NBA: The man who passed the ball to Yao Ming

In today's game, the Rockets' starting lineup is center Yao Ming, power forward Huo Ershu, small forward McGrady, shooting guard David Wesley and point guard Zhang Jinshui.

As the Rockets put the goal of this season on the championship, Van Gundy completely abandoned the previously designed strategy of placing Zhang Jinshui on the bench and artificially creating a competitive advantage for the bench lineup.

Although this strategy is very practical, it is too utilitarian.

Van Gundy has recently felt more and more that letting Zhang Jinshui sit firmly at the starting point guard and have a direct dialogue with the opponent's main point guard will help Zhang Jinshui gain better confrontation experience and be more helpful to his growth.

It was Dawson's suggestion to put David Wesley in the starting position instead of Derek Anderson.

Wesley's contract that is about to expire this year is an important bargaining chip in Dawson's hands. Naturally, it needs to be placed in the main lineup to raise his value a little without affecting the Rockets' combat effectiveness.

The Pacers' starting lineup is center Scott Pollard, power forward Jermaine O'Neal, small forward Artest, shooting guard Stephen Jackson, and point guard Jamal Tinsley.

Rick Carlisle, who won the NBA's Coach of the Year award in 01-02, made small tweaks to today's starting lineup.

Put Jermaine O'Neal, who used to play the center position in the past two seasons, at the power forward position, avoid the Rockets' big killer Yao Ming, and let the best defensive players of the 03-04 season Artest and Stephen Jackson switched positions to guard McGrady.

The styles of the Indiana Pacers and the Detroit Pistons that the Rockets just defeated are very similar, both relying on tough defense to walk in the league.

Even to some extent, the Pacers are the mirror image team of the Pistons.

On the one hand, before Rick Carlisle coached the Pacers, it was Pistons head coach Scott Pollard. The defenses of the two teams all had obvious Carlisle's iron-blooded style.

On the other hand, in the Eastern Conference finals of the 03-04 season, it was these two teams that scored an ultra-low score of 33 to 27 at halftime.

The ugliness of the game claims to overturn the coffin of Naismith, the founder of the sport of basketball.

This also reflects from one aspect that the Pacers' dedication to defense is comparable to that of the Pistons.

At three o'clock in the afternoon local time in Indianapolis, as the referee threw the basketball high into the air, the Rockets' away game against the Pacers officially began.

Yao Ming first transferred the ball to Zhang Jinshui and won the first possession for the Rockets.

"Defense!"

"Defense!"

......

In the stands of the Conseco Arena, the Pacers fans immediately rang out in unison, trying to help the Pacers give the Rockets a bad start.

Zhang Jinshui's emotions did not fluctuate at all. Facing Jamal Tinsley's defense, he carefully brought the ball to the frontcourt.

Seeing the opponent's center forward defending Yao Ming alone, Zhang Jinshui immediately shifted to the 45-degree angle on the right corresponding to Yao Ming's position, and handed the ball to Yao Ming firmly.

After Yao Ming took the ball, he dribbled the ball first, bumped the opponent's center, then turned around halfway, raised the ball high with his right arm, and shot with a hook to help the Rockets get off to a good start.

2: 0!

The offensive and defensive transition, it was the Pacers' turn to attack, after Tinsley took the ball to the frontcourt, he also handed the ball to Jermaine O'Neal inside, who faced Uncle Huo's defense, dribbled the ball with his back and squeezed into the inside , Helped the Pacers equalize the score.

This offensive and defensive round is almost the epitome of the first minute of the game. Every time Zhang Jinshui dribbles the ball to the frontcourt, he hands it over to Yao Ming inside for singles.

I don't know what magical feeling Rick Carlisle had after watching the game between the Rockets and the Pistons the day before yesterday.

He never allowed the Pacers players to double-team Yao Ming. The most adjustment was to let Scott Pollard and O'Neal switch positions and take turns to single-handedly defend Yao Ming.

This strength of defense, the pressure on Yao Ming is naturally not enough. In these 3 minutes, Yao Ming made 4 of 2 shots, 2 of 2 free throws and scored 6 points. .

The Pacers are determined to play O'Neal. Uncle Huo's defense is indeed a bit vulnerable in front of O'Neal.

