Because it was the first home game of the new season, the fans who had been hungry all summer were very excited. As soon as Edison and the others walked out of the locker room, they heard various chants in the stadium.
When the players walked into the stadium under the guidance of the DJ, the cheers reached the extreme. They were not shy about not knocking over the ceiling. Old Pat, Charlie DeVos, Rachel, Hill, etc.
Although the crowd was not as excited as the fans, they still clapped and waved to welcome the players.
"The Magic's choice of forward combination for this game is Iguodala and Wallace. It seems that Paul is also very afraid of Jackson and Artest. Steve, what do you think of the Magic's starting lineup?"
After arriving at the starting list, Albert and the other three people started a discussion.
"It's obvious that Paul plans to use his muscles to resist the Pacers' muscles, and compete for strength on both sides. Stephen Jackson won't go into details. The Pacers' second scoring point last season, his three-point shooting is particularly unreasonable and unreasonable.
He may shoot three-pointers on fast breaks, but he can hit them no matter how the opponent defends him. Although Artest has been suspended for a season, he has not degraded himself. His current figure is still good and he is not out of shape.
If he can return to the level he played in the 2003 season, his offensive status in the team should be no less than that of O'Neal. Both players have strong scoring abilities, and both like to seek physical contact first, and then use confrontation to crush their opponents.
, got the opportunity to take action, so Edison’s power arrangement can be said to be the right medicine.”
"But what if the hard steel doesn't hold up? What if we lose the force match?" Kevin Harlan asked the question from another angle.
"Then we can only defend together. But I think the two sides should meet their opponents. Maybe one side will have a little more difficulty, but it won't be the situation where you lose."
The commentators were still discussing, while Howard and O'Neal on the other side stood in the center circle, preparing to jump the ball.
In fact, O'Neal Jr. and Howard have the same height and wingspan, but Howard's body proportions are undoubtedly better, so he looks taller and stronger than O'Neal Jr.
After a year of scientific training and natural growth, Howard has grown another 3cm, reaching 211cm, and his arms have also grown stronger. If last season Howard's figure was like a marble sculpture painted with tung oil, then Howard now is another one.
After experiencing high-temperature heating, so-called thermal expansion and contraction, Howard is now longer and thicker. The cub last season has entered an adult body, and the only difference between him and Warcraft is battery life.
After the whistle blew, the referee threw the ball vertically upwards, and then quickly retreated to avoid being caught between the two monsters.
I can't say whether there was any suspense, but as everyone expected, Howard passed the ball to the Magic's side, and Nash quickly advanced after receiving the ball.
"Just like in the preseason, Howard's jump ball can ensure that the Magic get the right to attack first. Then everyone else rushes into the penalty area, and Nash is left at the end. It's still the v-shaped attack that made people excited last season."
"Well, Nash should choose to attack on Howard's side next."
"how do you know?"
"Because Wallace on the other side lacks three-point ability, the team has relatively few offensive options. And Artest is on that side. He must have been holding it in for a year and want to vent it. Paul hopes to hit the first ball.
It will be a good start for the whole season, so he will definitely arrange to play from Iguodala's side and not touch Artest's bad luck."
Before Steve Kerr could finish his words, the situation on the court was just as he thought, and the Magic had already launched an attack.
After a season of cooperation, Howard and Nash are just like each other. They don't need to make gestures or make eye contact with each other. As soon as Howard sees Nash's dribbling posture, he knows that he needs his own cover...
Tinsley, who is also a seasoned player in the league, saw Nash's posture and knew that someone from the inside behind him must be coming up to cover him, so he hurriedly took two steps to try to keep up with Nash and not let the opponent block him.
opportunity. But after all, Howard is tall and has long legs, and with a horse-riding crotchless pose, he stood across the path of Tinsley.
As soon as the two people came into contact, Tinsley helped Howard to stabilize his body, and then quickly circled in the opposite direction, intending to chase Nash again.
Although Tinsley was born in street ball, he has a clear mind. He knows that there is no point in guarding Howard in a high position after changing positions. Howard can't shoot from long range, and he can't make the shot even if you don't care about him.
Therefore, if he wanted to score, he would definitely rush to the basket, and his body would definitely not be able to stop him. He would simply chase Nash immediately and not give them more time to misplace their offense.
This is also the most important guiding idea when defending the pick-and-roll. Attack proactively and defend passively. When the defense is in place, no matter how good the player is, he will often be blocked, resulting in a misplaced defense. This is inevitable and no one can avoid it.
But generally after a mismatch, you must find a way to find the player you should be defending again, and then find an opportunity to switch back.
Some people may think that if the defensive player is someone like Iguodala or James, there is no need to change back. Because their physical fitness can almost be moved from the 1st position to the 5th position, and they will not give the opponent
Too many opportunities for players.
