After the confession failed, I went to the NBA to play and lose weight

Chapter 48 Think of me at a critical moment (12)

"In the first half, Li Chengming played a total of more than 8 minutes and scored 9 points. Moreover, his role cannot be reflected by statistics. You can see that he chased points as soon as he came on the field, and the Magic fell behind again..."

Before the start of the second half of the game, the two commentators in the CCTV live broadcast room began to swear again.

It's nothing more than to elevate the role of Li Chengming. Although many fans feel the same way, but after a closer look, the reason for falling behind and chasing points is obviously not just because of Li Chengming.

When facing the Raptors before, Van Gundy made a mistake. This time he asked Howard to play more, and it did cause a lot of trouble for the Suns inside.

But Howard's free throws ultimately made it impossible for them to convert their inside advantage into a scoring advantage. Coupled with the outside defense's urgency, the main scorer Lewis was in poor condition, which led to such a situation.

In the second half, Van Gundy simply let Arroyo and Dooling continue to play, and the remaining three were Turkoglu, Lewis and Howard.

No matter how bad Lewis is, he is a star player. According to his status and role, he must stay on the court. As for the effect of playing, that is another matter.

However, relying on Arroyo and Dooling's three-pointers, the Magic have been clinging to the score, and the point difference has not been opened to more than double digits.

The offensive efficiency of the Suns also dropped. Hill and Marion missed three-pointers successively, allowing the Magic to narrow the score to 4 points.

At this time, Barbosa stood up again. The Brazilian Lightning is simply possessed by the three-point god today, and the efficiency inside the three-point line is not low. uncomfortable.

Because you can't prevent it, let alone prevent it.

The Magic haven't been able to take advantage of the defensive weakness of the Suns' backcourt. After all, Arroyo is only a role player. Change the opponent's defense.

In the second half of the third quarter, Van Gundy tried again by replacing Li Chengming, but when Nash was on the court, Li Chengming exposed his weakness on the defensive end and was beaten twice by Grant Hill.

On the offensive end, although he also hit two goals, the Suns seemed to have found a way to target him, making him a pass error and an offensive foul.

The mistake was because Marion suddenly let go of his opponent and stepped forward to double-team, which made Li Chengming flustered. He made a mistake that only a rookie can make; an offensive foul is a bit like being targeted as a rookie, even though this is the home court of the Magic. .

Of course, the referee will inevitably be booed by the audience, but they will not change their minds because of this.

At the end of the third quarter, the Magic still trailed by 87 points 79:8, and Li Chengming was replaced immediately. The fans who had expected him to play before were also a little disappointed.

But it's normal, after all, Li Chengming is just a small role now, and it's a nonsense thing to pin the team's hope of winning on him.

The Magic is not a bad team. There are stars in the team. If the stars don't stand up, you still want the younger brother to solve the problem?

Lewis also showed his weak side today. When he feels bad, he has no other means to open up the situation. Facing Marion's defense, his face-to-face attack is not effective. I dare not make a move, afraid of taking responsibility.

After the start of the fourth quarter, Ariza, who also got more chances back to back, suddenly emerged, scoring 5 points in a row and approaching the score.

But the Suns quickly stabilized the situation. It was Barbosa's breakthrough layup and a strong three-pointer.

With 7 minutes left in the fourth quarter, the Suns led by another 11 points. Van Gundy called a timeout and all the players left the field. But he looked at the tactical board in front of him in silence for a moment.

Then he looked back suddenly, and the first thing he noticed was naturally the exhausted main players.

They just finished the away game yesterday, and they returned to the home court today to fight fiercely until now, especially facing the Suns, who are particularly able to run, and feel that their physical strength is a little bit behind.

Lewis was most affected by this. He played 40 minutes yesterday, but he still carried Randolph hard; Nelson and Bogans were similar, and it was not easy to defend the Knicks guards.

