From today on is the king

Chapter 1568 1567. Unexpected game progress

What's more troublesome than imagined is that the players on the Magic team know the Eagles very well!
In other words, in terms of pertinence, the Eagles have focused on Lake Rima, the top three in the West, from the beginning of the season.

And the Magic have always regarded the Eagles as their biggest rival, or...other teams in the East consider the playoffs based on meeting the Eagles as the end point.

All the Eastern Conference playoff teams regard the Hawks as the ultimate imaginary enemy, especially the Magic.

These teams have thought about a lot of tactics against the Eagles, but they may not be able to use them when they encounter other teams, they may not have used them, or they may have used them very rarely. When the Eagles studied them, they did not know that they had such tactics.

The Magic are the kind of opponents who are capable and prepared.

But the Eagles' offense, the Magic also had no good solution, Liu Mang made a 4-of-3 mid-range shot.

Although they are behind by 4 points, the Magic have to attack first, and the Eagles are not at a big disadvantage... But in the first game of the series, Coach Kruger does not want to slowly catch up with a backward attitude.
Rondo's fight against Howard is really tough. Howard is one of the few insiders who can make Rondo's average shooting percentage lower than 40.00% in four games in the regular season this season. Rondo's best inside footsteps, Howard just restrained this.

In the first half, if Liu Mang hadn’t scored 4 points on 3-for-6 from mid-range, and passed a ball to McGrady and Kwame Brown, the point difference might have been huge. Howard was inside, and Nelson ignored Rondo after Rondo passed the ball.

"That tactic hasn't worked for a long time, the Eastern Conference finals... let's try it first!"

……

Back from the timeout, the Eagles attack.

The Eagles sent Liu Mang, Wade, Tracy McGrady, Marion, and Kwame Brown.

The Magic currently have no plans to make substitutions. Nelson scored a good three-pointer today and will continue to be left on the field. The top five starters will continue to challenge.

"What happened to them?"

Raheem feels a little bad!
Seeing the eagerness of the opponent's five players to enter the field, although Rahim didn't know what the opponent was going to do, it must be that guy had a strange idea again!
Calling his teammates to be careful not to be careless, Raheem received a step outside the three-second zone, ready to help Howard defend the basket and help other teammates defend the mid-range.

Raheem + Howard is the best defensive inside combination in the league. The circle around the three-second zone is their defensive coverage area.But... the Eagles came back from a timeout and played quite well in this offense. Wade used McGrady to pick and roll and pass back to McGrady who was disassembled. McGrady missed a mid-range jumper.

Howard used Raheem to block Liu Mang, received the defensive rebound and passed it to Raheem.

"Am I thinking too much?"

Raheem passed the ball to Nelson, which was a bit odd.

"Um...ha..."

At this time, there were continuous exclamations!

Raheem turned his head and saw that Liu Mang smashed the ball into the basket with one hand!

Just now, after Raheem passed the ball, when Nelson was about to catch the ball, McGrady rushed up and pressed the audience. Nelson was startled.
It's true that Marion and Kwame Brown retreated, but none of the outside trio retreated. The Magic didn't expect this at all, leaving only Raheem and Nelson to push forward in the backcourt, and they were directly intercepted by the backcourt!
All this happened in just over two seconds, not to mention Raheem, Nelson, who was surrounded by McGrady and Wade, didn't know what happened, the ball was gone, and he was sitting on the floor with McGrady!

Marion, who was the fastest to retreat from the others, had just retreated past the center line, and the offense here was over!
Just in time, Marion and Kwame Brown continued to retreat.

Liu Mang and Wade went to pull McGrady up. The three of them really retreated this time. Seeing the bewildered expressions of the Magic players, the commoner five of the Eagles felt really good!

The score became 15 to 17, with a difference of two points, and the Magic players were a little confused...

"What happened?"

……

It didn't take long for the Magic to figure out what the Hawks were up to.

Liu Mang, Wade, and Tracy McGrady, the three major defenders, formed a meat grinder defense on the outside!
No matter who has the ball, their choice is to use the closest one to press and defend.

Very simple, very direct, very rough defense, but it is such a simple, direct and rough defense, quite unsolvable!

The three outside lines have confrontation, speed, and strong defensive ability!
McGrady, who has the weakest defense, has also been selected for the second defense and focuses on defense. Even for Carter, it is very difficult to get rid of these three one-on-one.