But fortunately, Jermaine O'Neal's singles stability is not as good as Yao Ming's. He only made 5 of 2 free throws and 1 of 5 free throws, scoring [-] points.

After trailing by 5 points at 8 to 3, and after confirming that Yao Ming alone was hopeless, Rick Carlisle finally began to double-team.

Only then did Zhang Jinshui understand the reason why the Pacers didn't use double-teams in the first place. Compared with the Pistons, their control of double-teams was at least one level worse.

When Yao Ming was double-teamed and distributed the ball to Zhang Jinshui, Zhang Jinshui could clearly feel that the Pacers could not completely seal off his space for long shots and breakthroughs.

But the game has just started, Zhang Jinshui is not in a hurry to play by himself, but transfers the ball to McGrady continuously after catching the ball, wanting McGrady to find the feeling of the game first.

It’s just that McGrady’s defense is Artest, the hottest perimeter defensive player in the league in the past two years. Although he was notorious for beating the fans in revenge in the Palace of Auburn Hills last year, his defensive ability is stronger than his fists at the fans. .

McGrady's offense against Artest was not smooth several times in a row. He only made a three-pointer with a pull-up, but his two breakthroughs into the inside failed under Artest's interference.

In this kind of entanglement, the point difference between the two sides has been staggeringly maintained between 2 and 3 points.

When the game progressed to the 6th minute, as Stephen Jackson hit a mid-range shot, the Pacers made the score 13 to 13.

Van Gundy on the sidelines waved and replaced McGrady and David Wesley with Luther Head and Derek Anderson.

So far, the Pacers' defense has played well, especially with the help of the uniform chants of "defense" that echoed from the stands on every possession, causing trouble for the Rockets' offense.

However, after experiencing the defensive intensity of the Pistons in the last game like death entanglement and finally winning, the confidence and belief of all the Rockets players have been sublimated. Any mental confusion.

Through the personal experience of the 6-minute game, Zhang Jinshui gradually discovered that the Pacers' defense is mainly strong in the individual defense of Artest, Stephen Jackson and others, and built a defensive system based on this.

When playing against a weak team, the Pacers' defensive strength is definitely enough, but if they face a strong team with a rich offensive system, it is difficult for their defense to be as strong as the Pistons.

After the game started again, Van Gundy on the sidelines made a gesture to Yao Ming and Zhang Jinshui.

Next, Yao Ming no longer stayed in the interior to seek a position, but took the initiative to raise the position.

The Rockets' offensive system instantly became three-dimensional.

Zhang Jinshui, who had been actively reducing his presence in the first 6 minutes, dribbled the ball to the frontcourt.

He handed the ball to Yao Ming in the high position, and then under the two off-ball screens of Luther Head and Uncle Huo, he successfully got an open shot from the right corner, and passed Yao Ming accurately and timely, stably into the basket.

Immediately afterwards, under Yao Ming's high pick-and-roll, Zhang Jinshui broke into the inside again.

Facing Jermaine O'Neal's supplementary defense, Zhang Jinshui distributed the ball to Uncle Huo who was unguarded in a high position along the purple prompt line of [judging the situation], and assisted the latter to make a mid-range shot.

The Pacers team, which is stronger than a single-point stand defense, immediately showed its powerless side in front of the three-dimensional running offense established by Zhang Jinshui and Yao Ming's internal and external connections, and even the offensive end was also affected.

When Yao Ming went off the court more than 8 minutes into the first quarter, the Rockets had already led the Pacers by 20 points 15-5.

Next, Zhang Jinshui continued to play on the court with four substitute players, Uncle Mu, Swift, Anderson and Luther Hyde.

The Pacers, who trailed by 5 points in the first quarter, had to keep five starters on the court, trying to use the advantage of the lineup to fill the gap in the first quarter.

They immediately completed an inside storm by Jermaine O'Neal in the next offensive round.

However, on the Rockets side, Zhang Jinshui immediately hit a three-pointer at the top of the arc with [Retreat Magic Shot], which instead helped the Rockets extend their lead to 23 points 17-6.

In the last game against the Pistons, in addition to the spiritual help, there was another very positive impact on Zhang Jinshui, that is, Van Gundy finally began to accept Zhang Jinshui's "retreat step magic shot" as a routine Offensive weapons.

