Both the Lakers and the Rockets regard each other as imaginary enemies, and public opinion generally believes that the Rockets will be ranked 5th to 7th in the West, and the Lakers will be ranked 1-3th in the final ranking. The two teams may face each other in the second round of the playoffs. The two teams will naturally be regarded as potential matchups in the second round or first round of the playoffs.

The two teams are seen as a playoff preview. ABC TV and Time Warner Cable Sports, two national-level TV stations, chose to broadcast the game live, and the attention was very high.

At 6:40 pm on the 24th, the two teams entered the Houston Comber Center.

Old players are always different from young players. After Zhang Hao won the All-Star MVP, Kidd was full of fear and hostility towards Zhang Hao before playing against the Lakers. So when he saw Zhang Hao's look of watching the show, Kidd's unhappy mood with Zhang Hao suddenly popped up.

Because Kidd and Zhang Hao are players of the same generation, their careers are just beginning.

But when it comes to Olajuwon's status, the All-Star vote king, and the All-Star MVP, it is naturally happy to get it, and it doesn't matter if you can't get it.

Before the game, Olajuwon and Drexler chatted with Lakers Magicians, Van Exel and Zhang Hao. The off-field relationship was generally pretty good.

When Olajuwon saw Zhang Hao behaved politely, he always called him honorific when he heard Zhang Hao speak. He felt that Zhang Hao was really a gentleman off the court, but when he thought about O'Neal and Kidd, who were in trouble recently... Olajuwon was glad that he did not have too obvious flaws in his technology, otherwise he would be in danger of being safe in his later years.

After a while of greeting, Zhang Hao returned to the bench and saw Jason Williams staring at the substitute guard with an amazingly weird appearance on the opposite side...

Zhang Hao did not intend to chat with Jason Williams, but Jason Williams saw Zhang Hao coming and asked, "Aix, who would win if I think Cassel and I compete for the best sixth person?"

After a comprehensive analysis, Zhang Hao replied: "Kukocchi will win."

Jason Williams asked quite dissatisfiedly: "Is it impossible for Cassel and I to get the best sixth man?"

Jason Williams has averaged 23.6 minutes per game so far this season, averaging 8. Although he is only ranked tenth in the league in rebounding, his rebounding efficiency is ridiculously high, which is higher than Rodman. Rodman averages 33 minutes of playing time and scores 14.4 rebounds.

However, in the overall performance, Zhang Hao felt that as the core of the Bulls' triangular offense, Kukochi, who averaged 13 points and 3.5 assists per game, had a slightly higher probability of winning the best sixth man.

However, if the Lakers really won the first place in the West in the end, it is hard to say, but if they were not the first in the West, based on the selection criteria of this era, Kukochi had the greatest probability of winning the best sixth man.

Although Kassel averaged better 14+3+4 per game, he was almost completely unable to win the best sixth man.

Of course, at the end of the first half of the season, Jason Williams, Cassel, Sabonis, Dell Curry, Chris Gatlin and others were also predicted to win the best sixth man, but the first person in the prediction was Kukochi.

After reanalyzing it, Zhang Hao said to Jason Williams, who looked at him with anticipation: "If you can add points to the best sixth person if you look scary, you won't be Cassel's opponent."

"That guy might really scare the reporters to give him a few more votes...Wait! What do you mean? Stop and don't run!"

Jason Williams responded and realized that he wanted to hit someone on the spot, but Zhang Hao rushed to the technical station at a rapid speed. A group of people could still be fooled by Zhang Hao on the bench and went to the technical station in public... He could only sit down hatefully.

...

"Welcome to the defending champion Rockets against the Lakers, Time Warner Cable Sports Live. I am your old friend Hubby."

"I'm Bill."

"Bill, why are you so simple about introducing yourself today? Are you learning from Aix?"

"Don't mention Aix to me!"

"Hey, don't you always broadcast the Lakers game and say that Aix is ​​more like Bird, and let him play with the Celtics after his contract expires?"

"No, I don't like him now!"

"Why?"

"I have an extra Lakers jersey in my family!"

"Aix made you green? Sorry, I don't mean anything else, but it's unlikely, right?"

"Aix made you green! It's my son!"

"Your son is green by Aix? That's possible. Aix and Luke are peers. Bill, Jie Ai, told Luke that this is the mark of growth. His appearance was given by his parents. He is not very ugly, but Aix is ​​too handsome."

"My son is also very handsome, okay! No, your son is just green by Aix!... Forget it..." Bill Walton was depressed and too lazy to be angry with this 60-year-old Bu Xiu.

"Don't forget it, I have to share this kind of good thing with everyone."

