God's hand behind the scenes

Chapter 197 Christmas War ([-])

Faced with the 76ers' sudden full-court pressing, the Pacers did not panic. After all, they are also a powerful team that has reached the Eastern Conference finals for three consecutive seasons. They have experienced countless times of full-court pressing.Even O'Neal, who only joined this summer, can do what he should do under the guidance of his teammates, which is enough.

After three or four off-screen screens and handoffs, the Pacers had the ball over the halfway line.Seeing that the full-court press didn't work, the 76ers quickly returned to their positions, leaving Snow alone at the top of the arc to face Miller one-on-one.To be honest, Miller was a little apprehensive about Snow's defense. The opponent was young, energetic, and had a tough defensive attitude. It was definitely not something an old guy like himself could force. So he habitually called O'Neal Come up on the pick and roll.

Jermaine O'Neal's personality is also a bit rebellious, but he is responsive to Miller's request. He is fighting against the team boss in the team. Do you still want to continue to mess around?He pulled near the three-point line and stuck Snow behind him. Miller rushed directly from the other side and rushed directly to the basket. O'Neal also turned around and also ran towards the basket.This kind of route is also a common route for pick-and-rolls in this era. After the inside players finish the screen, they go down to attack the basket. After all, not everyone can pull up to the mid-range and long-range shots. Moreover, even if the guard does not pass the ball, he still has a chance to grab the rebound and complete the second shot. attack.

Although Miller passed by with the pick-and-roll, Snow was still chasing after him, but he didn't dare to make it lightly, otherwise he might be called a personal foul by the referee.And Mutombo and Lewis are already waiting at the basket, especially Mutombo, as the 76ers' basket barrier, he is the last hurdle, and he must defend well no matter what.

Watching Mutombo with his hands high above the rim, Miller quickly mentally calculated his chances of making a successful layup, but he soon realized that the chances of doing so were too low.He has seen Mutombo's defense before. This big man from Africa has an extraordinary understanding of blocking shots. With his current competitive state, it is estimated that he will be blocked directly.

But Miller is also a battle-tested veteran. Seeing that he scored a layup, he could do nothing. After he hit Lewis with a false shot and a real pass, he casually returned the ball to O'Neal who followed up.O'Neal grabbed the ball, jumped up one step inside the free throw line, and slammed the ball into the basket with such force that the basket trembled.

When he saw O'Neal flying up, Mutombo already got out of the way. In the previous contest, he found that this junior is powerful. Although he is not as terrifying as another O'Neal in the league, he is also considered an outstanding player among the interior players. By.This time coupled with his amazing jumping, Mutombo thinks he can't stop him.

The point difference returned to single digits, and Brown's face sank. He didn't expect that even if he deliberately targeted Miller, he could play such an outstanding performance.Scored 2 points and 9 assist in less than 1 minutes, leading the team to chase points crazily. This is Miller's true strength. Otherwise, he would not be able to complete the feat of scoring 8.9 points in 8 seconds.

The easiest way to face such a top scorer is to let him score alone and cut off the connection between him and his teammates.But from O'Neal's alley-oop just now, it can be seen that it is an extremely difficult task to cut off Miller's passing route. It's a piece of cake.

So now the only way is to score crazy points, basketball is still a numbers game after all, as long as you can get more points than your opponent, you can win the game.As far as offense is concerned, the 76ers have not been afraid of any team. Although Brown's style of focusing on defense has become famous, the 76ers this season are absolutely worthwhile on the offensive end.

I have to say that O'Neal's deterrence at the basket is still sufficient, which also forced the 76ers to shift their offensive focus to the outside.Lewis, the only pure shooter in the starting lineup, trembled. He kept running between inside and outside lanes to find opportunities, and his teammates also cooperated to pass the ball into his hands. This allowed Lewis to confront Miller unscrupulously. .

Thanks to Lewis's three-point shooting from the outside, the 76ers will stabilize the situation, and the point difference between the two sides has always fluctuated between 8 and 10 points.This made Miller very anxious. No matter how tough he is, his age is already there, and long-term high-intensity games will greatly consume his physical strength.Although his playing time has not decreased but increased this season, it is a last resort, and his shooting percentage will generally drop in the fourth quarter, which is undoubtedly a physical problem.

Now that he has not been able to catch up with the point difference in one go, he will not be able to help when the decisive battle is over, and maybe he will drag the team back.Thinking of this, Miller became irritable, and all kinds of unreasonable strong shots emerged one after another, but in this way, his shooting percentage inevitably dropped, and he was dazzled by the situation.

Seeing that Miller missed consecutive shots, Thomas quickly replaced him to take a rest. At this time, the point difference between the two sides widened to 12 points again.After sitting on the bench for a while, Miller regained consciousness. He laughed at himself and said to himself: "I never thought I would have such an impulsive time..."

Miller didn't think that what he did was wrong, at most it could be regarded as an incorrect attitude. Of course Thomas knew what he was thinking, so he just let him down to rest, and didn't say anything to him.Although aware of his mistakes, Miller is still a little anxious to get angry. Of course, any player will see his team trailing by more than ten points, and he will have such an expression.

Now the back line on the Pacers field has become Best's partner Edney. Because the latter is not tall enough, Best has to take the second position.Edney is the only guard on the Pacers' bench this season, which is why Miller's average playing time remains high.Chang Wei also didn't understand very much, but he was not from the Pacers, and he didn't need to give advice to his opponents, but this didn't prevent him from secretly slandering for a while: "No wonder the Pacers are not as good as they were in previous years. Just relying on their extremely unbalanced bench, no matter how good the starting lineup is, it will be for nothing!"

(End of this chapter)