Zeng Xingyang’s fierce defense and transition three-pointer quickly silenced the boos.
Initially, those away fans were ready to celebrate Harden easily scoring over Zeng Xingyang, but instead, Harden was restricted, and Zeng Xingyang successfully countered.
Zeng Xingyang returned and high-fived Jokic in celebration.
Capela looked at Jokic with some distress; this unathletic big guy has solid fundamentals, his positioning and passing look great.
Mike Malone shouted at Barton from the sidelines, "Pass to that guy, find his three-point opportunities, don’t play erratically."
Clearly, after the first possession, Mike Malone was ready to continue his strategy around Zeng Xingyang.
He could see the synergy between Zeng Xingyang and Jokic.
The Rockets attacked again.
Harden dribbled to the frontcourt.
Harden continued to be tangled up by Zeng Xingyang, wrestling.
Harden passed the ball to Ariza, who didn’t initiate the attack himself but started to move it around.
The Rockets’ ball movement was fast, but except for Harden, no one dared to initiate recklessly.
The ball quickly returned to Harden’s hands.
In a short period of time, Harden felt the difficulty of dealing with this No. 8 rookie.
Harden shot a cryptic glance at Capela; Capela quickly stepped up and blocked Zeng Xingyang.
Jokic’s switch was a bit slow; Harden changed direction and broke through, disrupting Jokic’s rhythm, and scored with a Euro step layup.
Zeng Xingyang, pursuing after the pick, was slightly slow and couldn’t interfere.
"Nikola, you come up to slow him down a bit, give me time to chase back, then I can interfere with him."
"Okay, next time on offense, go stand in the corner, I’ll hold the ball."
Zeng Xingyang discussed on-court cooperation with Jokic.
Harden’s absolute speed isn’t fast, mainly his rhythm is good.
This time Jokic couldn’t even delay him, which allowed him to score easily. If a little delay was created for Harden, Zeng Xingyang could come back to interfere with Harden again.
Harden glanced back at the returning Zeng Xingyang; this rookie gave him tremendous pressure, he must be careful.
The Nuggets attacked again.
Nelson dribbled to the frontcourt, his playstyle was stable.
Zeng Xingyang didn’t position this round but went to stand in the corner; Jokic raised his hand at the free throw line actively asking for the ball from Nelson.
Nelson passed the ball to Jokic on the right side of the free throw line.
Capela defended positively, not intending to give Jokic any space for shooting, he quickly closed in.
Jokic decisively drove the ball down, leaned toward the right side against Capela for a breakthrough.
Capela was too thin, and pressed too close to Jokic, causing his body position to be eaten up, Ariza and Harden’s defensive attention were both attracted by Jokic.
Seeing the opponent’s defensive focus drawn to him, Jokic feigned a look to the left but forcefully passed the ball to the right corner.
A center’s no-look pass.
Zeng Xingyang was also a bit surprised that Jokic easily passed the ball over, but his preparations remained uninterrupted.
It was an open position, catching the ball, pushing off the ground, releasing the shot at the peak.
Zeng Xingyang’s rhythm was smooth, the entire sequence flowed like water, Harden lunging in didn’t create much interference.
The basketball traced a beautiful arc.
A direct hit at the heart!!
Receiving Jokic’s pass was exhilarating.
"That’s how you play."
Mike Malone punched the air in celebration from the sidelines.
Sure enough, Jokic and Zeng Xingyang’s cooperation was very tacit.
"Nikola, how did you know there would be an open position in the corner?" Zeng Xingyang asked curiously as he high-fived Jokic, feeling like he scored without knowing anything.
"Their defensive gap was right there," Jokic said calmly.
"Should I just wait there next possession?" Zeng Xingyang asked keenly, realizing Jokic’s observational skills on the court were worth learning.
"No, next time they’ll be on guard there, later come and receive a hand-off pass from me, I’ll cut down after and you’ll have a gap, if not then pass it back to me," Jokic said again.
"OK!" Zeng Xingyang hadn’t completely familiarized himself with Jokic’s orchestrating logic yet, but he knew that before the two formed a full partnership, understanding how he judged was impossible, so following Jokic’s command would avoid mistakes.
Others were unsure of Jokic’s ability, but he knew very well, this guy’s basketball IQ was top-notch.
"Hey, Xingyang’s two three-pointers hit the Rockets’ perimeter hard," Coach Zhang excitedly shouted.
"Amazing, showing impact right away."
"Xingyang’s shooting looks stable."
"This No. 15 big guy is good too, can pass."
"I big guy, he feeds the ball to Xingyang."
"Go, go, the scoring efficiency is really high."
Fans online also cheered and encouraged Zeng Xingyang.
For Chinese fans now, every offensive score by Zeng Xingyang in the NBA could be repeatedly savored.
Fans had lacked this kind of spiritual sustenance for too long.
As Nelson passed by Zeng Xingyang, he also greeted him, "Zeng, nice shot."
Zeng Xingyang smiled and nodded, Nelson’s temperament was good, much better than Barton’s overly competitive personality.
The Rockets’ offense.
Zeng Xingyang suppressed his excitement and quickly reinvested in defending Harden.
Zeng Xingyang’s way of defending Harden was to confront.
Not confronting Harden when he shoots, but giving pressure as soon as he crosses half-court, trying not to let him near the three-point line, otherwise, it’s easy to draw fouls.
After Harden crossed half-court, he passed the ball out, then tried to receive it, but Zeng Xingyang opted to half-face defend Harden, not letting him receive the ball again.
Harden frowned tightly, Zeng Xingyang’s speed could match up to him, and with greater wingspan and height advantage, Harden wanted to run towards the ball handler but couldn’t find a suitable opportunity to receive.
Finally, at two meters outside the right three-point line, Harden suddenly stepped back to create space from Zeng Xingyang and received Ariza’s pass.
By then, there wasn’t much time left for the attack.
Harden squatted in triple-threat stance, Zeng Xingyang continued to raise his hand to interfere.
Zeng Xingyang’s defense was near top-level now, full of defensive pressure.
Capela continued to come up for the screen, Harden drove the ball down left to break through.
Jokic was prepared this time and immediately rushed up to create some delay for Harden.
Harden quickly switched to the right to get completely past Jokic.
Harden dribbled to dive for a layup.
Zeng Xingyang chased closely behind Harden.
Harden knew Zeng Xingyang was behind, but didn’t pay much attention; he instinctively slowed down to draw contact with the defender behind for a foul during the layup.
But Zeng Xingyang anticipated Harden would do that move, cleverly dodged away, didn’t let Harden lean on him, almost jumping simultaneously.
This time, the wingspan advantage showed, Harden’s deceleration ended up binding him.
Harden forced himself into a flying layup.
Zeng Xingyang straightened his long arm and gave Harden a vicious block, fiercely swatting the ball away.
As the ball dropped out of bounds, the attack time also expired.
Ball possession belonged to the Nuggets.