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Chapter 69: The Gate of Destiny (1.4 words updated in a single day, begging for monthly tickets!)
"What did he mean by that sentence he just said to you?"

Before the game started, McGrady looked up at Yao Ming, who almost fainted from laughing, and asked.

Yao Ming thought about it in his mind and replied: "If you translate what he just said into English, it would probably be something like 'He wants to kill me'."

Hearing this, McGrady's pupils suddenly dilated and he said, "I don't understand why you laughed at this."

At this moment, McGrady certainly couldn't understand.

Although the phrase "Come here" did not become a classic at this time in 2005, Yao Ming wanted to laugh whenever he thought of Qin Yue's provocation that was like that of an elementary school student.

Look, the Golden State Warriors, wearing No. 30 jerseys, behaving like elementary school students.

When you think about it this way, doesn’t it make sense?

On the court, it is worth mentioning that the player responsible for jumping the ball for the Warriors tonight was not Brown, but Qin Yue.

"Have you really thought it through?" Brown asked, looking at Qin Yue.

"Of course, or... do you really want to defend Yao Ming? If you really want to play against Yao Ming, I can give it to you." Turning his eyes to Brown, Qin Yue asked back.

"No, no, no, you know, Qin, Yao is an All-Star center, and I am totally unworthy of being his opponent." The next second, after saying "NO" three times in a row, Brown said hurriedly.

Seeing this, Qin Yue rolled his eyes at Brown and said, "Then why don't you say that you were the No. 2001 pick in 2002 and he was the No. pick in . You are both No. picks in the NBA?"

Brown: “.”

Actually, the reason why Qin Yue wanted to switch defense with Brown tonight was because
In addition to the fact that in his memory, Yao Ming always had the upper hand against Brown, it was also related to the fact that he did not want to avoid the confrontation with Yao Ming.

Although Qin Yue chose to avoid Yao Ming on defense
In the future, the media will use the data to hype up how exciting his matchup with Yao Ming was, but wouldn’t it be embarrassing if future kids really found out that he and Yao Ming didn’t even play against each other on the court?

However, before preparing for the jump ball, Qin Yue repeatedly reminded Brown: "Pay attention to where Yao Ming is on the court asking for the ball. If he's in a deep position, I can't do anything about him."

In response, Brown, who had already been beaten by Yao Ming, nodded and said, "I can fully understand that kind of despair. In front of Yao, even Shaquille O'Neal would become a 'dried fish'."

As confidence gradually recovered.

Qin Yue discovered that Brown’s poisonous tongue nature had begun to show.

In the center of the court, during the jump ball, Qin Yue didn't bother to be polite with Yao Ming. He just jumped up and used his long arms to win the ball for the Warriors.

CCTV, due to the China Derby, Coach Zhang also became a joker, saying: "Yao Ming's disadvantage is his arm span. When we used to praise inside players, we often said that a player was tall and had long arms. But unfortunately, Yao Ming only has height, not long arms."

On the side, Sun Zhengping also complained: "According to official data, Yao Ming is one of the few players in the NBA whose height is greater than his wingspan."

On the court, the Rockets' other four starting players besides Yao Ming tonight are "Second Uncle" Howard, Ryan Bowen, Tracy McGrady and "Streetball King" Alston.

In addition to Qin Yue, the Warriors' other four starting players are Brown, Pietrus, Richardson and Davis.

After Davis dribbled the ball across half court, Qin Yue moved up to the high position to ask for the ball.

Although Qin Yue plans to defend Yao Ming tonight, it is obviously impossible for Van Gundy to use Yao Ming to defend him.

This is not because Yao Ming is scared, it's just a simple on-court logic.

That is.
Once your big center is cleared by the opponent, how can you protect the rim?

As a top defensive team in the NBA during this period, if the Rockets really did this, it would only show that their head coach Jeff Van Gundy is a fool who doesn't understand basketball at all.

Tonight, the Rockets used two defensive schemes while adopting a zone defense.

First of all, if Qin Yue holds the ball on the outside, it will be up to McGrady, who has an outstanding model, to interfere with him.

