The Basketball Court Swordsman

On December 20th, a heavy snow fell in Indianapolis. This is a bit like the Pacers’ recent situation, it is extremely cold.

Without Horford and George, the Pacers’ offense and defense seem to be lame. The lack of restraint on the offensive end and the lack of strength on the defensive end made Henson really stretched in tactical arrangements.

Fortunately, both of these guys returned smoothly before Christmas. And in yesterday’s training, the performance was pretty good. During George’s ankle injury, he practiced his long shot frantically. Horford’s finger contusion did not hinder his defensive training. In other words, although both of them have left the field for a while, the training has never been interrupted. With systematic training, it is not difficult to maintain the state.

However, the Pacers’ opponent, the New Orleans Hornets, is not so easy to deal with. Chris Paul, he is arguably one of the best point guards in the league. David West, an all-star forward with solid basic skills. The contribution of nearly 20 points per game is a huge threat to the Pacers’ defense. Emeka Okafor, second only to Howard in the 2004 draft. Although the data is not explosive enough, under the organization of Chris Paul, it can also play a huge role on the offensive end.

He met the Hornets at the time of the four-game losing streak, and Henson’s luck in December was really bad. I don’t know if reaching a five-game losing streak will also unlock an achievement, but Henson will definitely not try.

Before the game began, almost no one thought the Pacers could win, except for the local media in Indian Presspolis.

After all, it turns out that the Pacers’ lineup is still somewhat stretched when facing a real strong team. The New Orleans Hornets are definitely a powerful team.

“We must use all our energy on the defensive end today. The close man-to-man defense can make Chris Paul’s pass no longer so magical! Change the defense as soon as there is a screen, whether I screen off the ball or screen with the ball, In short, change defenses quickly and decisively! Because as long as there is any gap, Paul can pass the ball to assist his teammate to score!”

In the locker room before the game, Henson was more serious than ever. He did it deliberately, because now he must make these lads nervous. Let them know that this is an extremely important game.

Young teams are easy to lose and get tired, they get used to losing, and they no longer want to win. What Henson has to do is to constantly stimulate their desire to win.

Under the encouragement of Henson, Horford and Paul George are naturally gearing up, and the rest of the Pacers also want to quickly get rid of the haze of losing streak.

However, after talking about the tactics, Henson found Horford and George on his own and told them: “Think hard and think about what you should do after you play. I know you can’t wait to prove that you’re fine, but I I don’t want to see you not even doing your job well after playing.”

Some players need some passion, and some players need to be calm.

The lights of the Conseco Arena went out at around 7 o’clock in the evening and turned on again after the audience sang the national anthem. Henson stood blankly on the sidelines, dressed in a decent suit and spotless leather shoes, which looked completely different from the previous “cleaner scouts”.

After two months of regular season training, he has become more and more like a coach in the NBA for many years. At this time Henson looked steady and cunning.

In stark contrast is the Hornets’ new coach Monty Williams, who was born in 1971 and is not yet 40 years old. But standing on the sidelines with his hands in his pockets, the young black coach felt less stable than Henson.

But Monty doesn’t need to be steady, because he has a steady and talented point guard that can help his team control the situation at any time!

The starting lineup of the Pacers in this game is similar to that in November. Holiday continues to serve as the starting point guard, Matthews is in the second position, Dunleavy plays three, Granger and Horford, who has returned from injury, are partnered inside.

In this regard, eSPN commentary Jeff Van Gundy has some doubts.

“Ayre only announced his comeback yesterday, and he went straight into the starting lineup today. Will Coach Henson be too hasty.” Jeff Van Gundy, who used to be a coach in the NBA, used the perspective of a coach to propose to Henson’s employment. question.

Henson is a young coach, he is as eager to get out of trouble as a player. But sometimes, being too anxious is not a good thing.

“Coach Henson makes very few mistakes in the selection of personnel, which is very valuable. Trust me Jeff, never question Henson’s changes in hiring strategies.” eSPN top brand Mike Brin is confident in Henson. After all, he has personally seen Henson many operations that seemed unreasonable, but finally allowed the team to win the game.

After the start of the game, the two sides played inextricably, and Chris Paul’s strong talent made the Hornets’ offense always orderly.

As for the Pacers, Horford’s comeback has brought tremendous changes to the Pacers.

First of all, he frees his teammates from fighting big players. Horford made two consecutive open three-pointers after the opening, so Okafor had to leave the basket. Second, the Pacers’ offense has become a lot smoother. The scene of frequent mistakes in the previous games did not reappear.

But after the Hornets were pulled out, Henson was surprised to find that the Pacers’ offense was still a bit difficult. The reason is that the single defense ability of Chris Paul and Tvor Ariza restricts the Pacers’ activities.

Holiday has strong offensive ability, but Paul is one of the best defensive point guards in the league, and he can even remove “one”. Dunleavy does not have a good offensive ability with the ball.

But Ariza’s follow-up defense made it difficult for Dunleavy to play.

In this way, the two sides drew 22 in the first quarter. The score is not high, because the Pacers also suffered a lot from the Hornets on the defensive end.

West thought he could beat Granger with his height advantage, but Granger’s toughness made West’s offense not so smooth.

After the start of the second quarter, Henson replaced Dunleavy with George in the start, and the effect was obvious.

In the face of George, who has more offensive methods, Ariza’s single defense is not so tight. George is not afraid of physical confrontation, and his athletic ability and shooting ability are very good. In the second quarter, George played 10 minutes and scored 12 points for Henson in a single quarter, hitting a 64% shooting rate!

When interviewing the sidelines during the intermission, Henson proudly said: This is just the first step for George to become a superstar!

Indeed, George finally emerged in today’s game, allowing Henson to see a trace of the personality of a star. Maybe this month-long injury really made George go crazy. 49 to 53, with George’s outstanding performance, the Pacers led by 4 points to end the half.

In the third quarter, Paul assists Italian striker Bellinelli frequently in long-range shots. The point difference is approaching, and as Henson worried, George’s haste performance in the third quarter allowed him to only score 3 points, and the Hornets entered the fourth quarter decisive battle with a 1-point advantage.

In the fourth quarter, the two sides played back and forth. West and Okafor received frequent passes from Paul in the low post and scored easily. Granger and Horford took advantage of their footsteps and also dealt a heavy blow to the Hornets’ defense.

Until the last 16 seconds of the game, Granger broke through to attract the defense and then divided the ball to Holiday. The latter steadily scored a three-pointer, and Paul paid a heavy price for the only defensive failure in this game! In 13 seconds, Holiday’s three-pointer gave the Pacers an important 1-point lead.

But soon, Paul’s false pass once again assisted West to make an easy layup under the basket, 93 to 92. In three seconds, the Pacers fell behind again!

The scene is still boiling, the fans did not expect this game to be so exciting. Mike Brin and Van Gundy are cheering for Paul’s wonderful pass, and Paul’s calm assists can’t be overstated even if he uses too many words. At the same time they are also looking forward to: “Let’s see if there will be a lore in this game!”

Henson used the last timeout in his hand, and the last timeout needed a lore tactic.

Vogel was a little nervous. He handed the tactical board to Henson shivering. But Henson looked calm. At this moment, Vogel remembered what Henson said to himself yesterday.

Well prepared.