After the Knicks' substitution, the offense is still the same, but the goal of Tyberdu's substitution is not to strengthen the offense, but to strengthen the defense, and the effect of Tyberdu's substitution can only be tested on the defensive end.

The Rockets were deducted by Li Feng, and Harden immediately came to the Knicks with anger.

When he was in the capital, Li Feng didn't make Harden unhappy, and now when he arrives at his home court, Harden is still playing so arrogantly.

Immediately Harden felt that he had to give the Knicks a little bit of power, so Harden immediately reached out to Delfino for the ball after running over.

Delfino passed the ball, and Harden saw that it was Thornton who was defending him, and he immediately crossed his shoulders to knock Thornton away.

But Thornton's former template was LeBron James, who was not afraid of confrontation, and directly raised his chest to do a fierce physical confrontation with Harden.

Harden bumped into it and didn't adjust to the best state, and when he raised his hand to shoot again, Thornton's footsteps also caught up quickly, directly in front of Harden's eyes.

Harden didn't expect his old teammates to be so strong defensively, tall and clumsy, and the timing was good.

In a moment of embarrassment, Harden immediately missed the shot, and it was relatively easy for Kirilenko to grab Mortiyunas.

After the Knicks made a substitution, it really worked on the defensive end, and as soon as Tyberdu saw that he had achieved his tactical goal, he immediately remained silent on the sidelines.

And McHale saw that the Knicks' adjustments on the defensive end were effective, and he immediately glanced at his watch, which was not far from the end of the first quarter. It's time for him to replace Harden and put on a full bench lineup.

Kirilenko took the rebound in the backcourt and immediately threw it at Li Feng, who ran towards the Rocket's half court at high speed.

But the Rockets ran faster than Li Feng, and when Li Feng arrived at the Rocket's half, he saw that the Rockets had already run back several people, and the Rockets' small lineup still had an obvious advantage in speed.

In this way, Li Feng could only pause for a moment, and then wait for Thornton and Kirilenko to come over. Li Feng called a cover for Kirilenko.

At this time, Li Feng called Kirilenko's cover for a reason, Li Feng has already seen that Morty Yunas's defense is nothing more than that.

Although his nickname is Magic Iron, it is just that the blocking is better, and let Morty Yunas take over the inside line as a co-defense and top defense, Morty Yunas is a little worse, so at this time, Kirilenko should be played out like this.

Kirilenko came out to cover Li Feng, and sure enough, the thief slipped back and began to find a position to attack.

Li Feng happened to intend to play this point, and immediately dismantled the basketball into Kirilenko's hands.

Kirilenko took the ball to face the basket while moving, with a little hands, and Younas could only fly because of the height difference.

Kirilenko took advantage of the opportunity. Lean forward and rub the ball with your right hand on the rebound. Not just scored two points, but also cheated on one of Younas' fouls.

Kirilenko played Younas too easily, and after the score, Reggie Miller said: "

I think the rocket should increase the inside height. One big belt and four small, for the big man in the middle of the defense requirements are very high, Mortiyunas obviously can't reach it! ”

Bill Wharton also said:

"The Rockets should make substitutions, otherwise their interior defense is too bad!"

When the two of them suggested that the Rockets make a substitution, Kirilenko hit the free throw line and hit a solid free throw.

Li Feng saw that Kirilenko was so easy to beat Younas, and he immediately came over with Dragic and said:

"I'll pass the ball to AK when I get an opportunity. I think it's time for him to make a move today. ”

Dragic smiled on the side and answered.

After the Knicks called a timeout, they made consecutive successes on the offensive end, and they were also effective on the defensive end, and it seemed that the Knicks were about to gain the upper hand.

At this time, there will inevitably be some fluctuations on the rocket's side. Now that the Western West is so chaotic and the Rockets don't want to lose, the battle between teams with such fierce competition can already be called a playoff game, and both sides are careless. I don't want to show the slightest flaw.

So when it came to play again, Harden finally made up his mind and pulled out the three-point line to get the ball. Then the outside of the three-point line continues to shake.

