Legendary star

Chapter 685
"Hahahaha, Meng, it was really fun to fight today. Seeing that big fat man's expression, I feel refreshed, haha."

"Yeah, Boss, look at that big fat man's expression just now is really funny, he was very arrogant before the game started."

When the official timeout of the first quarter came, the Pacers players who came off the court seemed very excited. They led the Heat by 13 points in half a quarter. Although such a lead does not guarantee that the Pacers will be able to Winning, but being able to establish such a huge lead in the opening 6 minutes is enough to make these hard-working Pacers players take a good breath of anger.

Such a huge lead is definitely a wonderful start for the Pacers in the away game. Therefore, when the Pacers' starters all returned to the bench, not only these starters were very happy, The same is true for the rotation players on the bench and the members of the coaching staff. Jermaine O'Neal, who was sitting on the sidelines in a suit and could not play, also walked to the sidelines and high-fived his teammates who came off the field.

Not far away, on the Heat's bench, the atmosphere on the Pacers' side is completely different. When the Heat's main players came off the court, all of them looked confused, or rather dumbfounded. Forced, 6 minutes, only played 6 minutes, they fell behind 6 to 19 and gave the Pacers 13 points, and only 7 points in the half quarter.

At this time, not to mention the blank faces of the Heat players, even the head coach of this team, Pat Riley, who is nicknamed the fortune teller, does not know how to solve this situation now. The performance made Pat Riley think of the Bulls back then. The Bulls led by Michael Jordan, supplemented by Scottie Pippen, and Ron Harper used full-court pressing tactics to defeat Overcoming one opponent after another, they successfully proved that even if a team does not have a super-class inside line, it can still win the championship. Shaquille O'Neal and Patrick Ewing, two super centers, even It is difficult to connect the ball, because Hong Guoguo's talent is overwhelming, and the current Pacers, Meng Xu, Tayshaun Prince, James Posey, Tony Allen, four league-leading perimeter defenses Players, their full-court press is even more terrifying than the Bulls back then.

Even Pat Riley can't find a solution, let alone Eric Spoelstra, who has not yet made his debut, so the Heat's bench is now terribly quiet, and everyone is watching Head coach Pat Riley is waiting for him to come up with a solution.

"Damn it!" Before the start of the game, O'Neal, who had declared his victory declaration to the reporters who interviewed him, threw the towel in his hand to the ground when he saw the weird situation on the Heat's bench. In order to vent his dissatisfaction and resentment, in the first half of the first quarter, under the pressure of the Pacers, O'Neal had to turn back and run in vain, and even touched the ball a handful of times. .

"Okay, everyone, calm down, the game has just begun, and we have plenty of opportunities."

Seeing O'Neal's angry face, Pat Riley finally stopped being silent. After all, Pat Riley is also a top coach who has led the team to win four championships. Even if he has been cornered by the Pacers, Pat Riley will not have no resistance at all, waiting to lose there.

"Dwyane, after the timeout is over, you go to the 3rd position. Gary, you replace Udonis and play double point guard tactics with Jason. Our offense must be more decisive, and we must be more decisive when passing the ball. Be more concise and try to avoid prolonged possession of the ball."

When the timeout was about to end, Pat Riley finally made the final decision, removed power forward Udonis Haslem, added a point guard, and also had the ability to handle the ball. Dwyane Wade, the Heat have three players on the court who can handle the ball.

"Ervin, the Heat played very badly in the first half of the first quarter, and they didn't play any kind of offense at all. Do you think they can improve after this timeout?"

"It's really hard to say. With the current staffing of the Heat, it is very difficult to break the Pacers' full-court press. As long as the Heat can't break the Pacers' blockade, it will be difficult for them to play a smooth offense. But fortunately, the full-court pressing tactics are very exhausting. It is impossible for the Pacers to maintain such a defensive intensity and defensive rhythm throughout the game. Maybe the Heat's offense will return to normal in the second quarter."

After thinking for a while, Magic Johnson looked at Pat Riley not far away and said, from his own point of view, Magic Johnson couldn't find a strategy to break the Pacers' full-court pressure anyway, so he could only hope Relying on the Pacers themselves, they will take the initiative to give up the full-court pressing tactics when they are exhausted. However, although Magic Johnson cannot find a strategy to deal with it, Magic Johnson still hopes that his mentor Pat Riley can find a countermeasure. The Pacers' approach, otherwise this game will definitely be nothing to watch. With the current defensive strength of the Pacers, it only needs to last for one quarter, and it is enough to completely defeat the Heat.

"Kids, it's better not to be so arrogant." Gary Payton, who replaced Udonis Haslem, looked at Tony Allen in front of him with an unkind expression on his face. As a rookie in the position, Tony Allen's ability to secure his position as the main force in a powerhouse like the Pacers also proves that he has good talent and strength, but as a rookie, he dared to challenge a big guy like O'Neal. From Gary Payton's point of view, it is definitely not a good thing. I don't know when these young people have become more and more unruly.

Perhaps because of his preconceived attitude, Gary Payton didn't have a good attitude towards the players around Meng Xu. If it wasn't for Meng Xu and the Pacers, he would have retired contentedly with the championship ring. How could he be like this now? , he will be 39 years old soon, and he has to work hard on the court for a championship ring. Although Gary Payton rejected the Pacers' invitation and missed the championship, in Gary Payton's heart, he has never I haven't regretted it, and the championship that comes here is better than nothing.

