After flying back to Sa City and taking a day off, Su Yang began to prepare for the Christmas battle, focusing on how to defend Harden.

In the office, the coaching staff members gathered, and Mike Brown looked at the computer screen and said, "ESPN said that Harden averaged 27.4 points, 7.5 assists and 6.1 rebounds since the start of the game, leading the Rockets to the third record in the Western Conference, and he will be an MVP competitor..."

Everyone looked surprised. Harden's data was so good. He had scored 40 points several times, which was a bit fierce.

Assistant coach Di Brown continued: "So this is not only a Christmas battle, but also a MVP battle between Curry and Harden. Compared to the last time he clocked in and got off work in the third quarter, Curry would be better off getting points this time so as not to be snatched away by Harden's 40 points in the third quarter..."

"I watched the video. The biggest change in Harden this season is the sharp increase in ball rights usage. His usage rate was 27.8 last season, ranking 13th in the league, while his usage rate this season was 31.3, ranking 4th in the league, and only 1.0 less than LeBron."

As soon as McMillan finished speaking, Di Brown asked with a smile: "Who is the number one usage rate? Let me guess? Kevin Durant?"

Su Yang also had the same conjecture. The Thunder only expects Durant to swing a sledgehammer, and it is normal for the first-rate per game to use the ball.

It may be a coincidence that the top two players in NBA's history of ball rights use rate are from the Thunder. The first is Westbrook in the 16-17 season, with an average of 41.7. The second is Harden in the 18-19 season, with an average of 40.5. The two brothers are quite outrageous. After all, even Kobe, the craziest season in the 2005-06 season, had an average of 38.7. LeBron's highest ranking is only 47.

But speaking of this, most fans think that Kobe and LeBron are the ball players, even though their teammates were in a different way back then.

“bingo!”

McMillan nodded, "So I suggest limiting Harden to use the ball and reducing his ball holding."

After the words came to an end, everyone looked at Su Yang.

Su Yang already had a thought in his mind and said: "Scouts report that Howard may not play tomorrow night because of injury. We arranged for Evan Turner to defend one-on-one when starting, and used a defender to block the left side during rotation, and Cousins ​​blocked the frontcourt."

"Cousins ​​was injured in his left index finger and needed to have a quit for at least two games. In addition, Guy was absent at least one game after pain in his left knee..."

Su Yang thought for a moment when he heard this, and then said, "Then let Whiteside appear in the rotation. He is good at blocking shots and grabbing boards. If he really doesn't work, he can still let Jeremy Grant appear. As long as there is a threat of a frame protection, it will force Harden to pass the ball."

Mike Brown and others nodded to show their understanding, and the coaching staff discussed how to limit Ariza's three-pointer at the bottom corner, and the meeting ended immediately.

Su Yang turned to the stadium with his computer in his arms and pulled Evan Turner to watch the video of Paul George and Holiday defending Harden. After all, he is the two best players in the league to defend Harden, especially Paul George, who deserves a brief reference.

"Last time we took the lead against the Rockets and didn't strictly defend Harden. Although we won, he scored 40 points in three quarters. This time we have to strictly defend. For the victory of the Christmas game, we can also better demonstrate your defensive ability..."

Turner nodded to show that he understood.

Su Yang patted his shoulder to encourage him, thinking that it was Donian Finney Smith who had not entered the league yet, otherwise he would have to let Turner watch his video, because Donian Finney Smith's defense was also very effective in defending Harden. In a single season, Harden made 8 of 28 shots, including 6 of 21 three-pointers, and his body was similar to Turner. Anyway, he had a tall and long arms, and it was easy to defend Harden.

The Kings' defensive training will be launched. Since Harden is to be restricted to death, Antetokounmpo must not be spared for assisting defense.

While the training was in full swing, media such as espn began to warm up the Christmas battle between the Kings and the Rockets.

Stephen Smith, Pippen and McGrady, the three of them talked about the highlights of the game in detail on the show, focusing on the MVP battle between Harden and Curry. As they talked about who is better for Curry or Harden to build a team. As a result, Curry was 2-1 Harden.

The person who supports Harden is McGrady. I don’t know if it is the program team intentionally arranged or the spontaneous choice. He commented: “Harden has his own point guard attributes and has strong scoring ability. This season, he can lead the Rockets to the third place in the Western Conference under the premise that Howard is troubled by injuries. He doesn’t need too many strong teammates. He only needs to catch the ball and hit three-pointers. He is very strong in one-on-one fight..."

