In the 05 playoffs, the Rockets were reversed 2-0 by the Mavericks, and they lost by 40 points in the tie-break, how did Yao Mai perform?

There is no 24th in the rivers and lakes

2024-05-23 18:01Posted in Henan Sports Creators

The Yao Mai combination carries the good memories of a generation of fans to the NBA, and they also led the Rockets to have a place in the competitive West at their peak, but unfortunately due to various reasons, the Yao Mai combination was repeatedly blocked in the playoffs, so the Rockets' best result at that time was only the Western Conference semifinals, and finally due to injuries, their group was forced to disband early.

At that time, the Rockets were often in the first round of the playoffs, and some series were always dominated first and then reversed by their opponents. For example, Yao Ming and Maddie teamed up in the first season, that year, the regular season Rockets ranked fifth in the West with a record of 51 wins and 31 losses, and the first round of the playoffs against the Mavericks led by Nowitzki.

So let's take a look back at the first season of the Yao Mai team, see what kind of performance they played in the playoffs, and whether the Rockets lost the series because of their play.

Maddie joined the Rockets, and the team has improved significantly

In the 2004 offseason, the Rockets sent Francis, Mobley, Kevin Cato, in exchange for Maddy and Tyronn Lue, Juwan Howard, and Gaines, at that time Maddy was still at the peak of his career, and in his first season with the Rockets, he still averaged 25.7 points, 6.2 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 1.7 steals per game, and he played a healthy regular season in a combined 78 games, averaging a career-high 40.8 minutes per game.

And Yao Ming's performance did not decline due to Maddy's arrival, he averaged a career-high 18.3 points per game in the regular season, shooting a career-high 55.2% from the field, and also had 8.4 rebounds and 2 blocks.

With the joint efforts of Yao Ming and Maddie, the Rockets have also made significant progress in the regular season compared to last season, and this is also the first season in which Yao Ming has won 50+ games since he entered the league. Facing the Mavericks in the first round, they not only have Nowitzki in charge, but also Dampier, Finley, and Terry are also very good role players, so before this round of the series starts, it is generally believed that the Rockets are not easy to deal with, and after all, this is the first time that Yao Ming and Maddy have teamed up to play the playoffs.

G1: Yao Ming left the field with six fouls, and Maddie stabilized the morale of the army at a critical moment

At the beginning of this game, the Mavericks really took the initiative, although the score difference was not large, but they were still the dominant side after the half-quarter. However, the situation on the court changed abruptly, Yao Ming grabbed offensive rebounds one after another, and Maddie also scored continuously, driven by the two of them, the Rockets led by 10 points after the first quarter.

As soon as the second quarter came up, Maddy hit a three-pointer to help the team continue to widen the difference, and then with his help, the Rockets once led to 17 points, but fortunately, on the Mavericks' side, Josh Howard stepped up and scored consecutive points to help the team stabilize the situation. Although the Rockets failed to completely finish the game at the end of the half, Maddy's 11 points in a single quarter still helped the team enter the second half with a 12-point advantage.

In the third quarter, the Mavericks relied on defense and began to fight back, they limited the Rockets to only 18 points in a single quarter, and Maddie alone scored 9 points, but this time their hand was really average, even if they had defended well, but they were still 7 points behind after the third quarter.

The Mavericks relied on Starhouse to hit consecutive free throws to close the gap to four points, but after that, the Rockets responded with a wave of 4-0, and the difference once again came to a safer range. After that, the point difference remained at about 10 points, and the Mavericks couldn't catch up no matter how they chased it, and on the Rockets' side, in addition to Maddy's 8 points in the last quarter, Mike James also contributed 8 points off the bench, and the final game was almost out of suspense with three minutes left.

In this game, Maddy scored 34 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals on 14-of-27 shooting, becoming the biggest contributor to the Rockets' victory, while Yao Ming played poorly throughout the game, with only 11 points and 8 rebounds, and finally left the court with six fouls. Among the role players, Mike James was the odd player, scoring 16 points on 7-of-13 shooting, second only to Maddy.

G2: Yao Ming staged an unsolvable play, and the two cores worked together to go to the next city.

After experiencing a slump in the last game, Yao Ming came up with full firepower, scoring 17 points on 5-of-5 shots and 7-of-7 free throws in a single quarter, and Maddy's side also contributed 10 points on 3-of-5 shots, and finally the Rockets scored 34 points in the first quarter. However, the Mavericks also had a good hand, with a total of seven players scoring in the first quarter, so they also scored 30 points.

In the second quarter, the two sides continued to attack, but on the contrary, the Rockets became more dependent on role players to score, with Joan Barry scoring a team-high 9 points on 3-of-3 three-pointers in a single quarter, while Nowitzki and Howard on the Mavericks' side scored 11 points each to help stabilize the situation.

In the second half, the Mavericks gradually controlled the pace of the game, and they combined for four three-pointers in the third quarter and scored another 32 points in the first quarter. On the Rockets' side, although Yao Ming scored 9 points on 3-of-3 shooting and Maddy on 4-of-7 shooting, due to the gap between role players, they became the lagging side after the final third quarter.

