Updated: 2013-02-11

Now the Supersonics team is the least afraid of playing against other teams. Teams that are both offensive and defensive are not too afraid. What they are afraid of is that when they encounter teams like the Rockets, they can control the rhythm of the game well. The key is that the Rockets' rhythm is too slow.

If it is just a few seconds difference, it will basically not have any impact on the players, but if it is too bad, the players will feel extremely uncomfortable.

In this case, it depends on the player's self-regulation ability and the head coach's control ability. However, these two events are not very good at the Supersonics.

Everything is like this. It is easy to think faster, but it is difficult to think slower. If Stephen hadn't been there to support the team, the Supersonics would have been knocked down by the Rockets.

As long as the Rockets are two players, Yao Ming and McGrady, they are the first-class teams in the league. Both of them have encountered injuries this season, but the injury time is not long, and the injury time is just staggered, so the Houston Rockets have always maintained their competitiveness and stayed in the ranks of the playoff teams.

However, relying solely on the two of them, the Rockets can only be considered a strong team and cannot reach the level of a championship team. The Rockets need to further strengthen, but the salary structure limits the Rockets' operating space.

Because the salary of Yao Ming and McGrady alone accounts for 70% of the salary space, especially McGrady, whose salary is really too high.

His salary this season is 21 million US dollars, which is already the top salary level in the league, but McGrady's performance is a bit unworthy of this salary.

According to McGrady's current performance and eliminating the injury factor, he is now holding a contract of $10 million or more than 10 million, which is reasonable. At the same time, the Rockets also have 10 million space to recruit another capable player.

Unless Alexander is willing to pay the luxury tax, the Rockets' current situation is a dead end. The main reason is that Yao Ming and McGrady's contracts are a bit long and a bit big, and both of them have hidden dangers of injury.

This brings limitations to operations. Not all teams are willing to bet, and not all teams have the space or willing to take such a large contract. Seeing McGrady now, you know how wise it is for **Vic to not easily give players a large contract.

When McGrady won the league's scoring champion two times, who would have thought about his current situation? McGrady now may have a game that matches his value in ten games, and it is only possible.

This means that you pay the price of a top player most of the time, but you gain a top player. For a businessman who likes to be petty, it is like stealing money from him. So even if Alexander likes McGrady at the beginning, he will only frown when he sees McGrady now.

In comparison, Yao Ming's performance is much more stable and efficient than McGrady, and even his injury situation is lighter than McGrady, so Yao Ming gradually took over the position of the team's boss from McGrady, and McGrady did not respond to this.

This is a problem with McGrady's personality. She lacks the domineering aura that is no less than me, especially compared with Yao Ming who changed later. However, his ability and talent are still indispensable to this Rockets team now. Without his support and cooperation from the outside, Yao Ming's threat would be greatly reduced.

Especially in terms of passing balls to the inside, McGrady's choice of timing and passing skills are hard to match by others. In the Rockets' current lineup, he is the one who can pass the ball to Yao Ming the most, followed by Sean Bathir, and the main point guard Alstom.

After Yao Ming was out of the field, the cooperation between the internal and external lines of the Supersonics was completed, and Coupard's small hook was also used in a decent manner. When Yao Ming was present, Coupard did not score a single point, but when he faced the old Mutombo, Coupard showed the style of a new generation of excellent center forwards in the league.

However, Van Gundy was prepared for this. He took out a small note from his pocket and immediately sent Hayes. The combination of his and Mutombo was purely a defensive combination, but it restricted Coupard's performance very well.

Van Gundy is not only aware of the characteristics and rotation of the Supersonics, but at least he still remembers it freshly. Since April, in addition to analyzing the opponents in the regular season, at least half of his energy has been devoted to possible opponents in the playoffs.

The key point is the Supersonics. According to the current ranking, the Houston Rockets rank sixth in the West, while the Supersonics are second in the West. It is impossible for the two teams to compete, but there are nearly ten games left before the end of the regular season, and anything can happen in the middle.

The Houston Rockets are unlikely to rise. Even if they rise, they will rise to fifth in the West and cannot go to the top half. If they reach fifth in the West, they will play against the San Antonio Spurs.

Although the San Antonio Spurs are not strong this season, no one dares to underestimate the Spurs.

Because everyone knows that the Spurs in the playoffs are the real Spurs. It is good that the Spurs can have 70% of their skills in the playoffs. Without watching the last few games, the Spurs took turns to rest the three main players, but they still maintained a winning streak.

