After cheering at Time Warner Center, the two teams started to stand in the center of the stadium.

Yao stretched out his right hand towards Li Ke, and after high-fives, he stood in the middle circle position, and then he realized:

The opponent who played a jump ball against him was no longer Lao Shark, but became a thin young man in front of him.

Jordan is eager to try it out. Jumping ball is what he is best at. In the team training, he and Lao Shark jumping ball can win eight or nine times ten times.

emmm, this is one of the few things Jordan can beat the old shark.

Look at the Yao on the opposite side. His height of 2.26 meters is very intimidating, but his success rate of jumping ball is very bad...

Therefore, when the referee blew a whistle and threw the basketball into the sky, Jordan jumped up—

"Dandre Jordan won the jump ball, and the Christmas battle of the 2008-09 season began..."

Seeing that Old Ai controlled the basketball, Jordan jumped to the frontcourt.

"This guy should be your power forward, why are you so arrogant?"

Yao Yao complained, but Li Ke smiled. Yao Yao didn't know that his opponent would be Jordan Jr. If he knew, he wouldn't be surprised by Jordan Jr.

Yao still can't feel this in the Bobcats' offensive round.

What he needs to deal with is his old opponent Lao Sha. At the basket, the two were already entangled.

In the distance, Li Ke could see the old shark's lips flying up and down, and Yao Yao showed a polite smile, as if responding.

At this time, Li Ke didn't have much time to think about what the two of them were communicating, because the attack had already begun.

December Lao Ai's condition has recovered, so the Bobcats' offense has also returned to the same mode as last season.

Jordan raised the ball and covered it up, and Lao Ai rushed into the ball, followed by a mid-range emergency stop, jumped up, raised his hand and threw the ball out.

Bang-!

The familiar ironstorm was not unexpected, and the opportunity came out, but Lao Ai didn't catch it. There were only two possibilities. Ei, either, Lao Ai's condition was back in November in this game, or it was just that his touch was not hot yet, and it took time...

No matter what the possibility is, there was a rebounding battle between meat and meat at the basket. Lao Shark and Yao were blocked by each other, and wanted to break free from each other's position.

As a result, a young man suddenly rushed out and emerged from the army, snatching the backboard from Lao Sha and Yao.

"Rebound!"

"Oh my God, it's DeAndre Jordan, he grabbed the rebound and made a tip-in!"

Bang!

It was still a dull sound of abusive frame, but the next moment, the Time Warner Center burst into tsunami cheers.

"DeAndre Jordan's tip-in dunk, Charlotte Bobcats made a good start to this Christmas battle..."

Kenny Smith also shouted in the TNT's commentator's seat.

Immediately afterwards, Charles Barkley focused on Jordan Jr.:

"If I remember correctly, DeAndre Jordan is the second round rookie this year?"

"That's right."

"But he has performed very well, averaging 4.8 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game so far, which is still the data he scored when he only played 16 minutes."

Barkley paused for a second, then sighed: "Michael's draft has succeeded again."

"That's right, at least now, DeAndre Jordan's choice is very successful. In the 2008 draft, whether it is combat power or potential, he can be called the top three centers..."

The evaluation of the top three centers in the 2008 draft is even a little conservative. There are only Daluo, the centers who really performed better than Jordan Jr. in this draft.

Daluo is the No. 5 rookie in this draft, but Jordan Jr. is in the second round.

Therefore, Jordan's draft was successful again and this evaluation also seemed conservative...

This is not a success at all, but a stare of the sky!

"Starting from Sheldon, Jordan's recommendation is no longer a derogatory term."

Jordan Jr. opened the game, which made Yao Yao look sideways.

Turning around, the Rockets attacked the Bobcats' defense, Yao finally understood why Jordan Jr. performed so much that he felt provoked.

"In the Rockets' round, Chauncey Billups held the ball, Ohhhhh, look at the basket, DeAndre Jordan has started to go around the front to defend Yao, he is too active..."

If the camera wasn't aiming at him tightly, Li Ke really wanted to give Jordan a thumbs up.

That’s right, just be so guarded, just be so guarded!

Yao Yao was very uncomfortable being defended, and it was very difficult to catch the ball.

