At the beginning of the fourth quarter, both teams sent out their second teams. The Celtics' second team included Davis, Blount, and LaFrentz, all of whom had good offensive abilities, and Bank in the backcourt.
The dual point guard combination of West and West still has a certain advantage over the Pacers' bench lineup led by Wu Sheng. In fact, in many games, the bench mainly relies on the substitutes to score points. When the main players are similar, it depends on the depth of the bench.
Well, to be fair, the Celtics' main force is far inferior to that of the Pacers, and they were able to achieve this score entirely because the Pacers looked down upon them too much.
With Mark Blount hitting a high jump shot, the Celtics were already 6 points ahead of the Pacers. There were 8 minutes and 31 seconds left before the end of the game. Carlisle called a timeout, and the two had a tacit understanding after the timeout.
With the team's strongest lineup, the Pacers' starting lineup remained unchanged, while the Celtics replaced point guard Payton, shooting guard Allen, small forward Pierce, power forward Jefferson, and center Milisi.
A strange lineup. Rookies Allen and Jefferson were entrusted with important tasks due to their strong defense, and finally stayed on the court.
Miller of the Pacers has clearly replenished his physical strength. As soon as he came on the field, he pushed away Tony Allen on his first offense and hit a three-pointer. The lead that seemed to be relatively large just now was only left.
After only 3 points, Tony Allen went to the referee to argue that it was Miller who pushed the ball first this time, but the referee ignored it.
When it was the Celtics' turn to attack, Miller said to Tony Allen: "Boy, when you become a superstar, you will also be able to enjoy such treatment. Before that, shut up and watch my performance."
As a rookie, Tony Allen naturally didn't dare to talk trash to Miller. He already lost a lot to Miller in terms of aura.
Payton dribbled the ball and said to Tinsley: "It's not easy for people like you who play ball on the street to come and play in the NBA. I heard that some people have to rely on their butts to please the boss of the team in order to stay. You
Is this like that bastard Miller? He has really strong tastes..." Payton kept talking trash, and Tinsley was very angry. He made a gambling steal, but unfortunately Payton already knew his intention.
, passed Tinsley with a disguised dribble, and then rushed to the basket. O'Neal Jr. made up for it. Payton suddenly slowed down a little, and the rhythm of dribbling changed a little. O'Neal glanced towards
With Jefferson on the side, Payton had already started up again, passed through O'Neal, and scored with a pull-up layup. The old guy who had been passing the ball the whole game and not taking the initiative to attack finally took action.
After the Pacers sent a baseline kick, Miller said to Tinsley, who was dribbling the ball: "I'm going to guard him in the next round. The kid I'm playing against has no offensive ability. You can handle it."
In the Pacers' attack this time, Artest cut to the basket by running, received an assist from Tinsley, avoided Milicic and scored a layup. Tinsley had already received his 10th assist.
Miller faced Payton dribbling and said to Payton: "I heard you hugged your thigh? Do you feel comfortable?"
"Comfortable, like when I hold your sister, it feels so comfortable." Payton said and passed a ground pass to Milicic.
Facing Foster's defense, Milicic turned around and shot a jumper after a fake move. Although Foster reached out to interfere, it did not affect the trajectory of the basketball dribble, and the ball flew into the basket.
The ball was scored here, but Payton and Miller were still talking trash to each other. Miller said to Payton with a wicked smile: "You are scared of being beaten by that guy Michael. After losing in the finals,
You look like shit, even the team wants to trade you."
"Didn't you lose too? Are you qualified to speak against me?"
"I lost but I was never afraid of him. I'm not so scared like you that I want to wet my pants even mentioning his name..." Miller mentioned Payton's sadness again, but this was not a good thing for Miller.
, because Payton has begun to switch to guard Miller, and Tony Allen is guarding Tinsley. Allen is younger and has excellent defensive talent. He does not rush to steal or lose position easily. He will pass Tinsley's pass.
The angle of the ball was even tighter, and when Miller started running, Payton was not to be outdone. The two of them seemed to be starting a marathon. I'm afraid these two were the only superstars in the 1990s who could still run.
Now, even many players from the junior generation have retired, but the two of them are still walking around the court like flying, which is more like a fight against time.
After several rounds of back and forth, neither side played very smoothly, and the score was always very anxious. However, the Celtics took an advantage. Payton, who was fully defensive, actually offset each other with the opponent's boss Miller. Payton was in
The Celtics can basically only be regarded as a qualified starting point guard, but Miller is the Pacers' deadly weapon. These two old villains who are full of trash talk seem to have found the feeling of their youth on the court.
, Miller made a three-pointer, and Payton scored on a counterattack after a steal. Each of them showed their special skills.
"Look at these two guys, look at their performance and you can imagine what kind of players they were when they were young. If it weren't for Jordan, I'm sure their historical status would be more than that." Hein commented on the sidelines.
Thorne said emotionally.
"But they haven't won a championship since Jordan retired..." Gorman obviously has a different view.
"That's because they encountered another terrifying combination. O'Neal and Kobe are also one of the few legendary combinations in history."
"Although they both lost to OK, Miller lost to their unity, but Payton lost to their differences."
The commentators on the sidelines were bickering, and the players on the court were not idle either. With only 2 minutes left before the end of the game, the Celtics led 79 to 78 by one point. The Celtics attacked and after tactical
Adjustment, Milicic has been pulled to the high post to provide support. Firstly, he has the ability to shoot and pass from long range. Secondly, he can also create enough space inside for Pierce and Tony Allen. Both outside players like to attack.
The opponent is inside, so Foster can effectively open up the space by coming out to defend.
The Pacers chose O'Neal Jr., who is more flexible in pace, to defend Milicic, while defensive champion Foster still sits inside.
Milicic faced O'Neal with the ball. He remembered what Laimbeer once said, to constantly provoke the opponent and make him make mistakes. He immediately said: "You can't guard me at all. Your defense is not as good as Ah's."
Test looks like a pussy in comparison.”
"I will let you now..."
As he spoke, Milicic had already passed the ball to Tony Allen, who was cutting through the air. Allen completed a dunk over Foster.
When he said those words just now, Xiao Ou thought that Milicic was going to make a personal attack. Who knew that the words were spread before he finished speaking. This matter was handled a bit unfairly. Are all Europeans like this? Xiao Ou thought to himself.
With.
I didn't expect that the wild tricks taught by the old man Ranbir were still somewhat effective, so I learned from him for a while.
Payton looked at Milicic and thought: This kid is even worse than I was when I was young. Either he has learned from a master, or he is extremely talented...
