NBA: Start by torturing Jordan and add points to upgrade

Lin Tian didn't care at all about the progress of the negotiations between Stern and China TV, or how the two sides communicated and argued, and he was too lazy to care.

Anyway, the negotiations will definitely not fail.

And even if the talks broke down, Lin Tian and all the members of the Pacers were in no mood to care about such things.

They were in big trouble.

In the third quarter of the second game of the China Open, Webber completed a fast break dunk after a steal.

Everything was going well, but this guy might have been too excited. When the dunk was over, he only wanted to celebrate, which resulted in him not being able to stand firmly when he landed.

His knee buckled visibly, causing a painful reverse bend in the joint. Then Weber screamed and fell directly to the floor.

The scene became chaotic in the blink of an eye. The referee stopped the game immediately. The team doctors quickly came forward to check his condition. The players stood together with worried faces, looking at Webber anxiously.

Including the Raptors players, almost everyone is full of worries, no matter if they are opponents or not. As long as they are athletes, as long as they are not the kind of trash who only think about crippling others, most people do not want any injuries to occur on the court.

In particular, as we all know, in the sports field, the injuries after confrontations are likely to be minor injuries that will go away after a short pain.

But the more the injury occurs in a non-confrontational situation, the more it seems to occur unintentionally, and the more serious the consequences are likely to be.

In less than 3 minutes, the team doctors stood up with regretful looks on their faces and gestured to indicate that they needed a stretcher and an ambulance.

Weber needed to be taken to the hospital immediately.

The team doctor's gesture and subsequent words to Carlisle and others made the team's mood fall to the bottom.

"It is basically confirmed that it is a problem with the patellar ligament, but it is not yet possible to confirm whether the ligament is ruptured. He must be sent to the hospital immediately for an MRI to determine whether he has any problem and how serious the problem is."

After saying this, seeing everyone's anxious expressions, the team doctor continued: "If we're lucky, it's probably just a strain and we'll be able to return in 4-6 weeks, so it's not necessarily a big deal."

The team doctor's words did not make everyone feel better or relaxed, because everyone knows that if they are lucky, it is just a strain or partial rupture, and they can rest for 1-2 months and continue to play without any sequelae.

But what if you have bad luck?

If the middle part is broken, surgery will be required, and Webber will have to lie in bed for 3 months, plus at least 3 months of recovery and physical therapy, so it will take at least 6 months to return. By that time, it will be May and two rounds of the playoffs have been played.

If we add in things like finding his form, feeling, recovering his strength, regaining his confidence, recovering his touch, and integrating into the team, it will probably be the finals in June before Webber can play properly.

The eggplants are soft.

Even this is not the most serious consequence.

The most serious consequence is complete rupture, which requires rivets. It will take at least 9-12 months to recover and return to the court after a series of processes including postoperative recovery, physical therapy, and condition recovery. There is also a high probability that the player's athletic ability and mobility will be permanently damaged.

Patellar ligament injuries have always been known as one of the biggest enemies of athletes. Take the contemporary NBA for example, both Mutomber and Mourning retired directly because of this injury.

Weber's injury this time can really be serious or minor.

Because of Webber's sudden injury, players from both sides had no desire to fight in the subsequent games. The intensity of the game dropped rapidly and it became meaningless.

But because of the injury, the fans were not dissatisfied. Instead, they kept shouting Webber's name in the stadium to express their support for him.

That night, Webber underwent an MRI examination in a hospital in Shanghai, but the result was not optimistic. He was diagnosed with a mid-partial patellar ligament tear and would need at least 5-6 months to recover.

After learning of this terrible result, the entire Pacers team had no intention of staying here any longer, and all original travel plans were cancelled. The next morning, the entire team took off for Indiana, where they wanted to give Webber another thorough examination.

Unfortunately, returning to Indiana did not improve Webber's injury. He was diagnosed with a mid-partial patellar ligament tear and had to undergo surgery!

This also means that Webber is basically done for this season!
At least the regular season can basically not be played.

