The world's best combo guard

Chapter 184 181 [Derby Controversy]

29: 28!

Because Kobe and McGrady both broke out in the first quarter, at the beginning of the second quarter, the scores of the two sides did not open, and the Lakers only had a 1-point lead.

Therefore, under such circumstances, when Li Hao and Yao Ming continued to play with a group of substitute players, people's invisible expectations for the two became obvious.

For the domestic fans, they will no longer argue about the boring topic of Li Hao or Yao Ming who is the No.1 in Chinese basketball. They just want to see the two head-on collisions in the NBA arena.

In other words, everyone knows that Yao Ming and Li Hao are from the same country, but no matter whether it was the previous CBA or last season's NBA games, the two never had a head-to-head confrontation.

And now, it is undoubtedly a good opportunity.

Just like what Rudy Norwich said frankly at the beginning of the new season, in his opinion, Phil Jackson's triangle offensive tactics suppressed the point guard too seriously, that is to say, even last season's Lee Hao performed well enough, but in fact his performance was affected to a certain extent.

In the new season, one of his tasks is to completely liberate Li Hao.

I have to admit that Rudy Tom and Norwich are fulfilling his promise step by step. In the new season, Li Hao has indeed played more and more brilliantly on the offensive end and has become more and more threatening.

Under Rudy Tom's and Norwich's targeted tactical arrangement, Li Hao can freely display his own characteristics on the offensive end in almost every game.

Among them is the terrifying speed that has caused headaches for many people in the league.

How fast is Li Hao breaking through with the ball?
In the words of Allen Iverson, the star of the 76ers, "Lee is the fastest player I have ever seen with the ball."

Everyone knows that Allen Iverson is a top point guard in the league known for his speed. He can praise Li Hao without hesitation in this situation, which is enough to see that Li Hao's speed has given him What an impression.

On the court, after Li Hao advanced to the frontcourt with the ball, facing the Rockets defenders who had already settled down, he did not choose to slow down the pace. Instead, he quickly accelerated the pace and directly rushed to the basket with the ball.

At this time, it was Yao Ming who was guarding the basket.

How will Li Hao handle this ball?

Will he force a layup against Yao Ming's defense?

You must know that Yao Ming's ability to block shots on the defensive end is definitely the top in the league. The scene of him playing against Shaquille O'Neal for the first time in his rookie season and giving him three hot pots in a row is still often brought up.

Regarding Yao Ming's defensive ability, Li Hao has a certain understanding of Yao Ming's defense during the national team training, so he will not ignore Yao Ming's defense.

However, with his playing style, he is destined to finish the ball by himself.

Then, he must think of a way to deal with the ball at this very moment.

Afterwards, everyone saw that the moment Li Hao quickly reached the basket with the ball, after facing Yao Ming's head-on block, he did not make a shot, but used an incredible pull-bar to secure the ball into the basket.

"God! Li, this guy is terrible. Pulling the bar for a layup? I have the impression that this guy has never used this action in the game before, so if he uses it now, there is only one possibility. The quality is [-]% trusted, and he has really mastered this scoring method.”

The commentators at the scene let out incredible exclamations.

In fact, when Li Hao scored 2 points steadily with a very difficult lever, the Lakers players were no less surprised than the fans.

Especially Kobe, who looked at Li Hao as if he saw a ghost.

Because in his memory, Li Hao only asked him about this way of scoring a pull-up layup a week ago.

At that time, Li Hao told himself that after more than one season of transformation, he is now full of absolute confidence in his body, and he feels that it is time for him to use some difficult scoring methods in the NBA arena.

To be honest, Kobe was very surprised at the time. He knew how difficult it is for people of yellow race to gain a foothold in the NBA, so he could better understand Li Hao's absolute confidence in saying these words at the moment.

So, then he really taught Li Hao some skills about pull-up layups.

Kobe knew that Li Hao was very talented, but in his opinion, it might take a while before Li Hao really dared to use this trick in the game.

