After the confession failed, I went to the NBA to play and lose weight

Chapter 65 Anxiety
Facts have proved that in the game against the Cavaliers, Howard's free throws were short-lived.

Today at home, he once again disappointed the fans. He went to the free throw line and made one of two free throws or even missed both free throws.

At the same time on the defensive end, he also began to expose his shortcomings.

In fact, this is also a problem that has been improving year by year since entering the league, but it is easy to forget all when you get anxious, that is, you love to dance too much.

This is also a common problem of these high-quality men. Back then, Camp Yuman's defense was poor because he had a poor sense of love to dance and never changed it. The later Sun's Stoudemire was similar.

As for Howard, he is indeed very strong in guarding the penalty area, but Pierce used his experience and footwork to beat the time difference. Howard's continuous jumping ability is good, but it is difficult to control his body when he is in the air. Pierce, who can no longer interfere with the fiery touch, scored under the basket, and was called a foul.

With less than 3 minutes left in the third quarter, Howard got his fourth foul, and the score between the two teams became 69:77. Van Gundy called a timeout, and then chose to send Li Chengming on the field.

Today Pierce is undoubtedly the most outstanding hero of the Celtics. He is in good condition and has a high offensive efficiency. It was he who started the counterattack wave in the third quarter, although the root cause is still because of Howard's free throws. Attack tempo.

It is an exaggeration to say that Howard is the sixth man of the Green Army, but it is certainly not an exaggeration to say that he is the second hero who helped the Green Army chase points.

And after Li Chengming came on the field, he happened to meet up with Pierce, who was playing the fourth position at this time.

Pierce has always been a second-tier star in the league, a bit of the same kind, but his strength is indeed not weak, and he is positioned as the leader of the fringe team in the playoffs.

The current defensive core of the Celtics is Garnett, Rondo is organized on the offensive end, Ray Allen runs without the ball, and Pierce's task is to occupy the low post and hit back with his big butt.

It just so happens that Garnett can use his good shooting to help open up the space, and it is precisely because these few people fit so well that they have a better chemical effect than imagined.

But if Li Chengming's defensive weakness is in the low post, it really can't be regarded as a weakness. It can even be said that he has always been able to defend against the back.

On the one hand, this is because low-post backs require strength and footwork. In this regard, Li Chengming can be said to be worthy of anyone. On the other hand, it is because he himself is good at various low-post offensive skills, especially the back Physically, he is also very familiar with various footsteps, which gives him the ability to predict on the defensive end.

And naturally, he was able to slightly cover up his weakness of not being quick enough.

Another important reason is that Pierce is really unhappy. According to domestic fans, he is called "grandfather's style of play". It looks slow, but his technical movements are very smooth, and he can adapt to changes. It is hard to guard against. .

To put it bluntly, on the defensive end, Li Chengming is more afraid of runners and jumpers with top physical fitness, but he is a bit incompatible with Pierce, a master of skills.

So Pierce, who faced Lewis and even Howard before, was deflated twice in a row when he encountered Li Chengming.

Jun Zilei's outside line is actually not very accurate today. This league-leading scorer, who is good at shooting and has averaged 20+ per game for nine consecutive seasons, has actually improved his efficiency after coming to the Celtics this season. It's just the number of shots. Decreased.

However, as he gets older, his physical fitness gradually declines. Ray Allen, who was able to perform dunks when he was young, rarely flies into the sky and escapes from the ground, and outside shooting must give up part of his stability. Obviously, he encountered instability today. that side.

But even so, the Magic dare not let go of what may be the greatest and most terrifying three-point marksman in history.

So Bogans was reused today, chasing Ray Allen's footsteps from beginning to end, all kinds of screens and defenses.

The result of this is that Bogans' own touch is also sacrificed, which is no different from Ray Allen.

Today, the Magic's outside shooting is really average. Lewis and Bogans, the main three-point fortresses in the two starters, are not very accurate. Nelson was emptied a few times and missed a hit.

Today, Li Chengming was mainly placed in the low post. In view of the weakness of the opponent's current low post defense, there is no chance for him to play outside shooting.

Relying on Li Chengming's two successful defenses and counterattacks, the Magic finally widened the score gap to 10+ before the end of the third quarter.

The score in three quarters, 78:88!

"DEFEND! DEFEND!"

When the fourth quarter started, Li Chengming came off the court to take a rest. Now Van Gundy also knew that he was not good at playing for a long time on the court and needed to give him a little buffer, so it was best to play for a few minutes in each quarter.

At this time, Howard returned to the field again, but he was fouled by James Posey as soon as he came up to the basket to catch the ball, and then served again in the frontcourt. Howard was stopped by James Posey to prevent him from catching the ball. Warcraft watched Nelson was quite depressed after being interrupted by Tony Allen to break through and hit the iron.

The audience at the scene also shouted in unison and cheered for them when the Magic retreated. To be honest, they only won two of the previous four home games.

