NBA: I am the card dealer

Never imagined.

In the third game in Indiana, the Nets lost again.

They lost the game 112:117 and fell behind 1:2.

Everyone was shocked.

If the Pacers' win in the last game surprised most fans and media, then this victory simply dropped everyone's jaws.

the reason is simple.

The first game of the series is basically a test, and there are many uncertainties in the factors of winning or losing. Unless there is absolute crushing strength, it cannot prove the problem.

When it comes to the second game, it is mostly adjustments. After the first trial, both sides will enter an adjustment stage, that is, game. Although some problems have been explained, there are also many uncertain factors.

When it came to the third game of the series, the situation was completely different. Both sides had basically figured out each other's offensive and defensive rhythms. In other words, the strengths of both sides were already on display.

Winning or losing in this situation can explain some problems.

For example, the Pacers definitely have the strength to compete with the Nets.

For another example, the direction of this series has completely tilted towards the Pacers.

That's right!

The league's number one is in danger!

"Haha! They say the Pacers are the Nets' nemesis, but I don't believe it."

"The Pacers are really impressive!"

"Everyone played as a soldier, the game was so smooth, and Oladipo did not occupy the ball. The Pacers really have a bright future."

"If they can beat the Nets, then the Pacers will really have the strength to go all the way! It is very likely that they will break out of the East."

“No one would have thought that the series would come to this point.”

"The Pacers proved one thing to the world: Xue Liancheng is not a god."

"Xue Liancheng's myth of being invincible is about to be shattered."

"Isn't that awesome? Oladipo said he fought back, and some people said he was bragging."

"I didn't expect that the person who ended the Xue Liancheng era would be Oladipo. It's really surprising."

Amid the jeers, Atkinson once again organized the Nets players to watch the game replay.

After watching it, he severely criticized Sabonis Jr. and Covington.

reason?

Of course it’s because their performance was the worst.

First of all, it was Sabonis Jr. Although his efficiency improved a little, he lost his aggressiveness in the game. He made 10 of 4 shots and only got 9 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists. He also had 4 turnovers and 5 fouls. He almost fouled out. He doesn't look like a rising star at all!

In terms of overall performance, Sabonis Jr. played really badly. He had four fouls in the first half, and basically didn't play in the third quarter. He committed five fouls as soon as he came on. Then in the fourth quarter, Sabonis Jr. didn't dare to defend and was timid, which had a negative effect on the court.

Sabonis Jr. must bear most of the responsibility for the loss of this game.

Then there was Covington, who shot 9 of 1 and 7 of 1 from three-point range, scoring only a pitiful 3 points.

This is actually nothing.

The most unacceptable thing is that in the last minute, he interfered with the ball and gave the opponent 2 points, then served the ball carelessly and was directly intercepted by Ingram, and then he immediately committed a foul. Ingram made a 2+1 and lost 5 points back and forth.

And they only lost by 5 points in the whole game!

There is no doubt that this is the biggest culprit for the loss of this game.

Xue Liancheng's condition finally improved in this game, and he played very steadily, making 24 of 13 shots, 13 of 7 three-pointers, and 8 of 8 free throws. While scoring 41 points, he also had 15 assists and 10 rebounds, a super triple-double, and his performance was outstanding enough.

However, his teammates kept holding him back and he was powerless to turn the situation around, and he lost such an important game.

Confidence is lost and morale is low.

And the next game will be at the Pacers' home court.

The Nets are now at a crossroads where they have to make a life-or-death decision. If they are not careful, they will fall into an abyss.

After all, we are not so lucky every time and can make a comeback from a 1:3 deficit.

The Pacers should also learn from the Spurs' lesson last year and not give him such an opportunity again.

Anunoby made 17 of 8 shots, 8 of 2 three-pointers, and scored 18 points and 8 rebounds. His performance was okay, not too good, not too bad, just average.

Vonleh made 9 of 4 shots and got a double-double of 11 points and 10 rebounds, which was a very good performance.

Joe Harris scored 12 points and Crabbe scored 10 points, with both shooters contributing their hot hands.

And the Pacers.

