When Kassel saw Zhang Hao, he showed friendly eyes and joy on his face.

But he was also a little confused. When he was pushing, he looked at his small body. He was 191 cm and 87 kilograms, but his strength was strong in the point guard, and he could fight with Kidd and Payton.

But although the rookie on the opposite side is considered thinner within his height, he is much stronger than his point guard, right? And he just looks thin and has a very outstanding strength among power forwards.

As for it?

and……

"Can he defend me?"

Confidence, Kassel is quite sufficient.

I have been suffering from cold eyes since I was a child, but Kassel chose to treat this world with a smile, so he would not be joking if he could do it.

And he was very confident. When he was in a rookie season, Olajuwon had some bad play in the playoffs, and he dared to yell over and show his rage. Of course, he was indeed right and then won Olajuwon's respect.

He saw this world of face-seeing, and he also knew very well what it means to have a feather flocked by birds of feathers.

"He is a genius, and he may not pay much attention to practical players like me who come from the bottom. Although others are good, if you want to make friends with him, you have to let him see my abilities!"

After halftime, Kassel immediately became full of fighting spirit!

Zhang Hao stared at Kassel and felt that the other party's expression suddenly changed!

He immediately focused. Zhang Hao not only did not look down on Cassel, but attached great importance to it. In his opinion, Cassel, who has entered the golden period of his career, is definitely the third star of the Rockets, and his role may not be lost to Drexler.

And that's...

"Sam Kassel, 26 years old, 191 cm tall, 87 kg, and 87 abilities... Average playing time of 26 minutes per game, averaged 14.4 points, 3 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 1.1 steals per game..."

Strength and efficiency are not inferior to Van Exel!

The Rockets lineup should not be slow, but Zhang Hao saw Cassel's progress slowly, but the rhythm was very good, and he would step on the 8-second violation to the frontcourt.

Zhang Hao is already prepared for this, and Kassel has always been his key research object for the Rockets.

Sure enough, when he reached outside the three-point line, Kassel suddenly accelerated!

Zhang Hao decisively took a step back and defended half a step. After Kassel determined the direction of the breakthrough, Zhang Hao did not stick it up, but raised one hand high and chased Kassel.

Kassel suddenly entered the inside line, unable to attract pincer attacks, nor did he really get rid of Zhang Hao, who was very big compared to him. He chose to jump, possessed himself in the air, avoided Zhang Hao's interference and made a layup... He didn't make it!

Jason Williams grabbed the defensive rebound with his claws!

"Beautiful job!" Del Harris, who stood up unconsciously, clenched his fists and shouted in his heart, but at the same time he had a question: "When did this dead child do such a good job of defense against the big child? If I had known it, I would have let him defend multiple positions as soon as possible... I would have made him cry!"

Thinking about it this way, Del Harris understood that Zhang Hao had just used his physical condition better, and his real defensive skills still didn't look very good... Of course, the progress has been great!

Zhang Hao’s defense just now can only be described in one word as being average.

Without strong blocking and advance prediction, it is the most ordinary and regular defense.

However, with such a defense, Kassel played extremely uncomfortable!

Why did Cassel slowly advance and suddenly accelerate at the moment of breakthrough? It is because his explosion speed is not particularly excellent, and his explosive power and bounce are average.

So he took the initiative to lower his rhythm, and at the burst, he made his opponent unable to adapt to the sudden changes.

Kassel is not afraid of those with strong predictive ability when defending and breaking through, nor is he afraid of confrontation with the superiors... The powerful defensive players he meets are basically these two types, or a combination of the two.

A player like Zhang Hao who has such good physical fitness and strong reaction ability has such a simple defense, just like those defenders who have mediocre defense and do not drag their backs... But Zhang Hao is so big, and he can keep up with his movements, and he is not comparable to those defenders who have ordinary defense.

This is the first time Kassel has encountered such a defense.

Defensive first, Kassel put himself into the leadership when he came on the court.

The offense and defense were converted, the Lakers attacked, and after the Magic advanced to the front court, it was obvious that there had been changes in the opponent's defensive end.

