NBA: The man who passed the ball to Yao Ming

In the past week or so, if the Rockets' game rhythm can be described as distrust, then the Spurs' game rhythm can only be described as miserable.

They experienced a wave of hellish five-game streak in the East this week, including two back-to-backs, only achieved two wins and three losses, and finally gave up the No. [-] position in the West to the Rockets.

The main reason for this wave of poor records is that their first game in this wave of road trips was a guest at the Motor City to challenge the Pistons.

This pair of life-and-death enemies who killed each other in the Finals last season immediately attracted the attention of the entire NBA.

Players on both sides are also gearing up and want to teach each other some lessons in the game.

As a result, when the fierce competition reached the third quarter, Duncan, the leader of the Spurs, accidentally sprained his ankle and had to withdraw from the game early. fail.

The MRI examination after the game identified Duncan's injury as a severe ankle sprain. Although no surgery was required, he was sidelined for at least two weeks.

In addition, Tony Parker also had some minor problems on his knees and feet during this period, and his injuries continued.

After thinking about it, the Spurs head coach directly put the two core players in the GDP on the injured list, and only let Ginobili play the game alone with other teammates.

Under such circumstances, the Spurs lost two more games, and finally handed over the No. [-] position in the Western Conference to the Rockets.

In the final analysis, it is the injury problem that crushed the Spurs.

This also reveals how cruel injuries are in the NBA world.

Facing the current situation of the Spurs, and recalling the fourth quarter of the game against the Kings, Van Gundy was a little cautious and pressed all the main players on the bench, which was somewhat prescient.

In fact, now that the season has come to the middle, not only the Spurs, but also other teams have more or less suffered injuries.

For example, Billups of the Pistons, Iverson of the [-]ers and Ray Allen of the Supersonics and other star players are now exempted from the game due to various minor injuries.

The worst thing is the Celtics star Paul Pierce, who has been completely reimbursed this season because of a torn meniscus in his right leg.

Fortunately, the veteran team of the Celtics is now just a weak team in the East. The absence of Paul Pierce will only increase their chances of winning the No. [-] pick in next year's draft.

Of course, some are happy and some are sad.

There are fans who are heartbroken and cry, and there are fans who are proud.

Among them, the most excited are naturally the Rockets fans.

Since saying goodbye to the era of "never underestimate the heart of a champion", the Rockets have not occupied the leading position in the regular season for more than 10 years, even for a short stay at the beginning of the season.

And now it is the middle of the season, and the strength of each team has been fully reflected in the record through nearly forty games.

The Rockets can still occupy the first place at this time, and still rank first with a winning percentage of more than [-]%, which is definitely quite convincing.

Therefore, Rockets fans definitely have the confidence to celebrate the Rockets wantonly.

However, the Rockets' No. [-] position is definitely not secure.

On the one hand, the number of losses of the Rockets and the Spurs is the same. If the Rockets lose another game, they will return the number one position to the Spurs.

On the other hand, the Mavericks, ranked third in the West, have recently ushered in a wave of eight consecutive victories, and now have a record of 32 wins and 6 losses, which is actually only half a game away from the Rockets.

The Rockets' next game will be against the Mavericks at home. If they lose this game, the Rockets will even drop directly from No. [-] in the West to No. [-] in the West.

Therefore, this game has now become the most watched game in the NBA.

Inside the Rockets, including Yao Ming, McGrady, and Zhang Jinshui, they all attached great importance to this game.

In last season's playoffs, the Rockets were eliminated by the Mavericks.

Moreover, the progress of that series can be described as ups and downs.

The Rockets once won two consecutive cities on the road and returned to the Toyota Center with a 2-0 lead.

At that time, both fans and players of the Rockets were full of confidence that the Rockets would easily win the Mavericks and re-challenge the championship after a lapse of ten years.

But what happened next was like a nightmare. Zhang Jinshui still remembers the pain and unwillingness in his heart after the Rockets were finally overthrown by the Mavericks in his last life.

Now, they finally waited for the opportunity to settle accounts with the Mavericks.

