Chapter 269 Bottoming out

Author: Tiamo the Withered

Chapter 269 Bottoming out

I don’t know if it’s bottoming out, but James’ performance today is obviously much better than in the previous four games. Although the three-pointer from outside is still inaccurate - the previous 3-for-5 was more like eating dumplings, but he passed frequently.

Breaking through to score points or causing damage also really helped the team stabilize the situation.

As the saying goes, one learns from every experience and has gone through four games. If James can't make any progress, then he won't be where he is today.

Although the adjustment seems to have come a little late now, it has really caused a lot of trouble for the Magic. Turkoglu, who has been used to his previous performance, feels that his defense is particularly difficult today.

Cavaliers fans were undoubtedly very excited when they saw this scene, because it means that James can finally stand up, and he can play so anxiously with his opponent at the Magic's home court. If he continues, he will really hope to win.

But in fact, the hidden dangers have gradually accumulated. For example, the teammates performed well before, but James, the core player, did not play well, and as a result, he failed to seize the best opportunity; now that he is getting better, teammates

On the contrary, it wasn't working anymore, and I couldn't give him any more help.

If it weren't for the good defensive end, which somewhat limited the Magic's offensive ball movement and prevented their offense from going too smoothly, they should be even further behind now.

James also played the entire first quarter. After Turkoglu came off the field, Li Chengming did not come up to defend him. He faced defenders such as Bogans. This is also the reason for his good performance.

At the beginning of the second quarter, the Magic had Turkoglu and Lewis led the bench, and the Cavaliers also had no one who could match Turkoglu.

Although when the two are on the court at the same time, James does not actually focus on guarding the Turks who are supposed to be facing each other, but he will still create some threats to assist defense and cooperate with the inside defense to restrict him.

And on the offensive end, he can constantly consume his opponents. Turkoglu's statistics in this series are not impressive, and he can only rank fourth in the team. This is partly because he concentrates on defending against James.

But after James comes off the court, the Cavaliers' wings really can't pose much of a threat to Turkoglu, so he doesn't have to spend too much energy on the defensive end, and there's no one who can match him offensively, so he's completely liberated.

.

This is another hidden danger, that is, the Cavaliers still have too few players who can play.

It is undeniable that other players have performed well in the past, but their functionality is too strong and their independent offense is limited. This is destined to make them break out in one or two games, but they cannot sustain it in the long run.

It would be fine if James could cover the bottom, but if he couldn't, it would be useless even if he broke out once a game. After all, the Magic are not like the Wizards, and their offense is not so easy to restrict.

The first four games of the series basically followed this pattern, but in this game, no one else could stand up.

They were able to keep up with each other when they were the main players, but when they entered the substitute rotation stage, the Cavaliers' offense stagnated for a moment.

Daniel Gibson averaged 10.4 points per game in the regular season with a 40% three-point shooting rate. He was the Cavaliers' first scoring point off the bench. In the first round, this number was more than 9 points, but after entering this series,

From then on, Gibson basically became useless.

I can't defend, I can't defend, I can't make a shot, it's like I suddenly lost my shooting bag.

This is due to personal status and mentality, and it is also inseparable from the Magic's defense. In particular, Howard's defensive area can ensure that he can interfere with the Cavaliers' outside shooting in a timely manner, which is a fatal blow to a shooter like Gibson.

So although from a statistical perspective, Li Chengming is the Magic's best performer in this series, but if you look deeper, Howard's defense is the foundation of everything.

Just like Howard was too disturbed in the last game, the Magic's defensive system almost collapsed. Even if Li Chengming could still perform personally, the game could not be saved.

At this stage when Lee became famous and Howard was not on the court for the time being, Turkoglu brought Lewis, Arroyo, Dulin and Garrity, which was equivalent to bringing four three-point shooters at the same time, and then basically relied on his

A breakthrough would leave the Cavaliers stretched thin and unable to defend themselves.

Both focus on breakthrough points. The big difference between Turkoglu and James lies in their breakthrough methods.

James is a pure tank breakthrough, the kind that can defeat ten players with one force, but when he encounters an opponent who is worthy of him in terms of strength and physique, especially when there is a powerful center inside guarding the penalty area, James' breakthrough threat is really important.

Halved; while Turkoglu followed a rhythmic path, not fast, and the impact was not strong, but he could always break in after going round and round.

It's just that this requires him to focus entirely on personal offense, and he will slack off on defense.

This is actually a major change that Van Gundy made in this game, which is to simply let Turkoglu and James stagger the time as much as possible, let him concentrate on attacking, and not pay too much attention to the defense of James, completely liberating him.

Because after a few games, he felt that James' personal offense was not as terrible as the outside world exaggerated, and it was unlikely that he could kill anyone. It would be better to relax his defense and limit his connection with his teammates.

Compared to the Cavaliers, who would rather leave the outside open but definitely attack Li Chengming or Howard, the Magic did not have the defensive intensity they had against James in the previous games.

It has to be said that this is also the underlying reason why James seems to have exploded.

His poor three-point shooting is also because it is a catch-and-shoot, but the Magic always pay attention to interference from the outside. With James' shooting, it is indeed too difficult for him to ignore interference and score.

The Magic can always ensure that there is a core on the court who can dominate the ball and can use their own personal offense to open up situations when necessary. This is what the current Cavaliers lack and what James desires most.

Of course, the Magic's "five outside" lineup also has a big flaw, that is, the defensive end is not strong enough, especially the inside line that is easily penetrated by opponents.

But the Cavaliers' inside combination at this time is Varejao and Wallace. Wallace has almost no offense, and Varejao can only eat the cake, unable to seize the Magic's pain points.

