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

Chapter 402
If it is said that Howard was sent off in the first game, it is still acceptable, but it can only be said that Warcraft was a little unlucky to be caught.

Then the targeting in this game is too obvious, and even the Cavaliers are almost all body whistles.

Compared with the previous two home games, the Magic didn't benefit much. As a result, the away game became like this. Li Chengming thinks that "home is like an away game, and an away game is like a cemetery" to describe it.

Is the league trying to protect the Cavaliers?

Oh, he suddenly remembered, it seems that it is not surprising that the alliance has this idea.

Because before the official start of the Eastern Conference Finals, there were many voices who were optimistic about the Cavaliers' ability to enter the finals, which was to create momentum for "23VS24", which is the duel between James and Kobe.

The NBA is a show, and the executives definitely hope to follow their own scripts, thinking that this can maximize their benefits, even if the popularity of the Magic, Li Chengming, and Howard this season has already been proved.

At the same time, the Magic and the Lakers meet again in the finals, and if the Lakers have a chance to revenge, it will also be topical.

However, compared to Li Chengming and Howard, the league seems to care more about James of the Cavaliers. After all, he is the "son of the chosen one". The confrontation between the "two generations" is the most ideal in their minds.

In other words, when they praised James before, they had already invested too much in creating this stage, and now they have sunk costs.

Therefore, if they have the opportunity, they still hope to try again and work hard.

Thinking about it this way, if the Magic really lose this game, it is very likely to lose again in the end, which is really hard to say.

Of course, the Magic will not give up this game so easily. Everyone knows that it is better to win as soon as possible. Even the boss dare not think so lightly about buying tickets at home.

Wouldn't it be more beneficial to successfully win the championship?

At the end of the third quarter, the Cavaliers have already led by double digits. When Li Chengming and Howard are both off the court, the Magic's biggest impact is not on offense. Nelson and Lewis are in good form today, and Pietrus' three-pointer is also on the line. But the inside line completely lost the defense, which made James gouged.

James scored 13 points in a single quarter and scored another 30 points in three quarters, including 17 of 13 free throws.

On the Magic side, the team only made 16 free throws. This is the case when the number of fouls committed by both sides is actually the same, that is, they have not given them many free throws.

In the fourth quarter, Van Gundy put Li Chengming and Howard back on the court together. The two of them were troubled by fouls. They didn't play much before. fined down.

Li Chengming came up to face Joe Smith, first turned over and hit a jumper, then completed a steal, ready to launch a fast break, and immediately found that the referee's gesture was not right.

"Li Chengming fouled again. Less than half a minute into the game, Li Chengming received his fifth personal foul of the game and had to be replaced early to rest. This time he has played less than 25 minutes so far, not only He was troubled by fouls, and the time was cut into pieces. He had to be replaced as soon as he played a little bit...

"Let's take a look at this foul. It's no problem to see the foul in replay. It was indeed hit, but..."

Among the five fouls, is each one a real foul?
Just because this time is true, you can't think that the accumulated misjudgments don't exist anymore. At least two times, it shouldn't be judged from the perspective of others.

But there was nothing the referee could do about it. Although Van Gundy was very dissatisfied, he could only endure it, especially when he had already foreseen that this game would not be easy.

Fortunately, the other players on the Magic team were up to the challenge. With the Cavaliers in the lead, the referee couldn't continue giving the whistle.

And basically, the referees of this kind of game will come up and blow you first, and then blow back a little bit later when it has nothing to do with the outcome. In the end, the fouls and free throws on both sides may be similar. Many people who don’t watch the game don’t feel that There's something wrong with this one.

This is the professional field control of NBA referees, but with the high level of attention in the league, it is impossible for so many people watching the game not to see the tricks.

It's just that everyone has formed a tacit understanding. Even if they know that they are biased towards the home team at this time, as long as they consider that the Magic are leading 2:0 after all, and they still have home court advantage, this mentality can be relaxed a little bit. .

And generally speaking, unless it's an obvious black whistle, this kind of situation can only prolong the series a little bit, and it's difficult for the weaker to completely overthrow the stronger side.

By the middle of the fourth quarter, Van Gundy saw that the game was really hopeless, and began to replace all the main players one after another.

The Cavaliers, who finally returned to their home court, managed to pull back a victory.

Both Li Chengming and Howard were troubled by fouls, and they didn't play much time. Neither of them scored 20 points, but they still scored 10 rebounds and 4 blocks alone, and scored 10 assists alone. The two pairs are not bad data.

This may also be one of the reasons for the team's loss. Facing adversity and penalties, they were actually not smart enough to play. During the replay after the game, Van Gundy also reviewed himself, thinking that if he could decisively reduce physical contact, he would directly fight against the opponent. If the opponent fights against each other, maybe the effect will be good.

Because the Cavaliers' offense is actually not that difficult to defend. Most of the time the ball is concentrated on James alone. , In fact, such a thing as data has lost its original meaning.

How good was Chamberlain's statistics back then, but didn't he end up getting his head smashed in front of Lu Kai?
Not to mention, there are many things on the field that data cannot reflect, even high-level data, because of some special algorithms, it is actually a relatively subjective opinion.

The real judgment is still in terms of victory or defeat, no, you have never defeated me, but you are better than me, right?

