Chapter 313 Li Chengming tried his best, don’t blame him for losing

Author: Tiamo the Withered

Chapter 313 Li Chengming tried his best, don’t blame him for losing

It's not just the offense that's affected, but also Van Gundy's rotation formation.

The Magic were in poor shape in the first quarter, but the Green Army seized the opportunity and ended the first quarter with 29:16.

In the second quarter, Van Gundy asked Li Chengming and Lewis to play at the same time, and Turkoglu and Howard rested off the court. As a result, Li Chengming was trapped in a double team and passed the ball to Lewis several times.

At one point the point difference widened to 20 points.

Li Chengming stepped up and scored 7 points in a row to close the score, but then he received his third foul while defending and had to be replaced again.

Lewis has made 2 of 9 shots so far, 1 of 6 three-pointers, and made 2 turnovers, which can be called an undercover performance.

And the more he played, the less confident he became. In the end, he felt a little afraid to take action, even shying away from passing the ball.

In fact, for Lewis, he has been under a lot of pressure this season, not on the court, but off the court.

There is a saying that with greater ability comes greater responsibility, and in the professional arena, no matter how much salary you receive, others will also use this standard to demand your performance.

What level of players were the players who received 100 million yuan contracts before?

No matter how Lewis compares with them, he is still inferior. If Austy Smith didn't have Li Chengming's backing, he would probably be scolded by the fans after half a season of this contract.

But now all these infamy is borne by Lewis himself, and since entering the playoffs, there are actually only a handful of games where he has performed well, most of which have been mediocre, and sometimes he has been held back, like this one.

And with Li Chengming as a comparison, even when the Magic win, as long as his statistics are not very eye-catching, he will inevitably be criticized.

In a word, the Magic won, but Lewis didn't.

Lewis usually doesn't like to talk much, and his temperament seems relatively dull. He hides his thoughts and doesn't let others know. But in fact, he cares about the outside world's opinions. It can be said that public opinion can almost influence his performance sometimes.

Of course, sometimes when your personal status comes up, you can also ignore negative reviews, but this opportunity is rare.

Now he is trapped in an endless cycle of playing worse and worse, and playing worse and worse. In the end, it was clear that he had no foul trouble, no injuries, and was not tired, but Van Gundy couldn't help but look at him like this.

Take him down directly.

Even though he knows that this will further undermine his confidence, it is the Eastern Conference finals. If they win one game, they can advance. If they lose one more game, there will be one more variable. This game is still at home. If they lose, they can guarantee that they will return to the away game.

Can you win?

If we are really dragged into a 3:3 situation, then the tiebreaker will be even more difficult to say.

"The Magic took Lewis off the court. His performance in the first half was indeed very disappointing. Li Chengming and Howard failed to grasp the opportunity balls passed by the defense. And the more he behaved like this, the Green Army

We will be even more determined to shrink the inside line..."

Yang Yi said: "The current lineup of the Magic is actually as good as the Celtics. Rivers may also want to give Garnett and the others a little more rest time, but he is also afraid of being exhausted like the third game because of their final physical strength.

It’s going to be overturned, so I haven’t brought him and Ray Allen up yet.”

"But Pierce was in great shape today. He was able to maintain the offense even on the court alone in the first half..."

Pierce was not only outstanding today, he could be said to have exploded.

In just over a quarter and a half, he played 14 minutes and already made 5 of 7 shots, 4 of 4 free throws, and scored 14 points, on his way to scoring 30+ points.

And he has filled up the stat column, performing very well on both offense and defense. It can also be said to be his best half-time performance in the series so far.

This is the advantage of a multi-giant team. If you are talking about a role player, you may not be able to break out in a single game in a series, but as an All-Star level player, there will always be one or two games where you can break out.

Before it was Ray Allen, now it's Pierce's turn, and Garnett has always been in the dark.

However, he did not play much time in the first half and his efficiency was relatively average. However, today Pierce, Allen and Rondo all performed well offensively, which was enough to support the Green Army's offense.