Even with the most optimistic estimate, Webber will not be able to return until April at the earliest.

But no matter what the result is, the Pacers will definitely be without Chris Webber in 90% of their games this season!

With Jordan and others leaving the team, Webber was placed with high hopes this season. Everyone was counting on him to regain the form of a few years ago, and continue the combination of inside and outside stars with Lin Tian to lead the team to the championship.

But now, in the blink of an eye, the Pacers have completely become Lin Tian’s single-core team!

Apart from him, no one else on the team has ever been selected for the All-Star Game!

Recalling the glory of the Pacers in previous seasons when 3-4 players were selected for the All-Star Game, one can only sigh that things are unpredictable and things change over time.

In the next few preseason games, the Pacers' condition was still not very good. The players were a little absent-minded and their record was not worth mentioning.

This poor state continued into the regular season.

In the past six years, regardless of whether the Pacers won the championship or not, they would always be able to kill all the opponents in their opening game, play brilliantly, and have a perfect result for their championship flag-raising night.

But this year, facing the aggressive Nets, the Pacers did not put up much resistance and were beaten miserably by the Nets' four kings, losing by as many as 15 points in the opening game.

That’s not all. In the next three games, the Pacers never found their rhythm and suffered consecutive defeats.

In the first week of the game, they suffered 4 consecutive losses!

Looking back at the history of the Pacers, there have been worse starts than this one, but they were indeed very long ago. Since the team acquired Reggie Miller and slowly got on track, the Pacers have been the backbone of the league for most of the time.

The last time they started with four consecutive losses was in the 4-1985 season. That season, the Pacers only won 1986 games and got the third pick.

But this year's Pacers obviously can't just win 26 games, nor can they aim for the lottery.

The reason why they keep losing now is not only because Webber's injury still has some impact on the players, but also because the team really needs some running-in, and the team's starting lineup and rotation, especially the rotation in the interior has been under continuous experimentation.

In 4 games, the Pacers used 4 completely different starting lineups. Except for Miller who locked up the starting center position, the other three players, Brezek, Matt Bonner and Tabak, started one game each.

It's a pity that the performance of these three starting players is far from enough. Not to mention compared with Big Ben and Webber, these three are even far behind Miller.

这三位在各自首发的比赛中，上场时间都超过了25分钟，可他们的数据分别是3分4篮板，5分2篮板和3分3篮板。

It’s rotten, so rotten!
More importantly, these players not only have mediocre statistics, but their on-field effects and the parts that cannot be reflected in the various numbers are also very bad.

For example, the quality of pick-and-roll, awareness of positioning, effectiveness on defense and speed of movement.

They are so far apart.

Especially, when the team has a top point guard like Lin Tian, ​​these three players can't even score two goals in a game, which is enough to show how bad their performance is.

They really can't attack or defend, but as long as they can get one end of the field, Carlisle can continue to use it.

The biggest similarity between them on the court is that they are completely unable to support the starting position of a team aiming for the championship.

In the fourth game that the team lost, Carlisle, who was forced into a corner by these big players, directly made a bold move with a small lineup.

Lin Tian, ​​Ginobili, Christie, Artest and Miller.

The offense of this lineup did pick up, and Artest could also hold his own in the interior, but after Ginobili was promoted to the starting lineup, the strength of the team's bench lineup was completely gone. Relying on Parker and the immature Howard and others, the Pacers' bench firepower was simply not enough.

More importantly, Parker and Lin Tian have overlapping positions, and his playing time is very limited. If he and Lin Tian play as double PG, they will be blown up by the opponent on the defensive end.

Therefore, the amount of power he can contribute is really not much.

In this game, the five starters played for more than 40 minutes each, and Lin Tian played as much as 46 minutes.

But even with such crazy overclocking of the main players, and even though Carlisle tried his best to get a victory, the Pacers still couldn't hold on at the last moment and lost to the Magic team, which had already become divided this season and had a new coach.

Four consecutive losses at the start of the season!

After these four consecutive losses, the pressure on the Pacers players has reached its limit.

