The Magic's locker room was a little deserted, the players were listlessly busy with what they had in their hands, Lewis was listening to the song, Prince Duke J. J. Reddick was playing with his phone, Nelson Jr. was looking reverently at the Bible, and Howard, their core, was looking at the opposite wall in confusion.

Stan Van Gundy has previously analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of the Warriors, and as for the tactics, they have long been arranged.

This game has been long-awaited by the Magic.

Howard regretted why the opening game was against the Bucks instead of the Warriors, but they should also be thankful, because even against the Bucks, they won quite hard, and it was Redick who sent two cold three-pointers in the final minute to secure the victory.

The players began to enter, and the atmosphere in the locker room finally improved, Nelson Jr. pulled Howard, shook his head, and said, "Dwight, hurry up, we're going to play, the big battle has begun, can't you wait for a long time?" ”

Howard didn't speak, he looked at his jersey carefully, and then draped the snow-white shirt over his body.

Yes, he couldn't wait for a long time.

Just after the Miami Heat formed a Big Three this summer, when people talked about the league's top favorites next season, the Orlando Magic was always deliberately ignored.

Will the Magic, who currently have the No. 1 center in the East, be eliminated from the championship ranks? In fact, the focus of people's questioning is precisely Dwight Howard.

For no other reason, the Magic have reluctantly passed by the championship when they touched the brink of the championship for two consecutive seasons. Among them, Howard was limited in this point, which was the biggest failure of the Magic.

In the 2009 Finals, the Magic, who had previously killed the Cleveland Cavaliers 4-2 in a high-profile manner, was actually bloodied 4-0 by the Warriors, who were also new to the Finals.

At that time, compared to the Warriors' lineup of Chamberlain + Iverson + Billups, Howard seemed too lonely.

So, last summer, the Magic "reversed" and put the Dallas Mavericks together, and after buying Brandon Buss as they wished, they followed up on the other party's offer for Polish center Marcin Gortat, which is also equipped with sufficient helpers for "Warcraft".

After all, Rashad Lewis is not a pure No. 4 starter.

Not only that, but they also won Carter, a demigod who was once one of the four quarterbacks, even if Carter has begun to decline, he can still be among the top ten quarterbacks in the league, right?

Rao is like this, in the first round of the playoffs against the "raw melon eggs" Charlotte Bobcats, Howard is still full of foreign appearances. Although the Magic swept 4-0 to advance, Howard had five fouls in two games and six fouls in the remaining two games.

In terms of scoring, there were two games where the score did not exceed 6 points!

Against the Atlanta Hawks in the Eastern Conference semifinals, Howard was able to take a good breath of relief. The Hawks, who are at a significant disadvantage in height, have nothing to do with Howard on the inside. Against the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals, the Green Shirts' targeted signings have worked wonders since last season's playoff loss.

Kendrick Perkins, Glenn Davis and Rashid Wallace took turns to greet "The Beast," making "The Beast" miserable. Although the score reached 30+ in the second and fourth games in a row, there was also a ridiculous performance in the third game that only scored 7 points, and the Magic finally went out 2-4.

With Howard, the Magic has the capital of the Laughing Proud Alliance. Now it's fair to say that no matter who other teams trade for – except for Chamberlain and James, the Magic will shake their heads like rattles.

Howard's containment on the inside is the starting point of the Magic's one-qiē tactics, and his winning of the rebounding title for three consecutive seasons and the block king for two consecutive seasons is the best proof of this.

But because of this, Howard was contained, and the whole Magic team was almost paralyzed. But if they meet the Warriors, Celtics and Lakers who have all been configured to the teeth, the Magic's chances of winning are still not great, because Howard is not yet unstoppable and is not a "big shark".

Perhaps Amare Stoudemire's experience can shed some light on Howard. As Howard's previous "Warcraft" spokesperson, Xiao Si was able to make a name for himself at the beginning of his career with his body alone. But when the contract was renewed and seriously injured, Xiao Si's playing style has changed a lot, the most important thing is to practice a hand shot.

It's not that Howard has to pull up the high post to shoot, but his under-the-basket play has to be refined and perfected. Having apprenticed to Patrick Ewing and Hakeem Olajuwon, Howard has improved a lot, but the foul troubles that have plagued him for years have not really been overcome.

Howard has realized this, as the saying goes, a strong enemy makes a great player, and Chamberlain is a strong opponent enough, and Howard finally changed his mind.

This summer, Howard didn't play for the Dream Team because he went to Houston to practice hard with Olajuwon, and invited mid-pitcher Alan Houston to help him develop the mid-pitch game.

But at the end of the summer, Howard found a problem — he improved compared to before, but the team didn't.

Otis Smith, chairman of the Magic's basketball office, is bitter, not because he doesn't want to make a trade, but because he's probably the most eager person in the league to complete a deal that will upgrade the roster.

The Magic roster is not without trade chips, and the All-Star level guard Jamil Nelson in the playoffs, the solid backup center Marcin Gortat, the physical power forward Brandon Buss, and the top outside defender Michael Petrus are all very good trade chips.

But these chips have one thing in common - they are all excellent instant power and can attract teams that need to produce results right away. And the teams that are often willing to send stars are teams that are looking to rebuild, and although the Magic's chips are good, they are not up to the appetite of these teams.

Throughout the summer, there have been rumors that a star is willing to join the Magic.

