On May 5, the Rockets had a shooting practice in Los Angeles on the morning of the game in preparation for Game 1 of the second round of the playoffs tonight at the Staples Center. The Rockets arrived in Los Angeles yesterday on a charter flight and spent the night in Los Angeles. At 11 a.m. today, they came to the Los Angeles Sparks' training base in southwest Los Angeles to borrow this WNBA training base for training.

The Rockets' workout lasted 45 minutes before opening up to the media, with both Marbury and Battier wearing ice packs on their knees, while Yao Ming entered the power room and Scola sat on the floor stretching. The Rockets' coaching staff were all together to discuss tonight's strategy, and Wolf was also with Ganning, the head of player development. It seems that the Rockets are very relaxed, and James. White was still messing around on the field.

Yao Ming participated in today's shooting drill, and he said that he no longer has any problems with his ankle and will play against the Clippers in the evening.

The moment kick-off, how noisy it will be in the arena, we have to be prepared. ”

The Rockets lost three of their four games in the regular season, which may be a mental barrier for the Rockets, but Yao Ming believes that the playoffs and the regular season are two different things, "I don't think it means anything, it's a new round of playoffs, and we can start again." A reporter asked Yao Ming about the situation of the giant panda at that time. Yao Ming said that he was ready to fight against Ji Guoqiu or Ji Guo's shame. "Yes. We prepared, but we didn't know what they were going to do with me, so I was ready to deal with the two big men at the same time. ”

Many media outlets are concerned about whether the Rockets can withstand the onslaught of the twin brothers and the Clippers in the fourth quarter, and Yao Ming's opinion is that the team must play with more energy in the final quarter, "This is the problem in the regular season, we will be in a state of struggle in the fourth quarter, and we will almost be swept. We need to play with more energy in the fourth quarter. Especially at the opponent's home turf. ”

In the Clippers' training base, reporters go to interview Little Fox, what does this guy say, and a lot of times, he can say something completely different from other players in front of the media.

After today's practice, a reporter asked what to worry about facing the Rockets, who they beat three times in the regular season? "Our goal has always been to win the championship, and I've been telling the new players this season what we're going to do." Defending the title, defending, defending, of course. I never have too many titles, preferably until I can't put them on both hands. "When it comes to team tactics. Ji Guo smiled and said: "We must continue to focus on the inside line, contain Yao Ming, work hard to defend, insist on playing a quick counterattack, and drag down the Rocket team." I'm not worried about attacking either, I'm feeling good now, I'm injury-free and we're confident we're defending our two home games. ”

At 10 o'clock that night, the first game of the Western Conference semifinals was played at the Stamp Center in Los Angeles, and the Rockets challenged the defending champion Clippers away. The match was a high-profile affair with around 20,000 fans watching the heat at the Stamp Center.

Before the start of the game, NBA league commissioner David Brown. Stern was on the home court of the Clippers and personally presented the regular season MVP trophy and the best defensive player trophy to Ji Guoqiu. Dunleavy Sr. was then presented with the Best Coach trophy. Under the cheers of the fans, Brother Panda lifted the two highest honors he dreamed of, one trophy in his hand.

Clippers starting lineup: Billups, Afflalo, Garcia, Ji Guoyi, Ji Guoqiu.

Rockets starting lineup: Stephen. Marbury, Trevor. Ariza, Sean. Battier, Louis. Scola, Yao Ming.

The game was streamed live from ESPN and TNT, and it was a nationwide live broadcast game.

Charles. "The Rockets' ability to reach the semifinals this season has been a lot due to their deep bench lineup, with Brooks, Lowry, Weaver, Barry Sr., David Lee and Mutombo on the bench, and everyone is on the court and can contribute to the team right away," Barkley said as the two teams jumped the ball. Although the Clippers' bench lineup has Crawford, Barnes, Dragic and others, they are actually mostly rookies, and they may play well when the wind is down, but once the main team can't close the gap, they are prone to fall into trouble in the bench period. ”

Kenny. Smith laughed: "So, the Los Angeles media think that Crawford's play is crucial for the Clippers, and I agree that if Jamal can't score enough points off the bench, the Clippers may not be able to beat the Rockets." ”

The elder Dunleavy has long been prepared for this, he will not let the two brothers rest too much in the playoffs, and playing more than forty minutes is nothing for the two little guys, and at this time the superstars are playing time like this. For example, LeBron of the Cavaliers. James, after the old captain was injured, the Gorillas played an average of 44 minutes per game in the first round, with an average of only three or four minutes of rest per game.

ESPN's Van Gundy said: "In the first four games of the Clippers, Ji Guoqiu averaged 17 points, 13.3 rebounds, 7 assists, 3.8 blocks and 3 turnovers per game, shooting 58% from the field, 66.6% from three-point range and 100% from the free throw line. Ji Guoyi averaged 20.3 points, 8.5 rebounds, 3 assists, 2.5 blocks and 2.5 turnovers per game, shooting 55% from the field, 44% from three-point range, and 100% from the free throw line. The average playing time of the two of them in the first round was only 32 minutes, which was basically not very strenuous. ”

Bill. Wharton smiled: "In the first round of the Clippers, I only saw the Giant Panda passing the ball to his teammates leisurely on the court, and occasionally came to the interest, and when he entered the interior line, he shot two casually, and he was already good without yawning." However, in this round, Brother Panda will not be so easy against Yao Ming, who he has always been able to defend around the front. ”

In the opening scramble, Yao Ming was certainly not the opponent of the fox brother, and Ji Guoyi won easily.

