NBA peak Jordan template

Chapter 125 The second round against the Rockets!
If you can't have red eyes when you meet again, you will definitely be red in the face.

When D'Antoni and Walton met again at the pre-match press conference, the gray-haired head coach who single-handedly led the Suns to lead the small ball craze couldn't think of any kind words at all.

He spat into the microphone excitedly, looking like he was going to risk his coaching career.

"We lost 1 time, 2 times, 3 times, but we are more united in the playoffs. It is more like a team. Next, we will win 4 games in a row to advance to the next round."

Facing other teams, D'Antoni still has the idea of ​​maintaining demeanor and reason, but for the Lakers, he knows how to preemptively strike.

The boy Zheng Long repeatedly uttered nonsense after winning the Rockets. The so-called star is not right and the coach is crooked, and the old boy Wharton is always rude at the press conference.

Now that Wharton is ready to "open his mouth", my old man will speak back first.

And when he heard D'Antoni's words, Wharton's stomach was full-fuck you, old man!You want to win four games in a row 4-0, who gave you the courage!
However, before it was his turn to accept the interview, Wharton could only continue to listen to D'Antoni's insinuations on the stage with a dark face.

"Perseverance is the spirit of the Rockets."

D'Antoni's courage comes from the performance of the Rockets in the first round. In the game against the Clippers, the Rockets players played a wonderful performance. The head star Harden is almost omnipotent, and they easily won the Clippers.

Although they were "triple-killed" by the Lakers in the regular season, the Rockets did not suffer from "lake phobia". On the contrary, they became more and more frustrated.

The team is unanimous, eager to complete the "revenge" this season.

Just like the thought before the third game of the regular season - as long as you win this game, the previous losses can be ignored!

When it was Walton's turn to be interviewed, he did not make a long speech to "quarrel" with D'Antoni as assistant coach Brian Shaw or other media imagined.

He only used one sentence.

"About this round of the series, I don't have anything to say. Maybe... if you encounter the Clippers, there may be a little more trouble."

After speaking, call it a day and end the interview.

When Wharton walked off the stage with a calm expression and walked out of the interview scene with his head held high, the media only reacted.

What does Wharton mean by this? If D'Antoni is just arrogant, then Wharton has completely ignored D'Antoni.

The media were in an uproar.

D'Antoni gritted his teeth in anger. He still underestimated Wharton's attack power. Originally, he had already put on the "vine armor" for himself in advance, but he didn't expect Wharton to use "fire attack" directly.

Now his pre-match speeches have all become bullshit, and he was firmly pressed to the ground by Wharton.

"He will cry to find his mother immediately after the game!"

D'Antoni clenched his fists and watched Wharton's back as he left.

After the complicated pre-match admission ceremony, G1 officially started.

In the fourth match between the two sides, D'Antoni finally came up with something new. The return of Beverly brought Gordon to the position of the Rockets' sixth man.

The Rockets started, Beverly, Harden, Ariza, Anderson, Capela.

On the Lakers side, the fans have long been waiting for the Lakers to start the Five Tigers. When Zheng Long returned to the court wearing the No. 23 jersey, the fans applauded wildly.

For the fans, the biggest significance of this game is that Zheng Long is back!
When the referee organized the jump ball, Zheng Long felt the hostility in Beverly's eyes. The "mad dog" who wanted to abolish himself in the opener but caused a backlash no longer hid his eyes after his return. Hate for Zheng Long.

Although Morey is gone, Beverly is more like Morey's stand-in.

Zheng Long doesn't know if Beverly will make some small moves today, but it doesn't matter, there are many people who hate him.

The Lakers got the chance to attack in the first round.

Zheng Long passed halfway with the ball, and a black shadow blocked Zheng Long's way.

"The Rockets really chose to let Beverly defend Zheng Long."

"In the first round of the Rockets' game, Beverley performed exceptionally well in the restriction of Chris Paul."

"This is why Beverly was entrusted with important tasks by D'Antoni."

"After returning from injury, Beverly's defensive ability is still top-notch among defenders in the league!"

Zheng Long no longer has the idea of ​​"playing with dogs".

As the first goal of the return game.

Zheng Long just wanted to test whether he had recovered to 100% state.

