NBA: The man who passed the ball to Yao Ming

Entering the Rockets locker room, Zhang Jinshui immediately saw Hayes, and Luther Hyde was leading him to greet other teammates one by one.

In the summer league, Zhang Jinshui and Luther Hyde had been teammates with Chuck Hayes, and they were the only players on this Rockets team who knew Chuck Hayes.

"Hello, Marksman." Hayes walked over leisurely and raised his fist.

"Remember how I read palmistry for you back then? I said that you will be sucked into the Rockets' locker room if you hit a lot this year." Zhang Jinshui and Hayes said jokingly as they shook their fists.

Hayes touched the few beards on his chin with his right hand, and said sincerely: "Huaguo's fortune-telling magic is really profound."

Luther Hyde on the side couldn't stand it anymore, patted Hayes and said, "This guy Zhang Jinshui is fooling you. He just thinks that you have a good offensive rebound. Don't pay attention to him."

Hayes looked at Zhang Jinshui with a confused face and asked, "Can you read palmistry?"

Zhang Jinshui laughed out loud. Hayes is such a wonderful person. No matter how exaggerated the jokes are, he will take them seriously, and then he will always look out of the situation and always tell some inexplicable cold jokes.

Before the summer league contact, Zhang Jinshui was curious why Hayes played power forward with a height of 198, and his free throw posture was so weird.

But after getting acquainted with Hayes, Zhang Jinshui was relieved. With Hayes' weird temper, no matter what weird behaviors on the court would surprise him.

Also, Hayes' eccentricity lends itself to a strange affinity.

After staying in the locker room for less than 30 minutes, he had already become one with Uncle Mu and McGrady. McGrady even started to joke about Hayes' height.

At 6:[-], Van Gundy entered the locker room with assistant coach Hughes Sr.

Van Gundy clapped his hands and said, "Everyone, now announce today's starting lineup."

"Center Yao Ming."

"Power forward Chuck Hayes."

"Small forward McGrady."

"Shooting guard Luther Head."

"Point guard Zhang Jinshui."

"Howard, I will wrong you to stay on the bench today, so that the bench lineup can have one more offensive end point."

Uncle Huo nodded and said, "I understand coach, there is no problem."

Zhang Jinshui found that the atmosphere in the locker room was a bit weird today. He looked around the locker room and finally found out where the problem was.

Swift, David Wesley and Derek Anderson, the three regular rotation players of the team, did not appear in the locker room.

When Van Gundy announced the starting lineup, he directly bypassed these three people, as if these three people did not exist.

Zhang Jinshui lightly poked Yao Ming next to him with his arm, and asked in a low voice, "Yao Ming, have Swift, David Wesley and Derek Anderson been traded?"

Yao Ming nodded, showing a trace of loneliness in his expression, and said: "It must be, but now the game is about to start, let's focus on playing the game first. The coach is probably afraid that the announcement of some team changes now will affect the morale of the army, and wait for the game. When it's over, he should tell us exactly what the deal happened."

Thinking that Swift and David Wesley were still playing for the Rockets in Dallas yesterday, and they were kicked out today, Zhang Jinshui couldn't help but feel a little sad.

It is said that everything in the NBA is a business. Zhang Jinshui didn't understand it before, but today he has a personal experience.

What's even more ironic is that while he was sighing in his heart, he actually had some expectations. He wanted to see who Dawson and Van Gundy traded the three of them, and who would come back in the end.

Of course, although these three are absent, they have limited impact on the strength of the Rockets. Zhang Jinshui still has great confidence in defeating the Suns today.

When Zhang Jinshui was deserting, Yao Ming, who had changed his team uniform, stood up, clapped his hands vigorously, and said loudly: "Brothers, today's match against the Suns is also a fight for the third place. Let us unite as one, Beat the Suns, don't let the media see our school belle."

McGrady also stood up, raised his right hand, and shouted: "Yao Ming is right, brothers, let us defeat the Suns and keep the third place in the Western Conference."

Zhang Jinshui cleared his mind of distracting thoughts, stood up with the other players, raised his right arm, surrounded Yao Ming and McGrady, and then shouted loudly: "Defeat the Suns and keep the third place in the Western Conference."

