Chapter 489

In the 2002-2003 season, the Hawks and Rockets played against each other for the second time and the last time this season.

The game between the Eagles and the Rockets is naturally the most concerned thing for Chinese fans, and the league has taken great pains to put the game between the Eagles and the Rockets on the first game day after the All-Star Weekend, and use it to play the game in the All-Star Weekend. Then consolidate the ratings in China.

This is the first time Liu Mang came to the Toyota Center in Houston after Yao Ming joined the NBA. Not to mention, because of Yao Ming's arrival, the deserted Toyota Center finally got a little angry, mainly because there are many Chinese faces. fans.

Before the game, Liu Mang and Yao Ming once again accepted an exclusive interview with the imperial court.

This year's All-Star Weekend, although Liu Mang also had All-Star Weekend interviews, but the entire team was not interviewed and publicized domestically like last year. This year's All-Star Weekend was praised by Yao Ming and the Rockets.

There are no too nutritious topics, very routine pre-match interviews, saying goodbye to domestic fans in their old age, wishing a happy Lantern Festival and other things.

Soon, the pre-match interviews were over, the pre-match activities were also over, and the Eagles' away game against the Rockets began immediately.

The big screen above the stadium showed the records of the two teams. The Eagles were 25 wins and 23 losses, and the Rockets were 28 wins and 22 losses. In terms of record, the Rockets have a clear advantage. They played two more games than the Eagles. One less loss.

However, such a record comparison shows that the Rockets have a guilty conscience and already need to use the record to boost their self-confidence.

There is no way, the Eagles have played a record of 20 wins and 5 losses in the past two months, which is simply brutal.

The Eagles continued to send out the starting lineup of Jason Terry, Prince, Raheem, Muhammad and Ratliff today.

The Rockets sent Francis, Mobley, James Posey, Eddie Griffin, Yao Ming.

Liu Mang continued to enjoy the feeling of being a substitute, watching Jason Terry fight Francis again.

This time, Jason Terry has enough fighting spirit to fight against Francis. There is no other reason, that is, this year's All-Star Weekend. Francis was selected for the All-Star Weekend, but Jason Terry was not. This gave Francis the fullest motivation.

The Rockets are under a lot of pressure now. They rank eighth in the Western Conference with a slight advantage, followed by the Suns with a record of 27 wins and 24 losses. This puts a lot of pressure on the Rockets players. Dare to lose.

The same is true for the Eagles, 25 wins and 23 losses, and they dare not lose more than one game.

After a lapse of a week, the regular season restarted, and the Eagles players were very excited, so the opening action before the game took a long time.

Mainly the home court of the Rockets, even if there are some Chinese fans, the scene is a bit lively, but the opponent is the Eagles, with the most popular Chinese players in the Eagles, Aiwujiwu, the Eagles players are quite popular in the Chinese circle Loved, so the Eagles players' pretentious opening actions received a lot of cheers. It is not so easy for the Eagles to have cheers in the away game, so the start took a long time.

With the referee urging the whistle, the two teams started to come to the field.

The referee blew the whistle to start the game and threw the ball into the air. Yao Ming relied on his height to win the jump ball, and the Rockets took the lead in attacking.

The two teams are fully prepared for this game, because the preparation time is long enough. From the end of the last game before the All-Star Weekend, the Eagles' coaching staff is preparing for the next six consecutive away. In the first game, in order to get a good start, the opponent of the Rockets is naturally the opponent that the Eagles focus on research.

Similarly, the Rockets also want to make a good start after the All-Star Weekend, so they will focus on how to play the game against the Eagles.

The Rockets made the first attack, and Francis decisively broke through the inside to cause damage. This is the key to victory studied by the Rockets coaching staff.

However, Mike Woodson, the assistant coach of the Eagles, has shown the precise judgment of a championship-level defensive assistant coach. He has already told Ratliff and Muhammad to pay attention. When the still-young young man enters the paint, it is Muhammad who blocks the defense. Muhammad is not afraid of fouls. Anyway, there is Boozer on the bench.

The Rockets' first move failed.

After playing for a few rounds, the Rockets came up with a second trick, using Yao Ming to hold Ratliff high!

Then, Ratliff used practical actions to teach Yao Ming to be a man. The thin Yao Ming was squeezed to death by Ratliff, and the strong physical confrontation taught Yao Ming how to fight inside.

