Six Hundred and Sixty-Three: Close the Door, Put Della

Dwight Howard played sloppy in the first quarter, and the Rockets No. 12 seemed to have lost their temper since he was stepped into the ball by Link's dream dance.

In a single quarter, he made 1 of 4 shots and only had 3 points and 3 rebounds. If this is the superstar, then the league is supergiant.

Before the start of the season, it was thought that the Houston Rockets should have been in the top ranks of the Western Conference.

But their current record of 9 wins and 5 losses is not top at all. Aside from the record, the quality that the Rockets have shown in many games has nothing to do with the word "top".

For example, in the first quarter of this game, on the Rockets, people only saw a Harden who was completely absent from the game, and a Howard who was gradually defeated.

The whole team was in a mess, and they didn't even have the determination to chase the basics to keep the team's record.

This kind of team, no matter how strong it is on paper, cannot become a top team.

"If the Grizzlies played the record-keeping game, I reckon they could bite each other's ears off." Even the commentator couldn't help but start complaining. What should have been a wonderful confrontation turned into a stunner. Breathless.

Fortunately, the Rockets weren't all bad. "The rich and handsome" Chandler Parsons played very well. Now Parsons is still thinking about basketball, and his strength is really good.

Link blocked his shooting space several times, and he was still able to hit the ball with precision.

In addition, on the Rockets bench, Israeli striker Omi Kasby also felt hot today.

Casspi was drafted by the Kings late in the first round in 2009 and was the first Israeli player to play in the NBA when he entered the team as a three-point shooter.

In his two seasons with the Kings, Casspi shot 36.9 percent and 37.2 percent of his three-pointers, respectively, with high efficiency. But after that, Casby's three-point shooting plummeted due to reasons such as transfers and injuries.

Last season with the Cavaliers, Casspi shot less than 33 percent from 3-point range. As a regular perimeter, this 3-point shooting rate is not passable, let alone as a shooter.

But this season, Casspi's performance is somewhat of a return to light. So far, Casby has averaged 9 points and 4 rebounds per game, and his three-point shooting rate is as high as 43%!

Today, Casspi continued his hot state. He played as the number four,

Makes frequent shots from beyond the arc.

Relying on the performance of Parsons and Cassby, the game was not completely ruined.

The Rockets struggled until the fourth quarter, still trailing by 9 points. However, trailing by nine points is better than garbage time the entire fourth quarter.

McHale wanted to win, so he still didn't give up. The Rockets are now 9 wins and 5 losses, and the discrepancy is too great. Therefore, McHale will not pass up any chance to save the record.

Now that the fourth quarter begins, McHale has to make sure the team can quickly get closer. After all, time is running out for the Rockets.

There's not much to say about the offense. With Howard and Harden both relatively sluggish, McHale couldn't make the Rockets' offense better. The only thing he can do is start from the defense.

So, McHale looked to Patrick Beverley, who has performed well this season.

In the playoffs last season, Beverley was known for his tenacious fighting spirit. He is known as "Mad Dog", an interpretation of his overall style.

In the fourth quarter, McHale intends to replace Jeremy Lin with Beverley to strengthen his defense! Then rely on the magical touch of Parsons and Casspi and the warmth of Howard to win the game!

Facts have proved that McHale's decision was extremely correct. Because Beverley just came on the court, he forced Conley to make two consecutive mistakes!

At the beginning of the fourth quarter, Beverley made a tough interception, allowing Conley to throw the ball out of bounds. Subsequently, Beverley broke through and scored again, reducing the difference to 7 points.

In the next round, Bev used his rough confrontation to steal Conley successfully and completed the fast break himself.

In just two rounds, Beverley scored 4 points with 2 steals. The most important thing is that the difference was instantly reduced to 5 points by him!

The Grizzlies were pressing the Rockets throughout the game, but in a blink of an eye, the difference was only 5 points! The fighting spirit that Howard had been extinguished was rekindled.

"Beverley played really well, and Coach McHale's substitutions worked wonders. His mad dog-like style is very suitable for playing in tough games."

Although Hubie Brown supports the Grizzlies, he must also acknowledge Beverley's excellence in these two rounds.

The Rockets were inexplicably grabbed four points, and Dave Jogel made an emergency timeout. Seeing that the 15-game winning streak at the beginning of the game has been obtained, it is impossible to overturn at the last moment.

"Mike, take a rest first. You played too long today, and I'll replace you at the last minute." Jogel replaced Conley, who had made two consecutive mistakes, and the good-natured Conley had no objection to this.

Conley will make consecutive mistakes, which is indeed related to the huge physical consumption. Conley's minutes have exploded this year without Vasquez. After all, Dellavedova doesn't have the ability to be there for long periods of time.

Therefore, Conley's physical consumption has not been small. I was already tired, and I had to be entangled by the "mad dog" Beverly. It was inevitable that mistakes would occur.

