During the halftime break, Stevens was discussing Cousins' defensive issues with Brown.

The two coaches, both adept at defense, couldn't come up with any practically useful methods.

Cousins' skills were too versatile, and when he was in good form, it wasn't easy to shut him down.

Perhaps the only hope was that Cousins' form would decline after resting for half the game.

Stevens eventually pulled Tang Tian aside into the office.

"We don't need to think about how to defend."

Tang Tian's words surprised Stevens.

"We just need to think about how to foul him out."

Tang Tian's next words dawned on Stevens.

It was a matter of perspective. To deal with someone in good form, besides defending against him, you could also foul him out.

In fact, Tang Tian had already tried this approach in the first half, but Cousins didn't fall for his taunts.

But besides taunts, there were also tactical methods.

With a direction in mind, the two discussed and basically determined the offensive strategy for the second half.

After discussing the details, Stevens rushed to the locker room to quickly make tactical deployments.

Back for the second half, Francis and Mutombo had left early due to other commitments, but Yao Ming and McGrady were still sitting courtside.

The emotions of the fans on the scene were still high, and the halftime break did not cool their passion.

Many fans noticed some changes on the court, with Bojan replacing Ariza in the starting lineup for the second half.

Stevens relied heavily on Ariza, as could be seen from the fact that he let Ariza start as soon as he recovered to find his form.

So this adjustment, although not big, was very eye-catching.

Including D'Antoni, who also walked to the sidelines at the beginning of the second half, wanting to see what the Pelicans' adjustment was.

The Pelicans' frontcourt fell into formation, Bojan and Holiday fell to the two baselines, and Davis stood on the left high post, the three of them撐(cheng) supporting the entire half of the space very large.

And Tang Tian held the ball outside the three-point line on the right, with Jokic stepping up to pick and roll.

Tucker wasn't a flexible defensive player, he was more inclined to hard confrontation, he didn't dodge Jokic's pick and roll, and Tang Tian was mismatched against Cousins.

At the moment the mismatch formed, Tang Tian didn't even do the triple threat, he just took the ball and突(tu) charged inside.

Cousins was really in good form, predicting accurately in an instant, and提前(ti qian) shrinking inside.

Tang Tian killed to the basket, shooting at close range.

Cousins出手(chu shou) blocked, Tang Tian didn't躲(duo) dodge,主动(zhu dong) leaning on him to shoot.

"Bang!"

Cousins'重心(zhong xin) center of gravity was unstable, and the weight plus the impact directly knocked Tang Tian down.

The referee's whistle sounded, Cousins' shooting foul.

Braving the boos of the audience, Tang Tian稳稳(wen wen) steadily made both free throws, scoring the first points for the Pelicans in the second half.

The Rockets' offense, Paul and Cousins' pick-and-roll cooperation, Paul突(tu) breaking and 分(fen)passing to Cousins, Cousins迎(ying) met Holiday's shot.

"Shua!"

The basketball went into the net空心(kong xin).

His state in the second half was still火热(huo re) fiery.

If the Rockets could pull back a city tonight, he would definitely be the number one功臣(gong chen) contributor.

The Pelicans' offense, the same offensive method, but this time the Rockets' defense changed, Morris on the left stepped forward to收缩(shou suo) shrink and协防(xie fang) help defend.

Tang Tian passed the ball to Davis.

Davis didn't shoot from the空位(kong wei) open spot after getting the ball, but dribbled the ball and加速(jia su) accelerated inside.

Morris couldn't招架(zhao jia) resist alone, Cousins went over to help补防(bu fang) defend.

Davis' strong起(qi) shot didn't go in, and the referee didn't blow the whistle.

Tang Tian was无人(wu ren) unguarded at this time, he jumped up and grabbed the offensive rebound, about to shoot.

Cousins turned and盖(gai) blocked over.

Tang Tian, however, feigned a shot, and waited for Cousins' body to get up before actively leaning on him to shoot again.

