Cold reception(22)

Author: Tiamo the Withered

Cold reception(22)

The Magic's opponent in the second game of the regular season is the Pistons from the Motor City.

In 2004 and 2005, the Pistons entered the finals for two consecutive years and defeated the Lakers in 2004 to win the championship.

Last season, they also achieved an excellent record of first place in the Eastern Conference in the regular season, but lost to the Cavaliers in the end.

This season they have the potential to make a comeback, with a good lineup. Billups has renewed his contract, and the other "Four Tigers" who won the championship are still retained. This season, there are also rookies Stuckey and Afflalo who the management is more optimistic about. Although there are no

An absolute strong point, but the average strength of the players is very strong, and they have a tacit understanding of running in for many years. They can be regarded as a strong enemy of the Magic.

The Magic were indeed defeated in this game. Bogans made all four three-pointers and Lewis also frequently hit the paint and scored 10 free throws. However, Turkoglu and Howard performed poorly and the team fell behind in the first half.

9 points behind.

In the third quarter, they once hoped to catch up with the point difference, but they made consecutive mistakes. This was largely due to the pressure from the Pistons.

The Pistons' style of play has always been very iconic. They are the representative team of iron-blooded defense in the league, and they are not "iron-blooded" like Li Cheng's famous iron-blooded big jumper. Their championship season truly demonstrated what it means to be a true "defense wins totals".

champion".

Of course, defense will also affect the viewing experience to a certain extent. Later, the finals against the Spurs were considered "the ugliest finals ever", and the ratings were so low that the league president wanted to fire both teams.

In this game, their restrictions on Howard were in place. Not only was Howard inefficient, he even committed 5 fouls. If he hadn't been knocked off the field early in the fourth quarter, he might have been ejected.

This is still the home court of the Magic, and there is no influence from the home whistle. It can be seen that Howard was really blown away. The combination of Wallace and McDyess, who were facing diarrhea, effectively scored 28 points and 14 rebounds.

Got 8 fouls.

In fact, the Pistons mainly won on the back line. Hamilton was out due to injury. Billups and rookie Afflalo performed well. Substitute Ronald Murray even got the highest score in the team.

19 points.

Six Pistons scored in double figures, and their scoring points were very average.

In the middle, Van Gundy once set his sights on Li Chengming and seemed to plan to let him play. Because Lewis' defense against Wallace was not effective, the Pistons frequently attacked the inside to cause damage, and Lewis could not give Howard much help.

But thinking about Li Chengming's appearance, I'm afraid there won't be any changes, and even because he has no experience, he may be tricked by an experienced player like Lu, so forget it.

Then Li Chengming played in garbage time again. The difference is that he played garbage time played by his own team, and this time it was garbage time played by his opponent.

Already trailing by more than 20 points in the middle of the fourth quarter, the Magic barely scored in five minutes. Van Gundy was very dissatisfied and helpless, so he had no choice but to replace the starters directly.

Li Chengming played only 6 minutes in the fourth quarter this time, and still only scored 7 points, but he also had 5 rebounds and 4 assists. Twice, he got rebounds and directed long passes from the quarterback to assist his teammates for layups. In the sixth

In minutes, he led the team to a score of 17:9.

Unfortunately, the main force dug too big a hole in front of them, and ultimately lost by 13 points.

When Li Chengming led the team to chase points, the fans were still very excited and almost thought they could create a miracle.

This game was the home court of the Magic. Compared with the previous game, it was like heaven and hell, ice and fire.

After the game, some fans expressed their dissatisfaction, thinking that the head coach "surrendered" too quickly and too early, and also why he didn't become famous in the morning.

Fans are like this, they don't care that Li Chengming is actually facing a substitute from the Pistons, and his opponent is much ahead and is obviously playing more relaxed, as they are training.

Of course, with this performance, Li Chengming has been remembered by many home fans. This is probably his only relief.

After all, the team lost, and Li Chengming didn't feel good no matter how good his performance was, and he felt that the coach seemed to be targeting him.

For two consecutive games, he has only played a marginal role. Although he can be on the team's roster and can play in every game, this situation is obviously for those domestic fans and media who have high expectations for Li Chengming.

Unpleasant to see.

Of course, they can continue to look at it.

There is actually a reason why Van Gundy dropped the main team early, because they had to play a back-to-back game in the past two days. They were not allowed to rest on the second day and had to fly directly to the capital to challenge the Wizards.

The Wizards were considered by many to be ahead of the Magic during the offseason because their paper lineup was more luxurious than the Magic's.

The combination of Agent 0 Arenas, Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison, three 20+ scorers, is rare in the entire league, let alone the Eastern Conference.

They were swept out by the Cavaliers in the first round of the playoffs last season because they eliminated two out of three, leaving only Jamison to take the lead. Then Jamison averaged 30+ per game but was unable to lead the team to a victory.

.

Arenas has been promoted to the top three scorers in the league in the past three seasons, and his popularity is comparable to that of Kobe Bryant. However, the injury in April brought everything to an abrupt end.

It seemed okay, but 1 of 8 three-pointers in the first game and a 26% shooting percentage in the second game still made people question his status.

Moreover, in this game, the Wizards and the Magic were actually back-to-back. The difference was that they first played away to Boston and were defeated by a big score, and then returned home to face the challenge of the Magic.

Both sides are in the same boat. The Magic don't want to lose in a row, and the Wizards don't want to lose three in a row. However, both sides seem to be affected by the back-to-back situation. The offensive efficiency in the first quarter was not good, and it didn't improve slightly until the substitutes came on.

Li Chengming was substituted in the 10th minute of the first quarter and played the third position, making fixed shooting spots on the wing.

This was the first time in the regular season that he appeared in the first quarter of the rotation. He thought the coach was rewarding him for his efforts, but after a few rounds, he turned around and emo'd again.

Except when serving, he never touched the ball at all.

Arroyo was on a truce today. During the substitute period, Dulin controlled the ball and played with it by himself. Except for some cooperation with Howard, he never saw anyone else.

Neither side scored much, and the Magic temporarily led by 1 point at 19:18.

Van Gundy probably also discovered this problem, so in the second quarter, he replaced Li Chengming again and let Turkoglu come on. The Turk was in good form this time, shooting from inside and outside, and the team's offense was also improved.

Connected in series.

Under his leadership, the Magic went on a 9-3 run, and the Wizards immediately called a timeout.

Arenas' efficiency was still not high today. He missed a shot from beyond the three-point line, failed to get a foul when he broke into the penalty area, and made continuous passing mistakes. His mentality was a little anxious.

Wizards head coach Eddie Jordan originally arranged for him to lead the team in the second quarter, but unexpectedly he was directly overwhelmed by Turkoglu.

Seeing him being substituted, his face was full of displeasure. The on-site commentator also lamented that Arenas may still be affected by the injury and has not fully recovered. After all, he had scored like a man in the past and was not old, so how could he suddenly do it all at once?

It's fallen so much.

One or two games can be said to be a personal condition, but three games in a row must be a physical problem.

It's just that Arenas has a strong personality and he won't show it.

However, on the bench of the Magic team, Li Chengming heard it but thought it was nothing. No matter it was an injury or some other reason, at least there was a chance for him to find some form. He couldn't even play, which was depressing.

When will I be able to kill everyone on the court like Dwight?
Chapter completed!