The Rockets beat the Pelicans 51+30 with four towers! Amen beat Zion with 21+5, and No. 7 pick missed the buzzer with 20+6.

On October 15th, the NBA preseason continued. Today, the Pelicans faced the challenge of the Rockets at home. In this game, Uduka changed the lineup and went directly to the lineup of Amen, Durant, Jabari Smith, Adams and Shen Jing. The four people were over 2.1 meters tall and went directly to the four towers. Zion played on the Pelicans side in this game. The two sides played very fiercely in this game, and there were conflicts. Let us first talk about the game process, and then talk about the performance of the players.

Game review:

At the beginning of the first quarter, Shen Jing and Amen led the team to a 7-0 start. Poole hit a three-pointer to open up the game for the Pelicans. Jabari Smith scored 5 points in a row to help the Rockets establish a 9-point lead. Missy's inside kill and Murphy's three-pointer helped the Pelicans narrow the point difference. Amen and Jabari Smith responded with four free throws. Driven by Amen, they always maintained the lead. However, after coming off the bench, Zion and Phils led the Pelicans to overtake by 2 points to end the first quarter.

In the second quarter, Sheppard and Ethan scored 5 points together to help the Rockets regain the lead. Fiers responded from the mid-range. Jabari Smith and Shen Jing led the team to a 7-0 spurt to establish the lead. Missy and Alvarado responded with 4 points together. After that, the two sides fell into a stalemate. There was a conflict between Lao Liu and Amen in this quarter. Lao Liu kept pestering Amen, grabbing his clothes and hugging his waist. Amen couldn't bear it. At the end of the quarter, Durant hit the buzzer to help the Rockets lead by 1 point to end the first half.

The easy side fights Zion again and the inside kill helps the Pelicans take the lead. In this quarter, the Rockets obviously want to close the game. They played a suffocating defense. On the offensive end, Amen and Smith scored 10 points together. , helped the team directly establish a double-digit lead. After that, the Pelicans failed to mount a decent counterattack. Under the control of Durant and Shen Jing, they stabilized their double-digit lead. At the end of the third quarter, the Pelicans were already 14 points behind.

Both sides came on the bench in the final battle. Driven by rookie Fiers, the Pelicans tied in the last 21 seconds, but Fiers missed the buzzer beater. In the end, the Rockets defeated the Pelicans 130-128.

Pool is still a genius

Although the Pelicans still nominally build the team around Zion, through this game everyone should have discovered that Zion still attacks the inside, and his ability is indeed strong. But facing so many long men in the Rockets, he didn't get many opportunities. All teams know Zion's style of play. In order to restrict him, they will probably lock up the inside to target him. In this case, if the team's offense needs to continue, others will need to step up.

This is also the reason why they did not send away Murphy in the offseason. In this campaign, Zion scored 13 points, 3 rebounds and 4 assists on 6-of-11 shooting from the field. Murphy was the team’s first perimeter firepower, scoring 11 points, 4 rebounds and 1 rebound on 5-of-10 shooting. With assists and 2 steals, he is more suitable to serve as the team's core attack than Zion. The US media has previously reported that if the Pelicans trade away Zion, they will build a team around Murphy. The former top 3D is now an outstanding scorer.

New aid Poole made 3 of 10 in the game, 2 of 6 three-pointers, and scored 10 points, 2 rebounds, and 3 assists. He is still a genius. I really don’t understand why the Pelicans traded CJ for Poole. It is obviously not worth it. If you want to imitate the Warriors, this is not the way to imitate. The guard Phils selected by the team this summer is also a sharp knife. He made 3 of 15 in the last game. In this game, he scored 20 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists on 8 of 13. His height is probably adulterated. He does not look 1.92 meters tall.

The Rockets are blooming more

In this campaign, the Rockets once again showed the thickness of their lineup. Durant was not focused in the first quarter, shooting 0 for 4 in a single quarter, but then he became serious and scored 15 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 block on 5 of 12 in the game. After the team entered the top five in this campaign, Shen Jing continued to play the role of organizing center. He scored 8 points, 12 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 steals. As the second engine, Amen also performed very well in this campaign. He scored 21 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists on 5 of 8 in the game.

Jabari Smith transformed into Durant in this campaign, seizing the opponent's opportunity to open up, and the three-pointers were really accurate. In this campaign, he made 7 of 16 and 4 of 10 three-pointers, scoring 26 points, 5 rebounds and 1 assist. Jabari Smith has increased the number of goals this season, and facing the Rockets' current lineup, many teams will probably choose to leave Smith open. Under such circumstances, as long as he can seize the opportunity, he can perform high-scoring performances. Ethan also performed well in this campaign, scoring 20 points and 1 rebound.

The team's current five lineups do protect rebounds very well, but they also have flaws. Van Jordan's injury still affected them. The team now makes too many passing errors, which is why they failed to open the score in the first half. Facing a team like the Pelicans, they have a fault tolerance rate. If a team like the Thunder, which is good at counterattacks, are given so many opportunities, then it is estimated that it will be difficult for the Rockets to win. Having said that, what do you want to say about the current Rockets and Pelicans? Welcome to leave a message for discussion.