The two-day rest ended quickly, and the Magic team flew to Denver in the Rocky Mountains.
Denver is nicknamed the Mile-High City because the height measured on the 15th step on the west side of the city's State Capitol Building is 1 mile above sea level.
The Pepsi Center in Denver, home of the Nuggets, is a nightmare for other NBA teams. The first thing any team has to face here is altitude sickness. Although athletes have excellent physical fitness and will not suffer from extreme phenomena such as vomiting and fainting, they are prone to fatigue.
, my legs felt like they were filled with lead and I couldn’t lift them up.
For a middle-aged man with a bread-shaped figure like Thibodeau, the doctors accompanying the team had prepared an oxygen bag for him. The sultry Edison also wanted one, but what he wanted was a Yangbao.
Although the Nuggets' geographical and natural conditions caused a lot of trouble for the Magic, the team's strength was still significantly higher than the opponent. The final score was 101-108. The Magic defeated the Nuggets on the road.
Nash still performed steadily and was the team's anchor. Although he scored only 9 points, he once again sent an astonishing 20 assists.
Although Nash played outstandingly, the best player in this game was Hill. The old Hill is now completely rejuvenated in the sixth man position. He came off the bench for 29 minutes and scored an astonishing 31 points.
Among them, 5 of 6 three-pointers were made, which is quite incredible. In addition to scoring, he also had an overall performance of 5 rebounds and 5 assists.
Howard scored 16 points, 13 rebounds and 4 blocks. It was precisely because of his performance that the Magic did not suffer a loss in the penalty area with the Nuggets.
Josh Smith, who had performed poorly against the Suns and Spurs in two consecutive games, still couldn't get out of the slump in this game against Nene and Camby. He only scored 12 points, 5 rebounds and 2 blocks in this game. His scoring and rebounds were only the season average.
The level has shrunk by one-third.
Many people say that Josh has hit the rookie wall now, but Edison scoffs at this, but he also thinks that if Josh cannot adjust quickly, he really needs to talk to him.
Just after playing against the Nuggets, the Magic flew back to Orlando that night and faced the Miami Heat, their regional rivals, the next day.
Because they are teams in the same conference, the two teams have to play 4 times a season, but because everyone's record is very outstanding now, they are first and second in the Eastern Conference, and the competition is very fierce. Therefore, the game between the two teams is actually
One game is worth two games, and there will be no negligence or carelessness on either side.
Howard and O'Neal performed a jump ball. This season, O'Neal is no longer the big shark that flies into the sky and escapes from the ground. His explosive power relies more on tonnage and inertia, and his speed is no longer enough. Howard won the ball without any danger.
Jump ball victory.
"Today's game must be fast, faster than usual. You can't give the opponent any time to pause and mobilize O'Neal. O'Neal is invincible when guarding the basket, but his physical fitness is not enough now, and his knee can't play the whole game
They all insist on running back and forth from one end of the court to the other. So we must be fast, bring the game into our rhythm, mobilize O'Neal, and by the time he runs out of energy in the fourth quarter, he will be a 300-pound piece of rotten meat in the penalty area.
That’s all.”
Under Edison's arrangement and supervision, Magic players ran more frequently. Especially Howard, who faced O'Neal. He kept running back and forth between high positions throughout the game. O'Neal had no choice but to follow him and keep twisting.
Keep your body straight and adjust your defensive angle. Although O'Neal moves a small distance each time, just 2 or 3 steps, you can't stop Howard from running so frequently.
As a result, after the first quarter, 27-29, the Magic fell behind by two points, but the game completely entered the Magic's rhythm, and O'Neal's jersey was already soaked.
The main force couldn't beat the Heat, which was completely within Edison's expectation. The Heat's main force was very strong. Van Gundy finally gave up on Wang Zhizhi's idea of playing the main force with the Sharks. Now it's O'Neal, Wade, Haslem plus two Joneses.
