Chapter 195: The New Season Begins, the First Battle of Magic
"Hello audience friends, welcome to watch the NBA2011-12 regular season brought to you by CCTV Sports Channel, the Houston Rockets vs. Orlando Magic game, I am the commentator of this game, and the guest who is commenting with me today is your old friend Coach Zhang."
"Hello everyone, I'm Director Zhang." "The NBA regular season finally began, and due to the impact of collective bargaining, the NBA did not officially resume until the end of December this season, and the regular season schedule was reduced from 82 games to 66 games. ”
"As soon as the NBA resumed, there was immediately a blockbuster news that made fans all over Huaguo feel excited, that is, Wang Chao joined the Rockets and formed a Huaguo partner with Da Yao, the pair can get together in the NBA, I don't know how many people's dreams!"
"Today is the first time that the Yao Chao combination has officially appeared on the NBA stage, and the opponents are still Wang Chao's old club and old partner, the Magic team and Howard, Director Zhang, what do you think the trend of the game will be?" Yu Gui asked.
Director Zhang implemented the consistent Yao Mi, super honey attributes, and didn't want to say: "I think the Rockets have more advantages and should be able to win this game, after all, Howard can't beat Da Yao at all, every time the two meet in the NBA, Da Yao can use superb interior offense to beat Howard powerlessly, even if Howard has three crowns in hand, has become the league's No. 1 center, and has a place in NBA history centers, but he is still not Da Yao's opponent." ”
"More importantly, how are they going to defend against Wang Chao on the outside? In the past, when the Magic team was in the Magic team, Wang Chao's offense was a headache for all teams in the league, and this problem is now troubled by the Magic team. ”
"In addition, I have a secret that many people don't know, Wang Chao is actually ready to join the Rockets after the finals, at the beginning of August, Wang Chao rented a stadium in New York for training, set up a small training camp, and invited Da Yao to practice with him, under Wang Chao's suggestion, Da Yao began to lose weight, not long ago, Da Yao has successfully lost 10 kilograms, and is currently only 131 kilograms."
"Really? No wonder I look at Da Yao, who seems to have lost a lot of weight all of a sudden, 131 kilograms is lighter than when he first entered the league. Director Yu looked suddenly enlightened, but in fact, he also knew about it, and it was just the effect of the show as Director Zhang's praise.
"After losing weight, Da Yao's mobility has improved, and now in the league after O'Neal's retirement, even the weight of 131 kilograms is still the heaviest group of players, and he still has a tonnage advantage in the face of Howard, who weighs only 120 kilograms! More importantly, weight loss can effectively avoid the pressure on Da Yao's ankle and reduce the possibility of injury. ”
As he spoke, the players of both teams on the field had already begun to appear.
When Wang Chao walked on the field, there were bursts of cheers outside the court.
"Wang Chao! Wang Chao! Wang Chao! ”
“MVP! MVP! MVP! ”
Amid the cheers of the fans, Wang Chao came to the Magic team and hugged Howard and other players one by one.
For the players of the Magic team and the vast majority of sane Magic fans, they have no hatred for Wang Chao, only thanks, Wang Chao has been with the Magic team for four years, the Magic team has entered the finals four times, and won three championship trophies, which is full of merit for the Magic team, and even if he chose to leave Orlando for various reasons, he did not pat his ass and leave, but chose to sign first and then change, bringing two star players and two first-round picks to the Magic team as bargaining chips.
Wang Chao has done enough, and if he wants to scold, the inactive management of the Magic team is obviously even more scolding.
Before the start of the game, the Magic team awarded Wang Chao the championship ring that the team won last season, and the team's general manager Smith personally presented Wang Chao with the championship ring, and then smiled and took a group photo.
But the smile on his face was quite stiff, after all, the cheers for Wang Chao were mixed with the personal attacks of many fans on him, and he already had a very strong psychological quality to be able to laugh on this occasion.
——
The game was about to begin, with the substitutes from both sides coming off the pitch and only the starters left on the field.
"Both the Rockets and Magic have very obvious changes to their lineups in the new season compared to last season."
