It wasn't until December 31, the last day of 2014, that the Pacers finally welcomed George Hill's return.

In the previous games, the Pacers' performance was relatively stable.

After losing to the Los Angeles Clippers, the team is on a three-game winning streak, beating the Nuggets, Timberwolves and Pelicans in quick succession.

At Christmas, the Pacers unfortunately did not qualify, and this was also the first time that Li Liang failed to participate in the Christmas War.

But there is no way, in terms of schedule, small teams like the Pacers still suffer more.

And at that time, the league did not expect that Li Liang would leave Los Angeles for Cleveland, and then run from Cleveland to Indiana.

So, the highlight of the league's Christmas game arrangement is James leading the Cavaliers back to Miami.

If Li Liang is also a knight, there will be more highlights and topics in this game.

It's a pity that Li Liang went to the Pacers, and this season I can feel that Xiao Hua has a tendency to "treat Li Liang coldly".

As the new president of the league, he will definitely create a new "basketball hero" of his own era.

Like Li Liang, a foreigner who embarrassed himself as soon as he took office, and moved his nest everywhere after winning the championship, how could Xiao Hua take him as an example to set up?

So he went to Indiana, which is kind of a middle league, and you just stay in the cornfield, and the spotlight doesn't belong to you.

But gold doesn't lose its shine because it's misplaced, and it doesn't get misplaced in a cornfield.

In the last three games, Li Liang scored more than 40 points in three consecutive games, including the game against the Nuggets, the whole team only scored 81 points, and Li Liang scored 42 points alone, more than half of the team's scores.

On the road to the scoring title, Li Liangzheng is going faster and faster.

After the end of the Christmas War, the Pacers' form has had some ups and downs.

On December 26, they suffered a shock loss to the Detroit Pistons on the road.

After winning away at the Nets on the 27th, he returned home on the 29th and lost to the Chicago Bulls by one point.

In the regular season encounters, the instability of defensive teams was revealed.

It's said that defense doesn't deceive you, but in fact, from the regular season, defensive teams always have a worse record than offensive teams over a long season.

Correspondingly, offensive teams have better regular season records, and in the playoffs, they will be criticized for having difficulty winning championships.

Li Liang's performance after Christmas also showed slight ups and downs.

Now that he's the league's leading scorer, teams are targeting him more and more, and he's starting to enjoy Kobe's treatment.

Since you enjoy Kobe's treatment, it is inevitable that Kobe Bryant's performance will come.

Over the past two seasons, Li Liang has been synonymous with "efficient".

By this season, Li Liang had already been disciplined several times.

In fact, his strength has improved compared to the past, and because of this, the increase in ball possession will inevitably lead to a decrease in efficiency.

After the loss to the Bulls, the Pacers' record moved to 22-10.

14 years are not over, and the Pacers have lost more than the Clippers last season last year.

On December 31, the Pacers host the Miami Heat, and the good news finally arrives, with George Hill back.

Larry Bird had been looking forward to a full season of Pacers and it finally came true before this game.

Hill had already started training with the team three days ago, and by the 30th, he had participated in the team's confrontational training and proved that he had recovered and was ready to play.

Hill's arrival made up for the Pacers' last shortcoming on the guard line.

With the current explosion of point guards in the league, it is too bad not to have a reliable defender at the No. 1 position.

Sloan has a lot of energy on the offensive end, but he can't match George Hill's role in letting go.

With Hill's return, the Pacers are theoretically fully rostered.

Bird tuned the small half of the season, lining up the starting lineup of McGee, Leung Lee, Granger, J.R. Smith and George Hill.

Then, the main players on the bench became Stephenson, David West, Shambaught plus Luis Scola.

The Pacers are in great shape at the moment, and all they need now is to prove themselves.

The Pacers are sixth in the East, half a win away from the fifth-placed Bulls.

And right behind the Pacers is the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The Cavaliers got off to a poor start and fell to the bottom of the East at one point.

In December, the Cavaliers found their form and began to play catch-up under James' leadership.

They had an eight-game winning streak at the start of December.

However, the Cavaliers have been in trouble again recently, and several big defeats in succession have made people wonder how much energy James still has at the moment.

Compared with the cooled Li Liang and the doubted James, the hottest team in the league at present is the Golden State Warriors.

As of No. 31, they have a 24-5 record and have created a whirlwind of golden three-pointers in the league.

The "Splash Brothers," formed by Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, began to dominate the league's headlines.

Warriors face their opponents, and almost all of them are devastating victories.

The doubts about Steve Kerr before the start of the season were swept away.

People say that Steve Kerr really activated the Warriors and infused the championship genes into the Warriors' bodies.

As a new force in the league, the Golden State Warriors are the most popular fried chicken this season.

And the game between the Pacers and the Warriors will not have their first meeting in 15 years.

To be honest, in the eastern game, Li Liang still felt quite bored.

The overall strength of the eastern team is indeed inferior to that of the western one, and the number of stars is much less.

Moreover, the style of the eastern team is more dull defensively, not as offensive as in the west, and the autumn wind sweeps away the leaves.

However, during this time, Li Liang also calmed down, entered the system, and began to learn some new tactical knowledge.

With the change of role, Li Liang faced more and more packs, ultra-high-intensity defense, targeted defense, and even malicious collision defense in the game.

In addition to further improving his physical fitness and technical ability, and by the way, he took out a hair dryer to scold the opponent, Li Liang felt that it was necessary to learn some tactical theories to deal with these defenses.

Although there are two best coaches in the team, Bird Li Liang doesn't want to ask, Horse Games has not been able to win Bird so far, and he can't pull his face.

Mike Brown ...... Forget it, Li Liang doesn't want to talk to him lately.

This thing has been a bit crazy recently, and he is seriously designing "oppressive defensive tactics with Li Liang as the core", and Li Liang feels big when he hears this name.

Lao Tzu is going to oppressive defense again?

I couldn't get busy, so I still didn't discuss it with him.

Then, Li Liang still entered the system, and in Dimension 5, Tactical Literacy, he chose [Broken Bag] in [Advanced Offensive Tactics].

Then he entered the training ground and began to receive guidance from the former Rockets coach, Tomjanovich.

Back then, in the Rockets, Olajuwon was subjected to countless packs, and how to crack the packs, Tang Shuai naturally had his tricks.

Li Liang thought to himself, Lao Tzu is an outsider, is it appropriate for me to learn the center's broken bag?

Could it be that Brown was right?

No way, I don't believe it, I don't want to play center.

Facts have proved that the methods and skills of breaking the bag and clamping are similar inside and outside, and the key is how to handle the ball reasonably and calmly.

Li Liang followed the 1994 Houston Rockets and trained in the system for a week, and the ability of [Broken Bag Clip] was improved.

So, on the day of the 31st, the complete Pacers faced the Heat without James at home, and the result can be imagined.

The returning George Hill scored 20 points in the game and can be said to be a perfect return.

And Li Liang continued his performance as the scoring champion, with 35 points and 8 assists in a single game, and defended Bosh one-on-one, preventing Bosh to only 14 points.

The Pacers swept the Heat at 121-98, with a 23-point advantage at Conseco Arena.

After a stumbling season for half a season, the Pacers are finally on the right track, ending their 2014 season and starting their 2015 journey.