140 I Am Afraid that I Will Be Beaten to Death by Yao Ming Alone.

April 19.

Portland, Moda Center.

"NBA 2007-08 season playoffs, the first round of the game officially begins!"

"Tonight is the Portland Trail Blazers home game against the Houston Rockets!"

"The young Trail Blazers will face the Yao-McGrady combination!"

Under Kenny Smith's shouting, the emotions of all the fans at the scene were mobilized.

The lights in the Moda Center were all dark, with only a few spotlights exploring back and forth throughout the arena.

Luo Yin was the first to walk out of the player tunnel amid the shouting. He looked up at the sky above the Trail Blazers' home arena, enthusiastic and sincere. He kissed his palm and pointed to the Moda Center.

Then Aldridge, Joel Przybilla, Channing Fry, Travis Outlaw, James Jones, Martell Webster, Steve Blake, Vaughn Weaver, Jarrett Jack, Francis, Fred Jones and others appeared one after another.

At the very end, the spotlights were waiting patiently in the player tunnel, and the fans in Portland were already screaming Zhang Jun's name.

The DJ on the scene roared: "The last one, from Los Angeles, California, UCLA's single-season scoring leader, NBA 2007-08 season best rookie, the youngest league scoring leader, All California first step, No. 4, 202cm tall small forward, Zhang Jun!

"

The spotlights quickly moved away from the player tunnel and found Zhang Jun who had already sat on the bench. He jumped up and threw the basketball in his hand to the audience, then walked towards his teammates and high-fived one by one.

Luo Yin had been waiting for a long time, and the two finally bumped fists and made a great thunder and hot knife.

Zhang Jun opened his hands and shouted, "Trail Blazers!"

Everyone immediately gathered around and shouted, "Tear it apart!"

The commentary desk on the scene.

Kenny Smith was a little surprised when he saw the Trail Blazers' pre-match preparation ceremony.

"This doesn't look like a young team. Even if the Rockets are the more recognized team, they probably won't have an easy time in this series."

Barkley heard the Trail Blazers' team reporter talk about the Trail Blazers' culture and said, "Zhang Jun, Luo Yin and Aldridge want to create a special team culture for the Trail Blazers."

"At present, the team's fighting spirit and fighting desire are indeed good. It seems that their cultural construction has achieved good results."

"But the Rockets are not a playoff rookie. They can't win the game by relying on culture and fighting spirit. They still have to speak with strength on the court."

The starting lineups of the two teams have been shown on the big screen.

The Trail Blazers: point guard Jarrett Jack, shooting guard Brandon Luo Yin, small forward Zhang Jun, power forward Aldridge and center Joel Przybila.

The Rockets starting lineup: point guard Rafer Alston, shooting guard Tracy McGrady, small forward Sean Battier, power forward Luis Scola and center Yao Ming.

Before the midfield jump ball.

Neither Yao Ming nor Zhang Jun had the intention to go over and say hello, and the two did not even look at each other during the whole process.

After the playoffs, they only had teammates and enemies on the court, nothing else.

Whoosh!

The referee at the center line blew a whistle, and then threw the basketball high into the air.

Yao Ming and Joel Przybila each jumped up.

Bang!

The two touched the basketball at the same time, but the basketball flew in the direction of the Rockets.

McGrady jumped high and grabbed the ball.

"Rockets attack!"

Rafer Alston pushed the ball forward, McGrady received the ball at a 45° angle on the right, and Yao Ming made a false position on the left. The moment McGrady got the ball at a 45° angle on the right, Yao Ming immediately turned and moved sideways.

"This is a classic big man's positional play."

"Yao Ming first positions on the right side, forcing the Blazers' defensive focus and attention to move to the right side, while Joel Przybila, who is defending him, will do his best to position Yao Ming, forcing him to receive the ball away from the restricted area under the basket."

"But this false positional play and the change of turning and moving sideways will completely break the Blazers' entire defensive position and pillars. McGrady also passed the ball at the first time, not giving Joel Przybila the opportunity to push Yao Ming out of the restricted area again."

Kenny Smith said with great praise.

In his opinion, Rockets head coach Rick Adelman is worthy of being the league's top offensive coach. The offensive tactics he came up with in the first round of the playoffs are very beautiful.

Barkley also keenly noticed that Sean Battier, a sharpshooter who averaged 39% of his three-point shooting percentage this season, was standing on the same side of Yao Ming.

