NBA: The man who passed the ball to Yao Ming

In the second quarter, the Rockets started with McGrady and Sprewell leading the bench as usual.

Facing the Eagles' bench lineup featuring this year's No. [-] pick Marvin Williams, the two didn't need to exert too much effort at all. A few seemingly random breakthroughs and pull-ups made the Eagles a little overwhelmed.

In the fifth minute of the second quarter, the Rockets had led the Hawks by 5 points 39-20.

And with Yao Ming and Zhang Jinshui and other key players of the Rockets returning to the field, the Eagles have even less room to resist.

Especially Tracy McGrady and Zhang Jinshui's fiery performance on the outside today made the Eagles dare not let them go, and then double-teamed Yao Ming on the inside, thus giving Yao Ming a huge offensive space.

Naturally, Zhang Jinshui would not waste such an opportunity, and began to frequently pass the ball to Yao Ming, who got the position inside.

For the rest of the second quarter, Yao Ming was like no one in the paint for the Eagles. He used his offensive weapons such as low singles, small hooks and turnaround jumpers to the fullest, as if he was playing for the fans at the Toyota Center. Put on an inside offensive show.

单是这一节，姚明就8投6中，拿下了12分5篮板，帮助火箭队以58比30、28分的领先优势结束了上半场。

At the halftime break, from the dejected looks of players such as Eagle King Johnson and Josh Smith walking back to the player tunnel, it can be seen that the Eagles were quite high-spirited at the beginning of the game, but now they have been beaten.

This game began to return to the rhythm of humiliating the Eagles in the previous game.

Of course, the lead of 28 points in the first half is definitely not as stable as the 35 points in the previous game. In the second half, Van Gundy first sent Yao Ming, McGrady and Zhang Jinshui to the full main lineup.

And when the third quarter started, Zhang Jinshui immediately observed that the Eagles seemed to have dispatched all the main players, but they seemed to have begun to give up treatment.

Because under Yao Ming's monster-like performance in the second quarter, the Eagles still did not make any adjustments to their defensive tactics, and the immature Zaza Pachulia was still single-handedly defending Yao Ming inside.

Zhang Jinshui naturally unceremoniously continued to pass the basketball to Yao Ming who got the position inside.

And Yao Ming also continued his fiery performance in the first half. First, he turned around and swayed Zaza Pachulia away immediately after catching the ball. , The Rockets' lead was once extended to 35 points, making the outcome of this game less and less suspenseful.

Van Gundy didn't even wait for halfway through the third quarter, and directly removed the Rockets' main players such as Yao Ming, Tracy McGrady and Zhang Jinshui, leaving Sprewell and JR Smith to lead the Rockets' bench lineup to finish.

Frankly speaking, Van Gundy's active change of formation gave the Eagles a chance to breathe and gave them room to chase points with the full lineup.

However, the head coach of the Eagles lingered on the scoreboard showing 70-35 for a moment, sighed, waved his hand, and directly removed the five main players including Eagle King Johnson, giving up the game. Contest.

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

The happy Rockets fans started holding beer and drinks, singing and dancing in a cheerful atmosphere.

而随着垃圾时间的到来，姚明在本场比赛的技术统计停留在了18投12中，罚球6罚6中的30分12篮板2盖帽。

Considering only 20 minutes of playing time in total, Yao Ming's statistics are definitely monster level.

Zhang Jinshui's statistics are not bad either.

Relying on the scoring storm that continuously used the arsenal at the end of the first quarter, and the passing support for Yao Ming and McGrady at other times, Zhang Jinshui made 23 of 13 shots and 8 of 5 three-pointers in 3 minutes of playing time. Scored 19 points, 6 assists, 3 rebounds and 1 steal, continuing a stable state that is rare for a rookie player.

McGrady is the most mediocre of the three Yao Maishui tonight, with only 15 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists. However, considering the offensive efficiency of 9 of 6 shots, McGrady's performance today is definitely not bad, just because he put most of the offensive Opportunities were left to Yao Ming, who seemed a little weak in terms of absolute offensive output.

