Basketball Legends: Strikers Are King

After defeating the Celtics, the Pacers took advantage of the situation to win against the Magic on the road. However, in the away game against the Heat, they lost to their opponents by 14 points.

"Don't take it too seriously!"

Qi Tian patted Hibbert and comforted him.

In this game, Hibbert, who was originally the absolute strength of the Pacers, made an outrageous 2 of 11 shots and only scored 10 points on free throws.

Of course, he limited Haslem to 1 point, but this is obviously not something worthy of praise.

Nitrogen Tomb, you only scored 16 points, what qualifications do you have to comfort me?

Since the last time he heard the fans quarreling in the nightclub, Hibbert thought about it more and more and felt more and more uncomfortable. Now that he lost the game and saw Qi Tian comforting him like the leader of the team, he suddenly felt unbalanced.

Wade, who you were facing on Qi Tian, ​​easily scored 23 points, and Chalmers even scored 26 points on 7-of-9 shooting. Are you embarrassed to talk to me?

"It's okay, Roy,"

George also walked over, turned to look at the Heat, who were cheering from all the fans, and said angrily,

"We will definitely get revenge in the playoffs!"

Now the Heat's winning streak has reached 46, which is a full 7 wins higher than the Pacers. With less than 20 games left, they have basically locked in the first place in the Eastern Conference.

The Pacers are not in a hurry, because they and the Knicks have already separated themselves from the first group behind them and are firmly in the second or third place. If everything goes well, their showdown will be in the second round of the playoffs.

George believes that with the Pacers' current strength, it will not be a problem to defeat the Knicks who are missing Stoudemire.

Hibbert looked at George, even more puzzled:

I said you only scored 14 points. Yes, James only scored 13 points, but wasn't that because they were leading from the first quarter and there was no need to play?

Knowing that you have to work hard towards the Heat, can't you face up to my absolute advantage?

Am I really just a stupid guy like the fans say?!

The more Hibbert thought about it, the more angry he became, and he decisively turned around and left.

"It really didn't work well."

Brian Shaw looked at the dejected players and began to review the game on the special plane flying back to Indiana. The coaching team conducted another round of research on the playoff opponents.

Just how effective it is will need to be tested by the competition.

The time soon came to mid-to-late March, and the situation for the playoffs was clear. The top teams in the Eastern and Western Conferences had been announced, but only a few teams that were working hard for playoff tickets were still fighting.

But Pacers fans did not expect that they would face another round of crisis:

Injuries.

Vogel is a coach who emphasizes defense. A common problem among defensive coaches is that they don't like to take risks.

In other words, they only believe in players who have proven that they can integrate into the team's tactics.

This resulted in the Pacers' starting five playing time being more than 30 minutes. George's playing time was even close to 38 minutes. Qi Tian followed closely behind, averaging 35 minutes per game.

The substitute's playing time is generally Hansbrough's 18 minutes. The main substitute time is around 15-17 minutes. Ben Hansbrough, McGuire and rookie Plumlee appear at the end of the bench.

The time is controlled within 7 minutes.

Under such exhaustion, David West sprained his calf and Hill suffered a thumb contusion, which kept them out for a period of time.

On March 24, George also suffered a minor sprain during training and missed the game against the Hawks the next day.

Three of the Pacers' starting point guards, small forwards and power forwards missed the game due to injuries. This caused the Pacers' coaching team to receive another critical call from president Larry Bird.

"I don't want injuries to be a hindrance to the team's victory this year. Although Granger has been reimbursed due to injury, it does not mean that other people are injured and it has nothing to do with you!"

In addition to being furious, Bird was even a little lucky that this wave of injuries broke out early instead of in late April when the playoffs came. The team only had two main players who could play in the playoffs.

It’s weird to go on a round trip.

"We originally wanted to arrange rest days."

Vogel's explanation pales in comparison to the facts. After all, everyone is consequentialist.

Bird sighed and said to the detained head coach:

"Frank, don't coax me. Do you really think this is a matter of who takes turns and who doesn't take turns?"

Vogel's face turned pale and he said no more.

Playing clever tricks with a well-connected person will only increase your laughter.

"I know you have no experience in this area, but it's better than nothing, right?"

Bird looked at the subordinate in front of him and said,

"In the next games, I don't want you to take anyone's physical fitness for granted, at least not in the regular season."

"This is a marathon that everyone is participating in. You don't want us to just turn a corner and throw away five or six people, right? What are you going to do when they need to work together to accelerate?"

Vogel nodded solemnly and said:

"Don't worry, boss. When Paul and the others come back, I will strictly control their playing time."

"Study more, this is the key to your ability to sit firmly in this position."

Bird gave Vogel a piece of advice and asked him to leave.

After Vogel left, Bird thought of one more thing, but it was too late to say it.

If there are only Hibbert and Qi Tian tomorrow, doesn't that mean we have to rely entirely on Qi Tian? It's just a good time to see what capabilities he has if he wants to renew his contract this year.

Bird then fell into a dilemma:

What should Qi Tian do if he performs well? What should he do if he performs poorly?

The simplest approach is to perform well and renew a large contract; if performance is poor, offer a small contract, but this is always one-sided.

Because when players renew their contracts, there are too many things to consider. The buyer's market and the seller's market can be switched at any time.

Will Qi Tian be offered a small contract if his performance is poor?

What if Qitian accepts the contract offered by another team and leaves? The team will lose a potential rookie who has been cultivated for two years.

Bird himself received calls from three teams, the Mavericks, Hawks and Pistons, wanting to discuss trade issues including Qi Tian.

After Bird refused, the three old foxes vaguely raised the issue of Xia Tian and Qi Tian signing first and then changing, and then hung up the phone.

Bird believes that Qi Tian will only receive more calls in private.

Offer big contracts despite poor performance?

That will affect the flexibility of the Pacers' salary space, and there will be problems with contract renewals with West George and others;

Even if we don’t consider other people, what should we do if Qitian’s contract becomes a junk contract?

For Bird, Qitian's good performance is actually a good thing.

Because this shows that Qi Tian's potential is greater than he imagined, and a player who has no brains to provide a maximum salary is someone that all teams want to have.

But at that time, we have to consider how to reduce the luxury tax.

"How about trading Qi Tian?"

This idea suddenly popped into Bird's mind.