In the end, Han Xue didn't stay in the hotel.

Because booking a hotel is purely a joke that Qiao Hai played with her, there are three rooms on the second floor, why waste money to stay in a hotel?

Even if you don't mention the guest room, the master bedroom is so big, it's not too much to sleep one more Han Xue, and it's not Han Hong!

So, on the eve of Christmas Eve, Han Xue stayed at Qiao Hai's house.

The next day, the rocket was on holiday, and Qiao Hai took Han Xue, who had finished jet lag, to visit downtown Houston.

Houston is a city with average tourism, but the business district is prosperous, and it is a good shopping city, Qiao Hai led Han Xue to visit the major shopping malls in downtown Houston and bought a lot of things.

In the afternoon, Qiao Hai put on a formal suit, Han Xue also put on her evening dress, drove the Maybach, and the two attended the Christmas Eve dinner held by Leslie Alexander.

After the Christmas Eve dinner, Han Xue stayed in Houston for about a week before returning to Vancouver to continue her studies.

……

In their first game after Christmas, on December 27, the Rockets faced the Knicks at home.

In this game, the state of the whole Rockets team was very average, Steve Francis and Yao Ming played various irons, one shot 8 of 19, and the other shot 5 of 12.

One had 27 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists, and the other had 17 points, 5 rebounds and 1 block.

Overall, the Rockets lost to the in-form Knicks.

Of course, the Knicks' defense also played better in this game, and Rattills Prewell directly locked Ron Artest, who defended Artai with 4 of 14 shots, and the iron was even more crazy.

In this way, counting the 3-1 loss before Christmas, so far, Qiao Hai's team record has become 3-2, which has failed to meet expectations, which can be said to be lower than expected.

In this regard, Qiao Hai was also very helpless, played five games, plus various confrontations in the training day, he found that there were many problems with this rocket.

Steve Francis is an easy point guard, and as soon as he does, he will immediately become a point guard who can't pass the ball, and only knows how to blindly go it alone.

Yao Ming's problem is also obvious, he is very unstable, when he feels good, the hit rate can always reach sixty or seventy or even eighty or ninety, and when he feels bad, such as in the last few games, sometimes he is in the early 40%, sometimes not even 40%.

Of course, the good thing about Yao Ming is that if he doesn't feel good, he will also reduce his shots.

The problem with the team's third man, Ron Artest, is that Qiao Hai gave him the position of a pitcher, but the current Artai is not a top pitcher, he still needs to take the ball and combine throwing to exert his power.

Therefore, Qiao Hai has decided that with a slight change of tactics, he must first ensure that the team's record can improve significantly, otherwise, Rudy Tomjanovic's departure will become meaningless.

……

In the penultimate game in December, the Rockets faced the New Orleans Hornets at home, who currently have an 18-13 record.

The Hornets have a good record, and the improvement of Byron Davis, David Wesley's perennial consistency, and the addition of Jamal Mashburn have given the Hornets a top-10 outside combination in the league.

In terms of the interior line, compared to Qiao Hai's previous life, they lacked a Jamal Magloyer, but they were still able to discharge the interior combination of P.J. Blanc and Elden Campbell, which is still a top-level interior combination in this era of scarcity of the interior line.

As a result, the Hornets have a good record.

In this game, Qiao Hai changed the tactical strategy of the previous games, Ron Artest's positioning on the offensive end changed, Qiao Hai increased Artai's ball possession, and let Atai and Francis stagger the playing time, partnering with Da Yao or Carlos Boozer respectively.

And to a certain extent, to increase Carlos Boozer's playing time, this move is aimed at enhancing the team's attack.

And this game is the first game of the new tactical strategy play experiment.

At the beginning, under Qiao Hai's ear call, Steve Francis began to take the pass to heart again, and he and Yao Ming's double cooperation played well in the opening.

The Rockets opened with a very small lead.

Then, Qiao Hai replaced Francis, used Ron Artest to control the ball, and Carlos Boozer came on to strengthen the layering of the Rockets' offense.

In the first quarter of the game, the Rockets took a 12-point lead at 33:21.

After the role change, Ron Artest scored 10 points on 5-of-7 shooting in the first quarter, and Ron Artest, who had the ball, used his breakthrough to score consecutive points.

