Chapter 630: 629. Coach Carlisle's Revenge
The Eagles have 25 wins and 5 losses, an astonishing 83% winning percentage, converted into the final record, that is 68 wins! Although it is only a conversion, it is already terrifyingly strong.
The Pacers are second in the league, with 23 wins and 8 losses, and a winning percentage of more than 70%. After all teams in the league have played more than 30 games, the only team other than the Eagles with a winning percentage of more than 70%. There are too many strong teams this year. There are four championship teams in each of the east and west. At the beginning of the season, the records of the weak teams were crushed. Their record also began to come down.
At this time, only the Eagles and Pacers still maintain a winning percentage of more than 70%.
But even so, not many people are optimistic about the Pacers. First, they were third in the Eastern Conference last year and were easily killed by Payton. Then this year, the Eagles have exploded. This time it's for real! It really became a strong contender for the Eastern Conference championship, and then easily killed the Pistons, and continued to maintain a crushing suppression of the Pistons. In people's eyes, the only opponent in the Eastern Conference that can become the Eagles, the only one that the Eagles hindered them Two-year hurdle, only the Nets.
Not only the media think so, but most of the Eagles players think so too, otherwise they wouldn't have gone out to make waves the afternoon before the game.
To be honest, including Raheem and Rasheed Wallace, they do not regard the Pacers as opponents because of their strength, but because they feel that they have a problem with face. They have to do a good job. Only Liu Mang regards the Pacers as an opponent.
The main reason is that the Pacers lineup is really strong, and it is more suitable for Coach Carlisle's offensive and defensive style of play. After the original 2-2 tie with the Pistons, which has five tiger generals, the Pistons won two consecutive games. Taking the game away, they were able to compete with the Pistons, which was gathered by the five tigers, but Coach Carlisle was too young to be Larry Brown's opponent.
At this time, Coach Carlisle was a loser, an even worse loser than before. At any rate, he was the rookie king who won the best coach in his rookie coaching season, but the best coach was robbed by Coach Kruger, that is, Larry Burroughs. Dehui knows the pearl, otherwise Coach Carlisle is regarded as a famous coach. It is estimated that after the battle between the Pacers and the Pistons in Auburn Hills, Coach Carlisle entered the season with five starters and a three-and-a-half-season suspension. It was only in the post-match that people saw his strength, and Cuban saw him as the pinnacle of his life.
It's not that the Eagles don't pay attention to this game, they just pay attention to it. It's different from playing hard like the Spurs and Nets and must win.
The Eagles came here with the mentality of winning, while the Pacers came here with the idea of saving their dignity with their lives and wanting to defend the home court!
At the beginning of the game, after O'Neal won the jump ball from Rasheed Wallace's head, the Pacers beat the Eagles unexpectedly. Artest fiercely held the ball and hit the inside line. Raheem couldn't take it!
Artest's weight of 113 kilograms, the most excessive is that he is as flexible as a guard when his tonnage has increased by nearly 20 pounds compared with last season, which is about 9 kilograms. Points, 5 rebounds are a routine operation, and there are 3.9 assists!
Artest opened the game like a bulldozer, pushing Raheem to the basket and causing Ratliff to foul!
Although the free throws at the beginning were so tough, he made two full free throws, but then when Raheem wanted to save face with a single, Artest showed his power again, and Raheem was confused by Artest's tough confrontation. Mistake!
Artest fished directly from the bottom up, snatched the ball from Raheem, and then counterattacked quickly with the ball to meet Liu Mang who was the first to catch up to the basket, pushing Liu Mang away from the spot and jumping with one hand Slam the ball into the basket.
Liu Mang was frightened. How did Artest feel like the Cavaliers version 1.0 of James?
It's exactly the same style of play!
Oppressive defense, steals and counterattacks, the same free throws are cheating, and the same can't be blocked!
It is true that Liu Mang was surprised by Artest's ability rating raised to 90 this year. Artest is higher than O'Neal's peak ability rating of 89. When the offense is only 83, the defense rating is as high as 97! Higher than Kobe and Kidd's 95 defensive ratings.
But Liu Mang didn't expect that Raheem would be abused at the beginning!
Relying on Artest's morale of attacking and defending at the beginning, the Pacers played a 14-6 start at the beginning of the game. Artest's start was too fierce and he played extremely hard. He beat the Eagles to 5. A timeout was called at the minute.
It wasn't because of the score, but Ratliff, who didn't expect the opponent to come at him at the beginning, made two fouls in the opening game!
The Eagles were forced to replace Ratliff early and replaced him with Kwame Brown.
After the timeout, the Eagles played a little bit better, and the speed was raised to play, and the Eagles' offense improved a lot.
However, after Artest's repeated "humiliation", Raheem began to compete with Artest with all his might, and the two fought each other desperately on both ends of the offense and defense.
Raheem was defended badly by Artest at the beginning, mainly because he didn't expect Artest to be so fierce! There is a qualitative difference from last season!
Last season, Artest was still the best defensive second team, but this year, Raheem obviously felt that Artest's defense was even stronger than Garnett's last year!
Artest didn't talk much, but he beeped hard.
Raheem's fighting spirit is also completely burning. Raheem, who has a 92 ability rating, and Artest, who has a 90 ability rating, these two may be the two strongest real small forwards in the league. up!
The Pacers did not stop Artest from competing with Raheem, and the Eagles certainly couldn't lose face to Raheem, who seldom wanted to be the main attacker.
