"The Magic performed very well in the first half, and Maddie also performed very well in the confrontation with Meng Xu, but the next third quarter will be a big test for the Magic." At the end of the half, when the players from both sides walked into the players' tunnel, Michaels on the sidelines said with great interest.

In the halftime technical statistics of the two teams, Maddy shot 11 of 19, 4 of 9 three-pointers, and 5 of 6 free throws, scoring a game-high 31 points, but except for Maddy, the Magic's highest scoring was Gordon Girisek's 6 points, and no one on the Magic team scored in double figures except for Maddy. On the Pacers' side, Meng Xu only scored 6 points in the second quarter, and the 19-point data in the half game was much inferior to Maddy, but on the Pacers' side, in addition to Meng Xu, there were two double-doubles, Jermaine O'Neal and Bobby Simmons scored 11 and 10 points respectively, and the Pacers also led the Magic by 55 points at 55-50.

At the end of the half, the 5-point gap is actually not big, but the current Pacers have become accustomed to exerting their strength in the third quarter, and many teams that can play evenly with the Pacers in the first half, and even lead the Pacers in the score, but they can't withstand the Pacers' counterattack in the third quarter, and they are taken away by the Pacers.

"That's true, from the middle of the season, the Pacers will habitually use full-court pressing tactics in the third quarter, in this regard, the Pacers are very similar to the 72-win Bulls that year, but the slight difference is that the Pacers are also missing a Ron Harper, whether it is Meng Xu plus James Posey, or Meng Xu and Hamilton can reach the defensive level of Jordan and Pippen at least 8 percent, but Jamal Tinsley is far from Ron Harper, If Larry can solve this Jamal Tinsley point, then the Pacers' full-court pressing tactics will be more powerful. ”

"The Pacers' existing roster is giving a Ron Harper? Then it's better to just award the championship to the Pacers!" Michaels couldn't help but complain after hearing Magic Johnson's words. Although the Pacers only have Meng Xu, a supergiant, and their strength on paper is far less luxurious than the Lakers' Big Four, the Pacers also have Meng Xu, Mutombo, Jermaine O'Neal, Reggie Miller Four All-Star players, and the Pacers are now very strong in both the starting lineup and the bench lineup, especially the bench lineup, the Pacers' bench lineup this season is not an exaggeration to describe it as the strongest in the league. None of their main lineups have necessarily beaten the Pacers' bench lineup.

"Alright, alright!" After hearing Michaels' complaint, Magic Johnson couldn't help but roll his eyes, and rarely didn't go back, and seemed to agree with Michaels's words. After a pause, Magic Johnson continued: "With the current state of the Magic, it's actually very difficult for them to make any changes at halftime, which is very bad for the Magic. ”

Magic's current tactics are very simple, whether it is a big lineup or a small lineup, in fact, it is all around Maddie, to put it bluntly, it is a superstar tactic X**D, so Doug Rivers wants to beat Larry Bird at the tactical level, it is impossible, the Magic's odds are actually still on Maddie, if Maddie can continue to maintain the brave state in the first half, the Magic still has hope, on the contrary, the Magic may not last until the end of the third quarter of the game, maybe he will kneel.

"Sure enough, at the beginning of the third quarter, the Pacers pressed the Magic all over the court!"

"Magic doesn't look good!" After the Pacers pressed the whole court, Jacqui Vaughn, who controlled the ball on the court, was immediately in a hurry, and after barely getting rid of Jamal Tinsley's pressing, he wanted to hand over the basketball to Maddie, but was directly cut off by Meng Xu, and the first offense after the opening ended in a mistake, which will definitely have a great impact on Jacqui Vaughn's psychology, and at the same time, it will also cause some interference to the morale of other players in the Magic.

After Jacqui Vaughn made a mistake, was directly stealed by the Pacers and launched a fast break to score, the Magic did have some changes in the subsequent offense, in order to be on the safe side, after Sean Kemp sent a baseline ball, Jacqui Vaughn handed the basketball in his hand directly to Maddie who covered himself before Jamal Tinsley forced himself.

