The convulsion superstar of basketball

Chapter 349 348. The Unique "Blue Devil"

As the game is about to start, the two sides announced the starting lineup for the game respectively.

Magic:

Su Jiu, Iverson, Carter, Marion, and Howard.

Cavaliers:

Mo Williams, Anthony Parker, James, Jamario Moon, and "Shark" O'Neal.

In this game, Mike Brown did not use the inside twin towers as before at the starting power forward position, but instead used Moon, who is [-] meters tall.

Because in the last preseason match between the two sides, the loss of the Cavaliers at that time was already sufficient proof to Brown.

Although the twin-tower lineup can cause more interference to Howard in the penalty area, it is equivalent to cutting off his own arm on the offensive end.

Since the shooting threats of "Sharks" O'Neal and Hickson are basically negligible, on the offensive end, the entire Cavaliers cannot open up space for LeBron James.

Everyone's positions are particularly crowded, which greatly increases the difficulty for James to break through to the inside.

Originally, when the Magic's insider sits in "Warcraft" Howard, LeBron James' breakthrough will be greatly restricted.

If the Cavaliers' formation on the offensive end can't open up space for LeBron James as much as possible, then James will become very uncomfortable on the court.

In addition, the reason why James can become the best player in the league today is not only because of his strong personal breakthrough ability, but also has an inseparable relationship with his excellent overall view.

In this case, the Cavaliers' formation can only be stretched and spread as much as possible, so that James can give full play to his full advantages on the court.

Conversely, if all the players of the Cavaliers are crowded inside, then LeBron James, whose long-range shooting ability is already lacking, may be greatly reduced.

So after experiencing the disastrous defeat in the preseason, Mike Brown realized this very deeply.

Although the most standard lineup in the current league is the Twin Towers, it is obviously not that effective for the Cavaliers.

Compared with JJ Hickson, Moon, who served as the starting power forward in this game, has the ability to shoot from the outside.

Although the three-point shooting rate is not very high, at least it can open up space for LeBron James from the field, so as not to become a drag on the offensive end.

And at the same time, Moon's personal defensive ability is also very good. In a sense, he is more like a weakened version of Marion.

毕竟上个赛季在转投骑士队之前，穆恩场均还能够贡献出7.1分4.2篮板1.1助攻1抢断以及0.8次封盖的全面数据。

As for the Magic, they still put on their regular lineup in this game.

Even Vince Carter's personal performance in the first few games did not meet the expectations of the fans.

But in the words of Stan Van Gundy, Vince Carter must be an All-Star player, so all he needs is time to adjust.

After the game started, Howard was the first to get the ball for the Magic. After all, when Warcraft and O'Neal stood in the middle circle for a jump ball, this point was basically beyond doubt.

Throughout the first quarter, the Magic still played according to their own routine, without much change.

And after experiencing the cooperation in the first few games of the regular season, when Carter stood at a high position and held the ball as a ball holder, he was already able to form a tacit cooperation with Su Jiu who was off the ball.

Although he still can't reach the ball like Su Jiu and Turkoglu, at the very least, when he sees Su Jiu's pace after using the off-ball pick-and-roll, Carter can subconsciously understand Su Jiu's offensive intentions.

In addition, this can be regarded as the first match between the Magic and the Cavaliers this season.

And in this game, "Shark" O'Neal finally showed his full strength and played a personal defense against Howard in the low post.

In fact, when "Shark" O'Neal was in the penalty area, Howard's post-up singles efficiency was indeed limited.

Even though O'Neal has entered the twilight years of his career at this time, his weight has reached the top level of the league.

In addition, the strength of the lower body has always been a disadvantage of Howard, so this also makes it difficult for Howard with his back to touch the "big shark" O'Neal in the penalty area.

After all, Howard's offensive goals are basically forced dunks after squeezing the opponent away.

His skills on the offensive end can be said to be very few, so players like O'Neal undoubtedly increased Howard's difficulty on the offensive end.

But the good news is that Howard still has a lot of personal advantages compared to O'Neal in his later years.

Among them, the most obvious is the speed of movement and reflexes.

And these two points can ensure that when Howard and his teammates play in high positions, O'Neal's reaction ability becomes his major weakness.

And for rebounds, O'Neal is also at a disadvantage.

Even though the two are about the same height, Howard's jumping ability and speed are obviously higher than O'Neal's by more than one grade at this time.

This also caused Howard to occupy more advantages in rebounding, and when many fans saw this scene, they had to sigh:

"The years really make people old!!"

Throughout the first quarter, the Magic's performance was still relatively stable, and they played at their own pace on both ends of the offense and defense, without any interference from the Cavaliers.

On the other hand, for the Cavaliers, as Mike Brown voluntarily abandoned the Twin Towers lineup and placed Moon as the starting power forward, this really improved the Cavaliers' offensive dilemma.

Help LeBron James open up more space, which greatly improves the team's own offensive fluency.

