basketball player

Chapter 629 Chapter 627: Year after year

Kevin Durant couldn't believe it, he might lose again.

"With the last 3 minutes left in the game, the Warriors trailed by 12 points! We all know how strong the Warriors' offensive firepower is. Chasing 3 points in 12 minutes doesn't seem to be a problem for them. But don't forget, under Coach Henson's system, the Pacers are the best defensive team in the league. Throughout the season, they have never lost 3 points in the last 12 minutes."

Mike Breen was shaking with excitement, and in 3 minutes, the results of the 2017-2018 season will be produced.Because now, the total score of the series between the Pacers and the Warriors is 3 to 3, and this is the tiebreaker!

If the Pacers can bite the last 3 minutes of the game, then they will win the O'Brien Cup for the second consecutive year!

Mike Breen couldn't help but glance at Henson. The Chinese coach was still standing calmly on the sidelines.He seems to be full of confidence in his team, but given the excellent performance of the Pacers this year, Henson does have the capital of self-confidence.

At the beginning of this season, the Pacers' record was not good because they experienced Chris Paul's injury.

Now, even with all kinds of badge bonuses, Henson can't completely prevent Paul from being injured.It can be seen that the physical condition of the former No. [-] point guard in the league has begun to decline sharply.

People may have forgotten that Paul was seriously injured!It's not surprising that his injuries often flare up.

But soon, the Pacers got back on track and played very gratifyingly.

Paul George is as stable as ever, and people speculate that the Pacers will definitely keep George with a maximum salary this summer.Antetokounmpo's progress continues, averaging 22.9 points and 8.8 rebounds last season.This season, that number has become 26.9 and 10.0.

Of course, there are many other players who are equally good.

Kyle Kuzma, as a rookie at the end of the first round, is the first player in the 2017 class to score 30 points in a single game.Henson's draft once again shocked the entire league.Of course, among them, "Magic" Johnson must be the person with the darkest face.Originally, the energetic No. 0 forward should have belonged to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Although Josh Hart's performance is also very good, but compared to Kuzma, it is still not amazing enough.

Siakam continues to grow. This year his defense has improved a lot and he has developed a certain back attack ability.And, most importantly, Siakam is much more confident than he was last season.Now Siakam is not talking about being popular, but he is definitely no longer an unknown person.

Oladipo, like Antetokounmpo, continues to improve.Henson played Oladipo as the starting [-] for a while during Paul's injury.

It has to be said that Oladipo's organizational ability and off-the-ball offensive ability still need to be improved.But just hand him the ball and watch the show bomb the rim.

As for Lopez, Bogdanovic, "Funny Biffenson" and Danny Green, they played steadily and are also indispensable parts of the Pacers.

Last season's most unpopular Rookie of the Year winner Brogdon has not made much progress this year, but he still maintains his level, without the embarrassing situation of "the rookie is the pinnacle".

Paul has had injuries, but the level is still there.To Henson, Paul is still one of the league's top point guards.

In this way, Henson achieved 68 wins in the regular season.Don't look at the Pacers still not reaching 70 wins this year, but 68 wins are already 10 more wins than the Golden State Warriors!Compared with the second rocket in the league, it also has 3 more wins.In the east, this result is even more invincible.

The Toronto Raptors, second in the East, only won 59 wins this season.The difference between the first and second wins is almost 10 games.

In the playoffs, the Pacers continued to maintain a devastating offensive.

In the first round, the Pacers swept the Washington Wizards 4-0 and taught the young Wall a lesson.

Wait, Wall, who is already 27 years old, doesn't seem too young.But he has been in the Wizards for so long, but the No. [-] pick has never led the team to achieve any impressive results.
It seems that this summer, transfer rumors about Wall and the Wizards should be flying all over the sky.

In the second round, the Pacers met the Cleveland Cavaliers ahead of schedule.

The Cavaliers this season can be described as dismal. The regular season record is only ranked fifth in the Eastern Conference, and they even won two games less than the Philadelphia 76ers.The record of only 50 wins is also the worst record of a team with James since the 11-12 season.

But you have to know that the 11-12 season is a shrinking season.
The Cavaliers experienced a lot of personnel changes in the middle of the season. Thomas Jr., Wade and Rose left the team one after another.In the current Cavaliers, only James and Love can be called "giant".This is also the least number of stars on his team since James joined the Heat.

In the Eastern Conference semifinals, James averaged 34.0 points, 9.2 rebounds and 9.0 assists per game. He is still a great athlete.But unfortunately, the gap between the Cavaliers and Pacers is too huge.

In this way, the originally ambitious Cleveland Cavaliers were swept by the Pacers 4-0.And this is the first time in 10 years that LeBron James has missed the Eastern Conference Finals!
There is no doubt that the reign of the League No.1 has come to an end.LeBron James may not be the most dominant player in the league anymore.

Even if he scored a data that was close to averaging a triple-double per game.