The Rockets' offense does not rely much on Yao Da. On the outside, Billups and Richard Hamilton, a teammate who has been working together for many years, quickly found an opportunity with their skillful passes and cuts.

"In the middle, Chauncey Billups cut with the ball, the Bobcats had Gerald Wallace's backup defense, but on the wing, Richard Hamilton is here!"

"Richard Hamilton received the ball and took a direct shot from the middle distance..."

Bang-!

The opportunity was out, but the basket didn't give him face and refused this shot from afar.

"Rebound, mine!"

With a loud roar at the basket, Jordan Jr. took the rebound again.

Old Shark spread his hands, Yao frowned, but the Bobcat's counterattack immediately unfolded.

"Sheldon received the ball in the backcourt and turned around and attacked directly!"

"Look at the Rockets' retreat..."

As mentioned earlier, this season, the Rockets' offense has slowed down, and correspondingly, the defense is not fast.

They had no relevant response to this game, because this season, the Bobcats' counterattack has become less, and Rick Adelman has almost forgotten that the Bobcats were once a counterattack team.

Therefore, the Rockets could only respond in a hasty wave of counterattacks between the Bobcats.

Sean Bathir followed Li Ke closely, but in the frontcourt, Lao Ai and Hua's second-in-law sprinted very prominently, and the Rockets could hardly kill them all.

In positional battle, Li Ke's passes were terrible, but during the counterattack, it was not difficult to find a teammate who was easier to score from the huge space.

"Sheldon's pass directly penetrated the Rockets' defense line, and it was the AI ​​who received the ball!"

Rush to the basket in the frontcourt and throw a throw.

After a bang, the basketball got into the net frame.

"The counterattack was successful, and the Bobcats led 4-0!"

In the Rockets' round, Jordan Jr. was still like the previous round, crazy and even somewhat fanatical to defend Yao Yao.

This forced the Rockets to continue to focus their offense on the outside.

It was still the cooperation between Billups and Richard Hamilton's pass and cut. Li Ke did not give any chance to defend alone. When he encountered cover, he had the second one's assist in defense in the middle distance.

In short, the defense in the middle is airtight.

On the flank, Old Ai stared at Richard Hamilton, occasionally falling behind, but he was able to keep up quickly.

With a clang, this time it was Billups, who made a mid-range shot against Li Ke's defense, and then hit a heavy iron.

The Bobcats' attack returned to the positional battle. Lao Ai made another single, and another slammed into the iron.

Not counting that counterattack, Lao Ai made two more tricks in the opening game.

In the next attack, he took the initiative to give way.

Li Ke took over the main attack power and started a one-on-one single against Sean Bathir.

The difficulty is actually not that big. Li Ke's back-to-back advance was very smooth, but the problem is that after the push, Li Ke had to face the assisted defense and attack in the Rockets area.

When encountering double-team defense, Li Ke's pass cannot find his teammates in the open position well.

In this way, the Bobcats' offense seemed to be back in November.

But as the game progressed, the Bobcats took the lead.

The reason is that their defense is as hard as iron!

The Bobcats, Li Ke, Hua Er, and the old shark at the basket, can occasionally tear open the Rockets' defense.

But the Rockets were very weak in their performance against the Bobcats' defense.

Billups was like returning to the Ji Dong Final, defending himself tightly by Li Ke, and Yao was surrounded by Jordan Jr., and defense was in a mess. As for Richard Hamilton, he was a quasi-All-star player and could not be expected to stand up and take over the game.

The development of this game immediately became a bit like the opening game and the game against the Celtics at the end of November. The Bobcats grabbed the Rockets' pain point and beat them up.

At the end of the first quarter, the Bobcats relied on defense and played the Rockets 27-20.

"The Bobcats' defense is still very good. In this game, the Rockets they defended could not find a breakthrough..."

In TNT's commentator, Charles Barkley accurately pointed out the key elements that affected the first quarter game, defense.

"Although the Bobcats' offense is a mess this season, their defense has evolved to the level of top-notch in the league. In 29 games this season, they limited their opponents' average score to 90.3 points, ranking first in the league."

"If such a defense can be stable until the end of the season, the Dpoy trophy will be won by Time Warner Center. The only question is who will win the trophy."