Of course, the Magic lost this time. Even if the penalty was a big factor, they have nothing to say. If they didn't play well, they didn't play well.

When interviewed after the game, Li Chengming and others also said that they will forget this loss as soon as possible and start preparing for the next game immediately.

They also expressed strong confidence in whether they could eliminate the Cavaliers and end the series as soon as possible.

Howard also said: "The Cavaliers performed very well. They helped us bring the game back to our home court. Then we will end the battle at home."

For Magic fans, this can be regarded as a reason for them to comfort themselves a little.

Of course, there was unavoidable commotion after the game, and it was impossible for the Magic to suffer a loss without saying anything. Austin Smith asked a reporter who had a good relationship with the Magic to let out the wind, expressing that he would protest to the league. The court penalty is very dissatisfied.

Of course, the voice was loud, but there was no actual action. Otherwise, the president would be annoyed, and they would really not be able to bear it if they went too far later.

It is more important to win the series now. After this loss, it will be difficult for the league to go too far in the next game, and it may even be restrained by public opinion, so as long as they can do themselves well, there should be no problem.

On May 5, the Cavaliers' fourth game at home began.

This time the Magic came up to the head start. Li Chengming was full of firepower in the first half of the first quarter, feeling overwhelming, scored 13 points, and led the Magic to a 24-point lead at 15:9. Mike Brown called a timeout.

After the timeout, the two teams have undergone some personnel adjustments, but Li Chengming and James are both on the court. James wants to respond, but although the Magic put the winner on the offense, it is impossible to really let it go. No defense, and even adjusted the defensive tactics, no longer defending the zone defense, and directly man-to-man.

And it was Li Chengming who was staring at James, which can be regarded as putting the focus of victory and defeat on his head.

As long as he can limit James, the Cavaliers' crappy offense will be even worse, and the Magic can guarantee victory if their offense is not too hip.

James continued to look for screens to create a change of defense, but the Magic also specially guarded against this move. Li Chengming would rather give him some space for outside shots, but also squeeze through the screens to pursue, and he must not let him easily break through.

However, James' three-pointer feeling was okay. He used the cover to shoot three consecutive shots, hit two goals, and slightly recovered the score.

In this case, the Magic still did not make adjustments, and James himself seemed to miss the first shot and did not continue to try three-pointers.

As a result, he broke into the basket twice to face the "pocket" formed by Li Chengming and the shrinking Lewis. After being forced to stop the ball, he could only distribute the ball outward.

But this was in the hands of the Magic. Turkoglu made a diagonal stab to complete the steal, passed to Pietrus for a fast-break dunk, and once passed directly out of bounds, and then the Magic's positional battle was completed by Li Chengming. The final jump shot succeeded, and he scored 19 points in a single quarter.

But then Li Chengming was replaced. After discussing with him, Van Gundy decided to flexibly allocate his playing time, and after the chopping, the opponent was hard to guard against.

This may slightly affect Li Chengming's dedication to the game, but today he looks good and does not need additional adjustments on the spot, which makes Van Gundy feel more at ease and start to match casually.

Of course, after Li Chengming left the court, James handed over to Turkoglu to defend, even when there was no other way, he could let Mbah a Moute step up a little. Although the effect was not that good, the defensive strategy of the Magic was not originally It is necessary to guard against James, but to limit him while trying to cut off his connection with his teammates.

James' strongest ability is also in this area. If he really allows him to play by himself, it is acceptable for him to score [-] or [-] points. Anyway, their offensive end can respond.

As the ace of the Cavaliers, behind James' gorgeous offensive data and performance in these few games is his defensive choice that can't be seen directly.

Although it is understandable to mark a shooter like Pietrus and have the idea of ​​​​saving energy and staying on the offensive end, the problem is that he can't defend.

Pietrus hit two three-pointers in the first quarter, and scored two more in the second quarter, three of which were thrown against James' defense.

In the middle of the second quarter, Delonte West stood up and scored consecutive points. Seeing that the point difference was about to be widened, James, who seemed a little frustrated, suddenly became energetic, especially after the Cavaliers defended the Magic's offensive rounds consecutively. On the fast break end, two dunks ignited the arena, making all the Cavaliers fans cheer, as if they had won.

After Van Gundy called the timeout arrangement, the Cavaliers began to shrink their defense on Li Chengming's side, and even if Li Chengming moved to the outside, they would follow him.

As a result, Nelson suddenly broke out here. After continuous pick-and-roll breakthroughs, he used the space opened by Lewis to get to the basket and made a successful throw. Although the height is limited, the little fat man has a strong confrontation ability and can make adjustments in the air. He feels good today. .

To be precise, the Magic's overall shooting is very good today, with 55% of two-pointers and 45% of three-pointers.

But in the first three quarters, the Cavaliers have been clinging to a very important reason for the point difference. Needless to say, it is free throws.

James has made more than 15 personal free throws in two consecutive games, and has made more than 4 free throws in 10 consecutive games, and Mo Williams also "stepped forward."

And Li Chengming still has 0 free throws so far, both arms are caught red, and many blood bars are clearly visible.

Barkley couldn't help but said: "If I only watch this game, I think I can't stand it, but when I think about the last game, this game is still restrained, and I think it's pretty good..."

(End of this chapter)