NBA: Rising Superstar!

Chapter 482 - 394: Showdown with the Rockets (Part 2)

"Beautiful dunk, Harden delivers a spectacular assist! Capela almost puts the ball into the basket over Jokic."

Capela’s dunk quickly sent the crowd into a frenzy.

"Zeng, you’re going to lose here!"

"Absolutely unbeatable."

"James, Chris, crush them."

Fans in the front row at the courtside stood up and taunted Zeng Xingyang as he walked by.

They wanted to disrupt Zeng Xingyang during the 48-minute game, seemingly unable to resist the urge to rush on court.

Zeng Xingyang complained to the referee, who decisively went over to warn the fans that if they continued to stand up and shout to interfere with the players, they would be expelled.

Zeng Xingyang was invigorated, it had been a while since a game had moved him like this.

Brogdon dribbles past half court, eyes wide open with his arms spread, seriously watching Brogdon.

Recently, the Rockets have been performing well, and there hasn’t been news of Harden drinking heavily.

Harden’s defensive ability greatly depends on whether he wants to play defense.

If Harden actively defends, he can body up against Brother Alphabet on the inside, and complete precise steals at high speed.

He has a very strong physique and rapid hand speed.

Brogdon approaches Harden, who appears serious about defending but isn’t fully focused on defense.

"Whoosh!"

Brogdon changes direction and slips past Harden on the right.

"Hey, young people are really fast these days," Harden said, shaking his head as he watched Brogdon’s back.

Paul, who saw this beside him, shouted, "Defense!"

Brogdon rushed to the inside, and Capela’s help defense quickly enveloped him.

Brogdon, without hesitation, handed the ball to the trailing Jokic.

Jokic turned and swung the ball forcefully outward.

Jokic had long noticed Zeng Xingyang’s opportunity.

Zeng Xingyang caught the ball on the move and decisively shot a three-pointer.

Paul raised his hand to interfere right in front of Zeng Xingyang.

But the height difference between the two was too much.

This shot from Zeng Xingyang had a slight fadeaway.

"Swish!"

Piercing the net.

"Nice shot, Zeng Xingyang shows no weakness, quickly answering with a crisp and clean shot, Capela defended well under the basket, but Paul couldn’t stop him," Coach Zhang shouted quickly.

Paul on the court felt a bit awkward, having just loudly called for his teammates to defend, and then it was his mistake.

"This play demonstrated the Nuggets’ extremely strong team coordination ability. Even with Brogdon stepping up to Butler’s position, he clearly understands around whom the team’s tactics should revolve," Xu Jicheng said.

"Bro, are you raising your hand that high for an autograph?" Zeng Xingyang teased Paul.

Paul used all sorts of small movements to defend against Zeng Xingyang, making Zeng Xingyang very aggravated.

Paul looked grim, calling Capela for an inbound pass.

Capela passed the ball to Paul.

Zeng Xingyang began pressing Paul in the backcourt.

Paul continuously pivoted and combined with changes in direction, Zeng Xingyang’s defense was highly pressurizing, so, to avoid a mistake, he passed the ball to Harden on the right side.

Harden at the right side beyond the three-point line continued to face Brogdon.

Brogdon’s defense was proactive, but was nothing against the current Harden.

Harden didn’t choose to call for a pick-and-roll, instead, after a series of cross dribbles, he took the left side, using the difference in rhythm to bypass Brogdon.

After breaking through, Harden consciously went towards Siakam’s direction, indeed, Siakam helped in defense, and at this point, Ariza was left open at the corner.

Harden passed the ball to Ariza in the corner.

Ariza caught the ball and took a three-point shot, hitting it steadily.

Ariza’s three-point shooting has become more and more stable, and he has become a reliable point for the Rockets’ outside game.

This goal brought cheers from the crowd.

The Rockets, after all, responded to Zeng Xingyang’s crisp three-pointer, and responding with a three-pointer boosts morale significantly.

On the sidelines, Mike Malone shook his head helplessly as the Rockets’ "Moreyball" strategy was executed perfectly just there.

For two consecutive plays, it was either a basket or a three-pointer, completely disregarding mid-range shots.

This is the current strategy for ending plays by the Rockets.

This strategy is derived from strong data-driven calculations.

D’Antoni and Morey believe that three-pointers and shots at the basket are the most efficient scoring methods, then they strive to use it to the extreme.

This extreme pursuit of tactics is quite radical, and if the Rockets have a bad shooting day, it tends to fare poorly.

For instance, if they have a game where they’re shooting zero out of twenty-something, they’ll collapse themselves.

Mike Malone even tried this strategy with the Nuggets for a time, but eventually gave up.

Mid-range is still very important to the Nuggets’ players.

And whether it’s Jokic or Zeng Xingyang, because of their accurate mid-range shooting, it makes their offense difficult to defend.

On the court, Ariza and Harden high-fived in celebration.

Zeng Xingyang saw this Rockets team’s resilience was still very strong.

The Nuggets attacked again.

Zeng Xingyang advanced with the ball to the frontcourt, signaling Jokic.

They started the Nuggets’ classic pick-and-roll tactic.

Jokic cleanly blocked Paul, and Capela came out to help defend.

Zeng Xingyang dribbled sideways, taking one step, combining a rhythm dribble with a change of direction to the right side.

Explosion and acceleration!

Capela was directly passed.

Zeng Xingyang burst in, Tucker quickly came to help defend, and Zeng Xingyang once again threw the ball into the air.

On the other side, Gordon stepped up into the air, single-handedly hooking Zeng Xingyang’s high ball.

"Clang!"

Completing another clean alley-oop.

The momentum of the home crowd was slightly subdued.

"Oh, that was a beautiful pass." Gordon shouted to Zeng Xingyang after grabbing the rim and coming down.

Zeng Xingyang nodded with a smile.

The opportunity created by the Nuggets was simpler.

Just one pick-and-roll did it.

Paul and Harden looked very serious.

Both knew that with the Rockets’ current defensive abilities, stopping the Nuggets was too difficult.

They could only trade blows with them.

Paul dribbled to the frontcourt and continued to pass to Harden.

Brogdon spread his arms wide, defending very earnestly.

Brogdon felt unsure facing Harden, mainly because he didn’t know which way Harden would break through.

As a result,

this round Harden executed a pick-and-roll, Capela came up, blocking Brogdon, with Jokic switching to defend Harden.

Facing Jokic, Harden adjusted with a series of directional changes, then took a sidestep three-point shot.

Jokic’s foot speed struggled to cope with the current Harden.

Had little interference on Harden.

The ball traced a beautiful arc.

"Swish!"

Bullseye!!

After scoring, Harden made the signature "salt shake" gesture.

Leaving Jokic quite frustrated.

The Nuggets’ attack.

Zeng Xingyang dribbled to the frontcourt.

Jokic wanted to come up for a pick-and-roll, but Zeng Xingyang waved him off.

Spacing out.

This put a lot of pressure on Paul.

The Rockets needed to initiate a pick-and-roll to look for an open position, while the Nuggets didn’t need any pick-and-roll at all.

It was a direct mismatch 1-on-1 attack.