At the end of the training the day before the game, Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady specifically asked Coach Van Gundy to set aside 20 minutes for them to relive the nightmarish experience of last year to their teammates.

In the end, under the call of Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady, all the Rockets gathered in a circle, raised their right hands, and shouted together: "Blood abuse of calves, shame on you!"

Rockets fans have obviously been looking forward to this matchup for a long time.

The game started at three o'clock in the afternoon, and they filled up the Toyota Center with all kinds of slogans at two o'clock.

Moreover, there are a large number of fans gathered in the square outside the Toyota Center, intending to fight with the Rockets here until the end of the game.

It's a pity that when the Mavericks players walked into the Toyota Center, all the Rockets found out with regret that their head star Dirk Nowitzki, sitting on the bench in a suit and leather shoes, chose to play in this game that has attracted much attention. chose to rest in the game.

Yao Ming, McGrady, Zhang Jinshui, and the others were all gnashing their teeth in anger. It felt as if they had gathered all the hatred in their bodies into a heavy punch, and when they were about to swing, they realized that their opponents had thumped and knelt down first. up.

In fact, Zhang Jinshui can probably understand the current thinking of the Mavericks team: at this time, the Rockets and the Mavericks are in the top group in the West. No matter who is the first, the second and the third in the final ranking, they will definitely meet in the playoffs .

Moreover, each other is likely to be one of the biggest stumbling blocks on the other side's way to win the championship.

The Mavericks directly let Nowitzki rest in this much-watched game. On the one hand, they can avoid the edge of the Rockets who have just sat first in the Western Conference and are at home. In the case of falling behind 0 to 2, he finally realized the psychological advantage of the ultimate comeback.

Judging from the unhappiness in the hearts of Yao Ming, McGrady and Zhang Jinshui at this time, the Mavericks' game this time is not unsuccessful.

Fortunately, the unhappiness in Yao Maishui's heart is not without a channel to vent. Looking at Mavs players such as Josh Howard, Jason Terry and Dampier who are still warming up on the court, the Rockets made a decision in unison. In this game, Still want to hit that punch hard!

After the start of the game, Yao Ming immediately got to his position inside and raised his hand to receive the pass from Zhang Jinshui.

Facing him against his back, Dampier once boasted that he was the second center in the league, and his strength was only inferior to Shaquille O'Neal.

Yao Ming didn't attack the basket with a light turn and hook, but directly stepped on the Shanghai dance step, turned around and swayed back and forth on the left and right sides, swaying Dampier in all directions, and then rushed into the inside line, completing a powerful ground Explode the basket vigorously.

After scoring the goal, Yao Ming, who is usually gentle and gentle, did not retreat directly to his own half as usual, but yelled loudly at the "second center in the league" waving his arms.

Then, McGrady attacked with the ball. With Zhang Jinshui's pick-and-roll, he entered the Mavericks penalty area with one step. Facing the supplementary defense of the "second center in the West", he flew up directly and faced the opponent's general. The ball went into the basket and got an extra penalty.

These two violent dunks directly blasted the ceiling of the Toyota Center.

All the Rockets fans at the scene jumped up excitedly, and began to shout loudly, "Crush the Mavericks!" The slogan.

Poor Dampier, a bit confused by the two dunks, watched Tracy McGrady make a free throw from the free throw line to give the Rockets a five-point opener.

However, the Mavericks are also a Mavericks team that has gradually grown up after hundreds of battles, and it has not messed up by this time.

When Nowitzki was not on the court, Jason Terry, the team's unrelenting commander, brought the ball to the Rockets' frontcourt and waved his hands to signal his comrades not to mess up their positions and to hit a success rate on the offensive end.

However, with Yao Ming and McGrady already full of fighting spirit, Zhang Jinshui decided not to give the Mavericks any chance to breathe.

He directly activated the purple badge [Ability Value Explosion Table] with his thoughts, and the interception ability was fully pulled to 100. Before Jason Terry's waving hand had time to let go, he directly hit the rabbit with a lion and shot at Jason Terry. Ri slapped the basketball on the ground and rushed over.

