NBA: I am the god of basketball

Chapter 187 Howard compromises, three consecutive championships achieved!
The Magic team lost the first game at home, which broke a big upset, because this is the first time the Magic team has lost the first game of the series while sitting at home in recent years.

However, fans in Orlando at this time generally believed that the Magic just underestimated the enemy. After all, before the start of the playoffs, the Mavericks were not even the third favorite to win the championship in the Western Conference. Down.

Even though the Mavericks are already on the stage of the finals, not many people think that they really have the strength of the finals, it's just luck.

In fact, after the Eastern Conference Finals, the fans in Orlando had already started to celebrate the championship in advance. In their view, the entire team is currently only the Mavericks, whose star Dirk Nowitzki is still considered a star. They have no chance of fighting the Magic. Even with an upset loss in the first game, the Magic can quickly end the series.

However, it was not the same as imagined. In the second game two days later, the Magic lost again, losing two home games and trailing 0:2.

Not to mention the fans in Orlando, the media of the entire league was also dumbfounded.

What's happening here?
Although the scores of the two games were relatively close, and the process of the game seemed very stalemate, but the Magic failed to seize the opportunity to win the game for two consecutive games, the situation is really weird.

However, there are still some more careful media who discovered the difference between the Magic during the finals and the previous games.

The main problem lies with Howard.

In the two games the Magic lost, Howard's offensive desire was very strong, and he frequently took the initiative to ask for the ball in low-post singles. He almost returned to the state at the beginning of the regular season, and even worsened.

In these two games, Howard's personal statistics are very luxurious, with 29 points and 13 rebounds in one game and 33 points and 11 rebounds in one game. The statistics are almost close to Wang Chao's, but his efficiency is obviously not good.

The Mavericks are not the opponents of the Eastern Conference Finals, the Heat. They don't have a player who can support the defense inside. They have two centers, Tyson Chandler and Brandon Haywood inside!
Tyson Chandler is 2 meters tall and weighs 16 kilograms. Although his weight is slightly lighter than Howard's, his height is much higher than Howard's. As a well-known frame protector in the league, Tyson Chandler's career Although the average data per game is not obvious, he will also win the DPOY award for the best defensive player in the future. He has outstanding ability and experience in protecting the inside line.

As for the Mavericks' backup center Brandon Haywood, he is 2 meters tall and weighs 13 kilograms. He is a standard heavy blue-collar center.

Two big centers took turns serving Howard in the interior, which greatly weakened Howard's offensive efficiency. Although he averaged 30+ points per game in these two games, his shooting percentage was only about 48%.

A shooting percentage of 48% is a pretty good number for an outside player, but for an inside center, especially a center like Howard who has a shooting percentage close to 60% during the regular season, it is obviously inefficient. .

What's more terrible is Howard's free throws, which only hit 54%, and the number of free throws in the two games exceeded 15 times, which greatly dragged down the Magic's offensive rhythm.

Anyone can see that Howard's purpose of doing this is that he wants to compete with Wang Chao for the FMVP of the finals.

In the first two years of the finals, Howard honestly did his own job well, and made the Magic's inside line solid, as the Magic's strongest shield, helping the team win every game.

But in those two championships, the FMVP of the final finals was awarded to Wang Chao, who had even more gorgeous statistics.

Howard obviously wants to win an FMVP this year, and doesn't want to become Wang Chao's vassal and foil again.

But when Howard's playing style became different from him, the entire tactical system of the Magic was affected, and the offensive rhythm became slow and inefficient as a result. The offensive scoring ability has reached the point where it will not be affected by such a small problem. In these two games, he can also score 30+ points per game, and his shooting percentage is even slightly higher than Howard.

The problem facing the Magic is that after Howard put a lot of energy on the offensive end, the investment on the defensive end was greatly reduced, which led to the collapse of the entire defensive system of the Magic.

In the past two years, the reason why the Magic have been so strong and defeated the Lakers and Celtics one after another is because of the perfect fit between Wang Chao and Howard. Wang Chao is responsible for scoring and passing the ball, and takes responsibility for the Magic's offensive end. , Howard is responsible for the defense, building the top defensive system in the Magic league.

But now, this balance has been broken, and the opponent is still underestimated by everyone. In fact, the Mavericks, whose real strength is very outstanding, were caught off guard, and the Magic naturally capsized in the gutter, losing two games in a row.
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After losing two home games, the entire Magic team panicked.

Everyone actually knows the main reason for the team's loss, but this problem is not so easy to solve.

It is very simple to solve the problem. Howard must return to his blue-collar status, give up offensive scoring, and return his focus to defense.

Coach Van Gundy has already discovered the problem and talked with Howard after two games, hoping that Howard can give up the current style of play for the team's victory.

Howard, however, flatly refused.

He had had enough of always being a foil by Wang Chao's side, especially when Wang Chao won the regular season MVP for the second time this year, which deeply hurt Howard's nerves. Before he knew it, Wang Chao had become Orlando, He has become synonymous with the Magic, but he was selected by the Magic as the No. [-] pick and spent his entire career here, but he is increasingly underestimated.

