Basketball Dragon

Chapter 45 Desire for Victory

On November 11, in Houston, Yao Ming invited Li Hai to have a light meal.

As a senior who came to the NBA, Yao Ming gave Li Hai some advice, and the conversation between the two was very pleasant.

Treating people warmly and kindly, Li Hai has a good impression of Dayao.

Yao Ming's later basketball career was ruined by injuries. Li Hai regretted it in his previous life. He was also defeated by injuries. He knows the pain of athletes when they encounter injuries.

We are not very familiar with each other, and it is difficult for him to say some things clearly. He can only share some good habits for preventing injuries through the opportunity of chatting.

"Injuries are as fierce as tigers. I almost lost the selection because of injuries. Athletes have to find ways to prolong their career life, especially with your height. Sometimes you really have to pay attention and don't force your body."

"I think as long as you stay healthy, you can make the greatest contribution to the club and the national team."

The Rockets are also one of the teams that stirred up the trade market in the summer. They exchanged the two-time scoring champion Tracy McGrady, who was unhappy in the Magic, and formed the "MM" combination with Yao Ming, planning to do a big job .

But obviously the team is still in the running-in, and the record is not very good. Like the Knicks, they need to win to prove themselves.

The two sides played very fiercely at the beginning of the game, but neither scored high.

Jamal Crawford and Jim Jackson of the Rockets were simply indiscriminate shooting games, both of which were crazy. After Tim Thomas played normally for two games, the game was loose again. In front of McGrady He was a rookie who had just learned to play, and his shooting was almost as bad as a turnover. Fortunately, the opponent Charlie Ward was still miserable in front of Marbury, which made the score tangled.

Tim Thomas was not in good condition, and Li Hai soon got another chance.

Now that his performance is getting better and better, the team is becoming more and more dissatisfied with Tim Thomas, but the Knicks don't want him to rot in this guy's annual salary of more than 1000 million. He hit.

This McGrady was still on the court, and he was one of the players Li Hai wanted to fight against.

He wants to compete with more famous or characteristic players in the NBA.

The Rockets currently have Charlie Ward at the No. 1 position. The real tactical initiator is McGrady. Li Hai has been closely following the opponent, but McGrady is not a pitcher, and he catches the ball by relying on him. inside.

Turning to the front, McGrady suddenly took a huge step with the ball.

It was too fast, when Li Hai moved with him, the opponent had already pulled up high and made a beautiful mid-range shot.

Damn, many forwards and defenders take the first step to break through extremely fast, and McGrady is one of the best.

In Li Hai's mind, he recalled the defensive rhythm of Artest, Bowen and others. He should have been making physical contact while McGrady was receiving the ball, disrupting the opponent's rhythm.

McGrady obviously didn't take him too seriously as a rookie, and he didn't fully focus on him. When the Knicks attacked, Li Hai suddenly accelerated to get rid of it, slipped past and received an assist from Marbury to complete the mid-point cast.

The Knicks' inside line is still worrying, but this time they controlled the fouls. Although it was difficult to prevent Yao Ming from scoring, Muhammad and Kurt Thomas continued to fight with Yao Ming, consuming Yao Ming's energy. Compared with the previous few games, it was better Mission accomplished.

In the first quarter, the Knicks trailed by 2 points, and McGrady made a two-pointer in front of him at the end. A player like McGrady with good physical fitness and skills, Li Hai had to restrain him, and he could not so easy.

But he is also working hard, trying to consume each other by increasing physical contact.

In 48 minutes of a basketball game, sometimes the defensive effect is not revealed at the very beginning.

In the second quarter, the Knicks were still not very successful in restricting the Rockets McGrady and Yao Ming, but fortunately, Jim Jackson, the only ball-handling ability among the rest of the Rockets, felt terrible, and the only opponent was McGrady Di and Yao Ming can get strong.

For the Knicks, Li Hai put most of his energy on defense. The offense was mainly the pick-and-roll of Marbury and Kurt Thomas. Kurt Thomas felt good today, and this simple offensive routine has been staged many times.

Head coach Lenny Wilkens saw that Lehi's matchup with McGrady was much better than Tim Thomas, so he didn't let Tim Thomas play in the second quarter.

At the end of halftime, the Knicks trailed by 4 points, but they didn't suffer a loss on the scene, but they didn't have players like McGrady and Yao Ming on their side, and their scoring efficiency was slightly worse.

At the beginning of the second half, the main lineups of both sides played again.

However, what the Knicks didn't expect was that Tim Thomas made two consecutive low-level mistakes, allowing the Rockets to fight back. Within a few minutes, the opponent's 4-point lead had become 13 points.

Coach Wilkens was so depressed that he took Tim Thomas down again.

Li Hai wouldn't care too much about Tim Thomas' situation. What he needed to care about was how to seize the opportunity to play and how to help the team win.

Unlike Tim Thomas' loose defense, Li Hai showed toughness as soon as he came on the court.

In the second half, his physical strength was consumed to a certain extent, and McGrady did not adjust so quickly in the face of different defenses. The same shot, but this time he didn't make it.

The Knicks started to speed up after grabbing the rebound. The Rockets' inside footsteps were slower than theirs, which is an advantage they want to seize.

Li Hai's speed was also faster than McGrady's. When Marbury quickly advanced to the opponent's three-point line, he flicked the ball with one hand, and Li Hai caught the ball with a heavy dunk.

McGrady also realized that the Knicks were not easy to deal with as a rookie, and he gradually turned his attention to Li Hai.

After the Rockets timed out once more, the ball was stuffed inside again. At this time, Li Hai couldn't provide much help. Yao Ming consecutively caused fouls by Muhammad and Kurt Thomas, and made all free throws.

61:72, the Knicks trailed by 11 points at the end of the three quarters.

Li Hai clenched his fists, feeling really upset, as if he was chasing points desperately in the fourth quarter, this was no longer a game or two.

They are prone to problems in the third quarter of every game. Tim Thomas is the main force but doesn't play much time. When he started the game in the second half, his body was cold. Once there is a problem, the team is prone to collapse. Didn't the head coach notice it? .

The gap of 11 points, I don't know if it can be reversed, he doesn't want to lose again.

"Lee, cheer up, it's no big deal, we're going to play."

(End of this chapter)