Secondly, if Qin Yue asks for the ball in the low post, it will be up to Uncle Huo to buy time for Yao Ming to return to defense.

Of course, because the NBA has a three-second defense, Coach Van Gundy's seemingly perfect defensive plan is actually full of loopholes.

after all
The zone defense in NBA and the zone defense in FIBA are two different concepts.

At the top of the arc, after holding the ball and observing the Rockets' defensive position, Qin Yue passed the ball hand to hand with Davis who came back after going around to receive the ball.

Alstom and McGrady were blocked behind Qin Yue almost at the same time.

Seeing this, Davis accelerated and passed the ball to Richardson on the wing through a breakthrough.

Then, after fully attracting the attention of several Rockets players, Richardson, who was cooperating more and more tacitly with Qin Yue, decisively threw the ball towards the basket.

In order for this pass to go over Yao Ming's head, it must be passed high enough.

Richardson's pass clearly did that.

Under the basket, Qin Yue, who was fully prepared before taking off, leaped into the air and slammed the moon in the air, officially kicking off this Chinese derby.

At this moment, the Rockets' weakness in lack of mobility at the power forward position was fully exposed.

This is the Achilles' heel of the Houston Rockets.

Historically, the Rockets during this period were never afraid of teams with big centers.

And even if you are a team with superstars outside
When McGrady is healthy, the Rockets are not afraid at all with Yao Ming protecting the rim inside and McGrady leading the defense outside.

but.
Suppose you are a team with a top power forward.
Then we can basically hit the rockets with every shot.

Yao Ming's physique determines that he, like O'Neal, can provide intuitive defensive deterrence in defense.

But at the same time, they are also people who need to be protected.

Historically, whether O'Neal was in the Lakers' three consecutive championships or in the Heat's championship with Wade, there were basically one or two power forwards who could do the dirty work and whose mobility was above average.

As for Yao Ming?

On the court, after Qin Yue landed after dunking, looking at Qin Yue's heroic back
Yao Ming couldn't help but think of this summer's Asian Championships.

That was definitely the best experience Yao Ming had ever had in his life.
The most perfect match.

Because at that time, Ming was the power forward, but in addition to dribbling the ball, Qin Yue, who had been working at the power forward position, made Yao Ming fully feel the happiness he had never experienced before.

On the court, after Alstom dribbled across half court, Yao Ming also noticed that Qin Yue actually took the initiative to play against him tonight.

This surprised Yao Ming, who had planned to defeat Brown in ten thousand ways before the game.

To be honest, Qin Yue really saved Brown's life.

Because compared to the previous beatings he received on the field.
Starting from the 05/06 season, in the last seven matches against Yao Ming, Brown, who was mainly responsible for defending Yao Ming in the game, would be beaten to a pulp by Yao Ming with an average of 30.7 points per game.

And
The more weight Brown gained in the later stages, the harder Yao Ming would beat him in the game.

Because no matter how much weight Brown gains, he can never surpass O'Neal.

Therefore, his weight gain will only make it more enjoyable for Yao Ming to play against him.

CCTV's Zhang Weiping, who also noticed the Warriors' defensive arrangement, commented: "Wow, Qin Yue took the initiative to defend Yao Ming today. This game is going to be interesting!"

At the side, Sun Zhengping picked up the pre-match materials and read them in a broadcasting voice: "Qin Yue is 211 cm tall, Yao Ming is 226 cm tall. According to the national team physical test at the Asian Championships this summer, Qin Yue weighs 121 kg, and Yao Ming weighs over 140 kg."

On the court, Qin Yue easily prevented Alstom from passing the ball to Yao Ming by moving around.

At this time, Uncle Huo, who couldn't bear to watch it anymore, quickly asked for the ball.

Then, by moving the ball to the weak side, the Rockets finally had McGrady pass the ball to Yao Ming.

But, after going around for so long
In this attack, the Rockets only had about 8 seconds left to attack.

Although Van Gundy does ask players on the court to press the clock when attacking.
But at this moment, the Rockets only have 8 seconds left in the offensive time.
Yao Ming must then complete this offensive mission.

