NBA: Back to 97, to be the Jagged Bishop

Chapter 220 Eastern Conference Semifinals

In the first round of the next Eastern Conference playoffs, the 76ers played against the Pacers.

As soon as the first game was over, Bird Sr. gave Comb a blow.

With the Pacers' shooting lineup, the game on the court doesn't look like playing basketball, but more like gambling.

Unfortunately for Comb, the Pacers paid off, taking a total of 30 18-pointers tonight and making [-] of them!
With a 60% three-point shooting percentage and a lot of shots, it can be said that the 76ers didn't deserve to lose at all.

In addition, Bird also ingeniously let Jermaine play the fifth position and Harrington played the fourth position.

After Xiao Ao held the ball, he just floated outside. If Yao Ming didn't go out to defend, he would shoot openly.

No one is under the basket, how can he dominate the rebounding end.

In the past, the team's thinking against Yao Ming was to guard against death, use tall centers to fight against Yao Ming, use defensive tactics around the front, or simply double-team.

The old Bird may be a descendant of Dayu, he knows how to block it, it is better to let it go, since Yao Ming can't be controlled under the basket, then simply pull him out of the basket.

However, the Pacers really have such a lineup configuration. Other teams rarely find Jermaine O'Neill's swing at the [-]th and [-]th positions, and he also has an inside line with excellent mid-range shooting ability.

Of course, Xiao Ao's role tonight is mainly involved. His statistics are not explosive, and it is Miller who really makes Comb a headache.

His offensive efficiency is extremely high tonight, scoring 18 points in 32 shots. Even if it is the Bulls Dynasty or the Raptors Dynasty, it is extremely difficult to win with such an offensive efficiency.

The top three-point star in NBA history, the first generation is Larry Bird, the second generation is Reggie Miller, the third generation is Ray Allen, and the fourth generation is Curry. Now the first generation and the second generation are hand in hand, three-pointers are too deadly.

Yao Ming played very hard tonight.

After he gained weight, his speed was slower than before. If he hadn't gained weight, he would have been able to keep up with Xiao Ao's footsteps, but now he couldn't keep up at all.

"Coach, why don't I lose some weight?"

"It's so inflexible now."

After the game, Yao Ming complained to Kongbu in distress.

Kong Bu shook his head, "Dayao, you have to be clear that your opponent is actually only one and a half. Ao Pang counts as one and Duncan counts as half. He is not a center after all."

"There's no need to change the style of play for a team like the Pacers."

"With a super big center, positional warfare is always king. Without a solid tonnage, how can we fight positional warfare?"

Yao Ming nodded, then shook his head after a while, "Coach, what if the Knicks play like this?"

"They have a big Zhi, if they let him play the fifth position, then find a fourth position who is good at shooting."

Kumbu also scratched his head when he asked this question, "It shouldn't happen. Old Thomas bought Dikembe Mutombo by selling all the iron, and he wouldn't let him sit on the bench to watch the game."

"It didn't push them to a desperate situation, so they wouldn't play such crooked ways."

"At least not this season."

Kong Bu's words were comforting Yao Ming, but they were actually more like comforting himself.

But he thought about it again, the Pacers can play like this because they have top-level three-pointers, and the Knicks don't have such a strong three-pointer.

In an instant he calmed down.

In fact, the style of play used by the Pacers tonight is no different from the later small ball era.

As the top seed to win the championship, the 76ers were defeated by their opponents in the first game, which directly caused an uproar in the league.

Rodman, who had been placed outside by Combu, called Combu immediately and wanted to join the team.

When he first came to the 76ers, what he thought was that he would not play in the regular season and wait for the playoffs to have a magic weapon.

After the start of the new season, Kumbu only let him play one game in the regular season, and then never contacted him again.

Now that the playoffs are starting and the 76ers lost their first game, Rodman feels that his chance to save the world has come.

It's a pity that Comb didn't have the mind to let Rodman play. After being extracted from the rebounding attribute, he is now almost an ordinary basketball lover for more than 40 years.

With such strength, it is impossible for the 76ers to have any substantial improvement.

The Lakers in the west side beat their opponents in the first game. Zen master was shocked when he heard that the 76ers lost.

