After Harden received the pass from the baseline, he did not carry the ball across the half court himself, but directly chose a long pass across the half court.
The ball flew toward the backcourt. The Thunder reacted at this moment and quickly chased the Rockets players in the backcourt.
The direction of the ball's flight is exactly where Ariza is.
Before the defender could catch up, Ariza had already received the ball, and he confidently took the shot.
After the ball was released, it fell steadily into the basket, and the Rockets' score followed this shot, catching up to only one point.
If the Thunder cannot respond on the next goal, then the situation they face will be very dangerous.
Ibaka received a pass from the referee at the bottom line and passed the ball to Lu Yaolai for organization.
Lu Yao waved to his teammates, indicating that he would come by himself.
The Thunder players naturally have a tacit understanding to open up space for Lu Yao. After all, now, they have and can only believe in Lu Yao's performance.
Lu Yao took the ball and slowly advanced towards the frontcourt. At this moment, Howard, who had been on the bench for half a quarter, was finally replaced and was once again assigned to defend Lu Yao.
This time, Howard's arrogance has obviously restrained a lot, and he was obviously shadowed by Lu Yao.
But Lu Yao can beat Howard once, and he can beat Howard a second time, and a third time. Even if Howard adjusts his condition, this cannot be changed.
Immediately, Lu Yao pretended to be facing Howard on the right, which also deceived the cumbersome Howard. The moment Howard's center of gravity moved to the right, Lu Yao suddenly made a sharp change of direction and attacked to the left. .
Lu Yao made a simple change of direction in front of his body, but it stunned Howard. He was caught off guard and could only let Lu Yao play with him.
After passing Howard, Lu Yao accelerated towards the inside and broke through. Ariza and Beverley, who were defending, were directly knocked away by Lu Yao. The sound of muscles clashing filled the air.
But the winner will definitely be Lu Yao.
After Lu Yao pushed away the two men, he broke into the paint and scored a layup, which looked extremely strong.
This layup also helped the Thunder open the score to three points, which was also a reassurance for the Thunder.
But Lu Yao's performance goes beyond that.
If we don't open up some scores in the second quarter, we will be caught up by the ferocious Rockets in the second half.
Although Lu Yao now has the offensive ability of a historical star, he cannot guarantee whether he has the physical strength to play the entire game.
After all, all the defensive pressure is now piled on him, which will make his offense more strenuous and consume his energy faster.
Therefore, Lu Yao must make a quick decision.
After the Rockets' attack hit the ground running, Lu Yao grabbed a defensive rebound inside. After looking around to make sure no one was attacking him, he landed the ball steadily.
Lu Yao dribbled the ball through half court and handed the ball to West for temporary organization. He used the pick-and-roll to cut into the baseline.
The Rockets defensive players kept chasing Lu Yao behind them, but now, all Thunder tactics revolve around Lu Yao, so when the Rockets defensive players chase Lu Yao, there are naturally many off-ball pick-and-rolls waiting for him.
This suggestion was naturally made by Lu Yao.
In recent years, teams in the league have gradually moved towards a small-ball style of play, so they must make some changes.
Off-ball movement and conduction, as well as some pick-and-rolls, prevent the Thunder from falling into a situation where they can only rely on Lu Yao and Dewey in singles.
The Thunder did not do very well in this aspect in the first quarter, but at the beginning of the second quarter, the Thunder took on a new look and made huge changes.
For Lu Yao, this undoubtedly relieved a lot of offensive pressure.
After Lu Yao got rid of Beverley behind him, he came to the three-point line on the wing, received a pass from Robertson, and decisively shot a three-pointer without any hesitation.
After the ball drew a beautiful arc in the air, it fell into the basket like a cannonball.
This goal was like a bomb that exploded in the minds of Rockets players.
Lu Yao's two goals directly helped the Thunder open a six-point lead. If this continues, the Rockets' goal will be completely unachievable.
The current situation is very serious for the Rockets.
If the first quarter is a reflection of the Thunder's personal heroism, then the second quarter is a reflection of the Thunder's spirit of unity and cooperation.
Everyone was willing to serve as Lu Yao's foil to help Lu Yao attack, and Lu Yao naturally lived up to expectations, scoring 5 points in a row and helping the Thunder establish some advantages.
The Rockets must destroy the Thunder's off-ball tactics, otherwise the end of victory will be farther and farther away from them.
At this moment, Harden stood up.
At the top of the arc, he faced Robertson's tight defense with ease, constantly using front body changes and dribbling under his hips to mobilize Robertson's center of gravity.
But obviously, after Robertson learned his lesson, he would not be fooled by Harden at all. Seeing that the attack time continued to pass, Harden was faced with whether to choose to pass the ball or directly take a three-pointer against Robertson.
Normal people would choose the first option, but as a league star and the boss of this team, Harden has absolute confidence in his own strength, so he will naturally choose the second option.
Then Harden showed his double step back, directly opening a lot of distance from Robertson.
After Robertson recovered from being shaken away, Harden had already shot a three-pointer without any hesitation!
The three-pointer was like a shooting star, falling directly into the net. With Harden's confident three-pointer, the Rockets closed the gap to only 3 points.
The Thunder believe that Lu Tao's personal ability can lead them to victory, but the Rockets also believe that Harden's personal ability will also lead them to victory.
In this game, everyone else is a foil to Lu Yao and Harden. Only the two of them are the protagonists of this drama.
Undoubtedly, the duel between the two in this game was shocking.
After Lu Yao faced Howard and hit a pull-up, Harden came to the wing and faced Robertson and forced a three-pointer. Not only did he cause a foul on the thug, he even hit a three-pointer.
A 3+1 goal directly helped the Rockets chase the score to just one point.
However, how could Lu Yao allow the Rockets to slowly tie the score like this?
Lu Yao broke into the paint and faced the joint defense of Yunus and Howard. He first deceived Yunus with a fake shot, and then directly faced the leaping Yunus for a layup.
The referee's whistle sounded. Although the ball hit the basket, Lu Yao still committed a foul and got two free throw opportunities.
Lu Yao stepped to the free throw line, and with the cheers of the fans in the audience, he made two free throws steadily.