Oladipo played quite averagely, making 16 of 6 shots, 9 of 2 three-pointers, and 6 of 4 free throws, scoring only 18 points, with 7 assists and 4 rebounds.

Logically speaking, it should be extremely difficult for the star player to win the game with such performance.

The result is that they actually beat the Nets, who have strong decisive ability and are the favorites to win the championship. This is simply unbelievable.

All this stems from the fact that Oladipo was not arrogant and obsessed with shooting, and did not lose himself in monopolizing the ball. In the first half, when he saw that his condition was not right, he immediately stepped on the brakes, tried his best to combine breakthroughs and passes, as well as the task of receiving the ball, and even put his energy into the defensive end. This enabled the overall performance of other Pacers players.

英格拉姆17中9，三分6中3，得到了23分。

Bojan Bogdanovic made 12 of 6 shots and also scored 16 points and 7 rebounds.

特纳13中6，三分8中3，勉强拿到了15分。

Russell was still in a slump, shooting 11 of 3 and scoring only 10 points.

But that's enough.

Even though Russell played poorly, the entire starting lineup still scored over 80+ points.

On the bench, Thaddeus Young scored 14 points, Joseph scored 13 points, and Stephenson scored 10 points, and they were also contributors to the team's victory.

This game also reflects the importance of overall performance.

But this is not the focus of the Nets' game video today.

The key point is that they need to find the reason for their loss and make adjustments at the same time.

After the loss in the last game, Atkinson made adjustments by letting Xue Liancheng and Sabonis Jr. play more pick-and-roll, allowing Sabonis Jr. to go down and catch more rebounds to build up his confidence.

result.

How can you score goals if you can’t even guarantee playing time?

So Atkinson hopes that in the next game, Sabonis Jr. will pay attention to fouls during confrontations.

After hearing this, Xue Liancheng felt a little confused.

Is this an adjustment?

It seems not...

But after thinking about it, he couldn't think of a specific direction to change.

After all, the loss of this game was indeed due to Sabonis' foul trouble, and then Covington made some fatal mistakes, which made them unable to recover.

As usual, he brought back the game tape and watched it again himself.

I also took out some clips of Sabonis' games in this series to watch.

In this regard, the coaching staff was thoughtful. Knowing that Sabonis Jr. had a problem, they immediately made a video edit to try to find out where the problem lay.

As he watched, suddenly a light bulb went off in his head and he seemed to sense something.

He immediately stepped back and read it again.

then.

He got it.

He understood why Sabonis Jr. performed so badly in this series.

Because Sabonis has a bad habit after receiving the ball, which is to subconsciously change hands, or to his left hand. This gives Turner the opportunity to come up and get into position in advance, and also increases the chances of Oladipo and Russell to steal the ball.

The Pacers took advantage of Sabonis' bad habit and defended him to the point where he lost himself.

Looking back now, he didn't know Sabonis Jr. had this habit.

But the Pacers were keenly aware of this and had to say that McMillan was truly a talent!

In fact, this bad habit will not have any impact during the regular season, because a full season requires playing 82 games, and each game is against a different team. Others don’t have the time to study a player like you in a team.

Therefore, even if Sabonis has this problem throughout the entire season, it will not have much impact.

But it’s different in the playoffs. If you get the ball and initiate the offense one second slower, it will disrupt the smoothness of the offense.

Sabonis also has a bad habit, that is, after losing his position or being intercepted, he will subconsciously reach out to pull or push people. This is why Sabonis commits too many fouls.

In the series against the Pacers, Oladipo and Russell took advantage of Sabonis' two weaknesses and caused great interference to him.

First of all, as soon as Sabonis Jr. receives the ball, they will predict and press forward, and when Sabonis Jr. changes hands, they will easily panic, leading to mistakes or missed offensive opportunities.

I didn't notice it when I watched the video replay a few days ago. The main reason was that Oladipo and Russell were very natural when they came up to press, and there were no particularly targeted moves.

Now it seems that this is not the case.

Pacers head coach McMillan has probably thoroughly studied Sabonis's weakness. Turner's position to defend the left side first is enough to illustrate the problem.

No wonder Sabonis Jr. had such a hard time in this series and his condition was getting worse and worse.

It turns out the problem lies here.