In addition to being confident on the offensive end, Kassel also has his advantages in the defensive end. He is just as good as he defends alone, but he does a good job in cooperating with his teammates in defense and commands properly.

Just so, Drexler listened to his defensive adjustments.

So, the Magic passed the ball to George Lynch, forcing Cassel to leave the assisted defense area because Cassel replaced George Lynch!

Seeing this, Zhang Hao took the initiative to help George Lynch create an opportunity to attract and attack, and actively find the best pass and receive space. George Lynch broke into the depths with his head stuffed and was double-teamed by Sam Mark and Cassel. He couldn't get in and passed the ball to Zhang Hao.

Zhang Hao took the ball in the middle and flew in the free throw line and made a layup!

George Lynch was very satisfied, and the indicator of one assist per game has been completed.

When Olajuwon was replaced, Zhang Hao's scoring became easier... But it was tiring to focus on George Lynch's sudden score, and he was tired! He had to think more than to cooperate with other teammates.

This teammate with the potential of a forward gate. Zhang Hao remembers that he will become Iverson's most capable teammate in the future at his peak. He is very strong and powerful, but he has an average defensive finishing ability and a very average ball-passing ability. It is not so easy to catch his pass...

Unfortunately, once George Lynch is in need of a single, almost George Lynch cannot succeed in singles, but his strong body can indeed attract pincer attacks. Zhang Hao can only cooperate with him, and the team only has his running ability and athletic ability to cooperate.

The Magicians have improved a lot since their comeback. Before, George Lynch could only cut the inside and attack offensive rebounds. Now, under the mobilization of the Magicians, they have a team offensive role.

Moreover, although George Lynch has a single function, he can indeed pass a ball that allows his teammates to score directly when conditions permit. However, only Zhang Hao, the Lakers, can seize the opportunity and grasp the opportunities created by George Lynch steadily, and the conditions are relatively harsh.

The current magicians are not able to deal with Olajuwon, but Olajuwon is not there. The offensive magician even used George Lynch, allowing George Lynch to create a mobile phone opportunity for Zhang Hao to avoid Zhang Hao wasting his energy in singles.

Kassel clearly felt the gap. In terms of scoring, defense, and endurance, the Magician was not his opponent, but in terms of organizational offense under equal conditions, he felt that there was a gap between himself and the Magician.

But this is not important. Although he is not as good as a magician in the organizational attack of the entire team, he has a more direct way.

After receiving the serve and pushing to the frontcourt, Cassel did not single Zhang Hao again, but waved to Mark Bryant to pick-and-roll.

Change defense! Zhang Hao was about to try to change defense and return to the inside line, but he saw Kassel suddenly smashing the ball on the floor, and the direction of the pop-up was the bottom line!

Horry actively ran and received the pass as soon as the opportunity arose, and took the ball and made a layup!

This pass is beautiful!

The magician's eyes lit up, his vision, passing accuracy, and made decisive decisions.

The last time I played against the Rockets, the Magic discovered a huge advantage of Kassel's offense, and the ability to seize opportunities for teammates who are actively running on the wing and bottom line.

The Magician was both glad and regretful for Kassel. The main players of the Rockets were too old. Drexler stood outside the three-point line when he played without the ball. Olajuwon could not actively play without the ball for Kassel. Only Horry and a few substitutes with less ability allowed Kassel to play with, which really buried his talent in this area.

Although Zhang Hao is not as experienced as a magician, he cannot read it a few times and discovers Cassel's strengths in this regard. His future memory is not only impressed by Cassel's appearance, apart from the strange rhythm changes in the attack, big heart and strong strength.

But I also felt Kassel's excellent calmness and was unwilling to act in the face of difficult defense.

The Lakers thought they could take advantage of Olajuwon's absence and use the Magicians to organize their offense and take the initiative.

But in the second half of the first quarter, Kassel took advantage of Drexler's three-point restraint, made good use of Horry's active running position and the athletic ability of a short lineup, and helped the Rockets withstand the Lakers' counterattack!

