Don't talk trash to him.

Chapter 63 Everyone is back
In the first round, Suwan and O'Neal set a pick-and-roll on the right high post. Jermaine immediately set the screen, which caused some interference to the Pistons' switching defense. The "Roaring God" who followed was not sure whether he should switch defense with Prince.

If he didn't switch defense, it would be too late for Prince to get around him and stand in front of Su Wan again.

But as soon as Suwan got around the screen and hadn't walked in, O'Neal Jr. immediately retreated to the basket.

You can't say he was wrong in this move. After all, he wasn't just providing a "perfunctory cover" and retreating before gaining a firm foothold. He actually formed a solid obstacle.

However, Rasheed Wallace made up his mind immediately and no longer hesitated about whether to switch defense with Prince. When he saw Suwan pass the ball to O'Neal, he immediately ran back to the basket. Together with Ben Wallace who was waiting under the basket, they gave O'Neal a "double ghost knock on the door".

The huge impact force caused O'Neal Jr. to roll on the ground, his eyes dazed.

What is...what's wrong?

His playing style has long been written in detail in the tactical notes of the Pistons assistant coaching staff:
In the early days, O'Neal played as a space-type power forward, and learned some high-post passing techniques from his then partner, "Big White Bear" Brad Miller. If he stood in a high position after receiving the ball, there could be two results when handling the ball:

Hit it yourself or pass the ball.

But if you go back to the basket, there is only one result:
Take action yourself to complete the end!

This is also what Rick Carlisle asked of him on offense after he arrived:
Don't worry about anything else, just put the damn basketball into the basket!
Later, when he joined the Mavericks, Rick Carlisle asked Nowitzki to do the same thing.

So Rasheed Wallace decisively returned to defend the basket.

The Pistons took advantage of O'Neal Jr.'s time to get up and successfully launched another wave of offense, and the score difference came to 5 points.

Ben Wallace finally had a chance to vent his anger: "Rookie, where is your ability? Why don't you yell like a monkey?"

Su Wan didn't show much reaction on his face, and he even wanted to laugh in his heart, for reasons you don't understand. However, O'Neal, who was standing next to him, found it extremely harsh. Ben Wallace's words kicked Su Wan's "butt" and slapped his "face"!

If he had listened to Su Wan and made a high-post jump shot, would he have suffered such a wave of attacks in the interior?

After another pick-and-roll, he waited for Suwan to get around him, and then he simply moved to the free throw line. This time, Wallace and Prince did not communicate clearly, and both of them blocked Suwan who was holding the ball. O'Neal was left open.

Reggie Miller received the pass from Suwan and passed it to him.

A steady hit from mid-range!
The Pacers started scoring again.

Larry Brown's defensive philosophy of "guarding the basket" made him ignore O'Neal's jump shot.

In his opinion, this is a typical case of "a cornered dog will jump over the wall"!
But then the Pacers successfully relied on their desperate offensive style to make up for the deficit and even overtook the opponent at the end of the first quarter.

23 is better than 21!

The Pacers entered the second quarter with a 2-point lead.

Since O'Neal listened to Suwan's advice to shoot high jump shots, he made consecutive shots, and with the previous points, he scored 9 points in the first quarter. After the last shot was scored, he danced and was really excited.

With such a performance in the first quarter after his comeback, the Indiana players did not have as high expectations as Wade, so they cheered even louder for O'Neal Jr.

Walsh took a deep breath. He felt that the familiar Pacers home atmosphere was back by 80%, but he also felt that something was missing...

Rick Carlisle also found that Larry Brown didn't seem to care about the mid- and long-distance defense, and didn't care about the team's loss of points in those areas. In the second quarter, he tried to give Reggie Miller space to shoot.

The "Big Brother" was in great shape tonight. He basically did not miss any good shooting opportunities. He made 10 of 6 shots in a single quarter and scored 12 points. Even he himself felt that he was "back to his peak" tonight.

However, the Pistons' outside shooting is also very good.

Especially Prince, whose average shooting percentage of 48.7% this season is already amazing. In the second quarter, he made 4 of 4 shots, including 1 three-pointer.

So even though the Pacers took advantage of the Pistons' defensive loopholes to play their own offensive rhythm, the Pacers only pulled the point difference to 4 points when the halftime came. Of course, this was unexpected enough.

Because the Pacers gave up Artest and Stephen Jackson.

Kenny Smith said: "So far, the Pacers are definitely the better team!"

The Pacers are leading, and there is a reason why he is still in the mood to cheer for them:

Su Wan only scored 5 points in the first half!
He performed well with the ball in the second quarter, attracting double-teams almost every time. From a tactical perspective, his role was achieved. But from the perspective of his personal data, it was definitely a "downturn" night.

With that scoring rate in the first half, how could he score 20 points in the second half?

Impossible, absolutely impossible!
Kenny Smith was already thinking about the phone number of the donkey merchant from last time. This time he wanted to pick one for Barkley that smelled more like a donkey so that he wouldn't dare to have similar thoughts again.

In the second half, the stalemate continued, and the Pacers maintained a slight lead. The scene gradually rang out a unified shout in every defensive round of the Pacers:

"Defense!"

"Defense!"

"Defense!"

It was also at this moment that Walsh finally understood what he felt was missing!

This is it!

Conseco's home court has completely returned to its former self.

At this point in the game, the Indiana people were satisfied with the performance of the Pacers, which was missing Artest and Stephen Jackson, against their "arch-enemy" and the current results.

At least that's what the Pacers fans at the scene thought.

Otherwise, there wouldn’t be such a unified shout.

Rick Carlisle didn't have too much hesitation. Since the Pistons' outside shooting was so good today, he expanded the entire defense line outwards. He used gestures to remind the Pacers players on the court that they successfully defended the Pistons' shot in this round.

What was even more morale-boosting was that Foster managed to protect the backcourt rebound despite being double-teamed by Ben Wallace and Rasheed Wallace.

When he roared, the entire venue was shaking faintly.

There is only one outcome for staying here tonight:
Win!

Win!

Still a damn win!
Su Wan added the icing on the cake by taking advantage of the rare gap in this round when the opponent did not double-team him and completed a free throw line jump shot. This is a trick. Su Wan's mid-range shooting is not good, but his free throw ability is not bad, up to 75 points. Even if free throws and mid-range shots in the game are completely different, it is the same as some holes that can be successfully shot with the lights on or off. Familiarity can also improve accuracy.

"Shh!"

Everyone knows that Su Wan’s mid-range is his weakness.

So even he hit the mid-range shot, which easily gave the opponent the feeling that the game was at a critical juncture of "should I cross the river to the east?" Even though the score difference was only 7 points at the moment, Larry Brown still called a timeout.

The auditorium completely exploded.

The live DJ played a passionate disco song which was very appropriate for the occasion.

(End of this chapter)