But Thunder is struggling more.
Alexander's own shooting level is not very high. The first half of the offense relied on two sporadic goals from Seth·Curry to stabilize the situation.
It wasn't until Donovan called out Timeout and asked him to increase his personal attack that the situation improved slightly.
Alexander began to frequently rely on his personal offense to drive the team.
He kept breaking into Interior to create damage and break out shooters from the outside.
In addition, the outside hit rate of Thunder is slightly higher than that of Rockets.
The combination of the two was able to secure the score.
Then, two and a half minutes into the second quarter.
Chen Xi and Harden returned to the field one after another.
The first attack after returning to the field.
After Top of the Key received the pass from Alexander, Chen Xi turned to face Harden.
Hold the ball and wait, Collins On-ball Screen, then quickly drop the ball to break through.
After stepping into Free-Throw Line, he seized the opportunity of Rockets Interior's slow cover and made an emergency stop to make a jump shot from Mid-range.
A solid two-pointer.
Turn around.
Harden Top of the Key Pick-and-Roll, breakthrough point.
Nene Roll catches the ball and attacks the frame directly.
Use movement to stop stillness, use speed to hit Noel in the air for a time difference, and Layup completes the end.
Turning his head, Chen Xi took the serve from Backcourt, and then advanced with the ball himself.
After moving to the Three-Pointer line position, facing Harden's defense, a Hesitation Step broke through and misled, then immediately collected the ball and pulled up Three-Point Shot.
Huh~~
Three-Pointer hit!
Chen Xi started his personal attack mode.
And Harden is not to be outdone.
If someone shoots you in the face, of course you want to get back on your feet.
Outside catch Isolation.
Facing the defense of Chen Xi, Crossover Dribble made consecutive moves. After breaking through the fake move, Three-Pointer double retreated and made a jump shot.
Huh~~
Answer ball!
Chen Xi's Closeout was a little slower, but luckily he stopped in time, otherwise Harden would have fallen to the ground, and maybe it would have been three plus one.
Return to Offensive End.
Taking the ball again, Chen Xi Face-Up holds the ball, and a Shot Fake attracts Harden to defend.
Then quickly throw the ball to Alexander not far away.
Immediately cut inside after the ball is released.
Just after taking two steps, he received a pass from SGA.
Three steps followed the trend, attacked the basket, and finished with a one-handed dunk.
Harden was caught off guard by his passing and cutting coordination with sga.
After Chen Xi released the ball, Harden relaxed for a moment and immediately gave him a chance.
The game continued, and the battle between the two continued.
It wasn't until Starting Lineup on both sides returned to the court one after another that the two gradually released part of the ball.
After halftime, Rockets led Thunder 71 to 69 by 2 points.
James·Harden made 14 of 20 shots and scored 33 points, 3 rebounds and 4 assists.
Chen Xi made 9 of 15 shots and scored 23 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists.
In the Penguin live broadcast room, the two commentators began to comment heavily on tonight's game.
"20 shots in the half! Hit 14 goals! James Harden, really carried the team on his shoulders! The ultimate personal offensive performance."
"It can be seen that on Rockets's side, it is now <Give the ball to James>, and on Thunder's side, it is <Give the ball to Chris>. In such a terrifying progress of Harden Under the attack firepower, Thunder did not give in at all. After taking over the offensive task in the second quarter, Chen Xi also showed its ability to be second in the scoring list this season. In terms of efficiency and firepower, it is as good as Harden!"
"We are all looking forward to whether this will become a game that will go down in history. After all, both of them have had record-breaking high-scoring performances. Will they break it again tonight?"
"Prior to this, James·Harden's highest scoring record was 56 points against Jazz on November 6, 2017, and Chen Xi's highest The high-scoring record was in a game not long ago, when we scored 53 points against Rockets on November 8. I believe Fans members of Thunder will still remember that game."
"Of course, compared to Chen Xi, Harden has a longer career and has scored more than 50 points in more games so far, while Chen Xi only has two games. The other game was 51 points against Spurs in 2017. After all, he is still a third-year young man."
"Yes, and it's not just that. In fact, although Chen Xi is very capable of scoring, he is not a person who loves the ball and is very hungry for data."
"Yes."
"Chen Xi: Firstly, his shooting percentage is high enough, and secondly, his Teammates is also strong enough, so in many games, he doesn't actually need to score so hard to win. This is also why he has high The reason why there are fewer scoring games is that after all, it used to be Westbrook, Butler, now it is Westbrook, Davis, this No one can say anything bad about Teammates. Of course, this has nothing to do with Chen Xi. He has no choice. He has been with Thunder since he joined League. This It is a team established by the management of Thunder. It is obviously not related to the term "grouping". This person created it himself. The most he can say is that Thunder has good vision and good training."
"Indeed."
""But putting Teammates aside, once Chen Xi started leading the team alone, his explosive scoring power was immediately revealed."
"Hmm."
"We can see from recent games that when Davis and Westbrook were injured and absent, he could also take 30 shots a game and score 50+, but when Brow and Westbrook both returned from injury, he would actively let them go. The right to play the ball is used to find Teammates's status, especially in the recent game. It is particularly obvious. When Brow just came back, Chen Xi often took 16 or 7 shots in a game, and then kept passing the ball to Davis."
"Yes, from this point of view, Chen Xi's personal style of play is still very selfless, and we can often see that when Thunder fails to execute the tactics in a game and there is not much time left, it is Chen Xi who takes over the so-called 'passing the ball'. Young people are very responsible."
"Okay, after talking so much, let's go into a commercial. After midfielder Timeout comes back, we will continue to watch the game together."
Midfielder Timeout ends and both sides return to the court.
The game continues.
It's still a big competition for Starting Lineup.
Still a similar strategy.
On Rockets's side, after returning from halftime, Harden's Touch didn't cool down either. He scored two more Three-Pointers at the beginning, continuing his scoring show.
However, the difference is that in order to reduce Harden's physical consumption, he began to reduce his personal one-on-one attacks, and began to constantly look for offensive opportunities behind Pick-and-Roll.
Similarly, Thunder has also made adjustments.
First, Westbrook took over the ball and started a fierce attack.
However, tonight's Westbrook and Touch were not good. The outside shots were frequently Brick. We could only rely on the damage caused by Paint and the cooperation with Brow to complete the scoring.