From today on is the king

Chapter 640 639. McGrady's Challenge

The entire basketball world was in shock about the Nets forming a "Big Three," but life went on as usual, and the Hawks' season continued.

The Eagles ushered in the first back-to-back game against the Bucks at home.

The Bucks have become opponents that the top four in the Eastern Conference do not want to meet in the first round this year, mainly because of Reid and TJ Ford. Except for the Pistons with Hamilton and the Eagles with Liu Mang, the other two teams in the Eastern Conference are very afraid of TJ Ford.

In this game, Stockton was mentioned in the starting position, starting with Prince, Raheem, Boozer, and Ratliff.

The Bucks are doing very well this year. After Reid became the absolute core, he led the Bucks to play better and better. They have returned to the top eight in the East, surpassing the record of the Hornets.

The lineup sent by the Bucks is TJ-Ford, Reed, Desmond Mason, Van Horn, who is about to be dissatisfied with his girlfriend, and Joe Smith, who got the most tragic No. [-] pick last summer.

At the beginning of the game, Stockton had a tragedy on the defensive end. He was passed by TJ-Ford in a row. TJ-Ford's speed is really nothing to say, and his coping ability is not very good. He relies on his own threat to break through and score.

Reid fully demonstrated his catch-and-shoot ability. When TJ-Ford disrupted the defense and Raheem was forced to cover the defense, he and Desmond Mason's off-ball pick-and-roll to get rid of Prince's defensive catch-and-shoot was a steady beep.

Today, Liu Mang and Rasheed Wallace are not here, the defensive combination of the fastest opponent on the outside is gone, and the best defensive master on the inside is gone. The Eagles' defense in the starting stage has a big problem.

TJ-Ford's speed cannot be defended by one person. Almost all teams can only use team defense to prevent him from scoring against this rookie. This makes TJ-Ford average close to 7 assists on the field by breaking through points under normal organizational skills. Let alone the old Stockton, even when he was young, he may not be able to defend against this player who may be the fastest player in the league.

However, although Stockton failed to guard TJ-Ford, he responded offensively.

Liu Mang couldn’t play in the last two games. Of course he has to take on more important tasks. The cooperation between Boozer and Boozer seems to be a reappearance of the double evil. Boozer showed a strong desire to attack at the beginning. +5 hit rate.

Boozer's offensive strength is not much worse than that of Rasheed Wallace when he was in the West, but the team needs defenders. He did not complain about his role and is willing to support the second team with Stockton. But he is definitely one of the best power forwards in the East!

The Hawks also relied on Boozer's consecutive cuts to the basket to attract flanking attacks. Raheem and Prince got a lot of easy shots.

The Bucks' new-generation backcourt combination and the Eagles' young and old version of the Shuangsha combination played back and forth.

It's hard work for the leading star these years. In the starting stage, he just had a wave with Stockton and Boozer. When the rotation lineup time was officially suspended in the first quarter, Reed would come up to confront Jason Terry.

It has to be said that Jason Terry's height problem limited his talent at the shooting guard position. Reid, who entered the NBA a year later than Jason Terry, was already better than Jason Terry.

However, every time Jason Terry stands up from the bench, he doesn't have to think too much like Reed, just score!

From the second half of the first quarter to the middle of the second quarter, the Eagles suppressed the Bucks led by Reid after Jason Terry came up. Jason Terry had a combination of Raheem, Boozer and Kwame Brown in the rotation.

After both sides switched back to the starting lineup, the two teams fell into a stalemate again. Stockton rested and came back to lead the team's offense with Boozer, and the Bucks led by the back line composed of TJ-Ford and Reid.

After halftime, the Eagles still maintained a 61-point lead 56 to 5.

The key turning point of the game was in the third quarter. After the intermission, the game continued in the third quarter.

The Eagles once again dispatched the combination of Stockton and Boozer, paired with Jason Terry, Prince, and Ratliff to guard the basket, trying to open the score by relying on positional offense in the third quarter.

But at this time, the head coach of the Bucks made targeted changes. The former Trail Blazers All-Star guard and now the Bucks head coach Terry Porter let the starting lineup play the entire quarter in the third quarter, and has been trying to speed up, consuming Stockton and Ratliff.

If Liu Mang and Rasheed Wallace were there, not many teams in the league would dare to speed up when facing the Hawks.

But Liu Mang and Rasheed Wallace are not here today, and the Bucks’ trick worked. Stockton can maintain his form for 20 minutes in a game, and it is only when the rhythm of the field is controlled by the Eagles. A super dunker with strong physical fitness.

Stockton was soon too tired to run, coach Kruger had to replace him, and Ratliff couldn't hold on in this style of play and was replaced.

Then only Willie Green and Jason Terry were replaced in the backcourt, and Prince, Raheem, and Kwame Brown partnered inside.

The backcourt combination of Willie Green and Jason Terry is really blind. It mainly started from Willie Green. As a "point guard", his assists are outrageous. He also played 30 games for the Eagles, with a total of 15 assists...

Willie Green came up with the ball and did it, and then the Eagles' offense became Willie Green, Jason Terry, and Raheem. You play one, and I take turns.

Jason Terry is the wildest gun, Raheem is the most stable gun, and Willie Green, as a rookie, it's good to be confident, but he doesn't have that ability.

