The Godfather of Basketball

The cheers on the scene were loud, and the Rockets regained their momentum in a single defense and attack in the past.

Artest's performance was immediate.

"This substitution is very timely." Smith praised.

"Yes, if Artest didn't fight, he would still be a top ten small forward in the league." Barkley said with a half-joking smile.

Artest's playing allowed the Rockets to regain their momentum a little bit. When there were about 2 minutes left before the end of the first quarter, the Rockets had evened out the points behind and caught up to a 26-26 tie.

At this time, the two sides also began to enter the rotation one after another.

On the Cavaliers' side, only James was left in the starting lineup, "Brazilian actor" Varejao, "guard with a knife" Daniel Gibson, Joe Smith and Szczerbiak replaced one after another.

For the Rockets, Jr. Jordan, Scola, Moreau and Sun Yue also played. Counting Artest who was not replaced, this is an all-in-one lineup.

As soon as the Cavaliers' offense came up, James called Varejao to come over for the pick-and-roll.

After taking it apart, Varejao took Artest to the far end, and James faced Scola.

The Rockets' defensive rotation was quick, and Morrow double-teamed them immediately.

James made a concealed hit to the ball, and Gibson caught the ball and scored a layup.

Jordan was a little stunned defensively, and his defense was much slower.

"What are you doing?! Guard the restricted area! That's your job!" Artest yelled at Jordan directly.

Little Jordan was stunned, and the rest of the Rockets were also stunned.

The fans at the scene didn't react at once.

Artest didn't care about the reaction of the players. When he got to the baseline, he gave Sun Yue a free throw, and then ran forward with his head buried.

Sun Yue advanced to the frontcourt with the ball and handed the ball to Scola for high position support.

Jordan blocked one for Morrow, Scola hit the ball to Morrow, and when the ball arrived, Morrow caught the ball and made a three-pointer.

"boom!"

The shot was a little heavier, and the ball hit the back edge of the basket and bounced high.

Jordan rushed over to grab it, and Joe Smith experienced the stuck position to prevent him from passing.

James rushed from the weak side to grab this defensive rebound.

But at this moment, a burly figure took off first.

The jump is not high, but the judgment is very accurate, and the ball is directly in the bag.

Artest!

James was going to grab back and forth at this time, and Joe Smith also came over to double-team, which was to force him to make a mistake.

But at this moment, Artest threw the ball into the air suddenly, and then shouted: "DeAndre!"

Smith went to double-team, and Jordan was unguarded. Hearing the shout at this moment, watching the basketball flying into the air, he took a step and jumped.

He is not good at other things, but this is his specialty!

"Boom!"

With a muffled sound, Jordan scored an alley-oop dunk.

"God! DeAndre took off!" Barkley yelled.

"That's it! Just do it!" Artest rushed out at this time and waved his hand at Jordan.

The two hit a chapter hard.

Little Jordan also roared excitedly, and it could be seen that he was directly excited.

The Cavaliers' offense, James looked for a pick-and-roll again, this time Artest went around in time, but Varejao's pick-and-roll failed.

James passes the ball to Gibson and cuts to the basket.

This is being forced to play off the ball.

But the off-ball effect is very good. Gibson hits the ball with a tacit understanding, and James catches the ball and throws off Artest for a layup.

Jordan stood under the basket and waved his palm.

"boom!"

The ball was slapped directly out of the field.

Jordan covered James!

James devoted more than half of his attention to Artest who was chasing and defending. This inattentiveness took a big hat from Jordan with full firepower!

The cheers on the scene burst directly, this ball is so cool!

After Jordan blocked the shot, he was also very excited, yelling and shouting, and even had a chest bump with Artest.

The Cavaliers sent a sideline ball, James was strictly guarded by Artest and had no chance to catch the ball, and after Gibson received the ball, he was also forced to death by Sun Yue. In the end, he made a reluctant shot and directly made a three-point shot, and there was a 24-second violation.

The cheers were even louder.

The Rockets attacked, and Sun Yue missed a three-pointer after the pick-and-roll in the frontcourt. Scola broke out from the two Cavaliers and grabbed the offensive rebound.

James was in place at this time, and Scola's second attack was missed.

But at this time, Jordan jumped high and grabbed the offensive rebound, and directly distributed it to Morrow on the outside.

Morrow took the ball and adjusted it before shooting.

"Shua!"

The three-pointer went into the net.

Back on the defensive end, James misplaced Scola and went straight to the basket. When he was about to make a strong attack, Morrow stood up early and directly created a "little emperor" who dribbled into someone.

After being pulled up by his teammates, Morrow roared excitedly.

The emotions of the audience were also completely aroused. At this moment, there was no need for DJ to shout, and they had already started to cheer for the home team.

"Come on, Team Rocket!"

Sun Yue advanced to the frontcourt with the ball and made a second pass to Scola. Scola's Argentine dance moves away from Joe Smith, and hits the board with a buzzer.

After the hit, the mild-mannered Scola also roared, and high-fived Sun Yue and Artest one by one.

In the last 2 minutes of the first quarter, the Rockets beat the Cavaliers 7-2!

The audience was indescribably excited.

This Rockets team is strong, but whether it is at the beginning of the season or before, it feels like something is missing.

When Artest first came on the court, they didn't feel anything, but with the excellent performance of this substitute, they knew what it was.

Heart, toughness, excitement, morale!

In this Rockets team, Yao Ming, Tracy McGrady, and Billups are all top players in the league.

Take Jordan's previous mistake on the defensive end, at most they just reminded him.

But Artest is different, he can't help his violent temper!

And it is this that makes the performance of the Rockets players tough.

This is what the Rockets lack the most!

Tang Tian also nodded at this time.

Needless to say, because of weak opponents last season, and last season because of Millsap, the Rockets have no shortcomings in lineup balance. Most of the time they play with the wind. It's still going well.

But this season is different. With the reinforcement of competitors one after another, and this is the third championship, it is the most difficult year. One can imagine the intensity of the playoffs, and it is not impossible to be cornered.

But the toughness brought by Artest can really make the players fearless.

It's like he scolded the players who lost their spirits at the beginning of the season.

I would rather die standing up than live lying down!