Back at home, the Rockets have to face a challenge from the New Orleans Hornets!

The Hornets are currently ranked sixth in the East.

However, this year's Eastern Conference, let alone the sixth team, even the fourth and fifth team, if they are in the Western Conference, they may not even be able to enter the playoffs...

Yes, you read that right!

If it is in the West, let alone the Hornets, even the Heat, which is currently ranked fourth in the East, will have a worse record than the Nuggets, which is currently ranked eighth in the West!

Although the alliance's "weak east and strong west" pattern has been formed for several years, this year's "weak east and strong west" is particularly obvious.

There are so many teams rebuilding in the East this year!

In other words, this also shows how bad the Magic team is this year...

Fortunately, the record of the top three in the East, especially the Pistons and Pacers, can still be seen, especially the Pacers, even if they are in the West, they are still the top two!

There are also two teams that support the Eastern Conference, so that experts from Western cities will not yell, "Why is the Eastern Conference so weak this year!"

Unlike other Eastern teams with poor record, the main reason why the Hornets' record has not improved this year has nothing to do with the management's decisions. Instead, Jamal Marsh, who was considered by many experts as the "best small forward in the league" last season, suffered a major injury and was directly reimbursed for the season. Before the season was reimbursed, he averaged 20.8 points and 6.2 rebounds in the 19 games he played. It was his outstanding performance that the Hornets achieved a good record in the first month and Baron Davis won the "East Player Award" in the first month!

Now, his injury has directly reduced the Hornets a wing offensive point that can average 20 points per game, and also increased the pressure on Baron Davis. Others of the Hornets are unable to fill his vacancy at all... At the end of last month, the Hornets suffered a five-game losing streak, and their record suddenly became mediocre.

However, this season, the Hornets stopped their decline in time. The 7 games that have been played so far have a record of 4 wins and 3 losses. Although it is still not conspicuous, this result is much better than in late December.

The person who played a decisive role in it is not someone else. It is Baron Davis, who won the "East Player of the Month Award" in the first month of the new season. In the fifth year of his career, Baron Davis suddenly matured a lot. He no longer resisted his identity as the leader of the Hornets and began to focus more energy on the court.

He was selected by the Hornets that year, just like Frances, he disliked the team's city too small, but the Hornets' management was more patient with him.

Now, the rewards have been reaped.

So far, he has averaged 23 points and 8 rebounds per game, of which the average score is a new high in his career!

He used this performance to support the Hornets today!

That is, there is no concept of "dual energy guards" now, otherwise, when it comes to "dual energy guards", the league will definitely have his name. Of course, if you really want to say the best representative of "dual energy guards", you have to be the "general" of Washington, Arenas...

"Dickenbe, tell me, how long do you think it will take today?"

"Jamamal Magloil? I think it takes at least three quarters!"

"Three quarters? Kevin, what do you think?"

"I think halftime is enough!"

"Okay, you're in three quarters, you're in half, then you're betting, there's no suspense tonight, let's play smaller, one thousand?"

"Ok, but Carl, you haven't said it yet, how much do you bet?"

"I think it takes less than two quarters to complete one and a half quarters!"

...

Before the game started, Kevin Cato and the three "old men" looked at the inside players opposite again as usual, muttering and wondering what they were saying, but looking at their appearance, they could tell that they were discussing very enthusiastically. Yao Ming was very curious and listened to it. After listening, he felt speechless.

These three guys are now increasingly no longer treating their opponents as "people", and they are actually starting to bet...

However, Yao Ming didn't say anything. "Gambling" culture is very popular throughout America, not to mention that most NBA players do not have the concept of money, and they make money quickly, and "gambling" is more common. No one will say it anymore. How about the famous "God of Basketball"? Isn't it still a bad gambling man?

This is the atmosphere!

If Yao Ming said anything, he would break the rules.

Those who break the rules, don’t care about how powerful they are on the field, they will still be ineffective!

Moreover, Yao Ming knew that these guys were betting, and those who should fight to the death will still fight to the death when they were on the field, so he had no reason to stop them.

The game begins soon.

The Hornets lacked Marshburn, which means they lacked an important core. The remaining David Wesley and others really cannot take on the core position.

The Hornets now have only one core, that is Baron Davis!

This is also the reason. All the Rockets targeted tonight are heading towards Baron Davis.

It is said that "two fists cannot beat four hands", and the Rockets have such a defensive configuration, so Baron Davis has been struggling from the beginning.

However, this guy is worthy of being the captain of the Warriors later, and his strength is indeed strong. He adjusted his playing style and continued to fight Francis with his body, stabilizing the situation. Until the end of the first quarter, the Hornets were only behind with three points.

No wonder so many experts later said that if this guy was not addicted to filming movies, he would have achieved better results in NBA!

Yao Ming was also surprised by this guy's performance.

After the entire first quarter, this guy scored 9 points, 3 assists and 3 rebounds in a single quarter. The Hornets really rely on him to break out a path alone!

