Houston, December 9, 2004. 49 seconds before the final match, St Anthony Homa led the Houston Rockets by 10 points.
We all know what happened later. McGrady scored 13 points in 35 seconds.
To be exact, four three-pointer and one free throw.
The first ball.
Spurs relieve a garrison, 201cm rose — well, power forward Malik Rose, not Derek Rose — against McGrady, who made 8 of 25 shots and 1 of 8 shots of 3 pointers before, step forward and forward, one step away from McGrady; McGrady started shooting, and Rose’s hand was raised late. Whoosh.
Spurs relieve a garrison, I don’t want to give the rocket a strong shot.
Spurs’s defensive strategy has always been blocking the middle and setting the edge; Rose hopes to block McGrady’s shooting and guide him to one side; But because McGrady’s low center of gravity and long legs, he can easily pass rose, so Rose stepped back.
But McGrady’s performance still exceeded Rose’s expectations:
His low center of gravity and long legs made his opponent afraid to get close; His quick start and long arms made Rose unable to react.
In 1997, when McDonald’s All-Star, the News reported that McGrady was close to 206 centimeters tall. In the physical test that year, his run-up jump was 44 inches, nearly one meter, and his arm was 218 centimeters. 40-yard sprint 4 seconds 4 — for comparison, 185cm cross NFL and MLB’s non-talented Jackson 40-yard race is 4 seconds 1, Jordan’s freshman year is 4 seconds 5, junior year reaches the fastest 4 seconds 3: but they are shorter than McGrady.
The second ball.
Bruce Bowen, the most outstanding peripheral defender in NBA at that time, chased McGrady all the way; McGrady spent half time, looking for the cover of the right Yao Ming; Bowen walked around the tree like a vine, Chasing McGrady closely; When McGrady flashed out of the line, duncan had reached three point line and played the defensive posture of “I just stand and raise my hand, you can’t cheat me to foul”, which stopped many shots.
But McGrady made a fake action, which just flashed out a line of space and dragged Duncan to do it. Duncan, one of the most outstanding defenders in NBA history, who will get his third finals MVP seven months later, was scored four points by McGrady.
The horror of this ball was covered by McGrady’s fengshui ball, and coordinated control of the ups and downs of his fake movement center of gravity — the gap was winding with Bowen’s hovering, the three-pointer was shot against Duncan. Turn softness into a turning point in an instant:
Coordination.
The third ball.
In the outer ball, McGrady cut out the position around the cover; Parker sharply blocked McGrady and Bowen followed him; McGrady jumped receive the ball above Parker’s head — after all, it was a 218-cm arm show — facing Bowen, breaking through; bowen followed McGrady closely in the world’s wrong sticky steps. McGrady walked to the right wing of three point line and started to jump. He adjusted his body position in the air and made a double-action shot: three-pointer. Bowen didn’t lose his position, but he couldn’t interfere.
In 2015, Pierce said McGrady was hard to defend:
“He is a small forward-sized defender…… He shot too high…… He can’t stick to him, his fengshui ball and speed can pass you; Even if you stick to him, he can still shoot hard, like a car facing the green light forever. The only way to prevent him is to avoid his hands getting hot, so we have to try our best to control his switching attack score: When you fight back, you let McGrady throw two, and his hands are hot, then it’s all over.”
Bowen could stick to any player at that time, but McGrady didn’t have to get rid of him at all.
The Masters who create opportunities are all low centers of gravity, such as Wade; The Terminators who cannot interfere are all high shots, such as Durant.
What if low center of gravity + high shot points are integrated?
Then everything is over.
Bowen didn’t give McGrady any chance, but McGrady arrived at fengshui ball, jumped and shot:
Bowen didn’t lose his position, but McGrady got it.
The fourth ball.
McGrady broke the ball in the back court, pushed forward to the front court, and went straight to the left wing. Facing blunt Barry and Duncan, he jumped High, started and hit. 35 seconds and 13 minutes.
This is what Pierce called “McGrady keeps turning shooting”. When he passed the midfield, he slowed down a little by two steps, pulled up and shot up to the point that Barry couldn’t reach at all.
Seven months later, Spurs will win the second NBA championship in three years. Spurs was the best defensive team in NBA that year: 98 points were lost every 100 rounds. Bowen and Duncan are both outstanding defenders in NBA history.
That’s why 35 seconds and 13 minutes are so meaningful.
Similar to that, Kobe’s three sections 62 points may be greater than his 81 points against the Raptors: because the three sections 62 points were obtained on the top of the Western champion Mavericks that year, it is so high than the Raptors that I don’t know where to go; Similar to that, the 47 points of Le Blanc in 2008 may be the most underestimated outstanding performance: because it was won by Boston Garden, which won 66 in the regular season and finally won the championship; similar to, why do you think the state of Jordan’s post-Triple Crown is arbitrary? In the 1996-97 season, the 34-year-old man had two 50 + games-one was the New York Knicks led by Van Gandy and Ewing, and the other was the Miami fever led by Riley and Mo Ning, two teams of iron and blood meat grinders.
McGrady got 35 seconds and 13 minutes on the head of Spurs. And different ways. Four balls, Spurs used relieve a garrison, around cover, partial clamping, around front, single anti-fancy. But McGrady still made it: low center of gravity. High Shot Point. Coordination. Fengshui ball. Bounce speed. Adjust the center of gravity.
Rivers believes that McGrady in the magic period-that is, McGrady of the two scoring Kings-would perform better if he didn’t have to score, “he really can pass the ball.” Well, as Pierce said, “the defender in the small forward body.”
“He is not a good shooter.” This is Van Gadi’s original words, but, “he is a very, very good passer and a very good scorer. He can do everything: he can defend, pass and catch rebounds.”
Before 35 seconds and 13 minutes, he made 8 of 25 shots and 1 of 12 of 3-point shots.
But he just can make shooting opportunities at will: you can’t stop him from creating shooting opportunities, and when his hands heat up, he ignores defense.
It sounds absurd: a guy who shot four three-point goals in 35 seconds is considered by his coach that shooting is not his specialty.
This is still McGrady who has suffered a back injury.
The opponent is the strongest defensive team in the league that will win the championship in seven months.
The counterpoint is the combination Duncan + Bowen locked all over the league’s defensive lineup.
But he still finished 35 seconds and 13 minutes-still without warning, his hands were cold for a whole scene, and suddenly he flashed out like 13 points across the sky.
An old article was dug out because there was an activity.
Eighteen years have passed.