In the first half of the third quarter, James Harden seemed to be cheating, playing smoother and smoother on the court. Whether he was breaking through or shooting three-pointers, his touch was very hot.
The Houston Rockets also noticed his situation. Under the arrangement of head coach Bickerstaff, the Rockets' ball rights were quickly concentrated on Harden.
Therefore, under Harden's wonderful performance, the score of the Minnesota Timberwolves gradually opened up, and the two sides gradually moved from single digits to double digits.
With 5 minutes and 39 seconds left in the third quarter, the Timberwolves were already 14 points ahead by the Rockets.
Such a huge score gap also made Zhao Feiyang, who was resting on the sidelines, finally unable to sit still.
"Coach Norman, I want to go up!"
Zhao Feiyang took the initiative to apply to play.
Coach Norman Thomas stopped him, looking confident, "Don't worry, wait a moment..."
"Why? There isn't much time left in the third quarter now... If we go up too late, what if the score is too wide?"
"Zhao, don't worry. The Rockets are simply not as powerful as us. Even if James played well in this game, they can't beat us..."
"What we have to do now is to continue to consume James. After his physical fitness has seriously declined, it will be your turn to lead the team to chase points..."
Zhao Feiyang didn't know whether Coach Norman's tactics would work, but since the head coach had arranged it, he could only stand on the sidelines and warm up while waiting for the call at any time.
As time passed by, the Timberwolves were stretched to 16 points. Martin, the team's most stable output, was temporarily muted. LaVine, who had made a wonderful breakthrough performance, was stared at by the opponent's defender Beverley.
Andrew Wiggins, who scored the most points on the front line, also fell into a scoring drought, and his shooting percentage dropped seriously.
On the other hand, for the Rockets, although the performance of other players was average, Harden always maintained stable output.
He will try his best to run and play almost every ball. Even if he cannot hold the ball to attack, he will find ways to help his teammates move.
This style of play really keeps the Rockets ahead.
call out.
When there were only 3 minutes and 11 seconds left in the third quarter, the Rockets finally called a timeout.
What is surprising is that the Rockets did not make any mistakes at this stage, but the opposing coach Bickerstaff still did this.
"Okay! Time's up!"
Head coach Norman finally got excited and said, "Zhao, wait a minute. I will let everyone else cooperate with you and try their best to play. Do you understand? It's up to you whether you can recover the score... I believe in you. ....."
Zhao Feiyang nodded excitedly.
At the same time, in the Rockets' team bench, Harden, who had just come off the court, didn't even have the intention to speak, so he sat down on the team bench chair.
His sweat had already soaked his jersey, and his forehead was stained with sweat. A teammate brought a towel, and Harden wiped it for a while. After wiping it, he took the sports drink handed to him by his teammate and drank it in one gulp.
As if one drink was not enough, he took the initiative to ask for another drink.
After his teammates brought it again, Harden drank it all in one gulp. After drinking, he leaned on the chair and panted with a tired look on his face.
Head coach Bickerstaff noticed this situation and specifically called a timeout. He took every moment to let Harden rest, and then gathered other players in front of Harden to start arranging tactics.
call out.
The referee whistle sounded.
When players from both sides appeared again, the Rockets were surprised to find that the Timberwolves' lineup had changed.
Dwight Howard, who had been taking frequent breaks inside, made his appearance again. He played a lot of time, but with Adrian Ennis and Gorgui Dieng replacing him, he still retained a certain amount of energy.
Kevin Martin and Zach LaVine on the outside were replaced, Ricky Rubio went to the first position to organize the team's offense, and Zhao Feiyang continued to play his second position.
After resting for enough time, Zhao Feiyang's physical strength was quite abundant at this time.
Because of this, when he walked onto the court, not only the Rockets players felt threatened, but even the Rockets fans watching the game couldn't help but scream.
"Oh! No!"
"We are finished now...I thought Zhao was injured just now, but now it seems that this is completely the tactics of the Timberwolves..."
"I hope James can withstand the pressure! But he is too tired. I can feel his fatigue on the court..."
Harden couldn't help but sigh after seeing the energetic Zhao Feiyang on the court. Although the head coach Bickerstaff on the sidelines motioned for Beverley to come up and guard Zhao Feiyang, Harden still waved his hand and rejected the opponent's kindness.
call out.
The game continues.
The Timberwolves serve and Rubio attacks with the ball.
After several rotations, although Beverley took a lot of rest, he was too focused on defense and had a lot of physical confrontations, which really consumed a lot of energy.
Therefore, when marking Rubio, Beverley can only reduce the previous oppressive defense and slow down to restore his condition.
When the ball passed halftime, Rubio did not look at Zhao Feiyang, but instead organized his teammates to run on the court in a decent manner.
Zhao Feiyang did not go up to respond, but stood outside the left three-point line and looked like he was waiting.
One second, Harden thought that Zhao Feiyang and Rubio were not going to deal with each other, but the next second, he saw Zhao Feiyang speeding up from the bottom corner to the right corner. Rubio didn't hesitate at all and made a direct shot. The quick pass was thrown into Zhao Feiyang's hands.
After getting the basketball, Zhao Feiyang held the basketball high and shot a three-pointer from the bottom corner.
Harden tried his best to rush forward, but unfortunately he was still a step too late. He could only watch Zhao Feiyang throw the ball into the basket.
"nice shot!"
There was applause from the Timberwolves bench.
It was the Rockets' turn to fight back.
Harden didn't have the energy to dribble the ball, so he asked Beverley to go over and organize the offense. By the time he reached the half court, the ball had been transferred twice. His teammates had relied too much on Harden's performance, causing them to feel very bad.
Snapped.
The ball returned to Beverley again.
Seeing that others didn't dare to hit, Harden could only take the initiative to catch the ball. Tired, he suddenly pushed Zhao Feiyang away, and the next second he stepped forward to respond.
However, the moment Beverley threw the basketball, Zhao Feiyang behind Harden suddenly started.
The two were in completely different physical conditions at this time. Therefore, before Harden could reach out to touch the basketball, Zhao Feiyang rushed forward and intercepted it with a slap.
Snapped.
The scene was filled with exclamations of surprise.
After Zhao Feiyang stole the ball, he took the ball and ran towards the half court. He was extremely fast and smoothly rushed to the Rockets' basket in the blink of an eye.
He could have dunked instead of dunking this time.
In order not to waste his energy, he first glanced behind him and found that no one was catching up. He made a three-step layup and easily put the ball into the basket.
Uh-huh.
The ball went in.
