On May 30, at Boston's North Shore Garden Arena, there was a deathly silence in the stands.

All the fans sat in the stands, watching the game on the field that had already lost suspense, and their eyes were gone.

More fans chose to get up and leave the stadium early in disappointment, not to continue watching the doomed game.

Wang Chao held the ball and broke into the interior with the help of Howard's blocking, and scored against Perkins' defensive throw! This is his 40th point of the game, and without Garnett, the Celtics have no one to limit Wang Chao's scoring! ”

With this shot, the difference between the two teams has reached 30 points! Celtic have begun to replace their main players one after another, and they have given up. ”

"No one expected that such a fierce battle would end in such a result, and the Celtics, who formed the Big Three, fell to the Eastern Conference Finals for the second consecutive season, and it turned out that spending a lot of money on Stud to form a Big Three lineup is not a shortcut to the championship."

The process of the sixth game of the Eastern Conference Finals exceeded everyone's expectations, and no one expected that the development of the game would be so dramatic.

At the beginning of the game, the Celtics at home had the advantage, and successfully suppressed the Magic in the first quarter of the game to establish a double-digit score advantage.

But the game entered the second quarter but the situation changed, the core player of the Celtics, Garnett accidentally stepped on the instep of his teammate Perkins when he was competing for the rebound, sprained his ankle and fell to the ground in pain, and it took half a day to limp back to the locker room with the support of the team doctor, and get a definite answer a few minutes later, Garnett could not continue to play in this game.

The exact extent of Garnett's injury can only be known if he goes to do an MRI after the game, but in this crucial game, how can the Celtics without Garnett be the opponent of the Magic?

While the Celtics were panicked by Garnett's injury and their concentration was affected, the Magic took the opportunity to catch up on the double-digit deficit and complete the lead.

Without Garnett's presence on the defensive end, Wang Chao fired more unscrupulously on the outside, and Perkins couldn't keep up with Howard's frequent blocking and dismantling cuts, and the entire Celtics defensive system collapsed.

At 113:90, the Celtics' journey to the Eastern Conference ended here, and the Magic defeated the Celtics with a score of 4:2 to reach the Finals for the second consecutive year.

The opponent of the Magic team in the finals is the Los Angeles Lakers, who also eliminated the Denver Nuggets 4-2, which is the opponent of last season's finals.

Last season's Finals have always been difficult for Magic fans.

At that time, the overall strength of the Lakers team was indeed stronger, including the core scoring points of the two teams, and Kobe Bryant was also stronger than Wang Chao's scoring ability.

But the main reason why the Magic lost to the Lakers at that time was that the elevator door tactics that the playoffs relied on to survive were sealed by the referees.

This tactic, which is still very inexplicable, as long as it is used on the finals stage, is immediately a cover foul, which caused the Magic team to almost have an arm broken.

Although Wang Chao can still get an average of 26+ points per game stably without elevator door tactics, his performance is not particularly bad, but Howard, who played badly under the attack of the Lakers' twin towers, and the weakness of the serious lack of independent offensive means on the inside was completely exposed.

This season is completely different from last season!

Wang Chao's strength has evolved greatly in this year, and has become a super scorer with an average of 30+ per game, although Howard still has no interior offensive means, but his interior defensive ability is stronger, including the rebounding king and the best defensive player, and he and Wang Chao's blocking and dismantling cooperation is also very tacit, and has become the league's recognized best partner combination of blocking and dismantling tactics.

Many basketball commentators are full of praise for the blocking and pick-and-roll cooperation of the Super Magic combination, and also admit that compared with the inside ball-holding singles, Howard and Wang Chao's blocking and pick-and-roll cooperation is more efficient, perhaps this is the so-called talent, Howard is naturally more suitable for a game like Carl. Malone's pick-and-roll-based offensive scoring method.

Of course, these experts and commentators don't know that the reason for the super high blocking and dismantling efficiency of the super magic combination is not that Howard is suitable for blocking and dismantling tactics, but the real reason is actually Wang Chao, or one of his natural skills, the best partner.

Best Partner Talent: After a teammate blocks and picks, increases shooting efficiency for 3 seconds, and after 3 seconds, when choosing to pass to a teammate who blocks and disembarks, the passing ability value is briefly increased, and the teammate's efficiency of successfully receiving the ball and attacking the frame increases.

Both the blocker and the blocked player will get a buff under this talent, but the premise for the talent skill to activate is that the relationship between the two players must be greater than 60.

Wang Chao still doesn't know what the concept of 60 relationship value is, but he has been with the Magic team for two seasons, and so far there are only four players who have reached 60 with him, in addition to Howard, there are only three Tekoglu, Dragic and Avlalo.

Dragic and Avlaro were both included in the Magic team at the suggestion of Wang Chao, and because of Wang Chao's support, they were given the opportunity to play during the regular season.

Turkoglu himself has to play with Wang Chao on the field, and occasionally blocks and dismantles, plus Howard often takes everyone out to look for flowers and willows, and the nightclub stinks, and the relationship has gradually improved.

