When McHale called a timeout, he didn't expect that Stotts would change the previous rotation order, nor did he expect that Lillard and Barton would break out.
Looking at the panting Harden, he was really exhausted on the defensive end.
With a wave of his hand, McHale decided to replace Harden and use new aid Shaun Livingston.
Livingston was a little nervous. He didn't expect that his playing order would be so high. He lowered his head and kept adjusting his shoelaces.
The timeout ended quickly, and Livingston took a deep breath and walked onto the court.
Jeremy Lin was keenly aware of something. A second before Livingston walked onto the court, he patted his back and whispered:
"Don't be nervous, just hit him like you hit me in a training match."
This sentence instantly amused Livingston. Yes, at that time, he was still fighting for a contract. Why did he start worrying about gains and losses after signing the contract?
Livingston felt relaxed all over and stepped onto the court again, feeling more determined.
The Rockets sent a baseline kick, and Motel passed it to Livingston. As he ran forward, he said next to Livingston:
"It's all on you."
His teammates are all encouraging him, so how can he let them down?
Livingston felt that he was full of power and couldn't wait to let it out on the court.
He dribbled the ball across half court and passed it to Motiejunas at the top of the key.
Motiejunas understood it clearly. After receiving the ball, he observed Livingston's running route and saw Livingston cutting inside, giving him an advance.
Livingston caught the ball and scored with an easy layup, 43:37.
The standard "give and go", Livingston scored his first point after returning, and everyone on the bench stood up and applauded.
When the Trail Blazers attacked, Lillard once again chose to play singles at the top of the arc, dribbled continuously to open up a certain amount of space, and then shot.
Livingston stretched out his long arm to interfere, and Lillard panicked. The opponent seemed to be able to block his shot, so he quickly raised the arc in the air and threw the ball.
The arc projection was temporarily adjusted, but there was a problem with accuracy. The trajectory was very positive, but the power was not enough.
The basketball hit the edge of the rim and popped out. Butler collected the rebound and passed a long pass to Livingston who was about to go down. The latter caught the ball and dunked the ball with both hands.
45:37.
Lillard is very uncomfortable and has never seen such a defender in his career.
He is 15 centimeters taller than himself, has a pair of long arms, and his movements are not slow, which makes Lillard's dribbling movements seem meaningless.
There was originally enough space to take action, but it seemed to be stretched when facing Livingston.
Lillard quickly realized that facing Livingston's defense, it was difficult to guarantee a hit rate by shooting after singles.
Then he changed his style of play. Through the change of rhythm and excellent explosive power, he attacked Livingston alive and went inside. However, at the moment when the ball was combined, Butler, who was assisted by the weak side, swiped the defense and knocked the ball away.
After Butler completed the steal, he hit the ground and passed the ball again to find Livingston running forward.
This time, the Trail Blazers' Barton returned to defense in time and blocked Livingston.
Livingston held the ball on a fast break. Facing Patton who kept retreating, he chose a mid-range emergency stop jumper from the free throw line to complete the game.
"Uh-huh!"
The basketball hit the net hollowly and made a crisp sound. At 47:37, the point difference returned to double digits.
Barton froze in place and didn't even interfere.
I was very puzzled, what kind of fast-break style is this? Nowadays, the counterattack either chooses a layup or a chasing three-pointer. How many people will choose the inefficient method of mid-range pull-up jump shot?
What is the tall and thin man in front of me thinking?
Lillard missed two attacks. This time he changed his method again. Through pick-and-roll cooperation, he successfully got rid of Livingston's defense. He seized the vacuum area of the Rockets' pick-and-roll defense and scored the ball with a mid-range jumper.
47:39.
The Rockets attacked, and this time Butler had the ball. Livingston came to the low post, firmly suppressing Lillard behind him, holding the position and asking for the ball.
Butler was very generous and didn't waste a second to hang it with Livingston.
After Livingston caught the ball, he used his back to sense Lillard's defensive position, then pushed forward twice, felt that Lillard was pushed away for a distance, and then turned over and shot a straight-arm jumper.
"Uh-huh!"
Another solid hit, 49:39.
Lillard spread his hands and signaled to his teammates.
How can I defend this ball?
He is so much taller than me and he hits me with his back. He hits me with his back. He even turns over and shoots a jump shot like Aldridge!
I could only hit his knee when I jumped up!
Seeing this, Stotts could only call a timeout again, wondering when the Rockets would sign such a secret weapon again.
There was nothing he could do. The Rockets were obviously trying to catch the mismatch, but with Livingston's style of play, it seemed like everyone was out of position!
He can only hope for a timeout to cool down his touch.
After the timeout, Stotts returned to the main lineup. At the same time, Barton, who had performed well, was replaced, and Lillard, who was beaten a little, was allowed to adjust on the bench.
The Rockets also got back Asik, Ariza and Parsons, plus Livingston and Butler who performed well.
The lineup on the field is a bit strange. Except for Asik, who is 2.13, the other four are all over two meters tall and have both movement speed, defense switching ability, breakthrough and shooting.
This fits Pat Riley’s vision of modern basketball.
Unknowingly, Xu Xin has formed the prototype of a superior forward lineup. In the future, with the addition of Garnett, Tucker and others, the Rockets' forward line will be a nightmare for all teams in the league.
On the court, Aldridge continued to score points through his personal abilities.
Sure enough, Ade, who no longer insists on dribbling multiple times to advance to the inside and score easily, is still a presence that the Rockets cannot guard against.
But those scores were also what McHale expected.
McHale's arrangement before the game was to resolutely not give other Blazers players the chance to shoot open shots. As long as others don't shoot, the Blazers can't take away the game with Aldridge alone.
This is indeed the case. As much as Aldridge plays happily on the offensive end, he struggles on the defensive end.
Facing the Rockets' offensive positioning of one inside and four outside, and the offensive option of combining sudden shots, Aldridge, who is guarding the bottom line, needs to constantly move back and forth between the penalty area and the three-point line.
This caused Aldridge's physical strength to decline rapidly, and his offensive finishing efficiency also began to decline.
Coach Stotts has never thought about using zone defense to reduce Ade's defensive pressure, but the Rockets' three-pointers are too accurate.
Ariza and Parsons consecutively hit 45-degree shots from beyond the three-point line. This caused the Blazers' zone defense to collapse before they could stand upright for a round, and they were forced to switch to man-to-man defense again.
With the return of Harden and Jeremy Lin, the Rockets' offense has become more three-dimensional and their coordination has become more proficient, making the Blazers unable to compete.
At halftime, the score reached 76:50. The Trail Blazers actually allowed the Rockets to score 40 points in this quarter!