Harden has already experienced that it is more difficult to eat Thornton, but there is still a chance to use his foot.

Sure enough, with Harden's continuous shaking, Thornton really couldn't keep up, and Harden took advantage of this opportunity to go to the baseline and make a close-range jumper to score two points for the team.

Harden's most impressive two-point jumper during his time with the Rockets was his accurate two-point jumper, but in terms of the development of basketball.

The two-point jumper has been abandoned by the times, and now basketball is getting faster and faster, and the requirements for shooting are getting higher and higher.

In this way, a two-point jumper around 16 feet is not advantageous compared to a three-point shot and an offense under the basket.

Although the three-point shot is more risky, it can gain more and can open up space for team combat.

The basket breakaway and strong shot percentage are high, and there is also a bonus to win fouls. The mid-range jumper is both trapped by the shooting percentage and has no tactical bonus, so the benefit of specializing in the mid-range is not much at this time.

In this situation, Harden is still dominated by mid-range scoring, which greatly reduces his offensive efficiency.

Just after Harden scored, the Knicks pushed in again, and this time the Knicks hit Kirilenko's basket.

Li Feng used Thornton's cover to pull outside the three-point line, and suddenly passed the ball to Thornton, who popped up the three-point line, Thornton took the ball and shook it, and then a through plug passed the basketball to Kirilenko, who was already stuck in position.

Thornton's ability to respond was still passable, Kirilenko, who took the ball, immediately dribbled a step, turned his body to pass Mortiyunas, and then scored another point with an easy layup with his left hand, and also created a defensive foul on Mortiyunas.

The Knicks began to play the soft underbelly of the Rockets frequently, and Morty Yunas was beaten two 2+1s in a row, and at this time, even fools could see that the Knicks used Morty Yunas as an ATM.

McHale took this opportunity to start a large-scale substitution lineup, Casby and Asik were all replaced on the court by McHale, and Asik was obviously there to contain Kirilenko.

Since the Rockets have replaced them with a full bench, the Knicks did not hesitate to get off Li Feng and replace them with a bench lineup.

After switching to the bench lineup, the Knicks centered on Thornton and Kirilenko. Thornton helped the outside line block and responded with a long-range shot, and Kirilenko dominated the low post and used an open cut to attack the basket.

The rest of the players are always ready to make threes and breakthroughs, and the Knicks play this style of play, and the Rockets' interior line is indeed a little unbearable.

Mortiyunas couldn't save Thornton's long-range shots and tactics, and Asik didn't have much to do with Kirilenko's air cut.

And the Rockets have some trouble at this time, the Rockets are a team that relies on outside offense, they rely very much on the touch, and after all the benches are played.

The Rockets had a bad hand, Garcia's long-range shot was muted, and Cosby's long-range shot was inconsistent. Delfino is another veteran and has not contributed much offensively. Asik encountered the monster Monroe in front of him today, and he also encountered the Russian tree in the back, and he was quite unhappy.

By the end of the first quarter, the Knicks, who were playing on the road, had a slight 4-point lead over the Rockets at 32-28.

In the first quarter, the Rockets played well in the front, but lost in the late bench period, which was completely unexpected by everyone.

In the past, almost all experts thought that the Rockets' bench was better, but now that the game is playing, the Knicks' bench is more solid.

Thornton and Kirilenko, a pair of black and white interior combinations, one inside and one outside, have nothing to do with the rockets.

McHale frowned at the end of the day. The toughness of the Knicks' bench was indeed beyond his expectations. This variable makes the game more likely.

At the same time, Tyberdu inadvertently opened a door, and Tyberdu clearly saw the weakness of the Rockets in defense at this time.

The Rocket's interior line is still short of people, especially afraid of the opponent's tall interior line and low-post offense, which is a dead knot for the Rockets in staffing.

So at this time, Tyberdu immediately decided to draw the attention of the Rockets from the outside in the second quarter. Let Kirilenko be the main attacker and attack the Rockets' basket.

