Beverly waved his hands and kept harassing Holiday. Holiday was calm and protected the ball very well, giving Beverley no chance to steal it.
Xu Xin drooled when he saw it. The fourth-year Holiday already looked like a general. Isn't this No. 1 the backcourt partner Harden dreams of?
Holiday controlled the attack time to 8 seconds, used Hawes's screen, got rid of the defense and singled out Asik, feinted left and right, made him dizzy, and then hit a layup with his right hand.
104:111.
Xu Xin looked at the big screen. Holiday had already scored 30 points, as well as 5 rebounds and 5 assists. This might be the game where he showed his worth.
The digital man did not choose to renew his contract in advance. He will definitely be sought after by many teams in the offseason. It depends on whether the digital man can match. At that time, you can pay attention to see if there will be an opportunity to sign before trading.
On the court, Harden held the ball at the top of the arc to attract double teams, hit the ground and passed the ball to connect Asik with two points.
106:111.
There is still time, and it is more cost-effective to score two points steadily and then defend again than to score a three-pointer with a bad chance.
Holiday dribbled the ball, and this time the Rockets also chose to flank.
Butler stepped forward and formed a double-team with Beverley, forcing Holiday to shoot the ball. He felt so good tonight. At the critical moment, it is better to let others shoot than to let him play alone.
Holiday holds the ball above his head with both hands to avoid being intercepted as much as possible, observes the movement of his teammates, and finds Evan Turner who is cutting through.
Turner caught the ball and took a step inward to prepare for a dunk.
At the critical moment, Harden moved outside the reasonable collision zone, stood upright with both feet, and faced Turner's impact as if he was an old monk in meditation.
After the two collided, they both fell to the ground. Harden looked up and looked at the referee with big watery eyes. The referee did not disappoint Harden. He made a handsome move and called an offensive foul.
The Rockets defended a key shot, and his teammates ran over and pulled Harden up.
"Well done!"
Butler said, turning and running upfield.
Harden dribbled the ball quickly through the half court, and the digital man also chose to double attack.
Harden remained calm and looked at Tucker in the far corner. With a flick of his wrist, he flew a precise reverse hook past the two of them and flew to the inside, assisting Butler who cut in from the air for a two-handed dunk.
108:111.
Same defensive strategy, different results, this round reflects the gap between Holiday and Harden.
As a combo guard, Harden's personal singles ability, movement control skills, passing level and overall view, almost all offensive attributes are the ceiling of the active league.
Holiday is good, but he excels in balance and excellent defensive ability. In terms of offense, he is still significantly inferior to Harden.
As the game entered the last two minutes, the fans of the home team stood up to watch the game. They had been leading in the second half, and they wouldn't have overturned in the last moment.
Although they never expected their home team to take first place in the Western Conference before the game, when this opportunity is really presented to everyone, who would not look forward to it?
The same goes for the fans, and even more so for the home team players on the field.
At the critical moment, with mental baggage, I began to hesitate in offensive choices and failed to score twice in a row.
Fortunately, the defense led by Thaddeus Young and Holiday was solid enough, and Harden and Butler failed to succeed in their respective singles.
The game came to the last 28 seconds, the ball was in digital hands, and the score difference was still 3 points.
On the sidelines, McHale frowned. This point difference is really difficult to make a decision at this time.
Use foul tactics and send your opponent to the free throw line. The point difference may be as low as two rounds.
If there is no foul, the opponent will definitely consume all 24 seconds. If he doesn't score, it's okay. If he scores, he will be two rounds behind in 4 seconds, which will be even more difficult.
McHale thought quickly and sighed after 2 seconds. Let them play. This is a decision that more than 90% of coaches would make.
Among the five players on the opponent's field, Holiday, Turner, Nick Young, Thaddeus Young, and Spencer Hawes, none of them are inaccurate in free throws, and their season shooting percentages are all above 80%.
Faced with this situation, McHale was unable to use penalty kick tactics. After all, a top free throw shooter like McGee is hard to come by.
Holiday controlled the time, and Beverley tried to steal but failed.
With 10 seconds left in the game, Holiday started, and the digital double screen created a breakthrough opportunity for Holiday.
The latter hesitated and passed Beverley and headed towards the basket. Facing Ariza, who was trying to block the eye-catching situation, he completed a layup with his right hand after an aerial confrontation.
The basketball hit the backboard, bounced toward the basket, and bounced out.
Butler jumped high, protected the backboard, and quickly gestured to the referee to call a timeout.
There are 5 seconds left in the game. In the final attack, it is safer to send the ball from the frontcourt.
McHale quickly deployed a three-pointer tactic, and his opponent's free throws were accurate, plus he had no timeouts on his hands.
If you grab a quick two-pointer, even if you score it, a foul will send your opponent to the free throw line. There is a high probability that you will still be 3 points behind, and you will still have to shoot a three-pointer on the next shot.
With less time and a serve from the backcourt, McHale weighed the pros and cons and decided to focus on the three-point tactic in this attack.
After the timeout, the Rockets replaced Jeremy Lin and O'Neal, and replaced Beverley and Ariza.
In the second half, Ariza felt cold, so he replaced O'Neal to strengthen the quality of the screen. Anyway, the first choice for this offense was Harden, the second choice was Butler, and Jeremy Lin stood in the bottom corner to open up space. This was enough.
The timeout ended, players from both sides returned to the court, and Jeremy Lin went to the referee to serve the sideline ball.
The four Rockets stood together near the free throw line. When the referee blew the whistle, Asik and O'Neal quickly stood side by side to block Holiday who was chasing Harden.
Harden ran out to receive Jeremy Lin's pass. Facing Thaddeus Young who was flying up, he dribbled to the right and took a step laterally, letting Thaddeus Young pass by.
Then take off fully and shoot!
The basketball spins and draws a beautiful arc and goes straight to the basket.
"Uh-huh!"
The ball went in, 111:111, Harden hit an almost perfect three-pointer.
The fans at the scene let out bursts of exclamations and placed their hands on top of their heads in regret, but they still failed to defend themselves.
This is not the first time for everyone to watch the game. It is an indisputable fact that the Rockets players have begun to recover after their physical fitness exceeded the limit.
When the game enters overtime, your team's chances of winning are very small.
The digital man called a timeout. Holiday discussed something with the referee and pointed at the timer.
Keep gesticulating.
It turned out that there was a problem with the timer.
The referee nodded, walked to the technical table to review the last attack, and set the time back to 1.6 seconds.
For a basketball game, compared to the 0.8 seconds just now, 1.6 seconds can do a lot more.
