Although the Celtics performed well this season, the Pacers obviously did not take them seriously. In fact, in history, the Celtics finished third in the regular season, only to be defeated by the Pacers.
The easy counterattack, in the final analysis, was because the Eastern Conference was weak at the time. Apart from the Pistons and Heat, there was no team that could compete with the Western Conference. The Pacers were still able to finish third in the Eastern Conference even though so many of their main players were suspended.
Reaching the playoffs as the sixth seed is almost unimaginable in the Western Conference.
It is precisely because of this contempt that Miller called his teammates together before the game started, so that everyone could defeat the Celtics as quickly as possible. Because of the lack of rotation personnel, they must retain enough energy to deal with it.
"Pistons," Miller said loudly on purpose, which made Pierce somewhat embarrassed.
Eddie Jones came over to persuade Pierce and said: "The players of their era were like this. There was no friendship during the game. Some players were even private enemies in their careers. Unlike today's players.
Players can drink and go clubbing together off the court."
Pierce nodded, but he was holding back a fire in his heart. He vowed to play a high-level game in this game and make Reggie Miller shut his big mouth.
In fact, the Pacers are also very unhappy with the Celtics. They believe that the rise of the Celtics is entirely due to their own problems. If the Auburn Hills Palace incident had not happened to the Pacers, I am afraid that the Celtics'
The rise will not be so fast. O'Neal Jr. also believes that Milicic took advantage of his lack of form this season to come from behind. The All-Star Game is a good proof.
Therefore, O'Neal Jr. did not talk to Milicic before the game, which somewhat surprised many people.
However, all these little conflicts and tricks disappeared after the game started, and what was about to come was a melee fight with red bayonets.
The lineup sent by the home team Celtics is: point guard Marcus Banks, shooting guard Tony Allen, small forward Paul Pierce, power forward Chris Anderson, and center Darko Milicic.
The lineup sent by the visiting Pacers is: point guard Jamal Tinsley, shooting guard Reggie Miller, small forward Stephen Jackson, power forward Jermaine O'Neal, and center Jeff Foster.
In the jump ball, it was Milicic versus O'Neal Jr., both of them looked solemn, as if this ball could determine the victory or defeat of their team. Milicic stretched out his arm and was already a step taller than O'Neal.
The difference in height and wingspan is about 10 centimeters. This is a shortcoming of O'Neal's figure compared to Milicic.
Sure enough, it was Milicic's fingertips that touched the ball first in the jump ball, and the ball was directly returned to his own side. When it comes to the strength of his fingers and wrists, Milicic is still very confident. After practicing straight-arm shooting, he
What you get is not only an offensive weapon, but more importantly, the control of the basketball with your fingers during the rebound competition. In fact, the simplest example is that Yao Ming's palms are too small compared to his height, and the strength of his fingers is slightly poor.
, so many rebounds are not stable, and even require two hands to firmly control the ball. People like O'Neal, Garnett, etc. are like sticky fingers, and they can catch the ball as soon as they touch it.
Pick the ball off, and even the famous rebounder Rodman was able to pick off the basketball with one hand in many cases. This is a manifestation of finger strength.
The ball was grabbed by Tony Allen, but he was not good at dribbling and immediately passed the ball to Marcus Banks. Banks moved forward with the ball, but suddenly the Pacers changed their formation and Javier
Mal Tinsley, Reggie Miller, and Stephen Jackson launched a counterattack on the spot and directly surrounded Banks. Their route was designed, and Banks had just crossed from the left side of the court.
In the midfield, now he takes a step back to return to the line, a little to the left to go out of bounds, and the front and right side are tightly surrounded by three people.
In this flash of lightning, Banks reacted quickly. He immediately jumped up and threw the ball into Stephen Jackson's thigh, hoping that the ball would hit the opponent and go out of bounds. Then the ball would return to his own hands.
Knowing Stephen Jackson is like knowing it for a long time. His body is the same. Although the ball was thrown with great force, as soon as Tinsley's hand touched the ball, it was as if he had tamed this guy. He had trained on the street courts for many years.
The ball sense came into play at this time, and Tinsley flicked his wrist. The ball hit the floor with force, changed its line, and flew forward. At this time, Reggie Miller had already run out.
He ran to the three-point line and waited for the ball to arrive. He opened his hand to shoot at the 45-degree three-point line on the left. You must know that there was no one to defend him. He could easily score two points on a fast break, but
He still has to throw a three-pointer, how confident he is.
However, Reggie Miller's confidence was not blind. The arc after his shot was extremely graceful, and as if he knew the ball would definitely score, he looked at the audience, put his index finger on his lips, and made
With a "boo" movement, the ball went hollow into the basket, and the entire audience fell into silence. Only a few groups of Pacers visiting fans made a little noise.
ESPN's ace commentator Bill Walton laughed from ear to ear on the sidelines and said: "That's what Reggie is like. He won't be afraid because of what kind of opponent you are. He is facing Jordan.
It's the same thing when I'm on the court, this guy is definitely a nasty opponent, you want to strangle him, but I like to have teammates like this."
Carlisle is also an excellent defensive master. In fact, without the foundation laid by Carlisle for the Pistons, I am afraid that no matter how great Larry Brown is, he would not be able to let the Pistons win the championship in the first year.
The Celtics' next serve was also more cautious. Tony Allen served, Banks received the ball, Pierce received the ball not far away, and Milicic was also around half court.
But this time the Pacers did not press full court, but shrank to half court and prepared to attack and defend.
Carlisle wanted to put some psychological shadow on the young players of the Celtics in the first round, showing their determination on both ends of the offense and defense. Although they were only leading by three points, the Celtics players were obviously nervous.
Chris's dribbling was a bit unnatural and he was too worried about being intercepted, while Tony Allen was also silently worried about his lack of dribbling ability.
Looking at the performance of the Celtics players on the court, Rick Carlisle's lips curved with a proud smile that only a successful man possesses.