In the end, as the referee blew the final whistle, the Rockets easily won the game 100-70.

Yao Ming was elected the best player of the game without any suspense.

Because Zi Chunlin was busy with the decoration of the flagship store, he missed Zhang Jinshui's game at the Toyota Center for the first time this season.

On the contrary, Zhang Jinshui left in no hurry. After the game, for the first time, he stayed on the court to accept interviews with reporters on the spot.

When the reporter asked whether Zhang Jinshui had any expectations for the All-Star voting, Zhang Jinshui was surprised to find that the All-Star voting for this season had already begun.

Zhang Jinshui also learned from the reporter's conversation that he is on the list of the top ten guard candidates in the Western Conference officially recommended by the NBA.

There are many differences between the 05 All-Star voting rules and the previous generation in 22 and 23 years. The biggest difference is that the 05 All-Star voting still divides the starting five positions into center, forward and guard. The three major sections, among which the guard section mainly covers the two positions of point guard and shooting guard.

The qualifications for the All-Star starters are determined entirely by the number of votes the players get. One center is selected, two forwards are selected, and two guards are selected.

The current western guard group is definitely full of talents.

There are Kobe and Tracy McGrady, two superstars who are in their prime, and Steve Nash, a phenomenon-level point guard who has led the league trend with a seven-second offense in the last two seasons and is very popular. Allen, Bibby, Ginobili, Parker and other star guards with both strength and popularity.

Being caught in the middle of such a group of people, Zhang Jinshui really didn't know where to start with his expectations for the All-Star voting.

However, Zhang Jinshui said frankly that the All-Star weekend has always been the gold standard for measuring an NBA player in terms of strength and popularity. He naturally regards being able to participate in the All-Star as a very important goal in his career. This is still too early, Zhang Jinshui hopes that he will have the opportunity to enter the All-Star in the next three or four seasons.

Then, Zhang Jinshui answered a few more questions about the game. Seeing that Yao Ming and McGrady were walking towards the player tunnel, he hurriedly bid farewell to the reporters and followed them.

The three of them returned to the locker room together. Zhang Jinshui found that his teammates were in a good mood. However, most of these good moods were not because of the victory in this already sure game, but because they only needed to play against the Nuggets the day after tomorrow. The four-day Christmas holiday is about to begin.

In fact, in the league's schedule, every team will have at least once in a season that there will be an interval of 4 days between two games.

But for the 4-day interval, the team will definitely arrange training. The players don't have much freedom, and the 4-day holiday of Christmas is a holiday stipulated by the league. All the time is freely controlled by the players, so every day No player expects that.

After a while, coach Van Gundy opened the door and walked into the locker room. He first affirmed the Rockets' performance today, and then reminded everyone:

If you want to enjoy the Christmas holiday well, everyone still needs to calm down and prepare for the game against the Nuggets.

After all, the Nuggets are quite strong. In addition to the grown Melon Anthony, they also have Marcus Camby, who was selected to the league's defensive second team last season and averaged 3.2 blocks per game this season. Kenyon Martin, who helped the Nets reach the finals twice at the beginning of this century, and Andre Miller, who once won the league's assist leader in the 01-02 season.

Facing such a powerful team, if you are careless before the game, it is very likely to overturn.

At that time, not to mention their players, I am afraid that the good mood of many Rockets fans for Christmas will be affected.

Yao Ming, McGrady and Zhang Jinshui immediately stood up to show their determination to win this game with a sinking heart.

After Van Gundy left, Zhang Jinshui received a call from Zi Qiuli. Their work was coming to an end, and they asked Zhang Jinshui to meet at Yao Restaurant at 11:[-] p.m.

Zhang Jinshui looked at his watch and found that there was nearly an hour left.

He didn't know where to go to pass the time, so after taking a shower and changing his shirt, he took the initiative to attend the press conference with Yao Ming and McGrady who had been flopped.