But he didn't expect that Li Hao could bring this action to the arena in such a short time.

Is it arrogance or self-confidence?
Maybe both, Kobe shook his head, he has to admit that sometimes, this Chinese defender who is five or six years younger than him is really worth learning from.

On the court, the game continued. Li Hao was not complacent after completing a relatively difficult pull-up layup. On the contrary, he quickly threw himself into defense.

It has become Li Hao's professional habit to maintain absolute concentration on the court.

Many people are saying that Yao Ming has a height of 2.26, so his coverage on the defensive end is terrible, and he is definitely an excellent defender.

But in fact, people really underestimated Yao Ming's ability on the offensive end.

Yao Ming's turnaround shot from the baseline can be called his signature. Relying on his natural height advantage, coupled with his flexible footwork, Yao Ming has a unique advantage in using this trick.

For example, in this offensive round, Brian Cook has done well enough. In order to prevent Yao Ming from holding the ball further, he and Caron Butler even chose to double-team Yao Ming.

But it seemed to be useless at all. Yao Ming turned around on the spot and sent the basketball into the basket with an understatement.

It has to be said that with Shaquille O'Neal leaving and Lamar Odom resting at the moment, the Lakers really have nothing to do with Yao Ming inside.

Therefore, in the next few consecutive rounds, the Rockets players accurately found Yao Ming's point and asked Yao Ming to complete the finish. Yao Ming lived up to expectations and scored 8 points in a row.

Of course, even so, when the second game was officially suspended, they still failed to complete the overtake of the Lakers in terms of score.

The reason is simple, the Lakers have nothing to do with Yao Ming inside, and conversely, the Rockets also have nothing to do with Li Hao inside.

Relying on endless scoring methods and top-level speed, Li Hao almost ignored the Rockets' insiders and succeeded in consecutive breakthroughs.

During this period of time, his finishing success rate was even higher than that of Yao Ming.

For the domestic fans on the other side of the ocean, although the duel between Li Hao and Yao Ming seemed very mild, honestly, they were already very satisfied.

…………

53: 47!

At the end of the first half, the away Lakers temporarily led the Rockets by 6 points.

For the Rockets, this is definitely within the acceptable range. Looking at the Lakers' past 10 games, almost no team can allow them to score only 53 points in the half.

Kobe scored 19 points and Li Hao scored 12 points.

McGrady scored 20 points and Yao Ming scored 9 points.

This is the halftime scoring data of the core players of both sides.

A stat that looks pretty good.

All four star players seemed to be in shape tonight, and in this case, there's no reason not to look forward to a second half.

"Maybe the Houston Rockets need more guys to stand up in the second half of the game, if they want to win this game, of course, I'm not saying Tracy and Yao are not good enough, I mean, compared to the Lakers, The Rockets themselves have a gap in the starting lineup. If they have no players on the bench to stand up, then in the second half when they compete for the depth of the team lineup, I am afraid it will be difficult for the Rockets to continue to entangle with the Lakers."

During the intermission, Houston local TV host David Silva said.

In his opinion, the Rockets at home will be very difficult in the second half. Their lineup is indeed not as deep as the Lakers. In this case, if they want to win, they can only rely on "surprise soldiers".

Silva's views have been recognized by many Rockets fans, and this is indeed the case on the court.

When the core players on both sides have performed well, it is difficult for you to ask the core players to make more contributions. The relatively weaker team can only rely on "surprise soldiers" to win.

This situation is definitely not new in the NBA arena.

So, do the Rockets really have such a forward player?

The answer is yes.

That is Juwan Howard, who just joined the Rockets in the new season.

Juwan Howard played for the Orlando Magic last season, and last season's Magic was considered ambitious in the first half of the regular season.

They wanted to rely on the trio of McGrady, Hardaway and Juwan Howard to occupy a place in the East, and even attempted to attack the finals stage.

Judging from the strength of Magic on paper, they definitely have the capital to set such a goal.

But injuries ruined it all.

"Penny" Hardaway is out for the season.

