Jordan Jr. once again squeezed away Howard to grab the rebound, and Paul once again pushed the ball into the frontcourt.

When he arrived at the frontcourt, several pick-and-rolls without the ball, Tang Shuai changed to Harden, and Paul immediately reached out to signal Tang Shuai to fall to the low post to play singles.

Tang Shuai leaned on Harden. Unlike all the previous back-playing rounds, Harden seemed to have no effort to defend. Logically speaking, Harden's strength package is the purple-slightly weak type. If he really wants to push up, it is still a bit difficult for him to play, but judging from this force feeling, it seems that Harden is not ready to invest too much energy in defense.

The other players quickly pulled away, and Paul followed and gave the ball in.

The other Rockets players did not seem to be instructed to assist in defense.

Tang Shuai leaned on Harden, shook his left, and then turned to the right, which he himself did not expect that Harden would be passed by him like a wooden stake.

Harden's defense is even weaker than during the regular season.

After getting rid of the defense, the basket was empty, and Tang Shuai made a straightforward one-handed slash.

The fans at the scene were excited in an instant, and cheers were coming one after another.

Seeing this scene, Bickstaff could only shake his head helplessly. As a temporary coach, he had the courage to yell at Beverly, but he didn't have the courage to yell at an absolute core like Harden.

The two sides played for a while, and the Clippers pulled the score wider and wider. When the two sides entered the rotation with more than three minutes left in the first quarter, the team had already led by 17 points 28-11.

With just over half a quarter, as long as you can understand some of the ball, you will know that both sides are not a team of the same level at all, and whether in terms of strength or coaching, they are not on the same level.

After Tang Shuai got out, he started chatting with Paul and laughing. The Rockets showed a lot of strength than he thought. He was also rare to have the mood to chat to relax.

The substitutes from both sides came up, and the Rockets played some characteristics at this time.

Although veteran Terry has a big mouth, he is still very experienced. He and Motieyunas' pick-and-roll were smooth. Although he is old, he is not old. After coming up, he hit a mid-range and a three-pointer, narrowing the gap a little.

But this is simply a drop in the bucket. The Clippers' substitute group is not a vegetarian. Especially after Griffin entered the bench, he immediately enriched the bench tactics.

Ismail Smith broke through and went back to Griffin who was on the free throw line without looking at the person.

Griffin is not Morris, this is his shooting point. Although he deliberately reduced the shooting in after returning from injury, he did not lose the middle distance of this hand.

Not very beautiful, but has a good hit rate.

With a "swish", Griffin hit a two-pointer, suppressing the Rockets' momentum of chasing points.

However, the Rockets' bench is much more motivated than the main players. At this moment, Reeves Jr. caught a little defensive gap in the Clippers' offense, and a small throw shot continued the Rockets' points.

At this moment, Tang Shuai stopped chatting with Paul and looked at the field.

Only then did he remember that Reeves Jr. was still in the league and in the Rockets.

After Reeves was traded, he lost Reeves' protection. He played much less time, and it was normal for Tang Shuai to remember it for a while.

He then focused on the former prince.

He was originally watching with fun, but after all, seeing the arrogant and domineering prince in the past was a unique thing for him, but as he looked, his views changed a little.

Reeves' performance during this period is remarkable, and he dares to fight, and even wants to grab a ball and run into Josh Smith, who is a bigger lap than him. After falling to the ground, he buried his head and went into defense without saying a word.

It seems that without Reeves' protection, he has grown a lot more than before.

The Rockets played very hard. However, due to their strength, even if they came back to play a small game, it was not enough to ensure that they could reverse the decline of the game.

The Clippers, which had 6 players in double digits, beat their opponents in the first round of the two sides.

Tang Shuai only played for three quarters. After playing for 22 minutes, he made 7 of 11 shots in his first playoff game of his career, contributing 16 points and 3 assists, and his performance was average.

The Clippers' best performance was young player Booker. He played 25 minutes in the game and scored the highest 21 points in the team. Especially in the garbage time in the fourth quarter, he showed his strong scoring ability and scored 15 points in a single quarter. Through this game, he successfully proved how wise the Clippers made the wise decision to trade him into the team.

