The brief turmoil subsided. To be on the safe side, McHale replaced Butler after he completed the free throw and replaced him with Livingston, who had his own system.
Negro was forced to adjust and replaced veteran Grant Hill, and McHale replaced Garnett.
Although the "culprit" has been punished accordingly, the fans at the scene were unyielding, "love the house and the fan", and did not have a good impression of the Clippers players. So much so that during the Clippers' offensive round, uniform boos were heard at the scene, and the decibels were extremely high. .
This affected the mood of the Clippers players to some extent. They missed two shots in three attacks, and once they simply passed the ball to the head coach supervising the game on the sidelines.
The Rockets seized the opportunity and took the lead.
In the last attack before the end of the first quarter, Jeremy Lin got a rebound in the backcourt and accelerated his attack. He passed Paul and Crawford and hit a one-stop layup. The Rockets entered the second quarter 36:30, leading the Clippers by 6 points. .
"So, a player like Barnes is a double-edged sword. He may help the team, but he may also hurt the team."
Xu Xin said to the assistant teacher beside him.
"Yeah, there are fewer and fewer players of this type in the league."
The teaching assistant agreed.
"That's not necessarily the case. I think Draymond Green of the Warriors has this potential."
Xu Xin smiled and said, speaking of Green, in a few years, he will be the Rockets' biggest opponent for the championship.
Young players like the Rockets are too good. Now they are protected by O'Neal and Garnett. What will happen after they retire?
It seems that I still need to find a gangster.
Xu Xin said to himself.
The two-minute interval passed in a flash and the game continued.
The Rockets' regular rotation, including the intervals, Harden, who had rested for more than half a quarter, returned to the field. He will lead Ariza, Beverley, Tucker and Asik to play the first half of the second quarter. .
Among them, Beverley replaced Livingston in the original lineup. Livingston's three-point ability is relatively average, which is not very suitable for Harden.
As for Beverley, he has worked hard on shooting during this period and has achieved some success. McHale is also willing to give him more opportunities to play.
The Clippers also made adjustments. Paul and Griffin, who played the entire first quarter, were replaced and replaced by Eric Bledsoe and Turiaf.
The Rockets took the lead in attacking. Beverley dribbled the ball through half court and handed it to Harden to organize. McHale gave him the task of advancing with the ball, and then dropped to the outside to wait for an open three-point opportunity.
His biggest role is to press the ball holder on the defensive end to disrupt the opponent's offensive deployment.
Harden received the ball and faced Crawford, dribbling under his hips in one direction to adjust the rhythm.
Crawford did not dare to neglect, lowering his center of gravity to block Harden's left hand. In the pre-game video analysis, Negro focused on how to defend Harden. The data shows that forcing Harden to go to the right side will increase his offensive efficiency. reduced.
But what he didn't know was that the sample wasn't accurate, and that was certainly not true for Harden a month and a half before the season started.
However, with the use of "Talent Cashing" and the continuous improvement brought about by Harden's hard training during this period, Harden's current movement control skills are approaching the top level, and his left and right hands are balanced. They are no longer what they used to be. Amon.
On the court, Harden smiled slightly when he saw Crawford's defensive position. He dribbled the ball to his right hand side with a suspended crotch. He hesitated and then suddenly started, accelerating to the right to break through.
Crawford hurriedly moved back diagonally in the direction of Harden's breakthrough, raised his arms, and tried to block Harden.
Harden did not choose to force the ball forward, but stopped suddenly and pulled back while walking, retreating to outside the three-point line.
In order to block Harden, Crawford retreated very quickly. When he saw Harden changing his moves, he thought of stepping forward to defend, but his ankle refused to obey him and stayed in place, forcing him to move. Next, he actually performed a one-shot for Harden.
The whole set of movements was very smooth, causing the fans at the scene to exclaim.
Harden collected the ball and took a look at the basket. He wanted to feint and then shoot. Unexpectedly, Crawford made a direct floor move. The two looked at each other for half a second, and saw Grant... Hill pounced, and Harden took the shot.
"Uh-huh!"
Three point hit.
The Rockets bench immediately ejected excitedly. What did they see? James Harden, AKA The Ankle Terminator, ended street ball guru Jamal Crawford’s ankle.
The whole arena was on fire, and the cheers and shouts seemed to break through the roof.
Hill stretched out his hand to help Crawford up and comforted:
"Brother, call one back."
Crawford nodded and smiled bitterly:
"This James (Harden) said differently than the video analysis."
The Clippers attacked and Crawford took the initiative to ask for the ball. Bledsoe had a good eye and ran forward without looking back.
Crawford dribbled to the frontcourt. Facing Harden who had just knocked him down, Crawford dribbled like a butterfly and used a shuffling step to gain space for the shot. His right hand gestured to connect the ball with the shooting action.
Harden was well aware of Crawford's accuracy in three-pointers and did not dare to provoke a block. Unexpectedly, Crawford's move was also false. Before the ball was combined, he suddenly changed his move and switched to dribbling with his right hand to break through inside.
Realistic worship to Buddha!
The fans at the scene also exclaimed. Even if they saw the goal clearly, they were also deceived.
Crawford rushed to the penalty area, faced Tucker's defense, jumped to the left and then made a small throw with his right hand. The basketball drew an exquisite arc and hit the net hollowly.
At 39:32, Crawford responded.
He turned back and ran to the backcourt, high-fiving Hill vigorously, sweeping away the gloom just now.
Harden's face was expressionless, as if he was not the one who was shaken by the ball just now. This is what he and Iverson learned. Since they are playing on the court, they are less frustrated and have to fight like a warrior.
This time, Harden chose to call a pick-and-roll tactic.
Asik stepped forward, but Turiaf moved slowly and could not guard against it.
Harden took advantage of the screen to get rid of Crawford, made no adjustments from outside the three-point line, and hit the ball again.
At 42:32, Harden punished Turiaf's retreating defense through his increasingly sophisticated shooting with the ball.
On the sidelines, Clippers coach Negro's face was as deep as water. When almost every team in the league faced the Rockets, they were crushed in the first half of the second quarter.
To be honest, the Clippers' bench is at least in the top ten among the 30 teams, but facing the Rockets, there is still a big disadvantage. The reason is that after Barnes was expelled, there was no one on the bench who could do it. The person who restricted Harden.
Fortunately, Crawford's offense was strong. He and Odom played a classic weak-side two-on-two. After the pick-and-roll, Crawford broke through to attract the defense and passed the ball from behind to Odom, who shot out. Just throw it with your hand and it will go in.
42:35, helping the Clippers recover from their decline.
