On January 9, the NBA regular season continued to rage, with the Rockets facing the Heat on the road. At this time, the Rockets are in 8th place in the West, while the Heat are in 8th place in the East. The two teams are evenly matched, however, the Heat's Butler is out due to injury, which brings a lot of difficulties to the team's offense. Therefore, the rocket seems to have some advantage.
At the start of the game, the Heat took full advantage of home-court advantage and took the lead in attacking, while the Rockets were slightly tired. The Heat seized the opportunity to take a 34-27 lead in the first quarter and outscored their opponents by seven points. Then, the Rockets launched a counterattack, strengthened their offense and defense in the second quarter, withstood the pressure of the Heat, and chased the score to 59-59.
In the second half, the Heat tightened up their defense, especially Adebayo's performance on the interior that left the Rockets helpless. In the third quarter, the Heat pulled away again at 32-23. Although the Rockets launched a chase in the final quarter, the Heat held steady and finally narrowly defeated the Rockets 120-113.
In the game, VanVleet performed outstandingly, scoring 32 points, 5 rebounds and 7 assists, while Shen Jing also played well in the game, contributing 85 points. In the race, Van Vliet showed excellent form.
In the first quarter, he hit a three-pointer from the top of the arc and a pullup jump shot, then made two free throws from the foul line and hit a left-handed three-pointer to finish with 10 points and two assists. In the second quarter, VanVleet continued his excellent performance, scoring three points with an assist from Shin Kyung, and then hitting a three-pointer in the bottom corner again, and by the end of the half, he had 16 points, 1 rebound and 4 assists.
In the third quarter, VanVleet scored a counterattack three-pointer, and then received an assist from Green to score a layup, and successfully broke through with the help of his teammates' cover, and he continued to maintain a hot hand in the final quarter, first hitting a counterattack three-pointer, then scoring under the basket, and even grabbing an offensive rebound and hitting a desperate three-pointer.
Throughout the game, VanVleet went all out and achieved excellent statistics of 32 points, 5 rebounds and 7 assists. In addition to Van Vliet, Shin Kyung also showed a good performance in the game. In the first quarter, he made two fouls and made two free throws to help the team stabilize the situation. Subsequently, what other wonderful performances did he make in the game?We'll reveal them all in the following sections.
The Houston Rockets started their show with a high-difficulty air-cut layup in a high-quality game. Forward Shin Kyung showed excellent scoring ability in the first quarter, scoring 9 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists. The third quarter was even more eye-catching, as he grabbed an offensive rebound and made a layup, as well as an easy breakaway layup.
At the end of the game, Shen Jing contributed a total of 22 points, 11 rebounds and 2 assists, and the statistics were very eye-catching. But despite this, his defensive performance has been somewhat sluggish. Smith and Tate, meanwhile, have also done their defensive duty up front and have shown on the offensive end. Smith had 10 points and six rebounds, while Tate had nine points, four rebounds and one assist.
Whitmore was very efficient in the game, playing well on both ends of the floor, contributing 11 points and six rebounds, as well as completing a steal on the defensive end. Veterans Jeff Green and Aaron Holiday also showed their value in the game, and they were very conscientious on both ends of the floor.
Jeff Green had five points, two assists and a block on defense, while Aaron Holiday was a standout on the defensive end, with a plus/minus of +6, which speaks volumes about his role on the court. However, Jalen Green's performance became the culprit of the Rockets' passive situation.
He was inefficient on the offensive end, shooting 2-of-10 from the field and diching out a team-high four turnovers. On the defensive end, he has become a hole in the Rockets' overall defense, and the Heat have used him as a breakthrough many times. His plus/minus was -17, making him the lowest on the team.
Overall, the Rockets have had no shortage of players who have performed well in this game, but they have also exposed some problems. Shin Kyung's outstanding performance was eye-catching, while the other players also had their own performances in the game. I hope that in the next games, the Rockets can work together as a team to play a more stable and excellent performance. Basketball