"On the Rockets' side, the starting five Tigers are Brooks, Courtney. Li, Leonard, Chao Wang, and Da Yao. ”
"The Magic's starters are Nelson, Kevin Brown. Martin, Sharad. Lewis, Channing. Frye & Howard. ”
Da Yao and Howard came to the middle line to jump the ball, and the result was naturally no suspense, although there was an absolute advantage in height, but Da Yao, who was far inferior to Howard in terms of bounce, explosiveness and even reaction speed, lost the scrum.
Magic ball possession.
After Nelson held the ball past half court, he was a little confused for the first time.
In the past, at this time, he always handed the ball to Wang Chao, and then ran to the bottom corner and squatted, waiting for his teammates to pass the ball to him in the open position to shoot.
This has been going on for four years so long that Nelson, as a point guard, has kind of forgotten how a point guard is supposed to play.
In fact, this is also to blame for this shortened season, there are no pre-seasons, there are not many training days, and the team's new squad is not running in at all and lacks tacit understanding.
After hesitating for a moment, Nelson chose to hand the ball to the person he knew best, that is, Howard on the inside.
Howard in the bottom line position.
Howard, who received the pass, looked back at Da Yao behind him, good guy, covering the sky! He couldn't see the basket at all.
At this moment, Howard was a little apprehensive, "Do you want to pass the ball out?" Are you sure you want me to single this guy? ”
If it were a normal day, Howard might have wisely chosen to pass the ball after weighing it.
But today is different, although he also welcomed Wang Chao with a smile on his face just now, but listening to the fans chanting MVP still made Howard's heart feel a little unhappy.
He is also an important contributor to the Magic team's championship, and his contribution to the team is not inferior to Wang Chao! Now that Wang Chao has left the team, he has to prove to Orlando fans that even if there is no Wang Chao, as long as he Howard is here, the Magic team will still be a championship-level powerhouse!
This idea became the driving force for Howard's action, and he squeezed Da Yao a few times with his back with the ball, but he didn't move at all.
Even if he loses weight to 131 kilograms, Da Yao is not something that Howard, who has weak lower limbs, can move.
Finding that he couldn't squeeze Da Yao, Howard could only choose to half-turn and make a low-handed layup at the same time, trying to use his flexibility to send the basketball to the basket before Da Yao could react.
But this trick was directly recognized by Da Yao, and a big hat flew out directly to Howard for a layup.
Wang Chao was quick-eyed, picked up the rebound from one side, and rushed towards the front court the next moment.
"Team Rocket's fast break, fast, too fast! Wang Chao's fast attack speed is simply amazing, the Magic team has no time to return to defense, Lewis, who tried to risk stealing Wang Chao, was passed by one step, and there was no one in front of him to stop him, two steps to take off and dunk, ho! ”
Wang Chao ended the fast break with a James-style tomahawk slam and gave the Rockets the first place.
2:0。
As Wang Chao said, the current Magic team is simply vulnerable.
The starting point guard position is played by Kevin. Martin took over, causing Afflalo to be relegated to the bench position, but as a result, the Magic team didn't even have a single defensive player on the outside.
Although the previous Magic team also relied heavily on Howard to guard the basket to improve the quality of defense, the actual defensive ability of the outside line is not bad, Nelson is decent, Afraro and Ariza can take turns to target the opponent's outside arrows, even Wang Chao, in the case of continuous training of defensive ability, the defensive end will not lag behind.
But now? Kevin. Martin is already known as a defensive black hole, and the 32-year-old Lewis is naturally not much better defensively.
Today's Magic is really on the defensive end, and it's all supported by Howard alone.
But that's not the worst, while the dominance on the defensive end has declined, the Magic team has been affected the most, and it is indeed the offensive end that has been affected.
The Magic possessed the ball and the basketball was handed to Kevin. Martin's hands.
Martin is a good scorer, averaging 24.6 points per game for the Kings at his peak, and although he was not selected as an All-Star, he definitely has All-Star level quality in the eyes of many.
Face Courtney. Lee's defense, Martin chose to use his speed advantage to break through with the ball.
However, the two worked together for the Rockets for a season in the past, and Courtney Brown, who is known for his defense, has been known for his defense. Lee has long been familiar with Martin's technical characteristics and playing habits, and his defense is very in place, and under Lee's interference, Martin barely shot in the middle distance and missed the basket.
Looking at the basketball jumping from the basket, Howard wanted to use his mobility and bouncing explosiveness to grab the offensive rebound before Da Yao.
However, as soon as he moved, there was an extra person in front of him, grabbing the rebound in his arms before him.