Co-authoring the home court has become a disadvantage?
This season, the management has done something to let the fans see that the team is working hard, and the record has indeed improved, and there are both the current core like Howard and the future hope like Li Chengming, so that the fans are very concerned about the home team. The game is more enthusiastic. After these few games, the growth of home ticket sales is quite impressive.

Moreover, Li Chengming also brought the attention of Asians in Florida who met the team's expectations, not to mention the invisible benefits of helping the team develop the Asian market in the future, which also made the team's idea of ​​cultivating Li Chengming more urgent.

It just so happens that his performance is good, Van Gundy naturally doesn't mind cooperating with the team to give him more opportunities.

The audience at the home court also paid more and more attention to Li Chengming's performance, and even had a little bit of the home team's filter for him, because if Li Chengming came on as a substitute now, he would often face the opponent's rotation. The defense is poor, and the opponent will not arrange targeted defense for him.

This naturally makes him perform well at this stage. He often comes up to help the team chase points, and in the perception of fans, he will feel that this rookie is very strong.

Of course, in terms of effect, Li Chengming has indeed achieved the effect that the team and the coach need him to do.

It was like after the start of the fourth quarter, the Magic once again allowed the Celtics to recover some points. Rondo suddenly broke out without warning. First, he made a breakthrough layup after two pick-and-rolls, and then assisted Garnett. Scoring a mid-range shot, the Celtics played a wave of 10:2 within a few minutes, narrowing the point difference to 6 points again.

When Howard of the Magic team was held down because of the opponent's frequent foul tactics, Nelson stood up for the opponent and frequently hit the iron in stark contrast to Rondo.

It is said that Rondo is not good at offense, but the main reason is that his shooting is too poor. In fact, his breakthrough success rate is quite high, because a pair of big hands and extraordinary wingspan allow him to have a strong ability to control the ball on both ends of the offense and defense-passing and steals.

And he doesn't care about statistics. In the Big Three team, he naturally knows that helping them create favorable scoring opportunities is the most important thing.

Van Gundy had no choice but to see this kind of scene. Today, Ray Allen and Garnett's performances are actually relatively average. Garnett can't defend Howard or Li Chengming in the paint. He can only foul. Currently, five fouls can occur at any time The danger of being fined.

The substitute Eddie House is also very bad, but he can't stand the Magic and Nelson helps them, coupled with Howard's inefficient performance at the free throw line.

It can be said that it might have been an easy victory, but it turned out that the two of them have been entangled until now because of their hip stretching.

Howard didn't even grab a few rebounds today, because he frequently encountered fouls, whether it was his own fouls or being violated by others, he had no chance to grab rebounds.

After Van Gundy called a timeout, seeing that there were more than four minutes left in the time, he decisively brought Li Chengming up.

Today, Li Chengming played very well against the Celtics. His personal condition is also good, and he can even make contributions on both offense and defense. At this time, what should be considered is whether to play Howard.

Howard's role on the field today is actually positive. At least he restrained a large part of the opponent's defensive force, especially Garnett and James Posey were both troubled by fouls, which made the Green Army's league's first defensive efficiency reflect poorly. come out.

And if it is Lewis and Li Chengming partnering inside, inside defense is still a problem, and Rondo's breakthrough must be guarded, he has already played his form.

In the end, Van Gundy chose a lineup of Bogans, Turkoglu, Lewis, Lee Chengming and Howard. In fact, Turkoglu and Lee dominated the ball, Bogans and Lewis as shooters, and Howard Check and screen on one side of the penalty area.

However, I couldn't wait for Li Chengming to catch the ball and play. Over there, James Posey just accumulated six fouls because he was competing with Howard for off the ball.

And the number of fouls was full at this time, Howard went directly to the free throw line to execute two free throws.

Li Chengming patted his forehead before watching, feeling very pessimistic.

Sure enough, under the silent expectation of the fans, Howard still only hit one free throw. Currently, he made 17 of 9 free throws, and his shooting percentage can reach more than [-]%.

Looking back, the Green Army's offense scored again, reducing the score to five points.

Van Gundy on the sidelines also shook his head at this time, a little helpless.

He can't say he regretted it. After all, he knew Howard had this weakness for a long time. At least he can make up for it on the defensive end. The Green Army can't guarantee that they will score every time they attack.

What's more, after playing Posey down, it is good news for the Magic, because Garnett has already fouled 5 times. If he is asked to defend Howard again, he will definitely not dare to do it easily.

Sure enough, this time the ball was successfully passed to Lee Cheng-ming, Garnett was pulled aside by Howard, and Lee turned around and shot a jumper with his back against Pierce.

state!
Hit the iron, but Howard found a chance to press Garnett to hit the ball into the basket, and the second offense was completed.

92: 99!

When returning to defense, Li Chengming happened to be walking with Garnett, and immediately smiled at him, making the black boy baffled, but immediately his face became ugly, because Li Chengming's smile was clearly mocking.

(End of this chapter)