However, Tang Shuai knew that a big part of the reason was that Booker had been training with him, and he witnessed the improvement of his purple three-point package ability by himself.

The Clippers have blossomed more points, while the Rockets seem a little lonely. Their shooting percentage is only 36%. Harden, the core of the team, lost all his standards under Brewer's close defense. He only made 5 shots in the game, and he barely scored 20 points with free throws. Such performance is obviously not enough to lead him to win the game.

Rockets' post-match press conference.

At the beginning of the press conference, the reporter threw the problem to Bickstaff: "Coach j.b, this game, the team was suppressed on both offense and defense. Is this because there is a gap in strength between the two sides?"

Bickstaff said without thinking, "No, I'm responsible for losing this game. When I go back, I will analyze and record the video. This game is not a reflection of the strength of both sides. The Clippers are excellent, but I don't think our team's performance is like this. Obviously, this is a close-kick coach. Our mistakes in details lead to us losing the final game."

The reporter took down Bickstaff's words and turned his attention to Harden: "James, your performance in this game is not satisfactory. Is it because Cory (referring to Brewer) is too familiar with you?"

Harden looked at the reporter with his big eyes and continued: "No, Corey's defense is excellent, but this is not a reason for me to play well. I should trust my teammates more and believe that we will bottom out and rebound in the next game and play a better game."

The reporter nodded with satisfaction this time, and Harden's answer was obviously more practical than Bickstaff.

The reporter then turned his attention to Terry: "Jason, you performed well tonight, and got the most 15 points on the bench. But this is not enough to help the team win the game. The Rockets played in this game and there are no hope. Does this mean that there is a gap in strength between the two teams? After all, although the two teams have one place in the playoffs, the winning games are more than ten games apart."

Terry looked obviously unhappy. Then he said, "First of all, I want to correct your mistake, which is ten games, not more than ten games. As for what you said, hey. Man, the playoffs are a series, and the winning or losing of a game cannot determine the final victory. I have played so many playoffs and experienced too much. If you don't say that far, just take last year's playoffs. Aren't we the ones who laugh to the end?"

This is the Rockets' press conference. The head coach and the team's main players didn't think it was a big deal to lose in the first game. They were still confident, thinking that the team could reverse the decline in the second game and change the direction of the series.

In contrast, the Clippers' press conference after the game seemed much more dull. To put it into consideration, it was Kassel's sentence "From the first game, the strength shown by both sides is not on the same level."

The media always likes to take things out of context, which is better than saying Kassel's words.

So after the two sides' matches ended, the second game had not started, and the reports were already spread all over the world.

"Clippers head coach Kassel believes that the Rockets and the Clippers are not on the same level", "Cassel believes that the Rockets and the Clippers are far from each other. This is a match without any suspense"...

Various and magical reports made Kassel and the Clippers at the forefront of public opinion.

The intensity of the NBA playoffs is more than one level higher than the regular season, but the schedule is not easy at all, especially the first round of the game. It is all the next day. After the game is finished, I will continue playing again the next day.

The players obviously didn't have the time and energy to do other things, and Tang Shuai was turning off his Twitter directly and letting himself focus all his attention on the game.

The day after the game ended, Kassel took the team to conduct daily training.

"Put up your butts. Don't let me see lazy people. Just do it more!" Cassel's roar echoed in the training hall, and the stern coach's style remained unchanged.

Tang Shuai took a breath and asked himself to concentrate again. At this moment, he suddenly noticed that Billups stood aside with a frown, as if something was stuck in his throat, trying to say it but not saying it.

"Everyone gathers your twelve points for me! Don't think that if you win the opponent in the first game, the next game will become easier! It will only be more difficult!" Cassel's roar continued to echo in the stadium. For him, who coached the playoffs for the first time, he obviously did not want the players to relax.

He was already the team's assistant coach last season. He experienced the darkest moment of being reversed with Reeves. He obviously didn't want to experience it in his hands again.

After the high-intensity training in the morning, the team members were sweating heavily and their bodies reacted more or less.

