NBA: I am the god of basketball

Chapter 134 The end of the season, 67 victories against the Magic

The strength of the Magic's schedule after the All-Stars has been significantly improved compared to before the All-Stars. Most of the weak teams in the league encountered in the first half of the schedule will have to be exchanged for all of them in the second half of the schedule.

In the remaining 2 games of the two-month schedule from mid-February to mid-April, the Magic will play against several strong teams in the East, such as the Celtics, Cavaliers, Eagles and Heat twice each.

Although the two regular season matches of the Lakers in the Western Conference have all ended, they still have to play against the Nuggets, Hornets, Rockets, Mavericks, Jazz and other teams with 50 wins in the regular season.

Adding up the above teams, the total number of games has reached 13, accounting for 42% of the remaining schedule. In addition, a large part of these games are away games, so the difficulty can be imagined.

The Magic want to keep the current No. [-] record in the league, but behind him are the Cavaliers and Celtics who are persistently chasing after him. It is false to say that there is no pressure.

Before the trade deadline after the All-Star break, many teams in the league also made major trade signings to prepare for the final sprint of the regular season.

The Miami Heat then sent Shawn Marion and other players to get Jermaine O'Neal and Jamario Moon through a three-way deal.

The Suns chose to trade Diaw, Raja Bell and others to the Bobcats before the start of the All-Star Weekend, in exchange for the dunk king Jason Richardson.

Compared with the various big trades before and after the All-Star last season that could shake the league, the trade deadline of the 08-09 season can be described as calm, and the Heat's trade is still a bit more dynamic.

This is mainly because the lineup structure of the league's top teams this season has been relatively reasonable.

Just like the current Magic team, the record ranks first in the league, and the internal and external dual-core super-magic combination complements each other. There is absolutely no need to do any large-scale transactions to destroy the existing good chemical reaction.

And the Los Angeles Lakers, the leader of the West, also achieved a full body because of the relationship with Artest in advance, and their combat effectiveness is extremely strong. There is no need for Stud to get Gasol to make a qualitative change for the Lakers like last season.

It is worth mentioning that the Rockets are still the same as the original historical development, trading streetball king Ralph Alston to leave the team.

The reason why the Rockets will trade the main point guard Alston is because of the rise of Aaron Brooks.

As a small point guard, Brooks has faster speed, stronger scoring ability, and is 9 years younger than Alston in age.

Now that Brooks has played his worth in the Rockets, the team naturally has no need to keep Alstom.

Originally, the Rockets made a three-way deal with the Magic and the Grizzlies. By sending Alston, they got the Grizzlies' Kyle Lowry and the Magic's forward Brian Cook.

But now the emergence of the butterfly effect has led to the Rockets not trading with the Magic, but trading Alston to New York, in exchange for an unknown ordinary player plus a second-round pick.

Originally, during this period of time, Nelson of the Magic was injured, which caused the Magic to lack a main point guard, so they urgently traded with the Rockets for Alston to make a transition.

But at this stage, the Magic team, although Nelson also suffered some minor injuries and illnesses, has Dragic in the team. Even Dragic in his rookie season, because of the baptism of the European League, still has a good future. Combat power, besides, the Orlando Magic, which originally played the ball forward, does not have high requirements for the point guard position. It is enough to dribble across the half court and shoot three-pointers from a fixed point. The first-year rookie Dragic is completely competent.

Because of this, the Magic did not participate in the Alstom deal, which indirectly caused the Rockets to miss the opportunity to get Kyle Lowry from the Grizzlies.

Lowry, who is still unknown at this time and can only serve as a substitute for Mike Conley, will have much better achievements in the future than Conley. 14.7 points, 4 rebounds and 6 assists are almost comparable, but Conley has only one best defensive second team honor and one All-Star experience in his full career. At that time, this contract extension with the Grizzlies was the largest contract in the history of the league, so it also caused a lot of repercussions. Basically, it was believed that Conley was not worthy of this contract, and the Grizzlies management was overwhelmed.

