Basketball Legends: Strikers Are King

The Pacers gradually fell into a disadvantage, and George missed a jump shot again, giving his opponent a chance.

Fortunately, their defensive base is here. The jump shots of Kaman, Vasquez and Ariza were all defended, and the situation fell into a stalemate.

"Tsk."

Bird, who was taking a break from his busy schedule to watch the game, shook his head and was very dissatisfied with the team's performance.

The 19-12 Pacers actually trailed the 7-24 Hornets. Fans of any team would not think that the Pacers performed better, right?

Although this does not represent the final result of the game, it is certain that the team failed to meet expectations.

Having the strength to fight against strong teams, and being able to sweep away the fallen leaves when facing weak teams, this is the template of Bird's ideal team.

The Pacers president, who has made achievements in both positions as a player and coach, easily noticed the key factors in the team's performance fluctuations:

attack.

Yes, the Pacers are good at defense. They can drag their opponents to the same level as themselves through defense, and then use their rich experience to defeat their opponents.

But having both offense and defense is the ultimate pursuit of every team. Teams with major flaws in either offense or defense will not get far.

In Bird's view, if the Pacers want to become a top team, it will be difficult to break through the constraints.

"George Hibbert and others are very young, but West is too old; Collison is young, but he may not have enough talent to deliver,"

Bird gestured on the paper, wrote down the team's main players, and marked their strengths and weaknesses. Bird's pen stopped at the last person.

"The biggest problem is Danny Granger."

As a historical small forward in the NBA, Bird has higher requirements for Granger, who is also a small forward, but unfortunately, Granger cannot meet Bird's expectations.

"The technical characteristics were finalized early and there are too many small shortcomings. The most important thing is that his scoring is not the top in the league."

Bird wrote down Granger's shortcomings one by one and sighed.

Of course he doesn't expect another talent like Bird James to appear on the team, but Granger has too many shortcomings.

Bird's physical talent is not outstanding, but after entering the league, he has constantly polished his skills, so that Bird has not fallen behind in scoring, rebounding, assists and steals;

But Granger is not outstanding in everything. Even in the offense he is most proud of, his shooting percentage is not good enough to become a key point in changing the opponent's defense.

"An offensive ability that cannot kill people is really useless."

Bird is like solving a high-level math problem. The more he thinks about it, the more he becomes bored.

"What's the use of a forward whose offense relies too much on pick-and-rolls and who only relies on pull-up jumpers in individual battles?!"

Bird increasingly felt that the Pacers' future was bleak and almost wanted to immediately announce that the team would be demolished and rebuilt.

"No, no, Danny still has advantages, defense, enthusiasm..."

He quickly recalled Granger's strengths to find reasons for himself, and it took him a while to calm down.

After calming down, Bird finally understood the reason for his irritability, which was that Granger was indeed not up to the level he expected, especially in the game against the Heat, when he was completely suppressed by the opposite James.

Should we find an opportunity to trade Granger?

The devil's whisper appeared in his mind again, and then he was defeated by reason:

Which team would trade their boss?

What's more, the team also needs to find another person who can replace Granger and find players who suit the team's tactics, which is as difficult as rebuilding.

"What's wrong with me recently? Is I too stressed?"

Bird smiled to himself, turned off the TV, and stopped watching the game.

"Let's go fishing during the All-Star weekend."

He quickly made plans for the week ahead.

Just as Bird was thinking, the Pacers relied on consecutive scores from Collison and Hibbert to gradually catch up with the score.

"61-61."

Vogel on the sidelines looked at the 7 minutes of game time left in the third quarter and requested a substitution.

Hansbrough and Qi Tian replaced West and the underperforming George.

Collison made a dribbling error and was intercepted by Vasquez. The Hornets who were about to defend immediately turned around and attacked, while the Pacers closely followed their opponents.

"Pick and roll!"

Vasquez called Kaman inside, not only to block Collison but also to move Hibbert out of the basket.

Collison quickly bypassed the screen and chased Vasquez.

"Chance!"

Seeing that he broke through the basket and attracted the defense, Vasquez faked a pass and passed it to Belinelli in the corner.

Belinelli ignored Qi Tian's pursuit and directly shot a three-point jump shot.

"Whoosh!"

Basketball hollow hit.

"61-64."

"pretty!"

"ohhh!!"

The fans who came to support the Hornets from the sidelines immediately cheered loudly.

The team has only won 7 games so far. It is not easy to reach the third quarter in a game against playoff teams. Of course, if they win an upset, they will be even more happy.

Granger received the pass and was about to attack, but Ariza suddenly flashed past and stole the opponent.

Ariza is 27 years old this year, an age when outside players are entering their prime.

The Knicks and Magic originally wanted to develop him as a cornerstone, but they found out that compared to scoring, Ariza's defensive engineering attributes are more powerful. If you let him do the dirty work, he can do it in a decent way;

But expecting him to become a top player in the league is obviously a bit too much.

Ariza came to the Rockets and encountered a stingy boss. In order to avoid taxes, Ariza, whose annual salary exceeded 5.8 million US dollars, was traded again.

"What?"

Granger was in a hurry and was intercepted by his opponent. He didn't care about anything else and quickly stepped forward to counterattack to avoid being hit by his opponent's fast break.

"Dudu!"

The referee blew the whistle, indicating that Granger had committed a foul, and the ball still belonged to the Hornets.

The Hornets served from the outside and patiently passed the ball, finding Ariza outside the three-point line. Facing Granger's defense, Ariza forced a three-pointer.

"clang!"

West turned around and picked off the rebound and handed it to Collison.

"Quick attack!"

Before Collison could finish speaking, Qi Tian and Granger on the outside were already rushing toward the Hornets' half.

Ariza and Belinelli followed closely behind.

As soon as Granger received Collison's pass, Ariza immediately came forward and tried to steal it.

"No chance!"

Granger was entangled by his opponent and couldn't find a chance to break through for a layup, so he could only pass to Qi Tian outside the three-point line.

Belinelli felt a little at ease and quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

"Chance!"

Qi Tian held the ball and pretended to look for his teammates. The moment Belinelli relaxed, he jumped up and took a long three-pointer.

"Whoosh!"

Three point hit!

"64-64."

The Pacers fans on the sidelines immediately cheered and cheered for the team.