What surprised Wang Chao was that the team's starting point guard Nelson and his relationship had not reached more than 60 for a long time, and the two had very little communication outside the court.

It is indeed not surprising to have such an idea, as the only main player of the Magic team in the guard position, the young Nelson should have shown his talents, especially this season, in the impression of Wang Chao, Nelson should have played close to an average of 17+6 per game, and was selected as an All-Star substitute, and he was unbeatable for a while.

But because of the appearance of Wang Chao and because of Dragic's so-so performance on the bench, Nelson can only be regarded as ordinary this season, playing an average of 28 minutes per game during the regular season, with personal data of 10.2 points and 4.4 assists.

Of course, what Nelson thinks, Wang Chao doesn't care, he is not irreplaceable, or the entire Magic team, except for Wang Chao and Howard, no one is irreplaceable, including Turkoglou.

In fact, the Magic management is already starting to have a headache with Turkoglou.

At the end of the season, Turkoglou's contract will expire, and the Magic will face the problem of renewing Turkoglou.

With the excellent performance of these two seasons and the addition of the Magic's record, Turkoglou's value has also risen, after the Magic's management made tentative contact with the opposing agent, and the reply given by the other party was that he wanted to test his value on the free market this summer.

It's clear that Turkoglu would prefer to sign a contract with a higher value than stay with the Magic.

Judging from his ability, I'm afraid that an annual salary of 10 million is not a big problem, but for the Magic team, it is not a big problem.

After all, they already have Wang Chao and Howard in the lineup two stars with an annual salary of more than 15 million, and if they sign a player with an annual salary of 10 million, the salary of the Magic team will exceed the salary cap, of course, this level is not up to the stage of paying the luxury tax, but since it has to pay an annual salary of 10 million, why not introduce a stronger star?

Although Tekoglou is very good, his strength is definitely not at the top level.

In fact, the Magic, who had two big contracts with Lewis and Howard, made the same choice in the course of history, and they gave up Tekoglou after the free agency market opened in the summer, and the latter signed a five-year, $53 million contract with the Raptors.

And the Magic team that let go of Turkoglu gave Alstom, Tony. Barty and Courtney. Lee got All-Star player Vince from the Nets. Carter.

In the 09-10 season, the salaries of the Magic's big three were 18.88 million for Lewis, 16.3 million for Carter, and 15.2 million for Howard, which proves that the Magic team is not reluctant to spend money, and they have also invested heavily in order to improve their strength and compete for the championship.

It's a pity that Vince, who was able to steadily contribute 20+ points to the Nets last season. Carter, who came to the Magic team in the 09-10 season, but declined across the board, averaging 16.6 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists per game.

These are all later stories, the offseason free market matter, and we will talk about it later, and the first thing the Magic team has to face at the moment is how to beat the Lakers in the Finals to complete revenge.

Looking at the lineup, the Magic team is obviously slightly inferior to the Lakers.

Although there is a super magic combination, the Lakers have a triumvirate combination of Kobe Bryant + Gasol + Artest, and Odom and Bynum are also extremely powerful players, especially Andrew. Bynum, as the tenth player selected in the first round in 05, Bynum has always been regarded by the Lakers as a future core player to cultivate, unknowingly four years have passed, although Bynum has not grown fast, in the process of training, the Lakers have specially invited to teach his legendary celebrity Tiangou Abdul-Jabbar angry scolding mother, but it is finally considered to be a bit famous.

This season, Bynum can contribute an average of 14.3 points and 8 rebounds per game, faintly has the potential to be an excellent center, and at the same time, the height of 2.13 meters and the weight of 129 kilograms make Bynum at least 120 kilograms Howard on the inside line will not be at a disadvantage.

Of course, having said a lot, the Magic team is not completely without advantages.

Although Howard's offensive ability under the basket is not strong, but the defense is indeed the undisputed strongest, whether it is Bynum or Gasol, if you want to score inside, you must weigh it, including Kobe, and you must also consider whether to score by long-range shooting or break through with the ball in the game.

And the most difficult point for the Magic team now is undoubtedly Wang Chao.

Wang Chao, who has extreme firepower on the offensive end, has become recognized as the most difficult scorer to defend in the league.

Even if the defense is as strong as the Celtics, it failed to limit Wang Chao in the Eastern Finals, and in the 6 games of the Eastern Finals, Wang Chao averaged 34 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists per game, and his performance was almost the same as Kobe Bryant in the Western Conference Finals against the Nuggets, especially when Wang Chao and Howard played blocking and dismantling, how to defend around Wang Chao's long-range deterrence and Howard's ultra-high mobility inside the basket was enough for the Lakers to have a headache.

All in all, the finals matchup between the two teams can be regarded as the pinnacle of the playoffs.

……

On June 4th, the first game of the finals began!

With a 67-win record in the regular season, one more than the Lakers' 66-win, the Magic had home-court advantage and played their first game at Amway Arena in Orlando.

