NBA: The man who passed the ball to Yao Ming

The moment Yao Ming set foot on the court, Zhang Jinshui, who was wearing the No. 86 red jersey, felt his blood rolling and his pride surge.

It has been more than four months since being selected by the Rockets with the 11th overall pick in the draft to tonight.

Including summer league, he has also played five games.

But this is the first time he has set foot on the Toyota Center that he has always dreamed of.

Hearing the enthusiastic cheers coming from all directions, Zhang Jinshui secretly made up his mind to win this game with all his might.

For myself, for Yao Ming, for the Rockets, and for the passionate fans who fill up the Toyota Center.

Next, Zhang Jinshui began to warm up on the court with great concentration, controlling the ball, dribbling, receiving the feed from Luther Head, and shooting three-pointers from different positions beyond the three-point line, trying to reheat his touch Some.

He wanted to do too many warm-up projects, and he didn't even have time to find Zi Chunlin and Zhao Min'er on the sidelines.

At 8:20 in the evening, the warm-up ends.

Because it was Houston's first home game of the new season, the Rockets officially invited players from the two teams to stand on the court and held a simple opening ceremony.

Immediately afterwards, the substitute players came off the field, and the Miami Heat's starting five showed their true colors.

Center Shaquille O'Neal, power forward Haslem, small forward Anton Wan Walker, shooting guard Dern Wade, point guard Jason Williams.

The starting lineup composed of these five people is at least one level stronger than the gorgeous starting lineup of the Kings that the Rockets have ever encountered.

Considering that their bench is still sitting on the glove Payton and center Mourning, as well as several blue-collar players who are quite good, such as James Posey.

It's no wonder that before the start of the season, a group of expert media regarded the Heat as the biggest favorite to win the championship this year.

At 8:29, the game is about to start.

From this moment on, the eyes of basketball fans all over the world will focus on this basketball court.

Looking at this much-anticipated game from the perspective of fans before, Zhang Jinshui only felt that his heart was full of anticipation and enthusiasm.

But now to be on the field and be part of the game.

Only then did he realize that the atmosphere on the court was extremely suppressed, and even the air in the arena seemed to have become viscous and bitter.

Derek Anderson, Haslem and several other players had grim expressions. Obviously, they had been affected by this atmosphere.

But Shaquille O'Neal, who is used to seeing big scenes and experienced, is an exception.

"Hey, rookie, are you afraid?" He walked near the middle circle and called out to Zhang Jinshui.

While shaking his neck with his hands, he provoked Zhang Jinshui with his eyes and expression.

Zhang Jinshui was expressionless, ignoring the other party's existence.

He won't be affected by the oppressive atmosphere on the field. On the contrary, with the blood circulating in his body at a high speed, he can't wait to start the first offensive round quickly.

But he also knew very well in his heart that this match would be a fierce battle with a narrow escape.

And he can only live!Can't die!

As the referee threw the ball into the air, this much-anticipated duel officially began.

Yao Ming took the lead in shooting the basketball in the air to Zhang Jinshui, helping the Rockets grab the first possession of the ball.

In the stands of the Toyota Center, cheers erupted immediately.

"Zhang Jinshui, don't be nervous, just play as usual!" On the sidelines, Van Gundy clapped his hands vigorously while loudly helping Zhang Jinshui relieve the pressure.

Zhang Jinshui nodded, facing Jason Williams' defense, carefully brought the ball to the frontcourt.

After seeing Yao Ming standing in the right 3-second zone, he immediately took the ball beyond the corresponding three-point line and passed the ball steadily.

After catching the ball with both hands, Yao Ming held it up high, with his back to O'Neal, and at the same time turned his face sideways, watching O'Neal's defensive position vigilantly from the corner of his eye.

O'Neill was bent over, with his left arm resting on Yao Ming's waist, and his right arm spread out to prevent Yao Ming from turning around.

The current confrontation posture of the two is familiar to all fans who have watched the Yao Sha battle.

