Chapter 132 The Twin Towers of Hugh City
Chapter 132 The Twin Towers of Hugh City
The team history of the Rockets is neither long nor short. It was established in 1967 and is now in its 20th season.
During this period, some famous stars emerged in the Rockets, such as: Elvin Hayes, Rudy Brain Tomjanovich, Kelvin Murphy and so on.
But if you want to say who is the greatest star of the Rockets during this period, it has to be Moses Malone.
Malone's three regular season MVPs were all obtained when he played for the Rockets. You must know that he only played for the Rockets for 6 seasons!
Although the time was short, it was enough to make a deep impact on the Rockets fans, because it was under the leadership of Malone that they reached the finals for the first time in history. A moment fans will always remember.
Only later, under the temptation of a huge contract worth 76 million U.S. dollars offered by the 1320ers, Malone finally chose to leave Houston, sign first and then trade with the Rockets, and came to Philadelphia, where he got the first contract in his life. A championship.
It's just that for the Rockets, Malone's departure made them sink.
Fortunately, the Rockets were lucky. They didn't sink for a few years. They selected Ralph Sampson and Hakeem Olajuwon respectively with the No. [-] pick for two consecutive years. Entered the finals, although lost to the powerful Celtics, it also made Rockets fans temporarily forget about Malone.
They believed that the pair of twin towers in their family was no worse than Malone.
But this does not mean that Rockets fans don't hate Malone. A star who left for money is hard to be welcomed by fans of the original club.
Therefore, when the Warriors players entered the court, Rockets fans booed the sky to welcome Malone's return.
Malone has long been accustomed to this, because he has come here to undergo such a welcome ceremony every year during his four years with the 76ers. This time this year, the scene can be said to be much smaller.
It's no wonder, after all, four years have passed, and Rockets fans have already "empathized".
No, when Olajuwon and Sampson appeared on the stage, the cheers were overwhelming, and they wished to dedicate all their voices to this pair of young partners.
Unlike the fans' hostility towards Malone, Olajuwon talked cordially with Malone.
The reason is very simple, because Olajuwon is also a disciple of Malone. From another perspective, Malone's students are really all over the league.
The relationship between Olajuwon and Malone dates back to the summer of Olajuwon's sophomore year at University, when Olajuwon led the University of Houston to the NCAA Final Four, but was defeated by the University of North Carolina.
At this time, Olajuwon was looking for the college coaching staff to improve his strength. Later, he was recommended to learn from Malone to improve his strength, because Malone was the center of the Houston Rockets at that time.
So, in that summer, Olajuwon got the experience of training and playing with Malone, and the two even had several one-on-one matches.
After that summer, Olajuwon's strength improved by leaps and bounds, and he was successfully elected as the NCAA MOP in his junior season.
Perhaps Olajuwon started the training camp later, and it was also the seed he planted in his heart from that summer!
In short, after having such a teacher-student relationship, Olajuwon both respects and envies Malone. He regards Malone as one of his goals in the NBA, and strives to catch up with him and surpass him.
Of course, if you think that being kind to Malone means that Olajuwon has a good temper, you are very wrong. Before he became a religious person, Olajuwon was notoriously bad tempered.
After entering the NBA, he still maintained his bad temper, always had disputes with the referee, and had disputes with other players, resulting in multiple technical fouls.
No, at the beginning of the game, Olajuwon complained to the referee in the first round.
There is no other reason, because after he successfully jumped the ball, the ball still returned to the Warriors, because Li Weisi successfully predicted the basketball route and intercepted the ball.
After the steal, Li Weisi immediately launched a fast break. When he entered near the three-point line, he made a fake pass and gave the ball to Malone who cut into the inside from the center. Malone flew to dunk against Olajuwon's defense. Olajuwon's foul was caused.
Olajuwon was extremely dissatisfied with this penalty, because he thought it was a risk, not a foul.
It's just that his dissatisfaction didn't have any effect. Even though there were boos on the scene, the referee still couldn't change his mind. The referee pointed to the free throw line and Ma Long made a free throw.
So, with Malone making two free throws, the game officially kicked off.
The Rockets' starting five are center Hakeem Olajuwon, power forward Ralph Sampson, small forward Rodney McCray, shooting guard Booker Johnson and point guard Mitchell wiggins.
After the "guard turmoil" and injury troubles described above, the Rockets' outside strength has been very poor. As of this time, the team's starting shooting guard Robert Reid is still free from the game, and can only be played by the team's substitute. Small forward Booker Johnson will act.
This led to the Rockets' starters, who are all surprisingly tall. Except for the small forward, the height of other positions is higher than that of the Warriors.
Especially Sampson at the power forward position. At 224cm tall, he is taller than Olajuwon at the center position. You must know that Smith, who is defending him at this time, is actually only 203cm tall.
This kind of height difference, basically as long as Sampson raises his hand, Smith will know whether Sampson's armpits smell like leeks or curry!
Therefore, when Wiggins dribbled the ball for half the court, he adjusted directly to the inside. This kind of high-altitude operation was not afraid of the Warriors intercepting at all, because the Warriors simply couldn't reach it.
Sampson, who was a head taller than Smith, easily received the ball. Although Smith was holding Sampson firmly, Sampson didn't care at all. He was sure to win regardless of height and weight, and pushed Smith to the inside. .
Unlike the previous match between the two teams, Malone had no time to care about Sampson because of Olajuwon's involvement in the interior, so Sampson came to the interior and easily made a layup. It's all useless.
It was the Warriors' turn to attack. Facing Wiggins' defense, Li Weisi easily got rid of it. However, after entering the interior, he found that the interior was extremely crowded. The big hands covering the sky almost prevented him from seeing the basket and his teammates.
Faced with this situation, Li Weisi chose an emergency stop jumper, but when he just took off at the free throw line, Olajuwon, who was originally more than one meter away from him, suddenly came in front of him and slapped the ball. back-court.
This kind of speed is completely unimaginable for a center with a height of 213cm.
After experiencing such a defense in the penalty area, Li Weisi also realized that this game will be more difficult than he imagined.
(End of this chapter)