NBA: This Center Is So Stable

The Chinese Derby is a great success.

Chapter 107 Huaxia Derby

After finishing the trip to the East, the Knicks rushed to the West without stopping.

Texas.

Houston!

This is the Knicks’ first stop in the West!

The game against the Houston Rockets was preheated by major media for a long time before the game for two reasons.

On the one hand, it was the Huaxia Derby. The confrontation between Yao Ming and Wang Song attracted many Chinese fans living in the United States to come to the scene to support.

On the other hand, the playing style and style of the two teams are extremely similar. In addition to emphasizing defense first, the Rockets under Van Gundy’s leadership are also a team with fierce offensive firepower.

Their outside line is the top offensive firepower guard in the league today-Steve Francis!

He has an extremely outstanding physical quality, which makes his offensive means extremely rich. Whether it is shooting or breaking through, or challenging the restricted area blocked by big men, these are all his forte.

His only shortcoming is that his personal offensive desire is too strong. Francis is not a traditional point guard.

Compared with organization, he is more like a scorer, and insulting and playing with big players is his forte.

When he learned today that he would play against the big man who is now famous in the East, he did not show any timidity in the media interview, but looked forward to it.

···

Toyota Center Arena!

Warming up before the game.

“Yao, is Wang Song the same type of center as you?”

Francis was training his shooting feel, and suddenly asked Yao Min about his Chinese compatriots.

Yao Min shook his head and immediately denied this fact.

“Steve, I suggest you don’t rush the restricted area as usual today. That guy is a little different from most centers. His rim protection ability is abnormal!”

After hearing Yao Min’s advice, Francis narrowed his eyes and thought about it. He still attaches great importance to Yao Min’s evaluation.

Since Yao Min joined the NBA, there are only a handful of centers who can get his recognition.

This season, Yao Min has averaged 2 blocks per game so far. He is already a real pillar of the Rockets inside line. His rim protection ability is beyond doubt.

And to get Yao Min’s recognition, the Chinese boy named Wang Song must not be too bad. Francis is thinking about whether to slightly adjust the game today… and can’t help asking: “Yao, do you have the confidence to beat him in the matchup?”

For the term “China Derby” that has long been preheated by the media, not only fans, but also Francis, as Yao Min’s friend, naturally knows it.

There are all kinds of rumors from the outside world, but Francis is still very curious whether the always confident Yao can be sure to control Wang Song!

Yao Min showed a classic smile and said, “Steve, he is only 19 years old. I have played professional games for 5 years longer than him. You should have confidence in me!”

Seeing Yao Min’s confident look, Francis also dispelled his inner concerns.

But after he left, Yao Min looked bitter.

In fact, he was not familiar with Wang Song, a player who studied abroad, before he officially entered the NBA.

Because the other party’s expenses for playing abroad and a series of operations were all done by himself, and did not go through the Basketball Association. In fact, he was similar to most players. He received a notice from the Basketball Association a few days ago to let him observe the performance of this compatriot. He took this opportunity to officially pay attention to Wang Song.

The video of the game of the talented teenager of the North Carolina Wolf Pack in the NCAA was played repeatedly by Yao Min several times during the offseason. The degree of violence was no less than his performance during his dominance in the CBA.

What terrified him even more was that after entering the NBA, the 19-year-old boy was growing at a visible speed.

If Wang Song in college could still use his height and weight advantage to compete with others… But it’s hard to say about Wang Song now!

The game officially started.

Yao Min and Wang Song stood in the midfield for a jump ball!

The two Chinese towers stood in the midfield, attracting cheers from the fans.

Yao Min took advantage of his height advantage to get the first attack!

And this was the first time Wang Song lost a jump ball in so many games.

Before Yao Min had time to rejoice, Nash, who was quick-eyed and quick-handed, suddenly rushed out from behind Francis and grabbed the ball.

He coordinated with his teammates to stage a Knicks fast break!

Before Yao Min had time to react, Wang Song, who lost the jump ball, had already cut into the basket and scored two points.

Sometimes a big body on the basketball court does not bring all benefits.

Jeff Van Gundy, the bald head coach of the Rockets players on the sidelines, has a deep understanding of this!

He is a very old-fashioned coach, just like he always believes that defense can make the Rockets win the game.

Before the China Derby, he emphasized to the Rockets players several times that they can give up some of the efficiency of the offensive transition and focus on the speed of returning to defense.

This is the result of this workaholic who has been watching the game video day and night. The Pistons can be said to be a more successful team among the recent opponents of the Knicks. They forced out some of the Knicks’ methods.

And the Rockets only need to do better on the basis of the Pistons, and they will definitely achieve better results, or even victory.

In short, Jeff Van Gundy thinks so!

But reality taught him a heavy lesson. The Rockets’ zone defense has Yao Min’s frame protection and can achieve good results against all teams.

But he ignored the most important point, which is Yao Min’s physical exhaustion problem under fast-paced offense and defense.

The Rockets’ defensive strategy did limit the Knicks’ fast pace to a certain extent in the first half, but as their physical strength declined, the effect became less and less effective.

Especially when Yao Min was sitting on the sidelines to rest, the Chinese boy on the opposite side was like an iron man who remained on the court and kept his hot state.

Just at the beginning of the second half, the Rockets changed the rotation lineup in just four minutes, and they were bombarded with a small climax of 11:0!

After this wave of flow, the Rockets could no longer make waves.

Even if Francis could occasionally cause damage through strong breakthroughs + home whistles, it would be useless because the focus of the game arranged by Jeff Van Gundy had been broken.

The most important thing is that, as Yao Min expected before the game, he did not get any benefits in this derby.

After his rookie season, Yao Min carried out a muscle-building plan under the guidance of the Rockets. After the off-season, the upper body dimensions were visibly larger.

But this also directly led to an increase in the amount of flesh he needed to carry with him during exercise, and a greater consumption of energy.

In addition, Wang Song’s all-out attitude and his terrifying physical fitness put a lot of pressure on Yao Min, which caused serious physical problems during the game.

As expected, the Rockets began to collapse after Yao Min ran out of energy in the second half, and eventually lost the game with a disadvantage of 87:99.

The little giant scored 15 points and 8 rebounds in the first half, but only got 4 points and 2 rebounds in 10 minutes in the second half.

On the other hand, Wang Song, who exerted himself in the second half, played for 35 minutes and got a big double-double of 29 points, 15 rebounds and 5 blocks.

Endurance became the theme of this game!

(End of this chapter)