As we talked about this, we talked about the award of Best Defensive Player.

Kenny Smith expressed his thoughts: "I think it will be Sheldon. Every game, he is defending his opponent's most arrowed star player. From the beginning of the season to now, he has not failed!"

"Although Gerald Wallace's mid-range sweep, Shaq, DeAndre Jordan's frame protection cannot be ignored, the biggest contribution is Sheldon."

Barkley did not object, but followed Kenny Smith's thoughts and said thoughtfully:

"So, what Sheldon can get in the second season of his career will not be the fastest-progress player he wants the most, but Dpoy?"

“The possibility is very high!”

Kenny Smith nodded seriously, then got a little excited: "If he does this, he will become the fifth player to have both Dpoy and regular season MVP after Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson and Kevin Garnett who won the Dpoy trophy in the season."

"Wait, regular season MVP? Does Sheldon have regular season MVP?"

Barkley discovered the Huadian, but Kenny Smith said for granted: "Although he doesn't have it now, he will definitely have it in the future."

Loan for the regular season MVP, Barkley gave a thumbs up.

In the second quarter, the Bobcats' defense continued to exert strength.

Although the Rockets made some changes in this quarter, such as lifting Yao's position up, allowing him to get out of the entanglement of the front defense, playing more pick-and-rolls, and creating more threats.

But under the tight and overall defense of the Bobcats, the Rockets' change has nothing to do except give Yao Yao some more opportunities to take action in the middle and long distances.

Yao Yao has mid-range shots, but his mid-range shots, both in success rate and in the size of the threat they create, are far inferior to those of near-frame range and under the basket.

The Rockets' attack is still constipated.

The Bobcats expanded their lead and only changed after knowing that the situation was changing in large-scale rotations on both sides.

Aaron Brooks, Lutherhead, Callandrie... appeared one after another. Although the Bobcats also used Jared Dudley, Tyron Lu and Dai Quinn Cook to compete, the offensive firepower was not of the same level.

Relying on the substitute, the Rockets slightly pulled back some of the scores.

At the end of the half, a score of 52 to 44, the Bobcats still held an 8-point lead.

Although the situation was not as smooth as the first quarter, Sam Vincent was still calm during the break.

Because, he was very sure that the game was always in control.

In the third quarter, the main force returned and the situation immediately reversed.

As Sam Vincent expected, when Li Ke, Hua Lao Er and Lao Shark were present at the same time, the Bobcats' defense was a wall of iron and a magic weapon to win.

Bang, bang, bang...

The Rockets made a blacksmith, but Li Ke found the touch and scored two three-pointers in a row, and the score instantly widened to double digits.

The Rockets once again entered a difficult stage of chasing points, and Rick Adelman also made a desperate move and once replaced Bugambilopus' double-control combination.

The effect is, but the Bobcats' attack also broke out for a while because of the short guards.

The score chase continued until the fourth quarter, and the score gap was around 10.

But in the fourth quarter, Yao Yao's problem arose again.

Bang-!

During the start of the fourth quarter, Yao Yao made continuous moves and made continuous iron shots.

If it's just a blacksmith, there's nothing to say. It's not good to have a hand, it's normal.

But after a series of iron shots, Yao Yao ushered in another period of invisibility.

The offensive end is invisible, and the defensive end is also starting to miss people.

This is the old problem.

"Obviously, Yao's physical condition is very bad. At the last moment, the Rockets can't count on him."

But for the Rockets, who else can I count on if I don’t expect Yao Yu at this last moment?

Is Billups who was guarded by Li Ke?

Or, Richard Hamilton, who is in equally in poor form in this game?

On the sidelines, Rick Adelman had already started to shake his head. He knew very well that this game was gone.

Bang, bang, bang...

The sound of irons spread throughout the fourth quarter of this Christmas battle, or to be more precise, throughout the entire game.

In short, the Bobcats relied on defense and after the 48-minute battle, they defeated the Rockets with a score of 92-78 and won the Christmas game...

"Congratulations to Bobcats, defensive winners, they are the winners of this Christmas Eve!"

Yangwu, Yu Jia announced the end of the game in an impartial tone.
Chapter completed!