Just the first game of the Magic team suffered a loss.

89:100 lost the first game at their home stadium.

In this game, the Lakers used defensive tactics to the extreme, and only 4 players on the Magic team scored double-doubles.

Wang Chao scored 24 points, Howard had 12 points and 15 rebounds, Turkoglu had 13 points, and Pirruth had 14 points......

The Super Magic combination was targeted by the Lakers and played below the usual level.

On Howard's side, Bynum is marked by Bynum on the inside, and once he receives the ball on the inside, Kobe or Fisher will immediately form a pack, with Howard's passing ability, it is difficult to pass the ball to his teammates in the open position on the outside in the first time when facing the pack.

And when Howard and Wang Chao cooperate with each other, the Lakers will also choose to wrap Howard, one player blocks in front of Howard to prevent him from rushing to the basket easily, and the other blocks the passing route between Howard and Wang Chao.

Although this kind of defense will lead to other open players on the court, under the Lakers' reasonable and timely rotation defense, there is no particularly large defensive gap.

As for Wang Chao, he faced Artest's defense during the game.

Ron. Artest, recognized as the league's top outside defender, is one of the few outside defenders who has won the honor of the best defensive player, and is currently one of the few small forwards in the league who surpasses Wang Chao in strength.

None of the above is the most critical, Artest, as a top perimeter defender, is really a headache for that rough defensive move.

Wang Chao had a conflict with Pierce in the Eastern Conference Finals, but Pierce can be described as a small thing compared to Artest.

This is the one who dared to elbow Jordan two ribs during his rookie years, and he is also the initiator of the most vicious group beating incident in NBA history, Auburn Hills Palace.

Even in the years that followed, Artest continued his life, elbowing Harden down in the game against the Thunder.

Compared to Artest, the future alliance's famous villain Egg Chaser Green is not worth mentioning at all.

In this game, Wang Chao also really experienced how much Artest's fierce defensive intensity is.

Not long after the start of the game, Wang Chao was once again overturned by Artest in the breakthrough with the ball, and this round also made Wang Chao clearly aware of the gap in strength between the two sides.

But Wang Chao is not the one who surrenders defeat, and he may be afraid of rough defensive moves on the field with his talent for steel and iron?

In the next match, Wang Chao and Artest were like wrestling.

About 6 minutes into the third quarter of the game, Artest received his sixth foul of the game and left the court with a full foul, but his defense really caused trouble for Wang Chao, which was the main reason why Wang Chao only scored 24 points in the whole game.

On the Lakers' side, Kobe Bryant continued to show the super scoring ability of a top scorer, shooting 16 of 34 from the field, 8 of 8 free throws, cutting 40 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists, and almost got a 40+ triple-double.

The Lakers are actually in a similar situation to the Magic, and they are also affected by Howard's defense, with only three players scoring in double figures, one less than the Magic, Gasol 16 points and 8 rebounds, and Odom 11 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists.

To put it bluntly, if it weren't for Kobe Bryant's 40 points, it's hard to say who would win and who would lose.

……

The Lakers who won the game were very happy, and whether they could win the first game of the Finals or win at the Magic's home court had already dominated the entire series, but when they returned to the locker room and saw Artest take off his jersey, almost everyone gasped.

Artest's body was covered in bruises, which made people's scalp tingle to look at.

"Ron, you're ......"

"Hiss——!" Artest grinned and scolded: "Made, that guy looks thin and weak, and he's really a hard bone, he doesn't even hide against my body, I underestimate him, I thought he was just a soft egg who would float on the outside and shoot three points!" ”

Everyone was silent.

This scene really subverted their cognition, Wang Chao looks weak and weak, but he is so ruthless?

Of course, this is the benefit of the talent of steel and iron bones, and it is also an upgraded version, and the effect is further strengthened, so that Wang Chao is not afraid of this rough physical confrontation at all.

Wang Chao only scored 24 points in this game, not so much because he was entangled by Artest and his scoring efficiency declined, but because the overall offensive rhythm of the Magic team was limited, resulting in Wang Chao's chances not as many as in the previous games.

But this is only the first game of the finals, which is understandable.

The Magic's tactical system is based on Howard's one-star four-shot magic ball tactics, and it doesn't matter how Howard's one-star play on the inside, the key is that the power of the four-shot shot should be fully exerted.

In the first game of the finals, the players were emotionally nervous, coupled with the Lakers' extremely oppressive defense, which affected the crosshairs of the outside players, and they failed to play the advantage of three-point shooting, and they deserved to lose.

But as the Magic players adjusted their state and returned to their previous accuracy from beyond the three-point line, the Lakers did not dare to be as unscrupulous as they were in the first game, and the defense was self-defeating.

In other words, if you want to crack the Lakers' defensive tactics, you still have to rely on the Magic's own offensive firepower.

After the first game, the Magic team practiced their three-point shooting in the following day, and then in the second game of the Finals on June 7, the results of the additional practice were shown.

(End of chapter)