One Guard

Chapter 811 : Rocket falls

The 15-16 season was a brilliant season for most people and the team. The Warriors and Mavericks both played 70+ victories. Kobe Bryant left without regrets. The Spurs once again completed the update, with 67 wins and continued to remain competitive. The Cavaliers finally won the first place in the Eastern Conference, and Tyron Lue succeeded in taking the position, fulfilling his dream of being a coach…

But some people are happy and others are worried. The high-profile Chicago Bulls failed to make the playoffs, and the Ross era was completely over. The 76ers only won 10 games throughout the season, putting the team on a stigma once again. The hapless Utah Jazz finally knelt at the gate of the playoffs, leaving everyone alone. For the Rockets that took away the Jazz’s playoff spot, the 15-16 season was also dark.

On the basis of owning the two giants Harden and Howard, there is the addition of Tay Lawson, a powerful point guard. No one would have thought that the Rockets this season would just barely squeeze into the playoffs.

The performance of the Rockets during the regular season can only be described as chaos. The Rockets last season created the miracle of a 1 to 3 backward reversal, but this year, he has become the most disappointing team, none of them.

Once super center Howard, the tactical status of the Rockets is declining. In the regular season this season, he averaged only 8.5 shots per game, and the data dropped to 13.7 points and 11.8 rebounds. Since joining the Lakers, the data of “Warcraft” has been declining. This season, it has undoubtedly reached the bottom.

The rest of the Rockets were either injured or completely out of form. You often see Harden score 30 or 40 points, but no one of his teammates scored in double figures. Except for Harden, no one can score. The Rockets’ chaotic locker room atmosphere and poor results made the team’s chemistry extremely poor. People say that the Rockets want to win unless Harden scores 40 points in every game.

The fact is the same, even if the Rockets are playing a team that “sends warmth” like the 76ers, Harden must score 50 points. Moreover, it was still a narrow win!

The season has not ended, Howard has made it clear that he will definitely leave Houston. The rest of the Rockets also have an uncertain future. The entire team is simply a mess, and there is no cohesion at all. After the All-Star Game, Harden spent more than 40 minutes in each game, scoring a terrible average of 33+7+8 per game, and barely pulled the Rockets into the playoffs. And the Rockets are lucky. If the Jazz didn’t run into the Mavericks and the Lakers, the Rockets would have nothing to do with it!

This season, Harden averaged 38 minutes per game and played all 82 regular season games, making him the player with the most minutes. Had it not been for Harden’s dedication to the Rockets, the Rockets might have “crashed” long ago.

But because of this, Morey recognized Harden’s strength. This guy definitely has the potential to become a superstar! The next summer is the key to the Rockets’ lift-off.

In other words, although the Rockets have just reached the playoffs, they have actually given up early. Last season, the Rockets also dreamed of being able to wrestle with Mavericks. But this season, the Rockets didn’t even think about it. A cutscene is the theme of this series.

Therefore, in the first game of the playoffs this season, the Mavericks won inexplicably. Yiyang felt that this game was even easier than the regular season! The Rockets’ state is really a waste of playoff spots! If you change to Hayward and Jazz, you will certainly not disappoint the fans!

The rest of the Rockets have no fighting spirit at all. The first 20 points of the Rockets are all from Harden! In other words, in the first quarter, Harden played 12 minutes, and only he scored.

Howard tried to hit the basket three times, and Gobert flew off all three times. Dwight Howard, he really has become a blue collar through and through.

In the first quarter, 32 to 20, the Rockets scored only one player, and even Terry, who was always passionate, didn’t score a point. The overall environment of the team has a great influence on the players, and Terry seems to have become another person in the depressed team atmosphere of the Rockets.

Terry’s contract with the Rockets will expire at the end of this season. If the Mavericks call him this summer, he will definitely choose to return, even if it is the most humble veteran base salary. Playing in a happy environment is sometimes more meaningful than making money. With this money for the Rockets, Terry made too painful.

After the game, Mike Brin’s eyes widened even more. After the Rockets fired McHale, the pointer fell into the hands of rookie coach B.J. Bickerstaff. Bickerstaff’s coaching ability can’t be said to be so brilliant, let him lead the team to play the playoffs, in fact, it is also evidence that Morey gave up this season.

