On April 28, the first round of the playoffs, the Rockets rushed to Portland Rose Garden, hoping to defeat the Trail Blazers away, advance to the Western Conference semi-finals early, and fulfill their 12-year long-cherished wish.

Adelman has many tricks. Today, Yao Ming was not the Rockets' offensive center in the first quarter. He didn't make a single shot in a single quarter and had few touches. The Argentine, Louis Scola, became the Rockets' main attacker again, which was much beyond the expectations of the Trail Blazers. The arrangement before the game was wasted. The Argentine scored 15 points in the first quarter, helping the Rockets lead the Trail Blazers 28:25.

In the second quarter, in order to suppress Scola's performance, the Trail Blazers had to cancel the double-team against Yao Ming, which allowed the Giants to resurrect in the second quarter. Yao Ming seized the opportunity to score three consecutive goals, including one with two plus one, and then assisted Marbury to make a three-pointer. The Rockets widened the gap to 14 points with a 11:0 wave.

Adelman's unexpected tactical arrangement allowed the team to take the lead. Since then, the Trail Blazers have been chasing, but the Rockets have used their overall strength to suppress the Trail Blazers. Roy, who had a cold, competed with Marbury in the third quarter, but did not gain the upper hand. Lao Ma was not ruthless at the critical moment and continuously used Yao Ming's no-ball cover to break into the inside to create damage. The Trail Blazers were defeated by the Rockets' new internal and external core team, and were 15 points behind the Rockets in three quarters.

In the last quarter, the Rockets, who should have been sure to win, had an old problem again. The 15-point difference seemed to be a lot, but the Rockets only took half a quarter of the game to hand over the Rockets. In the last 3 minutes and 05 seconds, the Trail Blazers surpassed the Rockets by one point after Roy, who was suffering from avian flu, successfully scored a three-pointer.

Domestic Rockets fans are so frustrating to watch. What kind of tricks are they playing! However, watching the Rockets game is like this. The lead is 20. The Rockets won't make you worry-free. They can all be caught up. Look at the Clippers. They only have to lead double digits in the last quarter and have never been turned over. This is the gap. It's so comfortable to watch the Clippers game.

This is why domestic Rockets fans are gradually overtaken by the number of Clippers fans. Yao Ming and the Animal Brothers are both Chinese. Of course, everyone likes to watch Clippers games, with 68 wins in the season. How can the word "satisfaction" be expressed?

Yao Ming was finally angry, but the decline in the physical strength of the Little Giants is not one of the reasons for the Rockets' defense loopholes. Adelman immediately replaced Scola, who was also weak in physical strength, and replaced David Lee and Yao Ming with his partner, but it was not the Rockets who saved these two people. At the critical moment, the Rockets finally passed the game with Bathir's two three-pointers.

"The Batis team is really a giant!" Domestic Rockets fans burst into tears again. It was not easy. Batire's three-point shooting percentage was not too high, and he did not exceed 40% in the regular season. But at the critical moment, Batire's three-point shooting was more reliable. This is the embodiment of the leader's temperament and the big heart.

The same is true for Billups of the Clippers. Players with big hearts are what we often call big competition players. They will not be overwhelmed by pressure, but will use pressure to make themselves perform more outstandingly. However, some players are just the opposite, including many stars who play well in the regular season, who become sluggish as soon as they arrive in the playoffs. These players do not have a big heart, have no leader temperament, and are not good leaders.

In the end, the Rockets defeated the Trail Blazers 95-92, and Roy failed to make the final three-pointer. The Rockets finally made it back to the second round of the playoffs after 12 years. However, the bad news came out yesterday. They had to face the test of defending champion Clippers. Can they sink the Clippers, anyway, except for Rockets fans, other fans are not optimistic about them.

The Rockets were reversed by 15 points in the final quarter, and almost made a big comeback. Roy scored a game-high 34 points with illness, and Aldridge, who fought with an elbow injury, also scored 25 points and 7 rebounds. Unfortunately, only these two Trail Blazers scored in double digits, and the rest of the players performed mediocrely. The young Trail Blazers fulfilled Yao Ming's first-round dream.

Yao Ming scored a double-double in this game, made 9 of 12 shots, scored 20 points and 12 rebounds, Marbury scored 20 points and 12 assists, Scola scored 10 of 13 shots to capture the Rockets' highest 21 points, but only scored 4 points in the second half.

The Rockets' three players scored more than 20 points, and Yao Ming's shooting percentage was very impressive. In this round of the series, the Little Giants made 69 shots and made 49 shots, with a shooting percentage of up to 71%. But what has been criticized by many people is that the Little Giants only scored two points in the last quarter of the game, and most of the balls he missed were concentrated in the fourth quarter. So he is still the same old problem. He is his advantage and a shackle that limits him. Everyone knows that the Little Giants can only play good balls in three quarters.

Now Rockets fans themselves suspect that when they face the Trail Blazers' front and pinch attacks, the Little Giants will lose their strength in the last quarter. If they face the Pandas who are famous and good at rounding the front, Yao Ming will not be exhausted at halftime? Not to mention that the Clippers will definitely use twin brothers to pinch Yao Ming. The two brothers' pace is not as fast as the inside. Once Yao Ming can't get the basketball, the Rockets seem to have to stop.