After three and a half minutes passed, the Magic relied on rotation to open the score to 7 points. Mike Brown had to call a timeout, and then after the timeout, he was ready to bring Big Z up first.

But the Magic have already replaced Turkoglu and replaced Howard and Nelson back on the court.

The Cavaliers had to return to their previous inside double-teaming strategy. As a result, Lewis and Nelson got shooting opportunities one after another from the outside. Both of them seized the open three-pointers from the outside and actually extended the flow to 14:7. The score

At 25:36, the Cavaliers had to call a second timeout within two minutes.

And this timeout actually has no other arrangement, just to bring James up.

This is really solid. In fact, the head coach only knows the joke of "playing James", but the Cavaliers have indeed suffered from James' dependence. He seems to not know how to play as soon as he comes off the court. It was fine before, but this time

The situation is particularly serious.

It seems that as soon as James finishes playing, everyone is ready to watch him play.

But I have to say that it was really effective at this time, because the Magic temporarily replaced Turkoglu to rest, and Bogans was leading the defense against James on the court.

As a result, facing James' breakthrough, Bogans could only pay two fouls in a short period of time, which also allowed him to achieve a 2+1.

When Howard is pulled out by Big Z, it will take time to return to defense. Therefore, if the outside leader fails to slow down James first and let him keep sprinting, Howard will not be able to catch up in time.

At this time, the Cavaliers' double-teaming of Howard and timely cutting of Howard also achieved results. Not only did they disrupt the Magic's offensive rhythm, they also forced Howard to make mistakes and gain opportunities to switch offenses. This is even more important.

James's strength.

As soon as there is a chance for a fast break, this "big boy" who is more than two meters and more than two hundred pounds can run faster than the 1.8-meter guard...

He just wants to score, what's wrong with him?

By the time Li Chengming and Turkoglu came on the court again, the Cavaliers had caught up to only 5 points.

However, Van Gundy didn't seem to be in a hurry about this, and he still arranged his troops according to this established plan.

Now, only the referee's whistle is likely to disrupt his rotation plan.

As soon as Li Chengming and others came on the court, the Magic regained stability.

In the last two minutes of the half, Turkoglu gathered enough energy to defend James again. Howard was eyeing the inside and Li Chengming was on standby on the wing. The Magic returned to its previous defensive rhythm.

As a result, James immediately misfired, not because he was completely guarded, but because he stopped attacking and handed the ball to West. He would either wait for opportunities on the side, and occasionally cut and run without the ball.

With James's weight, it is of course impossible to expect him to keep moving like a shooter. Moreover, the playing style of forward players is different from that of defenders. They use screens to cut through the air or cut inside to the basket, which is the average forward.

The normal way to open this position.

It's just that there are three-position players like Bird, Pippen, and James who have outstanding personal abilities and have surpassed the position itself. If they are limited to their inherent play style, it will be a waste of resources.

Although West's performance in this series has also been ups and downs, he is definitely worth the money, and even if you only look at the defense, he has made a positive contribution.

With a height of 1.9 meters to defend Turkoglu who is 2.08 meters tall, what else can be asked of him?

And when James gives up the main offensive right, he still has to shoulder the burden of organization at any time, otherwise it will be like "I James attracts defense, and I can't beat my teammate Sibby in four-on-five."

His shooting status today is actually average, but his breakthrough power is very lethal, also because he rushes very resolutely, and with his quick first step, there is no one on the Magic team who can keep up.

In fact, the Magic are afraid of this kind of speedy defender, and even Howard can't completely restrain him.

It's just that West's personal abilities are limited. If he had been replaced by Parker, the result would probably be completely different.

Relying on West's breakthrough and consecutive kills, the Cavaliers still did not allow the Magic to open up the point difference before halftime.

In the last round before the end of the second quarter, relying on the connection between West and James, James got a dunk opportunity. Seeing that there was nothing he could do, Li Chengming did not cover up to allow him to create a dunk to avoid being outdone.

At halftime, the score between the two teams was 42:48.

The Magic still retain a small 6-point lead, and this deficit is completely acceptable to the Cavaliers on the road.

Judging from the first half of the game, the Magic played with ease. No matter it was Howard, Li Chengming or Turkoglu, they did not exert any special force, but they could play for a while when they were supposed to play.

Therefore, the Magic team's half-time scoring was relatively average. Li Chengming scored 11 points on 4 of 6 shots, Howard had 7 points and 7 rebounds, Turkoglu scored 9 points, 3 rebounds and 5 assists on 3 of 6 shots. Lewis took the most shots, with 8

He made only 3 shots and 2 of 5 three-pointers, scoring 8 points.

As for the Cavaliers, apart from James who scored 20 points in the half on 7-for-13 shooting, only West scored in double figures.

And both of them had a lot of free throws. Although this was related to their many breakthrough kills, it still made many home fans dissatisfied. When West stepped to the free throw line at the end of the second quarter, the home team had thought of it more than once.

Shouts of "REF SUCKS".

As the home court, it does not enjoy the treatment it deserves as a home court. Is this reasonable?

So it was not just Li Chengming who was dissatisfied. Howard and other teammates and the coaching staff headed by Van Gundy also put pressure on the referee many times.

I believe that as long as the league had not issued a death guarantee for the mission, such a situation would not happen again in the second half.

The fifteen-minute half-time break seemed quite long, but in fact it was over in a flash.

Before the second half of the game officially begins, the CCTV live broadcast room is also in progress with a summary of the first half and an outlook for the second half.

Sun Zheng mentioned the topic of "James vs. the Magic's Big Four", which was actually promoted by many local media in the United States before the game.
To be continued...