With the Timberwolves defeating the Rockets in the second game of the first round, the Timberwolves are currently in the lead with a score of 2:0.

This scene made many fans silent. Obviously, the Timberwolves' strength is far beyond people's imagination.

Before this round of series started, many people thought that the Rockets had a chance to have a black eight, but the two consecutive big wins directly left Rocket fans speechless.

Judging from the depth of the lineup, the Rockets are not inferior to the Timberwolves, and their defensive efficiency is also half as good as the Timberwolves.

But in this round of the series, people saw a breeze. All they saw was the Timberwolves won two big wins without any effort, making the Rockets' situation passive instantly.

At present, the Rockets still have the possibility of turning the Timberwolves in theory, but if we start from a practical perspective, people really can't think of a reason for the Rockets to turn the tables and advance.

Especially the Timberwolves' restrictions on Yao and Mai on the defensive end are simply too perfect, making it difficult for Yao and Mai to join forces to break the situation.

As for the role players, they lost themselves under the Timberwolves' defense, among which David Wesley and Bob Sulla contributed a pitiful 34 points in two games.

On average, each person can only hand in about 8 points in a single game.

This score is almost the same as the average level of the two of them in the season, but the problem is that the Timberwolves' defensive focus has always been on Yao Ming. In this case, the Rockets' role players still play so poorly, no wonder the Rockets will lose two away games in a row.

Next, the Rockets must win the playoffs G3, otherwise once the Timberwolves are in the next round, the Rockets will really only have theoretical promotion left!

…………

On April 29, the third match between the Timberwolves and the Rockets in the first round was officially kicked off at Houston's Toyota Center Arena.

As soon as the game started, fans discovered the Rockets' lineup changes. The biggest change was that Jeff Van Gundy chose to win Yao Ming as the starter and instead used 39-year-old veteran Mutombo as the starter.

This season, Uncle Mu has always played as Yao Ming as a substitute in the Rockets. During the regular season, Uncle Mu averaged 4 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game.

As a veteran center who was selected into the best defensive team six times in his career, won the block king three times and was elected the best defensive player four times. Mutombo, who is 2.18 meters tall, is very clear about his positioning.

It is to try to contribute to the team on the defensive end and put yourself completely in the position of a blue-collar center.

In the peak season, Mutombo averaged at most 4.5 blocks per game. Even if Uncle Mu is no longer young now, his outstanding defensive sense can still make this Congo mountain King Kong in the Rockets' no-fly zone.

Jeff Van Gundy's purpose is quite obvious, and he hopes that the starting lineup can be fully focused on McGrady, and then let Yao Ming miss the Timberwolves' strongest defensive period and try to play a role on the bench.

After all, the first two losses have been fully proven that even if Yao Ming starts, he will be targeted inhumanely by the Timberwolves.

Even when you cannot easily attack, it will delay the performance of other teammates.

So in this game, Jeff Van Gundy simply put Yao Ming on the bench, allowing the entire Rockets to start an offensive around McGrady. During McGrady's rest, Yao Ming could take over the banner as soon as possible to ensure that the Rockets' offense would not fall into a stagnation state.

In the first quarter, McGrady, who returned to home, felt very hot, which also had something to do with Yao Ming's fate.

When Yao Ming is on the court, McGrady has to consider more offensive focus, but when Yao Ming is not on the court, McGrady is the core figure of the entire Rockets.

Play whatever you want on the court, and you don’t have to consider other issues at all on the offensive end.

In addition, the Rockets are currently 0: 2 is behind. From a practical point of view, it is only a matter of time before the Rockets are eliminated, so this has made McGrady completely let go of the game and become very confident on the court.

This mentality can be said to be a broken candle, or it can be said that there are too many lice and not afraid of itch. In short, McGrady performed very well in this game.

At the end of the first half, McGrady scored 27 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists, leading the Rockets to lead the Timberwolves for the first time to end the first half.

In addition to McGrady's hot touch, the Timberwolves fell behind in the entire first half, and it was directly related to the poor touch of "Madman" Spreville.

He was played as a superstar performance by the Madman in two consecutive games, which made Jeff Van Gundy look ugly as a defensive coach. In this game, Van Gundy simply attacked the Madman, allowing the Madman to enjoy Kobe's treatment in advance.

The Madman has excellent offensive ability and rich offensive methods, but the Madman's biggest flaw is that his passing vision is average. Once he encounters a pincer attack, it is difficult for the Madman to calmly sort out the offense.

This is one of the reasons that restricts the madman from entering the ranks of stars.

The reason why Jeff Van Gundy was unwilling to attack the madman before was mainly because he was afraid of the Timberwolves' excellent shooting ability, especially when center player Divac could pull to the three-point line to take action, which made Jeff Van Gundy very reluctant to lose big because of a small amount.

However, the performance of the Madman in this round of the series was really impressive. He scored nearly 30 points in two consecutive games. Even if Van Gundy was afraid, he had to make changes.

Otherwise, the Rockets will be in a desperate situation and may face the ending of being shaved by the Timberwolves.

After returning from the second half, McGrady's touch was still hot. Even if Luke decisively attacked McGrady, he could not stop McGrady from scoring all kinds of immortal goals.

Seeing McGrady as if possessed by God on the court, Luke stood on the sidelines and wrote helplessness on his face. In this case, McGrady could not defend at all.

In December of this season, McGrady performed a classic 35.13-minute God performance. Even now, people still crazily praising McGrady.

From this point, we can also see how unsolvable McGrady is. Spurs head coach Popovich must have more say in this regard than anyone else!

"Dudu!"

As the whistle sounded at the end of the game, McGrady scored 49 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists, the Rockets defeated the Timberwolves at home 108:101, and struggled to tie the total score of the series to 1                                                                                          �

The victory of this game gave the Rockets a breath of breath. Even if the Timberwolves' chance of advancing is far greater than that of the Rockets, if the Rockets can continue to win a game in the next home court, then this round of series will return to the starting point.

As for whether Luke is willing to give the Rockets this opportunity, he mainly has to ask McGrady, the "Son of God" who was celebrating on the court at this time.

The playoffs scored 49 points in a single game, which not only broke McGrady's career high, but also put a lot of pressure on the Timberwolves.

When the Timberwolves series scored 2: 0 lead, everyone felt that the Timberwolves would definitely accept this round of the series, but McGrady's performance seemed to be telling everyone that the series was far from over!

…………

At the post-match press conference, Luke sat in the interview seat and answered many questions calmly.

Even though most of the problems were related to McGrady's personal performance in this game, there was no sign of anxiety and regret on Luke's face.

It seems that losing a game is not a big deal, or Luke is determined to win this round of the series. Even if the Rockets win a game by chance with McGrady's God's performance, Luke does not take the Rockets seriously at all.

Luke's expression made many Rockets fans feel unhappy. This feeling seemed like he was contemptuous and was completely different from Luke!

Until a reporter asked Luke whether McGrady's performance still made the Timberwolves confident in this round of the series, and if he had confidence, Luke felt that the Timberwolves would use several games to eliminate the Rockets, the scene suddenly became silent.

"Everything loss is a growth, but sorry, it's time for this series to end."
Chapter completed!