Basketball Legends: Strikers Are King

In the 2009 playoffs, the Cavaliers, who finished the regular season with 66 wins and 16 losses, advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals. Their opponent was the Magic, who ranked third in the Eastern Conference during the regular season.

The league’s No. 1 record versus No. 3 in the Eastern Conference;

The matchup between James, the No. 1 pick in 2003, and Howard, the No. 1 pick in 2004;

A matchup between a team with a small forward as the core and a center as the core.

In the six games between the two teams, James averaged a terrifying 38+8+8 per game. Howard was not bad either, averaging 25.8+13+2.8 per game and shooting 65.1% from the field. In the last game, he even scored 40.

A double-double of points + 14 rebounds sent James home in person.

This is where the rumors started:

The Cavaliers once inquired about Howard from the Magic, and the Magic general manager responded confidently:

"Take James in exchange."

Just replacing James has become Howard's label.

There are many similarities between the two. After leading the team to the finals, the team never went further, or even had the chance to go further.

Therefore, the No. 1 pick in 2003 made a "decision" in the summer of 2010. When will the No. 1 pick in 2004 make his decision?

At the beginning of the second quarter, Howard shook his head, got rid of his distracting thoughts, and stepped onto the court.

The Pacers' substitutes Hill, Qi Tian and Hansbrough gasped when they saw Howard coming on the court.

"Does this old man really don't need to rest?"

The significance of the existence of substitutes is that because it is impossible for all the main players to play the entire game, substitutes are needed to fill in the time when the main players are not present.

And Howard doesn't need it.

"Keep it steady."

Hill warned the two of them and walked onto the court.

With West and Hibbert away, Hansbrough took over the offensive banner. He got into position and reached out to Hill for the ball.

Hill looked at Howard behind him, hesitated, and passed the ball.

"What No. 1 center can still defend against hooks no matter how good he is?"

Hansbrough feinted a shot, then turned around and used Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's famous stunt - Skyhook.

Hansbrough raised his right hand high, but did not stretch it forward. When it reached the highest point, he used the power of his wrist to hook the ball lightly, and the basketball flew towards the basket.

The asxs of this shot was Hansbrough's right hand, and the arc was extremely high. After Howard jumped up, he did not block the opponent's shot!

"Very good!"

Hansbrough's surprised eyes instantly froze when he turned his head to look at the basket. What followed with his disappointment was the loud sound of basketball hitting the basket that echoed in his ears.

"clang!"

Howard smiled disdainfully, quickly took off twice, turned around and tried to pick off the rebound.

Amandasen got stuck behind Glen Davis and fought with Howard.

"Dudu!"

Just as the two were fighting for a rebound, the referee blew the whistle. It turned out that Howard's hand movements when grabbing the rebound were not clear enough and hit Amandasen in the face.

"No. 12, foul on rebounding, offensive direction..."

The referee pointed in the direction of the Magic's half and handed the ball to the Pacers.

"ah?"

"oh!!"

The ones who were surprised were the Magic fans, and the ones with excited smiles on their faces were naturally the Pacers' home team fans.

Standing by the technical table, Stan Van Gundy chewed his teeth and had no choice but to accept the fact that Howard committed his third foul, and requested a substitution to replace him.

Howard could only leave the stage with a depressed expression. He probably had enough time to think about making a decision today.

"Oh~~~!!!!"

Seeing that Howard was substituted off the field again less than half a minute after his appearance, almost all Pacers fans became excited:

"It's stable now!"

"Howard played for six minutes in the first quarter, and he was still 7 points behind. If this continues, we can't lead him by 15 points in the first half?"

Hill, Qi Tian and others looked at each other and knew that now was the Pacers' opportunity.

Hansbrough got the ball inside and then had to beat his opponent in isolation.

But the new Clark reached out quickly and snatched the basketball from his opponent's hand.

"Quick attack!"

Because Howard has extremely fast feet and can even be faster than some defenders during defensive counterattacks, the Magic are extremely skilled in fast breaks.

Qi Tian, ​​Hill, and Stephenson ran to the rear desperately.

Seeing that there was no chance for a layup, Duhon turned and passed to Redick behind him. Redick caught the ball and shot.

"Oops!"

Qi Tian saw that there was no one in front of Redick and hurried over to make up for his defense.

"clang!"

The basketball bounced out of the frame, but Clark followed up and grabbed the offensive rebound from his opponent's head and passed it to Glen Davis.

Glen Davis caught the ball and made a layup, and Armandson next to him quickly jumped up to block the shot.

"Dudu!"

The referee blew the whistle, indicating that Amandelson committed a shooting foul.

"Two free throws!"

Vogel on the sidelines requested a substitution and replaced the underperforming Amandasson with West.

Big Baby made two free throws to help the team chase points.

"24-29."

"Be steady."

Hill stood at the top of the arc, signaling to his teammates to move, and then called West for a pick-and-roll.

West easily blocked Duhong in front of him, Qi Tian quickly ran out from the bottom corner, and Hill immediately broke through and scored the ball.

Qi Tian catches the ball and jumps up to shoot.

"Whoa!"

Accurate basketball shooting.

"24-29."

Brian Xiao off the court nodded slightly.

"After Qi confirmed his position as the core substitute, he became much more decisive in his actions."

"I just hope he can stabilize his performance without too much fluctuation."

A substitute who can perform well as soon as he comes on the court is called a "microwave player" and is a role player that every team will love.

But after all, players are at a loss, and there cannot be no fluctuations. Some players fluctuate too much and too frequently, and they will become the "nerve knife" that combines angels and devils.

Brian Shaw turned his head and looked at Granger and George who were resting off the court, and sighed inexplicably.

After all, the Pacers now have two talented players.

Taking advantage of the opponent's advantage, Qi Tian rushed in to get the rebound and turned around and handed it to Stephenson on the outside.

Stephenson confidently shot a three-point jumper.

"clang!"

The basketball jumped out of the frame and was caught by Davis under the basket.

Du Hong received the ball and prepared to attack, but Qi Tian suddenly jumped out, causing the opponent to make a mistake and regaining the ball.

Hill broke through and passed the ball, Qi Tian received the ball and passed it to Hansbrough who followed up again, assisting his teammate to dunk.

"24-33."

The point difference was widened to 9 points.

Howard looked at his sluggish teammates on the court, and then looked at the excited Qi Tian on the opposite side, and couldn't help but think:

If the Magic had a rookie like the Pacers' No. 7, maybe they could train him?

Then he shook his head again, denying himself and saying:

What can a second-round pick No. 59 change?