The convulsion superstar of basketball

Chapter 256 255. The sun, I am afraid it has never risen... (4.7K words ask for a monthly ticket)

February 4.

As the rest time quietly passed, the playoff matchup that the entire league has been attracting attention has finally arrived.

On this day, the league has arranged four games in total, namely the Magic VS Bulls in the East, the Heat VS Eagles, the Nuggets VS Hornets in the West, and the Trail Blazers vs. Rockets.

And because the Magic have a record advantage in the regular season, the first matchup between the two sides in the playoffs will be played at the Orlando Arena.

Before the start of the game, the entire Orlando arena can be said to be full of seats.

And the team distributed free blue and white cheering T-shirts to every fan who entered the stadium, which also caused the entire Orlando Arena to look like a piece of blue ocean.

Coupled with the heart-piercing excited shouts of the fans on the scene, it brought tremendous psychological pressure to the Bulls in the away game.

With the magic team's record this season so good, the current Orlando Arena can be regarded as one of the few devil's home courts in the league.

After all, for local fans in Orlando, they have never enjoyed the taste of a championship, and even the taste of the finals dates back to the distant 90s.

Therefore, the Magic team with a great record this season has become the backbone of Orlando's local fans in an instant.

All the fans are cheering for the team from the bottom of their hearts, and there is quite a sense of unity that all wins and all loses.

Before the game started, the players on both sides were warming up for shooting in their respective halfs, and the head coach had been communicating with the coaching staff off the court.

Whether it's the Magic at home, or the Bulls playing away, everyone seems to be very busy. They attach great importance to this playoff matchup and don't dare to be careless.

Famous commentator Mark Woodson: "Okay, then the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs against the Magic VS Bulls is about to start."

"Actually, before the start of this round of matchup, the outside world didn't pay too much attention to the suspense of this game. Basically, more than 90% of the fans supported the Magic to advance to the next round."

"And even the fans who predicted the Magic's 4:0 sweep of the Bulls were as high as 67.2%."

"So this round of competition is actually not much suspense in the eyes of outside fans. After all, there is a huge difference in strength between the two teams."

"This also leads to fans guessing that the Magic can solve the Bulls within a few games, compared with other rounds of the series."

Partner Tom Howarth: "That's right, since the regular season record and performance of these two teams are very different, there is actually no big suspense in terms of the result."

"If you really say that the chances of the Bulls upset the Magic and advance to the next round are too low."

"Because Derek's personal talent is very strong, but he is still too young, so it is completely unknown how much of his strength he will be able to play in the playoffs."

"The same applies to Su. Although in the regular season, the performances of Su and Derek were very eye-catching, it is actually very difficult to say whether this feeling can be continued in the playoffs."

"However, since the suspense is not too great, the biggest highlight of this round is actually the genius duel between Su and Derek."

"After all, both of them are rookies in this year's draft, and while they both entered the playoffs as rookies, they are also the biggest opponents in the competition for the best rookie of the season."

"It can be said that the confrontation between Su and Derek is definitely a highlight of this round of the series."

"Even before this round of the series, Su and Derek were labeled as lifelong enemies. After all, these two have been compared to each other since they entered the league."

"So one thing we can predict is that in the next few seasons, the personal feud between Sue and Derek will definitely remain entangled."

"As for the individual performance between Su and Derek in this round of the series, let us wait and see."

As the game is about to start, the two sides also announced their starting lineups in the first round of the series:

Bulls:

Rose, Ben Gordon, Luol Deng, Nocioni, and Brad Miller.

Magic:

Su Jiu, Iverson, Pietrus, Lewis, and Howard.

In this game, both sides continued their starting lineups in the regular season, and neither made much change to each other.

For the Magic, this lineup has been honed many times in a season, and as the players' cooperation on the court becomes more and more tacit, there is basically no need for too much adjustment.

For the Bulls, the Bulls' ability to enter the playoffs this season can be said to have stumbled.

Therefore, there is not much room for adjustment in terms of the lineup, because there are only a few people available to the team, and no matter how adjusted they are, they will not be able to find any new tricks.

The Bulls this season ended up with a 50% winning percentage and a record of 41 wins and 41 losses, barely making it to the playoffs.