At the same time, the Spurs are also the defending team. Never underestimate the heart of a champion. This sentence was said by Tom Janovic to the Rockets, but it also applies to the Spurs. As the third team to win three consecutive championships in the past 20 years, although he lost Stephen and reduced his strength, he still should not be underestimated.

Especially in the playoffs, playing against one opponent in a row will test the head coach's ability. If you choose the head coach who is the most troublesome and unpredictable among the other twenty-nine head coaches in the league, **Vic is definitely one of the top three.

The Spurs are now unable to attack the top three in the West, but it is still okay to ensure their current position and maintain their home advantage. Coaches like **Vic are very careful about every advantage and will never give up.

If the Spurs refuse to give up their fourth position, then Van Gundy will definitely not want the team to rush to fifth. Facing the Spurs is not a good choice, but with the current situation of the Rockets, they dare not choose opponents too much, because the qualifications for the playoffs cannot be completely guaranteed.

After analyzing the schedule and opponents of his own team, as well as the schedule and opponents of the Phoenix Suns, Dallas Mavericks and Denver Nuggets, and then calculating their respective winning rates, the final result is that the Rockets have the greatest chance of falling to seventh in the West, and the second most chance of falling to eighth in the West, and the chance of keeping their current position is about the same as falling out of the playoffs.

Everything is possible to deceive people, only data will not. Although Van Gundy is not a data party and regards this sentence as Lunyin, he does not dare to ignore the role of data. Since the chance of falling to the seventh place in the West is the highest, then prepare according to this.

After doing the same analysis of opponents in the first half, the Rockets found that whether they fell to the seventh place in the West or the eighth place in the West, the chance of going to the Seattle Supersonics is the highest, because the Supersonics are about the same chance of keeping the second place in the West and rising to the first place in the West, but the chance of falling to the third place in the West is only 17%.

To be honest, if Van Gundy chooses, he is most willing to meet the New Orleans Hornets. Although the New Orleans Hornets have long been at the top of the Western Conference this season, in terms of real strength, their strength in the playoffs is still inferior to that of other Western Conference teams.

The Rockets are afraid of meeting a team with strong point guards, but if Van Gundy chooses between Kobe and Paul Gasol, Stephen and Chris Paul, Van Gundy would rather meet Chris Paul. At least his pervert is incomparable to the other two.

As someone who has to make all the detailed responses to the game before the game, what Van Gundy likes the most is that some unexpected or uncontrollable situations occur in the game. Stephen and Kobe Bryant have such abilities. You calculate it based on his average score, and he suddenly scored twice the average score. What should I do? All the responses are empty.

But the Rockets have the lowest chance of meeting the Hornets. Although the chance of meeting the Los Angeles Lakers is not high, Van Gundy wants to meet the Los Angeles Lakers the least. In addition to Kobe's unexpected factor, the Lakers' lineup is also the most reasonable and balanced among the three of them.

Another factor is the head coach. Phil Jackson's command rarely has any magical strokes, but he rarely makes mistakes. At the same time, he rarely interferes in the game, and lets players decide the direction of the game, which is actually a difficult point for analysis.

The Lakers have super strong inside strength. It is not that the strength of a single player exceeds that of Yao Ming, but their overall strength. Paul Gasol, Odom, Turiav and other players are relatively strong. If it weren't for the injury list, the Lakers' inside line would be even more terrifying.

After offsetting the Rockets' inside advantage, the Rockets will have to face the opponent's outside advantage. If McGrady was still the McGrady who had just arrived at the Rockets, Van Gundy would not be much worried, but McGrady has long since changed things.

On the offensive end, McGrady still has 60% or 70% of the previous level. In terms of tying up teammates to organize offenses, McGrady is even stronger than before, but on the defensive end, due to injuries, McGrady is a little afraid of confrontation, which makes him afraid to invest too much on the defensive end, and his defensive level is not even half as good as before.

However, the Supersonics, both on the offensive and defensive end, rely strongly on Stephen's own initiative. Such a team is the best defense. As long as you limit Stephen, the game will basically be half successful.

Of course, Stephen is not so easily restricted. This season, countless teams have tried to complete this task, most of which end in failure. However, in the playoffs, because they have been playing against the same opponent in succession, they can make targeted tactical arrangements and then adjust them according to the results, and the tactical effects will naturally be different.

At the same time, in the continuous matchups, Stephen's condition must have fluctuations. In the regular season, this phenomenon actually occurs, but it is not very obvious and difficult to use, but it can be used in the playoffs.

So Van Gundy has done a lot of research on the Supersonics. Now I want to talk about who knows the Supersonics the most among the head coaches in the league. Then Van Gundy ranked second in charge, and naturally Calesimo is the first.

