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Author: Tiamo the Withered

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Orlando fans undoubtedly have very complicated feelings towards their home team this season. The team's record is unprecedentedly impressive, and it has completely shed its reputation as a weak team and has truly become one of the best teams in the league.

And with superstars like Howard, stars like Turkoglu and Lewis, and supernovas like Li Chengming, it can be said that there is nothing to be dissatisfied about.

But this is the home record. Everyone comes to watch the game at home hoping to see the team win. They can accept losing, but they always lose more at home, which makes people wonder if they are being tricked.

Maybe there really is something mysterious about it. Anyway, Magic players who return to their home court often perform poorly for no apparent reason.

In this game, Li Chengming failed to step forward to save the game because he was double-teamed too hard. He only got two open opportunities. He made 6 of 8 shots from the field and the two missed were three-pointers.

He scored 17 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists on 5 of 5 free throws. At least five or six direct assists were wasted. They would win if they scored even one of them.

Anyway, when the Magic's role players couldn't hit the basket, one of the two inside killers was sealed because of free throws, and the other was turned into a dumpling. In the end, this result is actually reasonable.

Others won't be so tough every game, and Howard won't always be so bad at free throws. As for Li Chengming, maybe the coaching staff should consider arranging more tactics for him.

Because he has shown his ability, the coach is more willing to let him serve as a substitute, but if he is restricted and others cannot perform, then this rotation must be readjusted.

In an interview after the game, Van Gundy also said that the coaching staff needs to go back and reflect. Their players are all great, and the coaching staff's job is to find ways to release all their energy.

As for commonplace issues such as Howard's free throws, there is no need to elaborate.

After the game, there were sharp voices in the media, criticizing Howard as the core of the team, but he was unable to stand up when Li Chengming was frequently double-teamed, and instead became a hindrance.

What is obvious in this game is that when the two are on the court at the same time, the Nets target Howard to prevent the two from cooperating. After all, the two of them cooperated well in previous games.

"Dwight must consider that his free throws have gradually become his Achilles' heel, and even become the Achilles' heel of the Magic. He cannot let the efforts of his teammates be let down just because of him...

"

Of course, there were also other voices that mentioned the Nets' crazy tactic of cutting Huo in this game.

"The Nets committed a total of 27 fouls in this game, and the two of them were ejected for 6 fouls. Howard committed 15 fouls, and 9 of them were direct off-ball fouls. This kind of behavior must be

To be restricted, if all teams start abusing foul tactics like this, the game will become long and disgusting."

Fans are also dissatisfied with this kind of game. Not only the Magic fans who booed several times throughout the game, but also many neutral fans watching the game said they were tired of seeing such frequent whistles and many fouls that directly interrupted the rhythm of the game.

, too sluggish.

I just turned on the TV and saw free throws. I went to have a cup of coffee and came back on the free throw line again.

In fact, there have been voices in the league in the past two years that this "shark-cutting tactic" should be further restricted. Such inappropriate scenes often occur in the games of O'Neal, Ben Wallace and Howard. This is obviously

It is not conducive to the league's requirements to encourage offense and ensure the smoothness of the game.

It's just that it will take at least two or three years, maybe even longer, for this kind of matter to collect opinions, include it in discussions, and then issue detailed rules.

The main reason is that there are not so many samples. After all, O'Neal has declined a lot and is not that big of a deterrent. It is almost the same after Ben Wallace left the Pistons. With only Howard alone, it is still difficult to achieve the goal of asking the league to change the rules on a short period of time.

degree.

Unless Howard continues to grow in the future, or there is another important player who has suffered as much as him, or this tactic further disgusts the league's top brass.

So now the Magic still have to endure Howard's convulsive free throws, and also have to accept that sometimes games may be ruined because of his free throws.

What else can be done?

Maybe it would be a good choice to compete early, but their strength is not yet at that level.

A day later, the Magic sat at home and once again faced the challenge of the small power of Texas. This season's two contests between the two teams came together.

However, compared with the last game, this time McGrady was absent due to injury, so Houston played particularly proactively in the away game.

Leading 32:25 in the first quarter, Dayao scored 10 points alone. Alston and Hyde, who was named the starter, also performed well.

Howard left the game early due to two fouls. After Li Chengming came on, he did not face Dayao. Instead, he asked Lewis to go around the front defense to prevent him from catching the ball.

But today the opponent did not deliberately look for Yao, but played very reasonably.

Maybe Adelman's Princeton tactical system finally bore fruit, but it's more likely that it was better on the spot.

In addition, the Magic often pull their hips when defending against such a small and quick guard. Howard, who defeated Yao in the last game, seems to have returned to normal this time, but the Magic has other players besides him.

People are even more helpless against Dayao. Under the control of Dayao, there is no need for a lone wolf to fight, and the teammates can play more comfortably.

In fact, Houston's recent record performance is not good. With the current record, it may not even make the playoffs. It still has a 50% winning rate. This also shows the fierce competition in the Western Conference. Although there is no record like the Celtics and Magic, but before and after

It's a tough game, the difference may be within one game, and the ranking may change at any time.

Lewis seemed to have spent too much energy on defense, which led to a decline in touch. He made all two shots and then missed all the rest. He shot an outrageous 2-for-8 in the first quarter.

In the last game against the Nets, it seemed that he taught his opponents how to defend Li Chengming, that is, to squeeze him in. If other players could make shots, they would admit it.

As a result, the Magic's three-point shooting in this game was very average. In the last attack, Bogans received the ball from outside the three-point line and did not shoot directly, wasting an offensive opportunity.

Houston's three-pointers were actually stretched, but they had a high shooting percentage inside. Especially after Howard came off the court, the Magic's defense in the penalty area was stretched and became the opponent's back garden.

Howard came on directly in the second quarter, but suffered two fouls, which somewhat limited his performance and made him less daring to make moves.

For a defensive player, or a defensive player who relies more on physical athleticism to play, if he does not dare to move, it is conceivable that his defensive deterrence has dropped a lot, which makes the opponent more energetic.

The score reached double digits in the middle of the quarter, and Howard couldn't hold it any longer. Then Dayao came up and caused another foul on him, and he was dismissed again for his third foul.

Howard complained to the referee for a long time on the sidelines, probably because he had a different status after all, and he was at the Magic's home court, and it was really hard to accept three fouls in the half. The referee ignored him, but he still needed to sit on the bench and take a good rest.

Calm down.

Commenting on this game, Yang Yi was speechless, "There is no problem with this foul. Howard seems to think that Dayao is the Dayao who played in the last game, but obviously Dayao will not be in poor condition every game. Normally he wants to guard against Dayao."

Yao is impossible."

This is a bit of a boast. Howard actually still has an old problem. He neither wants his teammates to help nor uses effective methods such as bypassing the front. With a big height difference and the strength of his lower limbs cannot withstand it, Yao has a lot of

A way to get points in his hands.

And his frivolous defensive habits are still there. Dayao, who is considered a single-core leader in this game, is also very smart, and he is directly troubled by fouls.

Now Li Chengming feels that he needs to stand up. It's not that he thinks he can defend it, but that he is the only one in the team who can withstand Dayao, at least not let him score so comfortably.

Moreover, Dayao's physical strength is a problem. If I can use up more of him now, the situation may change in the second half.

Van Gundy was a little surprised by Li Chengming's offer, but after thinking about it for a while, he agreed.

He has no other better choice. This can at least free up Lewis, preventing him from being unable to guard against his own touch and losing his touch.
Chapter completed!