April 23.

As the rest time passes quietly, the playoff showdown that the entire league has been attracting much attention has finally arrived.

On this day, the league arranged a total of four games, namely the Magic vs Bulls in the East, the Heat vs Hawks, the Nuggets vs Hornets in the West, and the Trail Blazers vs Rockets.

Since the Magic have a record advantage in the regular season, the first matchup between the two sides in the playoffs will be played at the Orlando Arena.

Before the game began, the entire Orlando Arena was full.

In addition, the team distributed blue and white cheering T-shirts to every fan entering the court for free, which also made it seem like a sea of ​​blue in the Orlando Arena.

Coupled with the heart-wrenching excitement of the fans on the scene, the Bulls who played away brought huge psychological pressure.

With the Magic's record this season, the Orlando Arena is one of the few Devil's home courts in the league.

After all, for local Orlando fans, they have never enjoyed the taste of a championship, and even the taste of the finals can be traced back to the distant 1990s.

Therefore, the Magic team has a good record this season and became the backbone of Orlando local fans in an instant.

All fans cheer for the team from the bottom of their hearts, and they have a kind of unity that will prosper and lose the whole.

Before the game started, the players on both sides warmed up shooting in their respective halfs, and the head coach was also communicating with the coaching staff on the court.

Whether it is the Magic team that has the advantage at home or the Bulls that play away, everyone seems to be very busy. They attach great importance to this playoff showdown and dare not be careless at all.

Famous commentator Mark Woodson: "Okay, then the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs match against the Magic vs Bulls is about to begin."

"In fact, before this round of showdown began, the outside world did not pay too much attention to the suspense of this game. Basically, more than 90% of the fans who supported the Magic to advance to the next round were already supported."

"Even fans who predicted the Magic to sweep the Bulls 4:0 were as high as 67.2%.

"So there is not much suspense to the outside fans in this round. After all, the strength between the two teams is really huge."

"This also leads to the fact that compared with other rounds of series, fans are speculating at this moment that the Magic can solve the Bulls within a few games."

Partner Tom Hovas: "That's right, since these two teams have huge differences in regular season records and performance, there is actually no particularly big suspense in terms of results."

"If the Bulls' odds of defeating the Magic and advancing to the next round are too low."

"Because Derek has a very strong personal talent, he is still too young after all, so how much strength he can play in the playoffs is completely unknown."

"The same is true, including Su. Although the performance of the two players Su and Derek in the regular season is very eye-catching, it is actually very difficult to say whether they can continue this touch in the playoffs."

"But when the suspense is not very big, the biggest highlight of this round is the genius showdown between Sue and Derek."

"After all, these two are rookies in this year's draft, and while they both made it to the playoffs as rookies, they are also the biggest opponents in the competition for the best rookie this season."

"It can be said that the confrontation between Sue and Derek is definitely a major highlight of this round of series."

"Even before this round of the series, Su and Derek were labeled as enemies of their lives. After all, these two people have been taken out to compare with each other since they entered the league."

"So one thing we can predict is that in the next few seasons, the personal grudge between Sue and Derek will definitely remain in a state of entanglement."

"As for who will perform better in this round of the series, Sue and Derek will play better, let's wait and see."

As the game is about to begin, both sides have announced their starting lineup in the first round of the series:

Bulls:

Ross, Ben Gordon, Lordeun, Nossioni, and Brad Miller.

Magic:

Sujiu, Iverson, Petrus, Lewis, and Howard.

In this game, both sides continued their starting lineup in the regular season, and neither of them made much changes.

For the Magic, this lineup has been honed many times in a season, and as the players become more and more tacit in their cooperation on the court, there is basically no need to make too much adjustments.

For the Bulls, it is completely stumbled to enter the playoffs this season.

Therefore, there is no room for adjustment in terms of lineup, because there are only a few people who can be used by the team, and no matter how much adjustment is, you can't find any new tricks.

The Bulls ended up only 41 wins and 41 losses this season with a winning rate of 50%, barely entering the playoffs.

The gap with the Magic is completely visible to the naked eye, so this is also the main reason why the media was very unpopular with the Bulls before the game.

Because with the Bulls' record of 41 wins and 41 losses, they can barely enter the playoffs in the weak East this season.

If this record is placed in the West, there will be no sign of even the last train of the playoffs.

Before the game started, Su Jiu and Ross also hugged each other in the middle of the field, and they were smiling and talking friendly.

In fact, Ross and Su Jiu had a good relationship on the court, especially during the All-Star Weekend, the two also exchanged contact information privately and had a pleasant exchange between them.

