field coach

Chapter 45 The Struggling Magic

The next day, a shocking news came from the league.

Celtics star Reggie Lewis announced his retirement.

"This is a difficult decision, but under everyone's persuasion, I have to leave this league I love deeply. My body is no longer strong enough to support me to continue high-intensity confrontation. The doctor told me that if I continue to play, I will probably die on the court."

At the press conference, Reggie Lewis said with tears in his eyes that the press conference had to be interrupted several times due to several fluctuations in Reggie Lewis' mood.

He is only 27 years old this year, and he has not even reached his true peak, but because of the attack of illness, he had to leave the stadium.The cruelty of the professional arena can be seen.

Davis watched the live broadcast of the press conference with mixed emotions.

"Life is the most important thing. If I don't give Auerbach strong medicine, you will really die on the field." Davis muttered to himself. There is only one word to describe his current state of mind.

God is jealous of talents!

After Reggie Lewis retired, the Celtics fell from a playoff team to a rebuilding team in an instant. McHale and Parish, the two iron triangles of the year, were getting old.

Borrowing a line from the later "Wulin Biography", there are too many unsatisfactory things in this world, but life still has to go on.

No team will feel sad for the Celtics, they will only be grateful that they have one less competitor on the road to the championship.

On January 1, the Magic went to Philadelphia to challenge the Philadelphia 18ers.

The game went to overtime again. The 76ers led by Hornacek were extremely tenacious. In addition, the magic team consumed too much energy in the previous game. The Magic only scored 7 points in overtime and unfortunately lost the game.

Hornacek made 19 of 13 shots and beat Scott one-on-one, scoring 32 points. At the same time, six of the 76ers scored in double figures.

奥尼尔则是继续爆发，继上一场拿下43分之后，这一场又出场48分钟，24投16中拿下全场最高的38分16个篮板3助攻2抢断8盖帽。

It can be said that without O'Neal, the Magic couldn't even last two quarters.

But O'Neal was successful, O'Neal was defeated, and O'Neal's two mistakes in overtime ruined the Magic's last hope.

No way, he was too tired.The data of 9 turnovers in the audience also illustrates this point.

On January 1, the Magic played against the Miami Heat at home.

Before the game, everyone believed that the Magic could beat the Heat at home. After 4 days of rest, the Magic's strength has recovered.Sitting on the advantage of the home court, there is no reason to lose this game.

At the end of the first three quarters, the Magic led by 6 points.All agree that the outcome will be as they predicted.

But the situation changed suddenly in the fourth quarter. Under the leadership of Glen Rice, the Heat launched a Jedi counterattack, beat the Magic 34-27 in a single quarter, and made a go-ahead goal 9 seconds before the end.

O'Neal's lore missed, and the Heat unexpectedly took away a victory at the Orlando Center.

After the Magic beat the Celtics, they ushered in a wave of three-game losing streak.

The Magic players who were holding back their stomachs vented all their anger on the Mavericks who came from Texas the next day.

The Mavericks' record so far is 3 wins and 31 losses, the last in the league, and they are heading straight for the No. [-] pick.The biggest player in the team is Derek Harper, who will help Jordan in the future.

This time, the Magic didn't let the duck they got fly away, 127-106, and won the game cleanly at their home court, ending their three-game losing streak.

奥尼尔全场16投14中，仅用14次出手就拿下了全场最高的38分。还有13篮板和7个盖帽，打的小牛队本来就孱弱的内线苦不堪言。加上罗德曼的21个篮板，“奥罗组合”再次统治了内线。

In the home game against the Eagles on the 26th, the Magic played a rather strange victory.

The result of the game was 120-106. The Magic won the Eagles by 14 points.

Rodman's iron tree blossomed. When Kevin Willis was exhausted from marking O'Neal, Rodman had a rare desire to attack. He made 12 shots and hit 7 goals, including two three-pointers. After grabbing 18 rebounds, he "by the way" scored 22 points. This crucial 22 points is also the key to the Magic's final victory.After the game, Rodman was also elected the MVP of the game, beating O'Neal who scored 26 points and 13 rebounds.

"It's just that I don't want to score." After the game, facing the reporter's question, Rodman said coquettishly.

"Human Movie Essence" Dominique Wilkins scored 27 points and could only go home with a loss.

But in the next game, Rodman returned to his nature and only scored three points in the game. The Magic also lost 127-113 away to the Cavaliers led by Mark Price, Larry Nance and Doherty.

Seven of the Cavaliers scored in double figures, suppressing the Magic from the first minute of the game, and did not give the Magic a chance until the end of the game.

On the second day of back-to-back games against the Celtics, the Celtics have not won a game since losing their star Reggie Lewis, and the Magic also won the game cleanly at home.

After winning the game against the Celtics, the first month of 1993 was over for the Magic.

The current record of the Magic is 19 wins and 18 losses, ranking eighth in the Eastern Conference, and only half a game away from the Eagles in the ninth Eastern Conference.

After the Magic entered February, they had to play five consecutive away games in the West, which can be called a devil's schedule.

The first game, February 2, was away against the Sacramento Kings.

The king's leader is Mitch "The Rock" Richmond.

Speaking of which, Richmond has some connections with Sprewell in the Magic. After being selected by the Warriors in his previous life, Sprewell was trained as a substitute for Richmond, because Richmond was sent to the Kings by the Warriors a season ago, and the Warriors lacked a very important outside scoring point.

And Sprewell did not live up to the expectations of the Warriors. He averaged 15+5+5 per game in his rookie season, and even entered the All-Star in his second season.

In this game, it was Sprewell's outbreak that helped the Magic win this victory.

Sprewell's offensive performance in this game was particularly good. He went inside again and again and caused a lot of damage. He made 15 of 9 shots and 3 of 4 in 2 minutes. He also stood on the free throw line 14 times, scored 11 free throws, and scored a game-high 31 points.

O'Neal did not perform well in this game, only scoring 18 points and 6 rebounds.Rodman had 11 points and 19 rebounds.

Under the leadership of Richmond, the Kings played inextricably with the Magic, and the two teams fought until the last moment.

Still relying on Sprewell's breakthrough, he stood on the free throw line twice, and finally the Magic won the victory 119-115 without any risk.

　At the request of the editor, I pushed it back to the new one, so I use the previous one to upvote it, I still can't bear you, or I will start a new book.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)