.Under the control of O'Neal inside, the Heat scored and hit, the combination of inside and outside was very good, and the shooting rate was very high...
But the Heat's substitutes are not good. Edison's guiding ideology for this game is "the main force holds them back, and the substitutes determine the outcome."
When the game started in the second quarter, it was exactly as he planned. The Magic's substitutes quickly brought the score back.
Originally, the Magic's substitutes were already very strong. They were both offensive and defensive, passed the ball quickly, ran aggressively, and played very unitedly. Now with the addition of the all-around killer Hill, their strength is even better.
As for the steps, I don’t dare to mention this set of substitutes for the Western Conference. It’s no problem for the Eastern Conference to abuse the 8th and 9th main players.
Facing the defense of Heat substitute Rasu Butler, Hill was in a deserted situation.
Although they are both Butlers, this Butler is not at the same level as Caron Butler last season.
Caron Butler's defensive awareness and skills are not first-class, but his athletic ability and defensive enthusiasm are quite sufficient. He has a pair of fast hands. In front of his defense, the ball holder must always pay attention to whether the ball in his hand is safe, because if he is not careful, it will
Watch a fast break dunk.
And Rasu Butler's defense only has an attitude. Although many times we say that the key to defense is an attitude, attitude really cannot determine everything. As Edison said, "Genius is 1% inspiration plus 99
% of sweat, but the 1% of inspiration is the most important, even more important than the 99% of sweat." The same is true in the arena, the most critical thing is the 1% of talent. Sula Butler is,
He has no talent, average foot speed, and average physical confrontation. When such an average player meets an extraordinary player like Hill, it is destined to be a tragedy.
"Grant Hill, facing Butler's defense, he has scored four points in a row, and now it's a single, and others are pulling away."
Hill faced Butler and made a fake shot. When Butler's center of gravity was raised, Hill quickly lowered his center of gravity, rushed past him, and then slipped his hand on the baseline for a layup.
Turning around, the rest of the Magic pulled away, and Tony Allen still passed the ball to Hill and let him play in singles.
Hill once again assumed a triple-threat posture. Because he was attacked three times in a row, Butler subconsciously took half a step back. Hill's fake movements were very realistic, and his center of gravity became extremely slow when shooting.
.
We see that before shooting, many players move their shoulders first, then their knees, then their trunks, and finally their upper limbs are in a shooting posture. But Hill is not like that. He does not exert force on his shoulders until the moment he releases the shot. There is no such thing as mentioned above.
The prelude to shooting is very short, so the reaction time for the opponent is very short.
This time Butler was fooled. He didn't pay attention when Hill raised his hand. By the time he felt something was wrong, Hill had already taken the shot and scored 2 points.
Stan Van Gundy quickly requested a timeout. Hill had already scored 8 points in a row. If he continued like this, he was defeated by Hill alone.
"Well done, well done, everyone, not just Tranter. The Heat will definitely make substitutions after this timeout, but we don't have to worry about them. We still stick to our own style of play, run more and play faster.
Use up their physical strength. In addition, there was a problem with your running position just now. You don't have to stand aside to watch in isolation for Hill. You have to move and be ready to respond at any time. Tony, you and Varejao can run like this
Move..." Edison first high-fived each player, then squatted down and circled the tactical board to lay out new tactics.
Sure enough, when the players from both sides returned to the court again, the Heat's Wade came on the court.
I won’t go into details about Wade’s ability. Although Tony Allen defends very carefully, the methods he usually uses to influence the opponent are useless against Wade. Usually Tony Allen relies on small movements and physical pressure to disrupt the opponent.
If the opponent's dribbling rhythm is messed up, then the shooting rhythm will definitely not be better. So although Tony Allen's statistics are not eye-catching, there are no steals or blocks, but anyone who has played against him knows it.
How disgusting his defense is...
But do you think Wade has rhythm in dribbling? He is a guy who will stop and stop idle throughout the half, especially a guy who has no moral integrity. Please tell me how to spell the word rhythm.
