The first game after the All-Star holiday, the opponent is the league's penultimate magic, after the holiday break, the Rockets' rotation lineup is fully healthy and can play today. Weak opponents can also make the rocket shake and rust, but they did not expect to become the "sparring" of the magic.
The rejuvenated rocket is menacing and enters the competitive state earlier than the magic. The defensive end rotated in place to strangle the Magic offense, and for 4 minutes the Magic only had Bamba score a goal. At the same time, the Rockets offense also maintained a high success rate, starting with a 12:2 stop to the opponent, and the three-pointer felt hot.
Sure enough, the ferocity of the opening was only a flash in the pan. During the melee phase, the rocket began to sink, and the magic woke up like a dream, began to strengthen the physical confrontation, and frantically killed the rocket's inner line. Although the Rockets' offense was organized when Schroeder and Shin Kyung were on the floor at the same time, they failed many times. The Rockets, who are best at speeding up offensive and defensive conversions, were swung together in the same way by the Magic, chasing the point difference to 5 points at the end of the quarter.
The Magic had seven turnovers in the first quarter, and the Rockets apparently failed to take the opportunity to crush them in one wave.
The Rockets' old mistake of loving mistakes was made in the second quarter, and 3 consecutive mistakes made Sargas play self-destruct, and the Magic's home atmosphere was completely ignited. Seeing that the opponent was about to take off, Matthews stole + three points + made a foul and used color to pour cold water on the magic in time, and the hustle and bustle of the Amway Arena instantly calmed down.
After the three-pointer gradually fell short, the Rockets offense began to stagnate, especially Bamba's defense put a lot of pressure on Shin Kyung, while the Magic suddenly turned the Rockets basket into a sieve. Defensive magic let the Rockets eat in a row, Hampton blocked Wood twice, and after equalizing for the first time, the Magic became more and more courageous.
In the critical stage, the Rockets did not have the patience to sort out the offense, still playing chaotically, still obsessed with three-point projection after the decline in the feel, the lone wolves on the court made a "ghost drawing", and the magic 15:4 surpassed the score in one fell swoop, laying the foundation for victory.
In the second half, the Rockets equalized twice when they were nearly 10 points behind and even regained the lead. Unfortunately, happiness is short-lived, and every blink of an eye is magically returned to color. In the final decisive moment, the Rockets' defense was still absent-minded and useless, and there was no hope of chasing points, and victory slipped from their hands.
In the end, he lost 111:119 to the opponent and lost eight consecutive games. Looking at the current poor state, as the season is halfway through, the Rockets can basically stabilize the bottom three positions, and there will be a 52.1% chance of getting the top four picks.
Happily, Green is in solid shape after the All-Star (averaging 16.5 points per game before entering February/All-Star games). On 9-of-16 shooting, he scored 23 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists on 4-of-9 three-point shooting, and only 1 turnover and 4 steals. Compared to the beginning of the season, there are improvements in all aspects, and the offseason will be very important for Green, directly determining what heights he can reach next season.