Even if Moon's playing is to make the Cavaliers' already disadvantaged rebounding even more disadvantaged.

But Mike Brown has grasped the essence of the game with the Magic, that is, he can only use offense to fight the Magic from the front.

Because in terms of defense, no matter how perfect the Cavaliers are, it is impossible to completely lock so many offensive methods of the Magic.

After all, the Magic have too many players with independent offensive ability, defending Howard and Su Jiu, defending Su Jiu and Iverson, defending Iverson and Carter, defending Carter and Lewis.

In this case, the Cavaliers can only kill the Magic through the offensive end, and it is possible to defeat the Magic head-on.

If it is said that in the previous confrontation between the two sides, Mike Brown was thinking about how to let the team limit Su Jiu or Howard's personal performance, comparing himself to a shield.

So in this game, Mike Brown turned himself into a spear, without considering the performance of Su Jiu and Howard on the offensive end.

More focus is on one of their own offensive ends, and they want to use this spear-to-spear approach to fight for a chance in this narrow collision.

I have to say that Mike Brown's change in this game really played a role.

After the end of the first quarter, when most fans were not optimistic before the game, the Cavaliers at home played with:

26:26

The battle with the Magic reached a tie, ending the contest between the two sides in the first quarter.

Throughout the first quarter, the Magic also did not change their personal defense against James, that is, try to push him out of his shooting comfort zone, so that he has to finish at a position away from the basket.

But because the Cavaliers' offensive space is relatively wide, when LeBron James uses the pick-and-roll to break through to the inside, the Magic dare not shrink too deeply.

Otherwise, once the defensive players surround LeBron James, they will miss some opportunities on the outside.

In this case, James can always find the most suitable position for his shot through his excellent ability to read the game.

And while making the shot, he was able to stay away from the interference that Howard brought to him as much as possible.

As for how he did this, it is necessary to attribute this credit to O'Neill.

Although O'Neal is old, his movement speed and personal ability have declined greatly.

But his excellent weight and positioning ability are able to keep Howard behind him as much as possible on the offensive end and make some off-ball screens for James.

Help James get more opportunities to attack the basket.

Regarding this point, Howard often went to the referee to complain in the first half, saying that O'Neal had many off-ball pick-and-rolls and illegal screens.

But for Howard's complaints, the referee on the sidelines was indifferent, obviously not intending to whistle.

After all, everyone knows the weight of "Shark" O'Neal, if he puts all his strength on Howard's body.

So even if Howard wants to jump to defend, he is completely powerless.

I have to say that as a former No. [-] center in the league, although O'Neal is getting old, his personal experience at the basket still makes the rather immature Howard feel extremely uncomfortable.

After the end of the first quarter, Stan Van Gundy was obviously very dissatisfied with the referee's whistle in the first quarter, and communicated with the referee on the sidelines many times.

But no matter how Van Gundy put pressure on the referee, the referee did not give a clear explanation.

Just tell Van Gundy like Tai Chi: "Do your own thing."

Seeing this situation, Van Gundy was obviously a little angry. At the same time, he also knew in his heart that there must be an alliance guild behind this game.

After all, LeBron James is a league superstar that the league wants to launch with all its strength. In this case, the league guild certainly doesn't want James to be too miserable by the Magic.

So in this situation where the Cavaliers are playing at home, if the Cavaliers can win this game, it will definitely be a very important thing.

However, Stan Van Gundy, who knew this well, did not intend to give up. Under extreme anger, he held a tactical board and repeatedly urged the players.

It can be said that Da Fan at this time has completely stagnated with the referee.

Since there are so many fouls on the field and you don't call the penalty, then I will win this game! !

After returning from the second quarter, the two sides replaced the bench lineup to compete. This season, with the Cavaliers' personal reinforcement during the offseason, the Cavaliers' bench firepower in the new season is actually relatively strong.

Among them, on the bench, the Cavaliers also have several players such as Gibson, West, Hickson and Ilgauskas.

Among other things, at least when facing some ordinary playoff teams, this bench lineup can completely help the Cavaliers spend the time when the main players such as LeBron James are off the court.

But it's a pity that the Magic is not an ordinary playoff team.

It is no exaggeration to say that there are only a handful of teams in the entire league that can be better than the Magic in terms of lineup depth.

And this is a modest description.

You know, the Magic are sitting on the bench at the same time this season: Lewis, White Chocolate Williams, Courtney Lee, Brandon Bass, Leon Anderson and other powerful players.

Among them, Lewis was the Eastern Conference All-Star last season.

I am afraid that on the bench in the entire league, there is no player with a bigger wrist than Lewis.

As the two sides began to compete in the second quarter, although the Cavaliers were slightly at a disadvantage, they were not as defeated as people imagined.

It can also be seen from this that the Cavaliers' lineup in the new season is actually quite good.

But even so, Cavaliers coach Mike Brown still feels lingering fear off the court.

