Chapter 709: Hard work will bring you rewards

Author: Lao Song and Boat

Chapter 709: Hard work will bring you rewards

After the game, Rockets fans left the court at the speed of light, and the audience at Toyota Center quickly turned blank.

That is, the Rockets have been leading the way and finally overtaken. If they are like the first two games, they are more than ten points behind in the half, and fans on the scene may leave part of the game first in the third quarter, and after losing suspense in the fourth quarter, they will lose at least half.

Houston fans, like Miami fans, lack enthusiasm and even worse.

This is in sharp contrast to the fanatical Bay Area fans. The Warriors' home games are always full, and tickets are hard to come by in preseason games. No matter how much the Warriors fall behind, few fans will leave the game early - of course, this situation is almost impossible to happen at the Warriors' home court.

When I was playing at Oracle Center in the past, the audience was mainly Oakland fans, with more blue-collar workers, and the atmosphere was even more popular, which was called "noise hell".

Now that we have moved to the Chase Center, the Warriors' business income has skyrocketed, and the atmosphere on the scene has inevitably weakened a lot.

This is Zhang Yu who took the initiative to give benefits to the fans, controlling the increase in ticket prices. Otherwise, there would be fewer blue-collar fans who could come to watch the game on site, and the atmosphere would be worse.

In fact, the Rockets' performance in this game is already very good. Harden made 11 of 22 shots, 4 of 11 of 3-pointers, 21 of 24 free throws, and scored 47 points, 12 assists, 9 rebounds and 1 steal, setting a personal career playoff score record.

Gordon scored 17 points, Ariza scored 13 points, Anderson scored 15 points, Capela scored 13 points, and all five starters scored in double digits.

The Rockets team won a total of 46 free throws, of which Harden still accounts for more than half.

The Warriors' team only had 23 free throws, just half of the Rockets.

Curry made 16 of 29 shots, 7 of 15 three-pointers, 6 of 6 free throws, scoring 45 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds and 2 steals, which was comparable to Harden.

Leonard and Clay were limited to foul trouble and only scored 16 points and 14 points respectively. The defensive intensity encountered by Antetokounmpo was much higher than the previous two games, with fewer free throws and only 15 points.

On the contrary, Olynick played around the four major stars, and the Rockets' defense was very relaxed, which gave him a lot of open opportunities. He made 5 of 8 three-pointers and scored 15 points, playing the role of the surprise.

At the critical moment of chasing the points, Olynick also hit a three-pointer to help the Warriors narrow the gap to 3 points.

This is also the reason why Zhang Yu used Olynick in the decisive lineup without the death of the five young masters.

Olynick can provide long shots that Green did not have. Today, the referee's dictation standard against the Warriors was particularly strict. He could not hit the basket, and three-pointers became the Warriors' most important offensive method.

In the last 5 minutes, the reason why the Warriors players were obsessed with three-pointers was due to Zhang Yu's arrangement.

Due to the referee's intervention, it is difficult for the Warriors to defend against the Rockets' offense, so they can only respond with higher offensive efficiency so that they can overtake the score and win the game in this offensive battle.

In the fourth quarter, the Warriors took 15 three-pointers and scored 8, scoring 43 points in a single quarter, surpassing the Rockets by 16 points, completing a big reversal.

At the post-match press conference, D'Antoni was a little unwilling to lose to the Warriors and said:

"We have tried our best, but we still failed to win the game. At the last moment, we rushed to the basket many times, but the referee did not say that our game plan failed, and the Warriors also got the opportunity to counterattack, so we lost the game..."

Harden was also a little disappointed:

"I was finally hit by the Warriors and had no chance to attack the box. You all saw it. I played very strong lethality tonight. If I could add to the free throw line, I believe we would definitely win this game..."

These remarks immediately aroused the ridicule of fans:

"Brother Deng is so powerful that he is not satisfied?"

"The Rockets get one point of hard work; the Warriors get one point of hard work, and the three point of hard work, can it be the same?"

"It's okay, superstars can always find someone to deal with the punishment!"

"One point depends on hard work, three points are destined to be the best. Brother Deng, I think you still have to work hard every point to win!"

Not only Warriors fans, but many neutral fans also don’t like Harden’s so many free throws.

His foul-making level is indeed great, but 24 free throws in a playoff game are really exaggerated, enough to rank among the top ten in history. Excluding Jordan Jr., O'Neal's three times were sent to the free throw line by the Shark-cutting tactics, he can rank among the top seven in history.

When Zhang Yu was interviewed, he was also asked about the penalty for this game. He kept avoiding talking about it as always and did not get entangled in this issue.

The reporters were all disappointed. Is this the Z coach who is brave enough to fight and likes to speak wildly?

The attitude of the Warriors fans was also quite dissatisfied. They were all waiting for Zhang Yu to scold the referee and the league and help them vent their anger. However, Zhang Yu chose to endure it.

Moreover, not only Zhang Yu avoided talking, but the Warriors players also avoided talking about the referee's issue. At most, they complained that the referee's standard was a bit strict, but they did not question the referee's biased penalty.