In Qin Yue's previous life, people always complained about Yao Ming's poor passing skills and his inability to deal with double-teaming.

Can.
If you can only pass the ball to Yao Ming at the last moment, who would you let him pass the ball to if he is double-teamed at this point in time?

In the low post, seeing that Yao Ming was in a deep position, Brown and Qin Yue almost immediately surrounded Yao Ming.

It turned out that the lesson Duncan had previously given to Qin Yue was not in vain.

Professional basketball is never one-on-one.

At this moment, facing two NBA No. 1 draft picks, Yao Ming's most irresponsible and optimal solution was to put the blame on McGrady who was on the same side.

But in that case, even if McGrady could catch the ball, he would have to complete the attack within two seconds.

it is a pity.
Since Yao Ming is not good at passing the buck, he chose to take a more straightforward forced shot.

Seeing this, Qin Yue showed no mercy.

Snapped--!
At this moment, the big block Qin Yue gave to Yao Ming was called:
——Let’s go, Yao Ming, you don’t owe Houston anything anymore.

This summer, Qin Yue has brought a positive change to Yao Ming.

That is.
Yao Ming, who was originally going to renew his contract with the Rockets for five years, eventually signed a four-year contract with the Rockets, with the last year being a player option.

This was the "3+1" contract renewal trend that was originally led by Qin Yue's good brother LeBron James.

"The advantage of signing a four-year contract is that you can control your own destiny."

"But my team and I have a lot of investments in Houston."

"Old Yao, where can you not invest in the future? Houston is a typical big city, a small ball market. In the NBA, there are other big cities."

Although this summer, Qin Yue took a long time to finally convince Yao Ming.
But I must specifically praise that the ideas that James usually instills in himself are indeed very suitable for persuading people to change teams.

Especially after Qin Yue showed Yao Ming the relationship between NBA teams and players, Yao Ming, who had played in the NBA for three years, finally realized, "How do you know more about the NBA than I do?"

Hearing this, Qin Yue smiled and said, “Don’t forget, I came to the United States when I was 15 years old.”

"After that, will you also leave the Warriors?"

"That depends on how the Warriors treat me in the future."

"If the Warriors treat you badly, what will you do?"

"Then I will never let that damn loyalty get to me."

In Qin Yue's opinion, the so-called one man, one city, must be based on the premise that the player and the team are working together in both directions.

It's a pity that the city of Houston and the Rockets' excellent team history that even "The Dream" Olajuwon could be kicked out
No matter how you look at it, it's not the kind of city that's suitable for one person, one city.

On the court, Qin Yue blocked his shot.
As he recalled what happened this summer like a revolving lantern in his mind, the seed that Qin Yue had planted began to take root in Yao Ming's heart.

Although at this moment it is not enough to push Yao Ming to leave Houston.

But it will continue to grow and thrive over time.

On the court, after five minutes of the first quarter, Warriors head coach Montgomery replaced Brown with Troy Murphy as planned.

At this moment, coach Zhang Weiping, who was still explaining Murphy's characteristics to Chinese fans, did not realize the seriousness of the problem.

But on the sidelines, on the Houston Rockets' bench, Jeff Van Gundy reacted almost instantly.

Because of Brown's lack of range on the field.

So Brown is not enough to force Qin Yue to move Yao Ming away from the inside.

But what if the Warriors replace Murphy?
Oracle Arena, looking at Qin Yue and Murphy standing at the same high position
The next second, the Warriors launched the outside blocking and inside rebounding tactics.
Yao Ming could only passively leave the defense zone! And because Uncle Huo was unable to fill in the position in time, Yao Ming was forced to switch to Qin Yue.

This summer, in that unlimited one-on-one game, Yao Ming had witnessed Qin Yue's unreasonable breakthrough speed.

So at this moment.
Perhaps no one knows better than Yao Ming how much of a headache his little brother is.

Boom, boom——!
At the top of the arc, facing Yao Ming, Qin Yue fully mobilized the former's center of gravity, then dribbled the ball and jumped over the opponent's defense zone.

