The Whip of the God of Basketball

Although Leon now pays more and more attention to players' self-growth in training and games, it does not mean that he does not make any preparations for the games. Before the game against the Houston Rockets, he also had in-depth research and understanding of this ball. He watched the videos of most of the Rockets' scores this season and selected several representative games for detailed video analysis.

In Leon's view, this Rockets is a typical pseudo-strong team, somewhat similar to the Celtics in 2002. The difference is that the Celtics have better talent and they are in the weaker Eastern Conference. The Rockets are struggling to survive in the cracks of the powerful Western Conference.

First of all, from the perspective of the core players in the team, Yao Ming and Francis are both stars hovering near the All-Stars. They are far away from superstars, but they obviously have relatively great potential. From the perspective of role players, Mobley, Cato and others have good abilities, can gain a foothold in the NBA, and have special skills. But compared with the championship-level role players of top teams, there is a gap in both skills and mental attributes. Moreover, they have too few truly capable players on the bench. Whether they are Taylor, Norris, Padgett or Piakowsky, they are all players in the lower reaches of the league and have serious flaws, especially on the defensive end. This is very fatal for a team.

Strong teams in the NBA have strong core players and out-and-out superstars, such as the Spurs and the former 76ers, or they have many players and a group of very capable players, such as the Pistons, Pacers, and Mavericks. Or super strong teams like the Celtics and Lakers that have both. As for the Rockets, who are neither involved in either, but both are somewhat interesting, they can only be a pseudo-strong team.

There are also different types of pseudo-strong teams. The Rockets benefit from head coach Van Gundy's good training and meticulous pre-game preparations. They have strong combat effectiveness in the encounter mode of the regular season, so they can often play the role of giant killer during the season. At the beginning, they once rushed to the first position in the Western Conference, winning consecutive games, and they were in the limelight.

As the season progresses, the lack of core player strength and insufficient bench depth will gradually trouble them. When they are weak or not strong, the consequence is that when playing games, they will feel that this is a strong opponent worthy of attention, but when they look at the record, , but it’s still in the middle of the pack.

Leon is well aware of this. He knows that the Rockets will definitely have a tough game with the Celtics in the first half. According to his conclusion from watching the Rockets game video, if the game only played the first half, the Rockets would be a A very strong team, but with the addition of the third quarter, they are an ordinary strong team, and with the addition of the fourth quarter, they directly become a pseudo-strong team.

The struggle in the third quarter and the end of the fourth quarter are stages that test the personal abilities of the players and the psychological quality of the team. If the Rockets cannot do these two things well, Leon will not worry about them being able to topple the Celtics at Toyota Center. !

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"I will let you play early in the third quarter, probably after the first timeout. Remember your mission, defense and mid-range, and don't be obsessed with three-pointers. In the third quarter, shooting percentage is the first priority. Strive for it. Play an advantage in three minutes and pave the way for the rest. Also, adapt to changes, cooperate with Anderson, and don't foul. You will be the key part." In the locker room at halftime, Leon was facing Wang Zhizhi gave him instructions and told him the work to be completed in the third quarter.

At the end of the first half, the Celtics only led the Rockets by 3 points, 57:54. The two sides were really inseparable. Wang Zhizhi did not get a chance to play for a minute in the entire first half. It seemed that Leon was not prepared to give him time to compete with Yao Ming. This made countless Chinese fans in front of the TV anxious and the TV station's commentators anxious.

Of course, Leon will not give up using Wang Zhizhi, a useful chess piece. Before the game, he even acted as a "spy" for the Celtics, sharing information about the Rockets and Yao Ming collected during the national team training with his teammates. To develop a plan to deal with the Rockets and Yao Ming.

Now, in the second half, he will personally go into battle to complete this season's NBA China Derby.

