The Basketball Court Swordsman

Norman Powell, Henson admitted that he didn't know the name before he played against the Raptors for the first time this season.

When he first played against the Raptors, he studied Powell, but he didn't think such an ordinary role player would cause any trouble to the Pacers.

As everyone knows, it was such a humble little character who killed Henson himself yesterday.

Indeed, he is not the person with the highest score in the Raptors, the highest score is Leonard.

Similarly, he is not the best plus-minus Raptors, the best is Serge Ibaka.

However, Norman Powell is the sharpest knife, piercing Henson's heart.

The loss of this game not only made Henson feel extremely annoyed, but also made him realize his situation this season.

Starting in the east, he must step by step. Because of the teams that look at him, it is possible to end his victory at any time. Even if he ever defeated them.

A game with the Raptors can only be regarded as a starter. Henson knows very well that the difficulty of the game in January will only continue to increase!

After a battle with the Raptors, the Pacers beat the Cavaliers in an away game by 21 points. But the victory in this game does not make Henson feel too happy, after all, the Cavaliers this season is a lottery team. The defending champion's victory over the lottery team is nothing to celebrate.

Henson has put his attention on the next game to challenge the Celtics in Boston.

At the beginning of the season, the Pacers also defeated the Celtics and won very easily. As long as Kelly Irving is dead, the Celtics offense is basically paralyzed in half.

But after more than half of the season, the Boston Celtics are more mature than they were at the beginning of the season. So this duel in Boston put Henson into a tough fight again.

At this point, the game has reached the fifth minute of the third quarter, and the Pacers only lead the Celtics by 1 point.

Stevens returned to his old business today and played the ultimate team offense. Kelly Irving reduced his shot count and actually did the job of a traditional point guard!

It was the same this time. Irving held the ball from outside the three-point line to call for the pick and roll, Horford and Marcus Morris double screened.

According to the experience of the last match, Irving will definitely kill the penalty area and make a fancy layup. While winning people's attention, he scored the basketball steadily.

But today, Irving did not do so. With the lessons from the last time and Stevens' reminder, Irving is very clear that there are defensive traps waiting for him at the basket. If you rushed to layup, it would just hit the Pacers.

So, after halfway through to attract defense, he suddenly passed the ball and divided it into Marcus Morris' hands.

The latter made a decisive shot from outside the three-point line. Because of George's defense of Irving, he failed to block Morris' jumper in the first place.

In this way, the Celtics hit a three-pointer again. Irving scored his sixth assist in the game. So far, Irving has only scored 7 points. However, Henson felt that he was more threatening than before.

"A beautiful breakthrough point. Kelly Irving continues to cause trouble for the Pacers by passing the ball. Coach Stevens's tactics are clear and efficient. Now, the Celtics have come back by 2 points. This game has been very anxious from the beginning."

Mike Brin shook his head. January was a huge test for the Pacers.

Meanwhile, Henson sat blankly on the bench. With Norman Powell's "get off the horse", Henson has become accustomed to encountering surprises in such games.

Irving suddenly stopped scoring and started to organize an offense. Was he surprised? Surprise, but Henson had expected that he would be surprised.

Therefore, he did not panic or overwhelmed, but calmly analyzed the situation.

The Stevens guy uses Irving as Thomas, the purpose of which is to activate the whole team's offense and avoid the situation where Irving is attacking alone.

But Owen's organizational ability is still somewhat different from that of Thomas at his peak. Henson believes that as long as it can contain Irving's passing route and can quickly switch defenses, it should be able to contain the Celtics' scoring momentum.

For a moment, Henson almost couldn't help but put the ultimate lineup on the court. After all, the Celtics center and Henson's favorite Al Horford is not that kind of inside giant. Marcus Morris, the power forward, is also more inclined to the third position. With the ultimate lineup to deal with the Celtics, the inside will not suffer.

But in the end, Henson also rejected the plan. Now, it's not time to fight for life.

Therefore, in the last three minutes of the third quarter, Henson sent a small lineup of Antetokounmpo + Oladipo + George + Siakam + P.J. Tucker.

Although this lineup is a small lineup, it is not "small" at all. In terms of height, the Pacers did not suffer. The most powerful aspect of this lineup is that five people can basically achieve unlimited changes. While infinitely changing defenses, it can also ensure efficiency.

Use the overall defense to contain the Celtics' overall offense, this is Henson's strategy.

Once this lineup came out, the effect was really good. Oladipo entangled Owen with his strong aggressiveness and prevented him from handling the ball easily. The other four can actually stare at their match-ups without giving them a chance to catch the ball easily.

In the last three minutes of the third quarter, the Celtics' offensive efficiency began to decline.

By the middle of the fourth quarter, the Pacers completed the overtake. At the end of the fourth quarter, the Celtics couldn't find an offensive point for a while.

Henson has always believed in a law: playing team basketball in regular time is okay, but there must be an offensive strength at critical moments. Otherwise, the team's offense at the critical moment will only be extremely chaotic.

Today, Stevens's Celtics can't find an offensive strength at a critical moment.

Irving didn't have a main attack in the whole game, and suddenly he couldn't break out of form. And Morris, Horford and even Tatum and others, facing Henson’s unlimited defense lineup, their one-on-one efficiency is very average.

Stevens naturally knows that there must be an offensive strength at the last moment, but sometimes there are some things that the head coach does not know, and it will definitely succeed.

As for the Pacers, Paul George stood up and made a final decision at a critical moment. In the end, Henson's team won in Boston without any risk.

125 to 123. If there is one more round, Henson won't know who will win in the end.

In the whole game, 7 Celtics scored in double figures, 3 of them scored 20. It is no exaggeration to say that this is one of the best games the Celtics have played so far this season.

However, the defending champion finally relied on Henson's timely adjustments and the outstanding performance of the players. Of course, this victory also lost a layer of skin to the Pacers.

"You almost killed me, Brad." Henson was tired when shaking hands with Stevens after the game. This game really consumed a lot of his energy.

"Unfortunately you will win in the end, Henson. Stay, you can still rule the league for a long time." Stevens sighed. He had tried his best, but still lost.

Since he was alone, he didn't seem to have beaten Henson very well. There are so many coaches in the league, only Henson is a hurdle that Stevens cannot pass.

Who would have thought that the little assistant coach who came to Butler University for advice could achieve such a terrible achievement in the NBA.

"Forget it, I'm determined to go, Brad. I hope this year's Eastern Conference finals...you can make the appointment."

After shaking hands, Henson looked around. Boston Celtics, North Shore Garden Arena. At the beginning of the season, he didn't have to struggle to win here. But now, he is extremely tired. His players are equally exhausted.

As the season progressed, everyone was improving. It is no longer so easy to defeat a powerful enemy. The last season is indeed the most difficult one.

After the game, Henson dragged his tired body to the press conference. However, the exhaustion of this narrow victory had not disappeared, and Henson was overwhelmed by another problem.

"Coach Henson, Jimmy Butler claims that he will definitely win at Bankers Life Arena this time. What do you think of this? Do you think you can still suppress him after he joins the Philadelphia 76ers?"

Henson didn't answer, but rubbed his face tiredly. Jimmy Butler, he’s crazy to win at the Banker’s Life Arena.

The game against the 76ers will definitely be more difficult than today.

A wave has not settled, and a wave has risen again.