Big mistake, because as we said, misalignment is not a matter of one person, but a matter of two people. If you are misaligned here, there must be another person behind you who is also misaligned. Your physical fitness may be incredible, no matter how defensive you are,
It doesn't matter to anyone, but the other guy may not be able to do it either, so you're betraying someone.
However, the timing of switching back must be grasped well. If you let someone make a long-range shot, it is okay, but if someone breaks through your side and makes a way, it will be infernal.
Without further ado, Tinsley wanted to go back to Nash, but Nash didn't give him the chance at all.
After getting rid of Tinsley's entanglement, Nash pulled the ball horizontally towards Foster who was coming over to defend him. Naturally, the big man's weight transfer was not as easy as that of the small man. Foster was shaken. Then Nash made a light and deft layup.
, scored his first point of the season and also the Magic's first point.
"steve~~nash!" DJ called out Nash's name through his nasal cavity. He felt that calling it like this was very manly and powerful, but Edison knew as soon as he heard it that this man had experienced constipation.
Turning around, it was the Pacers' turn to attack.
Tinsley took his time and dribbled the ball across half court, then lobbed the ball to O'Neal on the wing.
The one guarding O'Neal now is Brand, who is new to the team. Although Brand is not as tall as O'Neal, his wingspan is amazing, and his weight is amazing. Originally, O'Neal was not the kind of player to sit under the basket.
, everyone knows the reason is that his butt is not sexy enough. Now that I have met a short and fat monster like Brand, I twisted my waist, turned around and took a step-back jump shot.
The ball hit the backboard and went into the basket, 2-2.
Both sides scored goals in the opening game, which seemed to indicate that the game would be smooth and the game would be exciting. But Carlisle soon told the world through his actions that you are all too naive.
Under Carlisle's instruction, the Pacers quickly returned to defense, then put on a turtle posture, waiting for the magic to attack.
"The Pacers shrunk very quickly and resolutely, obviously not giving the Magic a chance for a fast break. They also stuck to the inside. He saw that the Magic's current lineup lacks shooting ability from the outside and focuses on preventing breakthroughs."
When Edison saw this situation, he smiled contemptuously, and then said to Thibodeau, "Carlisle is still using the tricks he used last season to deal with us. He is so naive."...
Thibodeau also laughed after hearing Edison's words. It was said that after a summer, Thibodeau had gained a lot of weight.
So Edison whistled, then twisted his hands and made a gesture to Nash.
Nash looked at Edison's gesture, nodded, then slowed down his advance, and waved his hands to direct his teammates to change formations.
Seeing Nash's gesture, Brand began to squeeze towards the basket. The positions of the other players did not change much. Then Nash moved to the wing and lobbed the ball from Tinsley's head to Brand.
After Brand caught the ball, the other Magic players quickly took a step back and pulled away from their defensive players to prevent them from going back to double-team Brand and create space for Brand to attack.
It can be said that in those years, Brand's low-post singles ability was definitely the best among all power forwards in the league, and he was firmly in the top 5. I personally even think that he was second only to Duncan and better than Garnett and others.
The loss to Duncan was not due to skill, but rather a natural flaw in height.
After Brand caught the ball with both hands, he pressed the ball diagonally with both arms, showing his big elbows to scare O'Neal. Then he pushed his butt back and leaned back. O'Neal is not the kind of person with particularly strong lower limbs.
, Brand was so fierce, he couldn't bear it anymore and took a step back.
Originally, when Brand was taking the position, he had one foot on the three-second line. Now O'Neal took another step and he was at the basket. So Brand hit the ground and dribbled the ball, turned around and headed towards the basket.
Wipe it, then make a hook throw, score steadily, and get two points.
"A very standard low-post attack process. Such a good low-post offense was not seen in Orlando last season. Howard and Josh should really learn from him. If they can learn his trick of hooking,
They will definitely become All-Stars in the future."
"That's right, few of the new inside players nowadays have solid basic skills. They all rely on talent to play, just running and jumping."
Carlisle watched Brand single out O'Neal's hand, and he was also very anxious. He yelled at the Pacers players on the sidelines and kept gesticulating with his hands.
Edison understood what Carlisle meant at a glance and thought, "If you want others to find opportunities to double-team, you will treat our other players as freeloaders."
But the Pacers have been a strong team in the Eastern Conference for many years. Even though O'Neal was left alone, others didn't care and still maintained their own rhythm and played steadily.
Stephen Jackson, after receiving Tinsley's pass, made a pull-up one step away from the three-point line. The shot was very overbearing and made people feel unreasonable, but the ball went in.
.
So you came back and forth, and the two teams started fighting against each other. By the end of the first quarter, the two teams were tied at 20-20.
