basketball myth

(Thank you longyunliu and zhouyu1976)

The Minnesota Timberwolves did not choose to show any contempt for the Houston Rockets before the game, and the Rockets showed no signs of looking down on the Timberwolves. The entire Rockets team, from top to bottom, seemed to face the Timberwolves who came from afar.

He behaved very seriously and solemnly as if facing a formidable enemy.

In particular, the main players of the Rockets, headed by Dayao, are training silently and are not high-profile at all. They do not engage in pre-game public praise like the Spurs do, or imitate Mark Cuban's behavior.

They make some small moves to disgust and influence their opponents. They are simply doing the simplest training to prepare for the game, and are very at ease waiting for the moment when the game officially arrives.

Therefore, in this consecutive back-to-back game of the Timberwolves, although the leisure time in the middle was very tight, the pre-game environment was still relatively relaxed.

In fact, the game between the Timberwolves and the Rockets will be another major game broadcast live across the United States. In the distant mainland of China, it will also be broadcast by CCTV to the vast number of Chinese fans.

Therefore, the level of attention this competition has received is astonishing. Without any more distractions, the competition itself has become more attractive to people.

Especially when Dayao and Li Feng are about to face each other face to face again, it seems like a reincarnation, which makes people feel endless emotions, and they can't help but have countless curiosity and excitement.

After all, it was during a game against the Rockets that Li Feng gradually showed his prominence in the league. He was qualified to stay on the NBA, the biggest stage of basketball. Moreover, he has successfully skyrocketed since then.

The myth of Yao is becoming more and more popular. Now his personal influence is not inferior to that of Yao Yao, and even surpasses him.

Therefore, Yao Zhen is completely the best witness of his career. From the beginning to the present, he has just witnessed his transformation from a second-round pick who could lose his opportunity at any time to quickly becoming a new generation of superstar.

In addition, in fact, Dayao and Li Feng are both Chinese players, and they have already had some cooperation experience in the national team. When the two of them continue to fight against each other with clear distinction between the enemy and ourselves, naturally they will also be very confused.

It is easy for fans to have endless topics and expectations.

In short, in this upcoming game, not to mention other things, just because Li Feng and Dayao will participate in the game healthy and normal, the fans will not be disappointed.

Just before the official start of the game, Dayao and Li Feng finally had a rare opportunity to communicate and talk while the players from both sides were warming up in the Toyota Center.

The two first chatted about the situation of the Arab League and gave him very friendly and sincere blessings.

Then, Dayao specially thanked Li Feng for the wonderful final result in the All-Star Game not long ago.

Dayao would be extremely excited to be able to lift the All-Star MVP trophy for the first time in his life, even if he won it with Li Feng. This trophy is indeed a very good honor for him, at least it proves that he is

He has once dominated the crowd on such a dazzling stage as the All-Stars. Therefore, he was very grateful to Li Feng for some of his help during that game.

Of course, facing Dayao's polite attitude, Li Feng naturally did not dare to take credit.

He repeatedly said that it was Dayao's own fault. He just passed some balls that should be passed at the right time. At the same time, he also quietly told Dayao that the two of them should be in the same camp in essence.

If the ball is not passed to Yao on the stage, who else will it be passed to?

Immediately afterwards, Li Feng revealed the matter, and suddenly he couldn't wait to send a shocking invitation to Dayao. He actually tried to get Dayao to consider and try to transfer to his Timberwolves team.

!

Li Feng suddenly proposed this shocking idea, which immediately shocked Dayao.

Originally, Dayao wanted to follow the example of other teams and try to seduce the now-famous Li Feng in person. However, he did not expect that Li Feng would be the first to invite him.

As a result, Dayao couldn't help but laugh, and did not continue to have in-depth exchanges with Li Feng on the transfer tendencies of both parties.

Dayao chose not to talk about this serious topic anymore, and Li Feng was happy to play dumb and quickly changed the topic to other light-hearted things.

In fact, the reason why Li Feng just took the initiative to invite Dayao to transfer was that on the one hand, he really wanted to join forces with Dayao to fight for the championship together; on the other hand, he was also a little worried that Dayao would be affected.

Behind the scenes, the Rockets boss Alexander put pressure on him to have informal contact and contact.

He took the initiative to speak out at this moment, which not only gave Dayao some new ideas in his mind, but also changed his direction and temporarily rejected the possible transfer invitation from Dayao and the Rockets.

Next, the two of them very smartly avoided talking about things they didn't want to talk about, and continued to have a heated exchange on various light-hearted things, maintaining an extremely pleasant conversation atmosphere.

This situation made many fans and reporters who were waiting boredly for the start of the game to be surprised and speculated on what exactly they were communicating about.

However, people gradually can't help but think that if Li Feng and Dayao really become teammates successfully and stand together like now, it will definitely be a perfect situation.

