NBA Building Cardinals

Chapter 171
As soon as the second quarter came up, the Bobcats directly took a crushing lead. After all, the Rockets' bench lineup can be reduced to the bottom in the entire league.

The Rockets are able to achieve the results they are today because of Yao and Mai dragging the Rockets forward.

The Rockets' bench led by Old Ward was crushed by the second team led by Okafor.

Forcing Van Gundy to take Tracy McGrady back on the court after playing the full first quarter 4 minutes after the opening of the second quarter.

McGrady re-entered the field, and Liu Rui also took off the veteran Smith on the field.

However, he did not choose to take Ariza, who had been dealing with McGrady for a whole quarter, but let Wallace, who had rested for more than seven minutes, play the third position and was responsible for defending McGrady.

Although my strategy is to let McGrady score alone, it doesn't mean that I want McGrady to score.

Regardless of whether it is Ariza or Wallace, both of them can cause a lot of trouble to McGrady, especially the latter, who is currently ranked among the top five players in the league in defensive efficiency on the front line.

Even under the comments of heavy experts, Wallace seems to have booked the most improved player of the season. After all, this kind of improvement is like checkers.

In the second quarter, facing the Rockets' weak outside line, rookie Martin was still a little nervous when he shot at the beginning.

But as the game continued, and with the encouragement of his teammates on the field, Martin seemed to gradually find his touch and calm down his mind.

First, at a 45-degree angle on the left, he hit a three-pointer against Old Ward.

In the second round, he used his footsteps to deceive the old Ward on the defensive end and completed a mid-range jumper.

Martin, who scored five points in a row, also stopped Van Gundy who was standing on the sidelines again.

"You did a good job, little guy, that's it. Don't be too nervous on the court. When you have a chance, you must shoot the ball as soon as possible. Don't have too much psychological pressure."

As Van Gundy called the timeout, Liu Rui also encouraged the players off the court one by one, especially Martin.

When newcomers come to a new environment, they always think a lot when making a move, which leads to fear.

And this is Liu Rui's least favorite player habit, so Liu Rui said to Martin at the very beginning.

He would not blame a player for consecutive missed shots, but if a player is faced with an open opportunity on the court and is clearly within his range, he chooses to pass the ball instead of taking a shot.

Then Liu Rui will definitely replace him off the court, no matter who this person is.

After the timeout, Liu Rui speculated that Van Gundy should take all the starting lineup to the court.

Otherwise, the Rockets are using a substitute lineup in this game and will be beaten soon.

So Liu Rui also replaced Du Hong and Ariza to strengthen the defense on the field.

The other three on the field are Okafor, Wallace and Kevin Martin.

Sure enough, as Liu Rui expected, after the timeout, Van Gundy took his starting lineup ahead of schedule.

Because apart from this trick, Van Gundy has no other way.

I didn't know how to be flexible during the coaching period, and the Rockets' current bench lineup is really unavailable.

So the reason why the Rockets are difficult to succeed this season is that it is difficult for the Rockets to win against someone with a very strong defense on the front line or center.

This is also one of the main reasons why he can only go home to fish every time he faces the Jazz in the playoffs. After all, Kirilenko's defensive ability is among the top in NBA history on the front line.

With the return of the Rockets' main force, the Rockets gradually caught up with the score, but Liu Rui, who was sitting on the sidelines, was not too anxious.

In the first half, the combination of Yao and Mai will definitely feel better, but no one can last the whole game and still feel hot.

Especially for someone like McGrady who likes to pull up, every jumper he makes will inevitably waste more of his energy.

On the offensive end of the Bobcats, Liu Rui will also arrange for everyone who is facing McGrady to strengthen their off-ball running, the purpose is to expedite the consumption of McGrady's physical strength on the defensive end.

Because Van Gundy didn't dare to let McGrady rest too much off the court.

So throughout the first half, Liu Rui didn't call a timeout, because each timeout was equivalent to a chance for Yao Mai to recover his strength, so of course he had to avoid it as much as possible.

Kevin Martin gradually found his touch in the second quarter.

He played 7 minutes in the entire second quarter. Martin made 4 of 2 shots, 2 of 1 three-pointers, 2 of 2 free throws, and scored seven points in a single quarter.

For this young player that many people don't even know what his name is, it really gave all the home fans a big surprise.

Whether it is Ariza or Duhon, in fact, since they arrived at the Bobcats, their first show has not been smooth, and it can even be said to be bad.

So Martin is actually the most amazing debut among these few, and has scored 7 points so far.

Also relying on Martin's excellent touch, the Bobcats ended the half with:

52:50
Still leading the Rockets by two points, it ended the first half of the game.

This result is expected by people, but it is also unexpected by people.

Because the Bobcats' recent offensive firepower is very sufficient, so many teams are also optimistic that the Bobcats will lead the Rockets at halftime.

But before that, since the Bobcats had their team's three-point firepower, Kapono was traded to the Kings in exchange for an unknown rookie.

This also led to the media who were optimistic about the Bobcats before, all switching to the Rockets.

Facts have proved that although the Bobcats lacked Kapono's offensive firepower, they were indeed affected. They only scored 52 points in the half game, which was also the lowest in recent games.

But rookie Martin's performance made people's eyes shine. In addition, the Bobcats led the Rockets at halftime, which also made more fans look forward to it.

Back in the second half, the two sides fought again.

After McGrady came back in the third quarter, he finally ushered in an explosion in this game.

第三节单节8投5中，三分球4中2，罚球4中3，一个人就拿到了15分4篮板的数据。

Due to the Bobcats' defensive strategy, McGrady did not send an assist in the third quarter.

But with his super god-like performance, he still helped the Rockets end the third quarter with:

74:75
Overtook the Bobcats by one point.

Seeing Tracy McGrady's superb performance led the Rockets to overtake the score in the third quarter, which made Bickerstaff on the sidelines extremely anxious.

Facing the Rockets' counterattack, the weakness of the rookie team is also fully exposed.

The players were in disarray on the field, coupled with the shouts of the Rockets' home fans, it directly caused a lot of trouble for these rookie players of the Bobcats.

But Liu Rui, who was sitting on the sidelines chewing gum, only frowned slightly.

The main task of the Bobcats in the first three quarters is to consume Yao Mai's physical strength as much as possible while not being left behind.

After all, the real decisive moment still depends on the fourth quarter...

(End of this chapter)