On May 16, the Eastern Conference Finals were the first to begin.

The first game was still played at the Magic's home court, the Amway Arena in Orlando, and the Magic, who had a 70-12 record in the regular season, had home-court advantage no matter which team they faced in the playoffs.

Magic starters Nelson, Afflalo, Wang Chao, Channing. Frye, Howard.

Cavaliers starter, Mo. Williams, Vince. Carter, James, Anderson. Valejo, Shaquille. O'neill.

Looking at the starting lineup, the Cavaliers seem to have the better side of the roster, with four All-Stars on the roster, including Mo, who was selected as an All-Star in the 08-09 season. Williams.

But two of the Cavaliers' four All-Stars have passed the peak of their playing years, Carter is not too old at 33 years old, but because of injuries, he is no longer as brave as he used to be, and O'Neal is 38 years old.

On the other hand, on the Magic's side, Wang Chao and Howard were both selected for the best team this season, one won the regular season MVP and scoring title, and the other had an All-Star MVP and the best defensive player, both of whom are undoubtedly the most outstanding top stars in the league today.

On the Cavaliers' side, there is only James who can compete with the two.

And the strength of the Magic team is not only the starting lineup, they also have a new sixth man on the bench, who is not inferior to the starting team. Crawford.

The Cavaliers have spent a lot of money and paid a hefty luxury tax in order to put together a big three roster, which makes them have no room for role player reinforcements, and there are only Big Z and Delonte on the bench. West's two can be of great use.

The gap in all aspects made most people prefer the Magic to win the series before the start of the Eastern Conference finals series.

According to ESPN's pre-game survey, 83% of Jeonmi fans are optimistic that the Magic team will advance to the finals, and only 17% believe that the Cavaliers' Big Three can beat the Magic.

At the end of the warm-up, the starters of both teams came on the court, Howard and O'Neal jumped the ball in the middle, there was no suspense, and Howard easily dialed the basketball to his own backcourt.

Although O'Neal is much taller than him, the old shark can't jump at all now, and he can't compare with Howard, who is at the peak of his career and is a spring man himself.

Nelson dribbled the ball past half court, then passed the ball to Wang Chao in an orderly manner, and ran to stand outside the three-point line in the bottom corner.

Wang Chao stood at the top of the three-point line with the ball, and in front of him was James wearing the No. 23 jersey.

Wang Chao vs James, the matchup match that attracted the attention of fans was staged immediately at the beginning!

In the TNT studio, Barkley and Kenny. Smith was commentating on the game, and when he saw Wang Chao and James facing each other, Smith immediately became interested.

"Charles, who do you think will have the upper hand in the 1v1 between LeBron and Wang Chao?"

Unexpectedly, Barkley, who has always come with his mouth wide open, heard Smith's words, but he was rarely entangled for a long time. It's hard to say, although the two teams have met many times in the regular season, this is the first time they have met in the playoffs, and the Cavaliers have lost to the Celtics before meeting the Magic in the first two seasons, and the Celtics have been beaten by the Magic for two consecutive ...... No, plus this season is the third consecutive season of defeat to the Magic. ”

"If you continue to go back, Wang Chao and James played in the playoffs in the 06-07 season, when Wang Chao was still in the Phoenix Suns, the Suns and the Cavaliers met in the finals, and then swept the Cavaliers 4:0 to win the championship."

At that time, Wang Chao, of course, was far from being comparable to James, and even the two would not be in place on the court, and it was the Suns' All-Star small forward Sean who was responsible for defending James. Marion. ”

"Who would have thought that in the blink of an eye, three years have passed, Wang Chao has actually grown into a top small forward in the league whose strength is comparable to James, Wang Chao has changed too much in the past three years, not only has he developed a breakthrough in mid-distance and ball-holding breakthroughs, but also has a qualitative leap in strength, speed, bounce and other aspects, it is like being reborn!"