"Shawn, please wait and change your defense with Steve!"

Tom looked at Baron Davis' data after the first quarter and changed the array slightly.

Francis actually wanted to say to Tom, "Big Boss, give me another chance, big Boss!" But thinking about his defensive performance when facing Baron Davis in the first quarter, he was embarrassed to open his mouth.

Moreover, it was not the first time Bathir has "wiped his butt"... He has become somewhat used to it.

Then why am I embarrassed?

My skin is thinner?

Shouldn't it?

Frances was puzzled, and when he glanced at Mobri, he suddenly realized... Well, it had something to do with this kid!

When this guy was still in the starting lineup last season, he would also drag his legs on the defensive end. Compared to him, Francis is better.

But now, this guy is no longer in the starting lineup, and the newly joined Lagabay is making a living in the league by defending, which has led to the only one who is dragging his back on the Rockets' defensive end...

Can he be embarrassed?

I have to practice my skin well...

Ahhhh!

wrong!

It’s not that I practice my skin well, but that I have to practice my defense!

He was thinking about it all, and the substitute rotation stage in the second quarter had already been completed before he knew it. Mobley led the Rockets substitute rotation lineup to a sprint on the court, successfully widening the score gap to more than 7 points.

"Okay, guys, let's end the battle as soon as possible!"

Before the starting substitute came on the court, Tom clapped loudly and shouted at them.

In his opinion, this is a great opportunity for the Rockets to widen the gap!

As it turned out, there was no problem with his judgment. The Rockets, who returned to the court, only took three or four minutes to successfully score a 9-3 scoring spree. After Baron Davis, who performed very well in the first quarter, faced Sean Bathier, it was no longer so easy.

There is no way, his weight tonnage did crush most players in the No. 1 position, including Francis.

But facing Bathir in the third position, his weight is not that dominant!

Naturally, his method of forcing attack was not so effective!

What's more, behind Bathir, Yao Ming and others were eyeing each other.

In the end, the Rockets successfully opened the 13-point gap in the first half.

In the second half, the Rockets swept another sweep. After expanding their advantage to about 17 points, Tom put all the main players down and rested - it was possible that the main players could play for a while and make the home fans happy for a while, but there are still several important games to play next. It took a game to spend a lot of extra rest time, so let these guys have more rest!

However, the fans at the scene did not feel unhappy because of this.

Because the main players of the Rockets who were sitting off the court in the fourth quarter cheered on the court, including Yao Ming, and the white towels on their hands never stopped flying.

He had nothing particularly happy about.

After the third quarter, his 24 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 blocks were not very outstanding... But when the entire team was very excited, he, as the core of the team, had to be more excited.

This is called "integration into the team".

This is true for teams with good atmosphere.

This excitement made Alton Ford, the Rockets' "water dispenser administrator" beside him stunned and thought to himself: It turns out that I am not even qualified for the "water dispenser administrator"!

In the end, the Rockets defeated the Hornets 101-86...

8 consecutive victories!

The day after the end of the game, Yao Ming also received the first generation of signature shoes designed by Peak for him: Yao Phenomenon - Originally, this shoe was called "Big Demon King", but recently so many foreign media have mentioned the "Yao Phenomenon". Peak also quickly changed the name of Yao Ming's signature shoes, from "Big Demon King" to "Yao Phenomenon".

This is a sneaker with red as the basic hue.

Yao Ming’s first reaction when he saw this shoe was Jordan’s classic “generation red”.

Of course, the symbolic meanings of the two "red" models are definitely different.

There is no need to explain Jordan's "red" and there is no need to explain Yao Ming's "red" - to say, in order to please Chinese fans, Dawson has notified the relevant departments to start designing the Rockets' new jersey. During this period, he also discussed it with Yao Ming several times. Based on the current progress, it is estimated that the Rockets will launch a new jersey next season, which is the "Rockets Red" that will become the classic inner Chinese fans in the future. To this day, many fans still believe that it is the best-looking jersey style for the NBA!

The atmospheric "Huaxia Red" is the main color, which destined to be eye-catching. Therefore, in the entire design, the shoes do not have too many complex patterns, and the entire upper looks neat and elegant. However, there are many designs around the sneakers, such as the number "1" symbolizing Yao Ming's identity as the top scholar, and the pinyin of Yao Ming's surname "yao", which can all be found around the sneakers. In addition, there is also a logo of "mvp" soles. However, in order to ensure grip, Peak does not have much design on the word "mvp", which looks not so avant-garde, but it is no big deal. Compared to this little avant-garde, Yao Ming obviously prefers the practicality of the present. Moreover, the color matching and design of the entire shoe are already very eye-catching, without the little embellishment of the soles.

In short, Yao Ming was very satisfied with his first signature shoe after reopening it!

He appeared in the Toyota Center in the morning of that day, which really attracted envious eyes.

"Yao, is this your signature shoe?"

"I'll go, this is too cool, right?"
To be continued...