Chapter 1181 1180. The Terrifying Three-Pointer

But!

Liu Mang wants to open the way for the Hawks to catch up with the Lakers and Celtics!

This can be said to be an unrealistic dream, but Liu Mang set the goal as an almost impossible goal. If the small goal is only three consecutive championships, then it will be completed this year, and there will be no dream.

Winning the regular season championship for three consecutive years, the fans on the scene are crazy, and the Hawks players are also very excited.

There is a sense of pride that arises spontaneously. This year, there have been rumors of trades with the Hawks, and some media, either simple analysis or purposeful analysis of the so-called future planning of the Hawks, have not been able to affect the Hawks players, because of this sense of pride.

What will happen in the future, they can't control it. After entering the NBA for so long, they know what the NBA is like. Even stars of McGrady's level can't control their own stay or go. There are only a few players in the NBA who can control their own stay or go. Since they can't control their own future, they should complete what they should do.

Liu Mang was excited for a while because of the team's new regular season championship banner. When he heard Price passionately announcing that this year's playoffs was a journey of a dynasty, Liu Mang suppressed his surging emotions and faced the game!

The Pacers, a team of three first-class stars, if the Pacers were not full of trade rumors throughout the season, the three leaders who fought in the Palace of Auburn Hills complained to each other about the previous fight, and the Pacers' own team did not like these three players, resulting in the Pacers' players' ups and downs and less and less cooperation, their strength is not just as simple as the eighth in the East.

And their head coach Rick Carlisle is not an ordinary coach.

...

At 8:30 in the evening, with Rasheed Wallace's roar, the whole court was detonated, and the starting players of the two teams came to the court, and the game officially began.

The Hawks sent out Liu Mang, McGrady, Prince, Rasheed Wallace, and Kwame Brown as the starting lineup.

The Pacers sent out Jamal Tinsley, Stephen Jackson, Artest, O'Neal Jr., and Jeff Foster as their starting lineup.

Kwame Brown easily won the jump ball over Foster, who was mainly responsible for the coaching, and the Hawks attacked first.

After Liu Mang advanced to the frontcourt, he immediately encountered Artest's rough defense. As soon as Liu Mang stepped outside the three-point line, Artest directly pushed up and hit Liu Mang with his chest.

Good guy! The force almost made Liu Mang lose the ball, and he quickly grabbed the ball with both hands.

The referee did not blow the whistle!

From the first defense, the Pacers brought the rhythm into the playoff mode!

Liu Mang was forced to stop the ball. After standing firm, Liu Mang immediately swung a big loop, trying to take this opportunity to cause Artest to foul.

Artest reacted very quickly, holding his hands between his waist without stretching his arms to avoid being fouled by Liu Mang. At the same time, he was very close to Liu Mang. Liu Mang had already stopped the ball, so Artest could defend him at will.

So sharp!

He is worthy of being a defensive stalwart whose overall defensive efficiency is second only to Kirilenko this season!

Liu Mang was forced to shoot!

Fortunately, McGrady came up to support Liu Mang at this time.

Liu Mang passed the ball to McGrady, who received the ball at the top of the arc and accelerated to attack!

Stephen Jackson was very active in defense, but McGrady was not someone he could defend. Although McGrady's first step was not the fastest, he had long legs and took a big step, directly behind Stephen Jackson, and his second and third steps were getting faster and faster. When Stephen Jackson reacted, McGrady had already entered the free throw line!

The Pacers' defensive discipline was impeccable. In the playoffs, they did not stop defending when they were unhappy with each other like in the regular season. O'Neal pressed up and double-teamed McGrady.

McGrady's beautiful pass made the whole audience cheer continuously. McGrady was a bit excited and played with the first ball. Facing O'Neal and Stephen Jackson who were blocking him, McGrady grabbed the ball and took two steps to the left. When he reached the left baseline of the three-second zone, he turned right 180 degrees. When O'Neal didn't expect him to do that, he turned his back to the baseline and faced the basket sideways to make a big hook shot...

The action was beautiful and the posture looked very cool, but this was not what McGrady should do!

McGrady was just playing around, and the hook shot missed!

The ball hit the basket and bounced to the right side of the three-second zone, and was rebounded by Foster who came back to grab the rebound.

"Your hook shot is really bad!" Liu Mang complained when he retreated.

McGrady smiled and retreated. Indeed, the sideways hook shot with his back to the baseline in that position was a bit too wasteful.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar wouldn't hook like that!

But if it went in, it would be cool. McGrady was a little regretful that he didn't succeed in being cool.

When the Pacers attacked, Tinsley first passed the ball to O'Neal in the low post. After receiving the ball, O'Neal struggled and collided with Rasheed Wallace in the low post to find shooting space. It took more than three seconds. Finally, when the five-second violation was about to come, he found the shooting opportunity and turned back to shoot from close range...

