Legendary star

Chapter 763 Determination and Melancholy

"No matter how strong you are, we are sure to win today's game, and we will definitely win this round of the series!"

At around 5:20 p.m. on May 7th, Paul Pierce, who walked out of the player tunnel amid the cheers of the audience, looked at Meng Xu, who was already preparing for the match on the field not far away, clenched his fists, I said something very firmly in my heart.

Although Jermaine O'Neal has come back now, due to injuries, his deterrence at both ends of the offense and defense has been greatly reduced. After entering the playoffs, Jermaine O'Neal's scoring average has been only There are less than 14 points, so the key to this round of the series against the Pacers is the defense of Meng Xu. As long as Meng Xu is pinched and his scoring efficiency is reduced, the probability of the Celtics defeating the Pacers will be greatly increased.

Because of Kevin Garnett on the inside, the Celtics are not afraid of those outside players who mainly focus on breakthroughs, but they have a headache when they encounter an outside player like Meng Xu who can break through and shoot. Players defending Meng Xu must not only be strong enough not to be pushed away, but also have good movement speed so that they cannot be passed by Meng Xu. This is why Paul Pierce took the initiative to apply to defend Meng Xu. In the current situation of the Walters, the best candidate to defend Meng Xu is Paul Pierce.

In the series against the Cavaliers, although he was a bit embarrassed when facing LeBron James, Pierce has also accumulated a wealth of defensive experience after the 7-game series, and James and Meng Xu are players of the same type, so for Pierce still has a little bit of confidence in defending Meng Xu, as long as he takes out the end of defending James and treats Meng Xu as James' defense.

"The Celtics and the Pacers are the two teams with the best regular season records this season. They both showed the potential to win the championship in the playoffs, so this season's Eastern Conference Finals will definitely be the last few teams. One of the best matchups of the season."

After all the players from both sides walked out of the player channel, Kenny Smith on the sidelines began to praise the two teams. As the only NBA playoff game today, it is also one of the most important games of the season. , TNT took out almost all of its broadcast resources to broadcast the game between the Pacers and Celtics live. TNT is very much looking forward to the series between the Pacers and Celtics, which can set a new ratings record .

"In the interviews with reporters before the game, both Meng and Paul seemed to look down on each other. Paul said that he would delay Meng Xu's retirement, while Meng said that his decision would never change, and the Celtics I don’t have the ability to change myself, Charles, what do you think about this?” Paul Pierce’s call to Meng Xu before the game attracted countless attention and caused a lot of controversy. People like Ni-Smith who eat melons don't have the slightest awareness to calm down. After all, only the ratings are due to controversy.

"This time I am on Meng's side. Paul is obviously overconfident. Meng Yuan is stronger than he imagined, and he is not as strong as he imagined. The last round of the series proved that this time he has to match But Meng is stronger than LeBron, so I don’t think Paul can fulfill what he said.” Although Barkley also joined the Rockets in the twilight of his career, to hang out with the two old guys, Big Dream and Glider, but for those superstars Barkley has never had a good look at the teams that gather. From the F4 Lakers to the current Big Three Celtics, Barkley doesn't like them very much. Maybe this is what I did, sir. Can’t do it, but in all fairness, Barkley was already on the verge of retiring when he went to the Rockets. In addition, Barkley did not win the championship even if he went to the Rockets. Perhaps it was the reason for this failure that made Barkley Let's get a little "dark".

After Barkley expressed his support for Meng Xu, Kenny Smith and Reggie Miller were obviously stunned for a moment, probably wondering if this guy got the wrong script today, you jumped out to support the Pacers, but What should we do, is it possible that the three of us unanimously support the Pacers and Meng Xu?

"I don't think what Paul said is completely unreasonable. The Celtics have three superstars in their prime, in addition to Rajon Rondo and Kendrick Perkins. , Leon Powe, these outstanding role players, and Sam Cassell, Eddie House, PJ Brown and other seasoned veterans in the playoffs, so the Celtics have no chance at all. It’s too realistic.” After making eye contact with Reggie Miller, Kenny Smith had no choice but to stand up for the Celtics. As Reggie Miller, it is impossible to support the Celtics Yes, so this time we can only let Kenny Smith play the villain.

"Kenny, if you want to win a championship, you can't just rely on accumulating stars." If it was Barkley who said what he said just now, then Reggie Miller would definitely have a debate with him, and even come up with a The pain point of his failure to hold a group back then came to scold him, but now it is "poor" Kenny Smith who said this, so Reggie Miller decided to let him go, and just express his own point of view. OK.

"Reggie is right." As soon as Reggie Miller's voice fell, Barkley echoed, but soon Barkley thought of something, and quickly began to change the subject: "The Pacers' starting lineup today has some changes. Meng switched to position 2 today, and James Posey started at position [-] today, are the Pacers going to change their tactics today?"

"Compared to the Pacers, the Celtics' starting lineup today has not changed. It is still center Kendrick Perkins, power forward Kevin Garnett, small forward Paul Pierce, and shooting guard Ray A. Len, point guard Rajon Rondo."

"Because the Big Three occupy most of the team's salary space, the Celtics' rotation is very weak, so they basically have no room for change. Instead, the Pacers, Rick Carlisle I really like to play some new tricks."

After Barkley and Reggie Miller finished reading the starting lineup lists of both sides, the starting players of the two sides who had finished warming up began to stand in their respective positions. Darko Milicic and Kevin Garner, who represented the jump ball of the two teams Te also walked into the middle circle one after another, waiting for the referee on duty to blow the whistle to start the game.

"Jermaine, are you okay?" Meng Xu, who was standing with Jermaine O'Neal at the bottom of the middle circle, saw the weird look on Jermaine O'Neal's face, and asked Jermaine O'Neal He took two steps away from where he was, and asked him softly.

"Meng, I'm fine." After a major injury this season, Jermaine O'Neal wasn't the spring man he once was, so it fell to Darko Milicic to jump the ball on behalf of the Pacers. With Kwame Brown, Jermaine O'Neal may have thought of the scene when he was playing with Kevin Garnett together, so he was a little melancholy.

　Thanks to Emiya Weigong for the reward, thank you
　　
　
(End of this chapter)