The Magic will face the Hornets at home on October 21st.
At this time, Chris Paul had not yet entered the league. Although the head coach was already Scott, the queen bee was a bearded man named Baron Davis.
But Davis didn't play much in this game. The Hornets, who were driven from the East to the West, felt like a sheep being driven into a pack of wolves. The entire team was shrouded in confusion and worry.
The game itself was very easy. From the moment Howard beat Magloire with a jump ball, the Magic have been taking the initiative, with the largest lead difference reaching 24 points.
An interesting tidbit appeared during the halftime break. The team showed funny footage of the players watching "The Ghost Story" on the big screen.
This greatly aroused the interest of the fans off the field. I didn't expect that characters who usually look like Iron King would be scared. This made the audience feel a lot more balanced.
Commentator Barkley also took the opportunity to joke: "I believe this video has given other coaches a way to deal with the Magic. You can let the players put makeup on their faces before the game. Then the Magic players will be afraid, and the game is under your control."
Already."
Kenny Smith listened and laughed: "I think this is a good idea. I can suggest it to Stern. For example, in Halloween games, everyone must put on makeup before playing to further enhance the entertainment of the NBA."
As a result, in the second half, when the players walked out of the tunnel and onto the field, the audience gave a special welcome - the whole audience burst into laughter.
At first, the players were quite puzzled. Usually these fans are very enthusiastic and support the team. Besides, they played well in the first half today and led by a big score. Why did the fans turn against them?
After listening carefully, I found out that it was Edison who had publicly screened the team's embarrassing incident here. So everyone looked at Edison with resentful expressions, while Edison himself covered his mouth and snickered.
TNT's photographer caught Edison's snickering shot in time.
Kenny Smith said: "I have to say that Paul Edison is really a special head coach. Whether it is the player trading operations in the summer, the craziness in the draft, or the current entertainment spirit, it is rare in the league and other coaches
No one is as dazzling as him and can become the focus of the team at any time."
In the end, the Magic won the game 110-92 without any bloodshed. Seven players from the Magic scored in double figures again. Nash played 20 minutes, 10 points and 8 assists, and still performed stably. Howard had 13 points, 16 rebounds, and 7 blocks.
Since Edison talked with him, Howard has indeed put his focus on defense. On offense, he has given more opportunities to Josh. Josh scored a game-high 27 points when Howard reduced his offense.
Although the Hornets were weak and were easily defeated by the Magic, the two young players in the Hornets lineup still made Eddie lively.
The game was nothing, but at the press conference after the game, Edison encountered a bitter host.
The first question was very gossipy. The reporter asked what the video was during the halftime break.
Edison was happy when he heard it, "That was a video of our Magic team's off-site activities. Because it was almost Halloween, we organized everyone to watch a horror movie, and then we watched everyone
The performance during the filming was recorded, which is the most vivid memory of this collective social activity. Later, I thought this thing was quite interesting. I should be able to show it to the fans to let them understand the status of the players’ lives, so there was Zhong
I thought the scene on the field was quite interesting, and I believe the fans would also find it very good."
"It's really interesting, thank you for your answer."
Edison just thought that today's press conference felt good, but he immediately received a heavy punch.
"Mr. Edison, what do you think of Okafor's performance yesterday?"….
In this society, the media and reporters control the right to speak in society and dominate public opinion. Their reports can change public opinion's view of a thing and then influence people's behavior. Therefore, they are called the "uncrowned king."
Since the Magic selected Howard as the No. 1 pick, all kinds of doubts have never stopped, and what gives them such confidence is Okafor's performance. The Bobcats have also played 4 preseason games so far, with 1 win and 3 losses, beating the Blazers.
They lost to the Cavaliers, Wizards and New Jersey Nets. It can be said that the team's performance was poor, and this was expected by everyone.
But Okafor's statistics are very amazing. He averaged 25 points and 12 rebounds per game, which fully demonstrates his strength. Especially yesterday against the Cavaliers, he scored a double-double of 34 points and 16 rebounds. Although the team still had a double-double in the end.
He lost, but his performance was recognized by everyone.
Looking back at Howard, the Magic played 5 preseason games, with 4 wins and 1 loss. They defeated the Grizzlies, Heat, Hawks, and Hornets, and lost to the Mavericks. However, Howard's data was not outstanding, and his scores were all under 20 points.