However, in the final quarter, Yao Ming and Maddy finally waited for the recovery of role players, except for them, the rest of the players combined for 18 points in this quarter, while the Mavericks only scored 13 points except for Nowitzki's 10 points, so in the end, the Rockets won the game by 1 point.

Yao Ming scored 33 points, 8 rebounds, 1 steal and 2 blocks on 13-of-14 shooting in the game, while Maddy also performed well, scoring 28 points, 8 rebounds, 10 assists, 3 steals and 3 blocks. Among the role players, Sula, Joan Barry, and Mike James also scored in double figures.

G3: Yao Ming was plagued by fouls, and the role player broke out and still couldn't win

After returning to the home court, the united Rockets naturally wanted to take away the series in one go, but obviously the Mavericks were ready, they established an advantage from the beginning and firmly suppressed the Rockets, and the Rockets also had a chance to get up in the last two minutes of the first quarter, but unfortunately this time the Mavericks could not easily let them breathe, and a wave of 8-0 took back the initiative again.

After that, the two sides started a tug-of-war, until the third quarter of the Rockets suddenly got up, playing a 34-24 offensive climax in a single quarter, thinking that the series would be 3-0, but the Mavericks made a strong comeback in the final quarter, and in the end the Rockets also regretted losing the game.

Maddy still played a good game, with 28 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists, role player Sura scored 21 points, and Wesley also scored 17 points, but unfortunately Yao Ming only scored 15 points in the game due to foul trouble.

G4: Yao Mai scored 56 points and still lost to the Mavericks, and the four scored doubles

The game between the two sides was still very anxious, and the two sides were just tied after the third quarter, and the Rockets' dual cores performed very well, while the Mavericks relied on Terry's fairy play to maintain the suspense of the game. It's a pity that the Rockets' offense was powered off in the final quarter and only scored 16 points, although the Mavericks' offense was average, but in the end they tied the series score with a 4-point advantage.

Maddy's performance in this game was still blameless, he scored 36 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists, while Yao Ming also had 20 points, but he only played 25 minutes because of foul trouble. The Mavericks scored a total of four double-doubles, of which Terry scored a game-high 32 points, 24 of which were scored in the second half, so the team's comeback has a lot to do with him.

G5: The Mavericks scored double-doubles in the battle of Tianwang Mountain, and the Rockets were pulled three times in a row

After winning two games in a row, the Mavericks' momentum has reached its peak, and after returning to the home court, they have put on a better performance, with five players scoring in double figures in the game, and Nowitzki also has 23 points and 13 rebounds.

On the other hand, on the Rockets' side, Yao Ming scored 30 points on 10-of-13 shooting, Maddy still scored 25 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists although he was not efficient, and Mike James, who once again scored the most 16 points off the bench. However, apart from the three of them, the Rockets had no other players to step up again, and in the end they could only face the fact that they were beaten three games in a row.

G6: Maddie becomes the team's "savior" in a desperate situation

In the situation on the verge of life and death, the Rockets were stunned as soon as they came up, but fortunately, at the critical moment, Maddie became the "savior" of the Rockets again, and under his leadership, the team began to fight back in the second quarter.

In this game, Maddy made 6 three-pointers, scored 37 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists, and also had 1 steal and 1 block on the defensive end, and under Maddy's outburst, the Rockets beat the opponent by 18 points. In addition to Maddy, the best performance of the game was still the bench Mike James, who scored 22 points on 7-of-11 shooting.

G7: Yao Mai tried her best but couldn't hide the fiasco

In the case of a 3-3 draw, no one would have thought that the tie-break would be a one-sided situation, this game won a double-digit lead from the first quarter of the Mavericks, and then although Yao Mai did not give up, but the point difference was getting bigger and bigger, the Mavericks' Terry was like crazy, and cut down 30+ again, and the game lost suspense early under his outbreak.

In the last game, Yao Mai scored 33 points, 10 rebounds and 5 blocks, Maddy scored 27 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists, and Wesley's 7 points were already the highest on the team. In addition to Terry, Howard scored 21 points, Nowitzki 14 points, and Finley 13 points.

After the final series, Maddy averaged 30.7 points, 7.4 rebounds and 6.7 assists per game, shooting 45.6% from the field, and he was undoubtedly the best player in the series. Yao Ming averaged 21.4 points, 7.7 rebounds and 2.7 blocks per game, shooting 65.5% from the field.

It can be seen from the overall performance of the series that only Maddy can score steadily on the Rockets' side, even Yao Ming only scored 15 points in the game because of foul troubles, and only Mike James can occasionally break out among the role players, and the rest can't be counted on. On the other hand, on the Mavericks' side, a total of five players scored double-doubles in the series, and Terry was sometimes harder than Nowitzki at key moments.

There is also the fact that Yao Ming is not at his peak at this time, not to mention the offensive end, he obviously has the problem of uncontrollable fouls defensively, and he also averaged 4.4 fouls per game in the series. As the interior core of the team, once Yao Ming commits too many fouls, not only will the offensive team lose a scorer and containment point, but the effect of protecting the frame and protecting rebounds on the defensive end will also be greatly reduced.

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