In this game, the two of them had different positions and fought for their respective teams, so they could not be considered a lifelong enemy.

Of course, whether it was Su Jiu or Rose, both of them just smiled lightly and didn't take it to heart for this famous name given by the media.

After all, this kind of thing is a promotional method used by the media to attract traffic, so you don’t have to take it too seriously in the field.

Because the real value of a player depends on his personal performance on the field.

After the game started, the ball was first obtained by Howard, who had a stronger physical fitness.

In the entire first quarter, the Magic's offensive method has not changed much, and there has been no major adjustments compared to the regular season.

If there are any changes, it is that on the defensive end, Stan Van Gundy also made some special defensive targets for the Bulls before the game.

Since the entire Bulls' offensive firepower is basically concentrated on Derek Ross, Ben Gordon and Lore Deng.

So Stan Van Gundy's defensive pressure in this game was all given to the outside, and deliberately released two flaws in the inside, forcing the Bulls to complete the attack at the weakest point.

However, even though Stan Van Gundy had already taken the initiative to release flaws in the inside, facing such an opportunity, the Bulls still maintained their offensive rhythm.

Most of the ball rights are basically in the hands of Derek Ross and Ben Gordon. As for Lore Deng and Nosioni, they are similar to those in the regular season and have been playing an off-ball pitcher.

Of course, the most pathetic one among them is definitely Brad Miller.

I remember that Brad Miller was not only an All-Star Center, but also the most perfect inner axis in Princeton's tactics.

And in addition to having an excellent passing vision on the offensive end, Brad Miller on the defensive end can even resist O'Neal in the interior.

However, such a legendary figure has to play the role of a blue-collar center after joining the Bulls.

It has to be said that this is definitely a tragedy for a former All-Star player.

In the whole first quarter, both teams were very focused and did not dare to be careless on the court.

However, even though the Bulls have worked hard to defend, under the absolute gap, the Bulls still have:

19:27

Leaving the Magic by eight points, ending the first quarter between the two sides.

"Keep joint defense, remember, after we come on the court, we will defend a 3-2 joint defense formation."

"Most of the opponent's substitute lineups are mainly pitchers, and their offensive ability in the inside can be said to be very short of comparison, and they are far from being compared with the starting lineup."

"So, for us, this is an excellent time to chase points. Although we are currently behind on the court, don't be discouraged."

"You must believe that when we stand on this field and compete with the Magic, the outcome of the game has become no longer important."

“No matter what the final result of this game is, we will be the final winner because we have beaten ourselves this season.”

“Before the start of this season, no media is optimistic that we can reach the playoffs.

"But with everyone's joint efforts, we not only successfully entered the playoffs this season, but also ranked seventh in the Eastern Conference, and even had only two wins with the Heat, which was fifth in the Eastern Conference."

"So no matter what the result of this series is, you've done a great job."

"And the situation on the field has become like this, so everyone, please let go and play next, don't care about the final win or loss of the game."

"Because competitive sports are so cruel, you can only select a winner to advance, but even if you lose, I hope we can get the respect and recognition of the other party in this round of the series."

"Come on, let's work together to add more color to this round of series."

“1.2.3.e         on!!!”

After the heartfelt speech of Bulls coach De Nagro, everyone in the Bulls also stacked their hands together, and then cheered themselves under the noisy pressure of the entire Orlando Arena.

In fact, Denagro is definitely an excellent head coach. Although his coaching ability is indeed limited, he has immeasurable value to the personal aspects of the players.

In a sense, he is more like a life mentor, and it is difficult for you to comment on whether his coaching career is successful or failure in the true sense.

Although Denagro has only coached the Bulls for two seasons in NBA history, in these two seasons, Denagro has brought the team to the playoffs.

However, since the team has not made any breakthrough in the team's record, it was ultimately forced to face the result of being dismissed.

But in the past two years, Denagro not only laid a very deep foundation for Ross, but most importantly, the philosophy he instilled in this young Bulls is definitely a priceless asset.

And it is Denagro who has been improving the team's spiritual level and the foundation laid for the team is very solid.

This made Denagro's first season after he was dismissed, and was led by successor Tom Thibodeau to score a record of 62 wins and 20 losses.

So maybe Denagro is not a successful NBA head coach, but he is enough to bear the word "excellent".

And this is why Su Jiu asked Derek Rosdo to follow the advice from Denagro.

Because compared to Tom Thibodeau's main force in the dead grass, Denagro's coaching philosophy is definitely a valuable asset.

At least in the two seasons he coached the Bulls, Derek Ross missed only five games in total.

So the right head coach is absolutely crucial for the player.
To be continued...