The gap with the Magic is completely visible to the naked eye, so this is the main reason why the media was very unfavorable about the Bulls before the game.

Because with the Bulls' record of 41 wins and 41 losses, they can barely enter the playoffs in the weak Eastern Conference this season.

If this record is placed in the West, then even the last train of the playoffs will not be seen.

Before the game started, Su Jiu and Rose also hugged each other in the middle of the arena, and they were smiling and chatting friendly with each other.

In fact, the off-court relationship between Ross and Su Jiu is pretty good, especially during the All-Star weekend, the two also exchanged contact information in private, and they have always had a pleasant communication with each other.

In this game, the two people just have different positions and are fighting for their respective teams, so it is not a lifelong enemy to talk about.

Of course, for the famous name given by the media, whether it was Su Jiu or Rose, both of them just smiled lightly and didn't take it seriously.

After all, this kind of thing is completely a propaganda method used by the media to attract traffic, so there is no need to take it too seriously off the field.

Because the real value of a player depends on his personal performance on the field.

After the start of the game, Howard, who was more physically fit, took the ball first.

Throughout the first quarter, the Magic's offensive style has not changed much, and there is no major adjustment compared with the regular season.

If you really want to say that there are some changes, it is on the defensive end. Stan Van Gundy also made some special defensive targets for the Bulls before the game.

Because the offensive firepower of the entire Bulls is basically concentrated on Derrick Rose, Ben Gordon and Luol Deng.

Therefore, Stan Van Gundy's defensive pressure in this game was all given to the outside, and he deliberately released two loopholes inside, forcing the Bulls to complete the attack at the weakest point.

However, even though Stan Van Gundy has taken the initiative to release his flaws in the interior, facing this opportunity, the Bulls still maintain their own offensive rhythm.

Most of the ball is basically in the hands of Derrick Rose and Ben Gordon. As for Luol Deng and Nocioni, they have been playing the role of off-ball shooters, similar to the regular season.

Of course, the saddest of these is definitely Brad Miller.

I think back in the Kings period, Brad Miller at his peak was not only an All-Star center, but also the most perfect inside axis in Princeton tactics.

And in addition to his excellent passing vision on the offensive end, Brad Miller on the defensive end can even fight against O'Neal in the paint.

However, such a legendary figure has to play the role of a blue-collar center after arriving in the Bulls.

I have to say that this is definitely a tragedy for a former All-Star player.

Throughout the first quarter, the two teams were very focused and did not dare to be careless on the court.

But even though the Bulls have worked hard to defend, but under the absolute gap, the Bulls still ended the first quarter with:

19:27

Eight points behind the Magic, ending the contest between the two sides in the first quarter.

"Defend the zone defense, remember, we will defend a 3-2 zone defense formation after we play in a while."

"Most of the opposing bench lineup is dominated by pitchers. The offensive ability in the interior can be said to be very short, and it is far from comparable to the starting lineup."

"So for us, this is an excellent opportunity to chase points. Although we are currently behind on the court, please don't be discouraged."

"You have to believe that when we stand on this field and compete with the Magic, the outcome of the game is no longer important."

"No matter what the final result of this game is, we will be the ultimate winners, because we have defeated ourselves this season."

"Before this season, no one in the media was optimistic about our ability to make the playoffs.

"However, thanks to everyone's joint efforts, we have not only successfully entered the playoffs this season, but also ranked seventh in the Eastern Conference. Even the fifth-ranked Heat in the Eastern Conference is only two wins behind."

"So no matter what the result of this round of the series is, you have done a good enough job."

"And the situation on the field has become what it is now, so everyone, please let go and play in the future, don't care about the final victory or loss of the game."

"Because competitive sports are so cruel, in the end only one winner can be selected to advance, but even if we lose, I hope we can gain the respect and recognition of the other party in this round of the series."

"Come on, let us work together to add more color to this round of the series."

"1.2.3. come on!!!"

After Bulls coach De Nagro gave a heartfelt speech, everyone in the Bulls folded their hands together, and then cheered for themselves under the loud pressure of the entire Orlando Arena.

In fact, De Nagro is definitely an excellent head coach. Although his coaching ability is indeed limited, he is of inestimable value to the personal aspects of the players.