Thinking of this, he immediately picked up the phone and dialed Atkinson's number.

As for why not call Sabonis directly?

the reason is simple.

Atkinson is the head coach, and he needs the head coach to establish his authority. Besides, this is also Atkinson's job. He is saving face for Atkinson and the entire coaching staff.

It's already the third game of the series, and they didn't even notice that Sabonis was being targeted. This is definitely a dereliction of duty by the coaching staff.

soon.

The call was connected.

Atkinson's tired voice came from the other end of the phone: "Hello!"

Xue Liancheng: "Sir, I think you need to see a collection of Sabonis's offensive and turnovers with the ball."

Atkinson: “Hmm?”

Xue Liancheng didn't waste words: "He has a bad habit of switching hands after catching the ball. I think this is the main reason why he didn't play well in this series."

Atkinson: Really?

Xue Liancheng: "You will know once you take a look."

Atkinson immediately responded, “Okay!”

After hanging up the phone, Xue Liancheng felt a little helpless, and sighed in his heart that Atkinson's coaching ability was indeed mediocre.

But if you think about it carefully, it seems that it is precisely this mediocrity that suits me better.

If Atkinson had been very thoughtful, talented, and stubborn, they probably wouldn't have been able to work together for that long.

Ah!

Atkinson’s biggest shortcoming can also be said to be his biggest advantage. After all, only mediocrity can be obedient and willing to obey.

The next day.

As expected, Sabonis Jr. was assigned to practice catching the ball and had a special instructor.

At this time, people's disappointment with the Nets reached its peak.

There were even many people who believed that the Nets might really lose this series, which caused panic among Xue Liancheng's fans.

And when they panic, they need to find someone to comfort them.

The Twitter account of Frank, the most loyal fan of FOX Sports and a columnist, has become lively again.

Someone asked: Can the Nets beat the Pacers?

Frank replied: There is no doubt about it.

This caused another uproar, with many people mocking Frank's tweet.

"Stop being so funny, okay? You're trailing 1:2 now! You don't have the home advantage anymore."

"Two consecutive defeats, isn't that enough to prove the problem?"

"The Pacers have clearly found a way to deal with the Nets."

"Keep talking tough! Keep talking tough!"

"You treat Xue Liancheng as a god. This is the most unprofessional thing about you as a reporter."

Then Frank responded directly: Nets championship, thank you!

This time.

There are even more people scolding.

"Oh wow! Are you still showing off?"

"Another championship reservation, right?"

"Let's get out of the east first!"

"It's a question whether we can get past the Pacers, let alone win the championship."

"What a clown."

"Do you take your own conjectures as true insights?"

"Good! Good! Good! Xue Liancheng has won the championship ten times in a row and is the strongest in the universe. Is that ok?"

"You really have no shame at all. You start imagining things again."

However, all these crazy curses were silenced by one of the fans' words: But Frank's predictions have never been inaccurate, all of them have come true!

This time.

The world is quiet.

Trailing 0:3, Frank firmly believed that the Heat could make a comeback, and then they did.

People questioned whether Xue Liancheng could lead the team alone in the playoffs, but the Knicks won the championship that season.

The Lakers were counting down, and Xue Liancheng threatened to break into the upper half, but was laughed at again. Then Xue Liancheng did it again.

George was injured and everyone thought the Lakers were finished, but Frank went crazy and said the Lakers would win the championship.

then.

A true champion.

But now, Xue Liancheng has not reached the moment of despair.

Last season, the Lakers once led the Warriors 3:1, but were tied by the Warriors in two consecutive games. It was a desperate moment when the fully-formed Warriors faced off against him with only one core.

The Lakers were trailing the Spurs 1:3, their life was hanging by a thread, they were about to die, they were sentenced to death, that was the moment of despair.

Now we are only 1:2 behind, which is nothing compared to the big ones. The word "despair" is not at all possible.

So Frank's words were not a prophecy. He was just reiterating his firm support for Xue Liancheng. It is not the time for him to cheer and give confidence to Xue Liancheng's fans.

But Frank's words were very powerful.

It immediately topped the trending search list and became the top one.

It can be seen that Frank's influence has become extremely huge as Xue Liancheng wins the championship again and again.