Basketball Legends: Strikers Are King

"Come here to buy, Horse Troopers!"

"The horse-walking team will win!"

There were nearly 20,000 spectators in the audience, all cheering for the leading Pacers and putting pressure on the visiting team. This is the advantage of home court.

Falling behind is very fatal for a young team like the Raptors.

Because of their lack of experience, they cannot make the right choices when they fall behind. Once their mentality changes, the situation will only take a turn for the worse.

Fortunately, they have 31-year-old Calderon.

Calderon was not a draft pick, but after making a name for himself in the Spanish league, he was favored by the Raptors and landed in the NBA in 2005.

The white point guard who played for the Raptors performed tepidly. Although his scoring average reached 10 points per game in his third season, that was the point where his performance did not continue to rise, but began to fluctuate.

Obviously, he has reached his upper limit and is just a puzzle player. He can be a helper to the team boss, but he cannot stand among the team giants.

However, when it comes to age and experience, he is still much better than the twenty-year-olds on the team.

Taking advantage of the timeout, he said to head coach Casey:

"Coach, leave the rest of the game to me."

Casey was stunned. Although he had long planned to let the point guard take over most of the ball from DeRozan in order to completely liberate DeRozan's offensive ability, that was for Lowry, not for you, an old man in his early 30s.

ah?

But now the team is lagging behind. If DeRozan is still allowed to hold the ball, Casey, who has rich experience, can already predict the direction of the next game:

DeRozan scored 30+ points and the team lost by a huge score.

In this case...

Casey decided to trust the determined veteran in front of him and said:

"Okay, then Karl controls the ball, and the others follow the command and make more moves to create opportunities."

"clear!"

With the backbone, or scapegoat, everyone in the Raptors team was refreshed, and they all shouted and returned to the court.

"Hey, I forgot to tell the coach just now. I'll replace you early and have a rest. I can beat them with the substitute team."

The Pacers were all relaxed. George even joked with Qi Tian,

"How about you rest first and I'll try the three-point sight?"

"Okay, just try it if you want."

Qitian naturally doesn't care.

"Dudu!"

The referee blew the whistle to continue the game and handed the basketball to Valanciunas beside him.

Calderon ran back to catch the ball, broke through Hill's defense, and made a jump shot.

"Whoosh!"

Basketball hollow hit.

"6-13."

"Oh ho ho, the Raptors are starting to attack, please give me some strength, I want to see George's awesome performance!"

Pacers fans didn't mind it and started cheering for their opponents.

Calderon did not stop performing. Taking advantage of Hill and West's jump shots, he shot in and out and scored another 4 points. DeRozan, who was freed from controlling the ball, also began to wake up and scored consecutive jump shots.

"14-13."

Just two minutes passed, and the Raptors scored 10 points in a row. Not only did they even the point difference, they also overtook the score!

"Ah this?"

The Pacers fans did not expect that the team's offense would be cut off so quickly and they would lose a good game. They looked at George attacking with the ball and shouted anxiously:

".asxs. Work it, Paul!"

George quickly distributed the ball high to Qi Tian. Qi Tian made a backhand shot and passed it to West under the basket, assisting West for a layup and stabilizing the situation.

Then George stole Bargnani and turned around for a fast break dunk.

"14-17."

"Misunderstanding cleared!"

Pacers fans relax.

It seems that the team's power outage is only temporary. Just relying on the players' performance alone, the Pacers can firmly gain the upper hand.

But the Raptors' momentum had already risen. Taking advantage of the opportunity that Hibbert didn't dare to guard against, Calderon broke through and passed the ball to Bargnani at the top of the key. Bargnani took an open three-pointer.

"Whoosh!"

"17-17."

In the last 4 minutes and 14 seconds of the first quarter, the Raptors tied the score again.

"nice shot!"

"allow!"

The Raptors fans, who were smaller in number but not in vain, glanced proudly at the Pacers fans beside them and began to cheer for the team.

Demo, weren't you crazy just now? Keep going crazy?

The opponent's equalizer did not affect Vogel's rotation. He replaced Stephenson and Hansbrough, letting Qi Tian and West rest off the court.

Raptors head coach Casey did not intend to waste the opportunity and kept almost all the main players to play the entire first quarter.

The Raptors players did not live up to his expectations. Calderon scored another 2 points and 2 assists. DeRozan was also in great form and made consecutive hits, taking control of the situation.

On the contrary, the Pacers only relied on George's jump shot to score 2 points.

"29-21."

At the end of the first quarter, the Pacers were beaten 12-4 by their opponents in the last 4 minutes, falling behind their opponents by 8 points.

Hill walked to the bench with an ugly expression.

After easily taking the lead, the entire Pacers team relaxed their vigilance.

But the opponent was able to complete the reversal, and the biggest contributor was undoubtedly Calderon, who scored 10 points, 3 rebounds and 4 assists on 4-of-4 shooting.

As his opponent, Hill only scored 4 points on 2-for-7 shooting in the first quarter. He was completely beaten by a substitute point guard in every aspect. How could this not make him embarrassed, ashamed or even angry?

"There is a problem with rebound protection."

Brian Shaw knew that the team was underestimating the opponent, but with the advantage in the paint, it was really outrageous to let a 191-centimeter guard grab 3 rebounds.

He rarely spoke before Vogel and said to the team's inside players:

"The protection of rebounds is a top priority, especially for a team like ours. If we can't control the rebounds, half of the game will be lost."

"Can you just let those two white men make trouble on the inside?"

Saying this can easily create a fatal rhythm, but fortunately it is effective enough for several insiders on the team, except Hansbrough, who looks a little embarrassed.

Vogel, after Brian Shaw, continued to deploy defense against the substitutes.

It’s still the same old defenses…

Brian Shaw actually felt tired for no reason and began to reflect on whether his decision to join the Pacers was right or wrong.

Of course Vogel is not as good as Zen Master, the legendary coach who can quickly find the opponent's weaknesses during timeouts and suppress the opponent's strengths;

But Vogel couldn't even come up with an offensive tactic that could leverage the team's strength.

He is not even as good as the head coach opposite!

Brian thought about the substitutions of the two teams in the first quarter. Vogel would replace the starter when his opponent tied the score.

The head coach of the Raptors dared to put all the main players on the court for 12 minutes. This willingness to gamble is stronger than Vogel's.

Of course, if your opponent wins the bet, it is also a bonus.