[Archaeology Department] 2003 Top Mack Battle Piston (Part 1): Unlimited Close to Successful Black Eight

The 2002-03 season is Maddy In the real "peak" season, this season's McGrady has raised the continuously strengthened ball holding and attacking ability of the past two seasons to the top level of the league, while the shooting ability has also made great progress.

In that season, McGrady's average three-point shots per game exceeded the sum of the past two seasons when he joined Magic (6 per game), and his shooting rate was a career high of 38.2%. At the same time, the average number of free throws per game and the free throw shooting rate reached a career high of 9.7 and 79.2%, and the overall shooting rate equalled the career high of 45.7%.

Throughout the regular season, McGrady averaged 32.1 points per game, which was achieved when his playing time was almost the same. What's more, after taking on so many offensive tasks, McGrady's average errors this season only rose slightly from 2.5 to 2.6, and at the same time, he could send 5.5 assists

This makes McGrady almost defenceless.

However, although McGrady played an incomparably brilliant season, Magic's record still lingered. Grant Hill played 29 games better this season than last year, but he still lost his money early this season. There is still no solution for the inside line as the team's lifeline. After Ewing retired and Grant was reimbursed, Rivers even had to let Sean Kemp and Odejie (yes, the foreign aid of the Beijing team later) start together.

This ultimately forced the team to trade Mike Miller, the only role player with trading value and also a friend of Tracy McGrady.

Before being traded, Mike Miller averaged 16.4 points per game, the team mate with the highest average score since McGrady joined the Magic. In his first game after being traded, McGrady scored 52 points in the third quarter. Rivers, who was very frightened, said "if we can, we should trade a friend of McGrady before every game".

However, despite that, Mike Miller's trade really helped the Magic. The No. 4 show from Grizzlies, Gooden, has well supported the team's interior. In his first 12 games with the Magic, Gooden averaged 15.5 points, 10.2 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game, helping the Magic turn around the decline in this period of 8-4 losses, even threatening Yao Ming The contest between Stoudemire and Caron Butler for the best rookie. The 25-year-old Croatian "rookie" Girisek who came with him averaged 14.3 points per game, almost playing the role of Miller's replacement.

The Magic retained some strength in the last few games of the regular season due to the gap between them and the eighth place opponents and the small gap between the top teams in the east. After a series of intrigues and calculations, Magic finally ranked eighth in the East, against the first in the East piston 。

For Magic, this is a good result - because Ben Wallace of the Pistons injured his left knee in the game against the San Antonio Spurs on April 6. At that time, he thought that he would be injured for at least half a month, which might affect the performance of the first round of the playoffs.

*******

Facing the pressure of scoring king, Ben Wallace finally decided to return early. Before the game, the media reported that his physical condition had only recovered about 80%. In the footage given by the broadcaster before the start, Big Ben's knee was still wrapped in thick gauze.

On his first attack in the opening game, Big Ben got the hot pot of Gooden, which obviously showed that his condition was very bad.

However, although Ben is in a normal state, with him guarding the interior, the Pistons still easily dragged the game into the familiar meat grinder rhythm - under Carlisle's arrangement, Michael, the forward defense expert who only scored 3 points per game in the front- Curie Top defense, Wallace at the back is ready to fill in. McGrady just started playing as if he had been put into a cage. The first three attacks ended in failure, which is very uncomfortable.

The Magic didn't play well, nor did the Pistons. Because of sufficient psychological preparation, the Magic's defense was very tenacious, resulting in an extremely ugly scene in the first few minutes of the game. The shooting rate of both sides was less than 50% in total. In the first quarter, Hamilton hit one of five shots for the first time in the playoffs, Billups More outrageous 6 to 0.

At this time, the game was like two people fighting in the water. Who would show his head from the water first would take the lead. As a superstar, McGrady was the first to find his own way... After losing the first three ball holding attacks, he began to find his hand opportunities by means of empty handed moves, and the piston's iron bucket array gradually failed.

In the whole first quarter, McGrady scored 10 points from 5 of 7 shots, the only player on the field with a shooting rate of more than 40%. In addition, Gooden, who was active in the basket like a drug addict, also made Orlando 5 points ahead.

