Basketball boy, starting to shine from the slam dunk

December 12, Houston.

Today is the last day of December. The Rockets will face the Lakers in a crucial game at home.

The two teams had played a game at the Lakers' home court before, and the Rockets lost.

Now they are at the Toyota Center, the Rockets' home court, and the two teams are facing off again. What will be the result?

"Team Rockets will win!"

"Harden, you're the best."

"Harden, kill Zhuang Yu and defeat that Chinese kid..."

At this time, the game had already started. The fans in the audience were shouting loudly, cheering for the Rockets and calling on Harden to defeat Zhuang Yu.

The reason why this game is called a focus battle is because Zhuang Yu and Harden will face off again today, and it will be another fierce battle.

The last time Harden lost to Zhuang Yu, Rockets fans don’t want him to lose again this time. He must beat Zhuang Yu once. To defeat the Rockets, he must also defeat Zhuang Yu.

on the field.

The Rockets attack.

After Harden reached the frontcourt, he asked Paul for the ball, and then directly played against Zhuang Yu. He was very tough, breaking through after continuous changes of direction, actively looking for physical confrontation, and then using the rhythm to throw the basketball with one hand, and the basketball obediently went into the net.

Amidst cheers, the score became 2:0.

The Rockets took the first victory.

However, after scoring this goal, Harden did not confront Zhuang Yu again. He had learned his lesson.

He was fooled by Zhuang Yu last time, and he won’t be fooled again this time.

Although he wanted to defeat Zhuang Yu very much, he knew very well that he could not fight Zhuang Yu head-on. He needed to play smarter, after all, Zhuang Yu's defense was too good.

In the next few rounds, Harden called for pick-and-rolls, and with the help of his teammates' pick-and-rolls and screens, he got rid of Zhuang Yu's defense before launching the attack.

"Why doesn't Harden play one-on-one against Zhuang Yu?"

"Yes, he only played one, and then he played after the pick-and-roll and switch defense. This is the Rockets' home court. It's so weak, it seems that he is afraid of Zhuang Yu."

"Don't talk nonsense, this is a tactic..."

The home fans were somewhat unhappy with Harden's "hiding and fighting" approach. They expected Harden to beat Zhuang Yu head-on, but not like this now.

Some people also excused Harden, saying it was a tactic.

But no matter what, Harden just doesn't want to fight Zhuang Yu one-on-one. When he meets Zhuang Yu, he calls for a pick-and-roll, and when he meets other Lakers players, he strikes out with heavy punches.

The main feature is the ability to bend and stretch, to be soft or hard.

After a few minutes, the Rockets led by 4 points.

The Lakers requested a timeout.

Several people came to the sidelines, and Holiday said with a smile: "Harden learned his lesson today and didn't confront you head-on."

Zhuang Yu said calmly: "I got up at four in the morning to memorize the rules. How can I not be smart?"

Although Harden seems a little "cowardly", his strength is unquestionable. As long as Zhuang Yu is not guarding him, everyone else can hit him accurately. Three-pointers, breakthroughs, fouls... all kinds of techniques come to his mind, making the Lakers a little helpless.

After a few minutes, the Rockets maintained the lead.

Holiday asked, "Wait, do you want to play one-on-one against Harden? I'll set a pick-and-roll for you. Doesn't he want to play against you? Just go find him."

Zhuang Yu waved his hand: "No need, we should play the way we want to play. Besides, it doesn't have to be me who plays against Harden, you can do it too."

I?

Holiday was a little stunned.

Zhuang Yu patted his shoulder and said with a smile: "You have to have confidence in yourself. I will help you pull the people away and then play Harden."

......

Soon, the pause ends.

After both sides returned to the court, Zhuang Yu did not target Harden, but he still took the initiative to ask for the ball, then pulled people away, passed the ball, and made a gesture to his teammates.

After two passes, the ball was in Holiday's hands. Holiday faced Harden alone, dribbled behind his back, then suddenly accelerated, took two steps forward and actively confronted, then took a step back and made a step-back jump shot.

Swish!

The ball goes in.

"Good shot." Zhuang Yu smiled and high-fived Holiday.

Today, many fans wanted to watch the matchup between Zhuang Yu and Harden, but Zhuang Yu was not interested in it. He still hoped that Holiday would score more points.

During this period, with the help of Zhuang Yu and his teammates, Holiday played better and his personal data also improved a lot.

In five of those games, Holiday scored more than 20 points.

He himself worked very hard, and his personal assists and rebounds also increased. Otherwise, Zhuang Yu's help in canvassing votes for him would only be effective for a while at most, and would not be enough to make his votes continue to soar.

"Everyone thinks today is a duel between me and Harden, but I think it is a duel between Holiday and Paul." Zhuang Yu smiled.

This is why he let Holiday play more.

Holiday's vote count is still ranked seventh in the Western Conference, behind Chris Paul, but the gap is not big, only more than 10,000 votes.

......

In a blink of an eye, most of the first quarter had passed.

During these few minutes, Harden was still scoring and playing very well, but what made the fans depressed was that they did not see the duel between Harden and Zhuang Yu.

Harden played well, but he did not crush Zhuang Yu, because he was scoring, and Holiday, who was facing him, was also scoring. Zhuang Yu did not take a shot, and Harden still did not get the advantage.

The home fans felt annoyed.

"Damn, what does this guy mean? Does he look down on me?" Harden also felt unhappy, as if he was looked down upon by Zhuang Yu.

When he came to the frontcourt, Harden did not call for a pick-and-roll, but instead played one-on-one against Zhuang Yu.

Seeing that Harden was finally going to play one-on-one against Zhuang Yu again, the home fans became excited, staring at the court without blinking, and cheering for Harden loudly.

However, they soon shut their mouths because Harden failed to score the ball. His step-back three-pointer was blocked by Zhuang Yu.

"Hey......"

On the sidelines, Coach D'Antoni sighed with a wry smile, thinking that Harden had finally been provoked and lost his composure.

The intention of this ball is too obvious.

Not to mention Zhuang Yu, even he knew that Harden would definitely choose to shoot himself, and would definitely choose to shoot because the Lakers had already tightened their defense.

In fact, the Lakers' shrinking defense was a signal given by Zhuang Yu, because he was certain that Harden would play one-on-one against him and would choose to shoot himself, so he gestured to his teammates to shrink the defense. As long as Harden is not stupid, he will not choose to break through to attack the basket.

That's walking into a trap.

Sure enough, Harden did not choose to break through, so he could only shoot. Therefore, Zhuang Yu judged Harden's intention in front of him and successfully blocked Harden.

Swish!

With a slight sound, Holiday made a three-pointer.

The Rockets immediately called a timeout.

After a few players came down, D'Antoni was about to talk to Harden, but Paul had already pulled Harden and said, "Brother, you have to calm down."

Harden nodded and reacted, smiling bitterly. He actually had to hide from Zhuang Yu. It was so damn depressing.