In this trio, Jason Terry plays the role of Liu Mang. Although it has been weakened a bit, it is still sufficient. Raheem is still the one who can consistently score five or six points in every quarter of every game as long as he concentrates on the offensive end.

There is no problem with these two points. The biggest problem is that Willie Green, who plays Jason Terry's position, has become a part of the collapse of the Eagles.

Jason Terry broke out in this game. He played 37 minutes and scored 33 points on 16 of 41 shots. But in the second half of the fourth quarter, he couldn't shoot anymore. He didn't know how Liu Mang threw more than 40 throws in a game.

On Raheem's side, after losing weight, it is more difficult to get inside. Relying on air cuts and mid-range singles, he also scored 20 points and 14 rebounds, but it did not play a role in deciding the victory.

The Bucks scored in double figures with 6 players. TJ-Ford scored 17 points and 15 assists in the contest against Stockton relying on his youthfulness. Reed soared without Liu Mang and also scored 40 points. He made 28 of 17 shots in the game. No one could guard him.

In the end, the Hawks were reversed by Reid and the Bucks led by TJ-Ford, who may be faster than Iverson, to open the score. The Hawks lost to the Bucks 103 to 110, and their six-game winning streak came to an end.

……

For the Eagles, after the brawl, the most difficult thing was not that the core player Liu Mang was suspended, but that the two suspensions were back-to-back.

If the Bucks defeated the Eagles by relying on the team basketball led by Reed and TJ-Ford, the next game against the Magic will face a real superstar.

Although the Magic has a bad record, with Tracy McGrady, they will always be an opponent that cannot be ignored. After Rivers was fired, the Magic's record is still difficult. It is only 6 wins and 28 losses, but it has started to win anyway.

Maybe McGrady has no motivation to play against other teams in this situation. He is not a particularly motivated person, but McGrady is very excited every time he plays against the Eagles!
After less than 24 hours of rest after the Eagles and Bucks fought to the last minute, they immediately ushered in back-to-back home games against the Magic.

Stockton was so tired yesterday that he can only rest in rotation today. It is too difficult to defend against TJ-Ford.

As a result, the Eagles could only put Jason Terry in the starting position.

Maybe it’s because I’m used to playing as a substitute. It’s hard to get comfortable with McGrady’s defense when I come up. McGrady’s defense is so overwhelming. Today, McGrady’s side played against the Eagles and completely exploded. He scored 11 points, 3 rebounds and 4 assists in the first quarter, and revitalized the Magic team.

As for the Eagles, Jason Terry was defended by Tracy McGrady. Although Raheem scored 10 points in a single quarter, he only scored 9 of 3 points. It was all 10 points in a single quarter that he slammed into Juwan Howard with his body.

Liu Mang was suspended, Stockton couldn't play, Calderon Taicai, and Willie Green were 14 of 4 yesterday, which means that there is no usable point guard. Jason Terry is really not good at organizing offense, and he can't play in pick-and-roll.

In the first quarter, the Eagles were beaten 27 to 17 by the Magic, trailing by 10 points in a single quarter.

之后麦迪开始了得分和助攻的表演秀，前三节拿到20分8板12助攻，带领魔术队三节领先老鹰队14分，魔术队83比69大比分领先。

In the fourth quarter, Jason Terry and Raheem still wanted to try to make a comeback, but McGrady seemed to want to score to meet the Hawks again two days later. He wanted to stimulate Liu Mang by scoring. In the fourth quarter, he scored 15 points, 4 rebounds and 1 assist in a row, opening the point difference to 22 points in one fell swoop. The Magic led the Hawks 100 to 78.

After McGrady played the first three quarters, he continued to run wild in the fourth quarter, and has already scored a large triple-double of 35 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists.

The Eagles were completely out of luck. Liu Mang, Stockton, and Rasheed Wallace were all three passers. They were overthrown by McGrady, who ran away. Coach Kruger had to replace the main players and announced his surrender.

This is the first time for the Eagles this season!
In the end, the Eagles were slaughtered by the Magic 92 to 115.

After two consecutive losses, the record fell to 27 wins and 7 losses.

Liu Mang could only watch the game at home for two consecutive days. He also saw the efforts of his teammates, but it is true that this lineup was built for him. Without him, it was okay to have Stockton in the first game. When it came to playing against the Magic, it was completely scattered.

Seeing that after the game, his players could only go back to the locker room with a livid face, Liu Mang felt very uncomfortable, it was all his fault!

Maddie...

Liu Mang watched Time Warner's live TV broadcasts in Georgia and Florida. McGrady was invited to participate in the post-match news interview after scoring a large triple-double and leading the Magic to beat his own team.

McGrady has a rare high fighting spirit this season. He said in an interview: "I just checked and it seems that my scoring average has returned to 29.3 points per game. Like Ace, it happens that Ace will come back in the next game. We will continue to play against the Eagles in the next game. I really want to see whether I am stronger or Ace is stronger. This game should be regarded as welcoming Ace's comeback!"

Liu Mang didn't expect that he was still struggling with how to announce the competition for the scoring champion after two consecutive losses. He didn't expect that McGrady would challenge him first!
(End of this chapter)