At the beginning of the third quarter, the seats at the Toyota Center were still a little sparse. The fans at the scene took advantage of the intermission to go shopping and take a walk. Anyway, it didn't matter if they missed two minutes. Both sides still had the same lineup as at the beginning of the first half. After a 15-minute break, Yao Ming seemed to have recovered a lot of strength.

Physical strength is a problem that will trouble Yao Ming now and in the future. Van Gundy is also aware of this. On the one hand, he controls Yao Ming's playing time, and on the other hand, he tries to maximize his offensive efficiency when Yao Ming is full of physical strength to prevent him from falling into a long period of time. of hand-to-hand combat and warfare of attrition.

Therefore, at the beginning of the second half, Yao Ming once again hit consecutive jump shots. With his physical strength, fast speed and complete movements, he was indeed unstoppable. His height, skills, and soft touch make defensive heroes like PJ Brown helpless.

On the defensive end, Van Gundy made some adjustments. He no longer asked Padgett to face Garnett. Instead, he asked small forward Jim Jackson to face Garnett for early interference, while Padgett At the small forward position, use his height advantage to face Pierce.

This strategy had a good effect at the beginning of the third quarter. Garnett was a little uncomfortable facing the experienced and strong Jackson. He missed two mid-range jumpers. Fortunately, PJ Brown grabbed the ball twice. A rebound from the field, a tip-in, and a point ball to Reid from mid-range prevented the Celtics from overtaking the score.

At 2 minutes and 55 seconds into the third quarter, Francis' pass was hit by Reid and the ball was dead. The Celtics chose to make a substitution. Wang Zhizhi replaced PJ Brown, and Chris Anderson replaced Kevin Garnett. It was another double rotation. The Celtics' offensive assault team seemed to come a little early in the third quarter.

Wang Zhizhi's sudden appearance caused a commotion in the arena. Many Chinese fans who had been looking forward to this substitution raised placards to express support for the two players from China.

The game was being broadcast live thousands of miles away. The somewhat sleepy commentator who was originally commenting suddenly became energetic and said, "Oh, there's been a substitution. He's basically on the field! He's finally on the field. This Celtics coach Lai Ang didn't know what he was thinking. He didn't play a minute in the first half, but he probably gave it up just over two minutes into the second half. This game is great to watch. The duel between two Chinese insiders, look at this posture What if the two of them are going to face each other directly?"

As Wang Zhizhi came on the court, many people became excited, including Yao Ming, who stepped forward to give Wang Zhizhi a high-five and say hello.

But Wang Zhizhi himself seemed very bland. He didn't even accept Yao Ming's high-five. Instead, he walked up to him and bumped Yao Ming's body, saying that I will play against you next.

Yao Ming clearly felt Wang Zhizhi's desire to fight and his body was no longer so soft. After Yao Ming experienced the NBA's scientific strength training and his diligent efforts, his strength was completely different from that in the CBA, while Wang Zhizhi seemed to have stalled in terms of strength.

But this time Yao Ming could clearly feel that Wang Zhizhi's strength had made great progress. When he wanted to use his arms to drive away Wang Zhizhi, it was no longer that easy. Wang Zhizhi's arms, which originally had no muscle lines, are much stronger than before. This is inseparable from Dave Cowens' devilish basic training guidance.

The Rockets served out of bounds. The player who served noticed that Wang Zhizhi began to defend Yao Ming three-quarters of the way, giving Yao Ming almost no chance to catch the ball.

This defensive strategy quickly took effect. For two consecutive rounds, Yao Ming was unable to receive the ball from the outside, while the Celtics attacked normally. Wang Zhizhi also made a hit through cooperation with Arenas. With one mid-range shot, the situation suddenly turned against the Rockets.

When Francis finally passed Wang Zhizhi with a long lob, he lobbed the ball into the hands of Yao Ming. When Yao Ming received the ball and prepared to dunk hard, Chris Anderson fell from the sky like a big bird and slapped the ball away from Yao Ming. .

Wang Zhizhi and Anderson high-fived, and Van Gundy called a timeout.