Both of the two taken-for-granted advantageous styles of play failed to achieve anything.

On the Eagles side, the offensive end is not as fancy as the Rockets, it is Rahim who is born! Jason Terry's wave shot is that simple and rude.

They already have a strength advantage, so there is no need to do so many new tricks or new ideas on the offensive end. The offensive routines of a strong team with the goal of building a championship team are actually very simple, just keep their effective scoring methods. , mainly to defend against opponents.

The Eagles started off probably because they haven’t played a game for too long, and their outside shots were a bit tough, but they still played a very high-quality game. On the defensive end, the Eagles used some of the offensive routines that the Rockets coaching staff had been thinking about. The hard power was torn apart alive. After the first quarter, the Eagles had a 20-14 lead.

In order to let the starters who are not in good offensive form play a little longer, Liu Mang was not replaced until the second quarter.

After Liu Mang came up, it happened that Francis and James Posey were replaced for a few minutes to rest. These two are probably the best outside defense of the Rockets. They were not there. After Liu Mang came on the field, he brought Jason Terry , Barnes, Boozer, and Muhammad's lineup crushed the Rockets' second team. By the halfway point of the second quarter, the Eagles had a 35-20 lead by 15 points.

The key is not the 35 points the Hawks scored, but the Rockets played a quarter and a half and only scored 20 points.

In fact, most of the reasons are due to Liu Mang.

Why did coach Tomjanovich suddenly come up with some special tactics? Mainly because coach Tomjanovich's favorite Kings just lost this year. Why did the Kings lose? It is because their coach Adelman and Peja quarreled. Why did Peja and Adelman quarrel? Adelman was in a bad mood because he lost in the All-Star game when he was coaching and was ravaged by play. Peja felt that he was the strongest player in the Kings, but he did not have the status of the boss in the team. So much so that on the All-Star stage, he has no status at all, and his opponents and teammates don't even consider his ideas. On the night of the All-Star Weekend, he quarreled with the somewhat depressed Adelman, and the team atmosphere was very awkward.

And why Adelman was ravaged during the All-Star Weekend, and why did Peja feel that he has no status?

It's all because of the magical tactics of the Eastern Army's last attack, that is, because of Liu Mang.

Therefore, the Rockets only scored 20 points in one and a half quarters, all due to Liu Mang.

Coach Tomjanovich found out that doing special things is useless! It's better to play hard and play those fancy things, but lose what you are good at.

After returning from the official timeout of the second quarter, the Rockets played a wave of good offense, but the Eagles relied on the first half of the quarter to find the feeling, and their state has improved. Although the Rockets found the feeling, they are still not the Eagles. opponent.

Did not give the Rockets too many opportunities, the Rockets themselves wasted the opportunity for the Eagles to feel bad at the start. That was their only chance of the game, and a miss is a miss.

Liu Mang has been excited for the past few days. All the tasks of the All-Star Weekend have been completed, so he is very excited recently.

After playing in the second quarter, he switched back and forth between scoring and passing. He scored 11 points and 4 assists in a single quarter, leading the Eagles to a score of 29 to 20. After halftime, the Eagles led 49 to 34 by 16 points and entered the second half.

After the start of the second half, Liu Mang devoted himself to shooting and scored 18 points in a single quarter. With the Eagles getting better and better, after three quarters, the Eagles opened up the 22-point gap to 77-57 with 20 points. Taking the lead, the Hawks' main players clocked out of work in three quarters, leaving only Jason Terry playing the fourth quarter with the second team.

The Rockets are actually not that bad, the main reason is that they are not good at flamboyant operations, but they insisted on a wave of operations at the beginning, which is good, and they played themselves off.

In the end, with Liu Mang scoring 29 points and 5 assists, Raheem 17 points and 22 bosses, Jason Terry 14 points, 4 rebounds and 7 assists, the Eagles beat the Rockets 109 to 95 and won the All-Star Weekend. A good start to consecutive away games.

As a domestic player, Liu Mang proved his ability as a world-class point guard in this domestic match broadcast live on Imperial TV, giving domestic fans endless hope.

After playing the Rockets, the Eagles left Houston that night and came to Los Angeles to rest for a day. They will soon usher in a cruel five-day four-game match. The opponent in the first game is the Lakers!