While speaking, Barkley shook his head again and again, "So now it's really too difficult to judge if you want to ask who is stronger in the two positions, if I have to choose one, I think Wang Chao, who has more comprehensive offensive skills, must be stronger in the heads-up link, after all, he can not only shoot from a distance but also break through with the ball, and now Wang Chao, who has mastered even the inside skills, is too difficult to defend." ”

"Oh? So do you think LeBron, who was selected as the best defensive team this year and is considered the best defender on the front line, will also have a hard time limiting Wang Chao's scoring? "Kenny. Smith nodded and said, "But it's also true that when Wang Chao is standing outside the three-point line with the ball, no one knows what kind of offense he will use next, and he has too many ways to put the ball in the basket." ”

……

On the court, James had already lowered his center of gravity and was almost close to Wang Chao, nervously tense.

He is serious about trying his best to defend against Wang Chao, and he wants to prove to the whole league in this way who is more worthy of the regular season MVP!

Feeling the pressure from James' defensive end, Wang Chao's expression was very calm.

Such a situation was something he had thought about in advance and was mentally prepared for.

With his current offensive ability, even James is difficult to defend against him, but James, who is still very attentive and serious on the defensive end during this period, is really not easy to deal with, just like the current position, it is obviously an attitude of preventing shots and not breaking through, trying to block his three-point shot.

And if Wang Chao chooses to hold the ball and impact the basket, James will definitely not give up easily, with the opponent's speed and mobility not inferior to his own, even if he rushes to the basket, he still needs to face the risk of forcibly scoring the ball under James's defense.

With the upgraded version of the marksman, Wang Chao's anti-interference ability to shoot under the player's defense has been greatly improved, but he is not Kobe after all, and there is no reason to choose this less efficient offensive method in the case of non-necessity.

In the final analysis, Wang Chao is the biggest winner this season, and the regular season MVP is also his, is it necessary to beat James head-on to prove himself?

If James wins the regular season MVP again this season, given the unfair selection mechanism, Wang Chao is angry and wants to prove to everyone who is the stronger player, maybe he will do so.

But in the current Wang Chao concept, winning the game is the first thing!

Wang Chao felt that James, who was standing in front of him at this time, might be thinking like this, wanting to prove who was more worthy of the regular season MVP by preventing himself.

"You're going to be here alone."

Smiling at James, Wang Chao suddenly spoke.

This sentence made James slightly stunned and a little confused, but the next moment he saw Wang Chao move sideways to the right, subconsciously moving his steps to keep up.

But at this moment, he bumped into a black and hard body.

Howard's pick-and-roll cover!

Taking advantage of the gap between James being blocked and dismantled by Howard, Wang Chao decisively jumped and shot a three-point shot.

James, who was blocked by Howard, didn't have time to keep up with the front defense, let alone O'Neal, who was opposite Howard.

In the absence of interference from defenders at all, Wang Chao shot in the open space and shot into the net.

3:0！

"Oops......"

Just the first round of offense, Cavaliers head coach Mike . Brown began to say something was wrong.

Hit the snake and hit seven inches, but I didn't expect the magic team to focus on the weakness of the Cavaliers as soon as they came up!

O'Neal's position in the Cavaliers is actually very embarrassing now, he is too old and slow, and his pace can no longer keep up with most of the main centers in the league, let alone Howard, a super center whose pace speed is at the top level among interior players.

When Howardra went to the outside to block Wang Chao, O'Neal didn't have time to go out to defend at all, and a second or two of slow time was enough for Wang Chao to shoot three-point shots in the open space.

This is undoubtedly the point that the Cavaliers are most afraid of, and it seems that the Magic team has also carefully studied the Cavaliers game!

James was obviously aware of it, and his expression was hard to look at.

On the one hand, Wang Chao chose to avoid and not fight, with Howard's help to block and dismantle cover, no matter how strong James's personal ability is, it is impossible to overtake Howard's blocking and dismantling to defend Wang Chao in one step.

On the other hand, as long as O'Neal is on the court, the Cavaliers have no way to take the Magic's blocking tactics!

O'Neal can't keep up with Howard's pace, and it's impossible to switch defenses with Vallejo, who is still flexible, and the Magic's starting power forward is Channing. Frye, his only task on the court is to use the deterrence of his three-point shot to open up space to cooperate with Wang Chao and Howard's blocking and dismantling tactics, and O'Neal can't guard against Channing, who is always floating on the outside. Fry.

This is also the biggest dilemma faced by the giant shark in the twilight years.

