The world of basketball

Chapter 90
The encounter between the Spurs and the Rockets once made domestic fans very excited, because the two centers of the new generation of China are about to meet on the stage of the playoffs and face each other.

The most important thing is that both of them have a place in the team and both have very important low positions.

And sooner or later, the two will be able to match up, and one of the two will always be able to enter the Western Conference Finals. Fans have to imagine that in the Olympics next summer, these two people will form twin towers.

Zhou Qi played very well in the first round of the Rockets' playoffs. Although his score dropped slightly, the Rockets looked forward to his tough performance on the defensive end and the sense of space on the offensive end, and he was also the contributor to the Rockets' final breakthrough.

"Hi fans, friends. Welcome to the first game between the Spurs and the Rockets in the second round of the NBA playoffs brought by Penguin Sports. I am the host Wang Meng." Teacher Qun and Guoguo watched the game with everyone."

"This year, the Rockets and the Spurs, one is second in the West and the other is third in the West. If the Rockets can reach the second place in the West, this is not beyond everyone's expectations, but the Spurs' ability to reach the third position in the West is indeed unexpected. After all, no one thought that Mu Xiaobei and Kuzma, whom the Spurs traded from the Lakers, could perfectly integrate with the Spurs team, and the two could grow so fast," Wang Meng said.

"We think that Mu Xiaobei is very strong. He is so strong at such a young age, but to be honest, Mu Xiaobei's impressive statistics are indeed related to the Spurs' system." Su Qun said: "The Spurs just let him pull away Adelaide's singles. Or Adela gave him singles, and the rest of the Spurs, Kuzma, including rookie Walker, actually did very well off the ball, so Mu Xiaobei's shooting percentage, assists and rebounds are all very good. "

"Of course, we are not saying that Mu Xiaobei is not strong. He is also strong. What do I mean? The seamless fit between Mu Xiaobei and the Spurs is actually a win-win relationship, a relationship where everyone grows up with each other. "Su Qun explained.

"That's the truth, and Mu Xiaobei said in interviews all day long that he is a system player, and he confessed affectionately that he is willing to stay in this system for the rest of his life." Wang Meng said.

"Mr. Su, which team do you think will win when the Spurs and the Rockets meet? Don't ask me that, just give everyone an analysis of what the Spurs and the Rockets need to do?" Wang Meng said.

"I think the Spurs and the Rockets will be in a protracted battle. If they can't survive this game, they will go to the tiebreaker." Su Qun said: "So both sides must first be prepared for a protracted war."

Su Qun deserves to be the top basketball expert in China, and Popovich always talks about what he said about being prepared for a protracted game.

"Everyone knows that the Spurs' advantage lies in the interior. The interior combination of Mu Xiaobei and Adelaide is definitely one of the most powerful offensive firepower in the league. The Rockets' strongest lies in their exterior, their rocket shooters, Their backcourt is definitely a historic backcourt combination." Su Qun talked about the advantages of both sides.

"But the Spurs' outside line is not weak. The outside line composed of Mudiay, rookie Walker, Gay, Kuzma, Jeremy Lin plus two shooters Belinelli and Bullock must defend and defend, and must have firepower and projection firepower. The Rockets' inside combination of Capela, Zhou Qi and even Tucker are definitely not weak, and their series can be said to be more able to play to their own advantages." Su Qun said.

"In fact, the Spurs can properly learn from the Pelicans' inside combination of Davis and Mirotic to adjust their offensive and defensive strategies." Su Qun said.

"Okay, the pre-match analysis is almost done. Let's cut back to the scene of the game. The starting lineups of the two sides: Mudiay, Lonnie Walker, Kuzma, Aldridge and Mu Xiaobei for the Spurs, and Mu Xiaobei for the Rockets. Side is Paul, Harden, Tucker, Ennis, Capela."

The two sides jumped the ball, Mu Xiaobei and Capela jumped the ball, Mu Xiaobei jumped and beat Capela, Lonnie Walker got the ball, and the Spurs got their first offensive opportunity in the factory game.

Mudiay held the ball, and the Spurs did not play a pick-and-roll as soon as they came up, but handed the ball to Adele. After all, although Tucker's defense is very good, after all, he is somewhat disadvantaged in defending Adelaide's height.

Adelaide did not stubbornly hit the body with Tucker, but turned over and shot a jumper after two dribbles. Tucker did not interfere with Adelaide's jump shot at all, but Adelaide missed the first ball.

For a back-up scorer, especially a player who likes back-up jumpers, the space after the confrontation is very important, but when Adelaide pushed Tucker just now, there was no movement at all, and Tucker was firmly against Adelaide. under the plate.

It is precisely because of this that Adelaide's rhythm was disrupted, because Adelaide's upper body strength is actually quite strong, so this set of back-turning and straight-arm shooting is not detrimental to Adelaide.

The ball bounced out of the frame, but Kuzma, who stuck Ennis, grabbed an offensive rebound. Ennis, who is 2.01, entered the Rockets' regular starter this year, and replaced Anthony as the starter.

But it's weird that Ennis usually plays the [-]rd position, while PJ Tucker, who is three centimeters shorter than him, usually defends the [-]th position.

But this year Ennis' defense and his three-pointers allowed the Rockets to find Ariza's replacement. Ennis at 2.01 is not much taller than Ariza at 2.03, and his feet are also very agile, but Ennis' wingspan is poor. On the offensive end, Ennis averaged 4.5 three-pointers per game this year with a 40.00% hit rate, but the 28-year-old Ennis is younger than Ariza after all, and his salary is much cheaper than Ariza There are too many, so it can be regarded as the third position that is very suitable for the Rockets.

But Kuzma is facing him today. Many of Kuzma's tricks are not like a sophomore show at all, such as the judgment of rebound placement, some experience on the defensive end, and the ability to attack rebounds. Rush ability and so on.

For example, this time he got stuck in front of Ennis ahead of time and grabbed the offensive rebound.

Kuzma grabbed the rebound and didn't hand it over to the outside line to reorganize. Instead, he passed the ball to Mu Xiaobei. Mu Xiaobei put his right hand against Capela and scored with a small hook with his left hand.

The Spurs took the lead.

Capela served off the court and Paul dribbled across halftime.

On the offensive end, the Rockets like to play pick-and-rolls very much, and their favorite is to play pick-and-rolls with the ball. It is absolutely impossible for the Rockets to defend the pick-and-rolls with the ball from the outside like defending the Lakers.

The most important reason is that both Harden and Paul are super masters of the pick-and-roll. The most important thing is that their very important offensive method is to follow the pick-and-roll, so this is a very unsolvable choice.

If they don't jump up to help defend, Harden and Paul will shoot directly. If they jump up, then they will directly form a defense change, giving the Rockets a chance to play big in the backcourt.

How to prevent this?

(End of this chapter)