On the defensive end of the rocket, one inside and four outside positions are adopted, and there is only one Yao Ming in the restricted area. The little giant can't live or die in the forbidden area. This is an option to prevent Yao Ming from being kited by giant pandas. If Ji Guoqiu pulls to the outside to shoot. Then rely on teammates to fill in the position to defend, and the other four players of the Rockets need more movement this game to help Yao Ming share the defensive pressure.

Yao Ming is not easy, his teammates help him make up for the outside, he has to help his teammates watch the inside, but using his height, Yao Ming can pose a certain threat to the Clippers' breakthrough and cut in the inside, and his height is his biggest capital on the defensive end.

Ji Guoyi's first attack. Using his teammates to position and cover, he tried to cut in quickly from the back door and sneak up on Yao Ming.

He felt that with his speed, it would be difficult for Yao Ming to turn around and defend him. But this time Ji Guosha obviously underestimated Yao Ming's defensive awareness, the inside line of the rocket is much stronger than the Thunder, and the fox brother has not yet adjusted from the state of easy promotion in the first round, this ball is a little taken for granted, cut to the basket and forced a layup, but was almost covered by Yao Ming, who withdrew to the basket one step in advance, and the shot was ridiculously off.

Yao Ming got the rebound as soon as he reached out. The Rocket team quickly launched a counterattack, and Ji Guoyi fell to the ground with a big butt at this time. Covering his ass and grinning.

The Rockets opened the game with a counterattack by the Clippers, and Marbury had a physical confrontation with Billups during the march, but this time the latter did not take advantage, and Marbury was not like Westbrook, who would be knocked off balance by Mr. Key once he had a physical confrontation. In terms of basic skills, strength, speed, explosiveness, and experience, Marbury at this time is not inferior to Mr. Key, and is far better than the Thunder's Westbrook. Marbury was completely unafraid of Billups' defense and physical confrontation with this ball, scored a goal against the defense, and also caused Billups to foul and make it two plus one.

Emma. Roberts was looking at Ji Guosha, who was covering his buttocks, and snickered at the moment. Swift yelled at the dead fox for being useless, but her anger was due to seeing Emma not far away. Watson, she has always seen this British on the Clippers' home court this season, and she doesn't know where her ticket came from? I guess it's inseparable from that dead fox.

Ji Guozhi was a little embarrassed, and he didn't dare to look at Emma. Watson, little Hermione's outfit today was still given by him, and his wife and wife gathered together, and he felt that he was a little oversupported today.

Billups and Marbury, two players of similar strength, have opposite life trajectories.

When Marbury first entered the league, it was generally smooth, and although he also traveled around the world, his skills and talent earned him a place in the NBA, as evidenced by his two-time All-Star. And Billups is like a jade, tepid, but he complemented the Detroit Pistons well, and it was not until he killed F4 to win the championship that he became famous in one fell swoop. At this time, people knew that there was a grassroots team called the Pistons in Motor City, which won the NBA championship, and they also knew that they had a point guard, who was also the captain, and a key gentleman with a big heart named Billups.

Marbury, who came to New York in the later period, changed the trajectory of his life drastically, he began to be intolerable to the teams, becoming a black hole and a cancer of the team, with one of the highest salaries in the league, but his performance was very different. It wasn't until the Rockets exchanged the cancer for the cancer that the lone wolf was unexpectedly reborn in the Houston Rockets. After Billups won the MVP of the Finals, he naturally became a well-deserved star player in the league, and he was still one of the Big Three when he came to the Clippers and won the championship again.

Marbury and Billups, two outstanding basketball players at the same time, had similar wandering careers, which perfectly illustrated the truth that trees die and people live. On the big stage of the NBA, even if you have the ability, you must first find your own world and find a stage where you can play your ability.

Today's game, the first quarter is the duel between these two star point guards, Marbury played his stronger breakthrough ability, and continued to block and dismantle with Yao Ming and Scola to kill the Clippers inside; Billups, on the other hand, took advantage of the two brothers' pick-and-rolls, but his shots were more focused on the perimeter.

If you score a goal on the inside, I'm going to have to pay back a three-pointer right away. If you use a breakthrough to create a kill, I'm going to cheat you out there for a foul

The elder Dunleavy later felt that something was not right, their strong point was on the inside, and the strategy formulated before the game was to create a foul on Yao Ming. Didn't they all say that the referees like to target the little giants? That's right in Staples to get him down. But this game turned into a showdown between point guards, and players on both sides were willing to create scoring opportunities for their point guards.

But for the Clippers, this is definitely not a good thing, just like you can directly kill the opponent with a gun in your hand, but instead of killing yourself, you will compete with the opponent with fists and feet. (To be continued......) R1071