Whenever the game is over, the reporters flock to Wang Chao for the first time.

This strong sense of gap made Howard very dissatisfied.

He wants more honors to prove that he is no less important to Orlando than Wang Chao, and even more important.

Therefore, Howard attaches great importance to this finals FMVP, and has almost reached the level of paranoia and madness. No matter who tells him, it will not work.

June 6, the day before the third game of the finals.

The players of the Magic team flew from Orlando to Dallas one day in advance, and stayed in a local hotel to recharge their batteries and prepare for the third game.

For this crucial battle, all members of the Magic team are very serious. After all, if they lose another game, the score will reach 3:0, and then there is really no way to recover!

Under such circumstances, even Howard, who is naturally playful, rarely went to a local nightclub in Dallas to play with girls, but rested in a hotel.

In the evening, there was a knock on the door of Howard's room. Wang Chao pushed the door open, looked at Howard, and said straightforwardly, "Dwight, I want to chat with you."
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Sitting on the sofa, Wang Chao looked at Howard, who had a calm expression and seemed unusually quiet, and who was silent, he sighed and opened his mouth.

"I want to make sure first, are we still best brothers?"

Howard was startled, looked up at Wang Chao, hesitated for a moment, nodded and said, "Of course, we will always be best brothers and best partners."

From the beginning to the end, Howard did not have any conflicts with Wang Chao. He just wanted to prove his strength to the outside media and Orlando fans, and to prove that he was also the ace of the Magic.

The existence of Wang Chao has affected Howard's status in the Magic, but he also knows that it is not Wang Chao's fault. It is because of Wang Chao that the Magic have won two championships in the past three years, and now Launch an impact towards the third championship.

Hearing Howard's answer, Wang Chao couldn't help smiling.

He actually knows the answer, because although he and Howard have basically not had much pick-and-roll cooperation in the last few games, even if there are a handful of pick-and-roll cooperation, his talent and skills are still the best partner.

This also means that the relationship between Wang Chao and Howard is still above 60.

Until now, there are only five or six players whose relationship between the entire Magic and Wang Chao can activate the best partner. This is enough to prove that the relationship between Howard and him has not deteriorated to the level of incompatibility with Kobe.

"Do you still remember when I first joined the Magic, you took the initiative to call me, and went to New York to train with me, and then dragged me to a nightclub?"

Wang Chao asked.

It's okay not to mention this, but Howard will be very angry when it is mentioned.

"Of course I remember, how could I not remember? M.D. boy's shit luck is too good!" Howard said angrily: "So many supermodels, but the two you selected have become the top supermodels of Victoria's Secret In the past two years, their popularity has continued to rise and they have become top figures in the modeling industry! Don’t think I didn’t see it, they went to the Amway Arena to cheer you on in the first two finals, right? It’s your fault, it must have been so much fun that your legs are weak!”

Listening to Howard's mother-in-law's endless complaints, Wang Chao smiled knowingly, and suddenly said.

"Dwight, I'm leaving Orlando."

Howard's voice stopped abruptly, and he looked at Wang Chao blankly.

"Wang, what did you just say?"

"After this season is over, I'm going to jump out of the contract, choose to leave Orlando, and join another team." Wang Chao said seriously.

"Leave Orlando? Why? Is it because of my performance in these two games?" Howard couldn't help but stood up and looked at Wang Chao in confusion. "We are the best partners. As long as the two of us work together, we can create a dynasty belonging to the Magic like Jordan Pippen, and even surpass them!"

Wang Chao shook his head slightly and sighed: "Things are impermanent. In the past four years, you and I have different ideas and new goals and pursuits, but I can tell you clearly that I am planning to leave Orlando not because of your wishes." The reason, I don’t need to feel guilty about it, it’s just that in the last finals before I leave, I don’t want to leave any regrets, win this championship, achieve three consecutive championships, and let the super magic combination be like the OK combination , become the most talked about top partner combination in history, how about it?"

With that said, Wang Chao also stood up and stretched out his hand towards Howard.

Looking at Wang Chao's outstretched palm, Howard, without thinking, gave Wang Chao a high-five with a "snap!"

"Brother, let us work together to defeat our opponents and win the championship!"
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"Wang Chao and Howard cooperated in the pick-and-roll. After the pick-and-roll covered, Wang Chao made a quick shot from outside the three-point line! The three-pointer was hit! The Mavericks called a timeout!"

"We're back! They're all back. This is the Orlando Magic team we're familiar with. This is the super-magic team with perfect coordination!"

"With Wang Chao and Howard's frequent pick-and-roll cooperation, the Mavericks' defensive system was torn to pieces, because neither Tyson Chandler nor Brandon Haywood inside had the ability to keep up with Howard's speed."