On the other hand, Lowry has been selected to the best team, six All-Stars, and more importantly, in the 2018-19 season, he teamed up with Leonard to win the NBA championship.

Of course, although the Rockets missed Lowry by mistake, it was not a particularly bad loss. After all, in the original history, Lowry was finally traded to the Raptors by the Rockets after playing for the Rockets for three seasons. This good point guard has no chance, and the butterfly effect has allowed the Rockets to get Lewis, which has taken a lot of advantages. Can't all the advantages be taken by the opponent?
During this period of time, Lowry's life in the Grizzlies was not satisfactory. After all, there was Mike Conley of a similar age on his head, and there was no chance to show himself. The Grizzlies did not attach much importance to Lowry. It stands to reason Should be a good interception opportunity.

But Lowry's technical characteristics are very similar to Nelson's. He has a strong body and good explosive power, but his height is flawed.

If it is the Raptors version of Lowry, it must be stronger than Nelson, but Lowry in the 08-09 season is still worse than Nelson, and the Magic now has Dragic as a substitute As an alternative, there is no need to pursue Lowry.

……

2月17日，魔术队轻取夏洛特山猫，开启全明星周末后半段赛程之旅，随后紧接着在2月18日的客场作战中107:117输给新奥尔良黄蜂。

这场比赛尼尔森因伤缺阵，德拉季奇代替尼尔森担任首发控卫，然后就被保罗好好的教育了一顿，保罗全场22投14中，砍下36分6篮板10助攻3抢断，德拉季奇则4投1中仅有2分2助攻入账。

Of course, the Magic will not blame Dragic. After all, this is just a first-year second-round pick, and it is somewhat reluctant for him to face the regular season MVP contender Paul.

The Orlando Magic, which lost to the Hornets, worked hard and won 5 consecutive victories in the next game. They defeated the Bobcats for the second time. The New York Knicks to the bone, and the four-faced Pistons that Billups replaced with Iverson.

This wave of five-game winning streak won easily and heartily, once again proving the dominance of the Magic.

2月28日，魔术队100:106不敌费城76人，连胜终结。

The 76ers are not considered a weak team in the Eastern Conference. Under the leadership of Iguodala and Andre Miller, the winning rate can be maintained at 50%. Not surprisingly, they should be ranked sixth in the Eastern Conference at the end of the regular season. Seventh or so.

The Magic did not feel good on the outside in this game, including Wang Chao, who only shot in the early 40s and just reached the early 20s. It is not surprising to lose the game.

不过输给76人之后，时间进入到3月初，魔术队在3月3日主场迎战菲尼克斯太阳队，以111：99轻松赢下比赛。

The Phoenix Suns really had a leaky room and it was raining overnight. Originally, because of O'Neal, the team's victory had been greatly reduced. Unexpectedly, after the All-Star Game, Stoudemire was injured again, and the retina in his eye was detached. Retina recovery surgery was performed, which is why Stoudemire later played with goggles.

Stoudemire's season reimbursement has put the Suns in a more passive position. In the second half of the intense schedule, they have fallen out of the top eight in the Western Conference, and their competitiveness has further plummeted.

In this game against the Magic, the Suns were unilaterally beaten. Although facing the experienced O'Neal, Howard once again suffered a disadvantage, with only 12 points and 8 rebounds in the game, but Wang Chao scored a game-high 36. Turkoglu also scored 23 points and 7 assists. The gap in the perimeter made the game lose suspense early.

The Magic that defeated the Suns beat the New Jersey Nets 3:6 at home on March 112th. With 101 points and 8.6 rebounds, UAE's position in the team is already in jeopardy, and there is no way to compare with the flourishing Wang Chao.

On March 3, the Magic lost an away game against the Celtics.

Once again as a guest at the North Shore Garden Arena in Boston, this time Wang Chao failed to repeat the miracle of 70 points in a single game. The Magic team was also completely trapped in the Celtics' defense, scoring only 86 points in the game, and finally won 86:89. The enemy Celtics were defeated.