The heavy and slow pace makes O'Neal a complete drag on the defensive end, and on the offensive end, he does not have the dominance of the basket in his prime, and it is even difficult to get a firm position on the inside to receive the ball.

A few rounds after the start of the game, the Magic team relied on Wang Chao and Howard's blocking and pick-and-roll cooperation, and immediately opened the score apart.

The Cavaliers' problem is not just that they can't contain the Magic's offense on the defensive end, but they also face a lot of resistance on the offensive end.

The Magic team's main defense player against James is Wang Chao, but the Cavaliers originally thought that James wanted to break through Wang Chao's defense as simple as eating and drinking, but when the two were opposed, James found that it was not that simple at all.

Wang Chao's defense is much more difficult than he imagined, at least under Wang Chao's defense, it is difficult for James to find a breakthrough in the middle and long distance, and most of the time he can only rely on his best and strongest savage breakthrough to break Wang Chao's defense.

Although Wang Chao's strength is not small, there is still a certain gap with James in terms of tonnage, and the strength and ability value of 86 itself is also at a disadvantage compared to James who is more than 90, so it is normal to not be able to prevent James's brute force breakthrough.

But Wang Chao can't guard James, it doesn't mean that Howard can't guard against it.

When Howard was at his peak, James also had to avoid the presence of his edge when he was under the basket, and when James broke through to the basket with the ball and faced Howard's defense, the offensive efficiency was naturally greatly reduced compared to weekdays.

“…… Well, it's us overthinking. Looking at the battle situation in front of him, Barkley couldn't help but shake his head and laugh helplessly. Wang Chao doesn't plan to play a 1v1 with LeBron at all, and now the game is simply 2 against 1, whether it is on the offensive end or the defensive end, the Magic team is Wang Chao and Howard teaming up against LeBron, it is true that LeBron, as the most outstanding individual player in the league, is extremely strong, but it is still too difficult to fight against a group of players in two leagues at the same time. ”

"The Cavaliers formed the Big Three for this situation, and when James was in a situation where he was at a disadvantage with one enemy and many disadvantages, the Cavaliers could have someone to step up and share the pressure for him." Kenny. Smith sighed: "But neither Shaq nor Vince obviously failed to meet expectations, not only did they have no way to help James, but also because the oversized contract caused the Cavaliers' salary space to be completely locked, and there was no way to strengthen the lineup." ”

"At the end of this season, O'Neal's big contract with an average salary of 20 million will expire until a little better. With two years left on Carter's contract and an annual salary of $18.3 million for the 11-12 season, where will the Cavaliers go after this season? ”

"It is said that James will choose to jump out of the contract to test the free market after this season, although most people think that James should stay with the Cavaliers, but there are still many teams that have freed up salary space in advance to prepare for the competition for James, if the Cavaliers fall to the Eastern Conference Finals again this season, will James really stay with the Cavaliers?"

Many Cavaliers fans listen to Kenny on TV. Smith's head was full of analysis, and his mood became heavier and heavier.

Everyone knows that the Cavaliers can't afford to lose, and James can't afford to lose anymore.

But there is such a thing as victory and defeat, which is not something that can be determined by thinking.

In the first quarter of the game, the two teams showed a completely different difference between offense and defense, and the Magic team built a double-digit lead in the first quarter of the game around the blocking and pick-and-roll tactics of Wang Chao and Howard.

At 29:18, the Cavaliers scored just 18 points in the first quarter, 11 of which came from James and shot just over 40 percent from the field.

In the second quarter, the situation became even worse with the two teams coming off the bench one after another.

Jamal. Crawford came off the bench and hit hard punches, making a series of jumps, scoring eight straight points in a few minutes and directly calling a timeout for the Cavaliers.

When James, who hadn't finished a few minutes of rest, rushed back into the game, the difference between the two teams had reached more than 20 points.

James, who re-appeared, led the team to chase the difference back to about 15 points, but before he had time to be happy, the Magic team Wang Chao hit two three-pointers from the outside, plus Howard's empty dunk on the inside line made it 2+1, and a wave easily reopened the difference to more than 20 points.

The difference in the overall strength of the two teams is quite obvious.

(End of chapter)