Cousins was too big to躲(duo) dodge in time, and Tang Tian was造(zao) fouled for a shooting foul again.

He双手(shuang shou)抱(bao)头(tou) covered his head with both hands, this was already his third personal foul of the game.

But it wasn't his fault, he had to defend Tang Tian, and the difference in speed and reaction was too great, unless he symbolically defended to avoid being fouled.

But that wasn't his style.

D'Antoni was still watching, and Bzdelik stood up from the bench at this time, and walked quickly to his side to交流(jiao liu) communicate.

As a defensive coach, he had already understood the Pelicans' tactical strategy for the second half.

They wanted to foul Cousins out by constantly沖擊(chong ji) attacking the basket.

Bojan and Holiday's baseline three-pointers were very稳(wen) steady this season, and the Rockets' defenders on both sides couldn't收缩(shou suo) shrink with this formation.

And Cousins' body was big and his reaction was relatively slow, coupled with his relatively short height, his defense was not outstanding, and it was difficult to avoid fouls in the face of this kind of沖擊(chong ji) attack.

Tang Tian made both free throws.

Cousins'包夾(bao jia) double-team assist to Morris for another three-pointer, the Rockets continued to maintain their lead.

"DeMarcus, watch your foul count."

Bzdelik shouted at Cousins who was退防(tui fang) retreating.

Cousins nodded.

Bzdelik's shout showed that the Rockets had discovered the Pelicans' offensive strategy, but this did not make the Pelicans change.

Davis and Jokic打(da) played an inside pick-and-roll, and Davis with the ball continued to rush Cousins.

Cousins didn't dare to出手(chu shou) act, and Davis directly挤(ji) squeezed past and上籃(shang lan) scored.

Fouling Cousins out was the Pelicans' most ideal result of the tactic, even if they couldn't foul him out, if Cousins didn't dare to defend with all his strength, the Pelicans' scoring would become easier.

Tang Tian and Stevens, the two tactical masters came up with a trick together, Bzdelik couldn't招架(zhao jia) resist alone.

Cousins' performance on the offensive end was still抢眼(qiang yan) eye-catching, but the Pelicans continued to沖擊(chong ji) attack the Rockets' basket and score.

Cousins, who was especially理智(li zhi) rational tonight, controlled his fouls, but there was a difference in scoring efficiency between the two sides, and the Pelicans' efficiency was significantly higher.

The Pelicans迫近(po jin) closed the points difference little by little, and then反超(fan chao) surpassed.

When the score was surpassed, Cousins became anxious, and was called for his fourth personal foul when he shot and blocked Davis.

D'Antoni had to replace him.

Without Cousins, the Rockets' advantage on the offensive end was gone, and the points difference on the court was further拉大(la da) widened.

Harden was still not in form under the Pelicans' defensive formation, and the Rockets only relied on Paul's organization to僵持(jiang chi) stalemate with the Pelicans.

When it came to the bench接(jie)銜(xian)段(duan) stretch, their weak points on the bench were exposed.

Ariza defended Barmote and Terry in succession, Dinwiddie had a fast break扣(kou)dunk and Jokic had a追(zhui)身(shen) three-pointer, and the Pelicans quickly拉开(la kai) widened the score.

Before the two sides' main players returned, the Pelicans had completely逆轉(ni zhuan) reversed the situation and拉开(la kai) widened the score to double digits.

And after the main players returned, the Pelicans continued to沖擊(chong ji) attack the Rockets' basket.

With three minutes left before the end of the game, Cousins received his 6th personal foul and was罚(fa) ejected.

The game was also decided.

The Pelicans won after losing first, 实现(shi xian) achieved a逆轉(ni zhuan) reversal in the case of落后(luo hou) behind in the half, and力克(li ke) defeated the Rockets with 125 to 115, rewriting the big score to 3 to 0.

Cousins scored 35 points, 13 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 blocks in the game. If he hadn't been罚(fa) ejected at the end, he would have had a chance to help the team win.

But there was no if, the Pelicans' tactics were as targeted as in the second game.