Bill Walton was very desperate, as if he punched the old man, but the opponent was over 60 years old, and he would probably have to support him for a lifetime... He could only respond: "Two days ago, my son came home wearing the Lakers No. 8 jersey, and he also showed off that he had been waiting for a long time and finally bought the jersey. He had never bought my jersey!

Come on, Hakim, Beat-LA!”

Originally, I wanted to continue listening to Bill Walton's tragic deeds, but Bill Walton suddenly shouted a slogan and brought the topic back to the game that was about to begin. Hubby Brown regretfully entered the professional mode and asked: "Luke, who do you think has better playoff prospects for the Lakers or Rockets?"

"Of course it's the Rockets, the Rockets are the defending champions, and they will complete three consecutive championships." Bill Walton is an Olajuwon fan tonight.

"The Rockets' record is not very good."

"Their record last year was not as good as now. They will only show their true strength in the playoffs, and this year they should have better record. You see, Olajuwon was absent from 9 games, Drexler was absent from 26 games, their best substitute, Sam Cassel, one of the best sixth man favorites this season, has also been absent from 15 games. The two important substitutes in the shooting guard and small forward are Mario Ellie, Sam Mark is absent from 33 games and the other is absent from 29 games, and the starting forward Robert Horry is absent from 5 games...

There is a reason why their record before the All-Star Weekend is bad. Look, they won 5 games in the 6 games after the All-Star Weekend, and the loss was still lost to the Bulls. Despite the loss, Olajuwon also made 13 of 19 shots and scored 35 points and 6 assists, Jordan only made 7 of 26 shots. If Pippen hadn't had good luck in making 6 of 8 three-pointers, the Bulls would have lost to the Rockets..."

Seeing the former stuttering man Bill Walton speak such a long view with such a reasonable and well-founded view, Hubby Brown was quite surprised. This guy really had deep resentment towards the Lakers and Zhang Hao!

However, the Rockets' performance after the All-Star Weekend really made many people believe that the Rockets led by Olajuwon will still be one of the strongest teams in the playoffs.

Although the Lakers have a better record, the Rockets have been crushing the Lakers in terms of the probability of winning the championship. The Supersonics' prediction probability of winning the championship on the All-Star Weekend is not as high as that of the Rockets.

As a commentator, Huby Brown will definitely not let another commentator turn fans' expectations of the game into one-sided expectations, evenly matched expectations, which will make the game more attractive.

Hubby Brown took over the conversation after Bill Walton finished bragging Olajuwon: "You make sense, but the Lakers are the most surprising team this season. Look at their lineup, I didn't expect them to have a record of 42 wins and 10 losses, so they rank first in the West! I think this is more surprising than Jordan's Bulls' 46 wins and 7 losses. Aix is ​​a magical player. He has brought new changes to the Lakers. I think the Lakers are better than the Rockets under the leadership of Aix..."

Hubby Brown is also reasonable and well-founded. Jordan played better in this season than in the 90-91 season, and the two championship-winning years in 91-92 season. He has the best defensive efficiency in his career, and his offensive efficiency is second only to the 89-90 season. He has achieved his best performance in his career. Although it is surprising, it is just surprising that he seems to have just reached the peak at this age, but it does not make people feel incredible because he is Jordan.

With Jordan's performance, the Bulls had the best performance of the same game in NBA history, which is reasonable.

It is not known whether the game is evenly matched, but the two commentators competed against each other and expressed their opinions. They were evenly matched...

In the fierce competition between the two, the two teams started on the game.

The Lakers sent a combination of Van Exel, Anthony Pierre, Zhang Hao, Magician and Campbell.

The Rockets sent a combination of Kenny Smith, Drexler, Robert Holly, Chucky Brown and Olajuwon.

Judging from the starting lineups of both sides, the Rockets are really better than the Lakers. Drexler and Olajuwon are stronger than any of the Lakers' starting players. The former has a 90-year-old ability evaluation and the latter has a 96-year-old ability evaluation.

However, in terms of team cooperation, the Rockets, which is less than the main power forward Audis Thorpe, who won the championship last season, is worse than the Lakers. Chucky Brown, a 201 cm tall average of 8 points and 5 rebounds per game, and a short power forward with a 71-level ability evaluation, can firmly start. The only reason is that he is the only player on the Rockets' 15-man roster that has not been injured this season.

With individual combat capabilities, the two major stars of the Rockets are stronger, and the team strength is stronger, and the Lakers are stronger.

In this way, if the two teams arrive in the playoffs, they will feel a little evenly matched.

All of them have their own advantages. If you want to win the game, you have to use your advantages.

At 7 p.m., the game began.

