The NBA regular season continues with the Suns hosting the Rockets. Previously, the Suns had a 34-24 record and ranked fifth in the West, while the Rockets were 25-33 and ranked 12th in the West. The two teams met once 6 days ago, when the Rockets were once behind by 16 points, Xiao Jia, Van Jordan, and Amen Thompson blossomed more to complete the counterattack! The Rockets went from being a dark horse in the West at the beginning of the season to gradually being thrown away by the second group and staying away from the play-off competition, for two reasons. First, Ethan suffered a calf injury, and the Rockets lost the strongest defensive shield in the transition section + sharp counterattacks, Amen Thompson and Whitmore also have talent and speed, but the rhythm is average. Second, the Rockets management had no intention of producing results this season, and even rejected coach Udoka's request to strengthen the team.
In contrast, the pressure of the sun is high. From the Suns to the tenth Warriors, the second group of troops in the West is only 35 wins gap, a little careless, once it falls to the ninth and tenth, then the play-offs will only have one life left! Although the Suns' winning rate this season is close to 6 percent, the team has two major problems, one is that no one organizes the control of the court, and the assist tandem of Booker and Durant is different from the essence of the control, so the Suns are the king of the collapse in the fourth quarter of this season; Second, the team's long-standing injury problems, Beal averaged 18 points per game from a lower back injury at the start of the game, to an ankle injury later, and then to a recent hamstring injury5 assists, which was originally below expectations, and attendance could not be guaranteed, which caused Durant and Booker to be tired.
According to coach Vogel, Beal is expected to return for Sunday's game against the Rockets and play back-to-back games against the Thunder. The starters sent by the Suns are: Booker + Allen + O'Neal + Durant + Nurkic; The Rockets starters are: VanVleet + Jalen Green + Brooks + Jabari Smith + Shin Jing. At the beginning of the game, Durant and Booker made consecutive jumpers, and after Jalen Green hit consecutive three-pointers, Booker and Allen responded with a three-point rain. The two sides pulled for 5 minutes, and the Suns made a force: after Booker ate Brooks alone, he hit three points again in the block, Bol counterattacked and layup + Booker chased three points and then hit! After that, Booker trained Holiday and combined with Saben Lee to play a 16-0 climax. Jabari Smith made free throws at the end of the quarter to stop the bleeding, and Jeff Green and Booker continued to exchange three-pointers.
In the first quarter, the Suns 33-17 Rockets, Booker scored 20 points alone. Back in the second quarter, Whitmore scored consecutive points with a kill, but Durant's three-pointer stopped the Rockets again. The Suns once opened a 21-point difference, and at the critical moment, it was Jalen Green who scored 11 points in a row to stop the bleeding and stop the Suns all the way. In the middle of the game, Jalen Green was still shooting three points, Durant drove Nurkic to eat cakes, and in the second half, Booker and O'Neal blossomed inside and outside to stop the Rockets, and VanVleet began to shoot three points + after blocking and dismantling, including Whitmore accelerated past the two to complete the two-handed dunk, and the Rockets played very tenacious! Allen and Booker continued to rain three-pointers at the end of the quarter, and Brooks hit a layup to put the Rockets up to 53-64 at halftime.
Jalen Green scored 21 points alone, Booker had 26 points and five rebounds in the half, and Durant had 10 points and five assists. Fighting for speed, the sun can't compare to the rocket. At the beginning of the second half, after Booker and O'Neal led the team to open up the difference, the Rockets' offense stalled in the first half, and it was not until the middle that VanVleet made a foul to stop the bleeding. After that, Jalen Green stepped back to make a jumper and continued to break through to make kills, and Durant was caught with the ball, and both teams scored on free throws. In the second half, Durant dunked with both hands to vent his anger, and Jalen Green immediately responded with a three-pointer, after which Whitmore and Jabari Smith attacked and bit the score, and after the third quarter, the Rockets trailed the Suns 75-86.
In the fourth quarter, Landale actually scored on the court, and the Rockets chased all the way to only 7 points. Durant ignored Jabari Smith's defense and made a dry jumper, Whitmore continued to lunge, and the Suns quickly called a timeout. In the middle of the game, Shin Kyung was ejected for angrily spewing at the referee and eating two technical fouls in a row, and Nurkic made free throws to help the Suns open up by 15 points. In the last 5 minutes, VanVleet and Landale completed 2+1 in a row, VanVleet continued to score three points, and combined Jalen Green to chase all the way to only 6 points! In the last 1 minute, Whitmore followed up with a dunk, O'Neal made free throws to stop the bleeding, and finally the Suns defeated the Rockets 110-105, and the Rockets missed a 21-point reversal!
Rocket statistics, Jalen Green scored 34 points, 5 rebounds and 3 steals, VanVleet 21 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists, Whitmore 14 points and 8 rebounds, Jabari Smith 11 points and 16 rebounds, Shin Jing 8 points, 3 rebounds and 4 assists, and Landale 8 points and 6 rebounds. Suns statistics, Booker 35 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists, Durant 24 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists, Nurkic 16 points and 13 rebounds, O'Neal 11 points, 6 rebounds and 7 assists. After this game, the Suns are 35-24, 3 wins away from the Clippers in fourth place in the West!
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