"The afternoon training will be easier, and everyone should hurry up and rest at noon." Kassel finally said to the players, then announced the disbandment of the team, and he followed him to the coach's office.

Billups hesitated for a moment and then quickly chased after him.

"Hey, Josh, go out to have something to drink and cool down?" Tang Shuai saw the hurried figures of the two coaches, and did not think much about it. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and turned to Smith and said that after Stephenson left, only two people could say the most.

Smith nodded: "Go and take a shower first."

The two then walked towards the locker room.

When he walked out of the training hall, Tang Shuai happened to see Billups entering the coach's office quickly.

"You said, there should be no problem with Chauncey and Sam, right?" Tang Shuai couldn't help but say.

"They? Probably not." Smith shook his head and said, "Don't worry, Sam, you don't know yet. He is a person with a broad mind, and there will be no problem between them."

"Hope." Tang Shuai looked at the direction of the coach's office. For some reason, he had always thought that something was going to happen.

"Okay, hurry up and take a shower. Didn't you say you wanted to go out to drink?" Smith pulled Tang Shuai and entered the locker room.

April is already spring. The temperature has begun to warm up. After a sweaty training, take a shower and feel comfortable physically and mentally.

However, just after they came out, they found that many people who had not entered to take a shower were standing at the door strangely.

"What's wrong?" Tang Shuai asked directly when he saw Booker standing there.

Booker reached out and pointed at the direction of the coach's office.

Tang Shuai looked over with a suspicious look on his face, and then he heard the silence of quarrels.

"Sam and Changxi... started arguing?" Tang Shuai asked in confusion.

"Don't worry, do whatever you should do." Pierce said to the team members at the door at this time.

Pierce spoke, and the others stopped staying and followed them back to the locker room.

"Paul Chauncey and Sam, are they okay?" Tang Shuai did not go back, but turned to Pierce and asked.

"Maybe it's because of some training, we shouldn't interfere." After Pierce finished speaking, he returned to the locker room and sat down.

Something about training?

Tang Shuai hesitated for a moment, then suddenly walked out of the locker room, and then went outside the coach's office door.

When I was in front of the locker room door, I couldn't hear the two people arguing, but when I got closer, I could hear the content of the two people's argument clearly.

"Sam. There are really too many of this. If the players continue to practice like this, injuries will definitely occur. Stephen's injury occurs in front of us. Didn't you realize it at all?" Bilups' tone was not very good. It can be seen that he had said a lot before, but none of them could change Bilups' attitude.

"Changxi, I know what you said, but this is the playoffs. Isn't the players playing for a season? The players' performance on the field is the manifestation of players' daily training. If they don't train and don't have instinctive muscle reactions on the field, how do you let them play a good game?" Kassel retorted without showing any weakness.

"Sam. You don't understand what I mean. I'm not talking about not training, but reducing training appropriately. The playoffs are very important, but if the players get injured at this time, isn't that a greater harm to them?" Billups insisted on his opinion.

"Changxi. You underestimated the players' health. If you told me this when I first led the team, I would definitely adopt your opinion. But now it is different. These players are used to this training intensity, and they will not be injured by the same training." Kassel is very confident in his training method.

"This..." Billups was obviously a bit circumvented by Kassel's theory, but he immediately retorted, "This is different. You also know that the playoffs are different from the regular season. The players' tension and physical reactions are not the same state at all. In this high-pressure state, the probability of injury is definitely increased by a factor of a magnitude, so I still recommend canceling the afternoon training and changing it to a tactical analysis in the video conference room."

Billups also did not give in. It can be seen that he came to Kassel to find him not on a whim, but considered a lot.

"Stop talking, Chauncey, I'm the head coach, I know what the decision I made means, I don't want to, and I can't let the players go through what they've experienced last season anymore. Do you know what I mean?"

"I..." Bilups couldn't help sighing when he saw the decisive look in Kassel's eyes, and then turned around and walked out.

Bilups suddenly opened the door, turned around and saw Tang Shuai beside him. He said nothing, closed the door with a "slam" and then quickly left the stadium.
To be continued...