However, what Zhang Jinshui never imagined was that he, who originally just followed Yao Ming to have a soy sauce, became the focus of all the reporters.

Because at the press conference, after the reporters casually asked a few questions about today's unsuspecting game, they began to focus on the upcoming All-Star voting.

And the most damning thing is that some of the reporters who watched the excitement and didn't think it was a big deal even asked McGrady directly, whether they were worried that Huaguo's fans would set off a wave of online ticket rush like in 2002, and Zhang Jinshui would directly top him. To the All-Star starting position.

It wasn't until he heard this question that Zhang Jinshui, who was belatedly aware of it, slowly figured out the weird taste in it.

First of all, Kobe, who has super popularity in the NBA, is now in the greatest season of his career, and being selected into the Western Conference starting lineup is almost a certainty.

If Zhang Jinshui is voted into the starting position of the Western Conference All-Star, what he will affect is his teammates. McGrady, who just entered the Western Conference from the Eastern Conference more than a year ago, won the All-Star voting last year as a guard. Tracy McGrady was selected as the starting lineup with the second most votes.

Moreover, when the reporter talked about online ticketing, and Zhang Jinshui's identity as a native of China, it was difficult not to remind people of the very controversial All-Star voting case related to Yao Ming in 2002.

In the 02-03 season, Yao Ming entered the NBA as the No. [-] pick, causing a huge sensation in the entire Chinese community, which attracted countless Chinese fans to follow the NBA.

In that year's All-Star voting, the Hua people took advantage of their large number of people and strength. Through online voting, they directly helped Yao Ming win the NBA vote, thus overpowering O'Neal to become the starting center in the Western Conference.

You know, at that time Yao Ming was just a rookie center with an average of 13 points, 8 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game. However, there is still a huge gap like cloud and mud.

Therefore, many beautiful country fans cannot accept that Yao Ming overwhelmed O'Neal to become the starter of the All-Star Game.

In addition to defending O'Neal, they also made some remarks that Yao Ming was not worthy of being an All-Star starter, which caused great mental pressure on Yao Ming.

Fortunately, Yao Ming, the Great Wall of China, withstood the pressure and played better and better after the All-Star Game. He quickly grew into a big inside killer who could wrestle with O'Neal, and the controversy disappeared.

Now, the reporter once again mentioned online ticket punching. First of all, it made people think that Huaguo fans might stage the drama in 2002 again, so that Zhang Jinshui, who had just entered the NBA, was also eligible to start the All-Star.

And if this incident really happened, it would not be O'Neal of other teams that would be affected, but probably Zhang Jinshui's own teammate McGrady.

Therefore, throwing this question to McGrady is definitely sinister enough.

Zhang Jinshui really wanted to grab the microphone from McGrady and shut up those garbage reporters.

Fortunately, McGrady has been in the league for so many years, and he already knows how to deal with such a situation.

He said sincerely: "Frankly, I really hope that my little brother can be selected as an All-Star and feel the feeling of playing with the best players in the league. His growth is helpful. As for me, come on, I've been an All-Star so many times, it's not that important to me."

After speaking, McGrady smiled specifically at Zhang Jinshui.

Zhang Jinshui understood the meaning of McGrady's smile, telling him to be calm when facing this problem.

Thinking about it, if Zhang Jinshui and McGrady didn't take this as a problem, the reporters would naturally have nothing to write about. On the contrary, if Zhang Jinshui overreacted, these unscrupulous reporters would have something to say.

Therefore, when the reporter asked Zhang Jinshui the same question, Zhang Jinshui thought about it and said seriously: "What I want to say is that McGrady and Kobe are the only two starting guards in the West in my mind. .

Here, I would like to appeal to the Chinese fans who support me, don't vote for me just because of my identity as a Chinese.Compared to entering the All-Star starter because of the support of the fans, I hope that I can be selected into the All-Star bench through the affirmation of the coaches of each team.

Of course, this matter may not happen in this season's All-Stars, but my goal is to work hard to improve my own strength so that this matter will happen within three seasons. "