Various media and commentators are extremely pessimistic about the Pacers, believing that they no longer have a chance of winning the championship this season.

Others think that the Pacers should set their goals lower this season and aim to make the playoffs rather than win another championship.

At the same time, many people are saying: The dynasty is over!
As crazy as they won the last championship, as complete will be their ending and collapse this season.

At least half of the league and many fans are waiting to see the Pacers make a fool of themselves this season.

"We won't lose again. Four consecutive losses are bad and sad enough. I won't let the team lose again. We will win the next game! We will start to get on the right track."

In the fifth game of the regular season, the Pacers will face the weak Warriors, who poached Arenas from the Pacers this summer.

Before the game started, Lin Tian expressed his determination to the media during an interview: "This is not the first time we have encountered this kind of predicament. We have also suffered a serious wave of injuries. I think everyone remembers what I did at that time."

"I'll do it again if I have to!"

As soon as Lin Tian said this, all the Pacers fans, especially Lin Tian’s fans, were excited!
Of course they remember what Lin Tian did the last time the Pacers suffered a wave of injuries!
Many people even started to become fans of Lin Tian at that time.

Breaking Chamberlain's record of 8 consecutive games with 50+ points!

During that time when the Pacers suffered a wave of injuries, Lin Tian directly set a series of historical records!
This time...is he coming again?
The Warriors performed fairly well in the first four games of this season. With 2 wins and 2 losses, they shouted the slogan of returning to the playoffs.

This team is now strong and full of talent. The team leader is Jason Richardson, the fifth pick in 01, who averaged 20.5 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists in the first four games. Arenas, who was just poached from the Pacers, also broke out, averaging 19 points, 2 rebounds and 6 assists per game.

In addition, the team also has Eric Dampier, who played center for the Pacers for less than half a year and averaged 12 points and 12 rebounds per game. Mike Dunleavy, the second pick selected by the team in 02, also averaged 13 points and 5 rebounds per game.

The team's last starter was Clifford Robinson, a veteran who was poached by the Warriors from the Trail Blazers and had won the best sixth man award and made the All-Star team.

What can I say about this starting lineup of five people?

Except for Dampier, the other four people don't even have the word defense in their eyes. It's just a bombardment lineup!
Being able to come up with such a lineup is in line with the style of their team's general manager Chris Mullin.

When this guy was young, he was a crazy offensive player. The Warriors team in the early 90s was called the originator of the league's bombardment by many people!

When you are young, you are good at offense. When you are old, you become a manager. The lineup you put together is still a mix of running and throwing. That's reasonable, isn't it?
Facing the Warriors who were aiming to return to the playoffs, Carlisle brought out his fifth brand new starting lineup that night.

Of course, when we say it is different, it is actually just that the candidate for position 4 has been changed again.

Haslem!

After trying several of the team's inside players and confirming that they were all big potatoes who could not handle the heavy responsibility, Carlisle finally set his sights on this guy with average athletic ability, average height, and average strength but who worked hard.

Try it!
What if it’s the next big one?

"It's a brand new starting lineup!" Kenny said in the TNT studio. "Rick has been looking for a new answer at the No. 4 position in the past few games. He is looking for someone who can take over Webber's torch."

"But their experiments failed in the previous few games. Even if the Pacers won the last game against the Magic, I don't think Rick would continue with the one big and four small lineup. The loss to the main players is too great!"

"It's OK to do this in the playoffs, and it's OK to do this at the end of the regular season when you're trying to get results, but to do this in early November is definitely drinking poison to quench thirst!"

Barkley followed up, "But I believe in Rick's ability, he is just experimenting, I think Larry has been looking for the right person in the free market and the trading market, once they find the right person for the team, they will be able to get back to normal and continue to hit the championship!"

"We all know that the Pacers are not in their best form right now!"

"They may officially start their challenge for the championship at any time! As long as Lin is here, I will always believe in them."