During the playoffs, many teams rotate with eight or even seven players in order to maintain the strongest firepower! People like Carlisle who are willing to continue the rotation of ten are only a minority.

As a result, Bickerstaff came up with a 12-man rotation! As long as the people on the team’s roster, Bickerstaff sent all his brains to play a round, always hoping to find that one or two in good shape can suddenly appear.

But people like the Development League MVP Goodlock, Michael Beasley, who is in a bad state, are just a waste of time after playing. Bickerstaff’s “crowd tactics” had no effect. At halftime, the Rockets trailed by 20 points. Howard was like a rookie on the court, being pinched in the palm of Gobert’s hand, he couldn’t get rid of it.

After the start of the second half of the game, people saw Yiyang sitting on the sidelines in a training suit and chatting with Nash in a suit and leather shoes. As a player development consultant for the Mavericks, Nash is also present today. However, this game obviously disappointed Nash.

Facts have proved that even without Yiyang, the rest of the Mavericks are enough to deal with this distracted rocket. Delong’s stable field control ability kept the situation from collapsing. Gobert’s guard on the inside has also made Howard humiliate himself again and again.

Although Harden’s performance is remarkable, in the playoffs, such a huge gap cannot be made up by Harden alone.

Throughout the second half, Yiyang did not play again. Just 20 minutes into the clock and get off work, Yiyang may be the most leisurely star in the first round of the playoffs.

At the end of the game, Harden had the highest score of 38 points. Howard only scored 14 points, shooting only 30%. For Howard’s shots are basically in the penalty area, the 30% shooting rate is simply incredible.

For the Mavericks, although Yiyang only played one and a half games, Deron still sorted out the team’s offense in an orderly manner. Deron himself had 24 points and 8 assists, Wade 17 points, Dirk 16 points, and Yiyang only played 20 minutes, so he scored only 15 points. Even Gobert also scored 12 points.

Without even sweating, the Mavericks easily shot down the Rockets at home. The gap of 108 to 78, 30 points, faithfully reflects the performance of the two sides on the field.

“Fortunate for the Rockets, because there are three more games, their dark days are about to end.” Mike Brin said this directly after the game. He really dares to pat his chest and say that the Mavericks can be 4 games. 0 sweeps the rocket.

After all, the Mavericks without Yiyang can win easily, and the Rockets really have no threat at all. Although it is nothing new for the Mavericks to sweep their opponents , it is really rare to advance directly without encountering resistance.

In the next three games, as Mike Brin said, the Rockets had no chance at all.

116 to 106, 121 to 102, 108 to 76, in three games, the Rockets didn’t even have any ball to narrow the gap to single digits! In the four playoffs, Harden averaged 38.6 minutes per game and was able to score 26+5+5 stats. But even so, the huge gap is difficult to fill.

On the night of April 24, the Mavericks won a big victory at the Toyota Center and officially sent the Rockets out with a big score of 4-0. The Rockets fans did not boo the Mavericks, but held up the insulting sign of Howard and frantically booed the super center they had dreamed of.

Thirty years in Hedong and Thirty years in Hexi, the once-hot Howard has now become a hot potato, and the Rockets are too late to throw it away.

Yiyang wore a training suit and celebrated with sweaty teammates. He played only 20 minutes per game. It seemed that he had returned to the days when Kidd was on the bench in his rookie season. But this is good, at least in the conference semifinals, Yiyang has enough physical strength to fight Westbrook! Judging from the current situation, the Clippers have no chance of defeating the Thunder. And the rest of the Mavericks also used this to show their status.

Just as Yiyang and his teammates were celebrating their victory in the locker room, Yiyang’s cell phone rang. Seeing the caller ID, Yiyang suddenly felt nervous. It was Vignali’s father, Alex.

“Alex, what’s the matter?” Yiyang’s heart was pounding, and it was almost the expected date of delivery of Vignali recently. Anything could happen.

“Come on, the due date may have to be advanced.”

Alex’s voice seemed very anxious.