NBA: The man who passed the ball to Yao Ming

When the Rockets rushed out of the player tunnel under the leadership of Yao Ming, the Toyota Center, which had already turned into a sea of ​​red, immediately erupted into cheers like a mountain roaring and a tsunami.

In the stands, Rockets fans in red jerseys were everywhere, shaking various paper signs in their hands.

Among them, in addition to cheering for the Rockets and supporting Yao Ming, McGrady and Zhang Jinshui, there are also many fans holding "Sprewell, we support you!" "Battier, welcome to the Rockets, here will be your Forever Home." and so on to welcome a few new Rockets members.

It should be that Zhang Jinshui's voice of arguing for Battier at the post-match press conference last night was heard by the Rockets fans, so there are especially many cards supporting Battier in the stands today, and there are also many cards welcoming Sprewell , but the cards that welcome Birdman Anderson and JR Smith are barely there.

Although the news that the two were traded to the Rockets was released the day before yesterday, their popularity is still too low, so no fans pay attention to them.

Only Zhang Jinshui knows how much fuel the Rockets will be able to provide for Anderson, a birdman who is good at supplementary defense and lobs, and JR Smith, who has a big heart and feels as hot as an All-Star.

In order to allow the two Rockets to feel more warmth in the Toyota Center, which is an important puzzle for the Rockets to hit the championship, after fully stretching his body, Zhang Jinshui did not go to practice shooting, but began to actively support the Birdman Anderson and JR Smith feed the ball.

After several interactions, Zhang Jinshui was surprised to find that the characters expressed by these two people at this time were surprisingly consistent with the characters that Zhang Jinshui saw in the game in the previous life.

Although Birdman Anderson looks fierce and cool on the surface, after feeling Zhang Jinshui's kindness, he will seriously say thank you in Mandarin. His experience of playing in Huaguo also made him interact with Zhang Jinshui very quickly. , is a typical man who is cold on the outside and hot on the inside.

JR Smith went his own way a lot. Even if Zhang Jinshui fed him the ball several times, he just said thank you casually and didn't respond eagerly.That look of immortality is no different from when he stood next to LeBron James in the previous life, but the experience of the previous life let Zhang Jinshui know that the more such a character, when you get his friendship, he will Will become more and more devoted to you.

After warming up for about 10 minutes, the referee blew the clearing whistle and let the substitute players walk back to the bench.

Only then did Zhang Jinshui think of Zi Chunlin and Zhang Xiaoman.

Fortunately, Dawson arranged for the two of them to watch the home game, which is definitely the top. Zhang Jinshui quickly found the two next to the Rockets bench, and quickly seized the gap to wave hello to them.

At 7 o'clock, as the referee threw the ball into the air, the Rockets' back-to-back home games against the Bulls officially began.

The Rockets' main lineup is center Yao Ming, power forward Chuck Hayes, small forward Shane Battier, shooting guard McGrady and point guard Zhang Jinshui.

In this game, Van Gundy did not return Uncle Huo to the main lineup because of the addition of Birdman Anderson.

On the contrary, through the game against the Grizzlies, Van Gundy became increasingly aware of the benefits of putting Chuck Hayes in the starting lineup.

On the one hand, on the offensive end, with the lineup of Yao Ming, Tracy McGrady and Zhang Jinshui at the same time, both the shooting opportunities and the possession of the ball are already saturated, and there is no need for Uncle Huo who is good at high jump shots. Instead, Chuck Hayes does not occupy In addition to possession of the ball, he can also help McGrady and Zhang Jinshui with off-ball screens and offensive rebounds.

On the other hand, on the defensive end, although Chuck Hayes is not tall enough, his defensive attitude is very good, he is willing to do any dirty work, he is fairly quick to defend, and he can just make up for Yao Ming's slow movement fault.

Therefore, Chuck Hayes is likely to become Van Gundy's long-term choice at power forward.

For the Bulls, the starting lineup is point guard Kirk Hinrich, shooting guard Chris Duhon, small forward Luhr Deng, power forward Andres Nocioni and center Tyson Chandler.

