The Basketball Court Swordsman

Although many days have passed since the fierce battle between the Pacers and the Heat, people still talked about the game. After all, in the East, where many strong teams are no longer dominant, fans have rarely seen such a stimulating strong dialogue.

The buzzer dragged into overtime, and overtime ended the game with a lore. The fans naturally love this kind of game that continues to climax from the first second to the last second.

And now the Pacers, which can compete with the full lineup of the Big Three to the last minute of overtime, are recognized by most fans for their strength.

People even claimed that it was a preview of the Eastern Conference Finals!

Rehearsal of the Eastern Conference Finals...Henson curled his lips. But the fight in the NBA playoffs cannot be confused with the regular season. It is not so easy to reach the Eastern Conference finals. For example, now, the first place in the Eastern Conference in the regular season is the guarantee for the Pacers to enter the Eastern Conference Finals.

And how to surpass the bull who blocked and killed Buddha in the regular season is enough to make Henson feel a headache.

For this goal, Henson is now very concerned about any opponent, even the Blazers who have been locked out of the top eight in the West this season and the Philadelphia 76ers who are hovering in the eighth in the East. Henson has done nothing to them. Less research.

The effort paid off. On March 13th and March 14th, in this season's Group N back-to-back duel, the Pacers defeated the Trail Blazers and 76ers in two games. Yes, it is light.

The current Pacers seldom turn over these teams that have not reached the playoff level or are on the edge of the playoff level.

This feeling, Henson never experienced last season. It turns out that when playing certain games, he can really sit on the bench until his **** hurts.

O'Brien sits on the bench until his **** hurts because the Pacers he coaches are often destined to lose the game early. In Henson's situation, the opposite is true. The Pacers he leads often don't have to fight to the last minute to hold the victory tightly in their hands.

So far, including the Magic game, the Pacers quickly stabilized the ranking with a three-game winning streak after two consecutive losses. Now they are still 0.5 wins away from the No. 1 Bulls in the East.

This win is very delicate, as long as the Bulls are not careful, they will be overtaken by the Pacers. And if the Pacers lose those games that shouldn't be lost, not only will they be thrown away by the Bulls, but also be careful to watch the heat behind them.

Therefore, Henson feels that his recent pressure has never been greater. How far a team can go in a season is based on carefully laying the foundation since the regular season. Henson dreams every day, what if the Pacers can't reach the first place in the Eastern Conference, which will lead to the Eastern Conference finals.

After working hard for a year and recruiting so many helpers, the final result was the same as last season. Not to mention the players, even such a shameless self will be hit.

In order to prevent the nightmare from becoming a reality, the only thing Henson can do is to be ready to face every opponent. Therefore, after the three-game winning streak, when the Knicks with the "Lin Madness" bonus stood in front of him, Henson finally began to watch Jeremy Lin's game videos day and night.

Two consecutive back-to-back battles with the Knicks, this matchup that Henson had long been thinking about, finally came!

"Lin Madness", generally speaking, refers to Jeremy Lin leading the Knicks to seven consecutive victories.

However, after studying the video of the game, Henson discovered that, in fact, until now, "Lin Madness" still continues.

After 7 consecutive victories on February 17, the Knicks played against the Hornets, Jeremy Lin scored 26 points and 5 assists on Holiday.

Against the Mavericks on the 19th, Jeremy Lin had 28 points and 14 assists. On the 20th, against the Nets, Jeremy Lin 21 points, 7 rebounds and 9 assists...

Skip February and look directly at March. The Knicks played against the Blazers in the last game, Jeremy Lin still scored 14 points and 7 assists.

So, although Jeremy Lin let people talk about it is the 7-game winning streak. But Henson could see that this Chinese kid is still in good condition. Even after the return of Anthony, the "big appetite" who has the right to eat, Jeremy Lin can still stably win a 10+7 stat.

And Henson's evaluation of Jeremy Lin is in fact the same. Although this Harvard graduate, has lost the election, has been dismissed countless times, and looks like a nerd Asian Asian seems useless, but he definitely has the ability to gain a foothold in the NBA. If he plays well without being affected by injury, Jeremy Lin's career data can also stably achieve 10+ points and 5+ assists, making him a qualified starting point guard for an ordinary team.