Because without O'Neal, the team no longer has to play half-court offense and defense, so Wade doesn't mind a faster offensive and defensive rhythm, so the game instantly becomes better.
"Wade broke through, and Tony Allen didn't stop him. What did Tony do today? Wade was hit several times in a row."
"Wade is here again. This time he picks and rolls with Haslem and rushes directly to the inside. Varejao filled the position in time. The referee's whistle sounded. It should be Wade's offensive foul. What? Blocking. Let's take a look.
Slow-motion replay, ah, Varejao's foot stepped on the line of the reasonable collision zone, there is nothing we can do about it, in fact, it is a successful defense if it is a little further outside."
Time passed very quickly, and in the blink of an eye it was the most critical fourth quarter. Because the Magic had a stable group of gangsters on the bench, the Magic Center took the initiative 84-77, leading by 7 points.
Because Edison's dominant idea today was to drag O'Neal to death, because at the beginning of the fourth quarter, Edison re-entered the main force.
After playing for a minute, Nash made two consecutive passes, and the Magic opened the score to double digits. Now Stan Van Gundy couldn't sit still, and waved his hand with his stomach in mind. O'Neal and Wade both came on the court again. The main players of the main team,
Ace versus Ace.
As soon as O'Neal came on the court, in order to maximize the ability of this big killer, the Heat played the most standard half-court offense and defense. The pace of advancement was very slow, and each game lasted almost 24 seconds.
Every time, I wait until O'Neal stands in the low post and then pass the ball to him. After receiving the ball, O'Neal sticks his butt out. We don't know if O'Neal's gluteus maximus is too developed and he just pushes Howard away, or if it's his
The unique diet and the vitality of the intestines drove Howard away. In short, when he leaned back like this, Howard couldn't stop him.
O'Neal only had to arch his back twice to get under the basket, then turn over and take off to score 2 points.
This is also the most stable scoring method for the Heat. The Miami Heat currently averages 109 points per game, second only to the Magic's 115 points, ranking second in the league. But in fact, the Heat take very few shots per game, only
78 times, only higher than the Pacers, Grizzlies and Jazz. It is the fourth-fewest team in the league. It takes few shots but scores high. It seems unscientific. The reason is that the Heat's field goals are very high.
Third in the league, only behind the Magic and Kings.
The main reason why the Heat has such a high shooting percentage is O'Neal. O'Neal's current shooting percentage is 60.1%, ranking first in the league. Of course, the big reason for this is because O'Neal's attacks are all under the basket. Although it sounds weird to say that.
People disdain him and find him boring, but with just this move, O'Neal was able to defeat all the invincible players in the league and earn a salary of 30 million.
"Should we change the tactics? Howard can't stand it at all. The Heat are very stable this way. If there is a problem with our offense, the game will hang in the balance." Thibodeau muttered in Edison's ear.
Edison frowned and looked at the court, "Well, I know that," and then Edison called Varejao, "When you go on the field, you also want to play like DeWalt is now, and hold me up from behind when defending.
O'Neal, don't think about drawing fouls when you go on the court. The referee may not care about you. When attacking, keep moving between high positions and positions. Keep attracting O'Neal's attention and keep him moving. Don't think about yourself.
physical strength, do you understand?"
Varejao adjusted his red hair tie, bent down and listened carefully to Edison's arrangements, nodded from time to time, pointed to the field, and then went to the referee's bench to apply for a substitution.
"There is no difference between replacing Varejao and Howard. This substitution will not have any effect." Thibodeau asked Edison in confusion.
"Indeed, but it will allow Howard to regain his strength, and then I will use my trump card in the last five minutes."
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Hahaha, your imagination is so lacking, you are all trapped. Wait, I estimate that according to the current progress, the end of the world can be written until next season.
When the time comes, the results of the draft will definitely not only make you feel reasonable, but also make you scold you.