The magic team, which mainly plays the one-star four-shot magic ball tactic, has maintained an average score of around 105 points per game this season, ranking in the top five in the league. At the same time, the defensive quality based on Howard's defensive system is also quite high. Only 95 points, ranking eighth in the league.

The 10-point net difference also makes the Magic stand out from the crowd in terms of point difference. Looking at the entire league, only the Cavaliers with an average point difference of 8.9 points per game are close to the Magic in this statistic.

But these data are only used as a reference for the strength of the team. Just like the loss of the Magic to the Celtics, many people feel that although the Magic are strong, they are not as good as the experienced Big Three of the Celtics. In comparison, it is still slightly worse.

The reason why the Magic beat the Celtics in the playoffs last season and reached the finals was mainly because the Celtics suddenly encountered elevator door tactics in the playoffs and had no way to deal with them.

In fact, even now, they still have no way to limit the elevator door tactics, but Wang Chao is trying to avoid using elevator door tactics during the regular season unless it is some important games.

During the finals of last season, referees began to target the elevator door tactic, which made Wang Chao realize that the Magic is not the Warriors team of the future after all. The situation is different and the opponents are also different. Stern’s attitude will directly determine the lethality of this tactic. .

Judging from the fact that the Warriors relied on this tactic for two seasons, until Durant joined the Warriors and caused anger and resentment, they gradually withdrew from the stage of history because they were blown out of the pick-and-roll. Wang Chao felt that as long as he kept a low profile, this tactic would definitely work It worked wonders at critical moments in the playoffs.

Therefore, in the ordinary regular season, Wang Chao still tries to avoid using the elevator door tactics, which also caused the Magic to lose some games that they would not have lost in the regular season, but this is really worth it in his opinion, after all It doesn’t matter if you win a few more games in the regular season. No matter how good the current Magic team is, it’s impossible to break the Bulls’ record of 72 wins. playoffs.

……

Throughout March, the Magic had a total of 3 games, and finally achieved a record of 14 wins and 11 losses. In addition to losing to the Celtics in early March, they also lost to the Cavaliers on March 3 and played at home at the end of March. Lost again against the Celtics.

As a result, all four games in the regular season between the Magic and the Celtics ended, and the Magic achieved a record of 11 wins and 3 losses, completely at a disadvantage. This also made many media pessimistic about the outcome of the playoff encounter between the two teams. magic.

But even so, after all the games in March, the Magic still ranked first in the league with 3 wins and 59 losses, with a winning percentage of 14%.

Throughout April, there were only 4 games left for the Magic. Among them, the Cavaliers, Hawks, and Rockets were the only teams with strong strength, and the Magic did not disappoint the Orlando fans. In these 9 games, the Magic He won 9 of them in one go, and only lost one game away to the Houston Rockets.

This was another standard game where Yao ate, slept, and played World of Warcraft. Yao had 24 points and 16 rebounds, while Howard only had 13 points and 10 rebounds.

But the loss against the Rockets, Magic fans no longer care.

4月15日，魔术队主场98：73大胜夏洛特山猫，结束了08-09赛季的最后一场比赛，也将这个赛季的战绩定格在67胜15负上。

The record of 67 wins and 15 losses in the regular season can be ranked seventh in the NBA historical record list. It is definitely an amazing record. After all, looking at history, there are very few teams that can achieve this record. Only the Bulls, Lakers, The Celtics, Philadelphia 76ers and Suns (07 wins in 68) have done it, and now the Magic are the sixth NBA team to achieve 67 wins.

Of course, the future 73-win Warriors and the 67 wins of the five-star Warriors cannot be counted, and the Mavericks, which should have won 06 wins in the 07-67 season, also improved the overall strength of the Suns because of the arrival of Wang Chao. 65 wins, although successfully avoided the tragic fate of being blacked by the Warriors in the first round, but also lost the excellent regular season record that should have been recorded in history, and it is not known whether it was a profit or a loss.

(End of this chapter)