Wang Chao???
Howard was a little stunned.
It's like Courtney. Lee understands Kevin. Martin, Howard also knows Wang Chao very well, the two have been partners for four years, he knows very well that although Wang Chao is 2.06 meters tall, his rebounding ability is very ordinary, even if he has improved slightly in the next two seasons, he definitely does not have such a keen sense of rebounding smell and card position.
Howard, of course, couldn't understand how exaggerated Wang Chao's progress rate was with system plug-ins and various training potions.
At present, Wang Chao has reached 90 defensive rebounds and 89 card positions, which is already a good level in the league.
Of course, both of Howard's values may already be 99 full value, if not at least not below 97.
But Wang Chao also has a natural skill that focuses on competing for rebounds - a rebounding maniac.
Although the name of the talent is a bit funny, the effect is real.
With the blessing of natural skills, Wang Chao may still be suppressed by Howard, who comprehensively suppresses himself in the height and arm span tonnage of 1v1, but when Howard's main opponent is Da Yao, he can still protect most of the defensive rebounds before the opponent.
The Rockets attacked, Wang Chao dribbled directly across the half court, and then hoisted the ball to Da Yao, who stood in a fixed position on the inside and raised his hand to ask for the ball.
At this time, the Rockets, like the Magic, can shoot three-pointers at the other four positions on the court, and the Magic team has to defend all to the outside, leaving only Da Yao and Howard 1v1 heads-up on the inside...... That's easy to say.
Da Yao, who held the ball high in one hand, easily pinched Howard, and made a sideways jump shot, Howard couldn't reach it at all, so he could only watch Da Yao send the basketball into the basket with a soft hand.
4:0。
——
"I didn't expect that the defending champion and three-time champion Magic team was powerless in the face of the Rockets."
The Chinese audience sitting in front of the TV watched this scene excitedly.
"Isn't that a matter of course? What is the Magic team without Wang Chao? Who can lead the team as the offensive core? Howard? Let's wait until he can pass the Da Yao level! ”
"Brother Chao is awesome, wherever he goes, he is a strong team! NB! ”
"Rush rush! Rocket Championship! ”
Less than minutes after the game began, the Magic called a timeout.
As soon as the Rockets opened, they directly launched a wave of 12:4 offensive waves, which gave the Magic team a hammer that could not find north.
The defense can't be defended, the offense can't be attacked, and if you don't make tactical adjustments, you won't have to play much in the next game.
The Magic made changes to the roster after the timeout.
Afflalo came on to replace Lewis, and at the same time, Howard and Da Yao began to change their tactical play, avoiding head-on confrontation with Da Yao inside, and instead used his mobility advantage to block and cover for his teammates on the outside.
It worked well.
Afflalo's wing ability can help the team lock up a lot of the Rockets' outside projection offense, and when Da Yao is attacking with the ball inside, he can also use his mobility to form a trap with Howard on Da Yao, forcing Da Yao to lose the ball on offense.
And Howard's change of playing style to the mobile play of blocking and dismantling cover also made Da Yao a little tired on the field, which is Da Yao's shortcoming, while the lack of mobility, physical fitness is also a big problem, even if he has lost weight, there is no way to cover up the shortcomings.
"Interesting, still playing this set, does the Magic still have players who can support the outside shooting offense?"
The corners of Wang Chao's mouth hooked slightly.
Taking advantage of the dead ball time of the free throw, Wang Chao signaled the head coach to replace Da Yao, who couldn't keep up with Howard's footsteps, and replaced him with Jordan. Hill, while Brooks also came off the court, leaving Korver on the floor.
"It's a bit strange for the Rockets to have a lineup on the court right now, and the guard is Courtney. Lee and Kyle. Korver, both of whom are shooting guards, there are no point guards in the team, and they have replaced Da Yao, and now the first quarter of the game is less than 5 minutes old, what do they want to do? ”
Director Zhang was a little confused.
But right away he figured out what Team Rocket had in mind.
The Rockets have the ball, and the ball is directly in the hands of Wang Chao.
Looking at Wang Chao, who was slowly holding the ball over half the court, Director Zhang suddenly realized.
"I see, the Rockets are planning to let Wang Chao play a temporary cameo at point guard, and the Magic's point forward tactics!"
(End of chapter)