The Godfather of Basketball

Time flies, and the regular season is about to kick off in a blink of an eye.

The Rockets are also about to sit at home and usher in their first opponent in the regular season, the Denver Nuggets.

The Nuggets are still the team of "Little Melon" Anthony. This talented small forward has led the team to the playoffs for three consecutive years after entering the league. Last year, he ranked third in the Western Conference. This season, the team traded With the arrival of JR Smith, who is extremely explosive in scoring, he is bound to make a big difference in the new season.

Before the game, the media was unanimously pessimistic about the Rockets. To paraphrase a sentence from the Los Angeles Daily, a team with internal and external troubles met the championship-winning Nuggets. The result of this game could be foreseen before the start.

This game was also broadcast live across the United States, and the reporters came to the arena early to wait.

During training before the game, they caught Kenyon Martin, the main power forward of the Nuggets, and asked him what he thought of tonight's game.

"Kenyon, do you think the team can win tonight's game?"

"Of course, why not, we just beat our opponents in the preseason." Martin said as a matter of course.

"Neither Yao Ming nor McGrady played in that game?" the reporter reminded.

"Melo and I also played for a few minutes. Looking at the poor record of the Rockets in the preseason, even if both of them played, we would easily beat them." Martin's words revealed a burst of Arrogant.

"Well, what do you think of Tang Tian, ​​the assistant coach introduced by the Rockets in the new season? He just led the Rockets to the championship in the summer league." corpse".

"The executive's son?"

Martin's answer immediately elicited bursts of laughter from the reporter. The question and answer were quite tacit.

"Come on, buddy, what's the point of being the champion in the summer league, yellow people shouldn't be in this league." Martin said with a look of disgust.

The reporter's interview came to an abrupt end here, and Martin didn't seem to feel that there was anything wrong with what he said just now, so he turned around and continued training.

This interview happened before the game, but it was heard by many people present, including many fans in the front row, and Millsap, who also came to the field for training early, clenched his fists.

After completing the pre-match training, players from both sides finally came out of the locker room one after another.

As Houston is an industrial city, there are not too many Americans who come to watch the game, but the entire arena is still full because there are a large number of Chinese and Chinese fans.

Tang Tian and Yao Ming gave them no reason to miss such a home opener.

The official commentary of the game is Charles Barkley from TNT and his old partner Kenny Smith.

The more interesting thing is that both of these two have played for the Rockets in the past.

"Kenny, the first commentary of the new season, the old rules, let's talk about tonight's matchup, the Rockets, against the Nuggets, who do you think will be the winner tonight?" Barkley Before the game started, chatting had already begun.

"Nuggets." Smith paused and said.

"Don't be like this dude, this is the home court of the Rockets, you will be booed by the fans if you do this."

Barkley hadn't finished speaking, and the fans in the audience booed.

With his big mouth, the best thing he can do is to attract attention and inspire the audience.

Smith smiled wryly and shook his head, but he still continued: "Before the start of the preseason, I heard that when Yao and T-mac both recovered from injuries, I think the Rockets will perform well in the new season, especially in the summer league. A very good power forward has been harvested, but we have seen the preseason games. Yao and T-mac have been out of battle for a long time, and the rookie named Millsap seems to be unable to win playing time for himself, so... "

Smith was the hero of the Rockets winning the championship in 1995. He still has a lot of feelings for the Rockets. This analysis is well-founded.

"Don't be like this, old man, you have analyzed it in such detail, I have nothing to say!" Barkley said with a laugh.

His words immediately drew a burst of laughter from Smith.

This is the charm of Barkley, but he has already acquiesced what Smith said in his words, the Rockets have no hope of winning tonight.

After the opening ceremony, the starting players of both sides appeared one after another.

For the Rockets, Van Gundy continued with the previous starting lineup.

Starting center Yao Ming, power forward Juwan Howard, small forward Battier, shooting guard McGrady, point guard Alston.

For the Nuggets, starting all-star insiders Kenyon Martin and Marcus Camby, small forward is the core Carmelo Anthony, shooting guard is new aid JR Smith, point guard Andre Miller .

With the whistle of the referee, Yao Ming returned the ball from Camby's hand to half court, and the Rockets got the chance to attack first.

In the frontcourt, Yao Ming changed his style of play to the sunset position and stood directly at the free throw line to receive the ball.

"What?" Barkley in the commentary was stunned when he saw this scene.

"Is this a Princeton tactic?" Smith immediately saw the clue.

But although he could see it, he was more surprised than Barkley, because the Rockets had never played like this before, including this preseason.

The fans were also puzzled, did Van Gundy suddenly become enlightened?

After Yao Ming held the ball, the Rockets quickly played a pick-and-roll on both sides. Battier and Alston took the three-point line from the bottom corners on both sides. McGrady used Uncle Huo's pick-and-roll to cut inside. Uncle also fell near the mid-range shooting point.

This time, four attack options instantly appeared on the field!

Barkley and Smith were completely dumbfounded. When did Van Gundy play such a 6 in offensive tactics?

The Nuggets quickly shrink the basket,

Yao Ming directly threw the ball to Battier in the bottom corner, and Battier caught the ball and shot directly.

The basketball whirled through the air and drew a high parabola, and then fell straight down.

"Shua!"

A crisp sound echoed in the arena, and Battier hit the first three-pointer of his Rockets career.

There was an explosive cheer at the scene, and it was a three-pointer as soon as it came up, which felt so cool!

Barkley and Smith were stunned, and the Rockets' offense took less than 6 seconds!

The offense in 2006 was relatively slow. Except for a few teams like the Warriors who played bombardments, most teams played positions and used as much as possible for 24 seconds. This is an unconventional operation for the Rockets!

And the key is that although it is fast, it is obviously different from the deliberate acceleration of bombardment, and there are tactics in it.

This Rockets team suddenly changed!