The Basketball Court Swordsman

The return of Ray Allen and David West gave Henson great confidence.

What confidence? In the regular season to achieve an incredible 72 wins, and still shine in the playoffs confidence. Let's be more blunt, with the confidence to win 72 wins while being able to take turns to rest!

? Now the team has basically no injuries and is well organized. In this season, Henson can finally line up without considering injuries. The two main players, West and Ray Allen, can make the players' playing time become more even, and it is impossible to get injured because of fatigue.

West played crazy for nearly 40 minutes, and this situation will not happen again.

After defeating the Suns in the away game, Henson clearly emphasized the goal of the season in a coaching meeting-on April 5th, a well-organized team will win the Oklahoma City Thunder. As long as they beat the Thunder, no team in the league can stop the Pacers from achieving 72 wins. After the victory over the Thunder, the team began taking turns to prepare for the playoffs.

"Note that it is a rotation, not an average rotation. After the game on April 5th, we have to let a few players take a rotation for each game and cycle until the start of the playoffs. In this way, we can avoid injuries as much as possible. Ill and save the players’ energy."

In the conference room, Henson presented his plan in full. While taking turns, he still has 72 wins. But it sounds like a crazy plan, and the feasibility has become higher and higher.

See which opponents the Pacers will face in April? After the game with the Thunder on April 5, the Pacers' opponents were the Wizards, Cavaliers, Nets, Knicks and Philadelphia 76ers. These teams are not too strong, Henson is confident that even with the rotation of the lineup, he will only lose two of them.

In this way, the Pacers' record can just reach 72 wins. The most important thing is that they don't need to be like the Chicago Bulls back then, until the final game of the regular season, they must still play with their full main lineup!

Take 72 wins while taking turns, from dream to reality, it's that simple!

"The opportunity to become famous, guys. If you can get 72 wins, believe me, this group of us will become a mark that can never be erased in the history of the league! Even after ten or twenty years, People will talk about us too! Even if they forget who the championship was ten years ago, they won’t forget who won the regular season 72 wins! So let’s work hard together. Of course, don’t tell the players about this. , The plan is good if we know it by ourselves. There is no need to put such pressure on the players. When they felt the pressure, they found 72 wins and they were already in the bag!"

With a clear goal, the subsequent plan will be easier to execute. A season of great creation is brewing in Indianapolis...

The state of David West and Ray Allen in training made Henson happy. Although they were absent for almost a month, the two did not lose their competitive form.

Before the injury, David West had a wave of back-to-back performance, scoring 20 points in four consecutive games. Now returning, West seems to have residual heat.

The most obvious point is that in the confrontational training, West embarrassed Horford. The addition of Ray Allen allows Henson to have more changes and choices in the rotation time.

"The feeling of a complete lineup is really nostalgic." Henson shook his head. So far, the Pacers have lost 8 games, but 4 of them were defeated in March.

In other words, the Pacers with a neat lineup only lost 4 games in total before March. Although the Pacers' results in March were still outstanding, it must be admitted that the Pacers also lost that absolute dominance after a loophole in the lineup.

Seeing the sweaty players on the training ground, Henson couldn't help clenching his fists. He can't wait to remind the whole league of how terrible the lineup of Pacers is!

That unparalleled dominance is about to return to the entire alliance!

On April 1, the Indiana Pacers had a game to play on the first day of April. Although their opponent Los Angeles Clippers are among the top eight in the Western Conference, for Henson, this team led by Griffin and DeAndre Jordan is not too strong.

So today, at the Staples Center, people found that Ray Allen and David West have started to follow the team to run away games. Before the game started, they all played to warm up.

However, during the game, the two always didn't play for a minute, sitting on the bench in training clothes and chattering.

"It seems that Coach Henson is indeed very cautious. He did not rush to get Ray Allen and David West back on the court, but continued to watch and protect. The playoffs will start in half a month. At that time, no one wants to take risks."

"You mean, are the Pacers going to give up their 72-win record?"

"Perhaps, for the Pacers after all. Defending the title successfully is the greatest victory."

Kevin Harlan and Kenny Smith who explained the game were actually only half right. Henson really didn't want to risk anymore, but he never planned to give up on the 72 wins.

Because there is no David West, Horford and "Birdman" Anderson have to deal with the impact of Jordan, so today, most of the people defending Griffin fell on Yi Jianlian.

However, Yi Jianlian is indeed struggling to defend Griffin. Griffin's impact and confrontation capabilities are not something Yi Jianlian can contend. He was not tragically cut off by Griffin today. It was a blessing in misfortune.

So today, Griffin's performance is very eye-catching. The game was 8 of 13 shots and scored 18 points with a 61.5% shooting rate.

It is precisely because of Griffin's outstanding performance that the Clippers have been biting the score. It seems that they are only so short of overturning the defending champion!

However, the Clippers did not catch their breath. Until the end of the 48-minute game, the Clippers were still 3 points behind the Pacers. 109 to 106, Henson narrowly beat the Clippers on the road without using West and Ray Allen!

"Coach Henson is so complacent. The game is so anxious. There are two players next to him who may change the trend of the game. However, Coach Henson still acted according to the original plan. He was in danger and eventually let him The team won."

At the critical moment, Kevin Harlan, who explained the game, could see sweaty palms. Henson just stood on the sidelines with no expression, as if his team was not leading by 3 points, but 30 points.

In fact, although the Clippers have been close to the Pacers score, but since the fifth minute of the third quarter, they have never been able to complete a lead.

The anxiety of the game is just an illusion. The Pacers have been suppressing the Clippers and controlling the rhythm. Otherwise, a mere 3 points disadvantage, the Clippers would have already counterattacked.

The most terrible thing is this. You always think that there is only a small gap between your opponent and your opponent. However, what you don't know is that your opponent has no strength at all.

Being able to hold this tiny gap without changes proves that this opponent is actually several times stronger than you!

After the game, Blake Griffin, who had to eat and drink on Yi Jianlian's head, walked into the player channel in a loss. He always thought it was a loss. But in fact, the difference in strength between the two sides in this game was so obvious that it couldn't be more obvious.

"Coach Henson, congratulations on your thrilling victory."

Hearing the reporter say that this was a "thrilling victory", Henson slightly cocked the corner of his mouth, but said nothing.

"Today, you still haven't used Ray Allen and David West. Will you still send them to play for the rest of the regular season?" The reporter held the microphone to Henson's mouth. The game itself There is nothing worth talking about, so reporters can only look for topics outside the game.

"No, I'm not going to make those two guys pay for nothing." Henson waved his hands jokingly. "In fact, I plan to let them play in the next game. I think Ray and David are sure. I will very much support this decision."

Henson replied lightly and did not cause any uproar. After all, God knows if he is telling the truth. Has the other team experienced less of being cheated by Henson? It is very possible that you laboriously arranged a lot of targeted tactics for Ray Allen and West, and as a result, they did not play at all!

But just three hours after the game ended, the reporters discovered something was wrong.

In the next game, the Pacers' opponent is currently second in the Western Conference. As long as they win another game, they can surpass the Spurs and become the first Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference! And if the Pacers win the Thunder again...

There will be no team that can prevent them from winning 72! In other words, Henson really intends to use the lineup of Pacers to fight the Thunder!

The reporters immediately worked overtime to create momentum for this unusual game. Among them, the headline of the front page of the "Oklahoma Evening Post" summarizes it very well.

"Oklahoma City Thunder is the league's only hope to prevent the Pacers from reaching 72 wins."