As a top swing man, Maddie's ball control skills are naturally speechless, even a little stronger than the Magic's genuine point guard Jacqui Vaughn, with excellent arm span, large palms, and good body coordination, these are Maddie's innate advantages, especially Maddie's left-handed ball control skills, which have been practiced to the point where the left and right hands are not prioritized, so it is obviously not so easy for the Pacers to force Maddie like Jacqui Vaughn.

"This guy's defense is really good, he deserves to have won the best defensive player, and he is much better than James Posey." After James Posey's two consecutive pressing were broken by Maddie, the defense of Maddie became Meng Xu, compared with the first half of the game, Meng Xu's defensive intensity has been improved by a level again, not only in the blockade of space, so that Maddie can not see the slightest gap, even in the blocking of Maddie's dribbling route, there is not the slightest loophole, this attack, Maddie was almost defended by Meng Xu in the backcourt for 8 seconds, although after dribbling through the middle circle, Meng Xu's pressing was relaxed, But Maddie could still feel the pressure around her.

Now the situation on the court, as long as the Pacers choke Maddie, it is equivalent to choking the Magic's offense, so after Posey's defense of Maddie was blocked, Meng Xu switched positions with Bossy and personally defended Maddie, and because his teammates are much more powerful than Maddie's teammates, it doesn't matter if Meng Xu puts all his energy on the defensive end, but Maddie is different, as long as he dares to loosen a little, the Magic will soon be over, so Meng Xu chose to fight Maddie on the defensive end, in fact, he also wants to accelerate the consumption of Maddie's physical strength, After all, Maddie only rested for 3 minutes in the first half, and at the same time did not have the slightest reservation at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends, and his physical exertion was obviously greater than his own.

"Tracy, if you can't do it, just pass the ball, it's going to take 24 seconds for you to dribble." Maddie, who blocked Meng Xu with his right hand and protected the ball with his left hand, frowned a little speechlessly when he heard Meng Xu's words that seemed to care about him, but were actually full of provocation. Meng Xu's defense of himself today made Maddie feel that he was playing in the finals, this kind of high-intensity defense, and fierce pressing, is Maddie has never encountered in the previous defense, even Meng Xu in the previous encounters, has not used such a high-intensity oppressive defense against himself. Especially what makes Maddie under great pressure is that Maddie does not have the slightest dislocation advantage in the face of Meng Xu, in recent seasons after he changed to a scoring guard, in the face of all the scoring guards in the league, Maddie, who is 2.03 meters tall, has a dislocation advantage, even in the face of the most powerful Kobe, Maddie occupies a certain advantage, but when facing Meng Xu today, Maddie not only feels that he has no advantage at all, but is even faintly suppressed by Meng Xu in some aspects, which is an unprecedented feeling.

"If Maddie still can't get rid of Meng Xu's blockade in the later games, and his teammates can't provide him with effective help, then this game can't play in the fourth quarter, maybe it will lose suspense." Maddie on the court was never able to get rid of Meng Xu, and Drew Gooden, who tried to cover for Maddie, was stuck by James Posey, and in the end Maddie could only dribble for more than 20 seconds, very reluctantly shot, if this situation continues, the Magic will collapse in a few minutes.

"Doug Rivers called a timeout, and the Magic now have to make adjustments and can't let Maddie continue to keep the ball in possession, which is too much physical drain on him." When he saw the end, Maddie, who was sweating profusely, and Michaels on the commentary seat were already in a hurry.

"There's no way for the Magic, who controls Maddie if he doesn't control the ball? Jacqui Vaughn? If he is allowed to control the ball, the Magic may collapse faster, and under the high-intensity pressing of the Pacers, it is difficult to say whether Jacqui Vaughn can pass the ball to Maddy. Magic Johnson glanced at the Magic's bench, whether it was Jacqui Vaughn or his backup Chris Whitney, neither of them could handle the ball as well as Maddy, maybe the Magic's sixth man, former main point guard Darrell Armstrong could try it at this time, but he missed today's game due to injury.