In the second section, Rivers, who holds the leading edge, is very bold in his use of troops. He has taken all the three main firepower points of Garridi, McGrady and Gooden, and turned to let Armstrong and Whitney lead Hunter (rookie center)+Camp+Burke (29 year old rookie center, the first player in Irish basketball) to play three internal lines.

What's interesting is that the unexpected effect of the three towers is actually very good. You may not believe it, but during that time, the attack axis of Magic was a nearly disfigured Camp. Although the old Rain Man's running and jumping ability was almost completely disabled, his experience in ball handling, solid pick and roll, mid-range projection, and greasy turns still made him show a lot of operations. Magic did not lose points at this stage of McGrady's exit.

The Pistons on the other side played nervously. After watching the 20% shooting rate in the first quarter, Carlyle angrily sent four starters to the bench (leaving only Cliff Robinson), pushed onto the bench gangster Williamson (the former best sixth man), Joan Barry, and Turkish rookie Oku, It is hoped that the projection of these people can alleviate the constipated attack in the low position of the first quarter.

However, Carlisle, who lost the initiative, was a bit short of playing. When Rivers let McGrady back into the game, the Pistons' lineup could not match the strength, so the famous scene was born

To be fair, although he contributed to this wonderful dunk, McGrady did not play well in the second quarter. However, because of the active performance of Gooden and Camp, the Magic has been playing against the Pistons. Gooden strangely suppressed Ben completely in the first half, and the old Camp still found a chance to dunk a basket.

With the help of these people, McGrady got an 8-and-a-half minute break in the first half, which was extremely critical for Magic, because it meant that Rivers did not have to worry about McGrady's physical problems in the second half as he did in the previous two years, and could spend three or four quarters of his life.

During the intermission, several guests were discussing the newly revised playoff game system. After the first round was changed from three wins in five to four wins in seven, everyone thought that the possibility of being cold was reduced. However, at that time, these commentators and guests focused not on the Magic and Pistons, but on the Timberwolves and the Lakers on the other side. At that time, the Timberwolves led by Garnett had the fourth home advantage in the western region, Experts all expressed regret: if it was last year, you might have a chance to get cold. (Wolf: Hey, I am ahead of you!)

In the second half, the Pistons changed their defensive strategy and began to attack McGrady. In fact, Carlisle let the first team sit on the bench in the second quarter, which was also to accumulate strength in the second half to give McGrady strength. In the whole third quarter, he only let the substitutes play together for less than 2 minutes. At the same time, Carlisle also tried to limit McGrady by using the joint defense that had just been lifted.

But for Magic and Tracy McGrady, this situation has become commonplace. Although they found the right piston (mainly Cliff Robinson's misplaced attack, others were still inaccurate, such as Billups, whose data after the third quarter was a poor 11 in 1), they once narrowed the gap to 1 point, but it was soon watered down by Tracy McGrady's three points.

In the final quarter, the Pistons used to rely on Atkins' three consecutive points (including the three points at the buzzer at the last moment of the third quarter) to boost their momentum, but the defense was slightly loosened, and McGrady immediately returned a wave of 10-0 single players to the opponent, opening the difference to double digits.

At this time, the Pistons' attack can only be supported by making fouls under the hard shot, without excessive changes leading to qualitative changes. The Magic's massive fouls eventually led to the unsustainable defense quality, and Billups, who had no sense of the game, seized the opportunity to break through and brush free throws.

At the same time, Magic's attack finally lost power - the Pistons' isolated tactics against McGrady finally had an effect. Under the binding of periodic sandwiches and joint defense, McGrady lost contact with his teammates, and Gooden, who was extremely active in the first half, was finally held down by Big Ben. After hitting a floating shot that almost grazed his fingertip, Tracy McGrady missed four consecutive shots, and the Pistons stole the difference to one point one minute before the end.

At the critical moment, McGrady broke into the interior to kill. Although from the playback, it seems that Clive Robinson completed the cover first, the referee blew or blew. McGrady did not waste the opportunity as he did against the Hornets G1 last year. He hit two free throws steadily - as Billups lost two quick points, Magic grabbed the home court advantage.

McGrady scored 43 points in the game with 15 out of 28 super efficiency, breaking the Magic's playoff record, 28 of which came from the second half. Although his teammate Gooden stalled in the second half, he still contributed 18 points and 16 rebounds. The most important thing is that with his help, the Magic didn't suffer too much from the inside rebounds in this game - I'm afraid that this is the key for the Magic to finally defeat the opponent.

