Blake adjusted after catching the ball and shot a three-pointer.
"Bang!"
Strike the iron again.
Jordan Hill fought hard, but O'Neal Jr. was experienced and firmly stuck in his position, collecting the rebound again.
"The Lakers' bench is still far behind the Rockets."
Yang Yi said.
"If the Lakers want to go further in the playoffs, Kupchak needs to continue to trade and strengthen."
Yu Jia agreed very much.
The Rockets attacked, Harden dribbled to the top of the arc, O'Neal Jr. wanted to come up to cover, Harden waved his hand, "No, I will do it myself."
Lowering his center of gravity and moving his hips continuously in one direction, Meeks, who was guarding him, was eager to try, and he was intently preparing to strike first.
Harden smiled slightly, took a big step back, took a step to the right, and took a signature three-pointer!
Meeks jumped hard and even high-fived Harden in the air, but his body had lost his balance and violated Harden's cylinder, knocking Harden down.
"Shua!" "Beep!"
The ball goes in and the buzzer sounds, three plus one!
The audience burst into cheers, shouting MVP, and teammates ran over to high-five Harden in celebration.
Seeing that the situation was not right, D'Antoni quickly called for a timeout to adjust.
In fact, he had nothing to say. In the past few rounds, the Rockets took advantage of Blake's weakness and hit two, and Harden relied on his personal ability to make one.
For the Lakers, do Jamison and Blake have a bad chance? That's great, but there's nothing you can do about it if you can't make the shot.
D'Antoni encouraged the players, replaced Blake, and brought on small forward Ci Shiping. If Blake can't hit open three-pointers, it will just have a negative effect on the court.
If he replaces Ci Shiping, who is bigger and has better defensive ability, he should at least defend well first.
After the timeout, Harden stood on the free throw line and made the extra free throw.
36:28.
In the first two minutes, the Rockets launched an 8-0 spurt to open up the score.
Kobe came to the frontcourt with the ball and broke through to gain a half-length lead. Harden once again helped defend, leaving his opponent Ci Shiping behind. Seeing this, Kobe chose to fight hard on his own.
It's not that he doesn't pass the ball. Ci Shiping's three-point shooting percentage this season is less than 30%. It's better to believe in yourself when you shoot for him.
A difficult and elegant shot came back and hit the basket again.
"The Lakers need to solve their offensive problems. They haven't scored a point in more than two minutes since the beginning."
Yang Yi said.
However, in the next more than 3 minutes, he only scored 5 points thanks to Kobe's strong attack.
Fortunately, the defensive intensity has improved. O'Neal's mid-range shot and Tucker and Ariza's three-pointers have all come to an end. Only Livingston's air cut and Harden's emergency stop mid-range shot ensure that the Rockets are still three points ahead. round.
Six minutes later, at 40:33, the Rockets entered the official timeout with a 7-point lead.
After the timeout, all starting players from both sides returned to their positions.
McHale and D'Antoni still pay great attention to the playing time of the two veterans Garnett and Nash. They will not let them play more than 15 minutes in the first half, which is usually about 12 minutes.
With the return of the starters, the offensive efficiency of both sides has improved, and the two teams have once again entered attack mode.
The Lakers struck first. Kobe used Gasol's screen to break through to the elbow area, attracting Asik and Garnett to double-team. He threw the ball high with one hand, passed the ball freely in seconds to help McGee fly, and dunked with one arm to take off.
Looking back, Garnett took the initiative to ask for the ball. Facing Gasol, he made a shooting fake. He took a big extra second to be fooled and took a step forward to block it.
The Wolf King's plan succeeded. He threw the ball with his arm in the air and completed a falling shot. The ball went in and the buzzer sounded, two plus one.
Then he went to the free throw line and hit the extra free throw, continuing to lead at 43:35.
Gasol suffered a disadvantage. When he came to the offensive end, he turned around and got stuck. He turned around and asked for the ball in the low post. After confronting Garnett, he turned and lost his balance. However, he had excellent touch and relied on the adjustment of his fingers and wrists to still score.
43:37.
Butler played singles at the top of the arc, asked Asik to put up a screen, got rid of Kobe and faced McGee, accelerated the breakthrough and leaned on McGee, preventing him from having a chance to take off, and hit the high board.
45:37.
"Butler is a good example of how to operate when a small player is playing against a big player. By leaning his body against the big player, he can avoid being blocked during a layup. Of course, it is not easy to complete this action and requires excellent core strength. "
Yang Yi analyzed.
When the Lakers attacked, Nash dribbled the ball to Kobe across half court. Kobe held the ball at the top of the arc to observe the defense, and passed to the latter while flirting with Gasol.
Gasol swam near the three-second zone, received Kobe's pass without adjusting, turned into a receiving passer, moved his hands, passed in and found the forgotten McGee under the basket, and the latter dunked with two hands in an alley-oop, and then added two more point.
45:39.
Looking back, Garnett caught Jeremy Lin's pass from the pick-and-roll and missed a mid-range shot, ending the attack.
As Iguodala broke through and drew a foul, entering a dead-ball state, the head coaches of both teams spontaneously replaced Harden and Kobe.
The two came up at the beginning of the second quarter and played for more than nine minutes. It was difficult to determine the winner at the beginning of the game. The highlight was in the second half.
Iguodala made one of two free throws, and the point difference came to 5 points.
With Harden off the court, Iguodala, the Lakers' strongest perimeter defender, faced Butler, the Rockets' strongest singles player.
In conflicts, there must be a winner.
Several offenses and defenses between the two sides were victorious, but overall, Butler was slightly inferior.
For the Lakers, Gasol was not easy to deal with the Wolf King's iron-blooded defense. He mostly played the role of supporting the team's offense.
Fortunately, Nash and Meeks felt warmer and each scored a three-pointer.
McGee was also very active, grabbing offensive rebounds and dunking successfully to help the team narrow the score.
With 36 seconds left before the end of the first half, the Rockets led by 2 points at 49:47.
The Lakers had the ball. Nash wanted to steal a two-for-one, quickly advanced to the frontcourt, and found Meeks who had just made a three-pointer. Meeks took the ball and shot, but his shot was crooked.
Butler jumped high to collect the rebound.
Slowly advance forward, there are still 28 seconds left, don't be in a hurry.
With 8 seconds left in the attack time, Butler started to start, dribbling with his right hand to accelerate the breakthrough, Iguodala defended in place, and McGee also moved over from the other side to prepare to block the shot.
Seeing that there was no chance for a layup, Butler turned around and threw the ball in a flash.
"Snapped!"
Iguodala hit Butler's arm firmly, and the basketball came out of the basket, but the referee's whistle sounded and a defensive foul was committed.
Butler went to the free throw line and missed the first free throw.
Teammates came over and gave high fives.
"Take a deep breath, adjust your breath, and then cast."
Jeremy Lin came over from behind, patted Butler's butt and encouraged him.
Butler did not answer, but obediently complied, received the referee's pass, took a deep breath to adjust, shot again, and made a free throw.
There were 5 seconds left in the game, the Lakers' last attack of the first half.
Nash received the baseline ball from Gasol and quickly ran forward. During the run, he changed direction to get rid of Jeremy Lin who was retreating, gained space to shoot, and threw the ball out before the timer reached zero.