In order to implement his goal, Taberdu still decided to let Li Feng play early at the beginning of the second quarter, and the iron should be hot. If you miss this opportunity, it will not be easy to overturn the other party.

At the beginning of the second quarter, McHale also replaced Harden back, and both teams replaced the main players early. Obviously, the atmosphere of confrontation is very strong, and in such a fierce competition in the west, the two teams do not dare to be careless.

Seeing that the second quarter was about to begin, Bill Wharton said:

"The situation in the first quarter was very unfavorable for the Rockets, their offense was not fully opened, and the defense could not prevent the interior, and it was dangerous to play the Rockets like this. Now it's time to test McHale's defensive ability, and if he can't defend it, he'll lose today's game. ”

"Yes! It's still not okay to only have offense, no defense, especially against a team like the Knicks that has both offense and defense. ”

Reggie Miller apparently agrees with Bill Wharton very much.

At the beginning of the second quarter, it was the Knicks who played first, and at this time Li Feng came up and did a high-post blocking and dismantling with Thornton, at this time, the Rockets players still underestimated Thornton, and the two of them came to wrap Li Feng together, and Li Feng passed the basketball to Thornton behind.

Thornton took a step to catch the ball, just widening the distance between him and Mortiyunas, and then took the ball and threw it with his hand.

Thornton's shooting posture is not good-looking, it looks similar to a strong pass, but this unsightly shooting posture has the advantage of shooting very far back and shooting quickly, and Morty Yunas can't catch up with Thornton's three-point throw in one step.

"Brush!"

Thornton's three-point shot smashed steadily into the Rockets' basket, and the Knicks' firepower continued in the opening game, which made the Rockets stunned, and Kevin Thornton's current solid performance simply made the Rockets jaw-dropping.

The strong performance of the Knicks bench, especially Thornton, suddenly upset the balance of previous court expectations.

At this time, the Rockets began to feel the crisis, and Douglas, a veteran of the battleground who had been tested for a long time, immediately smelled something wrong. Dribbling the ball to the Knicks' half again, Douglas immediately made a gesture of wanting to stabilize the situation.

But just when Dragic relaxed a little, Douglas immediately came up and beat Dragic hard.

Douglas is not the kind of player who is amazing, he is not very fast, he does not bounce very well, and the only advantage is the acquired muscles and strong will. Therefore, Douglas's strong play is destined not to look good, and it will only look a little dragged, but these do not mean that Douglas's singles are not threatening, especially when the opponent is slack.

At this time, Dragic was also slacking off. Douglas immediately broke through and forced a shoulder against Dragic, who immediately lost his position, and Douglas seized such a momentary opportunity to jump up and throw a long-range throw.

Douglas's singles were not good-looking, and the play was not fancy, but the ball went in solidly.

Immediately after the goal, Douglas turned around and shouted:

"Strengthen the defense and put pressure on them on the perimeter! Be sure to put pressure on them periphery. ”

While Douglas was yelling on the sidelines, McHale on the sideline was nodding repeatedly, and the Rockets' interior defense was struggling. Strengthening the pressing of the outside line is certainly a good way to do it.

As the commander on the field, Douglas is undoubtedly qualified, and McHale is confident that with Douglas on board this season, they will go even further.

Douglas can not only command his teammates, but also physically when the Knicks pounce again.

Douglas immediately took the lead to put defensive pressure on Dragic, and the outside defense with Douglas leading the Rockets suddenly pounced.

At this time, Dragic's weakness is reflected, Dragic is a two-way guard, not a pure point guard, so his ball-holding ability must be slightly weaker.

Douglas, this old ginger once pounced. He immediately felt the pressure and could only pass the ball to Li Feng quickly. In this way, the pressure is completely on Li Feng.

The moment Li Feng got the ball, he saw Douglas take a big step in the direction of Li Feng, as if he wanted to wrap himself up with Machado, who came off the bench. In this way, Li Feng happened to pass the ball to Dragic, but as soon as Li Feng picked up the basketball, he saw Douglas shrink back.

Li Feng took back the basketball, but saw that Machado had already been attached to his body, and at the same time, behind Jones, Mortiyunas was also ready to help defend at any time.

