After the confession failed, I went to the NBA to play and lose weight

Chapter 227
In the end, after some discussion, the coaching staff decided to ensure the safe transition of players to the playoffs as the top priority.

Although at this time they still need to continue to compete with the Celtics for the No. [-] position in the regular season to ensure their home court advantage in the playoffs, but the most important issue for the team right now is the performance in the playoffs.

It is also because the previous incident with the Mavericks reminded many teams, making them truly realize that the regular season and the playoffs are two different things.

Sometimes it is important to choose an opponent, and in the regular season, it is also important to ensure that the team enters the state of the playoffs.

This is especially true for a team with a young core like the Magic, especially Li Chengming, an important force who has not played in the playoffs so far, and Howard entered the playoffs last season but was swept out. It's not going anywhere.

In this case, the importance of first and second in the regular season to them is far less important than going further in the playoffs.

This is not only the thinking of the coaching staff, but also the thinking of the players, fans, and even the management.

The main reason is that their team is too young, so young that they feel that there are infinite possibilities. If there is no record this season, they can continue to strive for it next season.

On the contrary, the opportunity for the playoffs is too important for these young players. It is very important to have more opportunities to exercise and accumulate more experience.

Of course, it is still necessary to strive for the record. The purpose of the coaching staff is not to give up the regular season, but to keep the record as much as possible under the premise of training and avoiding injuries. It is good to be able to keep the first place. Dismounting is also acceptable.

This is also Van Gundy, as a mature head coach, who knows how to make trade-offs.

Of course, the NBA is a place where anything can happen. In the end, the record is gone, the training effect is not achieved, and the playoff performance is not good. The situation of all four is also possible.

If that's the case, then they are unlucky, and their skills are not as good as others, but there is nothing to say.

So in the next step, the Magic began to enter the stage of lineup adjustment trial and error and personnel rotation.

In this regard, the Spurs can be regarded as a good example, especially as a team with more veterans. In a long season, the Spurs were able to achieve a good record in the regular season while maintaining their place in the playoffs. Competitiveness.

The Spurs have definitely been the most competitive team in the West in recent years, including this year, because last year's championship lineup has not been dismantled, and their core remains.

Of course, retaining the lineup is not necessarily a good thing, and proper reinforcement is still needed, but in the case of San Antonio, it is already remarkable if it can not change.

According to the inference of the outside world, the Spurs are still the most competitive team to enter the playoffs. Teams like the Hornets are too young to enter the playoffs to pose a threat to the powerful players, while the Jazz, Kings, Teams like Houston have long proven in the past that their upper limit can be expected.

On the contrary, the Lakers performed gratifyingly in the second half of the regular season.

Of course, the current record in the entire league is neither the Celtics, Magic, nor the Lakers and Spurs, but the Houston team.

So far they have played an astonishing 22-game winning streak, which is also the longest winning streak in the entire NBA history after the Lakers' 33-game winning streak during the "SHOW TIME" period.

Before starting the journey of 22 consecutive victories, the team only achieved a record of 20 wins and 19 losses, ranking tenth in the Western Conference.

But after Dayao blasted the Warriors inside, Houston embarked on an amazing space journey.

They don't rely on any one person, but on everyone on the team. During this winning streak, they are all soldiers, whether it is Dayao, Tracy McGrady, Scola, Landry, Battier, etc. , Alstom and others have played.

Even Dayao and McGrady, who are the leading stars, one was reimbursed for the season due to injuries when the winning streak was interrupted, and the other played intermittently due to injuries, and their performance also fluctuated. But even in this situation, Houston still showed With amazing tenacity, the winning streak has been continued.

To be honest, this is a legend that belongs to the common people.

However, there is always a curtain call for legends. This time they met the Celtics, who were competing with the Magic for the number one spot in the Eastern Conference, but they were defeated at home by the Celtics, who played back-to-back away games.

This wave of victories began with Dayao's power, and ended with the rampage of the Green Army in the interior.

Both Alstom and McGrady performed poorly in this game, and Scola couldn't stop Garnett. In the end, their winning streak was fixed at 22, although this is already the second longest winning streak in the long history of the NBA. up.

Of course, in the eyes of many people, they were hanging on with one breath, and now that they have vented their breath, it is hard to say what will happen afterwards.

After all, after 22 consecutive victories, Houston is still only ranked fifth in the West. This is not only because their previous record is too far behind, it is also related to the fierce competition in the West, especially the four teams in the upper half. Even now, there is no way to say who is most likely to emerge from the West.

Both have weaknesses, and both have possibilities.

As for the Magic, after the coaching staff decided on a rest strategy, they nearly overturned in their first game.

But this is not because of the lack of people, even this is the last game scheduled to be played by all players. As a result, Howard fell into foul trouble. Five offenders, had to rest.

The whole game has not played 25 minutes, which is more or less deliberately targeted.

The absence of Howard not only caused the Magic's defense to collapse, but the inside and pick-and-roll offense also weakened the threat to a certain extent, especially the opponent can rest assured to double-team Li Chengming. Shooters can't get good open shots.

But in this way, Turkoglu has been given a lot of opportunities. He has fully recovered since his return from injury, and the game feels like it is time for an explosion.

In the third quarter, Turkoglu relied on the cover provided by Li Chengming to frequently go to the basket and cause damage. Once the opponent relaxed a little, he would shoot directly from the outside. In a single quarter, he made 5 of 4 three-pointers and 8 free throws. 7 scored 21 points.

In the end, relying on Turkoglu's 41-point burst and Li Chengming's steady performance of 18 points, 11 rebounds and 7 assists, the Magic refused to capsize in the gutter and continued their winning streak.

Howard, who scored less than 5 points in this game, was of course very depressed, but this also happened to give Van Gundy the opportunity to talk to him about the rotation.

Speaking of which, Howard has maintained full attendance so far this season, which has to be said to be a rare thing.

What's even more rare is that in the past four seasons including this season, Howard has maintained full attendance, and even only played once off the bench.

It is obviously not so easy to persuade him to rest under such circumstances. After all, not to mention his importance to the team, this itself is also a very special thing for him.

If you can maintain full attendance, maybe you can also create a special record?
(End of this chapter)