The Basketball Court Swordsman

Conseco Arena, Indianapolis, April 16, 2011.

Starting today, the tragic playoffs will start in full. Every team will fight to the last moment for their honor.

The most intense physical confrontation, the most violent conflict, and the most exciting battle are about to kick off in Indianapolis. And this place, it has been four full years, has not experienced the baptism of such a fierce battle.

Therefore, before the start of the game, the eyes of the whole world almost focused on the Magic team, which had just played the finals two years ago. And the most high-profile of the Magic team is undoubtedly the super center Howard, who is second only to Rose and James in the MVP rankings.

"Our goal is the championship, so we will do our best to survive to the end." Howard showed his iconic charming smile when facing reporters from the sidelines.

And his sentence "Our goal is the championship", you can also understand it as "We can't be overturned in the first round."

Sure enough, Howard immediately added afterwards: "Indianas better be careful, Superman will destroy everything that stops him!"

After speaking, Howard punched the camera.

Seeing his own half-time deserted, the reporters all gathered around the Magic players to interview, but Henson was not envious. After 82 regular season games, this is not the first time he has met.

Before the start of the playoffs, the media was almost unanimously optimistic about the Magic. Whether the Magic can win the championship is another matter, but no one thinks they will be eliminated in the first round.

The Pacers' round trip sounds more "reasonable".

This is people's habitual thinking, even if the Pacers' regular season ranking surpasses the Magic, people will habitually think that the Magic is stronger.

But no reporters come to interview, at least it can make the little guys who play the playoffs for the first time less nervous.

"Dwight looks confident, this guy is the darling of the public everywhere." Looking at Howard, who was surrounded by reporters, Vogel was really a little uneasy. Henson's "killing" Howard plan seemed a bit too risky.

"You must admit that Dwight is a heartthrob. But this is a basketball game, Frank, not a draft show. In a basketball game, popularity is worth nothing!"

Henson put away his usual hippie smile and looked extremely serious. At this time, the buzzer suddenly sounded.

The horn of battle has been sounded.

"Hello everyone, audience friends, welcome to lock on T.NT. This is Kevin Harlan. Next to me is Reggie Miller. Today, we will bring you a commentary on this game."

If the electronic buzzer is to make the players enter the game state, then Kevin Harlan's voice is to make the fans around the world concerned about the game enter the state.

The starting five tigers of the two sides have already settled in the designated position, and the magic team's starting is no different from the regular season.

Starting center Howard, power forward Bass, small forward Turkoglu, shooting guard Jason Richardson, the first position is the former All-Star guard Jameel Nelson.

The Magic's lineup looks full of offensive power, but to Henson's evaluation, it is far from the lineup when they played in the Finals two years ago.

Apart from replacing Dunleavy with George, the other four positions on the Pacers are still the same. Henson knows that although Turkish forward Turkoglu is 2.08 meters tall, he is an indispensable offensive organization point for the Magic.

Sending a better defensive number three to target Turkoglu will undoubtedly put the Magic's offense into trouble. And George's outstanding performance in the regular season allowed Henson to safely push him to the starting position.

The cheers in the Conseco Arena were deafening. After all, the fans here have not experienced such a carnival in four years.

The referee blew his whistle and threw the orange basketball into the air. Howard used his terrifying bounce speed and bounce height to win the first strike for the Magic, and the first playoff game for Henson and his Pacers officially started!

Howard looked very excited, and the guy was impatiently waiting for this day. In the final moments of the regular season, being overtaken by the Pacers and losing home advantage, this made Howard very upset. And Howard's easy double-double data in the last game of the regular season made him think he would do whatever he wanted in the Pacers' three-second zone!

"The Pacers were just slaughtered by the Magic in the last game, I think today they too..."

Before Kevin Harlan finished speaking, there was a loud noise on the court. Looking up, Howard grabbed his hands on the hoop. He completed his first dunk today!

