Chapter 715 [4 versus 5, Open to the Public]

Last season, the Magic were eliminated from the playoffs and seemed unable to fight back. Howard was very dissatisfied and bluntly said that "the team should reorganize the lineup."

"We have to learn from our failures. We have to find some players who will do whatever it takes to win and are willing to devote themselves to the team." Howard expressed his dissatisfaction with his teammates.

The results of it? The Magic's biggest signing was free agent Jason Richardson, worth $25 million over four years.

Richardson was a rookie in 2001. As the fifth pick in the first round, he has always been worthy of his worth. He has never scored less than 14.4 points in a single season in his career. He also had a star performance of 23.2 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.1 assists in a single season. .

He averaged 19.3 points and 4.4 rebounds per game with the Suns last season, shooting 47% from the field and 39.4% from three-point range. Therefore, people generally believe that his contract is too cheap. It's just that when the contract expires, Richardson is already 35 years old, and there are some problems with the length of the contract.

In fact, signing Richardson is not only a matter of years, but also a big pitfall. His statistics in the Suns were great. Last season, the Suns didn't care about their winning percentage.

After several injuries, Richardson's athletic ability declined. Once the quality of a player who relies on his body to play declines, his role will be greatly reduced.

In the Suns, there are two people who are good at breakthroughs, Dragic and Evans. Richardson only needs to open up from the outside to take shots. The Magic do not have a breakthrough expert to tear apart the defense, and his shooting opportunities are poor. .

This season, Richardson averaged 30 minutes per game, only 11.6 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2 assists, shooting 40.8% from the field, 36.8% from three-point range, 59.4% from free throws, and only 1.3 free throws per game.

You can tell what kind of style Richardson plays by looking at the number of free throws. The Magic brought in a guy from the mid-level who can only pull up jumpers. He is even worse on the defensive end. He is not fouled in time when he is passed by, and he averages 1.7 fouls per game.

An extremely shocking scene happened in the Magic vs. Celtics game last week.

The Magic were defeated by the Celtics 56-87 in an away game. The team made only 16 of 65 shots, setting a record for the lowest score in a single game in team history and the lowest field goal percentage in team history, only 24.6%. This is also the lowest shooting percentage record for an NBA team in a single game since 2004. On November 10 of that year, the Trail Blazers lost to the Nets. The team's shooting percentage was only 24.4%, making 19 of 78 shots.

The Magic lost miserably, why? Some people say it's magic four against five, but this is no joke, it really happened...

The Celtics had a round position attack, and the Magic were present with "AQ" Quentin Richardson, "Big Baby" Glen Davis, Nelson and "Warcraft" Howard, but one person was missing.

When the Celtics players reached the left corner, Richardson, who was sitting in the audience, suddenly rushed into the court to steal the ball and knocked the ball out of the baseline. The fans were amused by this scene.

Richardson can definitely compete for the top five MVPs this season. With his attitude and sense of humor, he can only guard Korver.

The Clippers attacked, Paul and Chandler played a pick-and-roll in the middle, attracting Batum to change defense and then passed to Guy in the right corner again.

The weaknesses of the Magic's zone defense are too obvious. Howard is near the penalty area, two meters away from Gay. If his teammates are good at rotating positions, they can interfere with shooting, but Batum does not dare to let Paul go and stays in his own area.

Gay made a three-point shot. Howard just stretched out his hand and turned around to grab the rebound. Gay hit another ball without any interference. 8 to 2.

The opponent scored two three-pointers in a row. Hollins became anxious on the sidelines and shouted at the players to change to man-to-man marking in the next round.

When the Magic attacked, Nelson played a pick-and-roll with Anderson in the middle. This time Griffin had a better sense of distance and did not allow Nelson to break through. After the ball was distributed, the center had time to interfere with Anderson's shooting, forcing the opponent to pass the ball again.

Regardless of whether they are starters or substitutes, the Magic do not have a ball-holding offensive core on the outside. This is a fatal weakness.