Pistons hit 31.2% of the field, and Hamilton hit 7 of the 17 most efficiently. Others Billups hit 3 of the 16, Robinson hit 7 of the 18... But Pistons hit 40 of the 47 free throws in the field, and Billups Hamilton and Big Ben made 19, 12 and 8 free throws respectively.

******

After the first game, Pistons held a meeting. They thought that the team played lightly in the first game, played too simply in the attack, and underestimated Magic's will to resist, especially in the low position.

In addition, the Pistons concluded that the team's defensive strategy against Magic was appropriate. Even though the other team's shooting rate was 16 percentage points higher than their own (47% vs. 31%), the traditional weak rebounds were almost tied with their own. With McGrady's 40+rampage, they only won 5 points in the end... So as long as the Pistons played normally, the advantage was still mine.

Pistons thought so, and they also carried out so. When G2 came up, Hamilton first untied the restrictions and scored 13 points from 5 out of 7 in a single quarter, and Billups also scored 3 out of 6, completely out of the haze of 1 out of 11 in the last half.

At the same time, Big Ben found himself, blocked 5 points, 5 rebounds and 2 rebounds in a single session, and repeatedly used his body to knock Gooden down.

As for McGrady's defense, the Pistons continued to use the sandwich+joint defense strategy that they began to use in the second half of the last game, trying to isolate McGrady and make him lose contact with the whole team (in some rounds, they even used BOX-1). As a result, in the first quarter, although McGrady got 8 points from 3 of 6 shots, it was not low efficiency, but the Magic lost rhythm and was directly taught by the Pistons 31-14.

Yes, Pistons is indeed a strong team, and they did not misjudge their own strength compared with Magic. In the second quarter, Pistons opened the score very quickly. During the period from McGrady's off court rest to playing again, the difference was quickly opened to 22 points

At this time, Rivers frowned and found that it was not easy. After the pause, he clicked and drew several 1-4 dry pulling tactics to pull McGrady out of the cut, and patted McGrady on the shoulder: Come on!

Then McGrady nodded and rushed into the court, scoring seven in a row.

In essence, this section can be said that McGrady is a person versus the Pistons team. McGrady made 7 of 8 shots in a single section. During this period, he even didn't bother to pass the ball. The way to play is to shake off the defenders before the Pistons' iron barrel encircles the team, and cut 16 points in a single section with a gesture of "you can't stop me".

However, the problem is that in these two quarters, the support of his teammates was equivalent to no support. Although the Pistons were beaten badly enough, they well implemented Carlyle's tactical intention to isolate McGrady. McGrady did not even have an assist after half a game. On the scene, the Magic's most active and satisfying performance may be the old Camp

However, thanks to McGrady's efforts, the Magic were not defeated by the Pistons in advance. The Magic were barely alive 40-54 at half time. Hamilton was the best performer of the Pistons, who scored 21 points.

At halftime, the broadcaster gave the Pistons two suggestions in the second half: 1, control McGrady's no ball attack; 2. Control McGrady's ball holding attack.

Rivers' counter-measures to these two suggestions are simpler: from the very beginning, let McGrady hold the ball and go to the front court to do it himself.

However, the absurdity is that this kind of beast logic is actually true for Magic and McGrady.

In the third quarter, McGrady still didn't have any assists, but he scored 14 points in a single quarter, and also kept Michael Curry away from him for four fouls. Except for him, only Dirk picked up 7 points by his second attack, the rest were all 0 points.

Although the tactics were successful, Carlisle was still very unhappy because he was beaten badly by McGrady, but he sent the 22-year-old rookie at the end of the team's bench to face McGrady.

As a result, the unexpected effect appeared. The rookie with a long face and long arms immediately got his hat on McGrady.

In the next round, he stuck to McGrady's breakthrough and helped Ben stop McGrady's conversion attack. Then, after being fouled by McGrady, he found the court with a foul in the next round

The Detroit fans who knew the ball immediately understood, and they cheered for the rookie. Carlyle touched his chin at this time... The rookie, it seems interesting? Then I'll leave the fourth quarter to you!

So in the fourth quarter, Prince directly replaced Curry as the team's starter and played for 12 minutes.

