Legendary star

Chapter 630 Final Rivals
"Rick, it seems that we need to re-examine this Pistons. This Pistons is really strong! The Heat with O'Neal were beaten like this by them!"

On the evening of May 5th, in the head coach’s office of the Pacers Club, Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle was leading a few of his assistants, while studying the layout of the upcoming Eastern Conference finals, while watching the tie-break between the Heat and the Pistons war.It was supposed to be an extremely fierce tiebreaker, but after the game opened, there was a strange atmosphere. Today’s game is completely different from the previous six games. The Pistons put their team at the beginning of the game And the defense played to the extreme, but the Heat at home were a bit out of shape under the high-pressure defense of the Pistons.

You must know that the Heat have an inside killer like Shaq O'Neal, and two All-Stars, Dwyane Wade and Eddie Jones, but with half of the fourth quarter played, the Heat The whole team only scored 57 points. One superstar plus two All-Stars. No matter how low their scoring efficiency is, after more than 40 minutes of the game, the Heat's score should not be so low. You must know the Heat's performance this season. The average score has reached 100 points. Even against a strong defensive team like the Pistons, the Heat averaged more than 6 points per game in the previous 95 series, but today, the Heat's scoring is very low. Terrible, it seems that except for O'Neal, the rest of the Heat players can't find the position of the basket.

"These players really made the best use of them under Larry Brown." Rick Carlisle, who had coached the Pistons for two seasons and was fired because of Larry Brown's arrival, It's great, but Rick Carlisle also has to admit that Larry Brown's coaching ability, especially in building the team's defensive system, is indeed better than his own. A team without any superstars, in Larry Brown Under his guidance, the Heat led by Shaquille O'Neal have been blocked from the Eastern Conference Finals for two consecutive years. If the Pacers team built by Larry Bird hadn't been even more perverted, maybe Larry Brown would have Hope to bring the Pistons to a stable championship.

"Richard is really stable!" Watching the TV screen, Richard Hamilton, an assistant coach, hit a mid-range shot on Dwyane Wade's head again to help the Pistons pull the point difference to 21 points Lester Conor also looked regretful.Richard Hamilton was paid a lot by Larry Bird, using Amare Stoudemire, who was the best rookie of the season and made a splash in the playoffs this season, from the Wizards. , in Larry Bird's original plan, Richard Hamilton was to replace Reggie Miller to carry the Pacers' No. 2 position, but Richard Hamilton was used by the Pistons after playing for the Pacers for one season. The larger contract extension was poached away, and the Pacers, who had nothing to fetch from the bamboo basket, became the laughing stock of the outside world for a while.

"It's a pity Darko!" Unlike Lester Conor's focus, when the overall situation is settled, the only thing Rick Carlisle cares about is Darko Milicic who just came off the bench Darko Milicic, who has been sitting on the bench for an unknown amount of time, finally got a few minutes of playing time in the garbage time. This year's playoffs, the Pistons have played more than 10 times. games, but Darko Milicic's total playing time did not exceed 20 minutes.

This talented player, who once haunted Rick Carlisle and had high hopes, wasted time and himself under Larry Brown year after year after Rick Carlisle was fired. His talent, playing only 400 minutes in two seasons, is constantly wearing down the fighting spirit and confidence of this big boy who is hailed by Rick Carlisle as the next Kevin Garnett. Odd is one of the leaders who entered the NBA. Every time he sees Darko Milicic's helpless eyes on the bench, Rick Carlisle will feel sad.

"This kid scored so many points without making a sound. It seems that we need to strengthen our defense against him in the next round."

After several minutes of garbage time, the visiting Pistons beat the Heat 88-67 at the American Airlines Center to win the Game 18. Richard Hamilton made 12 of 7 shots and 4 three-pointers. He made 7 shots and 6 of 38 free throws. After scoring a game-high 34 points in the previous game, he scored a game-high [-] points in today's game. "Heart" Chauncey Billups, but the scoring champion of the Pistons is Richard Hamilton. Basically, in every game, Hamilton is not the most prominent, nor is it the most eye-catching one, but always Looking at the statistics after the game, hey, when did Hamilton score so many points?

"Okay, guys, our opponents for the conference finals are out, there are still two days between now and the first game of the series, we need to hurry up." After a brief exclamation and discussion, Rick Carlisle, who was sitting in the center of the crowd, tapped the table with his knuckles a few times, and then motioned for everyone to get back to business.

As the defending champion, the public enemy of the league, and the Pacers aiming to win the championship, they will consider the situation of the playoffs and the opponents they will face at the beginning of the season. Due to the strong performance of the Heat this season, the Pacers The management has always regarded the Heat as their number one opponent in the Eastern Conference. They have conducted targeted research and analysis on the Heat since the middle of the season. Research, but not as much as the Heat.

After the Pacers swept the Wizards and advanced to the Eastern Conference finals, the Pacers' coaching staff formulated a variety of coping strategies for the Heat, such as A, B, and C. After all, the Heat had already led the Pistons 3-2 at that time, but who would have thought that the Heat However, it was reversed by the Pistons in two consecutive games, so the strategies that the Pacers coaching staff worked hard before have all become waste paper. In the case of the opponent's sudden substitution, the Pacers coaching staff can only rush to work overnight , Turned out the alternative plan for the Pistons, and at the same time studied the video of the Pistons and Heat series, so for the Pacers coaching staff, tonight is destined to be another sleepless night.

Unlike the hard-working coaching staff who have to work overtime again, Meng Xu, who finished the training session early and has returned home, is in a happier mood now, because after the Pistons eliminated the Heat, Meng Xu finally doesn't have to worry about being caught by the system. O'Neal, the "God Killer", was selected. O'Neal, who had already started to decline, returned to the peak this season with the support of the system, and once again played at the MVP level. In 70 regular season games, he averaged 28.5 points per game. Points, 12.8 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 2.8 blocks all-round data, especially in the four matchups with the Pacers, O'Neal averaged 38 points, 17 rebounds, and Jermaine O'Neal and NN-Hillary The two pressed the ground and rubbed wantonly.

Due to the adequate rest in the regular season, after entering the playoffs, O'Neal's performance has improved to a higher level than in the regular season. With the performance of O'Neal and Wade in the playoffs, if the semifinals meet When it comes to the Pacers, it's really hard to say who will win, but what happened to O'Neal at the peak and Wade, the rookie, met the Pistons at their peak. Compared with Prince, Ron Artest is not too condescending in all aspects except his temper, and he is even stronger.

"It's such a pity!" When the TV broadcast camera focused on Dwyane Wade sitting on the bench with a frustrated face and flushed eyes, and Shaq sitting next to Wade looking up at the sky expressionlessly - When O'Neal, Meng Xu involuntarily let out a sigh.

(End of this chapter)