Of course, the Rockets put a lot of pressure on the Cavaliers tonight.
This was the most points the Cavaliers had trailed in the first quarter in their last sixteen games.
At the beginning of the first quarter, the Cavaliers and Rockets were evenly matched.
In the last three minutes, the Cavaliers' defensive system suddenly collapsed.
Ultimately, it was mainly due to the lack of smooth offense, which greatly affected their defensive enthusiasm.
Especially the Cavaliers' perimeter players, led by Larry Hughes.
Their performance on defense was truly helpless.
Meanwhile, the Rockets' offense was much smoother.
Especially the Yao-Tracy combination!
In this game, Yao-Tracy played with unparalleled dominance.
Seeing the trailing score, James turned to Tang Long and said softly, "Tang... you can handle that guy Yao, right? I believe you can!"
Tang Long turned to look at Yao Ming in the rest area and nodded seriously, "LeBron, I'm here, don't worry."
With Tang Long's assurance, James smiled with satisfaction.
"In that case, I'll handle Tracy."
James clenched his fist and looked seriously at Tracy McGrady in the Rockets' rest area.
In the second half of the game, he had to limit McGrady's performance.
At this stage of James's career, although his defensive awareness was not particularly excellent.
His active defensive attitude and desire for victory were absolutely no less than any other player.
He had not yet gone through the trials and tribulations with the Heat and the Lakers.
The current James was definitely not the kind of defensive player who would just shrug his shoulders.
The Cavaliers' James was very willing to contribute his strength on the defensive end.
Tang Long narrowed his eyes and looked at James's serious expression beside him.
He understood that if he could help James win a championship with this Cavaliers team, then most likely, James would also be a basketball superstar who stayed with one team his whole career!
If he couldn't touch the championship, James would definitely choose to join the Heat decisively in the future.
After all, for a superstar, championships were always the most important aspiration!
After the second quarter timeout, although the score difference was only ten points.
Cavaliers fans were not too worried about the Cavaliers' performance.
Because judging by the Cavaliers' performance in the first fifteen games, they would surely win this game effortlessly.
After all, the current Rockets were ranked eighth in the Western Conference.
They were even on the edge of the playoffs.
The Cavaliers had defeated the Lakers, who were fourth in the Western Conference, so it was not surprising that they could defeat the Houston Rockets, who were eighth in the Western Conference.
They blindly and optimistically cheered for their team.
And at this time, on the official commentary channel.
Coach Zhang Weiping expressed his views on the subsequent game trend.
"The combination of Big Yao and Tracy has gained nearly 10 points of advantage in half-court offense, but they still face great pressure from Tang Long and LeBron!"
"Especially the defensive counter-attack system led by Tang Long and James!"
"If the Cavaliers deliberately speed up the pace of the game, it will not be optimistic for Big Yao, as his stamina is difficult to sustain."
After Zhang Weiping finished speaking, Yang Yi, who was beside him, nodded in agreement.
Throughout his NBA career, Big Yao's role had always been that of a heavy center.
He absolutely could not run all over the court like Tang Long, and he was completely unable to lead fast breaks for the team.
"With Big Yao present, the Rockets will inevitably remain an offensive team that primarily relies on half-court offense!"
"This leads to the fact that if the Cavaliers deliberately speed up the pace, it will be a meaningless back-and-forth run for Big Yao on the court."
"His stamina consumption and physical wear and tear will be extremely high!"
Yang Yi analyzed.
"However, the Cavaliers may not necessarily be able to speed up the pace of the game, as the Rockets' Alston and shooting guard Tracy have a rhythm control ability that is not inferior to James!"
Coach Zhang Weiping still favored the Rockets.
Although the Rockets were currently ranked eighth in the Western Conference, when Big Yao and Tracy were on the court together, the Rockets were a strong team with championship potential!
Even if James deliberately tried to speed up the pace, it would be very difficult to achieve.
Everyone was full of anticipation for the upcoming game.
After the timeout, the game between the two sides continued.
At the beginning of the second quarter, the Rockets made personnel adjustments.
McGrady led the team alone, while Yao Ming went to the bench to rest.
At this time, coach Van Gundy protected Yao Ming very well.
On the Cavaliers' side, neither James nor Tang Long chose to rest.
Instead, they both chose to play, trying to catch up in the second quarter.
As soon as the second quarter started, the Rockets launched a fierce offense.
Streetball King Alston dribbled the ball to the top of the arc and passed it to McGrady.
James stuck close to McGrady, but facing James's defense, McGrady acted as if no one was around and directly chose to pull up for a jump shot.
James had few options against this exquisite pull-up jumper.
McGrady's pull-up shot was fast, and his shooting point was relatively high.
It was indeed not easy to directly block it.
Although his biggest problem with the pull-up was that the trajectory was too low, and it seemed to hit the rim in a straight line.
And his shooting percentage was not very high throughout his career.
Clearly, his condition in this game was very good, and he seemed to have regained the offensive form that allowed him to win two consecutive scoring titles.
This pull-up shot was once again accurate, and the score difference widened to 13 points.
"This guy!" James gritted his teeth in annoyance.
He didn't expect McGrady's three-pointer to go in.
His defense was already very good, and James had no good way to defend McGrady's unreasonable shot.
Especially the fear of McGrady drawing a foul and making a 2+1, James felt even more like crying.
The teams switched offense and defense, and the Cavaliers attacked.
Tang Long directly passed the ball to James, who dribbled the ball past half-court.
He then passed the ball directly to Tang Long, who was cutting inside.
Tang Long posted up Hayes behind him.
With a beautiful turn and a small hook shot, Tang Long made the two-point shot.
It had to be said that, up to this point, Tang Long's performance was still very stable.
His form had not been greatly affected by the Cavaliers' disadvantage.
Instead, he showed even more stable performance, becoming the only player on the Cavaliers to maintain a good game state.
In the playing time he had, Tang Long had displayed almost unsolvable offense.
He helped the Cavaliers hold on to the score, preventing it from widening further.
Mike Brown nodded slightly. As long as Tang Long was on the court, he was not afraid of the Rockets making a comeback.
The Cavaliers' winning streak would continue!