Douglas's swoop. delayed Li Feng's offensive timing, and at the same time formed a defensive trap for Li Feng.

At this time, it was more difficult for Li Feng to attack again, and the rocket was half successful in defending here.

Just when the Rockets consciously succeeded in defending. Thornton suddenly pulled up to the outside of the three-point line.

Li Feng quickly passed the ball to Thornton, Thornton's previous three-point ability had moved the Rockets, and at this time Morty Yunas could only make a quick save.

As mentioned earlier, Thornton's shot was a lot like a powerful pass with both hands, and this time it was the same, and Thornton flew as soon as he raised his hand. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Thornton quickly stuffed the basketball into the hands of Kirilenko on the inside.

Kirilenko took the ball and turned to miss the point, Asik raised his hand to defend, and Kirilenko took the opportunity to step forward and shoot to score two more points.

Douglas said that he would strengthen the perimeter defense, and now the Rockets' perimeter defense has come up, but it still hasn't had much defensive effect.

It was mainly Thornton who played a role in it, and Thornton's three-point range and his status as the No. 4 position is a huge dislocation for most teams.

With Thornton outside the three-point line, the Knicks' space will be stretched quickly, Kirilenko on the inside can also be played, Li Feng wants to do singles more smoothly, and Thornton not only has three-point ability, but also has a good ability to respond to the outside, so it is very difficult for the Rockets to pounce outward, and the big man's playmaker will basically not be pounced, because they can hold high and play the pass.

Seeing that the interior defense is in difficulty, and the effect of attacking the outside is not good, the Rockets are really in trouble at this time.

Douglas went to the Rockets' halfcourt and immediately pulled out the formation and gave the basketball to Harden, who received the ball with his back at 45 degrees.

The Rockets' two guards pull away, the two forwards cut in the air, and Harden's back-to-back single tactics are actually a variant of a combination of inside and outside tactics. It's just lighter, but this tactic also reduces the offensive damage of the combined internal and external tactics.

At this time, Harden came up and was beaten, and Asik immediately cut around the free throw line, before Kirilenko hit Asik with his height, and now Asik immediately hit Kirilenko with mobility when he got an empty position.

Asik went around, Kirilenko's footsteps really couldn't keep up, Asik took the ball and immediately shot the middle distance, but just when he got the ball, Li Feng harassed him in the past, and Asik didn't shoot well in the middle distance.

The Rockets missed mid-range, Thornton immediately received a rebound under the basket, and the Knicks turned back to attack.

Not long after the start of the second quarter, the pace of the game still belonged to the Knicks. The Rockets' two interior lines still didn't lock up the Knicks' interior pairing.

The reason is that the inside line type of the rocket is too single, and the three inside lines of the rocket are basically brutal, and the athleticism is not lacking at all, but when encountering the Knicks's two interior lines, an outside strategy type, and an interior skill type, the three beast factions of the rocket cannot be forcefully used.

Therefore, the Rockets can't defend the Knicks' two technical outside lines, and if they can't prevent these two people, they can't defend the entire Knicks team as a whole.

And at this time, the Knicks obviously found some way to deal with the Rockets, and since the Rockets couldn't hit our dual-skill inside, we just gave the ball to these two people.

Dragic dribbled the ball over and even passed it directly to Santon, who picked up the ball from beyond the three-point line and Motiyunas immediately pounced.

At this time, Thornton's ability was revealed, and in the face of the saved Morty Yunas Thornton, he still did not hurry and dribbled towards Li Feng's side and took two steps.

Li Feng happened to take advantage of Thornton's cover and went around a half-circle to get stuck near the baseline, and then Thornton gave the basketball to Li Feng with a one-handed ground-hitting pass.

Li Feng took the ball and forcibly squeezed Machado two steps back, seeing that Li Feng was under the basket, Asik pounced on the bag.

Li Feng made a pass to Kirilenko, who reached the free throw line.

Kirilenko has a mid-range, and the Russian takes the ball directly into a small mid-range shot. (To be continued......)