After defeating the Thunder, the Knicks also ushered in their first five-game winning streak this season.
So far, the Knicks have really shown themselves to be defending champions.
In the East, the Heat's five consecutive visits to the West also broke their undefeated streak.
In particular, James and Wade took turns taking turns, resulting in their five consecutive away records of 2 wins and 3 losses, and they have also achieved a record of 9 wins and 3 losses so far.
The Big Three of the Heat fought for the first time against the Clippers, known as the "Space Battleship" in the Western Conference, and lost.
James made 7 of 19 shots and got 7 rebounds and 7 assists; Wade made 6 of 17 shots and got 17 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 steals, and Chris Bosh rebounded.
The Heat's Big Three scored 58 points together, but the team's overall shooting percentage was only 35.5%!
But this is not the reason why the Heat lost. The main reason is that the Heat's substitute players fell.
In addition to the Heat's Big Three, their role players and substitute players are generally older. In addition, in the shortened season, the back-to-back intensity made everyone physically and mentally exhausted. As a result, there were no five substitute players in this game.
Appear.
James Jones, Juwan Howard, Dexter Pittman, Terrell Harris... they are all on the injured list.
But the Clippers didn't show mercy.
Chris Paul had 6 assists and 6 rebounds; Carmelo Anthony had 28 points and 4 rebounds; Blake Griffin had 2 assists and rebounds.
For the first time, the Four Heroes of Fengcheng all gathered together in one game.
Carmelo Anthony, in particular, was extremely excited to meet James. There was no brotherly feeling in the audience, and he was extremely hardworking on both offense and defense. Those who didn't know better thought Carmelo Anthony was playing in the playoffs.
Anthony: He is timid when playing against other teams, but he punches hard when meeting his brothers!
However, this on-court duel between the "Four Heroes" was also praised by the majority of fans as "enjoyable", and some fans even wanted to see the exciting game between the Heat and the Clippers against the Knicks.
The showdown between super teams and super stars has always been the most eye-catching, especially since the stars on both sides have their own traffic.
Moreover, whether it is the Knicks, Los Angeles or Miami, these are all big ball markets. No matter who plays against whom, they will attract the attention of fans and the media.
However, the most recent game against these two teams will not be until the end of January.
On January 27, the Knicks and Heat will have a showdown.
The Knicks still need to play six games before facing off against the Heat's Big Three.
…
On January 16, this was the last relatively strong opponent for the Knicks in the last eight games: the Magic.
After defeating the Magic, the Knicks' next opponent will be easy.
In this turbulent season, the quietest team is none other than the Magic. They basically did not bring in any stars and just tinkered with their bench lineup.
Since the start of the game, it has even been reported that Howard is dissatisfied with the team management's operations.
And this Magic team has actually posted a record of 8 wins and 3 losses since the start of the season, one game behind the Heat, and is currently ranked third in the Eastern Conference.
The reason is that the Magic's lineup has a chemical reaction.
Madison Garden is still crowded tonight, and the atmosphere of the game is particularly strong.
When the Nets traded Vince Carter in 2009, Ryan Anderson came to the Magic as an addition.
When Ryan Anderson first came to the Magic, he didn't attract much attention. He was more like a transparent person in the team.
There is a reason why Ryan Anderson is not taken seriously. Stan Van Gundy is a head coach who attaches great importance to defense. It is not an exaggeration to say that defense comes first.
Ryan Anderson's defense is very poor, his rebound protection ability is weak, his help defense is not good, and he is in a defensive slot in one-on-one situations.
So many times, Stan Van Gundy is not optimistic about Ryan Anderson.
Until Brandon Bass was injured last season, the Magic did not have a suitable player to fill the fourth position, so they had to use Ryan Anderson.
It was in those few games that Ryan Anderson and Howard had a chemical reaction.
Although he is stretched defensively, it must be admitted that he is a space power forward with excellent shooting ability.
Moreover, he has a fast three-point shot and a high shooting percentage. When cooperating with Howard, he can help him attract defenders to the outside, thereby helping Howard open up space and create singles opportunities.
And with Howard as a defensive anchor guarding the basket, Ryan Anderson's poor defense is not so unacceptable to a certain extent.
This season, the Magic traded Brandon Bass to the Boston Celtics in exchange for Glen Davis and Von Wiff.
At the same time, Ryan Anderson's position was corrected.
Ryan Anderson also firmly seized this opportunity. Since the start of the game, Ryan Anderson has averaged 17.2 points and 7.3 rebounds per game.
Not only that, recently, the Magic have won five consecutive games with the perfect cooperation of Ryan Anderson and Howard.
Unfortunately, the Knicks also had their best record since the start of the season, also winning five games in a row.
When the hot New York Knicks face off against the hot Orlando Magic, who will win in this powerful showdown?
This topic has quickly become the focus of the past two days.
Moreover, the Knicks and Magic both belong to the Eastern Conference. Although the two teams do not have any enmity, there is still a lot of friction between them.
In particular, in the 2010 playoffs, the Knicks stepped on the Magic's corpse to reach the Eastern Conference Finals. In the semifinals, there was a lot of friction between Lian Dao and Howard.
Moreover, they are both teams with five consecutive victories. If the Knicks cannot win this game, the morale of the team to defend the title will be very obvious.
Especially since the Knicks had a bad start to the game before, if they lose this game again, the media will definitely make a big fuss.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! During the warm-up before the game, the live footage showed Howard.
Howard's smile is very sunny and warm, and he feels like a big boy who loves to laugh.
Two days ago, in the Magic's game against the Golden State Warriors, Howard had just scored a super double-double in rebounds, and the media conducted a lot of publicity and reporting on Howard.
The team's recent record is also very good, especially the cooperation with Ryan Anderson, which actually allowed Howard to find the feeling of partnering with Lewis. This made Howard's mood about the team's lack of strength dissipate a lot.
Especially recently, Howard discovered that the defending champion Knicks only had two more wins than the Magic. This made Howard feel that the defending champion was nothing more than this.
At the same time, it also made Howard determined to win this game and test the energy of the defending champion.
After the warm-up on both sides ended, the scene entered the opening ceremony, and the lineups of the two teams were announced one after another.
Magic lineup: Jameer Nelson, Jason Richardson, Hedo Turkoglu, Ryan Anderson, Dwight Howard.
At first glance, this lineup is no different from last season. They just replaced Brandon Bass at the fourth position last season with Ryan Anderson.
But this operation largely released Howard's powerful offense inside.
The Knicks still have the regular five: Jrue Holiday, Danny Green, Lian Dao, Amar'e Stoudemire, and DeMarcus Cousins.
On the opening jump ball, Howard jumped high and put the ball into the hands of Magic halffielder Jameer Nelson, and the game officially began.
Jameer Nelson dribbled the ball across half court and played a pick-and-roll with Howard from outside the three-point line. After splitting the ball, Howard went directly to the basket.
In fact, Howard can play pick-and-roll, and his pick-and-roll quality is very good due to his size.
However, many times Howard is unwilling to play pick-and-rolls, and he is unwilling to do some dirty work. But when he is willing to do all this, his strength is the most terrifying.
For example, in this offense, although the Knicks shrank their defense to the basket in advance, Nelson passed the ball to Howard who cut to the right side of the basket.
Howard caught the ball and took off directly.
"Peng!"
With a two-handed dunk, Howard slammed the ball into the basket, his body hanging on the basket, and the entire basketball stand was shaking under the power of this force.
This is the powerful upper body strength of the league's number one center!