After defeating the Knicks, various NBA experts suddenly discovered that the Magic had unknowingly won 6 consecutive victories, quietly returned to fourth place in the Eastern Conference, and were only one win away from the third-placed Cleveland James team.
At this time, after rational analysis, these experts all said, "The Magic have always been a team capable of the finals. They were just in the running-in stage because of new members, so they did not perform as well as they should.
Now there is mutual trust between their players, and once the tactics are in place, they will naturally show their true level."
Each and every one of them spoke righteously, completely forgetting his heartbroken and manic state at the beginning of the game.
Although the outside world suddenly began to praise the Magic, the Magic remained sober inside and were not dazzled by the victory. Because Howard and several easy-to-get young people experienced similar multiple winning streaks last season, and Brand
Although he has been on a bad team, he has rich personal experience, young people are prepared, and veterans are stable, so the Magic will not get carried away.
On December 31st, the last day of 2005, the entire Magic team rushed to Minnesota to challenge the Timberwolves away from home.
The Timberwolves are no longer the Minnesota three-headed monster that reached the Western Conference finals two years ago. After Sprewell said, "7 million is not enough for me to support my family," he retired in a shocking manner. And the alien Cassell also
He was sent to the Clippers in exchange for just two soy sauces, Yalic and Chalmers. Therefore, the Timberwolves' current record is very poor, second to last in the Western Conference, only slightly better than the Trail Blazers who have reached the bottom and are ready to rebuild.
However, because there were rumors about the scandal between Garnett and the Magic in the summer, especially after Brand came to the Magic and was widely regarded as Garnett's replacement, the game between the two teams was still full of gimmicks.
, was really hyped before the game. Many reporters continued to induce Garnett or Brand to say some provocative words before the game. Although Garnett's professionalism is unquestionable, he really has a crack.
Mouth.
Garnett said before the game, "It's impossible to say Brand is my replacement. I'm playing power forward now, not shooting guard, and I'm not that short. I think that's why his wife waited.
The reason why I decided to marry him only after 3 years." Apart from the baseless discrimination behind it, the words themselves are extremely vicious. Brand's height of barely 2 meters can be said to be his biggest regret in life. At 2cm, he is on the same level as an NBA player.
In the inside, if he could be 3 or 4 centimeters taller, he would definitely be a member of the 20 million club. Unlike now, when he gets a 1,600 contract, people will constantly question him.
Some kg fans may say that Garnett's behavior is psychological warfare. Through provocation before the game, he can put pressure on the opponent or make the opponent lose their normal mind. But I think his behavior can only make the opponent
Female relatives of players are feeling the pressure.
Brand said, "Kevin talks a lot every day. I am not his assistant and I don't care about the meaning of each of his words. I only know that we are going to win 7 consecutive games."
But the reality is not that simple. As soon as they arrived in Minnesota, the Magic received a heavy blow.
As mentioned before, Minnesota and the Denver Nuggets are the two teams with the most favorable home stadiums in the league. Denver relies on its high altitude and thin air to make every away player's legs filled with lead during half a game.
It's like playing the whole game.
The Timberwolves have a cold climate. Minnesota is the coldest among the 29 home cities in the NBA. Basically, in April or before the start of the playoffs, there is heavy snow here. Last time I came here, some Magic players were not used to it.
The temperature difference was 20 degrees, and as a result I caught a cold. This time there was still a non-combat attrition.
Nash has never missed a game since joining the Magic. After he woke up in Minnesota, he caught a cold. The one with a runny nose was crystal clear and sparkling under the sunlight. There are no antibiotics there, so you can't just take some anti-inflammatory drugs.
, so colds and flus can be difficult to recover from. After Nelson made a simple diagnosis, he officially informed Edison that there was no need to count on Nash for this game.
The importance of Nash to this magic is self-evident, and it is even generally believed that Nash's significance is higher than that of Edison. Edison was just a shipbuilder, and the fact that magic can ride the wind and waves to reach the present point is entirely due to Nash, the captain.
It can be said that the Magic are two teams with and without Nash.
Edison was also troubled by the fact that Nash couldn't play, but after thinking about it, it didn't matter anymore. Nash didn't belong to the team anyway, so he just took the opportunity to train the others and see what the team could do without Nash.
So Rondo ushered in the first start of his career. Although Rondo knew in advance that he would not be able to play, when he heard that he was starting, he still felt like a dream and it felt unreal. He bit his lip tightly.
, while two disproportionately large hands kept rubbing each other. For a 20-year-old young man, nervousness was the only reaction in his brain.
Nash was unable to play, and Iguodala stayed in Orlando. In order to ensure the team's experience and organizational ability, Hardaway, who performed well in the last game, was given the opportunity to start.
Without Nash, the burden of leading the Magic naturally falls on Brand, so a battle between him and Garnett is inevitable.
Both Garnett and Brand have very comprehensive skills. Garnett is known as a man who can play five positions. He is familiar with various offensive techniques, especially turning around and retreating, which is unbeatable in the league.
A surefire move.
Although Brand has always been inconspicuous, no one pays attention to him, and no media promotes him, but his ability is also extremely strong. He has solid steps in the low post and has power. Now he has also developed a mid-range shot, and even more so.
