Continuing to be excluded by Del Harris's coaching staff, Qiao Hai is no longer in such a hurry.

On the one hand, Mitch Kupchak has given Qiao Hai confidence, Kupchak understands the situation, he is still the actual general manager of the team, as long as he can get Kupchak's support, Qiao Hai's heart will have the bottom.

On the other hand, although the opening game has not yet started, Qiao Hai has found many shortcomings in the pre-game arrangement of Del Harris, and Qiao Hai believes that even if the Lakers can win the first game, it will be very difficult.

Coupled with the subsequent back-to-back schedule, Del Harris will definitely feel anxious in the early stages of the season, unless he can listen to Joe's advice.

……

Before the start of the season, ESPN announced the team prediction standings for the new season.

With Michael Jordan retiring and the Bulls dynasty disintegrating, the Jazz are at the top of the list, followed by the Lakers, and it is clear that the Jazz and the Lakers are favored in the absence of the basketball gods in the NBA.

After all, one is the Western Conference champion of the past two seasons, the other is the Lakers with Shaquille O'Neal, and the third is the Spurs with Tim Duncan.

The Lakers are highly favored, in fact, it is also in line with Jerry West's goal for the new season, it has been two seasons since Shaquille O'Neal was introduced, and it would be a failure not to take the championship as a must-fight goal, especially Kobe Bryant has also improved greatly, and the Lakers have indeed come to the time to make results.

In the first game of the season, the strength of the Rockets is not weak, they form a big three, and the goal is obviously the championship, in the ESPN rankings, the Rockets rank eighth, if you divide the top teams, the Lakers are the first tier team, and the Rockets are at least close to the first tier of the team.

Suffice it to say, this game is not easy to play.

At the Great Western Forum Arena, Qiao Hai ushered in his debut as a professional coach, sitting in the back seat of the coach's seat and watching the game up close.

Del Harris arranged the opening tactics in front, and at the beginning, considering that the Rockets' main core lineup is not young, and the physical problems may be more severe, so Del Harris decided to start a wave of attack, and the Rockets' aging lineup was caught off guard.

The Lakers' starting lineup is point guard Derrick Fisher, shooting guard Kobe Bryant, small forward Rick Fox, power forward Elden Campbell and center Shaquille O'Neal.

To be honest, the first moment he saw this lineup, Qiao Hai felt that this lineup was too cumbersome, Del Harris played two centers, Derrick Fisher had no organizational ability, and he could only rely on Kobe Bryant to organize the whole court, but the problem was that Del Harris's organizational tactics did not give Kobe enough freedom.

Therefore, the Lakers opened the attack, and Kobe Bryant could only cooperate with Shaquille O'Neal for a few simple blocking and dismantling, but the effect was very average.

A simple blocking and dismantling match obviously can't break the Rockets' defense, Hakiem Olajuwon and Scott Pippen are too experienced, Olajuwon defends O'Neal, Scott Pippen defends Kobe, and as soon as the two of them change defenses, the Lakers' simple blocking and dismantling is cracked at once.

With Pippen's height, strength and experience, plus Barkley coming over to help defend on the other side, it was not much of a problem to defend against O'Neal two-on-one.

Kobe Bryant had to come on his own, missing two mid-range step-back jumpers in a row......

Del Harris shouted, "Kobe, what are you doing!" Pass! ”

Kobe Bryant's starter was forcibly stuffed to Del Harris by Jerry West and Qiao Hai, judging from Del Harris's attitude towards Kobe, Kobe Bryant shot twice in a row, both times forced backward jumpers, and Del Harris was naturally dissatisfied.

Del Harris believes that if Kobe Bryant had been replaced by Eddie Jones, O'Neal would have received two passes and scored twice.

But the reality is that Kobe Bryant struck iron twice, and he was about to turn into three irons.

After Del Harris expressed his dissatisfaction, Kobe Bryant could only helplessly pass the ball to O'Neal, but O'Neal forced Olajuwon to play Olajuwon inside, which was also quite difficult, after all, Olajuwon was also one of the four centers.

Shaquille O'Neal also played hard, and the Lakers' opening rush failed.

