"It's not a good feeling to fight with Warcraft on the inside, right? What do you think? Can it still hold on? At the beginning of the second quarter, Jackson continued to come off the bench to give the main players more rest, and Chang Wei moved next to Milicic, patted him on the shoulder, and asked with concern.

Milicic grinned, grabbed a towel to wipe his sweat, and said excitedly: "I'm a little tired, but I think I should be fine, after all, I still rarely have a hard time with him, and the physical exertion is not as great as it seems." ”

Chang Wei nodded and said, "That's good." But I think you should be better defensively if you can. Howard's skills are actually very average, he mostly relies on his strength to eat under the basket, and there is basically no footwork or anything, as long as you can take advantage of his turn to interfere with his jump or even cut the ball, then you can make him suffer a big loss. ”

Of course, Milicic knows that this is a good opportunity, but Howard's explosiveness is among the top in the league, and many times he jumps directly when he is unprepared, and then he wants to interfere or even block, maybe he will give the opponent a free throw. Of course, Howard's free throws suck, but it's also uncomfortable to have a foul on his back.

But Milicic thought about it, gritted his teeth and nodded. If you can't limit Howard on the defensive end, it means that your scoring on the offensive end is basically lost again, which is very bad for the team, so you should also make some contributions when defending. Even if you can't restrain Howard, it's better than watching him score from the sidelines, right?

After 3 minutes and 20 seconds in the second quarter, Jackson changed the main lineup. The reason is simple, the Bobcats have a slight advantage over the Magic, and now they are ahead, so why change the starter early if they can form a stalemate situation? It's just that Jackson watched Brian Hill change to the starter first, and he silently followed suit.

Howard had just regained his confidence in Markhill and was about to face Milicic, his usual childlike smile on his face tense and furrowed, he didn't know how to deal with this guy just yet. In fact, since entering the league in 2004, Howard has really had few opponents under the basket, and his power style of play can completely crush most centers in the league. Originally, he was only stunned by Yao Ming, but he didn't expect that now Milicic has a faint tendency to suppress himself.

So Howard hesitated for a few seconds, then gritted his teeth and prepared to give Milicic a little color. Although Milicic joined the NBA a year before him, he has been treated as a parallel commodity for a long time, and Howard is convinced that the first quarter was just an accident.

However, the accident did not end, in the first round of the second quarter between the two sides, Milicic simply cut the ball the moment he turned, although Nelson quickly regained control of the ball, but also made Howard break out in a cold sweat. However, this goal is also Milicic blind cat encountering a dead mouse, and it is estimated that it will be a foul on the beater to let him do it again.

Here Milicic is still glad that he didn't foul, and Chang Wei nodded slightly on the sidelines, it seems that this kid listened to his words. In fact, there is not much technical content in stealing, and there are two basic requirements, one is quick eyes, and the other is fast hands. You have to make a move the moment the opponent makes a mistake and seize that fleeting opportunity to complete the steal.

Although Milicic's cut had some element of luck, as long as he can catch that feeling, he can embarrass Howard on the defensive end, and Howard is also a relatively traditional center, and ball control and shooting are not his strong points.

In Chang Wei's view, the future development path of a center like Howard will become narrower and narrower, and even now, there are not a few teams in the league that insist on fast offense, and Howard basically relies on his athleticism to make a living. When his physical fitness declines in the future, and then he faces an inside player like Milicic, it will basically be helpless.

In addition to Big Ben, Chang Wei has been committed to training the interior players he can influence into all-round interior players who can be inside and out, and even Daim Porter has practiced a reliable mid-range shooting under his special training. This is also the reason why Chang Wei insisted on selecting Milicic in the first place, this guy's foundation is there, and a little training can come in handy.

Howard was horrified to find that not only did he not contribute on the defensive end, but he was also often interfered with by Milicic when attacking, and also made three turnovers, basically all of which came under pressure from Milicic. Although he can still cover his teammates on the court and fight for rebounds, he is confused in his heart, why did the weapon that worked well before actually fail?

As he struggled, the Magic were already trailing by double digits, and the first half was coming to an end soon. The Magic played almost the entire second quarter with their starters, but it didn't work out well, trailing by 13 points at halftime, 47-60, and to Brian Hill's dismay, Howard lost to Milicic in his favor.

He was really a little unbelievable when he saw the stats, Howard had 18 points, 8 rebounds and 2 blocks in the half, but Milicic still had the upper hand, his stats were 14 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals and 1 block, which was much more comprehensive than Howard, and his play was also the key to the Bobcats taking a double-digit lead at halftime. Such a performance also impressed his team-mates, and it was clear that Milicic had more chances in the second half.

It's very common in basketball games where if you play well, both the head coach and your teammates are willing to give you more of the ball and keep you on the hot spot. But if the shooting percentage drops, then except for the team leader, who has unlimited firing rights, everyone else will not want to shoot as casually as before, including Milicic, of course.

However, his performance has already set the stage for the second half, and as long as it continues, everyone will be willing to let him play a few more rounds inside. At halftime, Jackson praised Milicic's performance, and he said heroically: "Darko has played at the level on the inside, which means that the Magic is likely to shrink the defense in the second half, outside shooters, your chance is here, let the three-point rain completely drown the opponent, we will definitely win this game!" ”