Li Kaiming's outstanding performance in the first half became the target of discussion among all commentators. Before this, some people discussed whether Li Kaiming could score 20 points in his first appearance in the rookie season and whether his statistics could surpass Griffin.
As for leading the team to win, no one has ever mentioned it, because almost everyone agrees that high draft picks require the team to give them enough ball rights to train them, and generally it takes a while for rookies to adapt to the NBA. , so the efficiency in his rookie season is definitely not high.
When inefficiency and a large number of shots appear on the same person, the team's record is bound to be no better.
Therefore, the evaluation of a rookie's development prospects and strength depends more on what data this person can get and how efficient he is.
As for the team's record, it may be the least important factor for rookies.
Li Kaiming's assessment is no exception, not to mention that the latter faced a team like the Orlando Magic in his first appearance that had reached the Finals and Eastern Conference Finals. No one expected Li Kaiming to lead the team to win, and they were even rude. Really, even if Li Kaiming did not perform well in this game, most people would not deny him.
After all, there are magic tricks from Howard and Carter on the opposite side!
But after the first half, Li Kaiming's performance shocked everyone who thought so.
Under his leadership, the Wizards not only led the Magic at half-time with their remaining lineup, but he also had more points per hand than the Magic's boss and two players combined!
As for Griffin, Li Kaiming's half-time score exceeded the former's full-time score. Moreover, Griffin played against a team on the edge of the playoffs, while Li Kaiming faced a team in the finals!
After such a comparison, fans were surprised to find that this Chinese-American No. 1 pick was completely different from other rookies in recent years!
There were not many games tonight, only three, so many people paid attention to this game, including many of Li Kaiming's old friends, and his performance in the first half also made his old friends excited.
Charles Barkley, the starter, said, "Oh, my Lord, Li Kaiming's performance is simply divine!"
When Magic Johnson commented on Barkley's tweet, he also retweeted, "God may be wearing No. 0 tonight..."
Magic's allusion is very good. This meme comes from the 1986 Eastern Conference playoffs. When Michael Jordan scored 63 points, the highest score in NBA playoff history against the Boston Celtics, the forcing king Larry Bird was A famous quote from a post-game interview.
This sentence was later used to prove the greatness of Michael Jordan. After all, even Bird, who was unconvinced, couldn't help bragging.
Although Bird's original intention was not this, the meaning of Magic's words is obvious. Li Kaiming is God on the court today and can do anything.
…
Inside the home team's locker room at Amway Center during halftime.
Stan Van Gundy rarely showed an angry expression. Although he looks big and rough, he is still very calm and rarely gets angry during games.
Van Gundy looked around the locker room, jabbed his finger on the tactical board with a serious tone.
"Remember, in the second half, keep an eye on No. 0 on the opposite side, don't let him catch the ball, and force him to pass the ball to others. This guy's shooting percentage against two people is higher than his teammates' shooting percentage in the wide open space! If If we want to win, we have to fight this guy to death! Guys, remember, our goal is to win the championship, not to have a back-and-forth with a team on the fringe of the playoffs. I don’t want to watch the second half. This guy is scoring points like crazy!"
Van Gundy's serious tone made the atmosphere in the entire Magic locker room a little tense. Howard seemed to be in a daze with his head on the floor in front of him, but his fingers were already tightly clenched.
And Rashard Lewis, who was guarding Li Kaiming, was even more ashamed. At the beginning of the game, he thought he could easily suppress the guy on the opposite side. Unexpectedly, his head coach almost chewed his teeth, and the guy still scored 24 points at halftime. point! !
The other players are also a little dissatisfied. As members of the championship team, they naturally have the arrogance in their hearts that matches their status, but now they are playing back and forth with the Wizards who have lost Arenas, and most of them In most cases, they were suppressed and beaten. How could they not feel aggrieved?
As for the Wizards locker room on the other side, although the atmosphere was not as stagnant as the Magic team, it was not very active either. After all, the Wizards do not have that many available players, and whether they are starting or substitutes, the paper lineup is not as good as the Magic. The temporary lead puts more pressure on them, because the Wizards want to maintain the score advantage until the end of the game.
Sanders gritted his teeth and faced Li Kaiming and Nick Young at the beginning of the second half.
Li Kaiming had already expected Chui. After all, when he went to the Wizards, it was almost like raising a white flag and surrendering, while Nick Young looked a little ugly.
He played as a substitute for the Wizards last season, but this season he started as a starter. In the first game, his playing time was directly extended to 40+ minutes. It is normal that his physical strength cannot keep up.
At the end of the relatively long intermission, the Wizards continued to keep McGee on the court at the beginning of the third quarter. The other four players continued to maintain the starting lineup, while the Magic replaced all starting lineups. Compared with the Wizards, their lineup is as thick as the crust of an egg. After the rotation in the second half of the second quarter, the Magic's starting lineup has fully recovered.
The Wizards served, and Hinrich handed the ball to Li Kaiming after halftime. This time, Li Kaiming chose to hold the ball and play a pick-and-roll tactic. He was covered by defender Hinrich. Nelson, Hinrich's opponent, saw that Li Kaiming was going to target him and immediately called Lewis prepares to pack
The Magic's tactic is to double-team whenever Li Kaiming holds the ball and let him pass the ball out, even if it leaves others open.
This time Li Kaiming gave it to Hinrich near the free throw line. The latter put one foot on the ground and shot Zheng.
53 to 47!
Stan Van Gundy pinched his fingers slightly, but decided to continue with the defensive strategy.
The Magic offense ended with Lewis' catch-and-shoot three-pointer. Li Kaiming was still too weak off the ball from the outside, and he was too big to squeeze into the screen, so he was shot by Lewis.
McGee gave Hinrich a free throw, and Li Kaiming helped the latter block Nelson's pressing defense on the way, and then immediately came to the frontcourt.
When the Magic team saw Li Kaiming's expired pick-and-roll, several people immediately took a few steps towards Li Kaiming, especially those on the outside. They wished they had eyes on Li Kaiming, as if Li Kaiming was not a ball player, but a stunning beauty who was naked and engaged in performance art. .
The Magic also have the capital to do this, which is to rely on Howard's strong defensive ability, especially his awareness of assisting defense.
If it were another center, the inside line would have been penetrated by the movement of other Wizards.
Li Kaiming didn't expect that he couldn't even score from the three-point line, but the Magic team would react so strongly. This meant that his threat had reached the level he wanted!
In this case, Li Kaiming gave Hinrich a wink, then reached out for the ball, and at the same time shouted the tactical code to his teammates.
After Hinrich passed the ball to Li Kaiming, he immediately ran away. The rest of the Wizards were also distributed to the farthest place from Li Kaiming. In this way, the space in the entire half was maximized. The Magic's The double-team tactic was immediately forced into a dilemma.
Is this a double-team or no double-team?