To be fair, Prince didn't completely defend McGrady in the fourth quarter. If he really wanted to give McGrady one-on-one orders, Prince would give them nothing.

However, Prince's existence is a psychological hint for Magic players: expect Tracy McGrady to go away alone to save your life? No way! His hands will be cold! I got stuck to him! He's too late!

So in the fourth quarter, although Tracy McGrady made a sudden shot and still scored 8 points, the rest of the Magic gave nothing. Rivers made some arrangements, such as asking Tracy McGrady to only make a transition, and Armstrong and Girisek would catch the open gear on the other side to launch an attack. But the result was that the two men hit 0 in 6, and the game returned to the rhythm of two years ago.

At the same time, Ben Wallace reaped all the rebounds, and Billups made up his gun again. The point was not reduced at all. At the last minute, the Pistons were 12 points ahead, and the game was over.

Tracy McGrady scored a career playoff high 46 points in 16 of 26 shots in this game (the only team scoring double points), but his contact with his teammates was completely cut off, with only one assist in the fourth quarter and seven other mistakes. Girisek and Gooden, who were exchanged by the team for Miller, scored 3 out of 20.

On the Pistons side, Hamilton had 30 points, Big Ben had 13 points and 16 rebounds, announcing his return to status. Magic had 17 fewer rebounds than their opponents, so it was natural to lose

*******

Before the G3 game, McGrady encouraged his teammates to take the initiative to attack in the locker room: "You can play by yourself and put yourself into the game." McGrady said, "I have my own way to score points. You don't have to look at me before every ball and tactic is launched."

Indeed, the result of the last game has clearly proved one thing: without activating teammates, Tracy McGrady will not be able to fight in the opposite direction even if he is exhausted. But after the opening game, Magic still couldn't get into the rhythm, McGrady didn't take the initiative to attack the ball, while others quickly made four consecutive mistakes in three minutes, and the Pistons easily opened the gap to 15-6

Furious Rivers called a pause and shouted at the players: Please! Don't miss Hamilton again! c'mon! （please！ don't leave hamiton！please！）

Then it finally turned into a typical Rivers style pause without eggs. At the end of the first quarter, Hamilton scored again in a wave of continuous operations. As a result, after the first quarter, the Pistons were 29-19 ahead, and Hamilton scored 13 points in a single quarter, while McGrady had always suppressed his offensive desire, and only 4 points were scored in 2 of 4 shots in the first quarter.

In the second quarter, Carlisle brought Prince up against McGrady, which on the contrary seemed to make McGrady a little uncomfortable. McGrady scored 7 points on Prince (one breakthrough, one three-point and one foul), forcing Carlisle to adjust the lineup quickly.

However, McGrady was probably still angry. When he came back from the suspension, he shot Curry for a three-point straight away, and the difference was narrowed to one point.

For Magic, this kind of game rhythm is good news - in the first quarter, McGrady suppressed his attacking desire to let his teammates adapt to the intensity, and he began to integrate into the rhythm after everyone began to get out of shape. The second quarter was not finished, McGrady had four assists, while Gooden and Armstrong, who caught the blind in the last game, hit 9 out of 11, and had already cut 20 points in the half.

However, due to the initiative of Magic and the power of the audience, the referee was inevitably affected. Before half time, McGrady gave Big Ben a big hat, but actually the ball should be blown to interfere with the ball.

At half time, Magic was only 2 points behind. In the third quarter, Girisek, who averaged 14 points after the transfer but only scored 6 points in the first two playoffs, finally found his hand and cut 10 points in a single quarter.

After he, Gooden and Armstrong opened their hands respectively, the isolated defense of the Pistons became no longer tenable, and McGrady could even create an opportunity for himself to make an empty shot by making teammates attract handbags by blocking and removing them - which was unimaginable in the previous two games.

At this time, the Pistons' mentality of defending and attacking was broken. Hamilton, who scored four goals in the first half, completely missed the third quarter and only made one of five shots. In the confusion, the team even ran out of Ben Wallace's honey tactic of mid distance jump shot. McGrady, with the help of his teammates, easily used the tactical ball to fill the knife on the defensive end.

At the end of the third quarter, Magic led by 10 points, and McGrady was very happy. When receiving an interview at the end of the quarter, he could not help but start to open his mouth: "When I am in good condition, how can I shoot? The opponent can only pray for my mercy. When one-on-one, I will not miss any opportunity to attack."