It is difficult for others to control the ball or even advance!

Playing a pick-and-roll is even more unreliable. Howard's pick-and-roll is equivalent to sending his teammates into a double-team, and he is still being flanked without a passing angle. The Magic can't help it. Howard has no talent for pick-and-rolls.

Raheem goes to the pick and roll... Marion switches guards and it doesn't make a difference.

The Eagles' style of play is very clear, allowing opponents to see their tactics at a glance, but you just can't deal with it!

This time the Magic players confirmed that Wade is really back to health. This guy who played 234 minutes per game, scored a dozen points, three or four rebounds and two or three assists is the defensive core of the Eagles' lineup!

Four of the five players in this lineup of the Eagles are hardworking, active and selfless... The key is that they are all very strong defensively!To say that there is only one Dubi, the kind that throws nothing at all when counterattacking...

But that guy is a four-time MVP and a four-time Finals MVP!

10 is better than 2!

老鹰队在第一个官方暂停回来后，打了一波10比2！一下子将比分打成了23比19，从落后4分到反超4分！
From McGrady's steal, Wade's pass, and Liu Mang's first meat grinder defensive counterattack for a dunk, the Magic were in a daze. Except for Howard's dunk and two points, no one else scored. In two and a half minutes, the Magic only scored two points!
Magic coach Skiles didn't even realize it, and didn't remember to call a timeout until he was behind by 4 points.

"This is a bit too strong!" Cara's group looked at the opponent's civilian five, and felt that things were a bit beyond their imagination: "Could it be that they didn't use their full strength to fight the Bulls?"

……

Of course the Eagles tried their best against the Bulls, but the Bulls are not suitable for civilian tactics. Garnett and Ben Wallace are good pick-and-roll players.

However, although the Eagles were not as clear as the Magic in the first half of the game because of their preparations, they also found some places that could be used.

Outside the Magic, except for Carter, the other two have no advantage against Liu Mang, Wade, or McGrady!

The problem with this tactic is that it consumes a lot of energy, it is useless to play against the Nets, and it is not useful to play against the Bulls... When it came to the Magic, they became the first opponent the Eagles used this tactic in the playoffs...

Liu Wei didn't expect that the opponent would have the illusion that "the opponent didn't use all his strength before".

This did not affect the fighting spirit and hard work of the Magic. Liu Mang didn't know that the other party thought so, but it still had some impact on the game.

After returning from another long timeout, the Magic played even harder!

Originally, at least in the first half, the head coaches of the two teams were going to test each other's strength, but coach Kruger wanted to try "civilian tactics" on a whim, which made the players on the Magic team feel deeply threatened and directly brought the rhythm of the game into a decisive battle state!
The Eagles were also inexplicably involved in a decisive battle...

In the second quarter, the confrontation was played like the fourth quarter, and hand-to-hand combat and confrontation began.

上半场打完，老鹰队从首节30比23领先7分，到半场打完只以51比43领先8分！第二节两队的进攻效率都奇低！
……

At halftime, the Eagles locker room was full of complaints.

"Is the Magic crazy? They started playing like this in the first quarter? Did he think they were the Bulls?" Jason Terry, who went up to play 7 for 4 in 0 minutes, complained.

As Jason Terry said, in the long 48 minutes of the game, if the difference in strength between the two sides is not large, making one or two good goals and making one or two good defenses will have little impact on the overall situation.

Except for the defensive-oriented teams like the Bulls, most teams are testing their opponents in the first half or even the first three quarters of the game, thinking of a tactic that is most suitable for defeating the opponent to play at critical moments, just like the series between the Jazz and the Lakers.

The reason why the Bulls and the previous Spurs and Pistons caused headaches for opponents is because of this.

Coach Kruger heard the complaints from the players. He didn't know why the opponent had entered the decisive battle ahead of time, but this was obviously beneficial to the Eagles!
The Magic use Carter as the core of ball possession to advance the organization's offense with the ball and avoid the oppressive defense on the outside of the Eagles. For Carter, the task has increased and the consumption has become greater.

The most important thing is that the Magic started to fight defensively. It seems that they have forgotten the core style of play with two towers and three shots, which is definitely a bigger burden for their main players.

Since the opponent dug a hole for himself, Coach Kruger saw that the opponent had already jumped in, so of course he had to help the opponent cover it with a shovel of soil!
(End of this chapter)