After the 28th, two more teams in the West had already qualified. The Lakers also easily defeated the Hornets, whose confidence was knocked out at home, won their match points, and eliminated the Hornets. Of course, they kept silent about the Clippers' 61-point night. It can be seen that the entire Lakers players were in a bad mood. Although they also beat the Hornets up and beat them up, the opponent's mortal enemy did better than them, especially breaking the record they had maintained for more than 50 years, which made all Lakers players and fans very unhappy.

It's really hell. Fifty years ago, the parents of the Lakers players were wearing open-crotch pants. Kobe and others were both depressed and depressed. Although this had nothing to do with them, the Lakers media couldn't help complaining to the Thunder, believing that these guys were too useless. Even if the Thunder scored two more goals in the end, the Clippers could not break the record.

On April 29, in the Western Conference, the Lakers 4:1 Hornets, the Rockets 4:1 Trail Blazers, the Clippers 4:0 Thunder, the Spurs 4:1 Mavericks. In the Eastern Conference, the Cleveland Cavaliers 3:2 Chicago Bulls, the Boston Celtics 3:2 New York Knicks, the Orlando Magic 3:2 Philadelphia 76ers, and the Atlanta Hawks 3:2 Miami Heat.

An interesting thing happened on this day. After the game, the head coaches of three teams who are playing in the playoffs were fined $25,000 by the league. These include Rockets head coach Rick Adelman, who just advanced to the first round of the Western Conference playoffs, and Trail Blazers head coach Nate McMillan. Another one who was punished was Boston Celtics head coach Doug Rivers.

The news was announced today by NBA executive vice president Stu Jackson. The reasons for the three teams being punished were all publicly criticized the referee issue after the team's game.

Rockets head coach Adelman and Trail Blazers head coach McMillan both complained about the fines caused by referee issues after the Rockets' victory. Celtics head coach Rivers paid the price for his remarks after the fourth game with the Knicks. The orange-green battle took two overtimes, and the Celtics lost to the Knicks 118-119. The New Yorkers were in the last 1 minute and 11 seconds.

He was still 9 points behind, and he was sure to win. However, there was a guy named McGrady. Tracy girl staged an amazing move of 7 points in one minute. With Iverson's three-pointer kill in the last five seconds, the two former superstars joined forces and scored 10 points in one minute, catching up with the gap of nine points a minute ago. The Knicks took away the three Celtics at the moment when the red light of the timer lights on.

This game made many players feel incredible afterwards. The little Fox was one of them. He really couldn't figure it out. The Celtics were actually forced to this extent by the Knicks. The Big Three are so incompetent that they can't even deal with the two old guys. They have to send a text message to Garnett to mock him.

On the other hand, although the Rockets won the first round opponent, head coach Adelman is still not satisfied with the referee's penalty. During the first round of the playoffs, he publicly stated more than once that the referee's current referees are very inconsistent with the penalty of Yao Ming and other players. The Trail Blazers' defenders treated Yao Ming rudely, and such behavior was acquiesced by the referee on the court.

Then Adelman publicly stated before the fifth game that the referees' penalty was arranged according to the time, not based on the actual situation. When the first few minutes of the game, they would always make five or six fouls. However, after that, they would become accustomed to such things, and the defenders could start putting their palms on Yao Ming without worrying about the referee whistle sounding. Such behavior made Yao Ming take more effort to play the game.

The reason for McMillan's punishment was some remarks after the end of the fourth game between the Rockets and the Trail Blazers, plus the Celtic Rivers, so today the NBA made a unified fine, and all three head coaches lost 25,000 US dollars.

The four-round matches in the Western Conference were completely completed on the 29th. One swept the opponent, and three were 4:1. It can be seen that the strength of the Western Conference giants, the Clippers, Spurs, Lakers, and Rockets, are all teams that are capable of winning the championship, and they are about to fight in the Western Conference semi-finals.

The Los Angeles Clippers vs Houston Rockets, the San Antonio Spurs vs. the Los Angeles Lakers, four teams are about to start a brutal showdown in the second round!

The Rockets can be said to be the team that has no championship appearance among these four teams. The combination of Marbury + Yao Ming + Scola is far from being the Big Three. Their advantage lies in their strong substitute strength. The head coach's ability may be stronger than the old Dunleavy, but the **Povich and Zen Master, who are far more capable than the old Dunleavy, always lose to the Clippers? So in the NBA game, strong teams still depend on the performance of the players. The Rockets are undoubtedly at a disadvantage in this regard.

Before the playoffs began, many experts raised topics related to the Clippers when commenting on the Rockets and the Trail Blazers. It seemed that they had long guessed that the Clippers would meet the Rockets in the semi-finals. The same is true within the Clippers. They were a little distracted when they were against the Thunder, and their hearts had already flown to the second round of the game, considering how to safely enter the Western Conference Finals and continue their championship path.

When it comes to the Clippers against the Rockets, the Clippers are absolutely dominant in terms of strength, but the game between the two sides is indeed quite suspense. Although the Clippers have an absolute advantage over the Rockets in the regular season, and an absolute advantage of 3-1 will give them a psychological advantage in the series, this does not mean that the Rockets are at a disadvantage. The reason is very simple. The Rockets, who are troubled by injuries in the regular season and are in trouble, have broken through their first round curse this year, and their morale will surely boost, especially when facing the Clippers, the Rockets without psychological pressure will prove that they can give the Clippers enough trouble.
Chapter completed!