After all, when the Rockets' team offensive system was completely suppressed by the Pistons' defense in the last game, Zhang Jinshui used [Retreat Step Magic Shot] to force a wave of life for the Rockets, which also made Van Gundy see this. The potential strategic value of simple and crude offensive methods in hand-to-hand combat.

When leading substitute players to play games before, Zhang Jinshui only had the pick-and-roll breakthrough as an offensive tactic, but now he has the right to use the [Retreat Step Magic Shot] at will, which immediately enriches his offensive methods, playing a 1+ 1 is greater than the effect of 2.

In the rest of the first quarter, although the Pacers' starting lineup maintained a high offensive efficiency in the face of the Rockets' fragile defense, Zhang Jinshui made a feigned long-range shot and scored [Lightning First Step]. He made a layup in the penalty area and assisted Swift to complete a lob dunk after helping him with a pick-and-roll, helping the Rockets maintain a 4-6 point difference.

When the first quarter ended, the Rockets still led the Pacers by 27 points 23 to 4, even though Zhang Jinshui's [Retreat Step Magic Shot] came out of the frame at the buzzer.

Back on the bench, Van Gundy patted Zhang Jinshui on the back and praised: "Zhang Jinshui, you played well."

这一节，张金水7投4中，其中3分球4投2中，在不知不觉间就拿下了10分2次助攻。

Moreover, Zhang Jinshui still held the two active badges of [Explosive Ability Value] and [Best Route], and [Tit for Tat] and [Fortune Heart], which can provide 5-6 points steadily, have not yet been triggered.

In this game, as long as Zhang Jinshui thinks, he should be able to easily score around 30 points.

The most important thing is that in the last three minutes of the first quarter, Zhang Jinshui led the Rockets' bench to withstand the counterattack of the Pacers' main lineup. The strategic significance it represents is actually more important than the Rockets' current lead of 3 points .

In the stands of the Conseco Arena, there is already a sense of the flags dying down.

Most Pacers fans paid attention to the Rockets' last game against the Pistons, especially the final technical statistics.

In their view, although Zhang Jinshui was the most outstanding player in the previous game, his offensive efficiency was very low.

It looks more like Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady have attracted most of the Pistons' defensive attention, giving Zhang Jinshui enough chances to shoot.

To a certain extent, they even wished that Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady would continue to be locked up and Zhang Jinshuilang would continue to cast them.

However, Zhang Jinshui's efficient performance in the first quarter brought so much trouble to the Pacers, and gave them a complete blow.

They finally discovered that this Huaguo rookie guard was indeed a phenomenon-level rookie comparable to Iverson, Duncan, and LeBron James, as described by some media.

After a short intermission, the second quarter began.

McGrady, who hasn't played much in the game so far, brought Alston, Lutherhead, Swift and Uncle Mu back to the court.

In the face of Rick Carlisle's full bench lineup, McGrady was relentless.

He went inside consecutively to score layups and assisted Luther Head to hit a three-pointer. After 4 minutes in the second quarter, he helped the Rockets widen the point difference on the court to 11 points, winning 36 to 25. ahead of the Pistons.

Rick Carlisle had to call a timeout, and after the timeout, all the starters who hadn't fully rested came on the field.

Van Gundy continued the most comfortable game rhythm of the Rockets, and first sent all the main players except Zhang Jinshui, including Yao Ming and Huo Ershu, back to the court.

After Yao Ming and McGrady led the Rockets and Pacers to entangle the starting lineup for 2 minutes and continued to maintain a point difference of about 10 points, with 6 minutes left in the first half, Van Gundy sent Zhang Jinshui, who had already rested, sent back to the field.

Before going on the court, Van Gundy said to Zhang Jinshui: "Zhang Jinshui, come on the court and play hard.

I discussed it with Dawson. As long as we can win this game steadily, I will arrange for some of your main players to fly directly from Indianapolis to Houston.In the next away game against the Mavericks, you will continue to rest! "

Zhang Jinshui's heart skipped a beat, and he understood that Van Gundy and Dawson planned to repeat the same trick in the next back-to-back, playing one against the other.

However, they must win the Pacers first before they have the confidence to operate.

Zhang Jinshui nodded and said, "No problem, coach, we will definitely win this game!"