…

The relaxed atmosphere is always short-lived. As professional players, their first priority is to compete on the court and continue to play dazzling games.

At the moment when former Rockets head coach Jeff Van Gundy and his partner announcer announced that they had entered the role and were explaining the game at the commentary desk, the game started lively.

Although Nikola Pekovic tried very hard to jump up, Yao Yao's reaction when jumping to the ball tonight was not weak. He just raised his arms and easily moved the basketball to his teammates' side.

.

Kyle Lowry quickly got the basketball, and after all his teammates were in position, he immediately hung the basketball into Dayao's hands.

Dayao faced Pekovic's defense, and it really wasn't too difficult. He used his already cultivated powerful tonnage to hit him casually, followed by a turn and half-hook shot, and opened the scoring for the Rockets.

, hit a two-pointer.

On the Timberwolves side, after Ricky Rubio got the offensive ball, he seemed to see Pekovic taking the initiative to pull away from Yao, so he quickly passed the basketball to him.

In fact, Rubio and Pekovic usually have a good relationship in private. At this time, Rubio probably also wanted to see his teammates score in return for Dayao.

However, when Pekovic really wanted to force a single against Dayao and chose to turn around for a layup, he was quickly blocked directly by Dayao.

Although Dayao's shot-blocking ability is not extremely outstanding, he used his outstanding height to defend Pekovic, which still had some significant effects.

After blocking the shot, Dayao took the ball to Kyle Lowry.

Lowry, nicknamed "Little Steel Cannon", almost immediately wanted to try a fast break and made a powerful breakthrough against Ricky Rubio.

It is said that Lowry's body is really not what Rubio can compete with at the moment, and Rubio was easily squeezed away.

Li Feng was currently guarding the Rockets' outside scorer Kevin Martin, but he was unable to defend the inside position in time. He could only watch helplessly as Lowry added another layup for the Rockets.

"Well. Judging from the Rockets' two opening plays, the effect seems to be very good. I wish them the best to continue to play smoothly. On the one hand, they rely on Dayao's powerful inside, and on the other hand, they must let the outside players Only in this way can they defeat the Minnesota Timberwolves, currently ranked first in the Western Conference." Jeff Van Gundy quickly commented to the Rockets.

While his commentary partner nodded, he also did not forget to tease him: "Haha, Jeff. Having been the head coach of Dayao, his inner emotional bias was very obvious tonight. I remember, you were with Yao before. Like Charles Barkley, they all like Lee."

"Haha, this guy Li keeps creating new surprises for us. He is really worth liking. However, I feel more familiar with Dayao and the Rockets tonight."

…

Just as the two game commentators were explaining, the Timberwolves launched another attack on the court.

This time, they chose to let Kevin Love lead the attack, and this guy tried to shoot directly from outside the three-point line.

However, he had a good touch and successfully hit the basket with his first three-point shot tonight.

This surprised teammates and opponents, and some Rockets fans on the sidelines even suddenly showed a hint of worry.

After Li Feng noticed this situation, he couldn't help but confirm that one of his previous ideas was feasible and definitely worth experimenting with. That is, the Timberwolves should let Kevin Love play the center position tonight. Pekovic was directly replaced and replaced by Matt Barnes as the power forward, specifically using a small lineup to deal with Yao and the Rockets.

Before the game, he actually had some suggestions in this regard with head coach Rambis, but Rambis did not agree in time at the time.

But at this moment, Li Feng saw that Pekovic was having a hard time facing Yao, and Kevin Love seemed to have a really good outside touch tonight, so he quickly came up with this idea.

Of course, he is not the head coach. He will only propose it to the head coach again when he has the opportunity later. As for whether the trip will really happen, he dare not guarantee it.

…

On the field, the Rockets really let Dayao go crazy inside the Timberwolves while taking the opportunity to let Kyle Lowry and others use Dayao's screen to break through. The effect was quite good. In addition, there were

Luis Scola took advantage of some opportunities to score, which was also very powerful. On the other hand, Kevin Martin, the Rockets' leading outside scorer, was temporarily trapped in Li Feng's defense and did not perform too well.

When the two sides took the first timeout in the first quarter, the Timberwolves were actually slightly behind by a few points.

When the first timeout occurred, based on some basic situations that had occurred on the field, Timberwolves head coach Rambis finally agreed with the playing plan proposed by Li Feng.

He chose to let Pekovic stay on the court for a while. He played with the rotation players and was not in a hurry to rest. It was clear that he had quietly assigned the main position in the second half of the second quarter to the substitute.

Matt Barnes.

Nikola Pekovic did not express any protest or objection to this kind of treatment. Instead, he took advantage of Yao's absence and vented his anger on the Rockets' substitute inside man.

