Factor X! The biggest reason for the Rockets victory is that Cole cannot limit the two towers?

G6 in the first round, the Rockets defeated the Warriors 115-107 away.

Previously, after the Warriors defeated the Rockets away in G5, many people believed that the Warriors who returned to their home court would definitely end the series.

However, things went against my expectations. The Warriors were almost behind the entire game, and they were still closely tied to the score in the first three quarters. They were scored 20-5 in the 8 minutes of the fourth quarter and were directly dragged into the tiebreak.

Shin Kyung and Van Vleet became the biggest contributors to the Rockets' winning in this game.

As the Rockets' head, Shin Kyung made 8 of 20 shots, scoring 21 points, 14 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 steals. In the second half, Shin Kyung scored 13 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals.

In this round of series, Shin Kyung averaged 20.8 points, 11.5 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game. Although his efficiency was not good enough, his shooting percentage was only 46.3%, and even his free throws were only 63.9%.

But Shin Kyung is still the Rockets' basic platform, and his offensive system as the starting point is the most important reason why the Rockets can become the second in the regular season. In the G4 series, Uduka gave the final chance to Shin Kyung at the last moment, which can also show his position in this team.

The next is VanVleet, who played the most 40 minutes in the game, made 7 of 13 shots, 6 of 9 three-pointers, 9 of 9 free throws, and scored 29 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists. In the second half, VanVleet scored 19 points.

VanVleet's performance gap in this round of series was very big. The first three games were so bad, and the last three games were sure to fly again:

—G1, 10 points and 7 assists, 23-13 three-pointers, 7 points and 2 assists, 1

—G3, 17 points and 3 assists, 3

—G4, 25 points and 6 assists, 8

—G5, 26 points and 2 assists, 4

—G6, 29 points and 8 assists, 6

, 9 of three-pointers, 6

, 6 of three-pointers, a total of 29 three-pointers, averaging 11.3 points per game.

in the last three games, 18 of 27 three-pointers were made, averaging 26.7 points per game.

VanVleet is a defender who relies heavily on three-pointers, and he is good at shooting difficult goals. Once he finds his touch, he may have an output that is no less than Curry.

Say, we have seen Van Vliot's magical attributes when the Raptors won the championship in 2019. Before the G4 of the Eastern Conference Finals, Van Vliot only scored in double digits in 15 games, and scored in 12 games without exceeding 5 points.

But starting from the G4 of the Eastern Conference Finals, VanVleet suddenly broke out, scoring in double digits in 9 games and G6 scored 22 points in a single game in the finals, and even snatched a FMVP vote from Leonard. Interestingly, VanVleet's opponent was also the Warriors at that time.

and, there is another Rockets in this game. I personally think that the importance is no less than that of Shin Kyung or Van Vleet - Steven Adams.

All the game, Adams made a total of 31 minutes of substitute, made 4 of 4 shots, 9 of 16 free throws, and scored 17 points, 5 rebounds (3 front boards) and 3 blocks.

Adams ranked third in the team, and his positive and negative values ​​on the court reached +15, which is higher than Shin Kyung (+7) and Van Vleet (+12).

Adams didn't get many opportunities in the regular season, averaging less than 14 minutes of playing time, scoring 3.8 points and 5.6 rebounds, but in this round of the series against the Warriors, his role was definitely beyond imagination.

As of the current six games, Adams averaged 21.5 minutes per game, scoring 6.2 points and 6.5 rebounds, including 3.5 frontcourt rebounds and shooting percentage of 68.8%.

The data is not that dazzling, but Adams's role is real:

- 129 minutes Adams was present, the Rockets scored 119.8 points in 100 rounds, lost 99.6 points, and had a net better than his opponent 20.2 points

- 159 minutes Adams was away, the Rockets scored 103.7 points in 100 rounds, lost 120.0 points, and lost 16.8 points in net loss, and the sample may not be enough, but this is an on/off value that is more terrifying than Jokic, which is enough to show Adams' uniqueness in this round of the series.

It is worth mentioning that within 75 minutes of Uduka's appearance of Adams + Shenjing's double towers, the Rockets can score 114.9 points in a hundred rounds and 30.1 points in the opponent, which is quite explosive.

sounds very crazy, because the inside group like Shin Kyung and Adams, which is extremely blocked in space, only took 126 minutes in the regular season, and it is likely to be beaten by the opponent's small lineup.

However, a large part of the reason why this set of double towers works is that the Warriors' lineup is too short and the outside is unable to give a positive response - it is a bit reluctant for the Warriors to beat Adams if Curry was guarded by the whole game, Butler and Zhu Meng do not have real space attributes, and Hilder + Payton Jr. + Poster made 2 of 12 three-pointers in the game, it is a bit difficult for the Warriors to hit Adams.

In fact, Cole also realized the threat of Adams in this round of series. In this G6, he started to cut Adams from the first quarter, trying to make Uduka give up Adams. However, Adams' life-and-death battle was very powerful, with 9 of 16 free throws in the game, which did not make Cole's tactics work.

In terms of tactics and rotation, objectively speaking, the Warriors do not seem to have effective measures for the Rockets' double towers. Combined with the previous series of Timberwolves' 4-1 elimination of the Lakers, this also shows one more thing:

Although the small ball era is an era of center decline, once you enter the playoffs, you do not have enough size and excellent inside line, even if you have Doncic, James, Curry, Butler, you will suffer..

The good thing is that the Warriors are not out yet, and Cole is not a rookie coach like Redick. The 15th history of history will definitely come up with some solutions to the problem.

Otherwise, Curry might need to start the unparalleled mode of playing against the Kings in the first round two years ago - don't say, this year's tiebreak is really possible to see another performance belonging to Curry.