As for the Magic, without the performance of Li Chengming and Lewis, their offense is still relatively difficult to beat. If Nelson hadn't made a small explosion today, they might have been widened again during this period.

Howard kept hitting the basket in pick-and-rolls, but the Celtics immediately pulled him down and sent him to the free throw line. He mostly made one of two free throws, which really didn't quench his thirst.

With 2 minutes left in the second quarter, Li Chengming was brought on the court again.

Van Gundy still hopes to use him to calm the situation, but he has achieved some good results.

But Li Chengming is now timid in defense, and it's useless even if he can't defend.

He also wanted to try a three-point shot like before, but he failed to score two attempts. Fortunately, Howard grabbed an offensive rebound and made a strong starting point, otherwise it would be a crime.

When Su Qun saw this, he was already not optimistic about the outcome of the Magic team's game.

He said: "The Magic team's rhythm and state in these two games were not right. I don't know if it was the Green Army that broke the key to success, or if there was something wrong with them themselves."

It is difficult to explain the game and explain it clearly. Even the coaches and players themselves may not always be able to understand the situation on the field.

Sometimes I get overtaken for no apparent reason, and I only realize it after looking at the score.

Yang Yi speculated: "I think the biggest possibility is that the Green Army has adjusted its defense against Li Chengming in these two games, and the Magic may not have adapted to how to play in this situation. In addition, Lewis is in poor condition and lacks

As an important outside firepower, the Magic's internal and external connection is not so easy to achieve.

"In addition, the Green Army's offensive status has indeed recovered, and they may really play every game as if it is their last game. Instead, they have no pressure and their performance is getting better and better."

At the end of the half, with two consecutive three-pointers from Nelson and Turkoglu, the Magic finally closed the score to 12 points, almost reaching single digits.

Li Chengming only took 7 shots in the half, hitting 4 times and scoring 11 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists.

During the halftime break, the home team's locker room seemed dull, and the atmosphere was even weirder than the previous game.

Seeing this situation, Li Chengming felt something was wrong but didn't know what he could say.

In fact, nothing you say at this time is as useful as catching up in the second half and winning the game.

If you say it but don't do it, the consequences will be even worse.

Therefore, Van Gundy could only tell everyone to pay attention and stay calm at this time, but it was difficult to say more.

I know clearly what the problem is, but even so, I worry about saying the wrong thing.

When it comes to adjusting the atmosphere, Van Gundy still has some shortcomings. There is currently no one on the Magic team who is suitable for this, which is why the current results are achieved.

After the start of the second half, the Green Army's touch declined after cooling down in the midfield. Pierce and Ray Allen began to hit the iron one after another. This allowed the Magic to seize the opportunity and play several good fast breaks, once approaching the score to ten

Within.

But Rondo began to frequently play pick-and-rolls with Perkins and Garnett. He also knew that his shooting would be the first pain point for the opponent to catch, so he paid great attention to the dribbling rhythm behind the screen and rushed in when he seized the opportunity.

The purpose of giving the opponent a chance to switch defense is to attract help from the defense to pass the ball or directly cause damage to the inside.

Because for the Green Army, the Magic's inside line is the most threatening point. Letting Lee become famous and Howard get into foul trouble is their most effective way to restrict them.

In fact, the Cavaliers have demonstrated this before, but the gap in strength is too great. Even if they limit one or two, others will burst out, and in the end they are swept by the gentlemen.

But the Greens only have one weak link defensively. As long as Lee becomes famous and Howard comes off the court, the Magic lose their inside advantage and they can easily handle the remaining players.

Of course, the Magic also knew this. Lewis chose to sacrifice himself at this time and came out to take the initiative. As a result, Rondo and Perkins stood on the free throw line and missed consecutive free throws.

Li Chengming seized this opportunity and successfully closed the score to 5 points with consecutive misplaced singles in the low post, and his personal score also reached 20 points.

Seeing this, Suqun couldn't help but said: "Even if the Magic lost this game, Li Chengming has tried his best. His personal performance is not inferior to Pierce, but if he is the only one to stand up, it will still be difficult for the Magic to win...

"
Chapter completed!