Cousins was frustrated—very frustrated, incredibly frustrated.
Back in the Xiao Hua Era, he had been constantly dragged out for target practice. Now that it was the Tatum Era, he still could not escape the same fate!
It seemed the one putting him through this was not Xiao Hua, but this damned small-ball era.
No, it was that damned Tang Tian!
How could this guy shoot so accurately and drive so viciously? He was practically a monster!
In all his years of playing basketball, including the NCAA, he had never seen anyone this freakish.
This guy was like someone with cheats enabled!
In the first half of the first quarter, both sides engaged in all kinds of tactical games of wits, with plenty of targeted adjustments in their rotations.
But in the latter half of the quarter, it still turned into Tang Tian isolating against Cousins and the Rockets isolating against Jokic.
The two traditional centers were repeatedly dragged out and drilled, getting an early taste of running on a summer beach.
But clearly, the Pelicans had much higher scoring efficiency.
In small vs. big, Tang Tian's advantage was simply too great.
Cousins was on the verge of losing it.
In this quarter alone, Tang Tian scored 14 points against "Boogie," truly going in and out seven times, leaving a crimson trail in his wake.
The Rockets also trailed the Pelicans 22-32 after the first quarter, down by double digits.
During the Bench Connection Segment of the second quarter, Gordon was on fire, but Williams and Bojan finally found their rhythm for the Pelicans.
By the time the starters returned, it was 30-40, still a ten-point gap.
After the timeout, the Rockets went back on offense, and Paul continued attacking Jokic on the mismatch.
With Harden receiving Tang Tian's special attention,