On December 25, the NBA ushered in its annual Christmas battle, and this year the Lakers' opponent in the Christmas battle is the Western Conference giant Houston Rockets.

The Rockets have been playing very well in recent seasons, and last season the Rockets ranked fourth in the Western Conference with a record of 54 wins and 28 losses.

Even though they were sent home to fish by Lillard's Trail Blazers in the first round of the playoffs, the Rockets made a comeback in the new season. They made great progress under the leadership of Harden, Howard and Josh Smith. Their record is only second in the West under the Lakers.

Originally, due to the butterfly effect brought by Yang Fan in this life, James Harden was selected by the Bobcats at the draft.

But Harden and the Rockets seemed to have a bad relationship. After the Bobcats rookie contract expired, Harden, who tried the free market, directly completed the signing with the Rockets.

The Rockets have been building teams around Harden in the past two seasons, including Howard, Josh Smith and others, who are all helpers found by the management for Harden.

Harden also deserves the trust of the Rockets management in terms of data. This season, Harden averaged 27.4 points, 5.7 rebounds and 7.1 assists per game.

This data will definitely help Harden enter the ranks of top stars in the league, but although Harden performed well in the regular season, the problem of losing his game as soon as he entered the playoffs is really embarrassing.

Putting aside the fact that he was sent home to fish in the first round of the playoffs last year, Harden also struggled in some tough battles.

Especially at the critical moment in the fourth quarter, Harden always makes some inexplicable mistakes and then leads the team to lose the game inexplicably.

It is worth mentioning that Howard criticized Harden more than once in public, saying that Harden's attitude towards the game is too loose, and he often goes to nightclubs, etc.

This incident also caused some grudges between Harden and Howard. It is said that the Rockets management is actively selling Howard and intends to trade Howard out.

Because the disagreement between Harden and Howard is just like the time between Kobe and Howard.

But the person who treated the game positively back then was Kobe, who treated the game negatively, but now the person who treated the game positively, turned into a new partner Harden.

This situation also corresponds to a feeling from the fans. Warcraft met Kobe at the age when he likes to play the most, and at the age when he wants to compete for the championship the most, he met Harden who loves to play!

I have to say that sometimes this is true, life is full of helplessness and variables, which makes people unable to understand at all.

Before the game started, Howard took the initiative to walk towards Kobe, and the two hugged each other on the sidelines, and their communication seemed so harmonious and harmonious.

Now that he is not at his peak, Howard, whose condition has been declining due to injuries, truly understands why Kobe's desire to win the game was so strong.

Why is Howard so angry when he is not serious about the game? Howard is feeling this kind of mood every day.

Especially when Harden was walking back to the stadium from the nightclub at 6 a.m. for training, Howard wanted to go up and give him a fly kick so that he could go as far as he could.

If Kobe could only occasionally see Los Angeles at 4 a.m., then Harden could basically see Houston at 4 a.m. every day during this period.

In this tactical system, Harden has too many offensive choices, whether it is passing the ball to the outside, passing the ball to the inside, or completing the attack by himself, all of them are controlled by Harden alone.

It can be said that this Harden is the Rockets' absolute offensive core, at least the absolute core of the Rockets' position during war.

As for Howard's tactical position in the Rockets has become lower and lower, and the number of shots per game has dropped to only ten times.

Average of ten shots per game set a new career low for Howard since his rookie season.

So this is why Howard is dissatisfied with Harden. The entire Rockets' ball is held in Harden's own hand.

Sometimes Howard would be ignored by Harden when he wanted the ball at a low post, which made Howard really feel frustrated. Even in the Lakers, he was not as frustrated as he is now.

When he was in the Lakers, Howard asked for the ball at a low post and was often ignored by Kobe, but Kobe could at least use his personal ability to score the ball.

But while Harden ignored Howard, he also made mistakes, which made Howard completely collapsed.

Using pick-and-roll, Harden did not choose to pass the ball for the first time in the game, but directly used a step back to make a mid-range shot.

"Bang!"

As the sound of irons came out, Gasol stuck Howard tightly at the basket, making Howard unable to take off.

This backcourt rebound was taken away by James on the side.

James, who received the backcourt rebound, immediately pushed for a counterattack. James can be said to be one of the strongest players in the league in today's league to promote defensive counterattacks.

The powerful tank impact and excellent pass control make James like a bug in the defensive counterattack!

Using his personal ability, James stuck to Josh and Smith forced his way to the basket. Smith wanted to follow James and gave him a nail-board hat.