In a sense, he is more like a life mentor. It is difficult for you to comment on whether his coaching career is a success or a failure in a real sense.

Although Denagro has only coached the Bulls for two seasons in NBA history, in these two seasons, Denagro has brought the team into the playoffs.

However, since there has been no breakthrough in the team's record, it will eventually have to face the result of getting out of class.

But in the past two years, De Nagro not only laid a very solid foundation for Rose, but most importantly, the philosophy he instilled in this young Bulls team is definitely an invaluable asset.

And it is De Nagro who has been improving the team's spiritual level, and has laid a very solid foundation for the team.

This allowed De Nagro to be led by his successor Tom Thibodeau in the first season after getting out of class, with a record of 62 wins and 20 losses in the league.

So maybe De Nagro is not a successful NBA head coach, but he is enough to deserve the word "excellent".

And this is exactly why Su Jiu asked Derek Rose to follow the advice from De Nagro more.

Because compared to Tom Thibodeau's dead grass main force, De Nagro's coaching philosophy is definitely a valuable asset.

At least in the two seasons he coached the Bulls, Derrick Rose only missed five games in total.

So a correct head coach is absolutely crucial for players.

Even though he may not be able to lead the team to win the supreme NBA championship, he will become an important mentor on the player's career path.

After returning from the second quarter, in the competition between the two sides' bench lineups, the Magic did not lose at all.

Even though the Bulls' second team has Hinrich, Thomas, and Joakinoah at the same time, the Bulls are completely at a disadvantage in terms of overall ability.

However, the 3-2 zone defense requested by De Nagro in the second quarter caused a lot of trouble for the Magic.

Since the Magic's second team is dominated by spot-up shooters, whether it's Xiaoli, Redick or Turkoglu, these are all outside-shooting styles of play.

So when facing the 3-2 zone defense defended by the Bulls, the Magic became a little struggling on the offensive end.

Because the Magic's insiders on the bench are Gortat and Amir Johnson.

The offensive capabilities of these two people are still relatively rough, at least they are far from reaching the point of breaking through the zone defense.

This also led to the bulls gradually gaining some upper hand in the first half of the second quarter.

And this situation obviously made Stan Van Gundy frown off the court, feeling very dissatisfied.

Even for this game, Van Gundy has enough confidence so far.

However, seeing that the situation on the field gradually began to turn unfavorable, this still made Van Gundy feel anxious all the time, unable to settle down.

Therefore, in the case of being unable to break through the zone defense, Van Gundy also seized the time and gradually took the main lineup. He did not intend to give the Bulls any respite.

With the gradual return of the Magic's main lineup, the Bulls' zone defense is naturally full of loopholes.

In fact, as long as Warcraft Howard returns to the court, the Bulls' three-two defense will be self-defeating. After all, the biggest shortcoming of the three-two defense is the fear of a strong inside attack at the basket.

In the end, after the two sides were very involved in the game, after halftime, the Magic played at home with:

51:39

Leading the Bulls by as much as 12 points ended the contest between the two sides in the first half.

After halftime, on the Bulls side, head coach De Nagro led the players back to the locker room.

But even though the team is currently lagging behind, there is not much disappointment on De Nagro's face.

Perhaps before this round of the series, this elegant middle-aged man had already foreseen the outcome of this round of the series.

Since there is no expectation, then naturally there will be no disappointment...

Therefore, compared with the final result of this round of the series, De Nagro seems to be more concerned about the game experience players can gain in the playoffs and their personal health.

In De Nagro's own words, competitive sports are so cruel. Since there can only be one winner in the end, even if he loses, he hopes that in this round of the series, he can lead the players to gain the respect and recognition of the opponent...

Although it is said that wherever the sun falls, there is hope, but for Denagro, the sun..., I am afraid that it will rise from...

　I have been vomiting and diarrhea today. After eating Huoxiang Zhengqi, it really killed me. Let’s start this chapter in the early morning.

　　Tomorrow we will start to update more than [-] words, let me plan and prepare.

　　Huh, it’s been a long time since there’s been an update, and I’m still a little nervous, haha.

　　

　

(End of this chapter)