It is difficult to find stars who are good at holding the ball and attacking in the free market. Otherwise, the Magic would not have taken the risk to trade for the famous cancer player Arenas last season. It's a pity that "The General" no longer knows how to play ball and can only make iron. Fortunately, Lewis is also terrible, so the transaction is not a loss.

With 24 seconds almost running out, Batum singled out Guy and made a sudden stop jumper from the right side, which missed due to interference.

The two Magics rushed together to grab the offensive rebound. Chandler blocked Howard and prevented Howard from jumping. Griffin retreated and blocked Anderson to grab the backcourt rebound.

The Clippers attack, Chandler and Paul play a pick-and-roll in the middle, and Howard comes out to switch defense.

Howard has the ability to defend pick-and-rolls and save corner three-pointers, but he has lost consecutive games and his defensive enthusiasm has also declined this season. The disastrous defeat to the Celtics made him particularly frustrated. No matter how good the Magic's defense was, their offense was so bad that they couldn't score 60 points. How could they win?

Winning the Defensive Player of the Year for three consecutive years, Howard has unparalleled confidence on the defensive end, but on the offensive end, he knows his flaws. He is the Magic's leading scorer, which is really sad.

If he wants to win the championship, there are only two ways in front of Howard. One is that the Magic trade for a super scorer from the outside, which is almost impossible; the other is that he leaves and joins a team with a super scorer.

The management also guessed that Howard wanted to leave, and the conflict between the two parties has become public.

Paul moved laterally to find a little space and passed it to Griffin who was cutting on the left. The latter received the ball and singled out Anderson, forced his way to the basket and hit the shot. It missed due to interference, and Batum grabbed the rebound.

In the Magic position battle, both Howard and Anderson went out to cover, but still failed to create an opening. Chandler was very active in switching defenders, and Howard was no longer a threat when he was outside the penalty area, so he shot casually. All Chandler has to guard against is Howard's air cuts, and he will be stuck at any time, preventing him from rushing forward.

After the pick-and-roll, Nelson made an emergency jump shot, avoiding Paul's pursuit and blocking. The ball bounced out of the frame again. Chandler didn't grab the rebound and helped Griffin get the rebound.

Griffin is a trustworthy rebounder. The core of Yang Rui's tactics today is defense and rebounding.

When the Clippers attacked, Paul did not find a cover. He waved to Chandler and asked him to go to the low post to involve Howard's defense. He directly singled out Nelson in the middle.

To break man-to-man defense, one-on-one challenge is the simplest way. Paul dribbled the ball continuously under his hips, changed direction to the right and successfully broke through, and made a jump shot from the corner of the right corner.

Nelson was shaken half way, jumped up from the side and failed to block the shot, 10-2.

Paul is limited by his height and does not play many singles games. If he plays against shorter players, he will also show his offensive ability.

The Magic attacked, and there was no chance to shoot from the outside. After the screen, Nelson passed to Howard who was cutting in the air. Chandler followed the defense. Howard did not rush up. He protected the ball with his back in the middle, leaned on Chandler twice, turned to the right and hooked hand.

Howard's offense relies entirely on physical fitness. He turns around quickly and relies on his jumping power to beat his opponents to shoot. When encountering tall defensive players, this trick is not very easy to use.

Chandler and Yao Ming's methods of defending the penalty area are very similar. They don't jump first, but just raise their hands to interfere. His prediction is better than Yao Ming's, and his bounce speed is faster. He is sure that Howard is about to take action before jumping to interfere, and the ball bounces off the frame. And out.

Griffin got another backcourt rebound and passed it to Paul to stabilize his position.

Kenny Smith nailed down Howard's offensive weaknesses. "It's easy to judge the timing of his shots. He rarely makes fake moves in the penalty area because he can't shake his opponent up to draw a foul, and he doesn't like to go to the free throw line."

Barkley said: "He still hasn't developed a stable mid-range shot this year. I don't think he can be the best center for a few years. Once his physical fitness declines, he will be finished." 108