"This game has completely lost its suspense. The Magic team successfully pulled back a victory at the Dallas Mavericks' home court, chasing the big score to 2:1, and continue to retain hope! As long as the Magic team can go all out to make another victory in the next game, the two teams The score will return to the same starting line, and the Magic, which has home court advantage, will have a high probability of winning the final victory!"

In the CCTV sports studio, Director Yu and Director Zhang were explaining excitedly.

The first two games really made both of them sweat for Wang Chao. After all, the Magic seems to be in a bad situation. Maybe it is really possible to be caught off guard by the Mavericks and miss the chance for the third consecutive championship.

Fortunately, they finally adjusted back in the third game. To be precise, Howard took the initiative to make a change. He no longer insisted on frequent singles with the ball in the game, but returned to the best play mode in the past. , The defensive end defends with all its heart, and the offensive end frequently uses its own mobility advantage to pull to the outside to cover for teammates in pick-and-rolls, willing to be green leaves.

Such a change has directly revitalized the entire tactical system of the Magic.

整场比赛，王超砍下37分7篮板11助攻，霍华德则有18分17篮板6封盖。

Under Howard's surge in defensive intensity, the Mavericks' collective feeling declined, including Nowitzki's feeling of losing in front of Howard. He made 19 of 6 shots and only shot 31.6% from the field. He scored 17 points and 8 rebounds.

Although it is not clear why Howard suddenly changed his mind, voluntarily gave up competing for FMVP, and took the team's victory as the primary goal, but such a change is indeed crucial for the Magic.

Two days later, in Game 6 of the Finals on June 7, the Magic won again at home to the Dallas Mavericks.

这场比赛霍华德再砍20分21篮板5封盖的豪华数据，配合三分球15中8狂砍42分的王超，魔术队116：103再度击败小牛队，顽强的将比分扳平至2:2。

The strength of the Mavericks is indeed very strong, the structure of the starting lineup and the bench lineup is reasonable, and the presence of Nowitzki is a powerful weapon, but in terms of pure strength, they are indeed not the strongest in the 10-11 season, let alone the Magic. Even the strength of the Heat is not necessarily weaker than the Mavericks.

According to the original historical process, when the Heat and the Mavericks met in the finals, the Heat had the upper hand at the beginning. After three games, the Heat took a 2:1 lead. Make a coughing gesture to mock Nuo Tianwang.

I never thought that as soon as the ridicule was over, Nowitzki led his team to three cities in a row and took away the game in one wave.

The next three games are the three games in which James stretched his hips the most. Assuming James' performance is normal, even if James' explosive state is not counted in the playoffs, only based on the data of 27+7+7 per game during the regular season, It is also very difficult for the Heat to lose to the Mavericks.

Of course, there are not so many ifs in the game. It is an indisputable fact that the Heat lost the finals because of James' hip pull.

But when the Mavericks encounter the Magic team that has returned to normal play and all members are playing normally, it is only natural that they will continue to lose because of the gap in strength.

As the league's top scorer, Nowitzki's scoring ability is beyond doubt, but compared with the current Wang Chao, it is obviously still slightly inferior.

Howard's inside defense, whether it is the ability to protect the rim at the basket or the ability to assist defense and supplement defense, is definitely ahead of Tyson Chandler.

Even the substitute lineup, Mavericks sixth man Jason Terry faced Jamal Crawford, who also has the attributes of a nerve knife, and he was obviously at a disadvantage because of the height difference.

As for the rest of the Mavericks... Kidd is old and slow, and there is nothing worth mentioning except for using the pass to connect the team. His proud strength is not in the face of Nelson who is also known for strength what use.

Jose Barea was completely overwhelmed by Wang Chao on both offensive and defensive ends, and there was no way to reproduce the original historical highlight scene of James who wanted to single-handedly attack him.

The gap in overall strength made the whole process of the fifth game of the Finals back to the Magic's home court undisturbed. From the beginning to the end of the game, the Magic was always in the lead and did not give the Mavericks any chance to counterattack.

The score was 3:2. After losing two games at the beginning, the Magic rallied to catch up and pulled three games in a row, taking the lead to win the match point.

On June 6, the Mavericks who returned to Dallas still wanted to win the sixth game, tie the score to 12:3, and then compete with the Magic in the tiebreaker, but the Magic did not give the Mavericks this opportunity. Same as always, in the sixth game, Wang Chao and Howard both broke out again, one scored a large triple-double with 3 points, 39 rebounds and 10 assists, and the other scored 13 points, 26 rebounds and 16 blocks.

The super magic combination scored 65 points, 26 rebounds, 15 assists and 10 blocks, completely dominating both offense and defense.

As for the Mavericks, although Nowitzki scored a team-high 31 points and 11 rebounds, except for him, only Terry scored 20 points and Sean Marion scored 15 points. pair.

Wang Chao and Howard teamed up to lead the Magic to defeat the Dallas Mavericks 105:95 and beat the opponent 4:2 in total. They won the NBA championship for the third consecutive year and officially achieved the three consecutive championships. The new three-peat dynasty team!
(End of this chapter)