"Especially since Lin just made some tough remarks before the game. We all know that Lin is a man of his words. The ones who should be worried now are the people of Auckland." With the analysis and research by Barkley and Kenny, tonight's game has already begun.

Miller took over from O'Benson and went to the center circle, jumping at the same time as Dampier on the opposite side.

"Snapped!"

Miller's height and wingspan did give him some advantages, so he passed the ball to Lin Tian. After getting the ball, Lin Tian was not in a hurry, but slowly moved the ball to the frontcourt to face his old buddy Arenas.

"Lin, I've long imagined what it would be like to play against you on the court! I'm really looking forward to this day!" Arenas bent down, opened his arms, and showed rare defensive passion and concentration.

"What's there to look forward to?" Lin Tian looked relaxed, without any anxiety or melancholy that the team should have after losing four games in a row: "Is it so exciting to be beaten?"

As soon as Lin Tian finished speaking, he immediately started the attack!

He made a simple change of direction and passed by Arenas, then took one step into the three-point line and rushed towards the basket.

Although Miller's defensive ability is not as good as Ben's, his basketball IQ is definitely top-notch. When he saw Lin Tian coming, he immediately turned his back to block Dampier and prevented him from coming forward to assist in defense.

If Dampier can't come, then it will be even less likely for the other Warriors players to provide assists in defense.

There is no word "defense" in their dictionary.

That thing is tiring, not cool, and it's hard to record any statistics. How can it be as satisfying as attacking?
"boom!"

After a loud bang, Lin Tian slammed the ball into the basket with one arm!

This time he didn't hold back any strength at all, he just exploded with all his strength and slammed the ball into the basket!
"Our season starts today!" After scoring the goal, Lin Tian fiercely said to Arenas who had just caught up with him: "You are unlucky to meet us today!"

During the Warriors' attack, Arenas dribbled the ball quickly to the frontcourt. Facing Lin Tian, ​​this guy was obviously very excited. He waved his hand to signal his teammates to move away, as he wanted to challenge Lin Tian one-on-one!
After a series of crotch dribbles, this guy suddenly started with an attacking step, then made a huge change of direction to create space, and then while Lin Tian was catching up, this guy wanted to make another change of direction dribble.

This is his signature double-change of direction dribble!
But this time the basketball only flew half the distance before it was intercepted. Lin Tian slapped his hand and poked the ball directly down. Then Lin Tian started to accelerate and ran towards the front court!
As for the Warriors players, except for Arenas who frantically chased after the lost ball, the rest of the players chose to give up after taking a look.

There is nothing to chase, and I can’t catch up.

"boom!"

After another loud bang, Lin Tian chose to slam dunk behind his head with both hands and pushed the ball into the basket again.

"Gilbert, have you forgotten who taught you this move?"

"You're using the moves I taught you on me?"

After the dunk, Lin Tian continued to talk trash as he and Arenas crossed paths: "Just touch your belt and I'll know if you're going to shit or fart. Are you showing off in front of me? You're dead tonight!"

"Just wait and see, Lin! This summer I didn't spend in vain! I practiced a lot of new moves!" Arenas gritted his teeth and said he was not at all inferior to Lin Tian. After asking for the ball, he continued to organize the offense.

After facing Lin Tian again, Arenas suddenly accelerated with the ball and tried to force his way through from Lin Tian's side. After being blocked by Lin Tian and unable to get in, Arenas quickly stepped back to create distance, then jumped up and wanted to take a 3-point shot directly.

But this was also predicted by Lin Tian! In the past two years, Lin Tian had no idea how many times he had played against Arenas. He knew too well how this guy would choose and how he would attack each time.

Although Lin Tian failed to successfully block Arenas' shot in this round, he successfully interfered with it, making his shot extremely awkward. In the end, he just barely touched the basket and failed to make a three-pointer.

Haslem shook off the aging Robinson and grabbed the rebound in the crowd. Then, instead of passing the ball in a hurry, he stretched out his big elbows and waved them left and right threateningly, looking fierce and unapproachable.

