basketball player

Chapter 370 Chapter 368: Bull Slaughter Conference

In the first game of the Eastern Conference semifinals, Paul George scored 9 points and shot only 30%.And today's second game, at the end of the first quarter, George's personal score has become 12 points, 7 of 6 shots.

Aside from some early missteps and hesitation, George's first-quarter performance was perfect.Thibodeau has nothing to do with George. That guy's scoring ability is no longer the same as in the previous two seasons.Thibodeau even believes that George has reached the level of a first-tier star!

A mere award for the fastest progress is not enough to explain that guy's excellence.

After the first quarter, the score became 30-21.The loss of Noah had a huge impact on the public team. Let the Pacers score 30 points in a single quarter. This is not the level of the Bulls' defense.

But there is no way, it is impossible for Thibodeau to let the old Nazr Mohammed play at the level of Joakim Noah.Under normal circumstances, when a player is troubled by fouls, the head coach will definitely ask him to pay more attention on the defensive end and avoid excessive physical contact.

But Thibodeau couldn't say this to Noah.What the Bulls need now is a tough defense. Instead of avoiding physical contact, Noah has to take the initiative to fight.

In this regard, Thibodeau's solution is: Let Carlos Boozer share part of the responsibility of protecting the basket.To put it bluntly, Thibodeau needs to distribute the fouls evenly on two people to avoid being passive.

As a result, after the start of the second quarter, it was Henson who took the lead in strengthening the defense!

"The whole court is pressing!? At the very beginning of the second quarter, Coach Henson asked the players to press hard to defend the Bulls! It seems that he intends to further escalate the intensity of the confrontation between the two sides!"

Reggie Miller's analysis is good. The purpose of Henson's pressing the team is to further escalate the intensity of physical confrontation!Doesn't Thibodeau like to use strong confrontation to defend?Then let him taste the power of strong confrontation!But there was one point that neither Miller nor Van Gundy understood.

Since it is to strengthen the defense, why did Henson replace Danny Green with Ray Allen in the second quarter?
On the first goal of the opening game, Nate Robinson was knocked out of the boundary by Paul before he even crossed the midfield.Although he was fouled once, Paul also sent a message to "Little Potato": Don't play hard with me today!

Subsequently, Belinelli's breakthrough was also roughly intercepted by George.Of course, this allowed the Italian to get to the free throw line.But the toughness of the Pacers has begun to make everyone in the Bulls have lingering fears.

Subsequently, the Bulls' defense continued to shrink.Because obviously, the Pacers' strategy today is to play inside and draw fouls.The impact of George's 12 points in a single quarter forced the Bulls to pay attention to the protection of the basket.

But as soon as the second quarter came up, the Pacers' offense actually came from Ray Allen!

Paul broke through to attract the defense, and George ran off the ball to take away the defender.When Paul sent the ball to Ray Allen with a blind pass, people suddenly discovered that Ray Allen's weak side was completely unattended!

Faced with this big vacancy, Ray Allen naturally wouldn't be merciful.Thibodeau wants to shrink the defense to protect the basket?Then I'll hit you hard from beyond the three-point line!When Thibodeau made the decision to protect the rim, Henson had already made the move in advance!The third step of the plan is officially started!
There was a "white wave" in the Nets, followed by a wave of people in the stands of the Bankers Life Arena.Ray Allen's three-pointer gave the Pacers a double-digit lead from the start of the second quarter!

Thibodeau and Henson have played against each other so many times, and he knows it very well.In the game against the Pacers, whether the point difference reaches double digits is a watershed.If the Pacers pull the point difference to double digits, after that, you will only be like Henson's marionette, getting deeper and deeper in his scheme
The fierce physical confrontation and tense atmosphere brought the Bulls' offense to a standstill.However, the Pacers' offense has been very stable. Ray Allen's performance in the second quarter, in the words of Reggie Miller, is: returning to the dream of the peak.

Not only can he create threats from beyond the three-point line, but he has even repeatedly fired opponents, broke into the penalty area, and caused fouls.

For a legendary shooter like Ray Allen, free throws are no different from sending points.

When the Bulls put their defensive focus on Ray Allen, Paul George will stand up and continue the firepower.

In the last 2 minutes and 10 seconds of the game, Henson put on the long-hungry Danny Green.As a result, Green hit two three-pointers, and the Bulls couldn't find the north.And the poor Chicago Bulls failed to score a point in 2 minutes and 10 seconds under the suffocating defense of the Pacers' high pressure and confrontation!
After halftime, the score on the spot had become 55 to 41!The Pacers led the Bulls by as much as 13 points, and the Bulls showed no sign of recovery at all.

Before the intermission, Thibodeau was interviewed by reporters on the sidelines.I saw that the defensive master looked solemn today, not as elegant as he was a few days ago.

"Coach Henson used our methods and in turn contained us. The game was difficult and I had to go back to the locker room to make plans for the second half."

