Legendary star

Chapter 658 Various Excuses
"The Spurs won again?"

On March 2006, 3, it was nearly a month since the end of the All-Star Weekend, and only one month before the end of the regular season of the 18-05 season. There is still no intention of stopping and adjusting. The playoff spots and the Spurs and Pacers have been locked. In order to gain home court advantage in the finals, no one is willing to stop first.

Originally, after the All-Star Weekend, many experts expected that the Spurs and Pacers would suspend their crazy momentum and start to adjust their state. After all, the All-Star Syndrome is not covered. For the Spurs and Pacers of the All-Star Weekend, they must be troubled by the All-Star Syndrome after the All-Star Weekend, but the subsequent results were surprising. In the Mavericks, Suns, Rockets, Pistons, Heat, The Nets are all troubled by the All-Star Syndrome, and when they lose again and again, the Spurs and Pacers continue to work hard, constantly expanding their respective leads, and one and a half months before the end of the season. With a playoff spot locked in, the All-Star syndrome doesn't seem to exist for them.

After yesterday's game with the Knicks, the 56-10 Pacers are only half a game away from the 56-9 Spurs, and the Spurs will go back to back today after their away victory over the Mavericks yesterday Playing against the Rockets, so as long as the Spurs lose to the Rockets in the away game, the Pacers will rely on the difference in wins between the two sides, so as to overtake the Spurs and ascend to the number one throne in the league, but they have already begun to prepare for the playoffs. It didn't pose a slight threat to the Spurs, and they lost to the Spurs by 22 points at home, which is really speechless.

"It seems that relying on no one is worse than relying on yourself." The Pacers' schedule this week is very easy. There are three home games in the four games, and they are all the Warriors, Bulls, and Magic. In contrast, the Spurs' schedule is very unfriendly. Well, it's all about the Heat, the Mavericks, and the Rockets. Among them, the Mavericks and the Rockets have two back-to-back away games, so the Pacers are counting on the Spurs to fall under the feet of these teams. , especially the back-to-back away games between the Mavericks and the Rockets, but the final result disappointed the Pacers. The Spurs defeated the Heat one after another.

"Rick, the regular season is coming to an end in one month, do we need to prepare in advance?" Looking at Rick Carlisle who seemed to want to say something behind him, Meng Xu took the initiative to ask He mentioned that if it was last season, the Pacers would have already started preparing for the playoffs. For a team aiming for a championship, it is really not wise to spend all their energy in the regular season .

"It's time to adjust." Seeing Meng Xu walking in front of him, Rick Carlisle smiled and nodded towards Meng Xu. In fact, if Rick Carlisle's plan was followed, the Pacers locked Ji After the playoffs, the number should be adjusted. The Pacers, who have already led the second-ranked Pistons in the Eastern Conference by 11 games, can prepare for the playoffs in advance. However, considering that Meng Xu and Tim Duncan are in the regular season In the fierce competition for the MVP rankings, Rick Carlisle felt that he could not persuade Meng Xu to accept his plan, so Rick Carlisle could only procrastinate and wait until now. Fortunately, Meng Xu is still divided. Regardless of the severity, other honors are really nothing compared to the championship.

After deciding on a strategy to start adjusting, Rick Carlisle began to gradually rest the main players of the Pacers in batches. However, Rick Carlisle did not dare to be too blatant, but fully absorbed Senior Popovich's experience, on March 3, after the Pacers beat the Eagles at home, the Pacers' official website issued a statement that the Pacers' main power forward Jermaine O'Neal had a groin in the game against the Eagles. The strain is expected to be absent for about a week, and veteran Mutombo and Anfernee Hardaway will also miss the next 20-4 games due to the recurrence of old injuries.

After the Pacers first issued a signal to start adjusting, the Spurs quickly followed up. Before the away game against the Trail Blazers, the Spurs officially issued an announcement: Tim Duncan injured his heel, Mike Finley pulled his left shoulder Injury, Tony Parker has a severe flu and will miss the game against the Trail Blazers. Obviously, after the Pacers announced that Jermaine O'Neal had a groin strain, Popovich did not continue to use this excuse this time.

Although the three main players were absent, under the leadership of Manu Ginobili, the Spurs still won the Trail Blazers by 17 points in the away game. Perhaps this victory made Popovich feel that the Spurs could take a few more rests. A 1-2 main force, or Manu Ginobili's move to score 31 points in this game angered Popovich, so after the game between the Spurs and the Trail Blazers, Manu Ginobili He was "injured by the hip" and was sent back to San Antonio by Popovich.

The behavior of Popovich resting the four main players in succession can only be described as not dying. After the game with the Trail Blazers, the Spurs rushed to Denver to face the team that was sprinting for the playoffs. The Nuggets, however, without Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Mike Finley, were beaten by the Nuggets on the road, and Kenyon Martin in particular, was finally fighting the Spurs ate dumplings in the game, without Tim Duncan's Spurs, Kenyon Martin and Marcus Camby could only be allowed to wreak havoc at the basket, Marcus Camby 11 points, 21 rebounds 5 Second block, Kenyon Martin 26 points, 14 rebounds, plus Carmelo Anthony's 35 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, the Nuggets beat the Spurs by 26 points at home.

When Popovich led the Spurs farther and farther on the road to death, the Pacers, who rested Jermaine O'Neal, defeated the Celtics and the Wizards in away games, and lost to the Diggers in the Spurs. After Kim, the Pacers took the opportunity to overtake the Spurs and became the number one in the league with a record of 58 wins and 10 losses. , The Pacers will face the Spurs at home. If they lose the game against the Spurs, the Pacers will still have to come down from the number one position in the league.

(End of this chapter)