Legendary star

Chapter 714

On April 2007, 4, three days after the end of the second game of the series between the Pacers and the Wizards, the Pacers came to Washington, preparing for the two away games against the Wizards, although the Wizards were in front The two games in the series have been lost, but the Wizards have not lost confidence and fighting spirit because they are 24 to 0 behind. fighting spirit.

After all, for the Wizards, they cannot be swept by the Pacers no matter what. Their original plan was to win the next home game and save the last bit of face. However, Arenas' outstanding performance in the last game, Not only let them see the hope of not being swept, but also let them see the hope of reversing the comeback. In the last game, if they can protect the rebounds of the backcourt better, then they are very likely in that game Especially in the last moments of the game, the Wizards had overtaken the score, but Darko Milicic and Jermaine O'Neal's tip-ups after consecutive offensive rebounds completely extinguished the Wizards' hope of a comeback , The regret of that game also made their minds come alive again.

In order to strengthen the control of the rebound, Wizards coach Eddie Jordan also adjusted the team's main lineup in the third game of the series. Arenas served as point guard, Caron Butler and Antoine Wan Jamieson served as shooting guard and small forward respectively. As for the two insiders, Eddie Jordan sent Brandon Heywood and Edon Thomas, who played off the bench most of the time. In this lineup, Except for Arenas, the other four players are all over two meters tall, and even the shortest Arenas is over 1 meters tall.

Brandon Heywood and Ethan Thomas are the kind of players who are not well-known but have good strength, especially in terms of offensive rebounds. These two guys are monsters. In the regular season, Brandon Haywood and Ethan Thomas played about 20 minutes, but they were able to grab 20 rebounds per game in these 6 minutes, including offensive rebounds. It even reached 2.5, that is to say, more than 40% of the rebounds they grabbed were offensive rebounds.

"Today's game, I won't say much, Brandon, Etang, I have only one request for you, and that is rebounds, rebounds, grabbing every rebound is your task today, everything else , you all can leave it alone, understand?"

"clear."

"clear."

At 4 o'clock in the evening on April 24th, only one hour before the start of the G7 series, in the home team locker room of the MCI Center Arena, Wizards head coach Eddie Jordan was making the final arrangements before going on the field.

"Gilbert, Caron, you are in positions 1 and 2 today. I hope you can release your offensive ability as much as possible today, and you must continue to bring pressure to the Pacers on the offensive end."

"Antoine, you have only one task today, and that is this guy." After assigning tasks to Brandon Haywood, Ethan Thomas, Arenas and Caron Butler one by one, Eddie Jordan came to Antawn Jamison's side, pointed to the number 5 circled on the tactical board, and while lighting the tactical board heavily, said to Antawn Jamison: "What are you doing today? Need to reduce the scoring efficiency of this guy as much as possible, I don’t need you to completely limit him, what I need is to reduce his impact on the offensive end, understand?”

"Understood." Feeling a heavy sense of mission, Antawn Jamison nodded heavily towards head coach Eddie Jordan.

"We must win." After arranging all the tactics, Eddie Jordan didn't know where the courage came from. He suddenly waved his arms and shouted a must-win slogan to all the players in the locker room.

After shouting in unison one after another, the Wizards began to walk out of the locker room one after another. The MCI Center Arena, which can accommodate 20670 people, was already full of seats before the game started. It can be seen that although the Wizards have already scored 0-2 [-] behind, but these fans of the Wizards did not give up hope.

Although the Wizards have been hovering on the edge of the playoffs since entering the 80s, as a team with a history of 45 years, there are still a lot of diehard fans of the Wizards. My father's generation was a Wizards fan, so they are not like those fans in New York, whoever plays well can be a fan, I don't care who you are, as long as you come to the MCI center, you will be greeted with boos all over the sky.

Therefore, when the Pacers players walked out of the player tunnel first, they felt what it was like to be booed by more than 2 people. I have to say that this kind of deafening booing can indeed give people Bringing a very depressing atmosphere, some players with poor psychological quality are easily disturbed.

It's just that the Pacers team is mostly old ruffians, and they have already adapted to the atmosphere and rhythm of the away game, especially Meng Xu, who was very shameless and opened his arms amidst the boos of the audience. He seemed to enjoy it very much, as if the fans at the scene gave him cheers instead of boos.

"Ervin, the Wizards have changed their game today. Do you think Eddie Jordan's move can help the Wizards reverse the unfavorable situation?" After the players on both sides began to warm up, Michaels on the commentary also began to talk to the TV. The audience in front of them introduced the starting lineups of both sides, and after introducing the starting lineup of the Wizards, Michaels asked Elvin Johnson, who was sitting next to him, a question.

"Judging from the last game, the Wizards have no problem on offense. Gilbert Arenas, Antawn Jamison, Caron Butler, these three players are All-Star level No matter how good the Pacers' defense is, it is impossible to lock them all up, and the key to the Wizards' loss is the rebound, so Eddie Jordan's move to strengthen his rebounding ability is very wise. Effective role, it depends on how the Pacers will respond."

After Magic Johnson and Michaels finished chatting about the Wizards' transformation, the game on the court officially began. Jermaine O'Neal easily defeated Brandon Haywood in the jump ball, and the The player wins the ball.

On the first offense, Meng Xu did not attack by himself, but after receiving a pass from Tony Allen, he handed the basketball directly to Jermaine O'Neal, and asked him to play singles, 7 or 8 shorter than himself The centimeter Ethan Thomas, this kind of matchup is similar to the misplaced singles, almost directly sending points. In the end, Jermaine O'Neal lived up to expectations and hit a jumper under the defense of Ethan Thomas.

When it was the turn of the Wizards to attack, Arenas was still as determined on the offensive end as in the last game. After several passes and failed to find a suitable opportunity, Arenas simply stayed above the top of the arc and was still within [-]-point line. Two steps away, a super long-distance three-pointer was shot, but Arenas's seemingly X**T shot was hollow.

　Thank you for the gift of being born stubborn and flying against the wind, thank you.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)