God's hand behind the scenes

Chapter 223 Victory in the First Battle
At the end of the first half, the 76ers led 59 to 50. Although the change from 2 points to 9 points was not big, and it did not reach double digits, the blow to the Raptors was huge.Especially for McGrady, it is difficult for him to accept the completely different performance before and after Bell's appearance, but this is the fact. He has to admit that he has been restricted by Bell.

This is undoubtedly a very bad experience. After joining the league, McGrady rarely tasted such a taste. In many cases, he lightly beat the players who were against him.Of course, it is not that there are no players who cause him trouble on the defensive end, but McGrady can often adjust as soon as possible and find his own rhythm again. Bell is rare.

In desperation, Wilkens had no choice but to let Carter become the team's main offensive point, while McGrady fully assumed the important task of organizing the offense.However, there is still a certain gap between Carter and McGrady. The biggest difference between them is shooting. After Chang Wei's training, McGrady's offensive range can be expanded beyond the three-point line, but Carter can only play mid-range shots. What he is better at is attacking the basket directly after breaking through, which allows the 76ers to calmly arrange a more targeted defense.

Lynch's defensive strength cannot be compared with Bell's, but now he can barely be regarded as an upper-level wing defender in the league, and Brown's instructions to him are only to slow down Carter's impact speed, and give the last blow to guard the basket Dikembe Mutombo is in charge.Lynch knew how much he weighed, so he happily accepted the request.

Soon the focus on the court became Mutombo.In fact, in the offensive team of the 76ers, Mutombo played a lot of roles. Now that his teammates have created opportunities for him, it is even more important to perform well.For a while, the 76ers' basket became a no-fly zone, and any player's layup was slammed by Mutombo as if he were playing volleyball, and some of them were even directly converted into the 76ers' fast break Mutombo also scored a few assists for himself.

The point difference between the two sides quickly widened further, which made Wilkens jump anxiously. Logically, he should be able to hold his breath, but he has been trying to convince himself that the Raptors are capable in the first half. Defeated the 76ers, but what I didn't expect was that there was still such a huge gap between the two sides that the opponent opened the gap in an instant.

Brown seems to be able to sit firmly on the Diaoyutai, but he dare not relax at all. McGrady and Carter are both players who can turn the game around in a short period of time. Only when the point difference exceeds 20 points can he feel safe.

It's a pity that although the 76ers have the advantage, they can't lead their opponents by 20 points. The Raptors Gemini have been forcing the team to continue their lives, and the point difference has always hovered around 12 or 13 points.Seeing that the team has been unable to further expand the lead, Brown decided to deal with the opponent in one go, and directly replaced Bell with Reed, trying to let him and Lewis, the two outside heavy guns, destroy the opponent's defense with a stormy three-pointer. Confidence, if it works, can turn the fourth quarter into garbage time.

Seeing that Bell was suddenly substituted, McGrady was a little surprised. He didn't know why the 76ers would remove Bell at this time, but he soon became excited, as if the shackles on his body had been broken.However, just as he was about to show off his skills, Reed, who came off the bench, hit a three-pointer against his defense, and the point difference came to 15 points.

McGrady shook his head, got the ball back, ran a pick-and-roll with Antonio Davis, and passed the ball to Carter, who hit a mid-range jumper.But looking back, the 76ers made another three-pointer. This time it was Lewis, the league's newly promoted three-pointer. When Davis and Oakley couldn't defend, no one could stop him.

Back and forth, the Raptors not only failed to narrow the point difference, but were opened up by the opponent by 1 point.Although this 1 point is very inconspicuous, if you do it like this every time, it can be expanded to more than 20 points in minutes.In fact, the reason is very simple. Compared with the offensive and defensive balance of the 76ers, the Raptors' offense and defense are quite unbalanced. Their performance on the offensive end is much better than that on the defensive end. What they are best at is destroying opponents with offense. However, when their offensive firepower is contained, there is not much way to win the game. For example, now, they cannot attack or defend.

Although the fourth quarter was not turned into garbage time by the 76ers, it was not much worse. When they entered the fourth quarter, they had a huge advantage of 18 points. Until the last 4 minutes and 31 seconds left in the game, Wei Wei Erkens replaced all the starting pitchers and conceded.This is the first home game for the 76ers in this round of the series. Winning is of great significance, and it is a great boost to the morale of the players. Wilkens also clearly sees the gap between the two teams .

But the old coach was not discouraged. At the press conference after the game, he categorically told reporters: "The outcome of a game doesn't mean anything. This is just the beginning of the series. We are concerned about the next game." Still full of confidence. On the basketball court, it has never been the strong who can definitely win, and I don’t think we are weak. The boys performed very well in the game, but our luck is slightly worse. "

"The next game will still be played in Philadelphia, but we will not give up. We will also give 76% effort for the game. Even if we end up losing this round of the series, we must give our opponent some color Look, no team can only win and never lose, and the [-]ers are the same, I hope I can drag them into the tiebreaker and prove our strength."

Brown also said modestly: "The Raptors are a team with a bright future, and I dare not say that I am sure about this round of the series. Of course, I can now say with certainty that the future of the Eastern Conference belongs to them. Trey Both West and Vince have the talent to be the top stars in the league, and in a way, they already are."

However, the Raptors players are not so good-tempered. Fortunately, McGrady said that he and Chang Wei have a passion, and it is impossible to say some demonstrative words.Carter was different. He said aggressively to the camera: "This is just a small setback. The 76ers are not invincible. We will definitely beat them in the next game. Just wait and see." , and I believe we still have a chance to win this series!"

(End of this chapter)