Turkoglu has little influence because of his style of play, but his physical strength is also a problem. The only one who can maintain his energy is Howard, but he is also targeted by his opponent in this round. If there is another tactical foul in the key chasing stage I'm afraid the shark-slaying tactic won't work.

As for his other physical strength, he didn't think there would be any change in going up at this time.

Among them, it was a pair of eyes that made him notice, and then his heart moved.

Naturally, it was Li Chengming, who performed well in the first half and helped the team cling to the score in the second quarter. There was undisguised desire in his eyes, and he was basically the most passionate player on the bench at this time.

While the few minutes he played in the third quarter didn't change anything, that wasn't necessarily his problem.

So Van Gundy lingered on him for a moment, then suddenly let out a cry.

Li Chengming didn't pay attention at first, but Redick next to him gave him a push before he came back to his senses and realized that the coach was calling his name, "Here, sir!"

"Wait for you to play..." Van Gundy looked at the tactical board and drew a few lines, and said, "Lee is always ready to catch the ball on the weak side, Dwight, I need you to make room for Lee..."

Howard grinned, naturally he had no opinion.

In fact, those in the same team usually train together, so everyone naturally knows Li Chengming's strength.

His weaknesses and shortcomings are as obvious as his advantages in matchups. On the offensive end, he can use others as a vegetable, and on the defensive end, he may also be used as a vegetable by his opponent.

But at this time, what the Magic need most is to open up the situation on the offensive end.

Especially when Lewis is in a relatively average state, Van Gundy is ready to replace him and let Li Chengming take a look first.

If the effect is not good, it is still too late to change it back.

Well, it should.

……

In fact, of course Van Gundy did not discriminate against Li Chengming, but there is nothing wrong with saying that he deliberately targeted him, including not allowing Li Chengming to play when he played against the Knicks.

To put it simply, it is the self-righteous protection of the parents.

He already has a plan for Li Chengming in his heart, and he doesn't intend to overwhelm him, and he doesn't want Li Chengming to develop bad habits, so now he will give him an appropriate opportunity, but he will also suppress him from time to time, so that he will not take the lead so fast.

In this way, it can be ensured that Li Chengming will not affect his own progress because of excessive attention before his strength reaches a certain level.

However, the situation is beyond one's control. If I really keep suppressing it, not to mention Li Chengming's own thoughts, I'm afraid Howard and the others will be dissatisfied, especially at this moment when they are backward and need to look for opportunities.

So Van Gundy hesitated for a while before making a decision.

"Li Chengming is playing again!"

It is self-evident what it means to play at this time. After all, if you really want to give up the game, you should also take Howard off. This shows that the Magic still want to chase points.

The voices of the two commentators, Zhang and Sun, also raised their voices unconsciously. This is really treating the Magic as the home team.

"Li Chengming is still in the fourth position. In this way, his speed will not have an obvious disadvantage, but this will be a test for Howard. He may have to defend against two..."

The Suns put a lot of emphasis on mobility on offense. The combination of Marion and Stoudemire has the highest running and jumping ability among many teams. This is hitting Li Chengming's defensive weakness.

But Li Chengming didn't come up to defend. In the first offensive round, Nelson beckoned Li Chengming to do a pick-and-roll. When Li Chengming pulled out, Marion followed up and defended immediately, but after the pick-and-roll he had to switch defenses.

Nelson immediately gave the ball to Li Chengming in the paint, and Li Chengming was facing Barbosa at this time.

The difference in height between the two was too large. Li Chengming completely ignored it and shot directly. Barbosa couldn't interfere, but the goal was not scored.

It's not because Li Chengming didn't roar, it's just that he rested on the bench for too long, and his hand feels a little cold.

But there is still Howard under the basket. He jumped up before Stoudemire and tapped the popped basketball into the basket with a light tap, and the second attack succeeded.

"Although Li Chengming didn't score this goal, Howard got a second chance to attack..."

The domestic fans who were nervously watching the game couldn't help but roll their eyes when they heard the commentary, but let alone, they got used to the smell and listened to other coughs.

(End of this chapter)