The two cores of this young guard, Hinrich was born in 1981 and is only 24 years old now, and Ruhr Deng was born in 1985 and is only 20 years old this year, while the team's top scorer sitting on the bench has just Ben Gordon, who won the best sixth man when he entered the league, was born in 1983 and is only 22 years old this year.

At the moment, this team can only be described as unlimited potential.

Last season, they made a sudden breakthrough and got the fourth place in the Eastern Conference. They were immediately favored by countless football critics and experts. They believed that although they did not have superstar players for the time being, after the growth period, there should be two to three players. An All-Star caliber player and a team capable of competing for a championship.

Only Zhang Jinshui knows how miserable the future fate of this team, which seems to be in its prime, with a promising future, is.

Both Ben Gordon and Hinrich are aging prematurely and falling rapidly. Luer Deng, who is relatively more durable in his peak period, signed a big contract with the Lakers a few years later, and it has become a garbage contract that has become the laughing stock of the entire league.

The highest achievement in the team is the blue-collar center Tyson Chandler, who seems to have no potential at all.

Five years later, he won the title of NBA Defensive Player of the Year, and he was also an important puzzle for the Mavericks to win the championship.

After the start of the game, according to Van Gundy's arrangement, the Rockets did not immediately hit Yao Ming at this point - considering that in yesterday's game against the Grizzlies, Yao Ming consumed a lot of energy on both offense and defense.

Instead, he directly asked Yao Ming to raise the high position, help Zhang Jinshui catch the ball on the spot after the pick-and-roll, and do the high position to support the high point.

However, when he started running without the ball, Zhang Jinshui realized that his moving steps were a bit heavy.

His physical condition has not fully recovered from yesterday's fatigue as imagined.

The consequence of this is that his off-ball running cannot achieve the expected strategic effect.

In one attack, he passed the off-ball screens of McGrady, Sean Battier and Chuck Hayes in a row, but he still couldn't get rid of the opponent's defensive teammates. As a result, Yao Ming could only pass the ball when the 24-second shot time was approaching. To McGrady on the side, the latter's hasty shot also failed to hit.

In another attack, Zhang Jinshui finally ran out of the open space, but affected by his physical condition, the expected thick green halo on the soles of his feet was only light green, which caused his final shot to bounce out of the frame unfortunately.

Zhang Jinshui is far more than the only one in the Rockets' formation today, and McGrady's performance is also not exciting enough.

After missing that hasty mid-range shot, McGrady tried a breakthrough and a pull-up respectively, but they also returned without success.

Instead, McGrady staggered his body and stuck to the opponent to cheat 3 free throw opportunities after he pretended to take off from outside the three-point line and tricked Du Hong. However, he only made 3 of 2 free throws and scored 2 points when he walked to the free throw line.

When the Rockets' offense was not going well, the aggressive Bulls turned their backs and played quite proactively.

Their head defender Hinrich, facing Zhang Jinshui's close defense blessed by the silver badge [like a shadow], performed very sophisticatedly. Ball critics and pundits called him Stockton's successor.

Under his combing, the Bulls' offense was orderly.

Power forward Nocioni, who averaged [-]% of his [-]-pointers per game last season, had three chances to open an open [-]-pointer from the right corner. Hinrich's pass came very timely every time, helping Nocioni hit two of them three-pointers.

Another core member of the Bulls, Ruhr Deng, who is only 20 years old, in addition to hitting a mid-range shot, also completed a back-running inside dunk, helping the Bulls to hit 5 in the first 10 minutes. A lead of 4.

This opening can be regarded as the worst opening the Rockets have encountered at home at the Toyota Center since the start of the new season.

In times of crisis, it is still Yao Ming who stands up to save the Rockets.

When Van Gundy waved his right hand on the sidelines to let Zhang Jinshui send shells to the inside again, Yao Ming first received the pass from the right side of the three-second zone. CIC.

Then, he received a pass from Zhang Jinshui in the same position. After Tyson Chandler posted it, he dribbled the ball to the basket for a few steps, lifted the ball and made a false move, and then turned and jumped , holding the ball in his right hand and hooking from the outside to the inside, and hit a small hook in a smooth manner.

The best defensive player in the league in the future is still too immature at this time, and he is completely vulnerable to Yao Ming, the big killer in the paint.

The Bulls' defensive system had to be adjusted and began to double-team Yao Ming.