But Beverly hopes to catch up with Zheng Long.

"Boy, long time no see."

"roll."

"When I first met you, you were still a rookie, but now you're an all-star, tsk tsk tsk."

"."

Zheng Long has already begun to suspect that Beverly didn't have a broken leg at the time, but something wrong with his brain—he was getting more and more crazy!

The big disguise in front of the body, the basketball is switched from the front to the other hand, directly shaking Beverly away, stepping up to speed up!
The breakthrough came suddenly.

It was so fast that Beverly didn't react at all.

Although he has been talking with Zheng Long, he remains highly focused.

He is just "crazy", not "stupid". He understands that the reason why he can be started by D'Antoni is to limit Zheng Long.

But now, he can only watch Zheng Long break through and enter the Rockets penalty area, and step on the free throw line to complete a clean emergency stop jumper.

Without any accidents, the Lakers went into the net hollowly, and the Lakers 2-0 the Rockets!

"In Zheng Long's breakthrough shot, you can't see a single extra movement. He used his iconic movement to complete the first point of his comeback!"

The Lakers' home commentator had a happy smile on his face, and this expression appeared on the faces of every fan in the Staples Arena.

If the fans were still worried before the start of the game, then at this moment, everything disappeared.

After scoring the goal, Zheng Long also celebrated with high-fives with his teammates when he returned to the defense. Usually he would not be so early, but the significance of this goal is indeed special.

What the Rockets didn't realize was that the storm would hit the arena before the clouds appeared.

In the first quarter of the game, Zheng Long completely turned on the full-fire mode.

Within five seconds of receiving the ball in the frontcourt, Zheng Long will complete the handling of the ball, turn around, make a fallback jumper, and step back to make a shot.

In front of Zheng Long, Beverly seemed to be a machine that had been in disrepair for a long time. He couldn't keep up with Zheng Long's movements at all.

Even sometimes after Zheng Long made a shot, Beverly didn't have time to take off and interfere.

And the Rockets' zone defense has become useless in front of Zheng Long.

Zheng Long would not even give the Rockets players a chance to foul, and before they touched him, he threw the basketball out.

And the basketball will always be as stable as an old dog, drilling hollow into the Nets.

"Crazy, Zheng Long is completely crazy."

"With 2 minutes left in the first quarter, the Lakers are 20 to 13 and have already taken a 7-point lead!"

"Zheng Long has digested every possession of the Lakers so far!"

"10 out of 10 shots, 100% shooting rate swept all the current points of the Lakers!"

Even the Lakers fans were shocked by Zheng Long's incredible opening performance, even though they have witnessed too many Zheng Long's miraculous performances this season.

But 100% hit 20 points in the first quarter, what's the situation?
Now the Lakers are not playing the regular season, and they are not facing a cat or a dog, but a fire-they just easily won the Lakers' Los Angeles rival Clippers in the first round.

And now.

In front of the Lakers led by Zheng Long, the Rockets turned into a powerless fish at the beginning of the game.

The team members were also frightened by Zheng Long's performance. Jokic took the initiative to find Zheng Long and made an unreasonable request.

"Brother Long, tell me honestly, am I dreaming now?"

"Slap me quickly, and I'll see if it hurts."

"I suspect I should be in a dream the night before we play the Rockets right now."

Zheng Long: "."

The other Lakers players also couldn't believe it.

Zheng Long felt helpless.

"I just feel better when I come back today."

Butler swallowed his saliva, and said: "My hand feels good, it is 50.00% hit rate, your hand feels good, it is directly doubled on my basis."

All the teammates on the Lakers side are like this.

Naturally, the Rockets were also stunned. The bearded Harden almost knit his brows together. He stared at Zheng Long in the distance, doubting the reality of the world.

"How can anyone be so accurate as soon as they come up."

Beverley tried to shrink himself so that his teammates could not pay attention to him.

after all.

Zheng Long scored 100 points on 20% shooting in his own head.

D'Antoni clapped his hands and forcibly aroused the players' attention: "When I was the head coach of the Suns before, in training, Nash was even able to hit 100 three-pointers in a row."

"It can only be said that luck was on that kid's side in the first quarter."

"But he can't be accurate for the whole game, absolutely impossible."

