Legendary basketball manager

Chapter 689 Christmas War, Rockets vs Heat!

The comment area is almost full of praise for the Rockets.

Who still remembers that a month ago, many of them underestimated the Rockets and felt that the Rockets were no longer what they were before.

The well-known ESPN commentator-A-Smith also praised the Rockets' performance in a ball commentary program:

"This is definitely the most improved team I've ever seen!"

"If we say that the rise of the Rockets last season was due to the fact that many powerful veterans rejuvenated their careers. They overcame injuries and played their former style."

"Then this year's rocket is a group of hopeful stars, constantly shocking the world amid doubts!"

"Curry, this small guard who looks 'weak' in the NBA, is one of the most explosive scorers now!"

"Kawhi Leonard, the first-year rookie who never has an expression, started on the defensive end, and now he is also beginning to show influence on the offensive end."

"And Yao Ming, as the big brother of the Rockets, obviously intends to delegate power this season. I guess, he will be more Buddhist in the regular season, and will show his fangs in key games or playoffs, allowing people to see the No. [-] player again. The strength of the center forward!"

"All in all... this Rockets team is definitely one of the most anticipated teams this year! Anyone who underestimates them will pay the price!"

............

Internet public opinion is rampant.

Even NBA players are affected.

For example, the Rockets as the imaginary enemy - the Miami Heat!

The Heat are off to a strong start this year.

After the start of the game, they won eight consecutive victories, and the momentum was like a rainbow.

Until now, the Heat are still firmly at the top of the league.

But after seeing the defeat of the Lakers, the Big Three headed by James also felt a sense of crisis!

After a video analysis meeting within the Heat, the Big Three and Spoelstra remained in the conference room, continuing to discuss the team's future.

"Coach, the Rockets are still the same as last season, with a bottomless bench. In the starting lineup, the firepower of Curry and Jeremy Lin is no worse than last year's Tracy McGrady."

"If we meet them again, it will still be difficult for us to fight."

Wade spoke first.

James and Howard nodded silently when they heard the words.

This year is crucial for the Heat's Big Three!

If they can't win the championship again, they will definitely disintegrate.

In other words, this season is the last chance for the Big Three.

If you don't succeed, you will become benevolent!

They naturally want to maximize the odds of winning as much as possible.

"It's impossible to compete with the Rockets for the depth of the bench."

"They have Shen Fei, and there is a high probability that they can select strong rookies every year. Moreover, the Rockets are very good at cultivating rookies. No team can continuously produce highly competitive players like them."

"If we want to beat the Rockets, we can only play a short rotation to ensure that the players on the court can match the intensity."

Sipo thought for a moment and gave his own opinion.

"You mean, how many of us spend more time?"

"Dwight and I are definitely fine. Dwayne has a knee injury and can't play every game for a long time, but the key games should be ok."

"But we already had a short rotation in the finals last season, and the effect was mediocre."

James said helplessly.

"That's just one, and it's the foundation of our game against the Rockets."

"Wade will then carry out strict load management and try to ensure that he is in the best condition after the start of the playoffs."

Spoel explained.

Wade nodded.

He has passed the age of pursuing statistics and pursuing personal honor.

Today's Flash only wants to win a few more championships.Proper rest in the regular season is definitely good for him.

"Next to the second point, I also found out after studying the two games of the Lakers and Rockets this season..."

"The Rockets' two starting guards are both offensively strong and defensively weak players. We must make good use of this and keep targeting them on the offensive end."

Spo continued.

"The Lakers were able to beat the Rockets in the first game. This tactic played a big role."

Howard commented

After being "shaved bald" by the Rockets in the Finals last season, Warcraft knew the shame and was brave, training hard all summer.

This season, he even developed the habit of studying videos whenever he has free time.

It can be said that Howard no longer has the feeling of "happy beast".

He just wants to play hard, beat the Rockets, and get that damn championship!

"Well, that's true."

"In the Christmas game in half a month, we will play against the Rockets."

"At that time, LeBron and Dwayne." Spoelstrom looked around the two and said seriously: "Whether you two are facing off against Curry or Jeremy Lin, you must resolutely start singles."