Hit!

O'Neal's one-on-one low-post close-range turnaround jump shot was really amazing, and he made the first shot.

When the Hawks attacked, Liu Mang received a pass from Kwame Brown and pushed through the center circle. When he was about one and a half meters away from the three-point line and Artest was still standing on the three-point line waiting for Liu Mang to get close to the three-point line, Liu Mang suddenly stopped and threw the ball out!

A three-pointer from a very long distance!

Liu Mang suddenly shot from more than one meter away from the top arc!

The fans at the scene exclaimed!

Artest defended very hard today and was very focused on judging Liu Mang's offensive intentions, but he didn't expect Liu Mang to shoot like this!

Liu Mang's shot was very accurate! But the force was a little too strong and hit the backboard, but fortunately it bounced into the basket!

Liu Mang's long three-pointer hit!

McGrady first turned on the wave mode, and Liu Mang followed suit.

Let's play together!

O'Neal committed a five-second violation in the low post and took a lot of effort to score a two-pointer. Liu Mang pushed forward for five seconds and shot it into the basket in more than a second, and the three-pointer was in hand!

Less than seven seconds!

Easily offset O'Neal's low-post singles.

This three-pointer, which is more than one meter away from the top arc of the farthest distance of the three-point line, makes the Pacers players feel too uncomfortable!

Especially Artest, how to defend this?

Stick to such a long distance? Must be killed by a sudden attack!

The key is to be able to score!

Artest didn't know what to do.

It was just the first ball, and Liu Mang made the Pacers players feel very depressed. The atmosphere on the scene made them feel irritable, and now it was even more depressed.

For the Hawks, Liu Mang scored this kind of ball, and everyone was relieved and started to play!

Artest kept yelling at his teammates, asking them not to be scared by the other side.

The Pacers played very steadily in the playoffs. Although they were troubled by Liu Mang's first three-pointer, they were originally a team with an absolute disadvantage. Even if the opponent played crazy against them, they thought it was normal. It was just that Liu Mang's confidence and accuracy in the three-pointer were too scary.

The Pacers still played steadily and focused on whichever position had an advantage.

The Hawks played very easily, and some shooting methods and movements that they would not use normally were played.

At the end of the first quarter, the Hawks were one point behind the Pacers with 23 to 24!

In the second quarter, the rotation lineup came on the court. After Liu Mang, Jason Terry, Iguodala, Josh Smith, and Mourning came on the court, they played more happily. Liu Mang and Jason Terry made three-pointers one by one.

However, the double wave combination was not efficient, and the three-pointers were too casual. On the Pacers side, Artest and Tinsley did a better job of defending Liu Mang and Jason Terry's three-pointers.

The Hawks were always one or two points behind, but not too far behind, so they didn't care. After grabbing the offensive rebound, Iguodala even wanted to dunk over O'Neal, but was held down by O'Neal with the ball.

Since the score difference was not big, the Hawks didn't take it seriously. The players on the Hawks bench were still laughing at Iguodala, and Iguodala was also licking his face and laughing.

At the end of the first half, the Hawks were 45 to 49. They played very casually in the first half and were still only four points behind.

During the halftime break, the Hawks didn't make too many adjustments. Liu Mang had a good touch, 3 of 8 three-pointers in the first half, and scored 11 points and 2 assists. Jason Terry also made two three-pointers and scored 8 points. Except for a little waste and loose defense, the Hawks didn't seem to have any other problems.

But in the second half, after the start of the third quarter, the situation suddenly changed!

Artest first hit a three-pointer, Jason Terry responded with a three-pointer that missed, and then Stephen Jackson faced McGrady's defense, received the ball from the left baseline and shot a three-pointer. The Pacers scored 6 to 0 in the third quarter!

Coach Carlisle observed the half-time game and determined the problem of the Hawks today, so he let his offensive players start a fierce attack.

In one minute, the Pacers scored 6 to 0, turning the score to 55 to 45, leading the Hawks by ten points!

Coach Kruger wanted to call a timeout, but seeing Jason Terry and McGrady's lineup of Korver, David Lee, and Rasheed Wallace still looked very confident, he temporarily stayed put and let the players on the field solve the problem.

The Hawks attacked, McGrady went to the frontcourt, rushed into the inside, avoided O'Neal's defense, turned around and scored two points with one hand, helping the Hawks stop bleeding.

However, the Hawks' lax defense and the casual offense after McGrady's dunk led to a 14-4 run by the Pacers in the following period!

Halfway through the third quarter, the Hawks trailed the Pacers by 18 points, 51-69!

Coach Kruger had to call a timeout!