On February 13, Beijing time, the NBA regular season continued, and the Houston Rockets hosted the Eastern giants Knicks. Previously, the Rockets had a 23-29 record and ranked 12th in the West, because Eason was out for a long time to recuperate, the Rockets' defense declined very quickly, and the team gradually fell behind in the ranks of competitors. The past wave of 4 consecutive defeats has allowed the Warriors to overtake. Coach Udoka has been hoping that the team will be more competitive, but the team believes that the youngsters need some patience and are not in a hurry to make a trade immediately. In addition, VanVleet, the team's ball-control brain, suffered an adductor injury and will not play again until the All-Star weekend, while Amen Thompson, who replaced him, averaged 12 points and 11 points per game when he started this season8 rebounds and 4 assists; And the last 8 games have averaged 18 points per game +42Whitmore, who shot 3% from three-point range, also suffered a sprained right ankle and needed to recuperate for some time.
Compared to the Rockets, the Knicks can be described as smooth sailing. With a previous record of 33 wins and 20 losses, ranking fourth in the East, since trading to Anunoby, he has played in 14 games, the Knicks have a 12-2 record, and Anunoby has the highest plus/minus in the league in the same period! However, due to inflammation of his right elbow, Anunoby underwent surgery and is expected to miss 3 weeks. Although Anunoby and Randle both fell injured, before the trade deadline, the Knicks used fringe players Grimes + Fournier + Flynn + Alcidiacono + two second rounds to rob Bojan and Burks from the Pistons, and the depth of the roster has increased a lot! In addition, according to statistics, Brunson has scored 30+ 20 times in the first 50 games of the season, surpassing Ewing and ranking second in Knicks history! Overall, the Knicks are expected to challenge for second place in the East this season.
Knicks starters: Brunson + DiVincenzo + Achiuwa + Hart + Himms; Rockets starters: Amen Thompson + Jalen Green + Dillon Brooks + Jabari Smith + Shin Jing. At the beginning of the game, Brooks hit a shot + Green made a kill, and DiVincenzo hit three three-pointers in a row, which directly helped the Knicks open the gap. Achiuwa took off and dunked, Hart easily passed Jalen Green for a layup, and the Rockets were stopped! At the critical moment, Brooks stopped the bleeding with three points, and then Jalen Green continued to make fouls, and after Shen Jing threw a shot to overtake the score, Tate also hit a layup, and the Rockets responded with a wave of 11-0! In the second half, Achiuwa and Bogda led the team to score, Holiday and Jabari Smith responded with a three-point rain, and after the first quarter, the Rockets led the Knicks 29-22, Brunson was 0 of 5, and Jalen Green was 1 of 5!
As soon as the Rockets came off the bench, the defense immediately improved. Back in the second quarter, Bogda continued to play singles, Jabari Smith and Brooks made consecutive baskets, plus Shen Jing's strong attack, and the Rockets once opened a 13-point lead. In the middle section, Amen continued to feed the cake Shen Jing, Hart finally scored a layup, and Shen Jing reciprocated by feeding the cake Amen. In the second half, Jalen Green finally scored a layup, Brunson finally hit a three-pointer, Jalen Green's dunk once gave the Rockets a 16-point lead, and at the end of the quarter, DiVinson Zorn shot his own way to carry the team forward, and Jabari Smith hit all three free throws! At halftime, the Rockets led the Knicks 57-43, with DiVincenzo scoring 16 points alone, Rockets Dillon and Shin Kyung both scoring 10 points, and Xiao Jia scoring 13 points.
At the start of the second half, the situation on the court suddenly changed: Brunson and Hart suddenly rained three-pointers, and the Knicks chased down to only 7 points! Shen Jing struggled 2+1 to stop the bleeding, Brunson broke through for a layup, Simms made up for a dunk, Hart threw a three-pointer, and the Knicks chased all the way to only 2 points! The Rockets' starters made too many mistakes, and they were constantly counterattacked by the Knicks. In the second half, Jalen Green and Shin Jing made consecutive free throws to stabilize the situation, and Brunson and Hart broke through hard to erase the point difference all the way! At the end of the quarter, Holiday and Brunson made a jumper shot, and Jabari Smith's key three-pointer helped the Rockets temporarily survive the crisis! At the end of the third quarter, the Rockets led the Knicks 74-71, and the Rockets started to lose points overall, but the bench kept winning points.
In the fourth quarter, Holiday dunked Bogda, DiVincenzo and Holiday continued to compete for three points, and after Brunson scored a jumper, Holiday continued to feed Smith a dunk! After that, Holiday went on a rebound to stop the Knicks! Brooks hit two three-pointers in the middle of the period, but the two new signings, Burks and Bogda, chased 9-0 to only 2 points! In the decisive moment, Amen made a key layup, Brooks continued to hit three-pointers, and Hart and Burks responded with three-point rain. In the last 1 minute, Shin Jing threw and scored, and Brunson responded immediately. Shin Kyung's layup stuck in the neck, and Brunson hit a jumper to tie the score. In the last 8 seconds, the Rockets made the last attack, and Holiday made the last 0Make a three-point foul in 3 seconds, deliberately miss the third free throw, and the time is out! Brunson was about to rush over the theory and was pulled by his teammates. In the end, the Rockets upset the Knicks 105-103.
Rocket statistics, Jalen Green made 4 of 15, got 16 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists, Holiday 18 points, 3 rebounds and 4 assists, Jabari Smith 20 points and 7 rebounds, Shen Jing 18 points, 3 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 blocks, Brooks 23 points and 5 rebounds, Amen Thompson 8 points, 13 rebounds, 5 assists and 6 steals. Knicks statistics, Brunson 27 points, 4 rebounds and 7 assists, DiVincenzo 23 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists, Bogda 15 points and 4 rebounds, Hart 17 points and 11 rebounds, Achiuwa 8 points, 17 rebounds and 3 blocks.
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