Immediately afterwards, they rushed out of the locker room together under the leadership of Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady.

At this time, the Toyota Center arena outside the player tunnel has been filled to the brim with Rockets fans.

Almost every fan is wearing a red Rockets jersey, and with the red balloons that can be seen everywhere, the entire Toyota Center is rendered into a sea of ​​red flames.

On the yellow floor in the middle of the ocean, more than a dozen hot rocket girls are twisting their waists to their heart's content with the accompaniment of rhythmic music, pushing the atmosphere of the entire Toyota Center to climaxes one after another.

When Yao Ming, McGrady, Zhang Jinshui and others walked out of the player tunnel, the Rockets fans in the stands immediately burst into cheers like a tsunami.

The last game against the Pistons at home not only enhanced the confidence of the players, but also greatly enhanced the confidence of the Rockets fans. They can't wait to accompany the Rockets and let the Suns see the Toyota Center. Terrible.

Amidst the enthusiastic cheers, Zhang Jinshui, together with Yao Ming and McGrady, first waved to the fans in the stands, and then stepped onto the basketball court to start the pre-match warm-up.

Before officially becoming a full-time member, Hayes had actually held a two-way contract with the Rockets for quite a long time, but this was the first time he felt the fiery atmosphere of the Toyota Center, and he inevitably seemed a little cramped on the court.

Zhang Jinshui saw it, and during the warm-up process, he would interact with Hayes from time to time to relieve his tension a little.

At 6:55 in the evening, as the referee sounded the clearing whistle, the substitute players of the two teams returned to the bench.

Zhang Jinshui and other starters took their positions one after another.

"Brother! Brother!...Zhang Jinshui! Zhang Jinshui!"

Zhang Jinshui vaguely heard someone calling his name in Chinese not far away, turned his head and looked over, and found that Zi Chunlin and Zhang Xiaoman were sitting in the front row not far from the Rockets bench.

Seeing Zhang Jinshui turning his head to look over, Zhang Xiaoman immediately jumped up happily from his seat, waved vigorously to Zhang Jinshui, and shouted for support.

Zi Chunlin also smiled and waved to Zhao Jinshui, and raised his fist as a cheering gesture.

Zhang Jinshui was so focused on training just now that he almost forgot the existence of Zi Chunlin and Zhang Xiaoman.

After he waved with the two of them, he habitually turned his head to look for Zhao Min'er who should be sitting in the media area.

But his eyes swept back and forth in the media area several times, but he still couldn't find Zhao Min'er.

Zhang Jinshui suddenly had a very bad premonition that Zhao Miner probably would not step into the stadium to interview herself after the game for a long time.

Zhang Jinshui's heart twitched violently for no reason, and he immediately took a deep breath, buried Zhao Min'er deeply in his heart, and at the same time forced himself to focus on the starting player of the Suns opposite.

Center Stoudemire, power forward Marion, small forward Diaw, shooting guard Lagabel, point guard Stephen Nash.

Today's Suns sent all their main players.

A fierce battle is inevitable.

The fighting spirit in Zhang Jinshui's chest began to surge violently.

At 7 o'clock in the evening, as the referee threw the basketball high into the air, the battle for the third place in the Western Conference officially began.

Suns center Amare Stoudemire relied on the advantage of bullet speed, before Yao Ming touched the basketball, and gave the racket to his teammate Lagabel.

After landing, he immediately waved his hand and yelled at Yao Ming at the same time, the intention of demonstration couldn't be more obvious.

Stoudemire, who entered the NBA in the same year as Yao Ming, can definitely be regarded as Yao Ming's biggest rival in this league besides O'Neal.

Which of the two 2002 rookies is the best has been a hot topic in the media for the past few years.

In terms of achievements so far, Stoudemire must be higher than Yao Ming.

He not only defeated Yao Ming in the 2002-03 season to win the title of the best rookie of the season, but also helped the Suns win the league's first place in the regular season with an average of 26 points and 9 rebounds per game last season. Second team.

