Basketball Legends: Strikers Are King

On January 24, the Pacers returned to their home court at Bankers Life Arena to face the challenge of the Orlando Magic.

With 11 wins and 5 losses, the Magic are only one more loss behind the Pacers, temporarily ranking fifth in the Eastern Conference.

With Dwight Howard, the Magic, which reached the Finals in 2009, is obviously not a weak team.

But they also fell into the same dilemma as the Cavaliers: after reaching the finals, they could never go further.

In the 2011 playoffs, after being eliminated by the Hawks 2-4 in the first round, Howard's patience had obviously run out, and his apparent incompatibility with the team became an open secret.

Before the millennium, the Magic lost their No. 1 center, O'Neal, and could only watch O'Neal win three consecutive championships with the Lakers. Now it seems that the tragedy of losing the league's No. 1 center they trained for the second time will not happen soon.

The distant future awaits them.

There is a saying that other people's things are particularly fragrant, but things bought for free are even more fragrant.

No one is willing to spend a lot of money to trade for Howard, but all teams are interested in signing the league's No. 1 center in the 2012 offseason.

Against the Magic, Vogel can never be too careful.

"In today's game, Hibbert, you are the key point, you must guard Howard!"

Hibbert nodded solemnly.

Vogel looked at the others, especially Granger, and said in a deep voice:

"The Magic have Howard sitting in the low post. You have to be careful when you break through to avoid being blocked by your opponent."

The Magic are the original and most complete one-star four-shooting lineup, with the back line ambushing outside the three-point line, and shooting forwards such as Lewis, Turkoglu and Anderson also ambushing the outside line, leaving only Howard in the three-second zone inside.

people.

And the defense line supported by Howard alone can definitely make all the teams in the league change their minds, because Warcraft's defensive ability is really abnormal, and three consecutive DPOYs are enough to prove his gold content.

Vogel then looked at the substitutes and said to Hill:

"The offense of the substitutes must also be sorted out and cooperate more with teammates."

Hill turned to look at Qi Tian, ​​nodded and said:

"I see."

"Very good, come on stage."

Vogel saw the referee signaling for players from both sides to come on stage, and then let the starting players board the arena and prepare for the game.

"Don't let him charge!"

Vogel gave his final instructions to the players and watched the Magic team also walk onto the stage.

The Pacers' starting lineup has not changed, still Hibbert, West, Granger, George and Collison;

The Magic have center Howard, power forward Turkoglu, small forward Ryan Anderson, shooting guard Richardson and point guard Nelson.

The Magic's back line and forward line are both players with poor defensive abilities, but with Howard in the paint, the Magic's manager only needs to find four players with the ability to shoot long three-pointers, and that's enough.

The referee signaled the centers of both sides to jump the ball in the middle circle, and then blew the whistle to start the game.

"Dudududu!"

Howard jumped hard, grabbed the ball from Hibbert's head, turned around and passed it to his teammates.

Nelson advanced with the ball and decisively handed it to Howard under the basket.

Hibbert mustered up his energy and defended closely against his opponent.

But Howard didn't take him seriously at all. He lowered his head and rushed toward the basket, then jumped up and dunked over Hibbert's head.

"2-0."

Seeing Howard's tough fight as if he had no offensive skills at all, but he could just rely on his physical fitness to push his opponent away and dunk, the Pacers players off the court looked at each other and shook their heads.

"It's too rough, but it's also too fierce."

Qi Tian sighed.

Is this the value of a No. 1 center?

Howard's amazement didn't end there.

Hibbert received the pass from Collison and was about to attack. Howard behind him suddenly reached out and stole the basketball from his hand, and then passed it to his teammates in preparation for a fast break.

"Defend!"

Granger and George on the outside watched Howard rushing towards the inside like a train, so they could only shrink their formation and keep an eye on the inside.

Nelson passed to Turkoglu in the high post and assisted his teammate to score a jumper.

"4-0."

"Be careful when passing the ball."

Granger said to Collison, and then came to the high post to ask for the ball.

He forcibly accelerated to get rid of Turkoglu, and passed the base to Hibbert under the basket, assisting his teammate to score a jump shot.

"4-2."

Then, while the opponent was fighting, West caught the ball and hit a high jumper to help the team equalize the score.

"4-4."

"Show you our true strength!"

Howard looked at his opponent who was surprised to equalize the score so easily. He smiled slightly and turned to look at his teammates.

Nelson passed the ball to Howard inside, and the Pacers immediately felt like they were facing a formidable enemy.

Who knew that Howard feinted a shot and turned around and passed it to Turkoglu. Turkoglu passed the fake shot and found Ryan Anderson in the bottom corner.

Granger was distracted and wanted to defend Howard, so he took two steps toward the basket. When he saw Anderson getting the ball, he immediately ran out to defend.

But Ryan Anderson ignored the opponent's defense and took a long three-pointer from the outside.

"Whoa!"

Basketball hollow hit.

"7-4."

"Strengthen perimeter defense and don't give outsiders a chance!"

Vogel shouted to the players.

Collison advanced with the ball. When he saw Granger asking for the ball, he hit the ball and passed it over.

Turkoglu immediately followed the defense, but Granger easily accelerated past him and went straight to the basket.

"Tsk."

Howard was a little bored, but fortunately he was already used to his teammates' papery defense and immediately came up to make up the defense.

Granger attracted the opponent's attention, passed Hibbert under the basket, and assisted his teammate for a layup.

"7-6."

Then George broke the basketball in Richardson's hand and handed it to Granger in the high position. Granger's jump shot ended in a blacksmith.

Turkoglu wanted to repeat his old tricks and take long shots from the outside, but the Pacers had strengthened their defense and successfully prevented the opponent's shots.

Collison broke through the basket and scored a layup, which also caused Nelson to foul.

2+1!

Collison stepped to the free throw line and easily hit the extra free throw.

"7-9."

Seeing that the team easily took the lead, the Pacers fans on the sidelines felt relieved.

"This Magic team has nothing to be afraid of."

"That's right, although Howard is great, our overall strength is still stronger than them."

Just as they were chatting, Howard suddenly exerted his strength, continuously helped his teammates pick and roll, then passed down, caught the ball and dunked.

With Howard scoring 4 points in a row, the Magic successfully tied the score.

But Granger fired from the outside and hit a three-pointer. Hibbert attacked inside, causing Howard to foul and go to the free throw line.

What makes Pacers fans happy is that Howard committed two fouls in the first quarter and was replaced!