NBA's strongest prince

Chapter 104 The State of the Opponent

At American Airlines Arena, home of the Heat, the Suns lost another game.

Wade's strong explosion in the third quarter and O'Neal's stability in the final quarter caused the Suns to lose.

They didn't force it, but the threat of the Heat raised a level in their hearts.

But there is no need to care too much, because the Heat are an Eastern team, and the first thing they have to face in the playoffs is the Western Conference. Even Russell will not just consider the Eastern Conference.

They will play magic back to back immediately, which is also a hard battle.

It is difficult for the Magic to enter the playoffs, but they have not lost hope.

The biggest gain of the Magic this season should be the growth of Howard. Now the champion is bigger and better, although his brilliance is completely covered by Russell.

Now Howard is still playing the position of power forward in the Magic. When he meets the Suns, the Magic has not changed.

The biggest problem for the Magic this season is defense, and the team management is unwilling. They fired their head coach John Davis some time ago, and now they are led by an assistant coach, just to finish the season.

So they are not desperately trying to enter the playoffs, but just resigned.

Of course, the assistant coaches will work hard, which is related to whether they become regulars.

Under normal circumstances, the possibility of becoming a regular is relatively low, but there are also many successful cases.

D'Antoni is a success story. With the Suns' achievements this season, many coaches in the league are very envious.

It took a lot of energy to play the Heat just before, so the Suns' defense was not good enough at the beginning of this game.

Although Francis feels very average, both Hill and Howard played well.

The Suns' lineup is destined to be more troublesome for them to encounter the big man at the fourth position.

However, Howard's physical fitness is strong, and the inside line with not so delicate skills eats passes very much.

Howard was not as cool in the Magic as he was in the rookie game, with Russell's super pass.

Magic's current No. [-] Francis is not the type who is good at passing.

Not to mention that Howard is still the younger brother in the team now, even when he becomes the boss, the Magic did not find him a first position in the organization who is good at passing.

The league always says that there is a lack of insiders, but in fact there is also a shortage of good outsiders, so Russell has attracted so much attention.

Attacks are almost okay if organized well, as Kidd has proven a lot.

The Magic did a good job on the offensive end, but they were far behind on the defensive end. The double inside line made them unable to defend. Marion made consecutive hits from the outside line, and Joe Johnson also had the advantage, but Stoudemire was a little depressed.

After all, Stoudemire's shooting is still not stable enough. He has practiced a lot this season, but his more effective way is to get in. When he can't get in, he is easy to be restricted.

That is to say, there are many Sun star players, otherwise it would be difficult to have the current record.

After all, they also benefited from the benefits of Stoudemire's rookie period, and it is impossible for them to keep their current lineup forever, so Russell wants to win the championship faster.

After the last rotation, Nelson performed outstandingly on the Magic side, while the Suns performed better overall. The two sides are still competing for advantages, and there is no winner.

What's more funny is that a strong team like the Suns is now playing team-biased, while the Magic, which has not even made it to the top eight in the East, is playing star-biased.

Therefore, the alliance's tactical choice actually has nothing to do with the record.

In the second quarter, Stevenson's unexpected outbreak also made the Suns a lagging side. Although they were not behind by much, their performance in the first half was indeed not very good.

Back-to-back losing streaks are also normal, but the Suns don't want to give up just like that.

It is true that the strength of the Magic gives people the feeling that it is very ordinary, and it is not because some players exploded and took away. The Suns are sitting on the pride of a strong team, and they still do not allow the opponent to be so presumptuous.

"The defensive dislocation is a bit serious, and the offense is not firm enough." Russell said after listening to the situation in the first half.

Annoyed, Stoudemire looked up and wanted to say something, but in the end he didn't speak.

He didn't feel good in the first half and even missed all free throws.

D'Antoni said: "It's okay, work harder in the second half, we played very well."

Everyone was giggling again. Everyone was just a little tired and couldn't concentrate. Their strength must be much stronger than the magic.

In the third quarter, the Suns strengthened their defense, and the Magic immediately encountered problems on the offensive end.

The current Magic doesn't have three-pointers, mainly relying on Francis and Hill to create opportunities in singles. It is not difficult to choke, especially Francis, whose shooting is only average.

So even if he casually rushed to Russell, it would not be so easy to score.

Stoudemire's efficiency is still not high, but the Magic have been unable to completely stop him.

Because they have a lot of inside fouls. Although the Magic are double inside, they are also playing fast with the Suns today. Many times they can't stop them and they can only foul.

In this case, the Suns quickly overtook the score, and the gap gradually widened.

As long as the Magic can limit some points, the game will be under the control of the sun.

After the inside fouls increased, the Magic also made an inside, which made the team faster.

Many teams are unwilling to enter the rhythm of the Suns, because it will make the Suns' offensive end explode.

But there are also some teams who just want to follow the rhythm of the Suns, and everyone is trying to react in a fast pace.

There is actually no advantage or disadvantage between the two options, it depends on whether the team can control it.

In fact, the Magic's control is not bad, but it is not as good as the Suns. After all, the Suns are too familiar with this set, and Russell is also the only one in high-speed offensive and defensive passes.

The Suns won a big victory in the third quarter, and there was only one small problem, that is, Stoudemire also fouled more, so he had to play less.

Stoudemire still gets emotional at times, especially when he's not doing so well.

At the beginning of the season, he played consecutive amazing performances, but it was not so easy to be targeted after that.

The continuous physical confrontation and the inability to start easily are really depressing.

Today he ran into trouble again in the inside fight. Originally, Stoudemire thought he could easily teach the young No. [-] pick a lesson, but he didn't expect that things were not as easy as he imagined.

His rebounding is not as good as Howard's, and it can be said that he was hugged by Howard and died together.

So, when Stoudemire could only sit on the bench, the Magic were desperately chasing points.

This is also the epitome of the final quarter of the game between the two teams. The Magic played well, but the defense is still not guaranteed.

At the critical moment, Russell's two consecutive decisive shots disrupted the already chaotic defense of the opponent.

Magic looked at the time for the last time and found that it was too late.

As a result, they could only lose in the alternate singles of Francis and Hill.

It's useless to beat Stoudemire, anyway, they can't form an inside advantage.

(End of this chapter)