Relying on the shark-cutting tactics, the Wizards slowly recovered the point difference.

But such pursuit of points does not come without any cost.

Almost every player on the Wizards picked up three to four fouls.

A large number of free throws did not make Howard's feel better. On the contrary, after being frequently sent to the free throw line, Howard's own mentality seemed to have some fluctuations, and his free throws became more inaccurate.

Seeing this situation, Van Gundy decisively took Howard off the game. On the one hand, he wanted to avoid his sharp edge and ease Howard's irritable mood. On the other hand, the game had already entered the second half of the third quarter, and Van Gundy wanted to take Howard off the game to recover.

In terms of physical fitness, he will not appear again until the fourth quarter of the game.

No matter what, when Howard came off the court, the pressure on the Wizards suddenly doubled.

A large part of the Magic's strong defense is based on Howard's interior defense system. Once Howard comes off the court and there is no one inside who can support the whole team, there will be holes in the Magic's defensive front.

Seeing this situation, Wang Xiao made a decisive decision and immediately put Jamison at the center position, forming a small five-death lineup of Curry, Harden, Danny Green, Butler and Jamison.

After several months of practice and training, this five-death lineup has gradually taken shape. Once placed on the field, the lethality is definitely nuclear weapons level!

However, like nuclear weapons, although this lineup is very lethal, it also has a very deadly double-edged sword.

In terms of offensive ability, this Death Five lineup is not inferior to the Death Five lineup of the future Warriors, and is even better. After all, Green's scoring ability is definitely not comparable to Jamison's.

But in terms of defensive ability, the Wizards' five-year-old team is really average, especially in the paint. The inside combination of Jamison and Butler not only has no defense, but its ability to protect rebounds is indescribably weak.

For the Magic, Howard was replaced by Polish Hammer Gortat, a big man with great potential who will make a fortune in the Suns in the future.

But now, Gortat is just Howard's backup with the Magic, and his average waiting time per game is only about 14 minutes.

It is such a substitute center who averages 14 minutes per game and can only score 3.6 points and 4 rebounds. When facing the Wizards' five-small lineup, he has the illusion of a super center.

The Magic team attacked. Vince Carter broke through and missed a pull-up shot. Gortat pulled up and grabbed the rebound, and then tried to make a tip-in. Upon seeing this, Jamison immediately stepped forward to interfere. Gortat's tip-in was interfered with and missed.

Out, but then Gortat pulled up again, put the rebound in his arms, and then passed it to Lewis on the outside.

Lewis made a three-point shot from the outside, but it still didn't work. Gortat jumped up and picked up the rebound again.

This time he finally found the right opportunity, suddenly pulled up the basketball and dunked it into the basket domineeringly.

"Drink!!!"

Gortat roared domineeringly after completing the slam dunk, and he actually felt very happy.

He has been playing in the NBA for three years, and this is the first time he has played so well. The opponent's inside line seems to be completely non-confrontational. Although it is just an offense, he still has the same feeling as Howard.

However, before his celebration was completed, he turned around and found that there was no player around him.

The Wizards have completed the baseline serve, and all five players have rushed towards the frontcourt!

Gortat is not Howard after all. He does not have the explosive speed of a guard like Howard.

Half of the quick attack came in an instant.

Harden took the ball and hit the basket, then distributed the ball to the outside. Jamison shot from outside the three-point line.

"Brush!" the basketball responded and hit the net.

Van Gundy's face looked a little ugly on the sidelines.

This kid really dares to do this!

Being experienced, he could naturally see the flaws of Wang Xiao's lineup at a glance. It lacked absolute height inside, and any center could easily penetrate the Wizards' inside line.

Wang Xiao dared to put this lineup on the court, which was simply a provocation to him, and he was targeting the gap where Howard could not play.

"Slow down the offensive pace, play steadily, and let Gortat participate in the offense more!"

Van Gundy shouted from the sidelines.

At the same time, Van Gundy couldn't help but feel a sense of admiration for the young man on the other side of the court who was silently watching the situation on the court with his hands on his hips.

During this time, he had heard a lot about this young coach who was only in his early thirties. Today's match was a well-deserved reputation. His quick adaptability on the court alone was an essential element for a good head coach.

"However, if you want to win this game, these little tricks alone are not enough!"

…

At the end of the third quarter, using the powerful offensive capabilities of the five small lineups of death, the Wizards successfully completed the lead, going from being behind by more than ten points to leading by two points.

However, when the fourth quarter started, the situation on the court immediately changed dramatically.

First of all, Howard came back, rested for half the game, and was holding back his anger. As soon as Howard came on the court, he gave the Wizards a powerful blow.

Facing Curry who used the pick-and-roll to rush into the paint, Howard directly sent a volleyball smash block and slapped the basketball out of the court.

Not only Howard, after the start of the fourth quarter, the defensive intensity of the entire Magic team seemed to rise to a higher level. In the first 2 minutes, the Wizards did not score a single point. On the contrary, Howard made 4 of 10 free throws for the Magic team.

Overtaken the score again.

Is this the defensive quality of last year's Eastern Conference championship team?

Even standing on the sidelines, Wang Xiao could feel the almost suffocating defensive pressure.

This is completely different from watching it in front of the TV before.

If the Magic is like this, what will the Celtics do with a stronger defense?

Wang Xiao remembers clearly that the Magic faced the Celtics in the second round of the playoffs this year and were eliminated 4:2.

The reason why the Magic were able to defeat the Celtics last year was also due to the Celtics' main player Garnett being unable to play due to injury.

…

On the court, the Wizards' foul tactics were a little slow. Lewis received the pass and made a pull-up shot from outside the three-point line. The basketball responded and the point difference was once again widened to five points.

Wang Xiao called a timeout without hesitation and called Curry over at the same time.

"Stephen, next, I want to hand over the game to you. You don't need to wait for an open position to shoot, and you don't need to take into account other players. All you need to do is to send the basketball to the ball no matter what method you use.

Get into the basket."

The Wizards' disadvantage when facing the Magic is the restraint in tactics and lineup. If they want to break this restraint, they can only rely on the performance of their superstars.

In fact, the reason why the Magic can have the upper hand in the game relies on the performance of Howard, the superstar?

Wang Xiao knows that it is still too early to let Curry take on such an important task. Although he has been systematically trained with a large number of training bonuses, he is still not the unbeatable late-blooming Ku Ritian in the future.

But after playing against the Magic, Wang Xiao understood that the current tactical system of the Wizards was still not good enough when facing strong teams such as the Magic, Celtics, and Spurs.
Chapter completed!