Because it has to be repeated several times in almost every Yao Shark battle, and it has been replayed countless times in subsequent TV programs.

At this time, the entire Toyota Center, including all Rockets fans in front of the televisions in Meiguo and Huaguo, fell silent and held their breath.

It seemed that he was afraid that any slight noise would affect Yao Ming's next attack rhythm.

They were all waiting quietly, Yao Ming launched the first attack on the big shark O'Neal.

At this moment, Zhang Jinshui moved.

He took advantage of Jason Williams turning his head to observe Yao Ming, and rushed into the three-second zone from his right side with a lunge.

"Yao Ming!"

Just as he was about to pass by Yao Ming, Zhang Jinshui yelled, and the latter handed the ball to him immediately.

Zhang Jinshui took the ball, cut to the basket, jumped high, and poured the ball into the basket with both hands.

Just as everyone was waiting for Yao Sha's first hand-to-hand combat, they never expected that the Rockets' NO.11 rookie Zhang Jinshui who helped the Rockets complete their first offense turned out to be the Rockets' No. [-] rookie.

2 to 0!The Rockets take the lead!

The stands at the Toyota Center were immediately set ablaze, and the fans chanted the names of Zhang Jinshui and Yao Ming, cheering for their tacit cooperation.

"Zhang Jinshui, this cut is beautiful!" Van Gundy praised loudly from the sidelines.

Zhang Jinshui nodded, and high-fived Yao Ming who was running towards him.

"Nice movement! But you have to practice slam dunks in the future. Just now we have a tomahawk dunk, and our momentum will be even higher." Yao Ming laughed.

Zhang Jinshui nodded. He didn't care much about slam dunks before, but he suddenly felt that Yao Ming's words made sense.

Offensive and defensive transition, it's the Heat's turn to attack.

They didn't hand the ball to O'Neal, the other protagonist of the Yaosha battle. Instead, the Flash Wade took the ball from the outside and asked O'Neal to come out and play a pick-and-roll for him.

Taking advantage of the gap between Yao Ming and Derek Anderson's pick-and-roll and defense, the Flash Wade accelerated into the inside line, ignoring Uncle Huo who was supplementing the defense, and completed a powerful one-armed dunk.

When returning to his own half, Wade shook his head while running, as if reminding the Rockets fans at the scene, don't be too happy, this game has just begun.

2 to 2.The Heat tied the game.

"Yao Ming! Zhang Jinshui!"

When it was the Rockets' turn to attack, Van Gundy on the sidelines yelled and raised a gesture, signaling Zhang Jinshui to continue to be the main attacker of this round.

Zhang Jinshui still brought the ball to the frontcourt very cautiously. Yao Ming pulled O'Neal out from the inside and helped him set a pick-and-roll.

After the dislocation, facing O'Neill's huge body, Zhang Jinshui was not afraid at all, and performed [Lightning First Step], successfully breaking through from the right side of the big shark into the inside line.

Seeing Haslem defending from the side, he turned his body and rushed to the left, but not far in that direction, there was Heat small forward Anton Wan Walker.

Seeing this, the Rockets fans in the auditorium sighed one after another.

If Zhang Jinshui reversed direction just now, he should still have a chance for a layup, but if he rushed to the left, he would crash into the opponent's arms.

But at this moment, the sighs in the stands stopped abruptly, and turned into bursts of surprise.

Some fans who didn't see the situation clearly looked closely, only to find that Zhang Jinshui didn't have a basketball in his hand.

And near the free throw line not far behind his right, Uncle Huo, who was unguarded, raised the basketball and easily completed a high mid-range shot with a silky shooting action.

4 to 2.The Rockets took the lead again.

There was thunderous cheers in the stands at the Toyota Center, but many Rockets fans who didn't see the situation clearly looked up at the playback on the big TV above the arena.

They wondered, Zhang Jinshui, who was holding the ball, obviously chose the wrong direction for the breakthrough just now, why did the basketball finally appear in the hands of Uncle Huo who was unguarded?