"Damn!" Doug Rivers on the sidelines held the tactical board, but couldn't think of any strategy that could change the situation on the court, if it wasn't Meng Xu who defended Maddy, if the Pacers didn't have a spider man like James Posey on the side to assist Meng Xu, then whoever the Magic used to control the ball would be okay. But now when Meng Xu and James Posey are on the court at the same time and start to press the Magic's backcourt, with the addition of Jermaine O'Neal, whose mobility ability is comparable to that of the outside, the Magic are really crumbling now. At this time, Doug Rivers really misses Grant Hill very much, if Hill can play, even if he is standing on the court, everything is good, the Magic will not face such a dilemma.

Although the Pacers' defense can't last the entire second half, as long as the Pacers can maintain this state for the whole quarter in the third quarter, it is enough, if Doug Rivers still can't find a way to break the Pacers' pressing, then the Magic will definitely collapse, or the Magic is now collapsing, less than two minutes into the third quarter, the difference between the two sides has come to 9 points.

After the timeout, Larry Bird replaced Jamal Tinsley with Tyshawn Prince, and the Pacers' full-court pressing of the Magic became even crazier, from the moment the Magic sent the baseline ball, Maddie, who dribbled, met Meng Xu's pressing, perhaps it was Doug Rivers' adjustment at the timeout, and the other players of the Magic began to cover for Maddie in the backcourt, but in the end, under the joint blockade of James Posey and Tyshawn Prince, these screens eventually became futile. After Maddie dribbled through the center circle, Drew Gooden immediately pulled up, trying to cover Maddie with a pick-and-roll match, but Drew Gooden, who had just entered the league this year, how could he get rid of Jermaine O'Neal, after successive unsuccessful attempts to block and dismantle, Drew Gooden could only helplessly take Jermaine O'Neal to run to the basket.

"Sean, do you regret it?" Just when there was a rush and counter-pressing on the court, in the scramble between the basket and Kemp, Mutombo, who had nothing to do, suddenly saw a special look flashing in Kemp's eyes.

"Do you regret it?" After hearing Mutombo's words beside him, Kemp suddenly felt as if he had been hit hard in the heart. Camp just now, after seeing Drew Gooden, who wanted to block and dismantle with Maddie, was so immature that it was a little ridiculous, and suddenly a wave of chagrin came to his heart, if he was still at his peak, even if he only had 80% of the ability at his peak, the Magic would not be in such a predicament, and Maddie would not be so helpless.

Kemp once thought that he had lost his passion for basketball, and he played to support his family and for this generous salary, which is why in the face of criticism from the outside world, Kemp would say, the reason why I go to the basket now is only because I am tired of dunking! The reason why I don't want to jump is just that I'm tired of the sky! The reason for these words. But it wasn't until he joined the Magic, until he met Maddie, until today, that Camp knew that he was wrong, he still wanted to dunk like before, and he wanted to fly like before, but he couldn't fly now, and he couldn't dunk anymore.

"Maybe except for the Mavericks and the Lakers, there really isn't any team that will be the Pacers' opponent this season!" When the Magic's back-to-back screens all failed, and Maddie had to dribble for more than 20 seconds before reluctantly making another attempt, all the reporters and spectators were shocked by the Pacers' suffocating tight defense.

"The synergy between Larry, Tyshawn and Meng and James is much better than Jamal's, and maybe we can try to increase the amount of time they play at the same time in the future." See Meng Xu, James Posey, and Tyshawn Prince

After the backcourt combination killed all sides on the field, and even a superstar like Maddie was blocked by them together, Lester Connell's excitement at the moment was beyond words.

"Hmm." Looking at the excellent effect of his inadvertent adjustment, Larry Bird also nodded, but Larry Bird also had a more crazy idea in his heart at this moment.