McGrady was directly matched up against Link on defense tonight.
McGrady, who built his career on defense, truly excelled at one-on-one defense. Facing Link's high pick-and-roll, he directly switched onto Laettner. Although the veteran Laettner put all his strength into posting up, McGrady, with his excellent static athleticism and decent physical confrontation, had successfully defended him twice in a row.
6 to 2, the Washington Wizards are currently down by 4 points.
With a "slap!", a crisp sound suddenly rang in McGrady's ear, and a black figure, like a hawk turning over, shot out and snatched an Offensive Rebound over his head.
McGrady, seeing the person clearly, was somewhat surprised. Are the Washington Wizards' role players this fierce?
Gerald Wallace, who grabbed the Offensive Rebound, did not force a shot for a second chance. Instead, he immediately passed the ball to Link on the perimeter. The latter, after receiving the ball, used a change of direction to shake off the Magic's Center, Steven Hunter, in one step. With a "swish!", the Mid-range Shooting was steadily made.
6 to 4. After scoring, Link did not perform the newly learned celebration move, the Moonwalk. However, Michael Jackson in the stands stood up and danced the Moonwalk, igniting the crowd once again.
McGrady also initiated offense on the offensive end with a pick-and-roll from the Center. Link did not try to squeeze through the screen but went around from behind. Laettner aggressively delayed, waiting for Link's defense to get into position.
Steven Hunter didn't roll down in time, and Link was once again matched up against McGrady. With only 6 seconds left on the 24-second shot clock, there was no time to run another play, forcing McGrady to rely on a strong drive to break the defense.
McGrady's pump fake deceived Link, and after getting past him by more than half a step, he drove into the restricted area. Gerald Wallace came over to help defend, but because he couldn't stop his momentum and charged too fast, McGrady drew a foul and completed a 2+1 play.
McGrady's free throw percentage was not outstanding among guards of the same caliber, less than 80%, only completing a 2+0.
"Actually, if you hadn't come over to help, I might not have made that shot," McGrady said to Gerald Wallace on the way back, trying to affect the latter's mindset.
As the future The King of Cats in his rookie season, although he had excellent physical qualities and good defensive awareness, his defensive fundamentals were still not good enough against a super scorer like McGrady. Additionally, Gerald Wallace's Three-Point Shot was hard to evaluate.
However, as the leader of the Washington Wizards, Link was very protective of his teammates and said to McGrady, "Buddy, that was just a star call."
"Gerald, you did very well, keep it up." Immediately after, Link also encouraged his younger brother.
"What?" McGrady chuckled and said, "Link, if I'm not mistaken, you're also just a rookie."
"Yes, you're not mistaken. And I'm a starter in this year's All-Star Game, while you're just a substitute... Tracy... you haven't forgotten that, have you?"
This was the Little Shakespeare of the NBA; McGrady was speechless for a moment.
"rookie Link, Michael isn't here tonight, I'll be guarding you the whole game." McGrady clung to Link on defense like a parasite.
His sleepy eyes were now filled with fighting spirit.
Alright!
Even though McGrady kept calling Link a rookie, deep down, he already regarded him as an opponent of the same caliber.
The screen was squeezed past by McGrady, and Link, facing him again, waved his hand, and Laettner immediately understood, creating space for Link.
On the court, while the Washington Wizards' two big men, Laettner and Randolph, both had a Mid-range Shooting, the spacing was incomparable to the small-ball era. However, it was enough. Link lowered his Center of gravity, hunched over, and after a simple crossover and probe, suddenly exploded and drove hard from the left. Although the focused McGrady anticipated it, Link's first step was fast enough, and his strength was also strong, allowing him to lean off McGrady by half a step and drive into the paint.
"This kid..." McGrady, who was beaten by half a step, was startled.
"However..."
"You still can't completely shake off my defense."
McGrady, trailing behind, was confident he could disrupt Link's upcoming layup.
But Link suddenly connected with a hop step. McGrady, reacting, also took a big leap. Link leaned on him with his ball-handling hand and went up strong. At this moment... besides McGrady, the Magic's power forward, Grant, also collapsed to the basket.
Link, in mid-air, was about to be blocked. In an instant, Link changed his mind, adapting in the air, and swung his long arm holding the ball behind his back. The next moment, the basketball appeared in Randolph's hands, who caught it and calmly made the Mid-range Shooting.
Watching the basketball swish through the net…
McGrady looked at Randolph, who was high-fiving Link in celebration.
"Whose subordinate is this, so brave?"
McGrady didn't recognize Gerald Wallace and Zach Randolph, who were starting in this confrontation with the Washington Wizards. This was normal, as both of them were rookies. Additionally, before joining the Washington Wizards, both of them were bench players for their respective teams, just small fries…
"Tracy, actually, my first step is also very fast," Link said with a smile.
McGrady smiled.
Next, he continued to take on the entire load.
Honestly, this Magic team's offense truly relied entirely on McGrady.
Although McGrady was exceptionally talented, even looking at the entire history of the NBA, he was top-tier.
But his shot selection was truly problematic…
Gerald Wallace helped Link double-team McGrady.
Although McGrady could still score through his individual ability, his scoring efficiency significantly dropped.
31 to 35. At 3 minutes and 11 seconds into the second quarter, the Washington Wizards initiated a fast break off McGrady's missed shot. Wallace, who seemed to have little impact in set plays, was now running incredibly fast, receiving a Passing from Link and completing a fast break dunk.
Link didn't choose to stick close to McGrady this time. The latter's first step didn't completely shake off Link, so he opted for a pull-up jump shot after a sudden stop.
Link truly couldn't interfere with that exquisite pull-up, but under normal circumstances, it was really inaccurate.
McGrady missed, and Link immediately back-screened him to prevent him from crashing the Offensive Rebound.
After Laettner secured the rebound, Link made an off-ball sprint, with McGrady leading the defense.
After Link settled on the left wing beyond the Three-Point Shot line, the Masked Man passed the ball to Link. At this point, the Magic's defense hadn't fully recovered.
After Link received the ball…
He gripped the ball with his huge hand and elegantly raised it!
His off-ball right shoulder leaned against McGrady.
"Wow..."
"So handsome!"