But the done deal cannot be changed, and Butler can only accept this fact and return to the bench.
Before that, Tucker was also sent off.
The strongest lineup the Rockets can currently field is Jeremy Lin, Ariza, Asik, Livingston, and Delfino.
Four of the nine players were sent off in rotation, which is quite explosive when looking at the entire history of the league.
Jeremy Lin took over the offensive banner, but his ability is still far behind Harden and Butler, and he cannot change the defense through his personal ability.
And Livingston, who has his own system, was also tightly guarded. Several of his mid-range shots were difficult, and his shooting percentage was naturally not guaranteed.
The Knicks, led by Anthony and Smith, scored consecutive points.
In the end, the Rockets lost the game 108:116.
"Ding, the game is lost, 25 points will be deducted, and the system has 800 remaining points."
Xu Xin smiled bitterly. Some games are just like this. This is beyond the control of the players.
But this kind of game is also part of basketball. All he can do is cheer up, regain his strength, and not be affected by the loss of this game.
The Rockets players hugged their opponents and hurriedly left the game and returned to the locker room.
Jeremy Lin is no longer in the mood to catch up with old friends. If he loses because his skills are inferior to others, he will not be depressed. He will just practice harder and improve himself.
But he really couldn't accept losing in such a frustrating way.
Xu Xin came to the locker room. The atmosphere was very dull. The players were downcast and depressed.
Xu Xin cleared his throat and said loudly:
"Tonight, I will work with the coaching staff to submit an appeal. At the same time, the team operations department will also edit the unreasonable penalties and post them on social media.
But in the press conference later, don’t complain about the penalty, I’m doing it for your own good. "
Harden, Butler and others looked at each other. They had prepared a draft and were waiting to criticize Foster. Why didn't Manager Xu let him speak?
"If you complain about referees in public, you will not only be fined, but it will also damage the image of the league. That is not a confrontation between us and Foster.
At that time, the league will probably do something perfunctory in order to maintain its image. This is not the result we want to see. "
Xu Xin explained.
When it comes to grasping people's hearts, Harden and Butler are too naive.
"I'll go for it later, I'll be sensible."
Jeremy Lin stood up and said.
Xu Xin nodded in approval.
Then he said:
"The result of this game is not important. In my heart, you have already won. When the rotation order and offensive rhythm were seriously disrupted, and you were 20 points behind at one point, you were able to catch up in the fourth quarter.
This shows that we now have strong combat effectiveness and resilience. You know, the Knicks are not a weak team. They are currently ranked fourth in the Eastern Conference.
I value the process more than winning or losing the game, so I am proud of you tonight.
This kind of outrageous penalty will not happen often, nor will it never happen. All we have to do is ignore it and look forward.
Everyone stand up and cheer up! "
Xu Xin inspired the whole team and stretched out his hand.
The players have long been accustomed to Xu Xin mixing with them in the locker room and taking on the role of leader.
They all stood up and folded their hands together.
"123, Go Rockets!"
Xu Xin shouted.
"123, Go Rockets!"
The players shouted in unison, venting all their frustrations tonight.
In the evening, a collection of Foster's missed calls came into public view.
Xu Xin had been looking forward to it for a long time and couldn't wait to click on the video when it was online.
In the video, almost the same defensive actions of the home and away teams are put together for comparison, which fully reflects Foster's bias.
When the camera showed O'Neal angrily yelling at Foster, Foster's expression was magnified, which made people laugh. It was so ironic.
The video quickly became a hot search topic, and both Chinese and American fans were paying attention.
Compared with the spectator mentality of most American fans, the Chinese fans were much more excited.
After all, since Yao Ming landed in Houston as the No. 1 pick in 2002, in the past ten years, the Rockets have become the home team in the minds of many Chinese fans.
Even though Yao Ming has retired and everything has changed, many fans are still holding on.
This year, with Xu Xin becoming the acting general manager of the Rockets, the Rockets have regained a Chinese element.
Coupled with the highlight performances of Harden, Butler and Jeremy Lin, the team's record has made amazing progress.
All these have allowed the Rockets to attract a new wave of fans.
At this time, the Rockets were treated like this, and the fans were naturally angry and started to curse.
"How can a person like this be a referee? He has no professional ethics at all. Such a person should be permanently revoked as a referee!"
"When I was watching the game, I felt something was wrong, but I couldn't explain why. When I saw the comparison in the video, I said, good guy!"
"The most embarrassing thing is that this game was obviously the first to be played, but the subsequent games were over and they were still playing!"
"Normally no one will be sent off in Rockets games. Today was good. Two sent off and two ejected. I think it is unnecessary. You can just give the Rockets a loss. Why bother racking your brains to think about how to call a foul? Woolen cloth?"
"I just looked at the technical statistics. The Rockets had 51 fouls and the Knicks had 30. The two teams added up to exactly 81 fouls. Foster was at the peak of his career as a referee. If you call a ball, rounding it off is equivalent to taking a true scripture. "
Chinese fans denounced Foster in the forum, but the league remained silent.
This is also in line with the consistent style of the league. In order to maintain the image of the league, under normal circumstances, referees will not be punished publicly.
But this does not mean that Xu Xin's approach is ineffective. He heard that Foster was warned by the league and fined 25,000.
Although Xu Xin was not very satisfied with this result, he still received some interest.
This controversy did not ferment for a few days. After all, there were games every day. Rockets fans were just angry for a moment. Losing would not have much impact on the Rockets' ranking.
After all, the season is still long, and the Rockets performed well enough in the first quarter of the schedule.
Ranking third in the Western Conference with 16 wins and 7 losses, only 2 games behind the Spurs, the first in the Western Conference, and 0.5 games behind the second-place Thunder.
Of course, the league's number one is still the defending champion Heat. They have achieved an impressive record of 22 wins and 2 losses in the first 24 games and have now won 16 consecutive games.
Xu Xin looked at the league rankings. Fortunately, he was satisfied with the Rockets' results. After all, in the first quarter of the game, Harden and Butler were in a wretched development stage for most of the games.
Now, the two have fully reached the level they will be four years later, which ensures that the Rockets' basic base is strong enough.