Because after the end of the first quarter, the scores of the two sides on the court were tied, which made Mike Brown feel more comfortable.

Because this can also be regarded as a rare moment when the Cavaliers can gain the upper hand in the confrontation between the two teams in the past two seasons.

So when Mike Brown watched the team's advantages being eroded by the Magic bit by bit at this moment, he took advantage of the dead ball stage to take the lead in getting James and other main players back on the court.

It can be said that when the game reaches this stage, Mike Brown can no longer guarantee the players' playing time on the field.

Because what Mike Brown thinks at this time is to win this game! !

Seeing the substitutions and adjustments made by the Cavaliers, Van Gundy at this time did not dare to make any big claims.

After all, not even the referee was on the side of the Magic in this game. Under such circumstances, it was difficult for Van Gundy to remain calm in the true sense.

So after seeing the Cavaliers' substitutions and adjustments, Van Gundy gradually began to bring the main players to the court.

And before going on stage, Van Gundy walked up to Su Jiu and whispered in his ear:

"In this game, the Cavaliers put most of their focus on the offensive end, which also led to the fact that their defense in this game was not very good."

"So after going back for a while, you can do more individual singles with the ball, play some coordination with Dwight in the high position, and let Vince play the role of an off-ball player."

"Don't put too much pressure on me. I just need you to increase your offensive threat. I believe you have also seen that the referee in this game has some deviations in whistle-blowing, so we have to play more brutally."

After hearing Stan Van Gundy's words, Su Jiu also nodded silently.

Because in the entire first quarter, Su Jiu created opportunities for his teammates in most cases, so he didn't make too many shots personally.

And at this moment, when he heard that head coach Van Gundy wanted to increase his offensive threat, Su Jiu naturally knew what to do.

With the return of all the main players of both sides, the two sides launched a very fierce confrontation in the second quarter.

Why is it said to be a very fierce confrontational battle, because even Howard put the focus on the offense that was originally on the defensive end.

Regarding this point, it is really because the referee's penalty is too uncomfortable, and on the field, what is more comfortable to vent personal emotions than to kill the Quartet on the offensive end.

Throughout the second quarter, when Su Jiu came back, facing Mo Williams' personal defense, Su Jiu increased the proportion of ball possession on the offensive end.

He played some pick-and-rolls with Howard in the high position many times, so as to create as many shots as possible through the pick-and-roll.

In order to accommodate the slow moving speed of Shaquille O'Neal, Mike Brown, in this game, the Cavaliers are still defending a zone defense on the defensive end.

But because Mo Williams' personal defensive ability is relatively poor, when Su Jiu attacked Mo Williams at this point in the second quarter, Xiao Mo's situation suddenly became a little embarrassing.

Facing Mo Williams, Su Jiu has a very obvious advantage in height and weight, and with the help of Howard's pick-and-roll for him, he can easily come out and shoot opportunities.

In the end, after halftime, the Magic team in the away game relied on the overall better lineup, after the whistle sounded, to:

56:52

Leading the Cavaliers by 4 points, the contest between the two sides ended in the first half.

Throughout the first half, LeBron James' personal performance can be said to be very good.

在上半场个人出场的21分钟时间里，勒布朗詹姆斯整个人13投8中，其中三分线外3中1，罚球8中6，半场就砍下了23分5篮板以及6次助攻的数据。

The 23 points in the half can be said to be the best game James has played against the Magic in the past two seasons.

For the Magic, Su Jiu, who had been invisible in the first quarter, showed his power after returning in the second half of the second quarter.

In the seven minutes or so of the second half, Su Jiu's personal shots accounted for more than 75% of the team's shots.

整个上半场，苏久一共是出场了18分钟，个人在进攻端12投7中，其中三分线外6中3，罚球2中2，高效贡献出了19分3篮板以及5次助攻。

It can be said that Su Jiu in the new season has become more and more mature. At least compared to last season, Su Jiu's personal stability has improved too much, and his offensive efficiency has started to rise in a straight line.

In these games, the reason why Su Jiu's shooting percentage has been maintained at a high level.

This is not because Su Jiu's shots are getting more accurate, but because in the new season, Su Jiu has become more and more cautious in his shot selection, and his offensive options on the court have also become more diverse.

So in the new season, Su Jiu's offensive efficiency will start to rise in a straight line.

而在本赛季魔术队之前的五场比赛里，苏久场均可以登场33.6分钟，个人可以贡献出22.7分7.1篮板7.6助攻以及1.7次的抢断。

Among them, the personal shooting percentage has reached 57.6%, and the three-point shooting percentage is also 41.2%.

It has to be said that Su Jiu in the new season has undergone a complete transformation. If in last year's finals, someone said that Su Jiu could completely match "Magic" Johnson.

But in the new season, Su Jiu used his personal performance to prove to the fans that there is only one "Blue Devil", and he will never become the second one, because he will also become a unique template! !

(End of this chapter)