Rockets vs. Pelicans, in the case of the opponent's 3 core players Ingram, CJ, Zion do not play, the Rockets and this team should be considered a match, and this game rocket also ushered in the return of the core interior Wood, before the start of the game Wood also vowed in an interview: "I am entering the state and offensive rhythm." ”
The first quarter of the game Began Wood on 5 shots 3 of 6 points and 5 rebounds, I thought the script would develop as he said, after all, his ability to brush points everyone also knows, but did not expect that this is Wood's highest performance in this game, and then in the second quarter two outside shots three do not stick, in the third quarter two shots in the box also failed to complete the end, and finally the whole game Wood shot 9 out of 3 to get 8 points, 12 rebounds and 4 assists, just these data do not seem to be so bad, But his plus-minus of -23 is a team-low, meaning that the Rockets lost 23 points during Wood's time, and the Rockets lost to their opponents by 25 points in this game, and you can imagine how much Wood dragged the team's hind legs.
As you know, Wood is an absolute offense greater than defensive player, a lot of times he wants to win the Rockets must play a beautiful data on the offensive end to make up for his lack of defense, this game the opponent's core interior line Valanciunas in the Rockets' restricted area is to give, the whole game 18 shots 12 shots bombed 32 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal 1 block of the full data, although it seems that he only has 10 rebounds, but 4 of them are offensive rebounds, Only two of Wood's 12 rebounds were offensive rebounds. The Rockets' collapse in this game was largely due to Wood's poor defense, but he did not expect to throw the pot directly to his teammates in an interview after the game, saying: "All of our mistakes caused by carelessness have made the game very difficult. Opponents seized the opportunity in the offensive and defensive conversions, and we performed badly in chasing points. And also excused himself: "After missing 6 games, I felt out of breath on the pitch and the rhythm was not right. As you can tell, my shots today are always shorter. ”
Admittedly, mistakes were one of the factors the Rockets lost, but in this game the Rockets lost far more points defensively in the penalty area than they did. It can be said that Wood has never faced his problems on the defensive end this season, although he has stressed in many interviews that he needs to set an example on the defensive end, but almost all inside players against the Rockets can get an O'Neal experience card, which is too harmful to the team. To know that Wood is no better than the rookie of the team, he is a veteran with a salary of more than ten million, he needs to do more than just brush the data on the court, need to set an example for young players, but it is clear that Wood is a failure example.
As far as the team's team building plan was concerned, the Rockets' general manager Stone was supposed to trade Wood out before the trade deadline, but eventually died because the asking price was too high. Looking at it now, Stone may regret his decision, because in the games after the trade day, Wood not only slipped more on the offensive end, but also paddled on the defensive, which greatly reduced the value of his trade.