"When the ball is transferred from the strong side to the weak side, the Blazers' Jarrett Jack, Brandon Royne, and Aldridge Yao Ming can't help defend at this time. Only Zhang Jun, who stays on the weak side, has the possibility of helping to double-team Yao Ming."

"But he and Battier are on the same side, which means Zhang Jun has to choose to help defend Yao Ming or leave Battier open, forcing him to choose one of the two."

"No matter which one he chooses, it will not be a good decision."

On the court.

Zhang Jun chose to defend Yao Ming. He knew very well that letting Joel Przybilla defend Yao Ming in such a deep position would simply give him points. Not to mention Yao Ming, any starting-level center in the league would have a high success rate of scoring in that position.

Huh!

Yao Ming chose to pass the ball to Battier in the bottom corner, who shot a three-pointer decisively.

Uh-huh!

"Hit!"

“Rockets’ Shane Battier scored the first possession of the series.”

After scoring the goal, Battier was very calm and immediately sprinted towards the backcourt, shouting to remind his teammates.

"Look out for Zhang Jun and Luo Yin!"

Trail Blazers offense.

Jarrett Jack advances very quickly with the ball, just not letting Yao Ming fall into position. Of course, Yao Ming also works hard when returning to defense, but his speed of returning to defense with such effort is still not very fast.

Luo Yin caught the ball and immediately asked for a pick-and-roll from Aldridge. Then he used the pick-and-roll to gain shooting space in the mid-range and shot directly. Zhang Jun quickly cut into the penalty area and competed with McGrady and Scola for the rebound.

Uh-huh!

The basketball was hit steadily and did not give the three people a chance to fight for rebounds.

Yao Ming just returned to the free throw line at this moment, but the Trail Blazers had completed their offense.

"They're playing fast."

Buckley said with certainty.

Kenny Smith thought of last year's playoffs and said: "The Trail Blazers' coaching staff should have learned a lot from last year's Jazz and Rockets games, so they chose this offensive method."

"Quickly completing the offense can weaken Yao Ming's defensive role in positional battles, and at the same time make him exhausted and quickly consume his physical energy."

"The Trail Blazers should have realized that Yao Ming's offense is difficult to defend, so consuming his energy to reduce Yao Ming's playing time is also a good strategy."

The game continues.

The Rockets also wanted to play the same tactic of Yao Ming pretending to be in the position. Zhang Jun and Luo Yin switched defenses in advance.

"Brandon! You go and guard Battier, be careful of his three-pointers. I'm going to help guard Yao Ming. I'll guard McGrady outside alone. Jack remembers to help me fill the position."

As soon as Zhang Jun finished speaking, Luo Yin immediately changed defense.

Not only him, but every player in the Trail Blazers will follow Zhang Jun's arrangements and command on the court. This has nothing to do with his status as one of the three core players of the team, but that everyone on the Trail Blazers, including the coaching staff, is very It is clear that Zhang Jun has a keen sense of smell and basketball IQ on the court, which has been proven many times as early as the regular season.

"The Trail Blazers' defense has changed!"

Yao Ming once again got the ball in the low post, and Zhang Jun immediately rushed to the penalty area fiercely. This time, Yao Ming wanted to find Battier, but found that the latter was already being closely guarded by Luo Yin.

Yao Ming wanted to fight hard, but Joel Przybilla had already moved forward to defend and put his arm into Yao Ming's arm. The two struggled wildly.

The Trail Blazers played a very good defensive possession.

Yao Ming quickly passed the ball to the outside. McGrady caught the ball and Jarrett Jack pounced on it.

"It's a small defense against a big one!"

McGrady didn't hesitate. He changed direction and rushed near the free throw line before immediately pulling out his hand.

Uh-huh!

The basketball hits again!

Basketball went in very simply.

McGrady pointed at Yao Ming with squinting eyes, indicating that the opponent had passed a good ball.

"It doesn't matter, it's a good defense."

Zhang Jun encouraged his teammates.

The appearance of Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady at the same time does put a lot of pressure on the defender. This is also the benefit of the dual-core inside and outside partnership. If you can guard the inside, you cannot guard the outside, and vice versa.

So it's good to be able to make McGrady or Yao Ming take shots under defense. As for them being able to continue scoring against defense, this is completely based on personal ability and has nothing to do with defense.

"With All-Star players like Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady, you can't even think about guarding them by just a few points in one game, not to mention this is the playoffs."