Then, in the restricted area of the Houston Rockets, Howard, who had intended to cause Qin Yue to collide with the ball, saw a scene that made him drop his jaw.
Because Qin Yue's heavy tank actually completed an emergency stop on the field! !
How strong a body control ability does one need to be able to make an emergency stop at such a speed?

You know, Qin Yue is not a small guard with a height of 180 cm.

Swish-!
On the court, including this jump shot, Qin Yue had already scored in double digits under the Houston Rockets' defense within less than half a quarter.

Before this Chinese derby, this was a scene that no Chinese fans had expected.

Because no matter how deep the impression Qin Yue had left on people before.
In the minds of the vast majority of Chinese fans, the Rockets are the team that is stronger than the Warriors.

Yao Ming is also the NBA No. 1 pick who is more of a star at the moment.

"How come the Rockets have no way to deal with Qin Yue tonight?" CCTV, Zhang Weiping frowned.

“截至目前，秦岳已经拿到了10分2篮板1助攻1封盖，姚明则是拿到了4分3篮板1助攻。”一旁，孙正平说道。

Of course, the Rockets have no way to deal with Qin Yue.

Because when Van Gundy turned and looked toward the bench.
Is there anyone in the Rockets who can match up with Qin Yue at this moment?
On the court, the Rockets were attacking, and since Murphy's defensive ability could not compare with Brown, Yao Ming finally found an opportunity to let Qin Yue feel the intensity of the back-to-the-basket attack.

Bang, bang!

In the low post, in front of Qin Yue tonight, Yao Ming let out a strong breath of anger.

But off the court, Brown suddenly felt distressed when he saw Qin Yue taking the beating on the court instead of him.

"In other teams, role players attract firepower for the star players. But only Qin will take the initiative to help the supporting players on the court. If you ask me which sentence is most suitable to describe Qin, I think it is only 'in the face of danger, only responsibility'." - "The Weight of the Crown" (author: Kwame Brown)

At Oracle Arena, in the first quarter, the Warriors quickly established a lead by taking advantage of the mismatch advantage created by Qin Yue on the offensive end.

After the first quarter, the scoreboard showed 25 to 35.

The Rockets are famous for their defense, but their defense tonight can only be described as hard to describe.

But compared to the past.
What is worrying Van Gundy the most at the moment is not the defensive enthusiasm and discipline of the players on the court.

Rather, the Warriors have exposed the Rockets' weaknesses to the world through this quarter.

"If you were Jeff Van Gundy, how would you deal with this situation tonight?" During the intermission, looking at Dunleavy, who is known for his high basketball IQ in the team, and Murphy, who was using Qin Yue's banner to bully the Rockets' iron-blooded defense tonight, asked.

"Maybe I'll consider using 'T-Mac' against Qin," Dunleavy Jr. replied.

"By the way, in the first quarter, did the Rockets have a person called 'T-Mac'?" Murphy asked with a puzzled look on his face.

After a long sigh, Dunleavy Jr. said: "This is exactly the problem with 'T-Mac'. If he had the same competitive spirit as Kobe Bryant, we would definitely not have played so easily tonight."

Seeing this, Murphy hypothesized: "What if 'T-Mac' was replaced by Kobe?"

Upon hearing this, Dunleavy Jr. immediately stopped Murphy's outrageous speculation and said, "That would be a nightmare for the entire league because it would mean the beginning of another 'OK' era.

And don't forget how badly Kobe beat Jason and Michael last time he faced us, and we didn't have any players who could handle Kobe."

On the court, after the intermission, the game continued.

While Qin Yue was resting on the sidelines, the Rockets, with the help of McGrady who traveled at a different time, once narrowed the gap between the two teams to just 2 points.

In the NBA, this is the biggest benefit of having a dual-core driven team.

However, the magical "T-Mac" was online for too short a time tonight.

Although Van Gundy arranged for McGrady to play in the first half of the second quarter and the second half of the third quarter.

But when McGrady himself can't make a shot.
Van Gundy can't just go up and perform the shooting himself, right?

After coming to Houston, the biggest change in McGrady is that as his weight increases year by year, his starting speed, which he once was proud of, has become increasingly slow.

