The Orlando Magic sit at home and face the challenge of the Eastern Conference's strong team, the Cleveland Cavaliers.
This game can be called the focus of the league's attention!
Although this game originally attracted much attention because it was a showdown between the top powers in the Eastern Conference, in the context of March Madness, a large part of this attention was taken away by the NCAA.
But it's different now.
Because Adrian came to the Magic and became the absolute core of the Magic.
In the eyes of ordinary fans and even experts and professors, the two are too similar.
The same height of 203 centimeters, six feet and eight inches, the same strong physical fitness with few injuries. Similar positions, Adrian is the point guard and LeBron James is the point forward. They both showed their performance in their rookie season.
extraordinary abilities.
Although there are some differences between the two, for example, James prefers to use his strong physical fitness to attack the inside and draw fouls. Adrian prefers to find scoring opportunities on the outside through fake movements and footwork.
Attacking the inside is only a method chosen as a last resort.
For example, LeBron James loves dunking, but Adrian, who has almost the same physical fitness, is a crazy 'dunk theorist', although Adrian has never expressed his dislike of dunking in front of the media.
But in the game, these are undoubtedly revealed. When there are obvious opportunities for dunks, Adrian will often choose to end the offense with an ordinary layup or even a rebound jumper.
This is probably the most criticized thing about Adrian.
Even so, the two are still very similar, both in body and data. Of course, appearance is not the focus of everyone's attention.
Before the game started, experts from all walks of life came to the stage one after another to make jokes or analyze the similarities and differences between the two in a serious manner.
James is faster and Adrian handles the ball better. James' breakthrough is more violent and Adrian's fake moves are more confusing. James averages more points and Adrian's explosive scoring ability is stronger. James
His style of play is tougher and Adrian's mid-range and three-pointers are more stable...
In the mouths of major experts, in the sections of major forums, on the pages of newspapers, and behind the display screens, experts and fans use their lips as spears and tongues as swords. They use pens as swords and ink as weapons.
They went crazy and cursed and attacked each other like mad dogs because of the two celebrities who could bring them a lot of royalties.
You say James is tougher, and I say Adrian is smarter. You say James is more domineering, and I say Adrian is more able to help his teammates. You say James is more powerful, and I say Adrian is more flexible.
Stimulated by this atmosphere, the predicted ratings of this game have also been rising. Finally, the predicted ratings made by ESPN before the game started indicated that the ratings of this game may reach an unprecedented 11%... even in recent years.
It is also difficult for the national ratings of the NBA Finals to reach this level.
This is excellent news for the league, not to mention it's still March Madness.
Although the NBA has always been known as the world's top basketball palace around the world, the first thing that comes to mind when everyone mentions basketball is not the Olympic Games, which is held only every four years, nor the World Basketball Championship. It is the NBA! But in the United States,
, the NCAA, with its more pure basketball atmosphere, has always suppressed the NBA in terms of influence. Even though March is a critical moment for teams to compete for playoff rankings, the ratings often suffer serious declines.
Landslide, March Madness, for the NBA, it is more appropriate to describe it as a bleak March.
Over the years, the NBA has even developed the habit of not arranging games on April 8, because this is the day when the NCAA Finals will be held. In order to avoid the league's ratings being too embarrassing, the NBA has become accustomed to not arranging games on this day.
Game day.
But now, the NBA seems to have seen an opportunity to reverse this situation.
The showdown between Adrian and LeBron James is what everyone wants to see and what everyone cares about. It is in March and can make some basketball fans across the United States reluctantly shift their attention from the NCAA to the NBA
Sight magnet on.
The Magic's home game ticket sales are also going crazy under the crazy hype of the media. Three days before the start of the game, all the tickets for this game have been sold, and the price of home tickets for the Amway Center is even higher on the Internet.
It’s growing like crazy, but even so it’s still hard to get a ticket.
At the same time, Adrian's jersey sales were also boosted. The tickets and jerseys sold in the past few days alone were enough to wake Mr. Otis from his sleep with a smile.
The Cleveland Cavaliers continued their usual starting lineup this season, center: Ilgauskas, power forward: Ben Wallace, small forward: LeBron James, shooting guard: Paplovic, ball control
Defender: 'Emperor' West. Of course, the famous 'Friend Mom Gate' has not broken out yet, and Adrian doesn't know if West has become close to James' mother at this time, so now
No one calls West the emperor.
As for the Magic, they have made targeted fine-tuning of their lineup.
After ensuring Turkoglu's playing time, and Turkoglu did feel happier when he controlled the ball in substitute time, Stan Van Gundy finally persuaded Turkoglu to make some sacrifices.
He was removed from the starting lineup. His replacement was veteran Keith Bogans.
In fact, when it comes to the starting shooting guard position, Stan Van Gundy does not have a truly suitable candidate in his mind. Turkoglu conflicts with Adrian in terms of ability and is not suitable for starting, while others...if they are enhanced
Considering the strength of the starting lineup, starting with them may not be better than Koglu.
Keith Bogans' appearance was only due to special arrangements for this game, in order to better restrict and defend LeBron James.
Except for the change in the starting shooting guard position, the other positions of the Orlando Magic lineup have not changed. However, Adrian will have to take on additional defensive tasks in this game, and his defensive goal will no longer be the opponent's ball possession.
Guard, but LeBron James.
If you want to find someone in the Magic lineup who can confront and restrain James, then this person can only be Adrian. Although Adrian's defensive effect has declined somewhat in the Magic, this is more
It's because the Magic need him to focus most of his energy on the offensive end, not because Adrian's defensive ability has changed.
Stan Van Gundy has always attached great importance to this closely watched game. Before the game started, his most troubled question was how to arrange Adrian's tasks.
Should we focus on offense as in the past? Or make sacrifices on the offensive end to strengthen the defense against James.
In the end, Adrian gave Stan Van Gundy a choice.
"I can definitely take care of both offense and defense."
But in the end, Stan Van Gundy made adjustments at the shooting guard position and replaced Keith Bogans to help defend LeBron James. Although it is impossible to expect Keith Bogans to guard James' impact alone.
, his body is quite strong, but his speed cannot keep up with James. But if Adrian is the main defender and Keith Bogans assists from the side, such a defensive task will not be able to keep up with the defensive ability of Keith Bogans.
and experience should be enough to cope.
And Adrian... let him retain his energy on the offensive end, just shift it a little to the defensive end. After more than a month, Stan Van Gundy can fully imagine the Orlando Magic's offense without Adrian.
What kind of chaos will this organizer and organizer become? It is simply not cost-effective to completely give up offense for defense. (To be continued...)
ps: It’s 300 chapters. I didn’t expect to be able to persist to this point with the urine properties of the basket. Let’s celebrate with flowers.