"Link, then you will control the ball and act as a point forward. Della, your job is to defend, understand?"

Jogel doesn't dare to let Dellavedova hold the ball. This guy is good defensively, but his offense is really lacking. Fortunately, the Grizzlies have Link, an all-around forward who can guest point guard.

As long as Dellavedova makes no mistakes and replaces Conley at the last minute, the Grizzlies will definitely take the game!

Dellavedova nodded and took off his training suit. Just when he was about to play, Link waved his hand and motioned for Dellavedova to come beside him.

As an undrafted player who was docilely cleaned up by Link when he first came to the team. Dellavedova has a lot of respect for Link. Seeing Link beckoning, he immediately ran over.

Beverley looked at the Grizzlies bench and saw that Link was conspiring with Dellavedova. This scene made Beverley nervous.

Every time Link and his teammates whispered, nothing good happened.

The game resumed, and the changes for the Grizzlies were evident. In addition to replacing Conley with Dellavedova, Link has also become the team's main controller.

Link's offensive organization is quite mature. You can say that he is a 2.03-meter point guard without any problem.

Under Link's organization, the Grizzlies' basketball run was as smooth as it was when Conley was on the court.

Eventually, Randolph got a shot from the mid-range to end the offense. The point difference returned to 7 points, and the Rockets were still unsafe.

Beverley wanted to launch a quick counter-attack, so he quickly passed the baseline and accelerated directly toward the Grizzlies' halfcourt.

But he had just crossed the midfield line when he collided with Dellavedova!

Conley won't be so rough on defense, Dellavedova won't necessarily.

Beverley knew that he had met an opponent, so he made a pick-and-roll with Terrence Jones, intending to get rid of Dellavedova.

However, Dellavedova rudely pushed Jones away and continued to wrap around Beverley.

In an instant, the scene turned into a dog-eat-dog battle.

Beverley was so embarrassed by Dellavedova's rough defense that he could barely feed the ball to Howard. Howard was about to turn around to face the frame, but Link, who was double-teamed, cut the ball away.

The fourth mistake in this game, Howard's fighting spirit just ignited, was extinguished by Link again.

Link ran all the way after the steal. Harden had a chance to stop Link, but he chose to give up. He watched as Link passed by him and dunked easily.

McHale is so angry, Harden's defense is as good as Anthony's! No, it's less serious than Anthony!

Obviously just saw a little bit of hope, but the difference was pulled back to 9 points.

Dellavedova's appearance completely negated Beverley's role.

Beverley's biggest role is to defend, but now that the person in possession of the ball has become Link, and Beverley doesn't match up with Link, his defense is useless.

As for the rapid counterattack, when Beverley encountered Dellavedova, who was as crazy as himself, he was basically unable to fight.

Dellavedova didn't care about anything else, he stared at Beverley like a wolf who had been starving for three days and three nights.

When others are crazy, he is even more crazy!

After Link made a dunk, he gave Dellavedova a thumbs up.

Who doesn't have a ruthless man in their hands? The Rockets want to rely on Beverley to revive, dream it!

Howard has done it, how could he not be able to deal with the small role of Beverley.

Ten seconds later, Beverley was fouled by Dellavedova on a driving layup.

Although Beverley was able to get to the free throw line, his free throws have been very inconsistent. In the end, only one of the two free throws was made, and the Grizzlies still won.

Dellavedova fouls his back, but he doesn't care. Anyway, he only played so much time in a game, but he couldn't get 6 fouls even if he was too motivated.

After Beverly's mad dog was contained, the Rockets became unmanageable. Link's organization allowed the Grizzlies to hold the advantage steadily, while the Rockets' offense stumbled.

Beverley basically couldn't dribble well, and would be rudely interrupted by Dellavedova just two steps away.

Looking at Beverly who was cornered, Hubie Brown shook his head.

Who doesn't have a guard with a knife by their side? For McHale, that person was Beverley. To Link, that person was Dellavedova. But as of today, Beverley has been crushed by Dellavedova.

Ruthless people around ruthless people are not destined to be easy.

Under Dellavedova's defense, Beverley struck one after another, and the magic was no longer there.

Dellavedova seemed to have been brought up by Link to fight meleely. He didn't do anything, he didn't even touch the ball much, and patronized and "wrestled" with Beverley.

Dellavedova looked fierce on the surface, but he was actually scared at heart. Every time he saw Beverley attack, he would think of what Link said in his ear before the game.

"Get him for me, or I'll get you."

Dellavedova got goosebumps at the thought of that. So, desperately to fight Beverly...

The more the Rockets played, the more unmotivated they became, and the score gap was widened. In the third minute of the fourth quarter, when Link assisted Andre Iguodala to hit a three-pointer to bring the difference to 15 points, the fans were already celebrating the victory.

The league's longest winning streak will no longer be an exclusive product of Aerospace City from now on.