Hearing a muffled "pop", Zhang Jinshui successfully slapped the ball towards the backcourt of the Mavericks.

He started quickly, rushed past Jason Terry, controlled the basketball, dribbled to the inside of the Mavericks in two or three steps, jumped high, and completed a powerful one-handed dunk.

7 is better than 0!

The Rockets' opener is getting better and better.

In the stands of the Toyota Center, there was another burst of cheers like a tsunami.

At this time, the players on the Mavericks team began to get a little anxious. The game has been going on for more than a minute now, and the Rockets have completed three beautiful slam dunks, but they have not even organized a decent offense.

Marijuana brother Josh Howard, chasing back to pick up the ball that fell on the ground, walked anxiously outside the bottom line, and passed the ball to Jason Terry, trying to quickly complete a successful offense, which can help the team stabilize the morale.

Seeing this, Zhang Jinshui was overjoyed. The special effects of the [Ability Explosion Meter] on his back hadn't ended yet. Brother Da Da's fast serve was equivalent to giving him one more chance to make a steal.

He quickly moved to Jason Terry's side, and when the opponent took the first step with the dribble, he immediately rushed over and broke the ball directly from the opponent's hand.

However, this time, because it was intercepted from the side, the basketball was caught by Zhang Jinshui and flew to the bottom corner of the Mavericks' half.

Although Zhang Jinshui controlled the basketball in the bottom corner before the ball went out of bounds, Josh Howard, who had just walked back to the court from the baseline, got stuck at the three-second zone line and did not give Zhang Jinshui a chance to hit the basket directly.

Just when everyone thought that Zhang Jinshui was going to organize a positional attack, Zhang Jinshui stopped at the bottom corner with the ball and adjusted his shortness of breath from rushing over just now.

After the light yellow halo under his feet turned yellow and then green, Zhang Jinshui jumped up high at the bottom corner and threw the ball.

I saw the basketball draw a smooth arc in the air and hit the net with a hollow sound.

10 to 0, only one and a half minutes into the first quarter, Yao Maishui and the three worked together to help the Rockets gain a 1-point lead.

In the stands at the Toyota Center, the Rockets fans were even more frenzied, jumping and screaming recklessly, cheering for their players to give the Mavericks this wave of power.

"Beep" a whistle, Mavericks coach Johnson had to call a timeout.

Johnson's dark face has turned into iron blue, and the Mavericks owner Mark Cuban on the side also has a dignified face, chewing the gum in his mouth constantly.

In fact, in the original plan of Johnson and Cuban, since they chose to let Nowitzki rest, they can completely accept the Mavericks' away loss today.

However, they expect the rest of the Mavericks to play back and forth with the Rockets and then lose the game.

In this case, the Mavericks can continue to maintain a psychological advantage over the Rockets.

And the situation at this moment is something they never expected.

Judging from the current situation on the court, the Mavericks and the Rockets are not like the same level of teams at all, and they would rather be NCAA college teams crossing borders to face NBA professional teams.

If the game continues at this pace, not to mention that the psychological advantage established by the Rockets due to last season's playoffs will be lost, I am afraid that these Mavericks players on the field will be cast in the shadow of the Rockets.

And the game situation has developed into what it is now, and it is not at all a problem at the technical and tactical level.

Little General Johnson couldn't make any targeted adjustments, so he could only continue to give the players psychological massage on the bench to let them recover from a bit of a state of confusion.

Fortunately, players like Jason Terry and Josh Howard have strong personal abilities and good mental qualities.

After returning to the court again, the two of them made continuous breakthroughs and scored goals. Finally, Josh Howard broke the scoring shortage with a mid-range shot and scored the Mavericks' first sports game.

However, just when the young generals Johnson and Cuban breathed a sigh of relief and felt that the Mavericks could finally take a break, Zhang Jinshui, who usually focuses on series offense in the first quarter, stood up again and walked to the core of the stage .