NBA: The man who passed the ball to Yao Ming

"Don't worry, coach, just leave it to me." McGrady smiled with the corners of his eyes drooping, as if he was about to fall asleep.

But in nba, no one will be deceived by his harmless appearance.

After 130 seconds, the intermission period ended and the second quarter officially started.

McGrady returned to the court with Zhang Jinshui, Swift, Howard and David Wesley.

In the first quarter, McGrady only played more than 6 minutes and scored 4 points on 2 of 4 shots. His presence was not very strong.

However, Van Gundy had obvious strategic intentions in letting McGrady end so early.

That would allow him to recharge his batteries and dominate the Rockets' offense early in the second quarter.

As soon as the game started, McGrady received a pass from Zhang Jinshui at a 45-degree angle.

McGrady didn't even call a screen against Kings backup small forward Kenny Thomas' close defense.

First, he leaned against the opponent with his back, then shook his shoulders, turned around and made a dry pull, and the basketball directly brushed into the basket with an almost horizontal arc.

27 to 30, the Rockets chased the score to 3 points.

Zhang Jinshui on the side was so addicted to watching this, 8 big words floated in his mind: unreasonable, defenseless.

Next, every time the Rockets played an offensive round, after Zhang Jinshui brought the ball to the frontcourt, he would hand the ball to McGrady, and then he would take the King's backup guard to the corner of the weak side to stand guard and help McGrady open. some space.

He knew that McGrady was the absolute protagonist on the field during this period of time, and he just needed to be a secondary player in a safe manner according to Van Gundy's request.

McGrady will not let anyone down naturally.

Under the alternate pick-and-roll of Swift and Howard, he hit another misplaced pull-up and a breakthrough layup, and assisted Uncle Huo to hit a 2-pointer at the free throw line.

And Zhang Jinshui was not completely useless. In the third minute of the second quarter, McGrady entered the three-second zone under Swift's pick-and-roll, but was surrounded by three opponents.

Zhang Jinshui slipped in from the bottom line in good time, caught the ball from McGrady from the gap, and completed a small toss.

Help the Rockets chase the score to 35 to 36.

Seeing that the Rockets were only leading by 1 point, Kings coach Adelman couldn't sit still and sent all the main lineup to the field, including Brad Miller and Bunch Wells who only rested for 3 minutes off the field.

As for the Rockets, Yao Ming and other main lineups were all replaced on the court.

Zhang Jinshui walked off the court, took a can of Gatorade and poured it all into his mouth, then picked up a towel and began to wipe the sweat off his body.

Although he only played 9 minutes on the court, because of his high concentration and exertion in every round, his physical consumption was more than that of a half-court game in the summer, and his entire shirt was completely soaked.

Van Gundy patted him on the shoulder vigorously, and didn't speak anymore - he praised Zhang Jinshui too many times today, so there is no need to say more.

The situation on the field is still very stalemate.

With Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady at the same time, the Rockets are worthy of any team in the league.

But the Kings started five Tigers after all, and with the shouts of the home fans, they were evenly matched with Yao Mai.

As the game progressed, the Rockets seemed to be caught in a vicious circle.

Every time the point difference is reduced to one point, the Kings can open the point difference in the next round.

But that was all, Yao Mai was able to reduce the score to one point soon.

两队的比分，从35比36，打到41比42，再打到半场前1分钟内的49比50。

Van Gundy frowned again.

In his original calculation, when Zhang Jinshui led a group of substitutes to help the Rockets to bite the score at the end of the first quarter, McGrady would help the Rockets tie the score at the beginning of the second quarter.

Immediately afterwards, the Rockets, with Yao Mai on the court at the same time, could get a 5 or 6-point lead before halftime.

However, now the Rockets are still one point behind on the court.

It can only be said that the Kings' starting lineup is really strong, and they still have home court advantage.

"Beep!" A whistle came from the field, and Mike Bibby broke through and caused Alston's foul and walked to the free throw line.

This was Alston's fourth foul in the half, and he was completely blown away by Mike Bibby.

Van Gundy shook his head and said to Zhang Jinshui: "Zhang Jinshui, you play the last few tens of seconds on the court, and just hand the ball to Yao Mai in the frontcourt."

"Ok."

Zhang Jinshui walked from the bench to the sidelines, slapped Alston with a depressed face, and walked onto the court.

At the free throw line, Mike Bibby made one of two free throws to help the Kings lead by two points 51-49.

At this time, with 40 seconds left in the second quarter, Van Gundy shouted from the sidelines: "McGrady grabs one!"

Zhang Jinshui was stunned for a moment, and instantly understood what Van Gundy meant. Now that they have completed a rush attack, after the Kings' 24-second attack time, they will have another chance to attack before halftime.

So, after he received the ball in the backcourt, he immediately handed it to McGrady who rushed forward.

McGrady carried Bunch Wells and made a turnaround jumper inside the three-point line, but unfortunately, the basketball hit the inner edge of the basket and bounced out.

Then it was the Kings' turn to attack, and they spent 24 seconds of the offense in a leisurely manner.

Although in the end Mike Bibby's breakthrough throw went out of the basket under Zhang Jinshui's hard defense, but they only left the Rockets with 10 seconds of attack time.

Zhang Jinshui received Uncle Huo's baseline pass and quickly advanced to the frontcourt.

Seeing that Yao Ming had already run to the opponent's inner line ahead of time, Zhang Jinshui passed the ball steadily.

The two Kings players immediately double-teamed Yao Ming.

Of the other three players, one stuck to McGrady, while the other two surrounded Yao Ming, interfering with the way he passed the ball to other players.

Their intention is very clear, using this gambling defense to forcibly interrupt the Rockets' offensive rhythm and drag the game to the end of the midfield.

But such a defensive method is bound to have many loopholes, and Yao Ming quickly positioned Anderson, who was unguarded in the right corner.

At this moment, a purple light flashed in front of Zhang Jinshui's eyes, and the talent badge [Three-point long-range shot: Fulin Xinzhi] was randomly triggered at this time.

Zhang Jinshui didn't have time to think, and immediately raised his hands and shouted to Yao Ming: "Yao Ming, pass the ball to me."

While shouting, he stepped back two more steps away from the three-point line to ensure that Yao Ming's passing route was not within the opponent's coverage.

Yao Ming turned his head to look at Zhang Jinshui, and found that he was almost retreating to the middle circle. Anderson's position was obviously more suitable for shooting three-pointers than his position.

Yao Ming turned his head and decided to pass the ball to Anderson.

Seeing this, Zhang Jinshui hurriedly jumped up, waved his hands and shouted, "Yao Ming, trust me, the ball is safe."

At this time, there were only three seconds left before the end of halftime, and Yao Ming had no time to hesitate.

He felt the persistence in Zhang Jinshui's shout, gritted his teeth, and finally turned around and passed the ball to Zhang Jinshui.

Anderson, ready to shoot, watched the ball in disbelief.

He really couldn't figure out why Yao Ming didn't pass the ball to him, but to Zhang Jinshui who was far away in the sky.

The faces of Mai Di and Uncle Huo were also full of doubts.

Zhang Jinshui caught the ball steadily, his eyes fixed on the rim shining purple in the distance.

At this time, he still has at least two steps away from the three-point line. Although the distance from the basket is closer than that of the logo shot, the angle facing the ball frame is a bit oblique, and the difficulty of shooting is not low.

He took a deep breath, jumped high, and threw the ball.