I scored 19 points in the first game, and then the trend began to gradually decline. I only scored 6 points in a game against the Heat. I averaged more than 13 rebounds and 3 blocks. According to common sense, this data is reasonable, but
Experts don't think so.
Let’s talk about scoring first. The Magic focus on offensive tactics. In the first five games, they have scored over 100 points, and there are even some super high-scoring games of more than 120 points. When the team’s offense is booming, and you Howard has less than 20 points, this is
It’s a bit unreasonable. And you played a lot of playing time. Compared to Josh, who played a similar amount of time to you, he averaged more than 20 points per game steadily. And the most important thing is that in the game with the Heat, you only scored 8 points.
There were less than ten points and less than ten rebounds. What does this mean? It means that you did nothing against the strong inside team. Those previous statistics were all due to the opponent's poor inside line.
Speaking of rebounds, an average of 13 rebounds does look good, but this is the preseason, not the regular season and not the playoffs. Those veterans in the league will not fight hard at this time. They are just looking for a feeling and adapting.
Let's go through the motions. In this case, it's hard to say how significant your 13 rebounds are.
In addition, the two people have always been in a state of comparison in other people's minds, so today's reporter asked questions.
Edison knew at a glance that this was premeditated, and they had already set up their posture. He couldn't hide at this time. First of all, you can't hide either. As long as there is a press conference, this issue will be raised sooner or later. Besides, if you hide, it will be so stressful.
But it all falls on Howard. Can a 19-year-old really withstand such great pressure? Especially when Howard has just experienced a psychological fluctuation.
"I know he has performed well recently, but I didn't watch yesterday's game, and I don't know what performance you are referring to." Edison still planned to change the topic first.
"Yesterday he scored 34 points and 16 rebounds against the Cavaliers." The reporter saw that Edison was trying to hide and did not respond directly, so he pressed forward further.
Edison frowned, but still controlled his emotions well and continued to talk.
"This data sounds very good, but as I said before, I didn't watch the game. I know the specific process. Even if he achieves the best results, but the team loses, it doesn't mean much." Edison
First, he poured cold water on the reporters and made them suffer a hidden loss. If you really lose the game, it will be useless no matter how good you are. Everyone knows that what Edison said is biased, but no one can find fault with the words themselves.
"And today is the press conference of the Magic and Hornets. I hope everyone will focus on the game that just happened, or some things about our team, okay?" Edison then told everyone clearly what I wanted to talk about.
What is it? Don’t ask about things that don’t fit in with my thinking...
The press officer of the Magic was also very unhappy, "You reporters are trying to destroy our Magic." In order to stabilize the situation, he called the reporter from the "Orlando Sentinel" next. As a local media in Orlando, naturally he cannot give himself a
The team was in disarray, so after the team passed, they raised a simple question about tactics.
Edison was very satisfied with this, thinking, "Brother, are you very wise?", and then made a speech in a giggling voice.
Naturally, the others were unhappy, so others raised their hands to ask questions.
The press officer took a look and saw that there was a beautiful reporter from ESPN who wanted to ask questions. He thought to himself, ESPN has to give face to a beautiful woman, and it’s you. But he didn’t expect that this woman would stir up a hornet’s nest as soon as she opened her mouth.
What did Meng Fei from "If You Are the One" say, "Pay attention to the people around you, and you will find that the so-called sharpness often means being mean-tongued, and the so-called sharpness often means being uneducated."
This beauty's questions are sharp and to the point.
"Hello, I'm a reporter from ESPN. I want to ask you a question about team personnel. Seeing the current data gap between Okafor and Howard, the team's management will not regret not selecting Okafor with the No. 1 pick.
.”
When Edison heard this, his eyes immediately widened, but when he thought about it, he didn't go too far. He said he was asking the team personnel a question. Although it was a bit deceptive, this question really fell into this category.
When Edison saw that he couldn't hide anymore, he simply talked and encouraged his players.
"Of course we don't regret it. Howard's performance is obvious to all. The team's top management, members of the coaching staff, and even other players are very satisfied with Howard. It is true that Okafor's data is very good, but this is only the preseason.
, I think everyone knows whether he can maintain this data in the regular season."