Tomjanovic is not unable to see Cassel's buried talent, but the two strongest stars are older and more suitable for slow-paced fighting. Tomjanovic really has no way to solve this problem, so he can only put Cassel on the bench and equip Cassel with the right lineup as much as possible.

After the first quarter, the Magic racked his brains to find a way to sort out the team's offense and consider saving Zhang Hao, the team's scoring king, the team. He was really tired. The opponent also had a substitute who could be the core point guard of a team and played so hard... Fortunately, when the first quarter, Doug Christie made a three-pointer, the Lakers led the Rockets 31-29 and entered the break.

...

Zhang Hao returned to the bench, took the functional drink handed over by the staff, closed his eyes, and took a strong breath...

"If we had a big center when the lineup was being rotated... the opponent would not be able to play fast attacks, but the positional battles were fast, so the opponent would definitely not want to play fast attacks with us.

When Olajuwon was away, we didn't seize the opportunity because we were wrong. The opponent didn't want to play fast, but the small lineup was sent not entirely to cooperate with the aliens. It also made us unable to speed up every round. They retreated in time..."

After drinking most of a drink in one breath, Zhang Hao opened his eyes and his eyes were very bright.

He figured it out! He immediately walked towards Del Harris.

Del Harris was holding the tactical board and was about to adjust the lineup in the second rotation stage when he saw Zhang Hao coming over.

That look, that straight course of travel...

Del Harris was shocked, as if he was enlightened. He felt that the arrangement he wanted to make might be overturned soon! This rookie would definitely make suggestions that were different from the rotation he wanted to do!

Zhang Hao walked up and was about to speak, Del Harris immediately said: "I know what you are going to say, Nick, Anthony, Doug, Jason... Aix, you continue to play, you go up and give me all the strength to attack in the next time! Bite the score!"

Zhang Hao was stunned for a moment. The response strategy he thought of was Del Harris' arrangement!

"Heroes have similar views!"

Zhang Hao wanted to look at Del Harris, but saw Del Harris' angry eyes, quickly closed his mouth, turned around to discuss the details with his teammates who were about to play together.

Del Harris did not arrange a detailed play style, so he wanted to play independently based on the previous play styles of their fast-speed lineup.

"Although our coach is not very good at character, our coach is very smart and dares to play..." This is what Zhang Hao thought.

But on the other hand, Del Harris was so sad and angry that he was angry. "This dead child actually thought of a completely different strategy than what I thought before, and I actually took the initiative to make arrangements! If the strategy is useless in the end, I will let him defend O'Neal when he fights the Magic!"

Despite his grief and anger, Del Harris began to think about what effect this arrangement could have. His arrangement just now was basically the opposite of the safe lineup rotation he wanted at the beginning...

...

The break between the festival ended and the second quarter began.

The Rockets sent Cassel, 76-level ability to evaluate the substitute shooting guard Mario Ellie, who averaged 11.1 points per game, averaged 10.8 points per game and made 1.7 three-pointers with a 40% three-point shooting rate.

Two fixed-point catch pitchers with not very outstanding running ability, and one sports inside swinger. This lineup is obviously arranged for Olajuwon.

Although Kassel is the point guard, this lineup assists Olajuwon to organize the offense.

Lakers coach Del Harris had expected the Rockets' lineup rotation.

But the Lakers' lineup, the Rockets, from coaching staff to players, did not expect...

Olajuwon is on the court, and Kassel is there, and the Lakers have not replaced the big center to limit Olajuwon!

Moreover, the Lakers made a quick first attack in the second quarter. Van Exel advanced to the frontcourt and launched an attack immediately. Cassel's single defense was not good but very stable. He followed closely. Van Exel rushed to close and attracted Olajuwon's assisted defense and passed the ball... Zhang Hao bypassed the baseline and used Jason Williams to block Mark Bryant, received the ball on the right side of the three-second zone, turned around and immediately threw the ball, and made a throw before Olajuwon took it back!
To be continued...