"What? I can only say that it's a pity. This may be the first round loss in the playoffs for the first time in Comb's career, right?"

His shock was not faked. The 76ers' loss was indeed beyond his expectations.

He couldn't help fantasizing in his heart, if the 76ers were eliminated by the Pacers, it would be perfect.

It's a pity that he also knows that the probability of this kind of thing happening is lower than that of a comet hitting the earth.

"As I said, the 76ers are not good at all. What is a good record in the regular season? The playoffs are the time to reflect the true strength of a team."

"Originally in my mind, the 76ers were the team second only to our Lakers. Now it seems that I have to downgrade their rating."

"I'm more confident about winning this year."

It is certainly impossible for Oban to let go of this opportunity to ridicule the 76ers.

Kumbu is not in the mood to care about the outside world's comments now. He is now meeting with his coaching staff to find a way to beat the Pacers.

"Boss, why don't we take Ratliff off and put Ginobili on to improve the team's overall offense."

Little Adelman suggested.

"No, if this adjustment is made, Kirilenko will play the fourth position, and Reid or Ginobili can't guard Jalen Rose at all."

"Don't underestimate that guy. He is also the Pacers' scoring leader this season, a first-class small forward averaging 22 points per game."

Brian Hill shook his head.

Kumbu nodded. Old Hill was right. Jaylen Rose must not relax on this point. Kirilenke defended very well in tonight's game, and Jaylen Rose didn't get many shots.

This is the distress of the team's lack of defensive gates. Kumbu vowed in his heart that in the future, he can form a lineup without any players, except for the lack of defensive gates.

The closer to the playoffs, the more the value of defensive players will be highlighted.

Now if Combe had Elvis Gerrard in his hands in advance, he would not be so distressed. He could let Elvis Gerrard defend the old Miller alone.

Not to mention the old Miller, even Miller in his peak period, under the defense of Elvis Presley Gerrard, would not be able to play that kind of offensive efficiency.

"Kong, why don't we just take advantage of their shortcomings and fight."

"Their shortcoming is of course the No. [-] Travis Best, allowing Allen to single him without the ball."

Assistant coach John Lucas said.

Kong Bu nodded appreciatively, this is a good idea.

It's not yet time to play against the Knicks or the Raptors. The Pacers don't have a strong No. [-] like Payton or Davis with a beard.

The current master of the Pacers is Best, who is 180 centimeters tall.

This player can be regarded as an unknown player in the entire NBA history. He was a first-round pick in 95 and has been playing for the Pacers. He has almost no advantages.

It is indeed a good way to break the game by letting Iverson play Best in infinite singles.

After the day's training started, Kongbu called the generals to his side.

"Allen, we lost the first game of the playoffs. This is not good news. Now the outside world is waiting to see our jokes."

"If we are really hacked, then you and I may become the biggest joke in the entire history of the NBA."

"Yao is just a rookie. Charles and the others are veterans. No one will laugh at them. The two of us are different. We will definitely be nailed to the pillar of shame in history."

Kumbu came up to scare Iverson.

Hearing that he was about to be nailed to the pillar of historical shame, Iverson's face changed drastically.

"Boss, we must win, we must not fall here."

"Very well, with this kind of competitive spirit, the Pacers would not be able to win us."

"In the next game, I need you to single-play the opponent's point guard Best. With your offensive ability and unlimited shooting power, I believe you can definitely lead us to win."

Combe said with a smile.

Iverson stood up, patted his chest and said, "Leave it to me!"

"In this game, I will make them look good!"

After the night's game started, Iverson was like a chicken blood from the beginning, catching Best and rushing around.

In terms of abuse, Iverson definitely has a hand.

Against Iverson, don't let him notice you, if you let him notice your vulnerability, then he will keep choking you.

At halftime, Iverson had already scored 32 points on Best's head!
Not only is he scoring super high, but his shooting percentage may also be the best in the playoffs since Iverson entered the league.

Of course, Iverson has entered the playoffs relatively few times.

In addition, Best also got four fouls, not because he didn't want to defend Iverson, but because he was really powerless.

Under Iverson's strong offensive and Yao Ming's stable output on the offensive end, the 76ers had a 59:50 nine-point advantage in the first half.