Then, after making sure that there were no enemies around him, Haslem passed the ball to Lin Tian who turned around to receive the ball.

"Well done, Udonis." After Lin Tian got the ball, he patted Haslem's butt and said, "Here, just do what you are good at! Rebounding, defense and mid-range shooting! Leave everything else to us!"

"Don't think about passing the ball and making a fast break. If you have a chance, shoot. If you are unsure, take it back. You are not a replacement for Chris. You are you. You are unique. Do you understand?"

"I understand!" Haslem's eyes lit up after hearing Lin Tian's words, and he ran towards the front court.

After coming to the frontcourt, Lin Tian, ​​who had scored two goals in a row, did not attack himself, but waved to Haslem to come forward and provide him with a screen.

"Oh!"

With a dull sound, Haslem's screen quality was absolutely excellent. After blocking Arenas firmly, he immediately turned around and looked for an opportunity to catch the ball.

This opportunity is not difficult to wait for. This is the most comfortable place to play pick-and-roll with Lin Tian. All opponents are afraid of Lin Tian's ability to shoot and break through after the pick-and-roll, so almost all opponents will focus on Lin Tian.

If you are Jordan or Webber, the opponent will spend more time on you and defend you well.

But Haslem?
Who are you?

Haslem's name wasn't even on the Warriors' scouting report. Who made him an undrafted player last year and only played for a total of 7 minutes in the first four games of this year's regular season?
Just a nobody!

Arenas and Robinson both rushed towards Lin Tian.

Then the ball came into Haslem's hands.

Aim, bend your knees, and shoot!

"Shh!"

After a crisp sound, Haslem's jump shot after receiving the ball went in cleanly!

"Well done! Do it again!" Lin Tian turned around and high-fived Haslem: "If they keep letting you go, let them know how good you are! If you play well tonight, I'll suggest to Rick that you continue to start!"

"I will, boss!" A rebound, a mid-range shot, a compliment and a promise from the team leader.

These things are enough to motivate Haslem to give it his all!
Fuck the Warriors!
In the Warriors' next attack, Arenas could no longer work alone. After all, he was the newcomer, and the team leader Richardson was still waiting for the ball.

So he passed the ball to Richardson. Facing Artest's defense, Richardson dribbled quickly and then accelerated to try to break through.

But Artest's rock-hard body and natural defensive sense allowed him to always stay in front of Richardson. Richardson tried his best but couldn't get rid of Artest.

Not only that, the continuous confrontation and physical contact also made Richardson feel his legs weak and his body aching.

This 'beast' is really wild!

Finally, Richardson was forced to pass the ball to Dunleavy who was running over to the other side. However, when Dunleavy got the ball, there was very little time left for the offense. He had no time to adjust and only managed a fake shot before forcing a shot.

But who is defending him?

Christie, the league's leading technical defender!

Christie's high basketball IQ allowed him to judge the timing of Dunleavy Jr.'s receiving and shooting. He blocked Dunleavy Jr. tightly, and in the end, he almost blocked the ball directly in Dunleavy Jr.'s face, making his shot also very outrageous, almost missing all three shots!

This time the rebound was grabbed by Miller. Although Miller was not as tough as Haslem, his awareness and skills were much better. With a long pass with both hands, the basketball directly crossed the court and landed in Lin Tian's hands.

Lin Tian held the ball and forced his way under the basket despite the defense of Arenas and Richardson. When he reached the basket, Lin Tian looked back and found that Christie had just passed his shift because he had just finished defending Dunleavy Jr.

Artest wasn't much faster than him, he just stepped into the three-point line.

These two really can't keep up with Lin Tian's fast break speed!

But since the killers are coming, Lin Tian can’t just hold down the gun and not fire, right?

Holding it in for too long is bad for your health!
So Lin Tian forced himself to jump between the two people, then drew a circle in the air with the ball in both hands. After avoiding the blocks of the two people, he easily dribbled the ball into the basket with one hand!
"Shh!"

8: 0!

The Pacers started the game with great momentum. After consecutive scores, they quickly widened the score gap and it was about to reach double digits.