"Even if there is no chance, we must create an opportunity to name Curry and Jeremy Lin!"

Spo asked.

"Okay, I understand."

James said lightly.

Wade nodded too.

For the two stars who are good at breakthroughs, playing two small guards alone is an easy task.

The only and biggest difficulty in this matter is... how to create opportunities to single Curry and Jeremy Lin?

But that's something coaches need to think about.

The two of James and Way just need to make sure to score the ball or cause damage when the opportunity arises.

............

Time flies, and it is the end of December in a blink of an eye.

On this day, the Christmas war came as scheduled.

As the focus of this year's Christmas game - the game between the Rockets and the Heat, it naturally attracted the attention of basketball fans all over the world.

The game was broadcast live on multiple TV stations across the United States at the same time.

The tickets for the scene were sold out as early as a month ago.

At present, the scalper ticket has been fired to an unimaginable price.

Fanatical fans are even willing to pay a hundred times the price to buy a ticket to enter the Toyota Center to watch the game.

When Shen Fei walked into the arena holding Ajiali's little hand, the scene was already a sea of ​​red.

The Rockets fans wore uniform jerseys with various banners and slogans, obviously making sufficient preparations for tonight's game.

"Look, this is the country I laid down for you."

Shen Fei was in a good mood, and joked with Ajiali.

Ajiali's bright eyes flowed, and she smiled sweetly.

"The recent record of the Kings is very good. It is different after changing to a powerful general manager."

Shen Fei continued to laugh.

"Thank you for the compliment~"

"But to be honest, it was the joining of Roy and Lowry that made the Kings undergo a qualitative change."

"Butler and Thomas Jr. also performed very well. If Leonard and Thompson of your team were not too perverted, both of them would have a chance to compete for the best rookie."

"As the general manager, I just did everything you asked me to do."

Ajali said modestly.

"It's amazing to be able to do everything I said."

"Roy and Lowry can adapt so quickly, your coaching staff must have put in a lot of effort."

"Butler's 'development' is much faster than I expected, and your training methods are very good."

Shen Fei praised in a serious tone.

You know, in the original time and space, Jimmy Butler was a substitute at the end of the Bulls' bench for two years, and only became a stable starter in the third year.

And now the Kings, although Butler has not been given a starting position, but his playing time has been longer than the starting Battier.

Butler's performance did not live up to the hopes of the coaching staff.

In an average of about 30 minutes per game, Butler can get 10.2 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.3 assists.

In addition, jb also gave the Kings a lot of help on the defensive end.

Today, basically the arrow players on the opponent's outside line are all defended by Butler.

Simply put, Butler is like a weakened version of Leonard, who has already emerged on the team.

"Fei, I plan to mention Butler to the starting lineup after a while, what do you think?"

Ajiali asked.

"It's absolutely fine. Battier is a very professional player. As long as the team needs him, he will definitely accept the coach's arrangement."

"Look at our team's George, now calmly in front of the sixth man, waiting for his time."

Shen Fei said lightly.

Ajiali smiled and shook her head when she heard the words:

"This is the Rockets. How dare other teams treat a super rookie like George like this..."

"A potential winger who was selected for the defensive first team in the first grade and has good offensive ability, you put him on the bench just like that."

"It's too extravagant, too enviable..."

After hearing this, Shen Fei smiled and said nothing, and turned his gaze to the court below.

............

At this moment, players from both sides are doing their final warm-up.

Soon, the referee took the ball and walked to the center of the field.

The starting players of the two teams took off their sports jackets one after another, came to the middle circle, and prepared to kick off.

The Heat's starting five are: Chalmers, Wade, Ray Allen, James and Howard.

The Rockets sent: Curry, Jeremy Lin, Leonard, Yi Jianlian and Yao Ming.

The Heat basically maintained the starting lineup of last season's finals, while the Rockets changed two generals.

Because it was Christmas, players from both teams greeted each other before the game started.

This also added a bit of warmth and relaxation to the originally tense game atmosphere.

............

With the referee throwing the ball high, the game officially begins!

Yao Ming and Howard took off at the same time.