The Pacers' shooting efficiency is actually very good tonight, but unfortunately the 76ers have found their shortcomings.

After the start of the second half, Bird adjusted the lineup, put Best on the bench and replaced Teus Edney.

It's not that Edney is worse than Best. In fact, Edney is far inferior to Best in all aspects. He is only 178 centimeters tall and weighs 66 kilograms, which is no different from the physical hardware of ordinary people.

If you want to defend against Iverson, this kind of physical fitness is obviously impossible.

Bird had no choice but to commit four fouls, so keeping him on the court would be useless on the defensive end.

The Pacers have signed too much this year, and the overall lineup has indeed improved a lot, but it has also caused the salary space to be locked up. There are no decent players at the first position to use.

Iverson became more and more courageous as he fought. When the game ended, he scored 63 points and scored [-] points. It can almost be said that he blew the Pacers by himself.

After finding the knock on the door to win, the next step will be easy.

The next two games are the Pacers' away games. Iverson has been the No. [-] position of various singles opponents, scoring explosively every game.

Scored 47 points in Game 52 and [-] in Game [-].

The Philadelphia 76ers successfully eliminated the Pacers with a big score of 3:1 and got tickets to the Eastern Conference semifinals.

"We actually don't know what happened, so we lost inexplicably."

"When the opponent has a player like Iverson in the lineup, you'd better have a defensive No. [-]."

"This can be regarded as a lesson from the blood of our Pacers."

Larry Bird sighed helplessly after the game.

He was really helpless. After the first game, he saw the hope of winning the 76ers.

As a result, this hope came and went quickly, and the next three games directly wiped out his hope.

Kumbu was overjoyed. This may be the role of top stars. When the team encounters difficulties and setbacks, it is the top stars who can stand up.

If it were an ordinary star, it would be impossible to score such terrifying points in three consecutive games.

After the Philadelphia 76ers successfully advanced, the Knicks and Raptors also advanced. The two teams advanced much easier than the 76ers, and they all swept their opponents with a big score of 3:0.

The matchup between No.4 and No.5 in the East is the Bucks vs. Heat.

In the end, the Bucks prevailed, eliminated the Heat with a score of 3:2, and won the precious Eastern Conference semifinals tickets.

It is precious, but it is not so precious, because they are going to face the 76 team next.

The Pacers can cause some trouble for the 76ers because they have two shooting stars in the frontcourt, O'Neal and Harrington.

The Bucks don't have this kind of lineup configuration, and the main force of their lineup is all concentrated in the backcourt.

The backcourt trident of Big Dog, Gentleman Sword and Alien, only the blue-collar center Elvin Johnson with the same name as the Magician and power forward Mark Pope in the frontcourt.

This Pope was so outrageous that Combe wondered if he might be the illegitimate son of George Karl.

A power forward with a height of 208 cm, he started in the Bucks, averaged 2.3 rebounds per game, shot 43%, averaged 0.3 steals and 0.4 blocks per game.

If you look at it this way, the United Arab League, which was selected by the Bucks later, is not too bad. Compared with this Pope, it is not a few hundred blocks better.

The backcourt trident is indeed strong, but none of these three have a good defense. The best one may be Ray Allen. When Ray Allen is the backbone of a team's backcourt defense, it can be clearly seen It shows how weak this team's backcourt defense is.

In this round of duel, Comb put Barkley in the starting lineup specifically to face Mark Pope.

After the first game, Barkley directly contributed a top inside data of 31 points and 10 rebounds.

The main reason why the data is so overwhelming is that Barkley has a thick skin.

Facing the defense of blue-collar center Johnson, Yao Ming can of course score, but it takes a little effort, and it is much easier for Barkley to score.

He directly clamored for Iverson and Yao Ming to pass the ball to him, and finally relied on the high shot to hit a perfect stat.

After the game, it is certainly impossible for Barkley to miss such a good opportunity to fill the cup.

"Yao and Alan are so good, I don't need to take action at all."

"As long as I think about it, I still have the ability to average 30 points and 10 rebounds per game. Kombub knows this better than anyone else. That's why he kindly invited me to join Xu Xu during the offseason!"

Comb was sitting next to Barkley, almost vomiting blood for the old guy.

(End of this chapter)