basketball player

Chapter 362 360: Just One Step Away

The classic battle between the Thunder and the Pacers was still talked about until the day after the game.

No one could have imagined that the Oklahoma City Thunder would be so tenacious, and no one could have imagined that the well-packed Pacers would be so powerful.Of course, it is even more impossible for anyone to think that the game ended like this.

Kevin Durant made an offensive foul and the buzzer was ruled invalid. The Indiana Pacers won the game without any risk!
Even the most complex and unexpected script would not have been able to pull off such an up-and-down game.

Of course, the Oklahoma media did not recognize such a result. Among them, the "Oklahoma Evening Post" even claimed: This is an ugly game controlled by the league and sacrificed for the myth of 72 wins!

In this regard, Henson also gave his own response, "As far as I know, before the start of the game, the reporter of this newspaper also regarded the Oklahoma City Thunder as the only hope for the entire league to prevent the Pacers from winning 72 wins. How come they are on the opposite side of the league today? My players have been violated. This is a real fact. And I am sure that the league cannot be happy to see the Pacers win 72 wins."

Adam Silver secretly helped the Pacers win 72?Unless that guy's head is showing off.There are indeed many teams that the league favors, but Henson dares to use his relationship with Silver to guarantee that the Pacers will not be one of them.

The reporter of the "Oklahoma Evening Post" was overwhelmed by Henson, and the matter was left alone.After experiencing a huge controversy, fans now only want to wait for one thing-when will the Pacers win their 72nd game!
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"Leonard's inspection report came out. He has a slight concussion. He needs to rest for a few days and then undergo the league's strict concussion test. After the test passes, the kid can reappear."

On April 4, just before the back-to-back road games against the Washington Wizards after the Pacers beat the Thunder, Henson got a call from Silas.

Because of this, Henson did not bring Leonard to Washington for this game.Although the kid kept yelling, "I promise, there is nothing wrong with my head."

But there was nothing Henson could do about it.

The NBA has strict protection procedures for concussion players. Once a player is diagnosed with a concussion, the team will not have the right to decide when he will come back.Players will only be allowed to return to the game after passing the league's concussion testing procedures.The league's concussion detection procedures are notoriously strict.

The tests included regular cycling exercises, jogging, agility tests, non-confrontation team practice, all followed by tests to ensure that concussion symptoms did not recur.

After completing this series of tests, the NBA will also seek their neurological medical experts in charge of concussions. After the experts allow, the players can return to the game.

According to a team doctor, it is not easy for even a normally healthy player to complete these tests, let alone a player who has just recovered from a concussion.This strict and somewhat harsh test has even attracted dissatisfaction from some coaches and players.For example, on February 2 this year, Mavericks center Chris Kaman publicly stated that this cumbersome test is "the stupidest test in history."

So now, Leonard's absence from the injured list is also very exaggerated.

It read, "Absent indefinitely."

"Understood, report to me at any time." Henson just replied such a text message to Silas lightly. The league can test Leonard for as long as they want, as long as they don't delay the playoffs, they can test as long as they want.

Of course, this is not because Henson is indifferent to Leonard.But after defeating the Oklahoma City Thunder, Henson's 72-win plan officially entered the rotation stage!
The rest rotation is different from the previous average rotation. Although everyone in the average rotation does not have much playing time, they still have to play in the end.The rest is different, which means that Henson will pick some players to rest for the entire 48 minutes every game, even if the team's ass is kicked, they will not be replaced.

Therefore, Leonard's injury just allowed him to take a few games off, which did not affect Henson's plan at all.

Facing a record of 72 wins, a rest player who can still calm down. The craziest part of Henson's plan has officially begun!

"If the Washington Wizards play normally, it is impossible to beat the Pacers. They have only won 28 games this season, which is a full 38 games less than the Pacers! But as we all know, the Pacers are seeking to tie or even break the Bulls' record of 72 wins! So I think the defending champion will still play with the full lineup in this game!"

Before the start of the game, old man Bill Walton patted his chest and promised that the defending champion would come out with a full lineup to ruthlessly abuse the food. As a result, when the Pacers' starting lineup came out, the old man was almost outraged with high blood pressure.

Livingston, Stephenson, Green, West and Horford, the Pacers didn't play both Paul, and Bill Walton didn't discuss the issue of the Pacers starting. The other party is a celebrity anyway, shameless
At first, everyone thought that Henson started Livingston and Stephenson in order to reduce the playing time of the two Pauls.As a result, as the game progressed, it was discovered that Henson didn't seem to have any intention of letting Paul and George play at all!

Without Paul's restriction, Wizards champion John Wall made 25 crazy shots, hit 16 goals and scored a game-high 37 points!
However, the Wizards lost the game 109-103.The huge gap in strength between the two teams cannot be filled by Wall alone.Henson successfully won his 1th win of the season when Paul and George didn't play for 68 minute, and when Leonard didn't even go away with the team!
"Coach Henson actually took a rest? The most important thing is that he still won. People have been discussing whether the Pacers want 72 wins or the playoffs. But I think now, we have the answer. Obviously, Coach Henson doesn't like to choose, he wants to!"

True, Henson doesn't like choices.He will take all the honors in one go!
In this way, on April 4, the Pacers beat the Cavaliers 9 to 99 at home.Danny Green and David West had a truce in this game, but even so, there was no way for the Cavaliers to win.In other words, the Cavaliers simply don't want to win.They are getting closer and closer to the No. 94 pick. After losing James, the Cavaliers don't want to waste this opportunity to compete for the No. 13 pick.Even the [-] draft is recognized as a young draft year.

So although the Cavaliers lost, in fact this game can be called a "win-win" competition.The Cavaliers got their wish and lost one more game, while the Pacers won 69!There are only 72 games left from the record of 3 wins!
In the next game, although the Pacers, who rested Horford and Paul, lost to the impressive Nets, they still had a chance with 69 wins and 9 losses.And the loss to the Nets was a planned loss for Henson.He won't try his best to fight the Nets, if he loses, he loses.Even if you lose, the plan is still going smoothly!
After the battle with the Nets, the Pacers played against the Timberwolves and the Suns, two Western underdogs.Like the strategy for half a month, the Pacers still haven't sent a full lineup.But the Timberwolves and the Suns, even if they don't use all their strength, the Pacers can easily defeat them.

Everyone in the world is impressed by the depth of the Pacers' bench. Livingston, who was criticized at the beginning, is now hyped.After all, under Henson's rotation strategy, most players got a chance to perform, and Livingston was no exception.In the game against the Timberwolves, Livingston started the game and scored 19 points, 6 assists and 4 rebounds.

For a "waste" that many people call, such data is already very dazzling.Every player on the Pacers can stand up and play, and everyone is a soldier. This is how the defending champion has given others the feeling in the past half month.

So far, in the regular season of this season, the Pacers have only two games left to play, against the New York Knicks and the Philadelphia 76ers.And in one of these two games, the Pacers will most likely win the earth-shattering 72 regular season wins!
"While resting, I won 72 wins. I have to say, this kind of experience is really extravagant."

Michael Jordan, the basketball god who created the myth of 72 wins, used the word "extreme luxury" to describe the Pacers in an interview with reporters.

God knows how the entire basketball world will be shaken at the moment when the miracle really happens.
(End of this chapter)