However, even so, there are still many media experts who believe that Yao Ming is more suitable as the cornerstone of the team than Stoudemire.

Because Yao Ming's personal offensive ability is stronger than that of Stoudemire, as long as he stands inside, he can attract more defensive attention, thereby creating better offensive space for other teammates.

Although Stoudemire's statistics are impressive, the score of the absolute uncle is due to Nash's assists. His own singles ability is at least one grade lower than Yao Ming.

Such a public opinion environment naturally made Stoudemire very dissatisfied. He also cherished every opportunity to have a dialogue with Yao Ming and directly prove that he is better than Yao Ming.

After Lagabel passed the ball to Nash, the Suns started their first offense.

Nash took the ball into the frontcourt without making any gestures. Stoudemire has ushered in and helped him make a pick-and-roll.

When Yao Ming and Zhang Jinshui switched defenses, Nash made a precise ground pass and sent the ball to Stoudemire, who turned around and went down to the inside.

Although Chuck Hayes has moved over quickly to defend, Stoudemire's height and impact are not something that Hayes can resist. One-handed dunk.

At this time, the game on the court had only started 10 seconds, and the Suns had already completed their first offense with lightning speed, and scored a 2:0 opener.

In the past two years, the Suns, who have led the league with 7-second bombardment tactics, really deserved their reputation.

After getting the basket, Stoudemire retreated and did not forget to show off his biceps when passing by Yao Ming.

Such provocations one after another, not to mention Yao Ming, the person concerned, even Zhang Jinshui, who was standing on the sidelines from a distance, couldn't stand it anymore.

He secretly made up his mind that in today's game, he must find a chance to teach this annoying guy, Stoudemire, a good lesson.

In the transition between offense and defense, Zhang Jinshui took the baseline pass from Chuck Hayes and carefully dribbled the ball to the frontcourt.

After seeing that Yao Ming got the position inside, he shifted to outside the corresponding oblique 45-degree three-point line, and followed the green prompt line of [Assessing the Situation], and passed the ball steadily to Yao Ming inside.

As far as Stoudemire's arrogant character is concerned, he is naturally unwilling to let anyone come to double-team Yao Ming for him.

The upbeat Yao Ming naturally accepted his kindness with a smile. First, he squeezed the opponent with his back to the three-second zone, and then he turned to the right after his shoulders faltered to the left. The ball was thrown into the basket steadily, and the score on the field was pretended to be 2 to 2.

In the stands of the Toyota Center, there was a burst of cheers immediately.

Zhang Jinshui also applauded vigorously, and shouted loudly: "Yao Ming, strike!"

But what made Zhang Jinshui a little upset was that Yao Ming was still too restrained and didn't express anything to Stoudemire who couldn't guard him.

He wished he could replace Yao Ming and show off his muscles in front of Stoudemire, or at least satirize him with words.

And the trend of the next game proved that this guy Stoudemire is purely without quality and doesn't know what to do.

Even though Yao Ming has shown restraint after being provoked by him, Stoudemire still uses his roar and muscles to show his strength every time he succeeds in an attack or successfully interferes with Yao Ming's attack.

而场上的比分也在斯塔德迈尔的挑衅和姚明的内敛回应中犬牙交错在一起，从2比2，打到6比6，再打到了12比12.

When the game progressed to the 6th minute, as Yao Ming responded to Stoudemire again with a mid-range shot, the Rockets' score became 16 to 16.

在这段时间里，姚明7投4中，高效地拿到了8分3个篮板，在数据是好过斯塔德迈尔的6投3中换来的6分2个篮板的。

But Stoudemire acted like he was the better player on the court.

Zhang Jinshui, who had been watching with cold eyes and constantly providing support to Yao Ming on the offensive end, finally couldn't stand it anymore.

After Marion slipped inside and missed the board, the Rockets got the ball.

Zhang Jinshui advanced to the frontcourt, and instead of handing the ball to Yao Ming, his acquaintance beckoned, let Yao Ming bring Stoudemire out, and helped him set a pick and roll.

Discuss the absence of the three major players, and why Hayes entered the starting lineup instead of Uncle Huo.