But James, who noticed his teammate's position, suddenly threw the ball out from behind after rushing to the basket.

Not to mention Josh Smith on the defensive end, even Paul George who followed behind him to make a quick attack could not react immediately.

It was not until the basketball was in his hand that George realized that James passed the ball to himself, and then made a double-handed dunk against the unguarded basket!

At the beginning of the game, Paul George scored the first goal of the game in this way, and this goal instantly mobilized the atmosphere of the entire Lakers' home court.

While the Lakers are starring in lineup this season, their playing style on the court is also very exciting.

The defensive counterattack on the offensive end and the unlimited defense swap on the defensive end make the Lakers' rhythm look very smooth.

Sometimes even the offensive three-pointer iron makes people feel handsome...

In the whole first quarter, the Lakers kept suppressing the Rockets in the score. The Rockets' lineup was actually not bad, but the Rockets' drawbacks were too obvious, that is, the starting point could only be drawn from Harden.

Except for Harden, everyone else is the end point on the court. Even Howard will only play behind his back and forth.

This situation also led to the fact that when the Lakers defended Harden on the court, the Rockets' offensive rhythm was instantly disrupted by the Lakers.

From Harden's original attacks by other players, Harden can only stare at the offensive end and cannot receive the ball, and then the other four players play on the court. Anyway, whoever has the chance will shoot.

This feeling is like a car's steering wheel is removed, and then the four wheels instantly lose the center of control. Everyone is going their own way. As for whether the car can remain stable, it depends on the player's personal touch!

On the other hand, with excellent court support and off-ball running, the Lakers play very fancy on the offensive end, and basically the offensive method of each round is different, making it difficult for the Rockets to fundamentally distinguish defense.

At the end of the first quarter, the Lakers led the Rockets by 7 points with the personal restrictions on James Harden on the defensive end.

After returning from the second quarter, the Rockets' substitute lineup is actually not bad at all, but if compared with the Lakers, it is obviously worse than the level.

The Rockets' substitute is the same as the starting lineup, mainly playing defensive counterattacks and shooting of three-pointers from the outside.

However, when Harden left the court, the core player in the Rockets' backcourt became Isaiah Canan.

Kanan, who is only 1.83 meters tall, is very strong, weighing 91 kilograms, which is the same as a player who is 1.95 meters tall.

Kanan never appears with James Harden in this Rockets tactical system. Only when Harden comes off the court will Kanan temporarily act as the core on the court.

The reason for acting as the core is not that Kanan has excellent personal abilities, but that in the backcourt, the Rockets have only Kanan's breakthrough ability, and can play a breakthrough pace of the game.

After all, McHale can't let 37-year-old Terry act as the core, and Terry's old arms and legs are no longer allowed to take on this job.

The Rockets' bench plays in the entire second quarter, not changing the medicine. While changing the number of players, the overall offensive tactics have not changed at all. This is the legendary McHale!

The abilities of the substitutes of the two teams are slightly different, especially at the match between Mo Williams and Isaiah Canan. Kanan, who is 1.83 meters tall, was simply pressed to the ground and rubbed wildly.

As a point guard player at the former All-Star level, although Mo Williams is not in the peak state, facing Isaiah Kanan, who is at the defensive loophole level, Mo completely plays whatever he wants.

The Rockets' defense began to collapse after the inside and outside shots.

During the period when Harden was resting in the second quarter, the Lakers quickly widened the score to double digits. Until the end of the half, the Lakers had already taken a 14-point lead.

After returning from the second half, the Rockets still wanted to struggle, but Yang Fan could see the Rockets' offensive rhythm thoroughly.

It is completely easy for a single-core team like the Rockets to limit off offense, especially when the Lakers' defensive ability itself reaches the top of the league.

After the final three quarters, the Lakers expanded their lead to 21 points.

In the last quarter, Rockets head coach Mike Hale simply gave up his struggle, took down all the main players, and replaced them with a rotation lineup to deal with the game.

McHale knew very well that the gap between him and Yang Fan was really huge, so it was not embarrassing to lose to the Lakers in the Christmas game.

But if you are ungrateful, it will be hard for McHale to imagine how miserable it will be next time. McHale doesn't want to be the next coach to be beaten by Yang Fan.

"Dou~!"

When the whistle to the end of the game sounded, the Lakers defeated the Rockets 27 points in this Christmas game.
Chapter completed!