He has become an almost perfect inside player in theory.
The two people also competed with each other from the beginning of the game. They were both the terminators of the team's first attack, and they both scored. Although the game was evenly divided at first, as the game continued,
Garnett gradually took the initiative.
Garnett is tall and has long arms, but Brand is a lot shorter than him. He can't even close his eyes. In the past, when Brand encountered similar situations, he relied on his strength to block the opponent's lower body and squeeze him out.
Reduce the threat by keeping him away from the basket. This trick has worked well before, but it didn't work today against Garnett.
Garnett can be said to be one of the few big men in the league who can hit the mid-range shot, so he is not afraid of Brand pushing him to the outside. He can just rush people inside to the free throw line. If he is further away, the defensive player will be out of position.
Although Garnett is not as efficient as Nowitzki in reaching the three-point line, there is still no problem when it comes to the free throw line.
So Garnett took shots continuously, and his shooting percentage was very objective. He scored 10 points in the first quarter.
Brand can't guard Garnett, but Garnett can guard Brand. As mentioned before, the height gap between the two is too obvious. If they meet someone else, Brand can make up for it with his super long wingspan.
Yes, but Garnett is also a gibbon.
Some people may ask, Brand is not tall, but his strength is advantageous. He can use his strength to crush Garnett and score at the basket.
This is true. Brand is indeed stronger than Garnett. He usually does the same thing when he encounters some players. But there is something different today. Nash cannot play and no one can pass the ball to Brand. Here is
Passing the ball doesn't mean giving him the ball, but it means that in the short three seconds when he squeezed out of Garnett's position in the low post, no one in the Magic could pass the ball in place.
Brand needs to be in a good position in the low post. If the ball is passed to him, he will rely on it, and then directly turn around and score while Garnett is being pushed away. It is very simple. If it is given to him in advance, let him rely on it by himself.
Even if he goes inside, not to mention being double-teamed by others, Garnett is prepared to resist him step by step, and he can't take action within 3 seconds.
So in addition to scoring one goal in the opening game, Brand only scored one more goal in the first quarter, barely scoring 4 points.
Although Brand is not good, the Magic have not fallen behind, because the Magic's overall strength is higher than that of the Timberwolves, and Brand's disadvantage is not compensated by other players.
So the game became a battle between Garnett and the entire Magic team, and because of Nash's absence, the Magic players couldn't adapt, so the Timberwolves still had the advantage, leading by 3 or 4 points.
But the final critical point of the game came when the fourth quarter was only 2 minutes away from the end.
At that time, the Timberwolves were attacking, but Garnett was pushed to a high position by Brand, and then the Wolf King took a shot at the extended free throw line.
There was a "clang", and the iron was struck. Howard under the basket didn't give Madsen time to react. He jumped high and put the ball in his hands. After landing, Howard directly passed the ball to Rondo with a half-court pass.
At this time, the only one who returned from the Timberwolves' defense was Hassell, while on the other side of the Magic, Hardaway stepped in at high speed, creating a 2-on-1 frontcourt.
Hardaway didn't need to dribble or catch the ball, so he ran to the front of the three people. Hassell ran backwards and stood between Rondo and Hardaway.
At that time, Rondo was not the current assist leader. He was just a rookie. Although he got a fast break opportunity, he was not particularly determined about what to do next. So he looked up at Hardaway to see what Penny thought.
.
Rondo's action of looking up at Hardaway was very obvious, and Pence immediately knew what he was thinking. Hardaway considered the current situation of the three people, then raised his hand and pointed at the basket, giving Rondo a signal.
This process sounds slow, but in actual games it only takes a second.
Rondo was stunned when he saw Hardaway's gesture. His mind instantly reflected the "Nash + Howard" alley-oop duo. His rationality made him doubt whether Pence's legs that had undergone surgery could still survive.
Can he complete such a difficult action? But he felt relieved in an instant. Penny scored more than 50 points in Madison in the last game, and his body should be fine.
So I raised my hand and gave it away...and then, I made a mistake.
Hassell unexpectedly caught the ball that bounced off the backboard, and then launched a counterattack. Garnett scored under the basket. What was supposed to be an equalizer ended up widening the point difference to 4 points.
After coming back, Rondo couldn't help complaining to Hardaway, "You can't jump up and catch the ball, why do you let me pass the ball?" Hardaway was also helpless, "I meant to let you lay up by yourself." In short,
There is no tacit understanding between this young and old pair.
It's not scary to lose 2 points due to a mistake. What's scary is that this mistake shook the morale of the Magic players. The Magic players became impatient and started to play disorganized. As a result, Ricky Davis of the Timberwolves made a three-pointer without any hesitation.
The score difference became 7 points.
Although Edison used all the means available in the last minute, and even Howard was sent off for fouling, the Timberwolves had no choice but to make the last 6 free throws and win 106-102 at home.
In this way, the Magic's 6-game winning streak came to an abrupt end after only lasting 2 days.
-----segmentation----
Due to work changes, I can only update once in the future. There is really no way. I am really sorry that the original promise cannot be fulfilled. But this book will not be a eunuch.
