Magic VS Knights
The Magic pulled one back, and it was a big win, exploding on both ends of the floor. Instead of trying to win a 90-86 game as expected, the Magic went above and beyond the task.
There are some contents in this game that do not have much analytical value, and it can be said that the two teams may indeed have situations under normal strategy and state adjustment, including but not limited to:
Banchero one-on-one hard answer. He may not be able to do the whole series, but the individual games in the series are not too over-the-top. This Banchero is too awesome, integrating offense, defense, and passing;
The Magic came up with a very good pinch shot, rotation, and took advantage of the Cavaliers' outside line to be collectively inaccurate and limit Mitchell;
Garland abstracted;
Strus's ability to play in some periods was slightly exposed, and the offense had no sense of presence;
Xiao Wa played a performance that was in line with the intensity of the opposition he faced, and there was a tandem in addition to individual scoring;
The Magic three-pointers pulled back slightly, mostly in Banchero, Suggs and Isaac. In addition to the 3D contribution, Suggs had sporadic ball-stealing points in this game;
The Magic used excellent defense to play a counterattack, and the fast-break score of 22 points was the key to opening the scoring stage.
There's not much to say about the above.
In addition, the Magic suppressed the Cavaliers with frontcourt rebounds and scored 22 points on the second offense - the chaos was the most points won by the Magic. But if you look closely at the Magic's front board, 9 out of 14 were in the first quarter, and many of those 9 were rebounds and rebounds after Banchero himself missed. Therefore, the difference between the front boards of the two sides in this game does not reflect much on the strategic level.
So what's the most interesting part of this game?
Moseley made a tweak by taking Isaac off the starting lineup and reusing Carter's starting lineup, which they used more often for the regular season. This adjustment did not show an effect on Carter, as the "phoenix chick" on the offensive end of G2, Carter still did not feel good this time, and only scored 2 points in the whole game, but it was the "Wolong" Isaac who felt the callback and played better offensively.
The Magic's original starting effect was not good, the interior defense was relegated, and the Cavaliers were frequently hit to the basket, and the Magic basically relied on chasing three-pointers, long-rebounding three-pointers, and high-difficulty hard solutions from double forwards. With 3:14 left in the first quarter, the Magic trailed 18-21 and Mosley called a timeout.
After this timeout, the trend of the game changed. Especially after Mitchell went off the court, Garland was abstract, the Cavaliers' offense was not smooth, and the Magic frequently played fast breaks. After that, the Cavaliers were able to stabilize the situation because LeVert beat Fultz again. So Moseley put Isaac in front of LeVille, and he didn't have a temper at all. After LeVert was gone, Isaac followed up with Garland, and Garland's abstract art evolved into postmodern art.
Isaac, the hand, in the middle and late second quarter, sealed the Cavaliers' two ball-handlers, and Mitchell fell into a lonely battle. In the second half, the Magic jacket Mitchell's scale was even more fierce, and no one in the Cavaliers could stand up to share the pressure, and the already backward score was no longer able to recover, and the Cavaliers sent.
I'm not sure if Moseley's changes to the starting lineup will have an effect in this series. However, it can be expected that after entering the transition section, the Magic will use Isaac to kill the Cavaliers' ball carriers. From the Cavaliers' point of view, they need to worry about the state of Garland and Strus, who are completely unhuman (LeVert was okay until Isaac took over him), and the next Magic clip Mitchell will be even more fierce.
G2 said after the game that the Magic were embarrassed that four of their most influential players in the game were centers or de facto centers, and centers are generally not easy to use at the same time. Aside from Bitadze, who didn't have much time, Isaac, Carter, and Dawa didn't help the space. Putting your best player in the starting lineup will allow him to play more time and squeeze more power out of the roster, which is probably why Moseley wanted Isaac to start at the end of the regular season and at the beginning of the playoffs. Isaac also contributed the expected defense, but the offense was too lazy to win.
G3 returns to its original rotation and activates another advantage. Although Carter's offense did not improve after the start, and the defense was relegated, Isaac is one of the three Magic interior linemen, closer to the outside, and he can be placed on the outside in the transition section, adding to the hole of the Magic G1G2 bench lineup of the outside lead defense. In a sense, it is a horse race in Tianji again.
Basketball is one ring after another, and some adjustments that seem to be better may not be better, and the employment that seems to have flaws has smoothed out the overall situation. In the first round of the playoffs this year, something like this happened more than once.
Lakers vs Nuggets
It can be generally regarded as a continuation of the G1G2 situation, with a slightly richer presentation and no different essence.
Of course, this is not surprising, after playing so many times, Ham racked his brains to try various methods, and the Lakers' employment, offensive and defensive strategies have long been "Nuggets Strict Selection", and in the end it just depends on the completion of the implementation. And Russell's inability to shoot and the Lakers' lack of rotation in the frontcourt is no longer a problem that adjustment can solve.
As for the transition section, Zhan Mei was only indispensable as the offensive and defensive core before, and if the two did not play for 48 minutes, they were always dissatisfied at one end, resulting in the inability to beat the Nuggets transition section lineup.
And now, the hip-pulling Hayes has been abandoned, Hachimura has changed from last year's playoffs, and he can't play strategic value, in a sense, the Lakers only have two frontcourts, that is, Zhan Mei himself as the core (Prince can't provide most of the value of the frontcourt players). Removing one is equivalent to being naked in front of the Nuggets who are both physically and energetic, and of course it is impossible to expect this configuration to pull away the score. There is no score advantage, and when it comes to the juice collection stage, then the hand leaves the keyboard and waits for the next handle.
More expansion or summary, wait until G4 is over.