"Old man, are you still young if you are not arrogant?" Tony Allen, who was born in a slum and was shrouded in the shadow of violence, crime, and drugs since he was a child, is not a good boy like Tyshawn Prince. Under the influence of James Posey, Tony Allen also developed a combative and rebellious character. He dared to rush up and fight when there were conflicts on the court in his rookie season. Today, after a fast break dunk, he imitated O'Neal's celebrations to provoke O'Neal, all of which prove that Tony Allen is not a soft persimmon.

As a point guard, Tony Allen averaged less than 4 assists per game and only 7 points per game. However, such a point guard with 7 points, 4 assists and 2.5 rebounds per game has become The main force of the Pacers, outsiders who don't know the inside may not be very clear, but Tony Allen himself is very clear about why he can squeeze out Chris Duhon and Sarunas Jasco There is only one reason Wei Xius became the team's starter, and that is defense, because Tony Allen's excellent single defense and tireless running.

As long as the head coach arranges Tony Allen to play, Tony Allen will be like a mad dog, biting the players he is facing, including Steve Nash and Jason Kidd. Point guards have been defended by Tony Allen in a panic. In today's game, Tony Allen's defense against Jason Williams was very successful. Although in one-on-one defense, Tony Allen There was no successful steal, but Jason Williams made 6 turnovers in the 4 minutes of the first half of the first quarter.

"Damn it, why is this kid's defense so good?"

After the game restarted, Gary Payton, who replaced Jason Williams and started to handle the ball, suddenly found that he couldn't get rid of the kid's close defense. Tony Allen's defense was very clean and his defensive awareness was also very good. Coupled with excellent wingspan and fast movement speed, Gary Payton can't find a single flaw at all, even when Gary Payton is about to deliberately reveal a flaw to lure Tony Allen to steal When he took the opportunity to get rid of him, this kid was not fooled. Of course, it was not that Tony Allen saw through Gary Payton's true intentions, but that Tony Allen chose a safe defensive method and rushed to grab him rashly. , the opponent will easily get rid of it, so Tony Allen would rather not steal than give Gary Payton a chance.

Gary Payton, who had been dribbling near the center circle for nearly 10 seconds, had no choice but to signal his teammates to come forward to respond. Under the cover of Jason Williams, Gary Payton passed the basketball in his hand with great difficulty. Jason Williams, and Jason Williams, under the full pressure of Tyshawn Prince, couldn't hand the basketball to O'Neal inside, and finally passed and Dwyane Wade Screening, the basketball was handed over to Dwyane Wade.

"It seems that the Heat still haven't found a strategy to break the Pacers' full-court press!" Looking at the time when 24 seconds were about to run out, Dwyane Wade, under the defense of Meng Xu, was on the left side of the top of the arc. Reluctantly shot, Michaels on the sidelines commentary also shook his head helplessly.

If you count Dwyane Wade, the Heat actually have 3 point guards on the field. After seeing this lineup, Michaels was still expecting the Heat to break the Pacers' defense. Players who can organize the ball, it is impossible for the Pacers to strangle them all, but now it seems that even if the Heat play three point guards, they will not be able to break the Pacers' tightness in a while. The way to force the defense, the Pacers' defense on these outside lines is really too strong, each of them is excellent in individual defense, almost everyone can assume the responsibility of leading defense, and there is a historical supplementary defender like Meng Xu, It is really not easy to break through their blockade.

"It seems that the Heat really can't find a way to deal with the Pacers." When he was defeated, Magic Johnson looked at Pat Riley, who was standing on the sidelines with a very ugly face, and knew that Pat Riley really couldn't find any solution.

"Rick Carlisle's full-court pressing tactics today are really a stroke of genius. Under the Pacers' full-court pressing, the Heat's inside and outside lines are completely out of touch, and they can't play their own tactics and coordination at all."

At the end of the first quarter, looking at the 36-15 score on the scoreboard, everyone who watched this game knew that the heat was over in today's game, and they couldn't find a way to break the Pacers' defense, and they couldn't play themselves Tactics and coordination, in this case, it is impossible for the Heat to win.

The depth of the Pacers' lineup has always been very good, so although the Heat continued to deploy all the main players in the second quarter, facing the bench lineup led by Sarunas Jascovicius, the Heat did not Too many points were recovered, but because Jason Williams was not good at defending Sarunas-Jaskovicius, the latter scored 14 points in a single quarter in the second quarter.

Because the main lineup consumed too much energy in the first quarter, Rick Carlisle let Sarunas Jascovitius play well after he came off the bench. Hughes played the entire second quarter with a substitute lineup. Under the leadership of Sarunas Jascovicius, by the end of the entire first half, 61 to 47, the Pacers still led the Heat by 14 as many points.

Although the Heat beat the Pacers 32 to 25 in the second quarter and narrowed the point difference from 21 points to 14 points, the Heat still couldn't find a way to break the Pacers' tight defense, so at the beginning of the third quarter, After the Pacers' main lineup once again resorted to full-court pressing tactics, the situation on the field was instantly reversed. After a series of mistakes, the Pacers expanded the point difference to 3 in less than 20 minutes. point.

"It seems that the Heat are going to lose today." Pat Riley called two timeouts in a row, but they couldn't change the situation on the field. Live, in this situation, Magic Johnson on the sidelines announced the Heat's death sentence before the end of the third quarter.

(End of this chapter)