Historically, due to back injuries, McGrady's true shooting percentage in the 05/06 season was only 49.4%.

Injuries certainly affected McGrady's performance.

But more importantly, under Van Gundy's tactical system, McGrady's inefficient long-distance two-point shot is like a gun without a gun head.

Many times, even if he has created space to shoot, McGrady will resolutely give up the three-pointer and instead take a step forward to gamble on his long-distance two-pointer with a hit rate of about 40%.

The frequency of breakthroughs has decreased, and there are too many inefficient shots.
In fact, if it weren't for Yao Ming's height and weight, he and O'Neal couldn't easily waste more than 25 firing rights like guards.
Van Gundy really hopes from the bottom of his heart that Yao Ming can perform more offensive tasks on the court.

After all, throughout his career, Yao Ming had a true shooting percentage of nearly 60%.

As a center who is mainly responsible for offensive tasks on the court, these data are already good enough.

Like tonight
Even though Brown and Qin Yue did not give Yao Ming any easy chances to shoot, at the end of the third quarter, Yao Ming still scored 50 points, 20 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 blocks for the Rockets with a hit rate of over 2%.

What is the most difficult thing about Yao Ming in the low post?
Is it his body?
Or his soft touch?
No, neither.

It was his horrible free throw.

从05/06赛季到08/09赛季，姚明连续四个赛季的罚球命中率都在85%以上。

This means that once he gets deep in the post, you simply can't stop him from scoring by fouling him.

And this summer, the advice Grover gave to Yao Ming also quietly changed the trajectory of Yao Ming's career.

That is. Although Yao Ming did not show the three-point shot he tried in the preseason in the regular season, he did increase his shooting frequency in the mid-range.

This means that while you are positioning yourself on the court, you also have to be on guard against him suddenly pulling up to the free throw line and punishing your defense with a mid-range shot.

Before the final quarter, Brown complained to Qin Yue: "If Shaq could have Yao's free throws, I can't imagine how terrible he would be."

Hearing this, Qin Yue hypothesized, "That's very likely. Shaq doesn't need Kobe to win the championship."

In the final quarter, because the Rockets habitually lost their momentum at critical moments, the Warriors did not spend much effort to win the Chinese derby.

Why do the Rockets always lose momentum in the fourth quarter?
Actually, it’s still the same problem.

If the Rockets were really McGrady's team, such a scene should not have happened.

Because it is impossible for Yao Ming to take on the task of attacking in four quarters of the game.

In summary.
Because the Rockets have never been "T-Mac's" team.

Therefore, as Yao Ming's physical fitness declines, the Rockets are unable to break through the opponent's position at critical moments, which is why they rely so much on Yao Ming's physical fitness.

Tonight, Murphy and Qin Yue, who came off the bench, caused all-round consumption of Yao Ming during the offense.

For example, the first half of the third quarter
Yao Ming, who had just completed an offensive mission for the Rockets, was moved away from the inside by Qin Yue and Murphy.

Looking at Qin Yue dancing on the outside at that time, it was joked that at that moment Yao Ming hated himself for not stepping on Qin Yue a few more times before the game.

Then, he dribbled past Yao Ming.
With three steps into the Houston Rockets' basket, Qin Yue broke through the Rockets' proud iron defense line with almost no interference.

"The Messiah ended the Houston Rockets' beautiful fantasy of the playoffs tonight. I can confirm now that once they meet in the playoffs, the Rockets will be swept out by the Warriors." Barkley said firmly when commenting on the game on TNT TV.

On CCTV, the relatively tactful coach Zhang said: "Oh, don't think that the Rockets are better than the Warriors now. If they don't solve the problem of the second center (power forward), it will be difficult for the Rockets to go far.

Because the West has more than just Qin Yue, there are also Duncan and Nowitzki. "

On the side, Sun Zhengping added: "The Jazz, who played against the Rockets before, are also a headache. Okur and Boozer are both inside players who can pull up to the high post to shoot."

The Rockets' problems are well known to everyone.