At this time, the situation of the game finally gradually returned to the rhythm that the Rockets like.

Zhang Jinshui received two consecutive passes from Yao Ming after being double-teamed, and both of them immediately directed the ball to McGrady at a 45-degree angle on the right.

McGrady, who has a certain amount of offensive space, will naturally not disappoint. He went inside twice in a row, once successfully avoided all defensive pull-bars and scored a layup, and once caused a defensive foul by Tyson Chandler who was defending. Walked to the free throw line and made 2 of 1 free throws.

When the game progressed to the 7th minute, Van Gundy put Tracy McGrady back on the bench according to the usual rhythm, and the Rockets were only three points behind the Grizzlies 13-16.

The Rockets began to change the rhythm, and Zhang Jinshui made two pick-and-roll breakthroughs, but he rushed inside to score the ball twice, and did not return the three-point hits of Sean Battier and Luther Head.

Fortunately, for more than a minute, the Bulls' offense was not smooth, and the point difference between the two teams was able to remain at three points.

And when the Rockets' offensive end encounters setbacks, Yao Ming is undoubtedly the only way to solve the problem.

Zhang Jinshui dribbled the ball into the frontcourt, handed the ball to Yao Ming who got the position in the interior again, and when Hinrich turned around to double-team Yao Ming, he quietly moved to the top of the arc.

Yao Ming, who had already seen everything, promptly distributed the ball to Zhang Jinshui at the moment when Tyson Chandler and Hinrich double-teamed him.

Zhang Jinshui received the ball, stepped on the rich green under his feet, jumped high, and finally hit his first three-pointer in the game.

16 to 16, 9 minutes after the start of the game, the Rockets and the Bulls once again stood on the same starting line.

Everything is developing in a good direction, but Yao Ming's physical strength is also on the verge of being overdrawn.

Although he knew that by letting Yao Ming play one more minute, the Rockets would be able to take the initiative on the field, but Van Gundy did not hesitate to replace Yao Ming and other key players.

The Rockets became Zhang Jinshui and Sprewell with Uncle Mu, Uncle Huo and Luther Hyde on the bench.

The opposite Bulls also made personnel adjustments. They removed Hinrich and Ruhr Deng, and sent the team's number one scorer, Ben Gordon, who won the league's best sixth man last season.

This season, the scoring efficiency of the Bulls' bench lineup is among the best in the entire league.

Since Ben Gordon was about the same height as Zhang Jinshui, Zhang Jinshui took the initiative to switch positions with Lutherhead to defend the opponent's offensive arrow.

Originally according to Zhang Jinshui's plan, even if he might not be able to defend the opponent, at least he could trigger the special effect of "Eat for an Etch" to make up for the omissions in defense.

Unexpectedly, [Like a shadow] is not effective when defending Hinrich, who mainly focuses on passing the ball, but it plays a miraculous effect when defending Ben Gordon, who uses breakthroughs and three-pointers as his main offensive method.

Ben Gordon's breakthrough with the ball and a head-on three-point shot did not make any gains under Zhang Jinshui's defense.

It's a pity that Bulls coach Skiles has always been known for being fickle on the spot. He immediately directed the Bulls soldiers from the sidelines to shift the offensive blasting point to the Rockets' inside line.

Bulls power forward Nocioni first took the ball from the baseline, faced Uncle Huo's defense, stepped back and exited the three-point line, and hit a three-pointer that was not a good offensive opportunity.

And Tyson Chandler, who has never been known for his offense, even completed a slam dunk against Uncle Mu under the basket.

Although Uncle Mu and Uncle Huo are old, they could have defended these two offenses more tightly. In the final analysis, it was because of yesterday and today's back-to-back, against the Rockets players, especially Uncle Mu and Huo. The competitive state of the older players like the second uncle has too much influence.

With one and a half minutes left in the first quarter, the Rockets again trailed the Bulls by 16 points 21-5.

The Rockets, who have always been able to beat their opponents by some points during the bench period, lost 5 points to their opponents for the first time.

Zhang Jinshui, who advanced to the frontcourt with the ball, looked up at the score board in mid-air, and knew that he had to use his arsenal to help the Rockets narrow the point difference.