Nate McMillan was very satisfied with the defensive choices of the players on the field. Although the Rockets succeeded in the first two goals, the Trail Blazers had already shown their best defense, and they were not a strong defensive team to begin with.

On the court, Luo Yin missed his second mid-range shot. Zhang Jun got crazy with Luis Scola and McGrady under the basket. In the end, the three of them took off at the same time and both McGrady and Zhang Jun clicked on the basketball.

boom!

The basketball hit the rim and bounced out. Luo Yin grabbed the offensive rebound and took off for the second time.

Uh-huh!

This time his mid-range shot was a solid hit.

"Nice grab."

Luo Yin stretched out his right hand when retreating.

Zhang Jun stretched out his hand and the two of them gave each other a tacit high-five, "You also did a great follow-up shot."

Next round.

Yao Ming got the ball in the paint again, Zhang Jun was just a moment late, and Yao Ming immediately took a shot leaning on Joel Przybilla.

Uh-huh!

The little hook hit steadily.

"Yao Ming's hook is really stable!"

Kenny Smith breathed a sigh of relief. The first game of the series between the Trail Blazers and the Rockets has been played so far, and the scene is as most people expected. The Rockets completely crushed the Trail Blazers in the paint.

Almost every attack they make starts from Yao Ming inside.

But what surprised everyone at the same time was that the Trail Blazers also made the Rockets suffer on offense. Luo Yin's effective singles and pick-and-roll with Aldridge made Luis Scola, who was also not good at defense, very Headache.

Luis Scola was impossible to guard against, and his foot movement was very slow. Unfortunately, he ran into Luo Yin, who was nicknamed the Yellow Mamba. His long-range singles shooting shape was Kobe's and was equally intimidating.

"But these are not what surprise me the most. The most surprising thing is that Zhang Jun defended desperately for almost the entire defensive round. He is the key figure in the Trail Blazers' frequent double-teaming of Yao Ming."

"Such a scene even reminded me of the draft before the start of the season. All the scouts' reports said that Zhang Jun wasted his defensive talent. Everyone thought he could defend but didn't. "

"After this year's playoffs, I believe no one will say that Zhang Jun wasted his defensive talent. He is already the best player in the Trail Blazers' internal and external defense."

In 8 minutes, the two teams tied at 20:22, with the Trail Blazers only trailing by 2 points.

At this time, the Rockets replaced Yao Ming and Luis Scola at the same time, and brought in Carl Landry and Dikembe Mutombo.

The Trail Blazers also replaced Zhang Jun and brought in James Jones.

Without Yao Ming, the Blazers' offensive focus began to tilt toward Aldridge.

He first hit Carl Landry, the singles mid-range king, with a mid-range jumper after a back-up shot, and then a layup that forced his way to the basket.

Scoring in two consecutive rounds also gave the Trail Blazers confidence. However, in the next round, Aldridge leaned inside and was blocked by 41-year-old veteran Dikembe Mutombo.

Mutombo excitedly shook his fingers on the court. Although he could no longer jump high, his defense, especially his shot-blocking ability, was still online.

So Aldridge then changed all his offensive options to mid-range shots.

But at the same time, McGrady stood up again.

He first shot James Jones from the outside with a three-pointer, and then quickly took the first step into the inside to dunk Aldridge.

Without Yao Ming, the Rockets' offensive focus is entirely on Tracy McGrady, and he has finally returned to the familiar unlimited fire mode.

"ah!"

McGrady, who scored three goals in a row, roared to the sky on the court, and the Trail Blazers were directly stopped by his sudden outburst.

The first quarter is over.

The Trail Blazers trailed 30:35.

In the second quarter of the game, Zhang Jun led the bench.

"James Jones, Channing Fletcher, Steve Blake, Travis Outlaw, Zhang Jun."

"The Trail Blazers' terrifying shooter lineup is back."

"What the Rockets have picked up at this time is Yao Ming, Bobby Jackson, Chuck Hayes, Carl Landry and Aaron Brooks."

"With the Trail Blazers' weak interior lineup, Yao Ming's intimidation in the interior will be even more terrifying than in the first quarter."

Kenny Smith would love to say this is the playoffs!

All teams will make every effort to defeat their opponents. The Rockets clearly realized that the inside defense of the Trail Blazers' rotation was too rubbish, so they replaced Yao Ming early in the first quarter and put him in this time period. Come on stage.

"Channing Fletcher and Travis Outlaw, these two are probably going to be beaten by Yao Ming alone."