Warcraft, which bounced faster, took the lead and returned the ball to its own half.

The Heat go first.

At this time, the fans shouted in unison:

"defense!!!"

"defense!!!"

"defense!!!"

......

Yes, the fans' emotions were at their peak as soon as the game started.

The Heat players launched their first attack amidst the shouts!

In the first round, James fell to the low post and asked for the ball.

Leonard was behind him, trying to get in position.

Just when Chalmers passed the ball to James, Kaka suddenly stepped forward and came to James.

Old Zhan was shocked.

If the first attack is intercepted so easily, it will definitely be a serious blow to the morale of the Heat.

In the blink of an eye, James kicked his feet on the ground and lunged forward, daring to hold the ball in his arms before Leonard touched the basketball.

But then, James also lost his center of gravity and fell to the ground.

Leonard was expressionless, and immediately bent down to grab the ball.

His two big hands, like a pair of suction cups, are firmly attached to the basketball.

Fortunately, James was born with supernatural power and held the ball tightly in his arms.

If it were a thinner guard, Leonard would have already snatched the ball by now!

"Beep!"

The whistle sounded, and the referee stretched out his thumbs with both hands, and lifted them up to the sky—scramble for the ball!

James sat up from the floor helplessly, and said to Chalmers who came to pull him: "This guy moves very fast, you must be careful when passing the ball."

Chalmers nodded, he was indeed careless just now.

Then, James and Leonard walked to the free throw line.

The referee threw the ball up again.

And this time it was still the Heat that won the scrimmage.

James waved his hand and gave the racket to Wade.

The Flash wanted to hit the Rockets, but he couldn't get a firm foothold, so he immediately started after receiving the ball and rushed to the penalty area.

Jeremy Lin on the side hurried forward to block.

But Wade took three steps directly, and bypassed the ball over Jeremy's head while walking!

This is also one of Wade's signature moves.

But after passing Shuhao, Wade ushered in Yi Jianlian's defense again.

Wade did not go hard, but slightly retracted his stomach in the air, avoided the block of the United Arab Emirates, and completed the shot on the other side of the basket...

hit!

2:0, the Heat took the lead!

Offensive and defensive transition, Curry held the ball through the half court and came to the top of the arc to organize.

The Rockets' first attack was still initiated by Yao Ming.

He received a pass from Curry and began to back Howard.

The Heat did not double-team Yao Ming, but let Warcraft defend alone.

Seeing this, Dayao held high and hit high, turned back and scored two points for the Rockets.

2: 2!

Howard caught the basketball falling from the net, immediately ran beyond the baseline, and sent the ball quickly.

After James got the ball, he quickly advanced and went straight to the Rockets' hinterland.

Leonard hurried forward, trying to stop Lao Zhan.

But LeBron, who rushed up, was unstoppable.

He didn't make any extra moves, but continued to accelerate, using his speed to get rid of Kaka.

Afterwards, James took a big stride, rushed to the Rockets penalty area, took off with one foot, and ruled the world!

"bang!"

He used a powerful one-handed snap button, which made the originally noisy Toyota Center quiet down in an instant.

After the ball was scored, James excitedly hammered his chest.

What he is excited about is not only the completion of the dunk, but also the success of the tactics!

In the combat meeting before the game, one of the strategies proposed by Heat coach Spoelstra was-speed up!

As long as Yao Ming is on the court, he must play fast to magnify Yao Ming's shortcoming of slow movement.

This shot was played because Yao Ming couldn't back out of the protective frame in time!

It is worth mentioning that after James completed the dunk, Kaka silently raised his right hand, indicating that the ball was his problem.

............

The game continues.

Curry held the ball and launched a pick-and-roll tactic at the top of the arc.

Wade and Howard suddenly exerted strength, squeezed through the screen, and rushed towards Curry.

Fortunately, Rockets No. 30 seems to have expected the Heat's high-level attack.

When the two of Weejo rushed to him, Curry passed the ball behind his back, and passed the ball freely to Yao Ming who came down after the pick-and-roll.

The little giant took a step in, then raised the ball with one hand, took three steps, and went straight to the basket!