The reporters and fans were even more puzzled. Today's black whistle is so obvious that the Warriors can turn a blind eye. Are they all made of mud?

In fact, Warriors players want to scold the referee, but under Zhang Yu's order, they could only give up this idea.

Everyone didn't understand why Zhang Yu chose to give in and tolerate.

This is not the first time. Since last year's G3 finals, Zhang Yu's attitude towards referees has completely changed.

In the past, whenever the Warriors encountered an unfair judgment, Zhang Yu would apply for a technical foul first and put pressure on the referee. He was the first to denounce the referee after the game. He used the mean words and the fierce attitude, so no one could match.

But now, he directly ignored the referee's side whistle and never criticized the referee, which made people puzzled.

However, they still did it according to Zhang Yu's request. Only Green was very dissatisfied with the referee's attitude when he was interviewed and sarcastically sarcastic, but he also stopped.

...

One day later, the Warriors and the Rockets ushered in their fourth game.

The Rockets fell behind 0:3 in a big score and were at an absolute disadvantage. According to "convention", the referee still favored the Rockets, and their home advantage was no worse than the previous game.

But the Rockets themselves lost their fighting spirit. Harden was lazy on the court. It took more than ten seconds to dribble the ball to the top of the arc. Then he started to sprint, one pick-and-roll and one step back and three-pointer, or was blocked when the breakthrough was halfway through, and he was assigned to his teammates on the outside and stood at the top of the arc to watch the show.

Rockets fans were very disappointed when they saw Harden walking on the court, but when they thought of the huge gap, they could understand his thoughts.

Anyway, there is no chance, so why are you fighting for?

But no matter whether you win or lose, fans hope to see the stars they support are full of fighting spirit and show their momentum on the court.

Sometimes, all fans need is hope to continue to support their continued watching the game.

Even if you lose, it doesn’t matter. As long as you lose with dignity, fans will not be sad.

Harden gave them hope in the last game, but today he deprived them of this hope.

After the first half, Harden only scored 8 points and broke through with the ball few times. The Rockets were 8 points behind the Warriors with a huge home advantage 52:60.

In the second half, the referee no longer helped the Rockets. The Rockets themselves were not doing well, and no matter how hard he worked, it would be useless.

After the call standard returned to normal, the Warriors quickly expanded their lead. After the third quarter, they led the Rockets by 26 points with 98:72.

In the fourth quarter, all of them became garbage time, and neither main players of both sides did not make a debut again.

A Western Conference Final Battle came to an end in the lively attack between the third teams of the two teams.

However, the Chinese fans are looking forward to the Chinese derby. Zhou Qi and Wang Zhelin both got more than 8 minutes of chance to play, and there were several opportunities to directly match, which made many Chinese fans who have experienced the Yao Ming era feel very moved.

"There were also such fights between Yao Yao and Dazhi, Yao Yao and Ah Lian!"

"I thought I would never see the 'Huaxia Derby' again, and there is a successor to China basketball!"

In the end, Zhou Qi, who usually has more opportunities to play and is more adaptable to the NBA intensity, was even better, scoring 8 points, 4 rebounds and 1 block, while Wang Zhelin only scored 4 points and 2 rebounds.

The Warriors also defeated the Rockets 125:102, swept the opponent 4:0 in three consecutive rounds and advanced to the finals.

Harden made 4 of 12 shots in the game, 1 of 4 three-pointers, 5 of 7 free throws, scored 14 points, 5 assists, 3 rebounds and 4 mistakes, and performed extremely poorly.

But he played it at least when he was behind 0:3. Zhang Yu's previous life, the Rockets fell behind 2:3 in the semi-finals. The Harbin team's performance was even worse than this, which was surprising.

It was also from that game that Harden's impression of life and death in the playoffs was deeply rooted in people's hearts.

The same is true this time. Fans mocked Harden in various ways after the game, and many Rockets fans even expressed their disappointment with Harden.

Zhang Yu praised Harden's performance in the post-match interview:

"He didn't play very well today, but he has always been the Rockets' most threatening person in this round of the series. He almost helped the Rockets win a game. I think he will perform better next season and the Rockets have a bright future."

Zhang Yu's praise made Warriors fans restrain their ridicule of Harden, but the G3 penalty still made many people feel uneasy. After the Rockets lost, they did not forget to step on it.

This is the norm in the Warriors' playoffs in the past few seasons. Because the Warriors are strong, the referees will favor the Warriors' opponents.

After Warriors fans are angry by the referee, this anger will be vented on the referee and the opponent's players, resulting in many grudges from Warriors fans and many other team fans.

Among them, fans of the Heat, Thunder, Clippers, Rockets, and Cavaliers have an extremely terrible relationship with Warriors fans, but strangely, after James left the Heat, the smell of gunpowder between Warriors fans and Heat fans disappeared, but instead, the Cavaliers fans who had not yet reached the finals at that time became anti-brave pioneers.

9000 words please give me a monthly ticket, recommend votes!
Chapter completed!