Edison looked around as he spoke, and then set his sights on the reporter who asked the question.
"You guys at ESPN certainly know a lot. And Okafor is the core of the Bobcats. The Bobcats are a newly established team in the league. I don't mean to insult them, but everyone must admit that they are a weak team. The core of a weak team is naturally in the tactical layout.
On top of that, the word count will be taken care of a lot, so the data of this kind of people tend to look better.”
"Furthermore, Okafor is a rookie in the league, so his technical characteristics are relatively unfamiliar to other teams. In addition, it is the preseason, and few teams can defend him in a targeted manner. This will
To further promote his good results. This is my opinion on Okafor's current data. Do you think what I say makes sense?"
The reporters in the audience nodded secretly while recording using machines.
"Let's talk about Howard. First of all, I am very satisfied with his performance because he has completed the tasks I assigned him very well. Each team's tactics are different. The core of our team now is Nash, so
Everything will revolve around him. Although Nash is very good, he is not good at defense. Howard's main task is to protect the inside and make up for the problems caused by Nash. And he is doing very well now.
He has 13 rebounds and 3 blocks, which is very good. This is a very good defensive data. As for scoring, it is true that he does not score many, but he also does not take many shots. He takes a shot every game.
Both are less than 10. If I want to improve his scoring data, it is actually very simple. Let him play Josh's current position and get Josh's number of shots. His scoring will naturally reach more than 20 points per game. But there is
No matter what the meaning is, my tactical arrangements have completely changed, and whether I can win or not is unknown."
Edison took a sip of water and said, "My philosophy on basketball is very simple. No personal interests can override the team's. The team's victory always comes first. Howard did a good job in this regard. He didn't do it because of
I lost my temper because I didn’t take enough shots, but instead I devoted myself to the game and defended wholeheartedly.”….
"Also, don't forget one question. How old is Howard this year, and how old is Okafor? Okafor has played in the NCAA for three years, and his skills have been formed and he has rich experience. But Howard is just
As a high school student, he has never experienced a semi-professional game. The biggest game he played before was at the Georgia level, and he has not played at the national level, so we have to give him space and time to grow. So even if
So what if Okafor leads Howard this season or even next season? What about three years from now? What about five years from now? And if Howard develops according to this trend, he will be very good and he will become one of the best centers in the East.
In that case, even if Okafor is still better than Howard in the future, we have nothing to regret. Will the Houston people regret that they chose Olajuwon instead of Jordan?"
"Are you satisfied with my answer?" After Edison finished speaking, he also provoked the reporters in the audience.
The reporters in the audience were naturally speechless. Edison said a lot and was very comprehensive, but if you analyze it carefully, what he said is watertight and you can't find any flaws.
Then the reporters pointed the finger at Howard. They thought that a young man would not be able to think as comprehensively as an old man like Edison. Moreover, young people are very angry and are prone to anger. Of course, the anger cannot be too obvious.
, for example, if you ask Howard what he thinks of Okafor, it would be too obvious. It would be obvious to everyone, so it would be meaningless. The reporters in the audience are all veterans, although they are not as insidious as "The Sun"
He dares to pretend to deceive others, but he also acts calmly when doing things.
"Howard, what do you think of the current team's offense? For example, your current main interior scoring point Josh, as this year's No. 17 rookie, he scored more than 20 points in every game with a large number of shots."
I think everyone can analyze the hidden vortex here.
After hearing this, Howard laughed, showing two rows of big white teeth.
"I'm happy for Josh. Although he is the No. 17 pick, he is very strong. We have played together since childhood, and I know his abilities very well. With his ability, coupled with the fast offensive tactics deployed by the current coach, every day
More than 20 points per game is too normal for Josh. However, I will still remind him that it is only the preseason, and many teams are not effective defensively, so he cannot be complacent."
The reporter's hidden punch reached the air. Originally, as long as you talked about this issue from a tactical perspective, it would be easy for conflicts to arise. However, Howard and Josh have a good relationship. He completely ignored the profound meaning revealed in the reporter's original question and did not discuss it from a tactical perspective.
Or he answered from the perspective arranged by the coach. Instead, he praised and admonished him as a good friend. When these words were brought to Josh, Josh was very happy to hear them.