The strengths of the two are indeed similar, and Raheem has a relatively large offensive advantage, but Raheem is the kind of player who can have a top 90 offensive level or a top 90 defensive level player, while Artest, He is a player whose offense maintains a quasi-first-class level of more than 80, and his defense is directly at the best defensive player level. Raheem's ability evaluation is higher than that of Artest, mainly because of his rebounding!
And speaking of it, Artest's one-on-one is really a bit incomprehensible. It feels like James, who has a little bit of handwork but has greatly improved his defense. He protects the ball well. Getting to the rim can turn the world upside down.
The most important thing is that Artest's organizational skills are better than Raheem's!
After the rivalry between Raheem and Artest, the situation that the Eagles had stabilized was once again suppressed by the Pacers!
After the first quarter, Artest scored 14 points, 3 assists, 2 steals and 1 block. At his peak, Artest was much stronger than last season! A player at the giant level!
Although Raheem also scored 15 points, which was higher than Artest, he made 3 turnovers in a single quarter, and the Pacers' strategy was obvious. Raheem was irritated by Artest Finally, as long as Raheem asked for the ball, Liu Mang gave it to Raheem, and the Pacers cut off the connection between Raheem and the rest of the Eagles, giving Raheem a perfect one-on-one opportunity.
Conversely, when the Pacers were attacking, Jamal Tinsley, Reggie Miller, and O'Neal all opened up space in the middle and long distances. Jeff Foster at the basket was not only handsome, but also tall. , Standing on the edge of the three-second zone is also a threat. Kwame Brown's defense at the basket does not have the deterrence of Ratliff, and Artest can't stop it after entering the inside.
After the first quarter, the Eagles trailed the Pacers by 10 points 23 to 33!
Completely led by the nose by the Pacers!
Liu Mang realized that something was wrong. He looked towards the Pacers' bench and saw Jim Carrey's wicked smile with hair. Obviously, all of this was a routine!
Moreover, the Pacers trusted Artest's defense too much and let him face Raheem.
Liu Mang wanted to talk to Coach Kruger, and wanted to remind Raheem, but just as Liu Mang wanted to talk to Coach Kruger, Coach Kruger waved his hand. Obviously, Coach Kruger also knew this .
But coach Kruger didn't remind him, but specially arranged tactics for Raheem.
Liu Mang was taken aback for a moment, seeing Rahim's unhappy expression, obviously ready to confront Artest, suddenly Liu Mang understood...
The face of the star!
Liu Mang has always been recognized by the league as the strongest player of the Eagles even this season, but whether it is on or off the field, he calls Raheem the boss of the team, and he is the kind who is convinced, Raheem For the team's self-sacrifice to be a defensive forward, Liu Mang is not necessarily willing to do it now.
Therefore, Rahim's face must be maintained!
Now the Eagles are not so well prepared for the Pacers. After all, they flew to Indianapolis to play the Pacers the next day after eight consecutive home games. The Nets, playing against the Pacers was given a routine by the opponent.
This is also one of the reasons why some teams lose inexplicably in the regular season. Sometimes it seems that a team has an obvious advantage in strength, and there are no major problems in terms of feel and state, but it is the loss. Miserably.
The regular season is much more difficult to predict than the playoffs, because it is too long and there are too many opponents to target, so there are many upsets in the regular season.
What's more, the Pacers are already strong. Coach Carlisle probably hated the Eagles to the bone. He robbed him of the best coach and swept him for two consecutive years. He lost such a good lineup as the Pistons. Da Niao has a keen eye, otherwise he wouldn't know where to cry, this time he seized the opportunity and gave the Eagles a hard time!
Liu Mang understands that coach Kruger wants to protect Raheem's face. This is also a very important thing for the team. At this time, you can't tell Raheem that you have been tricked by the other party. After all, you are also a top kid who has been famous for many years. Forward, don't lose face.
However, although he cannot lose face, Liu Mang still wants to win!
Letting Raheem go to the match with Artest just to decide the outcome does not mean that the game will be ruined!
Raheem is not too bad, he also scored 15 points in 6 of 11 in the first quarter, but there were too many passing mistakes, and there were too many balls that had no chance to pass at the last moment.
The most important thing is that the opening tactics were not arranged for Raheem, so Raheem seemed to be suppressed by Artest on the scene.
Liu Mang saw that Coach Kruger's tactics were too routine, and he probably put his mid-range and low-post tactics on Raheem to give Raheem a chance to play singles. Liu Mang felt that this was not enough!
Liu Mang thought about it, and there it is!
Liu Mang leaned forward and looked at Coach Kruger eagerly.
Coach Kruger saw Liu Mang's eyes and clenched the pen and tactical board in his hands. What is this guy going to do!
Liu Mang didn't grab the tactical board directly, but said to Rahim: "Sharif, we support you, beat that round-headed guy to the ground!"
Hearing Liu Mang's support, Rahim felt very comfortable. He was also worried that Liu Mang would be unhappy, because Liu Mang made 4 shots in the first quarter, and did not make three three-pointers in one layup. One, the other didn't touch the ball much.
"But..." Liu Mang dragged the end of his voice.
While Rahim was happy, he asked doubtfully, "But what?"
"But Sharif, you are so stupid! Don't use your strengths..." Liu Mang said, and took the tactical board from Coach Kruger...