In the first game of the new season, they easily defeated the previously powerful Pacers in the Eastern Conference, which made every Magic fan excited. Regardless of whether the Pacers were greatly reduced at this time, they would only feel that the team was stronger than last season.
But the reality was cruel. Two days later, in an away game against the Grizzlies on November 5, the Magic lost completely.
The Grizzlies this season have changed a lot compared to last season. Bonzie Wells went to the Kings, Jason Williams and James Posey joined the Heat, and power forward Swift went to the Houston Rockets.
These guys can all be said to be strong players, which is why Swift is so close. But as long as you don’t have so high demands on him and just treat him as a defensive blue-collar worker and let him grab rebounds, he will be quite competent.
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Many good players have gone, and the new arrivals to the Grizzlies are not soft persimmons. The Kings' best sixth man Bobby Jackson, the Heat's defensive hero plus three-point shooter Eddie Jones, and the little flying squirrel Damon
Stoudemire. All three of them are guys who can shoot from the outside. Together with the original Gasol, Shane Battier and Mike Miller, the Grizzlies this season are a typical combination of a big man and a circle of shooters.
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Gasol faces Howard and Brand. His height and technical advantages are too obvious. On the offensive end, he has nothing to do with the two Magic players. It can be said that he is an unsolvable existence. On the defensive end, he has no solution.
, because of his height, Brand's head is like a net, and he cannot show his strength. His offensive shooting is very easy to be interfered, and his shooting rate has dropped by 10 percentage points than usual. As for Howard, he is currently on the offensive end.
The status basically depends on whether Nash wants to pass him on.
But in general, the Magic's inside line is pretty good compared to the Grizzlies'. After all, the Grizzlies only have one Gasol, and the other one who often appears at the power forward position is the familiar President Shane Battier. Although the Grizzlies
The starting big man will be Lorenzen Wright and Gasol, but as soon as Wright or Gasol take a break, Battier will go to the big man. And Battier is really good at power forward.
He is a bit powerless, after all, his height and strength disadvantages are too obvious.
The inside line is not the reason for losing, the outside line is the bane of losing.
At the beginning of the season, many people had analyzed that the Magic's forward combination would be their weakness, and this game it was even more exposed.
The Grizzlies outside players have very strong personal abilities, and unlike Artest and Jackson of the Pacers, they are both technical, and their long-range shots and breakthroughs are particularly sharp, especially three-pointers, which are deadly. Don’t be careless.
Edison just needs to continue using the combination from the previous game and let Iguodala and Wallace play.
But the Grizzlies' thinking is very clear. Head coach Mike Fratello knows that Iguodala and Wallace are in good health, so I won't let my outsiders compete with you, just shoot three-pointers.
After Gasol received the ball in the middle, he lifted the ball over his head from the high post and started to circle in circles. The other players began to cover each other non-stop. As soon as there was an opening, Gasol passed the ball over and then rushed
Take the shot before the Magic players come up on defense.
It sounds very simple, but it works very well based on the fact that Miller, Jones and others can shoot more than 40% of the three-pointers.
When it was the Magic's turn to attack, Edison and others found that the players could not open up the situation. These Grizzlies players are all the best outside defenders, especially in pick-and-roll defense. This led to the Magic's most common situation.
The offensive routine cannot be used normally. And if players are allowed to play with the ball, Iguodala and Wallace are not so reliable. The result is that the Grizzlies keep scoring by relying on three-pointers, while the Magic keep hitting the iron.
Later, Edison couldn't bear it anymore and replaced him with Martin to strengthen the team's scoring ability. Not to mention, after Martin came on the court, the Magic did start to score. But a new problem appeared again, and the defense was completely gone...
Nash's defense is just for fun, and Martin is also for attitude. The Grizzlies' perimeter offense under their two defenses is so interesting. After these two people join forces to form the outside line, the Magic's outside line can almost say no.
The defense was set up. Several Grizzlies players were no longer simply shooting. They also began to break through and then make various floaters.
After the last game, Eddie Jones scored 17 points, Mike Miller scored 24 points, including 5 of 6 three-pointers, Bobby Jackson scored 21 points, and also had 2 three-pointers.
Tadmire played the least time, but also scored 16 points.
The four outsiders scored a combined 78 points, plus Gasol's 20 points, Battier's 13 points, and the contributions of other substitutes. The Grizzlies' total score in this game was 118 points. This is also a new score.
The league's highest score of the season.