Olajuwon defeated Zhang Hao in the jump ball. Zhang Hao quickly retreated with regret, and his idea of ​​directly raising morale at the beginning was shattered.

Of course, Olajuwon, the old man in the world, knows what Zhang Hao wants to do. Although he doesn't know why Zhang Hao is so excited about dunking the Lakers, he tried his best to jump the ball today to prevent such a situation from happening.

The Rockets attack first.

After Olajuwon arrived at the frontcourt, he looked at the Lakers' defensive position and was a little surprised.

Compared with the last matchup, the Lakers' starting lineup's defensive position has improved a lot... that rookie!

The main reason is that Zhang Hao's defensive position has become better. The Magician's defense is pretty good at peak time. The small forwards defend well from the center position. But at this age, even if they are purely playing power forwards, they can't do blue-collar work. Single defense is OK, and assisting defense is quite difficult. However, in the last time they fought, the Magician had to do those jobs because Zhang Hao was even worse...

But this time, Zhang Hao's position and movement cannot be said to be particularly good, but compared to the last time he met, he was obviously more like a qualified forward defensive player.

This is a big improvement! It only takes a little over a month and a half!

However, that's it, the extent of progress is surprising. Olajuwon regarded it as having an extremely bright future. However, Zhang Hao's previous defense was really poor, and his progress was huge. In Olajuwon's judgment, he barely seemed to be qualified.

Kenny Smith slowly advanced to the frontcourt and handed the ball to Robert Holly. Robert Holly was suspended to Olajuwon. Olajuwon still decisively chose a single shot when Zhang Hao was attacking, and used his steps to find an opportunity under the attack of Zhang Hao and Campbell, and turned around and threw the ball to hit.

Fantastic footsteps!

If the two next to them were cheerleaders, Olajuwon's low footsteps looked like a perfect dance performance!

Olajuwon, who was already 33 years old last month, averaged 27 points and 3.5 assists per game... Zhang Hao took a deep breath and ran to the frontcourt under the interference of Robert Hory.

After Olajuwon scored, he retreated and defended. Horry also came up to interfere with Zhang Hao's quick drop. Kenny Smith had already started to retreat when Olajuwon took action, guarding Van Exel to make a fast break... The Rockets focused on suppressing the Lakers' speed at the beginning.

It was expected that the Lakers would fall into the positional battle without any rushingness. Anyway, Campbell was there, and their overall pace was slow.

After the All-Star Weekend, the incredible state of the previous 20 wins and 1 loss. After playing a few games, Lakers players gradually adapted. Now they have an excellent quality compared to the Hawks - patience.

However, after arriving at the frontcourt, the Lakers felt the suffocating defense!

With the Rockets with a complete lineup, the defense is really good!

Horry serves as the outside defense gate, with Drexler who has good defense, Olajuwon, who averages 1.6 steals and 3 blocks per game in the inside. The head coach is a genius in the coaching industry. Tom Janovic, who has excellent attainments in both offense and defense, has excellent team cooperation.

But there are still flaws!

It’s not that the coordination is poor, nor that the internal and external defense gates have become weaker, but that a character player’s condition is down sharply when he turns 31.

Van Exel advanced to the frontcourt and waited for his teammates to get their positions, and then played decisively singles!

Van Exel's singles shot was quite straightforward and he couldn't even help defend, because he didn't even consider whether he had gotten rid of the defense. He broke through to the position he thought he should shoot and stopped shooting directly!

His shooting is very sensible. He can make a shot in any bad shooting choice. He is in poor condition and he dares to play the Los Angeles symphony for no one within three meters.

This time, Van Exel not only felt good, but also got a pretty good opportunity. He threw Kenny Smith aside with a change of direction, and easily scored a two-point emergency stop jump shot.

When the Rockets are all in one team, the starting lineup defense is Kenny Smith.

Kenny Smith arrived at the Rockets at the age of 25. He was all in the Rockets at his peak. He has never been absent due to injury in the past five seasons. He was suspended for 6 games only because of evil offenders, conflicts, etc., but he has been absent for 15 games this year due to injuries.

The number of absentees in the Rockets this year is not much, but the most important thing is that Kenny Smith has reached the age of 31, and suddenly collapsed from being quite excellent on the defensive end, either to being qualified or bad, and directly collapsed into a black hole.

When the Rockets attacked, Zhang Hao shrank faster this time. As soon as Olajuwon received the ball, Zhang Hao directly attacked him. His position was also very purposeful, blocking the direction of the top arc.

Olajuwon saw Van Exel's movement, but when Campbell topped the top to block the bottom line and directly entered the basket, Zhang Hao had to choose to pass the ball to Robert Horry as soon as possible.
To be continued...