Plus Steve Francis, who scored 11 points on 5-of-6 in the first quarter, Yao Ming, who scored 5 points on 2-of-3 in the first quarter, and Carlos Boozer, who also scored 5 points on 2-of-4 in the first quarter.

In the first quarter of the game, the Rockets played an incredibly efficient offense, and this is what Qiao Hai wants. If the Rockets' offense can continue in the second quarter, then Qiao Hai's new strategy can be considered a success.

In the second quarter of the game, Qiao Hai replaced Steve Francis, who had rested for half a quarter, plus the inside combination of Catoga Kenny Thomas, and the outside of Jamal Crawford and James Posey.

From the perspective of the lineup, the Rockets' rotation lineup is still strong.

But at the beginning of the second quarter, Steve Francis had a bad hand, and the Rockets were chased by the Hornets for consecutive points.

After playing for more than four minutes, Qiao Hai replaced Yao Ming and Carlos Boozer, and started to double turn again, the Rockets' offense was alive again, plus Carlos Boozer's continuous back-to-back shooting on the inside, at halftime, the Rockets continued to lead the Hornets by 9 points at 52:43.

At halftime, Qiao Hai carefully studied the data of the first half of the game.

Overall, the new tactical strategy was successful, and at least, Qiao Hai learned one thing from the first half of the game - if it was just a single outside attack, the Rockets' offense would have stalled.

And if the offense on the court forms an internal and external combination, and the double offense is played, the Rockets' offense is at least the top ten in the league.

So, in the second half, after thinking about all this, he began to consciously keep the duo on the court.

Either Steve Francis plus Yao Ming, or Ron Artest plus Yao Ming, or Francis Gabuzeer, or Ron Artest plus Buozer.

Overall, Francis and Yao Ming's combination worked best, followed by Francis and Buszer's.

In the second half, the Rockets extended their lead further, and Qiao Hai's strategy succeeded, ultimately resulting in a 107-85 victory.

Ron Artest scored a Rockets-high 24 points on 9-of-16 shooting, plus eight rebounds, three assists, three steals and three blocks.

Steve Francis had 23 points, seven rebounds and five assists on 8-of-18 shooting, while Yao Ming had 18 points, eight rebounds, three assists and three blocks on 8-of-11 shooting.

Carlos Boozer came off the bench to finish with 12 points and five rebounds on 5-of-10 shooting.

A win, combined with post-match stats, strengthened Joe's resolve that Ron Artest deserved more balls.

For Steve Francis, who is easy to get up, Qiao Hai also has to give him personal ability affirmation, Steve Francis is indeed the strongest individual player in the Rockets at this stage, but at the same time, it is necessary to restrain Francis through some means.

In other words, Steve Francis is a double-edged sword, which can kill all sides if used well, and hurt others and oneself if it is not used well.

Yao Ming of the inner line is becoming more and more mature and can be used as a core, but at the same time, the problem of Yao Ming's unstable performance must also be taken seriously.

For Carlos Boozer, for the time being, Qiao Hai is still positioned as a substitute, because the starting lineup needs an inside player (Kevin Cato or Chris Anderson) who can do the dirty work to partner Yao Ming to wipe the ass of Yao Ming, who is slow to move and is prone to foul danger, and Boozer can only play as a substitute.

Other role players on the team.

Kenny Thomas, Kenny Thomas got some playing time in this game, his performance was average, not bad but not good, his style type is somewhat similar to Boozer, but compared to Boozer, who performed well in this game, Kenny Thomas is more like a fully weakened version of Boozer.

As a result, Johi believes that Kenny Thomas can be waived and either traded or benched because there is a better option within the Rockets – Boozer.

There is also Jamal Crawford, originally Qiao Hai had high hopes for Jamal Crawford, but his performance disappointed Qiao Hai, it can only be said that the current Jamal Crawford is not the super sixth man in the future, and Qiao Hai can only be patient with the current Keliu.

……

In the final game of December, the Rockets faced the Bucks at home.

It was another trial game of new tactical and strategic play, and Qiao Hai continued to reap the success, and the Rockets defeated their opponent 103-80 to win again.

In this way, in December, after Qiao Hai took over, the Rockets' record was 5 wins and 2 losses!