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Chapter 312 - 151. Accidentally slaughtered! _3

Chapter 312: 151. Accidentally slaughtered! _3

Who would have thought that a rookie coming off the bench on the other team could be so heavily relied on in his debut and put on such a dazzling performance?

Jeff Van Gundy looked toward Bickerstaff, wondering how could the old man be so lucky?

On the other side, Rondo returned to the bench, receiving enthusiastic affection from his teammates, with high-fives and playful head rubs.

points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, Rondo still had his poker face, but he had already earned the trust of both the coach and his teammates in his debut!

...

The Rockets substituted Luther Hayes for Alston, with no other changes, while the Bobcats made no adjustments to their lineup.

After the timeout, McGrady made a quick stop and hit a jump shot, stemming the bleeding for the Rockets.

When the Bobcats had the ball, Luther Hayes gave Rondo a step to prevent the drive, but it was to no avail, as Rondo blew past Hayes with lightning speed and penetrated the lane.

However, it wasn’t just the perimeter defense that started to focus on his drives; when Rondo got close, he was met by the towering Yao Ming, which made it hard to pass to Muhammad on the left side of the basket. But his aim wasn’t to go inside — after drawing in Yao Ming, he passed the ball out to the high post...

Zhang Yang, using a screen, moved beyond the free throw line, caught the ball, and faced Hayes’s switch to shoot a long two-pointer... and scored again!

Zhang Yang scored in double figures in a single quarter for the third time in his career!

Yao Ming, watching Rondo who ran out to high-five Zhang Yang, wondered how the rookie managed to get the ball out. No, the question was, how had he seen Zhang Yang’s movement through the crowd?

At that moment, Yao Ming thought of that player from the Nets... He shook his head; it couldn’t be, absolutely not possible. The Bobcats had only used a late first-round pick, how could they be so lucky to have drafted such a player?

Zhang Yang was ecstatic; he had made similar runs in the first half, but Felton had hardly ever managed to pass the ball out.

Lil’ Fatty had a narrower field of vision indeed and prioritized safe passes, threading the needle was not his thing.

But Coach Rondo would definitely see it, and he dared to make the pass!

When it was the Rockets’ turn to attack, Rondo actively switched his defense to cover Luther Hayes.

His primary defensive task was to help reduce Zhang Yang’s physical exertion.

Unlike Alston, Hayes, a shooting guard who plays without the ball, still had to guard Battier and deal with the wing’s deflation, but it was certainly less exhausting than running off screens to guard Luther Hayes.

Zhang Yang excitedly followed Battier, finding it reassuring to partner with an intelligent point guard.

Of course, he still preferred playing with Lil’ Fatty the most; Lil’ Fatty took orders, while Rondo... was too opinionated, not easy to direct. Yes, Lil’ Fatty was better.

Once Luther Hayes brought the ball up to the top of the arc, his ball-handling duties were completed. He passed it to McGrady, who continued to play one-on-one.

Indeed, when Jeff Van Gundy substituted the off-ball shooter Luther Hayes for the ball-handler Alston, it signaled that the Rockets were entering the most powerful Yao-McGrady firing mode!

With McGrady and Yao Ming focusing on the offense, even Gerald Wallace, and the twin towers of Muhammad and Okafor, couldn’t stop them.

A few possessions later, Jeff Van Gundy put a well-rested Juwan Howard into the game. Displaying the two-star-three-shooter formation he learned from his big brother, the Bobcats were even less able to defend.

But this decision was purely a move of desperation...

By the end of the first quarter, relying on Yao and McGrady’s combined 9 points in the latter half, along with Battier and Hayes each hitting a three-pointer, and Juwan Howard making one of two free throws, the Rockets scored 16 points in half a quarter, totaling 26 points for the quarter, but they were still trailing the Bobcats by 4 points!

Zhang Yang scored 14 points in the quarter on 6 of 10 shooting, coupled with a perfect 2 for 2 from the line, setting a new personal record for points in a single quarter and leading his team to a 30-26 lead over the Rockets!

The changes Rondo brought to the offensive end after coming on for the Bobcats broke through Jeff Van Gundy’s defensive preparations, and he couldn’t make up his mind about how to adjust defensively for a while.

Every time there was a need for an adjustment he had not made before, he would hesitate, come up with a bunch of ideas, and then... not change anything.

If the offense had not switched to the Yao-McGrady firing mode in time and had continued on with the first half’s game plan, the lead would probably have been expanded to double-digits already!

Even though the score was close, Jeff Van Gundy had bigger worries.

McGrady played the entire first quarter, scoring 8 points and dishing out 3 assists. That was expected, but Yao Ming also played the entire first quarter, scoring 9 points, grabbing 4 rebounds, and adding 1 assist and 1 block!

This was different from last season’s opener; in that game, the Bobcats’ frontcourt only had Okafor putting up resistance, with Brezec and Jumaine Jones allowing Yao Ming to play as he pleased, scoring in double figures in the first quarter, and playing over 40+ minutes for the entire game.

This time, facing Perkins and Okafor, and the other twin tower lineup of Muhammad and Okafor, Yao Ming was worn down through constant rotation, being physically challenged at the offensive end just by standing still against Perkins and Muhammad and bombarded defensively by wave after wave of attacks... and Yao Ming was exhausted after the first quarter!

Jeff Van Gundy also wanted to know, what to do next?

...

Coming back from the intermission, the Bobcats sent out Felton, Matt Carroll, Gerald Wallace, Millsap, and Muhammad.

On the Rockets side, Jeff Van Gundy hesitated for several minutes but ultimately opted for a cautious rotation, allowing Yao Ming to rest and deploying Alston, McGrady, Steve Novak, Hayes, and Mutombo.

Bonzi Wells, one of the ’Big Three’ heavily promoted by the Rockets before the season started, still hadn’t gotten off the bench by the second quarter.

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