He knew very well that Koopard could cause trouble for Yao Ming on the defensive end, but his offensive ability would definitely not break through Yao Ming's defense line, but his playing time did not exactly match Yao Ming's playing time.

Due to the physical condition of the Oriental Man, Yao Ming must have to rest for a few minutes in about ten minutes. However, after resting, there is no problem with playing again. Cooper usually plays the entire first half, so the time when Yao Ming is not present in the middle is likely to be used by his opponent.

Mutombo's defense effect on that frame attack is very good. Many players who like to hit the basket ended up eating his hotpot, but for back-on attack or strong attack at the basket, Mutombo's defense ability has decreased due to his age and his defense is not very good.

At this time, replace Scola with Hayes, and he and Mutombo will have a very good defense effect. Although this will greatly reduce the attack power of the inside, it is like this. There are gains and losses, and there are gains and losses. For Van Gundy, defense is the most important thing.

His basketball philosophy is to compare who can make the opponent score less. He just takes advantage of this time to play the outside line, so that the opponent's defense can be expanded outside, and when Yao Ming comes back, he will play better. The Rockets' three-point ability on the outside line is also a big scoring weapon, just for it to be used.

Sure enough, Lutherhead, Steve Novak and other players who were good at three-pointers were sent on the court by Van Gundy. The three-pointers were like crazy and the results were extraordinary. By the end of the first half, the Rockets once widened the gap to more than ten. If Stephen had not successfully attacked the basket in the last moment, the gap would have even been possible to continue to expand.

In the second half, the Supersonics still played as a substitute against the Rockets' starting lineup, but unexpectedly did not fall a disadvantage, but they were unable to overtake the score. Stephen returned to the court with five minutes left before the end of the third quarter. As soon as he got on the court, he hit a two-plus one on Sean Bathir, and turned around and blocked Yao Ming's move.

This game was named "China Derby" in China, and fans called it "fight within a nest". Naturally, there were a lot of people paying attention to it. Seeing this scene, the fans were in a dilemma and didn't know which one to support.

Stephen and Yao Ming performed well in this game. Due to the differences in positions of the two, there were basically no opportunities to directly match, so the fans were very happy and there was no controversy.

But as soon as the block was released, Yao Ming's fans and Stephen's fans had a dispute. One said that Stephen would not give Boss Yao face, so even for the sake of his older age, he should respect him. Why do you do so actively blocking? That's what other inside players should do. What are you in a hurry to show up?

Stephen's fans expressed their support for such behavior. There is no problem with the relationship below. When they are on the court, they should be an opponent and do whatever they should do without any mercy. This is a professional player. Yao Ming should also understand Stephen's behavior.

The fans were in a mess, and the game continued here. Stephen just blocked Yao Ming's move, but when he came back to attack the basket, Yao Ming returned one. The two of them reported the other and blocked each other. Now the fans have nothing to argue with.

However, Stephen is still better. At the end of the third quarter, after the Rockets performed the last attack, they left a 17-second pass for the Supersonics. Calesimo called a timeout to arrange the last shot. In fact, there was nothing to arrange, and it was not the last shot of the game. The main purpose of the timeout was to turn the baseline serve into a midfield serve.

The serve was executed by Cott Thomas, and others covered the running. Although the Rockets also knew that the focus of the defense should be Stephen, Sean Battill's speed was not as fast as Stephen, and he was only pulled down two steps. Cott Thomas' serve arrived. Stephen jumped up and caught the ball in the air. When he landed, he was more than one meter away from the three-point line.

When the ball flew in the air, the ending whistle was already ringing, but the ball finally flew into the basket without hesitation. With Stephen's buzzer-beating three-pointer, the Supersonics chased the score difference to only five points.

At the beginning of the fourth quarter, the Supersonics began to launch a fierce attack, once chasing the gap to only one point. Van Gundy called two consecutive timeouts to stabilize the situation. McGrady showed his superstar's ability at this time. After cutting, he made a slippage layup and three people's clamping, he passed the ball to Scola's hands, allowing Scola to easily score.

However, Stephen immediately turned around and picked the basket and pulled it out on the spot. The two of them started a scoring duel. McGrady won the gorgeous and elegant victory, and Stephen won the mighty and domineering style. The two of them had completely different styles, but they both showed the style of a super scorer.

McGrady gave up the response first, which was equivalent to announcing his defeat in this scoring battle. He was not Stephen's opponent in terms of physical strength or mental perseverance. With Stephen's performance, the Supersonics never gave the Rockets a chance again after overturning the score, and kept the score to the end in one fell swoop.

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