The Rockets sent out a lineup of Jeff McInnis, McGrady, Battier, Carl Landry, and Chuck Hayes.
The Bobcats didn’t make any changes, having played only four rounds, with three well-executed set offense plays, Carlisle definitely wouldn’t make changes. However, he had a strange look on his face when he saw the lineup the other team had put on the court.
Coming out of the timeout, the Rockets had the first possession.
The veteran McInnis handled the ball, took on Felton one-on-one, drove in close to attract Millsap’s defense, and then delivered a bounce pass; Landry cut into the paint, caught the ball, and made a jump shot!
to 12, the Rockets stemmed the bleeding, and with McInnis on the court, McGrady’s ball-handling pressure was significantly reduced.
This season, McGrady was able to play an average of 39 minutes per game largely thanks to having several decent guard teammates, and McInnis was an effective and cheap acquisition for the Rockets this summer.
McInnis, a member of the stellar ’96 class, was a skilled player with solid abilities, who once had a season averaging 14 points and 6 assists per game, earning a 5-year, 18 million US dollar contract. Moreover, he maintained an exceptional performance past the age of 30. In the ’03-’04 and ’04-’05 seasons with the Cavaliers, he passed the ball to James, averaging 11 points and 6 assists per game... but bad habits formed growing up in the slums, where he couldn’t survive without petty theft, ruined his professional career.
In the ’04-’05 season, McInnis was caught stealing a teammate’s laptop worth 1500 US dollars. James displayed ’star generosity,’ gifting each teammate a top-end computer. The then second-year KING was praised for his pricey gesture... Then in the summer of ’05, McInnis was virtually given away by the Cavaliers to the Nets, where he was unable to change his ways. Kidd wouldn’t engage in hollow gestures, and led the team to isolate him, halving his playing time and causing a steep decline in performance. Over two years, he only got 40 opportunities to play.
This summer, after his 5-year contract expired, the Rockets signed him for a partially guaranteed minimum salary of just 220,000 US dollars. The contract could be guaranteed before January. With a stable opportunity to play in the Rockets, McInnis averaged 4.1 points and 2.1 assists in 11 minutes per game, a decent option for a third-point guard or shooting guard.
During the transition between offense and defense, just as Thibodeau was hoping to block the opposing team’s perimeter pass-and-play strategy, Okafor went directly to the low post, received Felton’s lob, and made a hook shot over Hayes...
Thibodeau: ??? Why are they not playing team offense anymore???
Carlisle: Our Jack sure has sharp eyes!
Just now, when the players went to the bench for a timeout to drink water, Carlisle routinely asked Zhang Yang what he thought the other side would adjust.
This is a basic move for a head coach, actively communicating with the star player or tactical core of the team. Of course, except for a few rare teams, most team head coaches won’t blindly adopt the players’ suggestions, which are just for reference.
Zhang Yang usually wouldn’t give definitive suggestions, mostly helping with analysis, but this time he gave a direct guess—the other side would switch to mobile big men and taller perimeter players.
Carlisle found this prediction ludicrous. Protecting the rim + perimeter defensive rotations were the foundation for the Rockets to maintain playoff-level strength in the West this season. Diop averaged 23 minutes on the court, with 15 concentrated in the first half. David Wesley’s 27 average minutes on the court also had two-thirds concentrated in the first half. They maximized defense to sap the opponents’ energy and shooting touch, with both playing only key moments in the second half... How could the opponent abandon their core strategy?
Based on his understanding of Van Gundy-style coaches, Carlisle thought they would continue to wear them down, slowly.
Carlisle held Thibodeau in high regard, believing that as long as the Rockets made the playoffs, Thibodeau was a shoo-in for Coach of the Year.
When Carlisle expressed his doubts, Zhang Yang replied with a comment that some doctors, no matter how skilled, will only treat the head when the head aches and the foot when the foot hurts.
That comment led Carlisle to emphasize a tactical detail later on that "if the opponent subs out Wesley and Diop, then Raymond and Emeka should go one-on-one."
Although Carlisle thought Zhang Yang’s words made a lot of sense, he only mentioned it as a precaution; he didn’t expect Zhang Yang to hit the nail on the head!
Before the official timeout, the Bobcats produced a 7 to 2 run with team offense. After the official timeout, relying on Felton’s one-on-one against McInnis and Okafor’s individual effort against Hayes or Landry, the Bobcats scored another 9 points in just over four minutes.
It didn’t seem very efficient, but their opponent was the Rockets, who only allowed slightly over 90 points per game! What’s more crucial is that during those four-plus minutes, the Rockets only scored 6 points. At the end of the first quarter, with 11 minutes and 5 seconds remaining, the score was 21 to 15, giving the Bobcats a six-point lead!
In the last 50 seconds, McGrady hit a three-pointer from outside, narrowing the gap to 3 points, but Rondo immediately took Diop, who was back on for a last-minute play, by surprise with a sneaky layup, extending the lead back to 5 points.
On the Rockets’ final possession, with Mike James subbing in, he ran down the clock. With 8 seconds left when he passed to McGrady, the intent was too obvious and was tipped by Rondo!
The ball slipped out of the control of both Rondo and Mike James, with both men lunging towards it... but another figure was quicker to the punch!
Zhang Yang dashed forward the moment Rondo touched the ball, snatched it, and launched a counterattack!
Zhang Yang charged toward the opponents’ free-throw line, picked up the ball in stride, leaped after two steps, raised the ball with both hands, and as he dunked, he jerked left to avoid McGrady’s block, and smashed the ball down into the hoop!