Qiao Hai was not surprised, his idea was just the opposite of Del Harris, playing an experienced team like the Rockets, the opening must be stable first, consumed to the end, and then a wave of force, with the last wave to lock in the victory.

Del Harris's strategy was wrong in the opening period, and subsequent adjustments failed to keep up.

The game ended at halftime, and the Lakers trailed the Rockets by seven points.

The 7-point difference was not very large, so in the second half, the Lakers directly launched a counterattack.

The youthful advantage allowed the Lakers' counteroffensive to pay off a lot, and they equalized the score in the first half quarter.

Cortlambis looked at Qiao Hai with a smile, although the game did not go well, but in the second half, the Lakers had already mastered the initiative on the court, it seems that with Del Harris's strategy, it should not be a big problem to win the first game, although there are many flaws in the process.

Qiao Hai smiled back, he didn't know what Cortlambis was thinking.

At this time, the rocket was replaced.

Rockets head coach Rudy Tomjanovic waved his hand and replaced several youngsters.

Michael Dixon and Catino Mobley, mentioned before the game, were on the pitch.

This game is the NBA career debut of Michael Dixon and Catino Mobley, Qiao Hai took a look at it with the scouting system, Michael Dixon, the current total rating is 72, the same as Derek Fisher, the potential attribute is 79, which is slightly higher than the potential of 78 points Derek Fisher, but the injury attribute is a bit bright, only 17 points, which means that Michael Dixon is easily injured.

Qiao Hai doesn't know much about Michael Dixon, but he knows that the reason for Michael Dixon's future fall is precisely because of injuries.

And Catino Mobley is a little scary, with a total rating of 75, which has reached the level of a starter, and the future potential attribute is also as high as 84, obviously an All-Star level scoring guard.

The two rookies drafted by the Rockets are not weak, and the Lakers' excessive contempt for the outside of the Rockets made Qiao Hai frown.

……

On the court, the Lakers are still emptying the outside line and sticking to the inside, Charles Barkley and Hakeem Olajuwon are too jealous of the Lakers, and they are hoarding the inside line, and the outside line is missing a lot.

After the substitution, Michael Dixon, whom Joe mentioned before the game, opened fire......

Michael Dixon hit consecutive outside shots, he didn't enter the inside line at all, he was floating far away on the outside line, and the excellent feel soon drove Catino Mobley, the two rookies on the outside suddenly broke out, Del Harris yelled on the sidelines, and the score was instantly overtaken by the Rockets and pulled away......

Cotlambises was even more stunned, Catino Mobley? Michael Dixon?

He immediately turned his head to look at Qiao Hai, only to find that Qiao Hai had been frowning.

Cortlambis thought about it, changed his position, and sat down in front of Qiao Hai.

"Joe, you actually guessed it, how did you come up with it?" Seeing that Qiao Hai was a little puzzled, he continued: "I mean Catino Mobley and Michael Dixon, how did you guess that the two of them would break out? ”

"Actually, it's just a random guess, of course, there is some basis, the Rockets' starting outside projection is not good, Matt Maloney and Bresderew's projection are very problematic, so we can stare at the inside and let go of the outside."

"But if you keep playing like this, as long as the Rockets put on players with excellent outside projection, the defense is easy to collapse, so after Michael Dixon and Catino Mobley come on the court, the defense really collapses......"

Cortlambis nodded: "Then if it were you, how would you adjust?" ”

On the sidelines, Del Harris frantically spread out the team's defense, trying to prevent the Rockets' outside projection.

Qiao Hai shook his head: "I'm definitely not going to be so impatient to let the team's defense expand, I will call a timeout first, interrupt the opponent's offensive, and then completely adjust the defense and strengthen the offense." ”

"Intensify the offense?"

"Yes, offense, Michael Dixon and Catino Mobley are both rookies, they both have average defense, so we can just move the focus of the offense to the perimeter......"

Cotlambis continued to nod, and discussed with Qiao Hai several times about tactical layout and adjustment, Cotlambis's talent in tactics has already felt Qiao Hai's talent in tactics, Qiao Hai's tactical arrangement, judgment and adjustment of the situation, have already made Cotlambis's breathtaking.