners hanging above the Rockets.

He couldn't help but think of the S+ level Olajuwon training card he drew, from Elvin Hayes back then to "Prophet" Moses Malone, Ralph Sampson, and then to "Big Dream" Olajuwon, the Rockets seem to have embarked on a great path for the continuation of a legendary center.

Looking at the back of No. 11, Yang Di suddenly felt that Yao Ming should be able to follow in the great footsteps of this glorious tradition in the future and become a legend, right?

(End of this chapter)