Tyronn Lue was reimbursed for the season.

Luxury Magic hopes hit rock bottom overnight.

After the offseason came, Juwan Howard left the Magic, accepted the invitation of the Rockets, and came to Houston.

Just like he joined the Magic last season, when he came to the Rockets this season, his goal is still very simple, and that is to attack the championship.

For him who is gradually going downhill, it is definitely a very longing thing to get a championship ring in the last few years of his career.

Perhaps, this is the true portrayal of NBA veterans in this era!
Of course, as far as the Rockets management is concerned, they don't think that the 32-year-old Juwan Howard has reached the retirement age. On the contrary, the combination of Juwan Howard + Yao Ming makes them feel very good. !
They believe Juwan Howard can help the team.

The halftime break is over and the third quarter begins. Facing the combination of Yao Ming and Juwan Howard, Lamar Odom is really hard to bear. Although he has not made much progress in the new season, he still Very immature.

Especially in the face of Yao Ming and Howard, a two-tower combination with a very different style, he didn't know who to defend when he fell down.

For Lakers head coach Rudy Norwich, he is very familiar with this little giant on the field, so with a big wave of his hand, Lamar Odom's opponent became Yao Ming.

Invisibly, this point of Juwan Howard was released.

Juwan Howard has a certain offensive ability.

Therefore, for the next period of time, he bombarded the inside of the Lakers.

Juwan Howard, who made 7 of 7 shots in a single quarter, became the absolute focus of the game for a while.

75: 83!

After the end of the third quarter, the Rockets at home led by 8 points.

For those who pay attention to this game, maybe tonight the Los Angeles Lakers' winning streak in the new season will be interrupted.

On the Lakers bench, Rudy Norwich was a little annoyed secretly. He was blaming himself for being too careless, why he let Juwan Howard go.

Of course, Rudy Norwich also understands that the more important task at this time is not to blame himself, but to find a way to reverse this passive situation on the court.

"Caron, you replace Devin, Lee, and Kobe, and continue to break through the inside to cause damage. Yao, the opponent's inside core, has already committed four fouls..."

Rudy Tom and Norwich quickly made adjustments. He replaced Devin George, who had been playing poorly in this game and even this season, and replaced him with Caron, who performed well in the new season. Butler mentioned starting.

In addition, Rudy Tom and Norwich noticed that Yao Ming had already committed four fouls. At this time, if Kobe and Li Hao can hold the ball to the basket and cause damage, it will definitely be beneficial.

As for Juwan Howard, who was overwhelmed in the last quarter, to be honest, Rudy Norwich doesn't think he has any way to limit him. After coaching for so many years, he is very aware of the horror of players like "Raiders". When the touch comes, it is really unstoppable by any tactics.

Perhaps the best way to stop them is to let their teammates deal with them.

For example, now, he hopes that under the continuous killing of Li Hao and Kobe, Yao Ming's six fouls will leave the field. At that time, Zhuwan Howard will naturally quit the runaway mode.

As soon as the fourth quarter started, Li Hao completed a steal on the defensive end, and then passed the ball to Kobe. Kobe held the ball and went straight to the basket. Shooting foul.

After deliberation, the referees finally put the foul on Yao Ming.

"FUCK!"

The home fans booed and cursed like a tsunami.

Because they felt that there was obviously no foul on the ball, and even if there was a foul, it should be credited to Howard, not Yao Ming, who was backed with four fouls.

Isn't this letting Yao Ming off the court in advance?
The home fans thought the referees were really bad tonight.

Rudy Tom and Norwich on the sidelines smiled, knowing that his tactics were beginning to work.

As expected, the situation on the court is developing as expected by Rudy Tom and Norwich.

Because of the five fouls on his back, Yao Ming had to be timid on the defensive end.

Under such circumstances, Li Hao and Kobe would naturally not miss such a good opportunity. After a short operation, the Lakers gave the Rockets a 9:0, and the initiative in this game returned to the Lakers.

(End of this chapter)