In the Eastern Conference Finals, facing the tough resistance of the Celtics, Henson still swept them out 4-0.This is mainly because the Celtics injured Hayward in the first game of the season and Irving in the playoffs, so the team can only rely on Tatum and Jaylen Brown to score.

It is really easy for the Pacers to solve the team led by two young people.People fantasized about the battle between the Celtics and the Pacers, but it didn't happen.A one-sided massacre cannot be called a big war.

So, for the second year in a row, the Pacers made it to the Finals.The Golden State Warriors are still strong, and Durant, Curry, Green and Klay are still the best stars in the league.Steve Kerr put away his arrogance and sarcasm this season, and took every game seriously.

In this way, the two teams reached the tiebreaker and reached the last 2017 minutes of the 2018-3 season.

In the previous six games, both teams played very well, but also played inextricably.It can be said that the two sides are similar in strength.Durant's personal ability is beyond doubt, but the Pacers' team strength is also very strong.

The same was true for Game [-], but at the beginning of the fourth quarter, Henson took the lead in taking the five small lineups.

Tucker played at the fifth position, Antetokounmpo at the fourth position, George at the third position, Oladipo at the second position, and Paul took control.This lineup led to a wave of offensive frenzy, and Tucker's tough defense caused great trouble for the Warriors.

In this way, the Pacers widened the point difference to 12 points.Seeing Tucker's performance on the court, Bird admired him very much.In addition to admiring Tucker, he also admires Henson.

Bird couldn't believe it last summer when Henson said he could play center with Tucker.

But it turns out that Henson's wild idea has worked again.This season, Tucker has performed well at the fifth position.Whether it is defense or rebounding, he has not been held back by his height of less than 2 meters.

After that, Durant wanted to control the game, but Antetokounmpo's defense put a lot of pressure on Durant.

Last summer, he gave up nearly 1000 million US dollars to stay in the Warriors, and his purpose was for the championship!

If you can't win the championship this year, what's the point of taking 1000 million less?That's $1000 million!

Durant gritted his teeth and chose a breakthrough after a fake shot.After breaking into the basket, facing Tucker's quick defense, Durant made a layup and the basketball hit the net, reducing the point difference to 10 points.

The commentators all over the world praised Durant. In everyone's opinion, Durant is the No.1 in the active league.This scorer is omnipotent, today he scored 34 points on Antetokounmpo!

However, Henson was still the same, standing quietly on the sidelines, looking like he was bound to win.

He believes that as long as Curry and Clay are not allowed to explode at the last moment, the Warriors will not be able to overcome the 10-point difference with Durant alone.

So in the next few rounds, Durant succeeded frequently, but in contrast, Curry and Clay had no way to score.

Today, Curry made only 24 of 8 shots and Klay made 16 of 6 shots.After these two guys were locked up by Henson, the Warriors' firepower became less terrifying.

Until the last 23 seconds, the Warriors were still 5 points behind.This time, Durant was double-teamed by Tucker and Antetokounmpo.Green stood outside the three-point line, but Durant didn't dare to pass the ball.Because of this season's playoffs, Green's three-point shooting percentage is only 26.6%, which is very unreliable.

So, Durant took the risk and passed the basketball to Curry!Only if this three-pointer continues to hit, the Warriors have a theoretical hope of winning.

Chris Paul didn't take the risk of scrambling for the basketball, but instead tried to block Curry's shooting space from beginning to end.

Henson said that he is still one of the best point guards in the league!
Therefore, Curry's shot was completely under the serious interference of Paul.At that moment, Henson felt like his heart was about to jump out. Everyone worked so hard this season, but they couldn't be killed by Curry's last three-pointer.

After a "long" flight, the basketball finally hit the basket's neck!Tucker protected the rebound toughly, and there were only 10.2 seconds left before the end of the game!The Warriors fouled immediately and sent Tucker to the free throw line!
At that moment, fans all over Indianapolis cheered!They believe that it is impossible for the Pacers to return the victory to the Warriors!

The moment the Warriors fouled, Henson immediately made a substitution.He replaced Antetokounmpo with Bogdanovic, which means that the five players on the Pacers field all made high free throw percentages, and the Warriors couldn't use their brains.

After the substitution, Henson fell to the bench.He appeared calm and composed, but in fact the shirt inside his suit was soaked with sweat.Henson couldn't believe it, what would happen if he failed.

Fortunately, the worst didn't happen, and his players didn't let him down.If nothing else, in a few more rounds, the Pacers will win the O'Brien Cup for the second consecutive year.

Henson let out a sigh of relief and looked towards the dome of the Bankers Life Arena.

Now, only one lap left!

　The back of the legend is over, and the last volume will meet with you starting tomorrow.Of course, the length of the last volume will not be too long, after all, it is the last season.But it won't be the end, don't worry everyone.Henson Joe's story is coming to an end, but my journey with you is not over yet.I have prepared a new version of the ship sorry for the wording.The new book is already being prepared, and it should be seamlessly connected to the old book. It will appear before the old book is finished, so stay tuned.Of course, I hope you will continue to support the last volume and the next new book!Xiaoge hereby solemnly thanks!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)