Thibodeau was right, and Henson turned the Bulls back on them the way the Bulls do best.For any team, this situation is extremely tricky.

However, Thibodeau has only so many people in his hands now, not to mention that Boozer and Noah are still carrying 2 and 3 fouls respectively.He wants to counterattack the 14-point disadvantage in the second half of the game, I'm afraid it will be even more difficult.

Sure enough, the Bulls still couldn't find a way to score in the second half.On defense, there is nothing to do with the Pacers' multi-point blooming.The gap between the two sides widened. With 4 minutes and 27 seconds left in this quarter, Livingston made two free throws and the Pacers led the Bulls by 75 points 47 to 28!In the past 5 minutes, the Bulls failed to make a goal, and they were completely blocked by the Pacers' suffocating defense!
It wasn't until 3 minutes and 41 seconds left in this section that the Bulls broke the scoring drought with a mid-range shot by Taj Gibson.But the recovery of the Bulls came too late too late.Paul still had a strong desire to score in the first half, but since he woke up George and the team took a big lead, he reduced the number of shots, but he assisted his teammates to score many times.

With 2 minutes and 02 seconds left in this quarter, Paul turned his back to the basket and hit the ground to pass the ball. Allen caught the ball from the basket and made an easy layup and caused a foul. He even scored 3 points with a penalty shot.With 34 seconds left in this section, Paul made a breakthrough and passed the ball to Allen in the right corner. The latter hit a three-pointer. This time the Pacers led the Bulls by 85 points 54-31.After three quarters, the Pacers were far ahead, and the Chicagoans almost collapsed!

"Once the defending champion with a full lineup wakes up, the Chicagoans will have no chance at all! Those who imagine that the Bulls can eliminate the Pacers, stop kidding yourself!"

In the fourth quarter of the game, it was found that Paul sat directly on the sidelines to watch the game.After all, the gap of 30 points or more, if nothing else, can turn the entire fourth quarter into garbage time.But the Bulls are weak offensively. Even if the Pacers don't score a goal in the fourth quarter, the Bulls may not be able to score 30 points in one quarter.If you want to win the game back, there is only a theoretical possibility left.

The Pacers took only one minute in the fourth quarter to completely lose suspense about the outcome, and even the theoretical possibility was completely stifled.George and Ray Allen hit three-pointers one after another, and Ray Allen, who was playing vigorously, also broke through for a layup and caused a foul.Noah, who had been fouled four times, yelled at the referee, but was ejected early instead.
After completely losing Noah, the Bulls could not only attack, but also couldn't defend.At this time, even Thibodeau admitted his failure. He even sent Vladimir Radmanovic, who rarely played, to officially announce that the game has entered garbage time.

步行者以一波18比2开始第四节，在比赛还有8分28秒时，便以104比58领先了公牛.46分！保罗.乔治25分5个篮板3次助攻，雷.阿伦三分4中4，加上多次罚球，出场22分钟就高效地砍下了21分。整场比赛步行者队7人得分上双，公牛引以为傲的防守全盘崩溃。

The terror of the 72-win Pacers hangs over the heads of the Chicagoans.And there's nothing they can do about it
In the end, the score of the whole game was fixed at 115 to 78. The gap of 37 points was like a bloody number, which was deeply branded in Thibodeau's heart.This is his worst loss to Henson, and it is also a manifestation of the huge gap in hard power between the two teams.

If it weren't for Radmanovic's good performance, he made 2 three-pointers in the garbage time in the last 3 minutes of the game, and the point difference would have become even more embarrassing.

Two years ago, the Chicago Bulls eliminated the Pacers and the annoying coach Henson after seven games.But now, two years later, when the two teams fatefully meet again in the Eastern Conference semifinals, the situation has taken a 180° turn.In the last game, Henson forgot to shake Thibodeau's hand because he was angry.In this game, Thibodeau lost face after a fiasco and forgot to shake hands with Henson.

These two old enemies will always make the battle extremely bloody and tragic.

After the game, Paul George and Ray Allen were surrounded by reporters.Henson thought he could have a good time today, but he was stopped by a young reporter.

"Coach Henson, congratulations! What do you think of the victory in this game? How did you manage to rebound from the bottom?" The reporter's questions are very conventional, but they are all questions that the public wants to know the answer to.

But Henson is known not to give his answers lightly.

"You should ask George and Ray Allen this question. After all, it was not me who scored the high score, but them. As for congratulations, you can say congratulations when we reach the Eastern Conference Finals. Because for us, this is just an expected victory."

Henson walked into the tunnel with a relaxed smile. From this game on, he didn't intend to give his old friend Thibodeau any more chances.

4比1，必须是4比1！如果最终步行者无法以4比1晋级，亨森可高兴不起来。两年前和公牛打抢七落败，亨森无能为力。

Now that I have the ability, let the Bulls have a good time!
(End of this chapter)