The show was broadcast for about half an hour. Rockets general manager Morey tweeted, listing a lot of difficult to distinguish and understand and so-called high-level data, emphasizing that Harden's efficiency value is as high as 30.6, and looking at NBA history, it is also ranked in the top 20 levels, and is expected to score.

The hot searches of Twitter followed the topic of which Harden or Curry is more suitable as the cornerstone of team building. More than 70% of fans chose to support Harden. The main reason is that Harden does not pick on teammates, is particularly resistant to injury, and rarely fails to play due to extreme defense.

In words, Curry relies on the system, has many fragile and injured body, and is easily prevented from death due to height limitation, and can only shoot three points.

A fan named ‘crazyparker Beard’ wrote: “I want to say a shocking conclusion, that is, Howard’s joining did not bring much help to Harden, but instead restricted Harden from reaching the peak. According to the data provided by the official website of NBA, it can be easily predicted that Harden will become the player with the highest singles scoring efficiency in NBA history. Therefore, he does not need a bulky traditional center teammate, he needs a center teammate with good mobility and a teammate with a teammate with a good three-point shooting percentage..."

The fan's remarks received 20,000 likes and reposts, and Durant also gave a big shot and gave a thumbs up, without any concealment.

Fans from all walks of life joined the discussion, from who is the real NBA historical singles challenger, to how much Howard helped the Rockets, to the difference between LeBron and the current Rockets in 2008-09, the preheating of the Christmas game has been fully filled.

On Christmas Eve, the Christmas battle between the King and the Rockets started in the Sleep Train Arena, and espn was broadcast throughout the United States.

After the pre-match ceremony, Su Yang gave a speech as the boss: "Good evening, everyone, I'm glad to see you gathered in the Sleep Train Arena this night. I know that since 2002, you have not come here to watch football on Christmas Eve for a long time. Fortunately, after all of us, this wish has come true this year. This is also the last time we have held a Christmas battle in this arena. From next season, we will move to a brand new stadium and hold a Christmas battle every year!"

Cheers were everywhere in the stadium, and the long whistle sounded closely, and the starting players of the two teams entered the stadium one after another.

On the Rockets, Howard played with injury and formed the starter with Josh Smith, Ariza, Harden and Terry.

On the Kings' side, Cousins ​​is on the verge, Jason Thompson is the starting center, and Turner replaces Raven as the starting point guard.

The short whistle sounded, and the Kings' mascot "Simon" held the team flag and ran around the field, slapped the high fives all the way with the fans sitting on the sidelines. Many fans shook the Sacheng special horn bell, and the sound penetrated the eardrum and rushed straight into their thinking, which was a bit breathtaking.

Amid cheers, the king won the jump ball.

The five-outside formation started directly. Green took the pass from Curry at the top of the arc, and then ran towards the right bottom corner to make a wide cover. Turner took the opportunity to get rid of Harden and quickly ran to the right wing position, but Harden chased him wildly, without falling behind at all.

Seeing that Turner had a chance to catch the ball, Green turned around and moved to the left. Curry cut into the paint area simultaneously and moved to the left with the help of Antetokounmpo's cover. Thompson stood in the left waist position early to set up a wall, adding a ladder cover for Curry and blocking Terry from chasing.

That operation, no matter how you look at it, it seems like a return to the database.

But Terry chased after him very quickly, Howard also delayed in advance, Curry did not get a good opportunity, and Green turned right after seeing this.

Turner approached at the same time, handed the ball in his hand and brought it to 45 degrees on the left, trying to rush to the basket, but Harden kept holding on.

In a hurry, Turner saw the Rockets' team shrinking and restricting the pass in the paint area, so he had to force the bottom line and hurriedly passed the ball to Antetokounmpo, who was in an open position on the right corner, but there were only 3.8 seconds left to attack, and Antetokounmpo was poor again, and the situation was very bad.

Three points followed by a clang of iron.

Howard jumped to grab the rebound, landed and passed it directly to the right wing position. Terry received the ball and rushed, reaching the top of the frontcourt arc in three seconds.

Two-for-two situations, Terry crossed Josh.

Josh made a strong breakthrough and Green made a layup. He grabbed the offensive rebound by himself. He landed and then passed Terry on the outside. Terry rushed towards Curry and passed it to Harden. Harden made a fake breakthrough and passed it to Josh again. Finally, Howard, who followed in the middle, took the ball and made a layup.

"Okay, the Rockets are well prepared, especially Harden's defense, his attitude has been shown..."

Su Yang sat upright, thinking that this is the Rockets that are all-out to do is fun. As the saying goes, the more they resist, the more excited they become.
Chapter completed!