The Godfather of Basketball

During an All-Star Weekend, he became the coach of the Western Conference, was confessed by Swift, and was praised by McGrady for a while. Tang Tian didn't do anything, and became the absolute focus of the entire league.

This night, media reports about him emerged endlessly. The New York media described him as a genius coach, the Los Angeles media called him a topical coach, and the Houston media even praised him as the godfather of the new generation of basketball.

Domestic fans are even more envious of Tang Tian. He has been promoted and raised at the age of 23. It looks like he is going to win Bai Fumei, and he is on his way to the pinnacle of life!

However, Tang Tian himself didn't have much mood swings. After finishing the press conference, he flew back to Houston with Thibodeau that night.

For him, the All-Star Game is irrelevant, and the next half of the season is the most critical.

A week after the All-Star Game ended, the trade deadline for the season came.

However, compared to previous years, this year's movement is much smaller.

Iverson was traded to the Nuggets, Stephen Jackson and Al Harrington were traded to Golden State with 8 people. These big deals were completed long before the deadline, and the trade deadline was mostly a small deal.

The Rockets' lineup is basically complete. There is no point guard better than Blake in the market, and the Rockets don't want a veteran with a big contract. The lineup basically remains unchanged.

But the same is not necessarily a bad thing. With the same lineup, the tacit understanding of the team will be higher and higher.

On February 24, in the first game after the All-Star break, the Rockets challenged the Lakers away. Seven of the team scored in double figures and defeated their opponents 106-93. Kobe scored 51 points.

On February 26, the Rockets sat at home to meet the challenge of the Bulls. Blake got a season-high 11 assists and the team made 16 three-pointers. The team finally beat the opponent 121 to 87. Two in a row.

On February 28th, the last day of February, the Rockets went to Detroit to challenge the Pistons. Facing an opponent that had suffered a disastrous defeat this season, the Rockets played a classic game. The team sent a full 41 times Assists, beat the opponent 116 to 97, won three consecutive victories, and almost broke the record of 47 assists in a single game created by the Suns in 1991.

...

Throughout the game from late February to early March, the Rockets showed the status of a champion team, with consecutive victories, achieved an impressive record of 8 wins and 2 losses in 10 games, and continued to lead the league in record.

In the new strength ranking list, the team finally overwhelmed the Mavericks and the Suns, reaching the top position for the first time.

It has been less than one month since the start of the playoffs, and the Rockets are already preparing for the playoffs.

But at this moment, something unexpected happened. This was a game against the Warriors. McGrady stepped on Stephen Jackson's foot during a breakthrough and fell to the ground in pain.

The moment McGrady fell to the ground, the entire Toyota Center was silent, and Tang Tian stood up from the bench all of a sudden.

The Rockets team in the previous life was ruined by injuries. Although there is a system in hand now, honor points are very precious.

Fortunately, McGrady was finally supported by the team doctor to the sidelines and insisted on sitting on the sidelines to watch the whole game. It seemed that the situation was not too serious.

The MRI after the game showed that McGrady only sprained his ankle and he will recover after a week of rest.

It was a false alarm, but after the match, Tang Tian already had an idea in his mind, so he went directly to Dawson's office.

"Retirement?" Dawson was full of surprise when he heard Tang Tian say these two words.

Tang Tian nodded.

The NBA team has had rotations as early as 2006. At that time, the Suns Nash and Bell were not injured, and the team gave them a rest in the name of rotations.

But it was Spurs head coach Bo Povich who really made the term "prosperous" in the previous life.

Tang Tian remembered that it was November 2012 when the Spurs challenged the Cavaliers away. Bo Povich let Duncan, Ginobili, Parker, and Green all fly back to San Antonio after training. He was fined $2w5 by the league.

Of course, according to the timeline, it will be five years later, so Dawson will be so surprised. After all, this kind of thing is still very rare, and in a sense, it is a kind of hurting fans. Behavior.

"Yes, there are many games in the NBA regular season, but the time is short and the schedule is very dense. The players are already very tired by this point in time. T-mac's injury is a warning." Tang Tian followed up.

"Can you reduce their playing time? Or expand the rotation?" Dawson said after a moment of thought.

"I will do this, but in some necessary games, such as back-to-back, or three games in five days, I still recommend taking turns."

Dawson stared at Tang Tian for a while, saw Tang Tian's firm eyes, and finally nodded in agreement.

"I will find a way with the management and fans." He finally added.

This is his last year as general manager. He originally just wanted to retire safely, but Tang Tian led the team to achieve unprecedented results, which gave him new ideas. The championship trophy, that is definitely worth it.

Therefore, he will try his best to satisfy Tang Tian's request.

After all, he has worked as the general manager for more than ten years and brought two championship trophies to the Rockets. His vision is still very accurate.

On March 13th, the Rockets played an away game against the Celtics, the bottom team in the Eastern Conference. Yao Ming was absent from the game due to "personal affairs". However, the difference in strength between the two teams was too great. Take your opponent lightly.

On March 14th, the Rockets faced the powerful Cavaliers. Yao Ming came back, but the team's starting small forward Shane Battier sat out the whole game because of sudden physical discomfort before the game. The Rockets finally lost 96 to 101. .

On March 16, the Rockets challenged the rival Mavericks in the same district. Except for the injured McGrady, all members of the team played, but the main players such as Yao Ming and Battier did not play more than 25 minutes. The team finally lost 90 to 116 to opponent.

...

From late March to early April, as soon as the Rockets encountered a dense schedule, some people on the team missed the game due to some strange reasons. The fans were not fools, and they probably guessed that the Rockets were taking rotations.

The league was also aware of it, but because there were no specific relevant regulations, and the Rockets didn't have many games in rotation, they didn't pursue it in the end.

Before I knew it, the time had come to late April. After a full season of 82 regular-season games, the door to the NBA playoffs finally opened slowly.