When D'Antoni repeatedly emphasized "absolutely impossible", it gave people a feeling that he was not convincing others, but convincing himself.

The good news for the Rockets is that Zheng Long did not return to the court when the timeout in the first quarter ended.

In the past, he played the first quarter or even the entire game.

This is a friendly signal for the Rockets - Zheng Long, who has returned from injury, is not as inhuman as before.

Zheng Long's absence is the Rockets' best chance to chase points!

You must know that there are two super sixth men, Gordon and Louis Williams, in the Rockets' bench lineup. D'Antoni even kept Harden on the court.

I hope the Rockets can tie the game while Zheng Long is not on the court.

And they did.

When Zheng Long returned to the court 3 minutes into the second quarter, the Lakers scored 24 to 25, and the Rockets even led by 1 point.

This brought back the Rockets' confidence that was shattered by Zheng Long not long after the opening.

then.

In less than 5 minutes after Zheng Long re-appeared, their confidence that had been broken and repaired was shattered again.

"After Zheng Long received the pass from the wing, he turned around smartly, passed Beverly, and made a mid-range shot!"

"Oladipo passed the ball to Jokic, and Jokic handed it to Zheng Long behind him. Zheng Long chose to shoot directly. Hit again!"

"Facing Anderson, who came from a switch, Zheng Long dribbled the ball, bowed to Buddha and took a step back to take a two-point shot! Again!"

5分钟的时间里，郑龙再次交出了6中5的答卷，全场已经16中15，拿下30分！
If a stripper were to judge Zheng Long's performance at this time.

Will definitely say "Good job!"

Nice shot!
No free throws, no three-pointers, no layups, he seemed to be a ruthless shooting machine.

Repeatedly staged on the court, take off, raise your hand, bend, shoot, hit.

Relying on such an unpretentious but stunning shooting performance, Zheng Long helped the Lakers regain an 8-point lead.

At this time, there are still 4 minutes before the end of the first half.

D'Antoni knew that the team had to change its strategy to have a chance to recover the point difference in these 4 minutes.

otherwise.

They will be disqualified from competing for victory in this game before the game enters the second half.

"We must further speed up the round rhythm of the game!"

"More three-pointers, more breakthroughs, more free throws!"

"I can't let Zheng Long cast it so comfortably!"

This is a risky decision for the Rockets, because they don't know whether further acceleration of the pace will cause a complete collapse of the situation.

But the Rockets knew they were on the brink.

If you don't make any changes, you will be killed by Zheng Long's mid-range shot today!

When the Rockets returned to the court, they strictly implemented D'Antoni's arrangements and continued to speed up.

Quick free throws, advance with the ball, and Harden immediately chooses to break through or make a three-pointer or pass it to his teammates for a three-pointer.

It really worked.

Originally, the Rockets played "magic ball" and they just took it to the extreme.

They reduced the average round time by 12 seconds!
Complete an attack in half the round time.

The Lakers also unconsciously accelerated their offensive rhythm. The change of rhythm made the Lakers' offense less smooth.

In the last round of the second quarter, the Rockets attacked.

After receiving the serve, Beverley strode the ball to the frontcourt and passed it directly to Harden.

Harden holds the ball to face Oladipo.

In the first quarter of the game, Oladipo restricted Harden very well today. Zheng Long's guidance before the game made Harden not take much advantage of free throws.

The referees also seemed to be tired of Harden's frequent free throws in the regular season. The free throw whistle in this game was very conservative.

Harden was very smart. At the beginning of the second quarter, he no longer insisted on making free throws, but chose as many breakthroughs and three-pointers as possible.

He was already good at these -- and these were the foundations of his NBA standing before growing into a "penalty."

This also made Harden's offensive end in the second quarter continue to cause damage to the Lakers.

"Harden received a pass from Beverly, directly changed hands and shifted speeds, and faced Oladipo with a step back for a three-pointer and shot directly!"

"There it is again!"

"Two consecutive three-pointers! Harden! 8 points in a row!"

"At the end of the first half, the Rockets successfully narrowed the point difference to 4 points by virtue of a wave of 13 to 8 in the last 3 minutes!"

"Tough, the Rockets are too tenacious!"

(End of this chapter)