It is indeed inspirational enough that a Chinese American who used to play without a ball can grow to this point. But even more inspirational, it's just an ordinary starting point guard. Henson believes that Chris Paul will be the chief culprit in extinguishing "Lin Madness"!

Stoudemire's state is very average this season, and Jeremy Lin is strangled to death. The only option for the Knicks is to make their "social melon" singles.

And Anthony singles is undoubtedly the situation Henson most hopes to see. Whether it was against the Nuggets or the Knicks last season, once Anthony hits a single game, it means that the Pacers are not far from victory.

With this perfect plan, Henson started the preparatory training before the game. After the back-to-back duel with the Blazers and 76ers, the Pacers only had two days off. Therefore, in these two days, the training must be effective and not too heavy. This is a great test of Henson's skills in formulating a training plan.

Fortunately, Henson, who once studied under the coach of Butler University Bulldogs Stevens, is already at his fingertips to develop a training plan. When Henson was chatting with Stevens recently, he also heard that the guy has plans to enter the NBA. Maybe next summer, I can dig my teacher to be my assistant?

Of course, if any NBA team is willing to hire Stevens as head coach, Henson will not be surprised. Nonsense, even his own "half-hearted" can be the head coach. What is impossible for someone like Stevens who has the foundation?

After shaking his head, Henson stopped thinking about these messy things, but focused on training.

But the training didn't seem to go as smoothly as Henson expected, and everyone was in good condition. But what is very surprising is that Chris Paul, the absolute leader, is in a very different state from others.

At first, Henson thought Paul was suffering from injuries. After all, the "Queen Bee" had a serious injury history in the 09-10 season-a torn knee meniscus.

This is definitely the pain of Paul's life. After this injury, Paul's speed and explosiveness have indeed declined to a certain extent. It can be said that some of Paul's upper limits have been lowered.

You know, Paul was already competing with the peak Kobe for the MVP in his third season in the league. He ranked second only to Kobe in the MVP voting, and almost made the "Ross Clause" become " Paul Clause".

However, in the season after this injury, Paul played 80 games and averaged only 15.8 points in 36 minutes, not as good as his rookie season. There is no doubt that the impact of the injury on Paul is enormous.

Fortunately, after coming to Indianapolis, Paul returned to his state. The scoring data of 21.6 points per game is more than a star and a half better than last season. And this season Henson has also upgraded several injury-related badges, and Paul shouldn't be troubled by injuries anymore.

After consulting the team doctor, Henson let out a sigh of relief. It turns out that Paul's poor condition is not because of injuries or the flu, but because his wife Jeda has some physical discomfort.

Like most black players, Jada and Paul knew each other when they were young. Although Jada and Paul only got married in August last year, they had already had a young son. Pregnancy before wedlock seems to be quite normal in Americans.

After all, Howard claims to have no girlfriend yet, but in fact, the cost of illegitimate children is estimated to have caused "Warcraft" a headache.

After the two got married last year, Jada was also pregnant with Paul's second child. According to the doctor's inference, the due date is August this year. In other words, the pregnancy in October is halfway through. Now that a pregnant wife feels unwell, it is reasonable for Paul as a husband and a responsible man to be distracted.

"Why don't you tell me if you have this kind of trouble, but ask the team doctor?" When Henson called Paul to his office, Henson also pretended to be a little angry. He has always thought that he and the players are very close, so naturally he also thinks that players should find him as the head coach if they have any troubles, even if Henson does not cure the illness.

However, Paul's answer made Henson feel a little heartwarming.

"I just don't want to influence the game, boss."

Paul knows very well what role he plays in the Pacers. How can a team leader bring things off the court to the game?

"It's okay. If the family needs it, you can do what a husband should do. I know that this shrinking season is very intensive, so you have almost no time to accompany your wife. But if you have other things in your mind, on the basketball court I can’t perform my best on the game.”

"The next group of back-to-back opponents is the Knicks, boss." Paul smiled. Although the Knicks are not ranked high this season, with the additions of Jeremy Lin and Anthony, no one thinks they are annoying. of.

"Don't worry, when you didn't come last season, we played the Knicks completely."

Instead of keeping Paul in such a bad state, Henson felt that it would be better for Paul to resolve the matter and then concentrate on returning to the game.

Besides, against the Knicks, Henson is really confident.