First Billups, the Magic thought they were only one step away from the old demon point guard, but later it turned out that it was a big move.

Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony have since said they are coming. The most appealing thing about the Magic is, of course, having a Big Mac like Dwight Howard on the inside. In today's increasingly popular superstar team-ups, I'm afraid many stars are more than happy to partner with Howard.

It's a pity that the Magic really can't come up with the chips that can attract the Hornets or the Nuggets, and even if Smith wants to get these players again, he can only do nothing.

It's worth noting that after last year's Finals loss, Smith traded junior Courtney Lee with an expiring contract with a matching salary in exchange for Vince Carter.

In this big year of free agents, the Magic are not without thinking about getting a top free agent to join. Back in the early days of free agency, there were multiple rumors that the Magic were pursuing a top star.

However, it is too difficult for the Magic, who have no salary space, to win top stars, and as things develop, the Magic will have to go calm this summer.

The Magic didn't make any trades throughout the offseason, except for the two rookies drafted, and the Magic only traded with free agent J. J. Redick and Jason Williams signed contract extensions and signed Quentin Richardson and Chris Dujon for the weak small forward and point guard positions.

It is not difficult to see that Smith still believes that the Magic's current roster has the strength to compete for championships, so it only needs all kinds of minor fixes.

The Magic's current roster is paid more than $80 million next season, which is even higher than the salary of the championship Warriors. It's a pity that the contributions of Rashad Lewis and Carter in the team lineup can't be said to be worthy of their huge salaries, which may be the biggest sorrow of the Magic.

It's not that the team doesn't want to invest, but the poor salary mix has blocked the way for the team to further strengthen. If you want to win the championship, you are always one step away, but you can't choose to rebuild quickly, you can only go on step by step.

Step by step, Howard walked out of the locker room, step by step into the players' tunnel, and finally walked into his new battlefield, the Amway Center Arena, step by step to the roar of the DJ.

This is indeed a new battlefield, and the arena was only opened on October 1 this year. At that time, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, Orlando Magic President Alex Martins, Amway Chief Marketing Officer Ma Sikai, and Magic core Howard attended the ceremony to cut the ribbon.

As the most high-tech arena in the United States, the Amway Center cost nearly $400 million and can accommodate more than 20,000 spectators.

On October 10, the Orlando Magic defeated the New Orleans Hornets by a record score of 135-81 in the first game of the new arena; The much-anticipated 2012 NBA All-Star Weekend will also be held here. In the future, the Amway Center will also serve as the arts center of the city of Orlando, hosting a variety of entertainment, competitions and community events to inject new life into the city of Orlando.

Prior to moving into the Amway Center, the Orlando Magic's home stadium was Amway Arena in Orlando, Florida, USA. The arena has a capacity of more than 17,000 spectators and was called Orlando Arena when it was completed in 1989.

In February 2000, the arena was renamed TD Water House Centre, and in 2006, the current owner of the arena, Richard Devos, was awarded the naming rights to the arena, and the stadium was officially renamed Amway Arena, and the Amway logo can be seen both inside and outside the arena and on television broadcasts.

Now on the Warriors' benches, all the seats are printed with a line of words: Nutrilite Exercise + Nutrition = Health.

Entering this new arena, Howard was a little unaccustomed to it for a while, the cheers of the fans were still the same, the Magic team logo was still the same eye-catching, and the opponent was still the same lack of exercise, but he was just not used to it, and when he walked into the court, he didn't have the feeling of blood in the past.

Am I a nostalgic person? Howard couldn't help but ask himself in the bottom of his mind as he walked in with his arms raised.

In fact, Howard already had the answer in his heart, he was not nostalgic, but regretted that he could not take revenge on the original venue, in the past in the old Amway Arena, Howard and Chamberlain encountered too many insults, such as the 2009 Finals, he was bloodbathed in that arena.

So, he has been looking forward to being able to wash away his shame in that old arena.

As a result, he never got that opportunity.

At this point, Howard could only focus on the new arena, and he said to himself in his heart, I can't lose! Can't afford to lose anymore!

But on the other side, the Warriors are lamenting the luxury of the new arena: "Oh, ****, look, look, this is called the arena!" Our Oracle Center is so bad, you look at people, there are 60 private suites, 4 bunker suites, 2 premium suites, 4 group suites, and their private suites are spread over two floors, and there are 1,400 club seats alone......"

"I've got a grass, this arena is really big, how many floors are there?"

"There are 7 floors in total, including the competition floor, the middle audience entrance floor, the founder's suite floor, the central hall, the club box floor, the corridor floor, and the press gallery floor......

"Damn, Amway is really rich, look at it, there are more locker rooms than our toilets alone! 2 NBA locker rooms, home hockey locker rooms, home arena NFL game locker rooms, away hockey/indoor football locker rooms, official locker rooms, 6 star actor dressing rooms, actor stage and reception lounges, and the rest of the auxiliary locker rooms for on-stage performers......"

"It must be cool to knock over their team in a stadium like this, right?"

"Absolutely cool, it must be bloody magic!"

"Kill the magic and let them feel the shame in the new arena!"

"Damn, guys, one thing suddenly occurred to me, this is the second NBA official game for the Magic here, they won the last game, and if we win today, it will be the first loss of the NBA official game in this arena......"

"You're saying we're going to be able to break the arena right now?"

"Don't say so *** vulgar, break a bird, but I really like it!"

"Then do it, guys!"