Legendary star

Chapter 645 Dilemma
"Jermaine, you did a good job." At the end of the first quarter, the visiting Pacers trailed the Spurs by 21 points 24 to 3, but when the main players were off the field, head coach Rick Carlisle patted Jermaine - O'Neill shoulders a pass compliment.

"Huh?" Jermaine O'Neal, who was praised inexplicably by the head coach, suddenly felt a little confused. He made 5 of 2 shots, 5 points, 3 rebounds, and 1 block. The performance in one quarter of the game can only be said to be quite satisfactory, but the head coach Rick Carlisle praised himself inexplicably, which made Jermaine O'Neill a little suspicious. Is there someone else behind the head coach's praise? Have a picture?
Although Jermaine O'Neal's singles efficiency is not high, but Jermaine O'Neal's consecutive singles in the middle of the first quarter really disrupted the Spurs' defensive deployment, and at the same time shared the burden for Meng Xu on the offensive end. A lot of pressure, so although the Pacers are still behind in the score, Rick Carlisle is basically satisfied with the performance of the starters on the court.

At the beginning of the second quarter, all the substitute players from both sides played. The Spurs were led by Manu Ginobili and Nick Van Exel, while the Pacers were led by James Posey and Saruna. Under the leadership of Jaskovicius, the Pacers still have a slight advantage in terms of the strength of the bench lineup. rebounds, 20 assists new All-Star Manu Ginobili, but the Pacers here, with Mutombo, Jeff Foster, James Posey, Anfernee Hardaway and The bench lineup composed of Sarunas-Jaskovicius is definitely one of the strongest bench lineups in the entire league.

Unlike the main lineup that is basically evenly divided, the Pacers quickly reversed the situation on the court as soon as the substitute lineups of the two sides came on the field. Since the bench lineup basically does not need to consider defense, Sarunas Jascovi, who has always been weak in defense Hughes, after switching to the bench, played an unexpected role. Sarunas-Jaskovicius, who is good at organization and offense, can freely sway himself on the field after losing the fetters of defense. Offensive talent, assists, breakthroughs, scoring, under the defense of Nick Van Exel, Sarunas Jascovicius is almost omnipotent, and for the Spurs, Manu Ginobili Falling into the quagmire of James Posey again, under the ebb and flow, the Pacers successfully surpassed the score after only 3 minutes of the second quarter, so before the official timeout, the main lineups of both sides resumed. debuted.

"This bastard, coward." Robert Hawley, who was running back and forth between Meng Xu and Jermaine O'Neill, finally couldn't bear to face Meng Xu who was not far away after being shot by Jermaine O'Neill YAN There was a swear word.

Originally in Popovich's arrangement, Robert Hawley's main task on the defensive end was to cooperate with Bruce Bowen to flank Meng Xu, and then defend the Pacers' fourth position by the way when Tim Duncan was out of reach. , but from the second half of the first quarter, Meng Xu's ball-holding time has been greatly reduced. Not only that, as long as Robert Holly rushes to double-team Meng Xu, Meng Xu will not hesitate to hand over the basketball to Jiemei Because of O'Neal, as Robert Holly's matchup player, after Jermaine O'Neal holds the ball, it is impossible for Robert Holly not to return to defense, and in Robert Holly's view, Jermaine O'Neal This guy is really a CAO, such a big guy, obviously black and hard, but this guy is always floating in the area near the top of the arc and the free throw line, and he doesn't go to the basket at all. If he is willing to go to the basket, there is With Tim Duncan here, he wouldn't be in such a mess.

After Jermaine O'Neal forced Robert Hawley, Meng Xu, who quickly retreated to the backcourt, winked at Popovich's slight smile as he passed the Spurs' bench , It seems to be telling Popovich that your defensive strategy has failed.

"Greg, do you want to replace Robert with Lasu? It's too bad for him to defend Jermaine." Just as Meng Xu and Popovich were making eye contact, standing on the side of Popovich Steve Kerr around him also began to offer his own suggestions to Popovich.

Originally, in the Spurs’ pre-match plan, Duncan sat alone in the low post, which was enough to greet the Pacers’ two insiders, NN-Hilario and Jermaine O’Neal, because Duncan has such ability, and then focused on the outside. Clamp Meng Xu, forcing Meng Xu to pass the ball or force singles, but now it seems that the Spurs' strategy has not worked, because the Pacers' tactical axis seems to have been transferred from Meng Xu to Jermaine O'Neal. At this time, it is basically meaningless to double-team Meng Xu, and with Robert Holly's height, it is really a disadvantage to let him defend Jermaine O'Neal, so Steve - Cole suggested replacing Robert Hawley with Rasu Nesterovic and letting Duncan play against Jermaine O'Neal.

"It's a dilemma." Compared with Steve Kerr, Popovich has to look farther. The Pacers shifted their tactical axis from Meng Xu to Jermaine O'Neal. Maine O'Neal has the dislocation advantage in singles against Robert Hawley. At the same time, he also hopes to rely on Jermaine O'Neal's continuous singles to break the crazy double-teaming of Meng Xu by the Spurs. At this time, use a center Replacing the undersized Robert Hawley and letting Tim Duncan defend Jermaine O'Neal will certainly be able to limit Jermaine O'Neal, but once the Spurs replace a slow-footed insider, Then the double-teaming of Meng Xu is bound to be self-defeating, because you can't expect Duncan to go beyond the three-point line to double-team Meng Xu, so for this kind of practice of tearing down the east wall to make up for the west wall, Popovich's There are still great concerns. After all, in Popovich's eyes, Meng Xu is the biggest threat to the Pacers on the court.

After hesitating again and again, Popovich finally rejected Steve Kerr's proposal and chose to continue to maintain the status quo and let Jermaine O'Neal play non-stop singles Robert Hawley.

In the end, at the end of the half, the Pacers relied on Jermaine O'Neal's 9-of-5 shooting in the second quarter and Sarunas Jascovicius' explosion early in the second quarter. Overtook the score 51 to 49.

(End of this chapter)