And through tonight's Chinese derby, Qin Yue undoubtedly poured another layer of fertilizer on the germinating seed in Yao Ming's heart.

Next, a question concerning Yao Ming's fate will be completely brought to the fore.

That's the stingy owner of the Houston Rockets, Alexander.
Will it help Yao Ming solve the problem of lack of protection on the court?

And if you can't
By then, the seed in Yao Ming's heart was destined to prompt Yao Ming to make a decision that was completely different from what Qin Yue remembered.

In the end, at Oracle Arena, the Houston Rockets lost 91-110.

Yao Ming scored a total of 27 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks.

The sleeping "T-Mac" became a good friend of Qin Yue.

因为全场19投5中，算上罚球为火箭砍下15分5篮板5助攻的他，成功帮助秦岳砍下了个人职业生涯的首次“30+20”。

在火箭那糟糕的四号位以及麦迪的联手助攻下，秦岳于这个夜晚打出了35分24篮板6助攻2封盖2抢断的统治级数据。

From "Good night, Los Angeles" to "Let's go, Yao Ming". To be honest, Qin Yue felt that he really had to thank these NBA opponents for their assists for his explosive performance in his rookie season.

After the game, Qin Yue looked at Yao Ming who was frustrated because of his "poor performance" in front of his younger brother. When eating supper (dumplings) with Yao Ming, Qin Yue pointed at his blue and purple chest muscles and said, "Brother, if you play better, I might really announce my retirement tomorrow."

After hearing this, Yao Ming took a sip of a sports drink that had become as small as oral liquid and said, "Lao Qin, do you think the Rockets will strengthen their lineup because of the problems exposed in this game?"

After tonight, Yao Ming will no longer have any illusions about the playoffs.

Because as Barkley said, this Rockets team is in the Western Conference at this time.
There are too many nemesis.

Seeing this, Qin Yue, who wished Yao Ming would leave Houston tomorrow, pondered for a while and said, "Do you remember what Tim (Grover) said to you this summer?"

Yao Ming nodded.

"Yao, I have to remind you that as Shaquille O'Neal gets older, the next four or five seasons will be the most precious golden period of your career."

Grover's hint was obvious at the time.

Because in the eyes of this legendary trainer, a team like the Houston Rockets is not worthy of having a super center like Yao Ming.

That night, with the help of Qin Yue, Yao Ming personally opened the door of destiny that would change the trajectory of his career.

And what about the Warriors?

After defeating the Rockets, a world-famous "pseudo-strong team", they quickly jumped to thirteenth place in the latest team strength rankings the next day.

"The Messiah undisputedly dominated the Chinese Derby. Yao, if you want to maintain your position as China's top star, you have to be more generous to Leslie Alexander next time." - ESPN post-match review
"After a disappointing game at Oracle Arena, fans are wondering when 'T-Mac' will wake up. What, you want Leslie Alexander to pay? Then let's wait and see if a meteorite will destroy the earth tomorrow." - Los Angeles Times

"Tim Duncan said that after watching the Rockets-Warriors game, he was convinced that the future of the NBA must belong to the Messiah." - San Antonio Express-News

"Kobe Bryant doesn't think that this Chinese derby means that Messiah is stronger than Yao. In an interview, the Lakers star said that Yao is the most incredible center he has ever seen." - Los Angeles Herald

"After leading the Warriors to victory over the Houston Rockets, the Golden State Warriors will embark on another road trip. Next, they will challenge the Cavaliers and the Heat in Cleveland and Miami respectively. The long-awaited battle between the 'chosen one' and the 'Messiah' will be staged in one day." - San Francisco Chronicle

"LeBron James said in an interview: 'You know, Qin is one of my best brothers. He can do everything on the court. I can't wait to compete with Qin on the court.'" - Cleveland Plain Dealer

……

PS: A total of 14000 words are written in a single day. I’m taking a day off today because I have a cold again, so the additional updates for the leader of the “I’m Proud of Being a Scumbag” alliance can only be postponed to the 11th.

See you at 11:16 on the th. Also, thank you again to all the readers for your subscriptions and monthly tickets.

(End of this chapter)