However, in fact, when the two sides rotate their lineups in the game, the focus of people's attention is not Pekovic, nor the Rockets players. More people are concerned about and care about. Only

It will be veteran Tracy McGrady.

The past grudges between Tracy McGrady and the Rockets are indeed enough to continue to cause all kinds of turmoil and influence when Li Feng and Dayao are not on the playing field.

Fortunately, McGrady himself was not affected by the surrounding environment tonight. He conscientiously completed what a rotation player should complete, and it seems that he has now completed the transformation of his personal role on the court.

So, not long after, when Li Feng led the main players to take over again, the Timberwolves still performed very well on the court, and at the same time they were not at a disadvantage against the Rockets.

As for the Rockets, the lineup they played after a little time in the second quarter was still their main lineup tonight. Kyle Lowry and Kevin Martin partnered on the back line, Chandler Parsons and Lewis.

Scola partnered with the striker, and the center position was still the powerful Yao.

The Timberwolves have slightly changed their player lineup. They are about to implement a new small lineup of "one big and four small".

The two sides soon started fighting fiercely again. Dayao first continued to beat Kevin. Love scored inside, but he didn't seem to feel too many changes on the court.

But immediately during the Timberwolves' attack, almost all the Timberwolves players suddenly pulled out, and no one was standing near the Rockets' inside line.

Dayao was shocked when he saw this situation. He subconsciously followed and defended, not wanting Kevin Love, who was so accurate in three-point shooting tonight, to take another shot from the outside.

However, as soon as Yao came out of the paint, Rubio's illusion of passing the ball towards Kevin Love immediately changed and he decisively threw the ball to Li Feng, who rushed to the basket.

After Li Feng caught the ball while running, facing the already extremely empty Rockets inside line, he easily jumped up and scored a one-handed dunk. The whole process seemed very simple.

The Timberwolves used such a new style of play on the court, and many onlookers who reacted quickly understood it immediately.

For example, Jeff Van Gundy and his commentator partners have already seen some of the Timberwolves' intentions.

But, they said it, but it was of no use.

Timberwolves head coach McHale still does not intend to change the Rockets' lineup immediately. Instead, he plans to continue to use the main lineup and play style on the court, trying to use Dayao's inside power to compete with the Timberwolves' tactics.

But as the Timberwolves' new lineup gradually adapted to the defensive aspect, Kevin Love began to constantly move forward to defend Yao, while Li Feng used his outstanding speed and agility from time to time to double-team and try to steal the ball.

Dayao.

After the two sides fought for a while, the situation quickly turned towards the Timberwolves.

When the Timberwolves attack, they always use pick-and-roll tactics, using Kevin Love to lure Dayao out, and also letting Barnes lure Scola. As a result, the Rockets are often very empty inside.

Li Feng, Michael Beasley, Ricky Rubio and others all have enough space to break through for layups.

And if the Rockets' Yao and Scola still refuse to pull out, then the Timberwolves can fire from the outside. The three-point shooting percentages of Kevin Love and Matt Barnes are both scary. Today

The late feel is also good.

In addition, Rubio and Li Feng, who are responsible for passing the ball, are always able to find just the right passing route and hand the ball to their teammates easily and smoothly.

And even if the Timberwolves choose to play this "one big and four small" style of play for a long time, their number of rebounds in the game is not significantly lower than that of the Rockets.

Even though Dayao and Scola have good rebounding abilities, they are still not at the top level. Kevin Love can always use his excellent rebound prediction and blocking talent to find players.

Some rebounding opportunities.

In addition, the rushing momentum of Li Feng and others will also make the Rockets insiders lose sight of one thing.

Therefore, the Timberwolves' special style of play achieved quite good results in the second quarter, at least creating a very difficult situation for the Rockets.

On the sidelines, McHale finally seemed helpless and seemed to be thinking of some solution.

But the game time passed for a long time, and it was almost half-time, and he had not yet adopted any specific strategy. His ability on the coaching bench seemed far less outstanding than his level on the basketball court.

For the Rockets, the difficulties are far beyond those before, and there seem to be more and more signs of trouble.

Although Dayao's physical fitness has made great progress now, he is constantly being mobilized by the Timberwolves' insiders to defend pick-and-rolls, which he is least good at, and is bypassed, so it is inevitable that he will feel a little exhausted.

.Not only physically, but also on a spiritual level.

Li Fengze took advantage of this moment to slightly reveal his real sharp fangs, and used his super personal abilities that he had not used much before, and continued to deal with the tired Dayao.

In just a few rounds, Dayao was suddenly shocked to find that the number of fouls on his body had become three!

Until then, Rockets coach McHale off the court seemed to remember that Dayao was in foul trouble in the last game against the Timberwolves, and quickly asked Dayao to go down and take a rest.