But although the Warriors were anxious, their subsequent offense still lacked organization, because the Pacers had a high success rate on offense, making it difficult for them to launch their signature quick counterattack after grabbing the rebound.

Even if the Pacers miss their shots, they still have Haslem, the Energizer Bunny who seems to have unlimited energy, running around in the Warriors' 3-second zone, constantly disrupting the Warriors' rhythm and efficiency in grabbing rebounds and counterattacks.

Especially after a few rounds, Carlisle discovered Haslem's vitality, then he stood up quickly and shouted: "Ron! Go to the frontcourt rebounds with Udonis! Lock down their fast break for me!"

So, two short and strong players began to wreak havoc in the Warriors' interior. Although the Warriors did not lose too many rebounds, their fast breaks were completely blocked.

And in the positional battle, which the Warriors are not good at, they met the Pacers again.

The Warriors' positional warfare is basically based on individual one-on-one combat, supplemented by some simple passes, cuts, pick-and-rolls and the like.

To put it simply, the stars just watch and swing.

But the problem is that their two strongest offensive players are Richardson and Arenas, but these two are facing Lin Tian and Artest who are the most capable of restraining them.

Lin Tian knows Arenas’ offensive tactics best, and it is not an exaggeration to say that he is the person who knows this guy best in the league.

Although Artest is not good at dealing with speed-type guards, he can easily bully Richardson, who relies on his physical fitness to rush forward!

Even if we count further down, the Warriors' third-leading scorer is Dunleavy Jr., a white small forward who focuses on rhythm and skills.

But he happened to be facing Christie, who was not good at dealing with physical players but was good at dealing with rhythm and technical players.

It stands to reason that the team's top three scorers are at a disadvantage in the matchup, and it is time for veteran Robinson to come out and help the team solve the problem, but he met Haslem, who finally got the opportunity and was as excited as a chicken.

What can he do?
There was nothing an old man like him could do when faced with a youngster who was risking his life just to prove himself.

I can’t beat him. I can’t beat him at all.

After some calculations, it turned out that the most reliable scoring point among the Warriors' starting five was the future "second center in the Western Conference" Dampier.

But what about Dampier? It's true that his shooting percentage is nearly 60%, but his main way of scoring is dunking and second-chance offense. How can we expect him to score against Miller by his own ability?
It would be better to let Richardson or Arenas try to shoot a few more times.

Maybe with some luck, we can catch up with the score with one shot?
However, although the Warriors did not have many options on the offensive end and played with a lot of bumps and bruises, the Pacers did not widen the score that quickly.

As for the reason, it is similar to that of the Warriors, their fast breaks are not very successful.

Haslem does not have the ability to make a first pass. If he catches the rebound, he will definitely not make a first pass. Although Miller has awareness and ability, he is no match for Webber. There are some balls and some opportunities that he can pass even if he sees them, but he dares not pass.

Webber is a superstar, so two turnovers are just turnovers.

But if Miller made consecutive passing errors, Carlisle would have to call him down and give him a lecture in a matter of minutes.

In addition to the significant problems with the first pass, the Pacers also had far fewer people on fast breaks than before.

Who was the guy who ran the fast break for the Pacers in the past few seasons?
Lin Tian, ​​Carter, Jordan, and young Christie.

What about this year?
Lin Tian, ​​Artest who couldn't run, Christie who was one year older...

As long as the Warriors follow Lin Tian closely and don't give him much space to receive the ball, it will be difficult for the Pacers to launch a fast break.

Fortunately, although the Pacers can't launch a fast break, they have a variety of ways to fight positional warfare against the Warriors, and they want to come up with some new tricks!
Lin Tian's pick-and-roll or dribbling offense, Christie's cutting and positioning, Artest's positional singles and high-post crushing breakthroughs, and Miller's support from the free throw line, the Pacers' offense is smooth as flowing water!

17: 31!

At the end of the first quarter, the Pacers were already leading the Warriors by 14 points! (End of this chapter)