The Magic only had 101 points, and the highest point difference between the two teams had reached 23 points. That is to say, Edison still did not give up in the fourth quarter, and still let the main players play in garbage time, and finally recovered a little, otherwise it would be too miserable.
What the media likes most is to add insult to injury. A controversial team losing by a big score is what they like to hear the most.
So the Magic took over the screen the next day.
"Summer trade failure begins to emerge, Magic's future bleak." - "New York Post"
"Forget last season's dark horses and face the new season's ups and downs." - espn
"In a 17-point victory, the Grizzlies learned to do magic." - "Memphis Daily"
"Stubborn Edison finally paid for his arrogance." - "Sports Illustrated"
"The NBA is not for you anymore, so come to Hollywood." - "Los Angeles Times"
"Weak backcourt, unbalanced offense and defense, the Magic hate Memphis." - This newspaper is at the bottom, I can't tell which newspaper it is from.
"What should Edison do now? He needs a Hill." - "Orlando Sentinel" You read that right, a nearly 20-point defeat prevented the local media in Orlando from supporting the team shamelessly.
However, Bianchi did not point the finger directly at head coach Edison like other media, but tactfully stated that the current problem is caused by the team's uneven lineup. Edison's transformation of the team is still worthy of recognition.
There was no problem, but at the end he also asked whether he should recruit a shooting guard if possible.
After losing this game, Edison's number one microphone, Erin Andrews, wanted to give Edison an exclusive interview to ask him to explain his problems and respond directly to the fans' questions. But Edison refused, and Edison said domineeringly,
"After three games, I have won three consecutive victories, and then you can come and give me an exclusive interview."
Andrews estimated that Edison was speaking without thinking. He didn't think about who Magic's next opponent would be, so he spoke naturally.
The direct consequence was to turn around and return to the home court to beat the Suns back-to-back, 104-106, before being defeated by Tracy McGrady in the last 6 seconds.
After three days of rest, they played against the Houston Rockets at home on November 9th. As a result, the inside line composed of Yao Ming and Mourning completely destroyed Howard and Brand. And Kidd on the outside line faced Nash and showed amazing fighting power. One person could not wait to stand up to him.
The two of them scored a triple-double of 14 points, 11 rebounds and 12 assists, defending their honor as the league's number one point guard.
In fact, Nash performed well, scoring 19 points and 12 assists.
However, in the end, the team still lost 102-106, swallowing the bitter pill of three consecutive defeats. Andrews was no longer embarrassed to talk about the interview, and the slap in the face should not be too obvious.
At this time, the Magic's record is 1 win and 3 losses. Only the Trail Blazers and Raptors, who have lost three consecutive games, are behind. Together with the Hawks and Bobcats, they are tied for third from the bottom in the league. The Magic, Hawks, and Bobcats are all in the same division, so the public thinks
The three teams were linked together and nicknamed the Southeast Circus Combination....
As I said before, everything is easy to say when you win, but once you start losing, the victory can no longer continue, and all kinds of problems begin to break out.
When Edison came to the Water House Center again, he obviously felt that the atmosphere was different day by day. The staff no longer looked at him like they were looking at the savior. Instead, they were either dodging and avoiding, or giving him a blank look.
Old Pat also called Edison to the office and had a calm exchange with him.
"Paul, the current situation of the team is very unfavorable. I don't want to hide it from you. Those people are starting to make moves again."
Edison looked at old Pat. This old man who had been quietly dedicated to magic for more than 10 years was obviously in poor mental condition. The wrinkles on his forehead were becoming more obvious, and his eyes were bloodshot. Edison knew that his current condition was
The pressure must be great. Although Pat never said anything, Edison knew who the people he was talking about were and what rights they had in the team.
"Mr. Williams, please believe me. Although I cannot say that the current situation of the team is completely within my expectations, it is still within my control. I was prepared for the bad first month.
Yes, I just didn't expect it to be so bad. But don't worry, our opponents won't be so strong in the next few games, and I will get the team back on track."
"Okay, Paul. You can do it with confidence. I believe in you. As long as I am still on the team, I will do my best to ensure your position. But if the team continues to have the same record as it does now, then I can't handle it."
Live here, you have to understand this."
Edison was under pressure, and the other Magic players were also under great pressure. Although no one announced anything in public, everyone knew that they had to win the next game. Edison had been pushed to the edge of the cliff.
The Magic's next opponent is officially their enemy last season, the upstarts who have won four consecutive games in the new season - the Cleveland Cavaliers.