I don't know if I heard this interview. McGrady was directly defeated by his opponent in the fourth quarter - this is the playoffs, this is the fourth quarter. This is when the superstar closed the game, and the opponent was so happy.

After Carlisle's rectification, Pistons regained their discipline in the fourth quarter, and the strength of the defensive end increased in a straight line. The Magic lost power again at this time, and no one in the team could hit the shot except McGrady (the only two goals of the Magic in the fourth quarter came from McGrady). Most of the time, they had to rely on free throws to gain points.

However, the Magic's attack was poor, and the Pistons' attack was not much better. The two teams returned to the first quarter of the first game. Hamilton was 5 in the third quarter, 1 in the fourth quarter, 6 in the fourth quarter, and Billups was invisible on the court. In contrast, it is not as active as the desperate Armstrong and Gooden.

The time finally stood on the side of Magic, Orlando people still held the lead, and McGrady, who scored 29 points in the game, hugged old buddy Armstrong after the game.

You know, this is the first time in three years that their partners have taken a big lead in the playoffs.

"As a single nuclear team, it's really crazy to hear McGrady say those words before the game," Armstrong (7 of 8 in the fourth quarter), who scored 20 points quietly, said after the game, "He is our boss. He led us here, and we also need to help him continue to move forward."

********

At the beginning of G4, McGrady once again stood at the jump point. A year ago, he came to jump because the team was short of major generals in the playoffs against the Hornets. Now he stands at the jump point of the opening game, which represents determination: when he is leading 2-1, he will lead the team to victory.

However, this time McGrady went too fast. In the first quarter, he injured his left hand finger in an attack. He only made one of four shots in the first quarter. On the contrary, Billups from the opposite Pistons suddenly cut 16 points in a single quarter, giving Pistons a 10 point lead.

But in the second quarter, the Pistons' attack was cut off as scheduled - although this team has good integrity, excellent bench depth (the league's regular season bench scored first), and they have a mature mechanism to deal with McGrady on the defensive side (although the effect may not be very good), they are really lack of talent on the offensive side, and the team often relies on Williamson Joan Barry and Okur converted the attack rhythm to earn points, but in the face of Michael Reeves, the three men playing means being chased.

McGrady, whose finger was swollen in the first quarter, adjusted his form in this quarter. He scored 11 points in a single quarter, and at the same time blew Williamson, the important bench attacker of the Pistons, onto the bench. Carlyle did not dare to let Prince play in the face of weak attack, but could only use unlimited wheel fights to consume McGrady (the on-site commentator joked that the Pistons had almost brought Rambil up against him) ——But this gave other Magic players a chance to open fire. The Magic scored 35-21 in a single quarter, which turned the score upside down.

At the beginning of the third quarter, the score was still anxious, but the problem of the piston power-off could not be solved. Billups, who scored 16 points in the first quarter, made a total of 10 shots in the second and third quarters. After 65-61 took the lead, the piston was hit by the Magic in an 18-0 counter attack, and fell 14 points behind to enter the last quarter.

The mentality of the Pistons in the fourth quarter has gone wrong, and the defense has begun to loosen. Even though McGrady broke four shots in the fourth quarter, the Pistons have been unable to smooth the gap with the help of Gooden, Armstrong and Girisek.

One minute before the end, Tracy McGrady assisted Girisek to take a long shot, and the game was completely out of suspense.

In the whole game, McGrady got 27 points, 9 assists and 5 steals. Although the attack efficiency was not high due to injury (7 out of 19), McGrady led the team to completely connect his teammates in this game. After the game, McGrady said: "We all played with great confidence. We need this confidence in this series... Of course, we can't relax too much now, there is still another game to play!"

On the Pistons' side, Hamilton hit 2 in 11 and Billups hit 3 in 20. However, it is worth mentioning that Big Ben's physical condition completely returned to normal this game, he scored 13 points, 24 rebounds and 7 steals in a single game, while the Pistons have suppressed more than 5+Magic rebounds in three consecutive games

If at this time last year, the Magic had already completed the Black Eight, unfortunately this year, they would have to win one more game.

…………

Because the article is too long (more than 13000 words+130+pictures), the article is split into two parts for publication.

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