Bickerstaff’s small-ball defensive lineup finally took effect!
Although Okafor was hammered by Yao Ming, Brevin Knight, Zhang Yang, Matt Carroll, and Gerald Wallace managed to keep up with the other players, not giving them easy shooting opportunities. Besides Yao Ming, the Rockets had no other players skilled in isolation plays. When Yao Ming had a clear advantage, the rest of the Rockets would pass the ball to him without a second thought. Yao Ming played fiercely but at a great cost, as Okafor was already one of the league’s top defensive Centers.
The Bobcats were waiting for Yao Ming’s energy to decline before they attacked!
Zhang Yang suddenly burst forth, scoring consecutively on two fast breaks and surprised the domestic viewers who had lost hope... Chinese people sometimes are too extreme and often have a viewpoint—if it’s not the best, it’s trash.
On the other hand, the local fans, seeing Zhang Yang’s prior lack of scoring, shooting opportunities, and being blocked, took it in stride. What can you expect from a 17-year-old rookie? The US media had rated Zhang Yang low during the preseason, with a shooting percentage just around 40% without the ball; struggling during the regular season was expected.
The Bobcats chose a 17-year-old high schooler for their new team, eyeing the future.
Plus, being a ’North Carolina player,’ the local fans were quite forgiving, especially the female fans, as they were there just to see the young man’s face and physique.
Zhang Yang scored 4 points and the crowd responded with enthusiastic support.
Enrolling at North Carolina had its benefits, which were now showing...
The Rockets called a timeout but couldn’t stop the offensively steep downward trend.
After Yao Ming couldn’t continue his intense attack, Van Gundy promptly adjusted, having others take the lead and Yao Ming spread out to midrange to distract the opposition, but without McGrady, the Rockets lacked a second stable scorer.
However, the Rockets’ defense was still formidable. As long as Yao Ming was under the basket, Van Gundy could direct the team to play a tormenting defense, comparable to Popovich and Larry Brown in this regard.
This timeout wasn’t entirely useless for Van Gundy, as he substituted Swift for Juwan Howard to strengthen the transition defense, significantly enhancing its capability and effectively limiting the Bobcats’ counterattacks.
Swift was all brawn with a surprisingly low basketball IQ, yet he could still manage a passable performance relying solely on his physical attributes, especially in defending fast breaks, where his mindless pursuit of speed and jump was quite effective. After his rookie contract, he still managed to secure a full mid-level salary.
After the official timeout, Zhang Yang played for another two plus minutes, missed a shot in the half-court offense, and couldn’t score on the fast break, lowering his shooting percentage to 50% before he was benched for a rest.
The two teams then entered a phase of grinding out their defenses.
With Yao Ming on the court, the Rockets defended well; with Gerald Wallace and Okafor present, Bickerstaff meticulously arranged the troops, effectively defending against the Rockets.
The two teams had played fiercely in the first half, but the scoring in the latter half made it feel like watching last season’s finals.
The score was 18-10 at the half, ending the first period at 25-18, with a 7-8 score in the second half.
In the second quarter, neither team improved their scoring. Jeff Van Gundy continued to have Yao Ming focus on defense.
He tried resting Yao Ming for three minutes after playing him for three minutes in the second quarter, which resulted in Gerald Wallace scoring consecutively. The Bobcats made an 8-4 run, narrowing the gap to within 5 points. Jeff Van Gundy quickly called a timeout and subbed Yao Ming back on, stabilizing the situation.
Although the situation was stabilized and the Bobcats’ momentum halted, it didn’t enable Yao Ming to get sufficient rest; he was still fatigued and could only hope to manage the defense.
In this regard, Jeff Van Gundy had no clever solutions.
Unlike Bickerstaff—who had the attitude ’it’s okay if we lose’—Jeff Van Gundy was under pressure to win from the team owner!
The team had traded for McGrady, exploiting the talent that the Rockets had accumulated in the previous years. With both Yao and McGrady healthy last season, Jeff Van Gundy didn’t feel much pressure. But this season, McGrady was injured right from the start, and the offseason acquisitions were so poor that he felt like cursing, leaving him no choice but to overburden Yao Ming.
The score for the second quarter was 18-14, and by halftime, the Bobcats were trailing the Rockets by 36-39, closing the gap to 3 points!
During the first 6 minutes of the quarter, the Rockets scored 18 points, which meant they only scored 21 points in the subsequent 18 minutes... The state television commentators started praising the Bobcats’ defense, glad that their years of experience and preparation were not wasted.
In the second half, both teams continued to aggressively defend. It was Yao Ming VS Okafor + Wallace, leading to a 20-19 score by the end of the third quarter, with the Rockets leading by 4 points at 59-55.
Jeff Van Gundy didn’t have any good solutions, and neither did Bickerstaff; neither side had the advantage.
In the second and third quarters, Zhang Yang played 4 and 5 minutes respectively, taking 3 shots without a single hit. Fortunately, with Brevin Knight initiating, he scored twice, earning 4 points.
By the final period, the tension remained high. The Rockets stubbornly continued to grind it out, experienced in such draining games. Winning by just 1 point was still a win; they weren’t aiming to widen the gap, just to maintain the lead until the end!