"God, Howard slammed directly after receiving Nelson's pass. Horford couldn't stop the taller and stronger No. 12! The brutal dunks, the Orlando Magic played momentum as soon as the game opened!"

After the dunk, Howard waved his fist vigorously. He must now feel that he is the most difficult to stop superstar on the planet.

However, in fact, Henson did not intend to stop him at all.

"Stay steady, attack patiently!" Henson clapped his hands, stabilizing the players' morale a little. Unless Howard can score 100 points, otherwise the Magic won't want to rely on a superstar to win!

Encouraged by Henson, the Pacers' offense was not affected by Howard's dunks.

The players are not in a hurry, and Holiday organizes patiently outside the three-point line. The Pacers are really good at playing fast, but that doesn't mean they can't play slow.

The 32-year-old Turkish forward Turkoglu, who went to the Raptors and Suns for a season and a half before returning, has lost his most peak form. In the days when the Raptors and Suns continue to lose, it seems to have flattened this" The edges and corners of the tall magician.

Facing George, who was running at halftime, Turkoglu felt that it seemed difficult for him to keep up.

Regardless of George's height of 2.06 meters, his athletic ability is not worse than that of a small man.

Horford screened, George ran away, Turkoglu was blocked. Howard will not easily go out to help defend, his defensive ability must be in the penalty area to be the most manifested.

Therefore, most of the Magic outside players need to get rid of the screen and continue to defend their matchups.

The Turk squeezed Horford away and lunged at George. At this time, George has received the basketball and made a shot.

Seeing this situation, the Turks could not help speeding up their pace. Although this young man named George is not as stable as Dunleavy's three-pointer, no one will choose to let him shoot.

Just when Turkoglu was about to take off and block, George took the basketball back and then dribbled through! Compared to shooting, George actually prefers to get rid of defense with the ball!

Turkoglu didn't have time to change his center of gravity. When he turned around, George had already made a jump shot.

? Conseco Arena broke out like a tsunami, George raised his right arm after scoring, as if telling the Magic players and Howard, whose site is this?

"The Pacers' offense is very stable. It seems that they are not afraid to challenge the strong!" Kevin Harlan thought the Pacers would be stage fright because of Howard's opening dunk, but he did not expect that George, a rookie of the year, But it has shown the confidence of the Pacers.

"Fear of the strong? No, no, no, I have to remind you. This season, the Pacers have three more wins than the Magic in the regular season! The two sides are also called evenly matched at best, and it is not certain who is the strong!" Reggie Miller said proudly.

Obviously, Howard didn't want his rule to be broken so quickly, and he was still a first-year rookie.

So in the next attack, he jumped high after Turkoglu missed a shot and forced Horford to complete the dunk.

Although Horford is the Eastern Conference All-Star backup center, even Henson must admit that he can't compare with Howard in athletic ability and dominance in the penalty area.

However, the defense Henson just saw was not Horford's miss, but Turkoglu's strike.

His prediction was correct, and the rest of the Magic couldn't help Howard much!

Horford looked at Henson aggrievedly, saying that he really did his best. But Henson didn't yell, just pressed his hands down to signal Horford not to worry.

In the entire first quarter that followed, Howard smashed the Pacers' penalty area just like the Hulk in Marvel comics. He played 12 minutes in a single quarter and scored 12 points and 4 rebounds.

Whether it is Horford or Mike Roberts on the bench for the Pacers, there is nothing to do with this behemoth.

However, after the end of the first quarter, even though Howard had played such an excellent performance, the Magic only led 19 to 18 by 1 point!

"Howard played the ultimate personal performance, but the Pacers unexpectedly carried his offensive!" Kevin Harlan looked at the data of the two teams in the first quarter with surprise and found the reason in an instant.

In the first quarter of the game, except for Howard, Turkoglu was the only starting player for the Magic to score. This is an extremely unbalanced score distribution!

As for the Pacers, there are as many as 7 people who have got scoring data!

Harlan realized that he used the team against the individual. Isn't this what Henson Jonah is good at?