The reporters below still wanted to ask questions, but when Edison saw that if things continued like this, something would happen sooner or later, so he used his eyes to ask more of the team's press officers.
The press officer also understood what Edison meant and quickly announced that the press conference was over. Then Edison took Howard and left. Poor Nash was confused from beginning to end, and no reporter asked him questions.
The Magic did not have a game on the 22nd, but they were going to play Houston and the Rockets on the 23rd, so the afternoon training on the 22nd ended early, and the whole team flew to Houston in the evening.
Originally, I was full of expectations for the Rockets and Edison because Yao Ming is the pride of the Chinese people.
And allowing Howard to see top technical centers will also be very beneficial to his growth.
Edison thought well, and Howard was full of expectations, but Van Gundy did not give Edison face, and Yao Ming did not play in this game. But think about it, Yao Ming played in the Olympics in the summer and was always very tired, so for the sake of his body,
The team naturally plans to let him rest more...
When the game started, everyone was very friendly. Ewing and Thibodeau went to greet the Rockets players cordially.
Little Van Gundy also came to Edison, laughed and scolded him, and accused him of Xia Tian's arrogant poaching behavior. Because Edison was indeed the one who was not honest in the first place, he did not argue and endured it with a smile.
But during the game, Edison gave the Rockets a harsh lesson.
The Rockets' defense is extremely good, and they focus on half-court offense. They use almost 24 clean seconds every time to slow down the Magic. But without Yao Ming, the Rockets have too much space inside, and Cato alone cannot withstand the Magic.
Continuous attacks by the generals.
In the end, the Magic defeated the Rockets 98-90. Although the Magic won, they did not score more than 100 points.
After the game, Edison took the initiative to find Yao Ming, who was sitting on the sidelines wearing a suit.
"Hi, hell, it's a pity that you didn't sing today." Edison greeted in Chinese, but because this body had never spoken Chinese before, his tongue was not very flexible and he couldn't get around the three sounds.
Yao Ming was surprised when he heard Edison speak Chinese. Although Edison didn't speak very neatly and his pronunciation was very stiff, he could still understand it.
"Hello, are you learning Chinese?"
"Yes, I am very interested in Chinese culture. I hope we can have more contact in the future."
"OK."
The most taboo thing in the world is to have casual conversations with each other. Edison was also worried that his identity would be exposed if he had contact with Yao Ming, so he just said a few face-saving words to Yao Ming to satisfy his small sense of national belonging.
.
After playing against the Rockets, the Magic flew back to Orlando the next day, and then reorganized for two days to prepare for the Heat's preseason finale on the 27th.
During these two days of rest, Edison basically determined the starting lineup for the new season after discussions with the coaching staff.
What makes Edison most satisfied is that with the additional training of Howard, Josh, Iguodala and others, it has successfully affected the training behavior of the entire team.
In fact, everyone is like this, and they all have laziness. When you see others being lazy, you will feel that it will be useless if you take more rest, so you start to be lazy. On the other hand, if you see others working hard, you will
You will have a sense of urgency, and when you rest, you will think about others practicing, and you will understand that it is not good for you if you continue like this.
But how to solve this problem? It can be said that there are two methods, positive and negative.
The positive thing is that if you practice, I will also practice. If you are good, I will be better than you. If you lose, you will not lose, and everyone competes reasonably. This promotes people's progress, and at the same time, it will have a reaction on other people, and then a virtuous circle will make the team more efficient.
excellent.
The other kind is negative. Hello, I will make you feel better; if you practice, I will make you uncomfortable. So you start to deliberately make trouble for others, or force others to relax and be lazy. The purpose of this approach is not
Competition is destruction and seeking psychological comfort. When you feel that no one is working harder in front of you, you feel at ease. But this is a kind of deception. Just because no one is practicing in front of you, it does not mean that there is no place you can't see.
If no one practices, it will last forever. Although you still maintain your position in this small circle, on a large scale, you have fallen behind others. This kind of thinking and practice harms others and yourself. It not only delays yourself, but also affects the team.
development. But unfortunately, this is also a common thinking and idea among Chinese people nowadays, and it is an important reason why we cannot surpass others.
"Heaven moves vigorously, and a gentleman strives to constantly strive for self-improvement." This sentence comes from the Book of Changes, and I would like to encourage you all again.
Okay, let's continue talking about the Magic. The Magic team has a virtuous cycle and active competition. At a certain time, most of the players have started to practice more.
Especially for Tony Allen, Martin, and Varejao, the rookies of the same period, the competition between them was originally the most intense and intuitive. Now that they see Howard and the others practicing more, they also start to take the initiative to practice more every day...
Gerald Wallace himself is relatively hard-working, and he originally practiced a lot, but it is boring no matter how much he practices alone, and he is not very confrontational. Now that there are more people, he can practice singles, so he is naturally very happy.
For a veteran like Nash, his skills have already been finalized, so he is not so active in this wave of additional training. However, although he no longer performs special additional training, he is strict with self-interest in life and has a scientific work and rest routine.
Regular and maintained his competitive state extremely well.
But there are no two identical leaves in this world. Each of the nine dragon-born sons is different. Some are practicing hard, while others are unmoved.
For example, Boris Diaw, Uncle Huo and De Klerk.
Uncle Huo and De Klerk were already very old, and they clearly felt that Edison did not attach much importance to them, so they became slack, which is easier to understand.
But Dior made Edison unsure. He was usually very serious and devoted in both games and training, but he was the first to leave as soon as the training was over. But everyone has his own ambitions, and Dior is also very capable.
Yes, Edison didn't force anything more.
On the morning of the 27th, the Magic team set off for Miami to challenge the Heat again. This was also the Magic's preseason finale.
Howard adjusted his new mentality very well in this game. Although O'Neal was still invincible, there was nothing he could do about it. However, Howard did not mess up because of this. He acted as if nothing was wrong and still worked hard to grab every rebound.
Help other players provide high-quality screens. In addition, Edison did not have Howard to defend from behind in this game. Instead, he asked Josh, Marion and others to double-team, which relatively restricted the Sharks.
Many things in the world are like this. What you plan for is determined by people and accomplished by God. Obviously you have made a lot of efforts and budgeted a lot, but there is just no way. There will always be some unreasonable accidents that disrupt your overall plan.
For example, Eddie Jones in this game suddenly came into his own for some reason and frequently took shots from beyond the three-point line. He made 9 of 13 three-pointers in the game. Edison used Iguodala and Tony Allen took turns to guard him, but they just blocked him.
He couldn't help it. Sometimes he didn't get into any good positions, but when the ball got into his hands, he forced a shot against the Magic's defense and really dared to score. In the end, he scored a game-high 34
point.
There was nothing Edison could do about Jones' incomprehensible touch. He made a lot of preparations before the game. He also made plans for Jones' three-pointers, but he didn't expect to be beaten like this by him, but he can't blame the defense.
The players, they have done everything they can.
With Jones' performance, at the end of the third quarter, the Heat led the Magic 78-76.
But in the fourth quarter, Van Gundy decided to rest O'Neal and did not let Shark play again, which gave the Magic a chance to take the lead.
In the end, the Heat lost to the Magic at home 102-108.
Howard scored 13 points and 13 rebounds, Josh had 21 points, and Nash had 16 points and 12 assists. Iguodala had 18 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists, and Tony Allen had 15 points. These two vented their frustration at not being able to guard Jones in the end.
On the Heat's basket.
At the post-game press conference, Edison took the opportunity to praise Howard, thinking that he had made a good psychological adjustment when facing O'Neal this time. Although he was still suppressed by the Sharks, he performed relatively normally.
It's not as abnormal as the last game. It can be regarded as a solution to my remarks in support of Howard at the last press conference.
in accordance with.
After this game, even if the Magic's preseason is completely over, the record of 6 wins and 1 loss is quite satisfactory, although it is not as good as the Spurs' 7 consecutive wins. The team's highly entertaining rapid bombardment style is more
It has won the favor of Orlando fans, and everyone is full of expectations for the Magic's regular season.
On November 5th, the Magic will challenge the Bucks away from home, and the Magic's regular season is about to begin.
------------segmentation------
Posted in advance, a big chapter, I have to go out at night.
I also feel that this period of time is a bit long-winded, but I will soon get into the rhythm of the game.
Chen Da has been writing for many years. I am a newcomer and I am adjusting little by little.
