Before the Finals began, there were online predictions on the outcome, with the Suns overwhelmingly favored, even though the Pacers boasted retiring veteran Reggie Miller.

Almost all of Miller's contemporaries have retired, the remaining veterans will join him for a championship ring, and Miller's old teammates on the Pacers have left one by one. The once unruly big mouth has been confused by the years.

To go or to stay? While thinking about his career path, the general manager at the time, "Big Bird" Bird, tried his best to keep Miller. The phrase "the Pacers need you" made Miller decide to dedicate his entire career to the Pacers.

With Miller's hard work, the Pacers have rebuilt a group of strong players this season and reached the Finals.

It was well known that this was Miller's last season, and when he was last seen at Madison Square Garden, the most hated Miller-hating New Yorkers had reason to sarcastically mock the empty-handed foe in the most vicious words, with the highest decibel boos.

But on that night, there was only a faint sadness and respect that filled the whole game. All the audience stood up and chanted his name. Miller, a once trash-talker, has earned the respect of fans and opponents alike with his never-give-up spirit.

After 18 years in the NBA, Miller has left behind countless classics, such as Miller moments, choke locks, and gentlemen's gifts.

Miller still has a role to play, and in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals, he played 33 minutes, shooting 11-of-16, 4-of-8 from three-point range, and 1-of-1 from the free throw line, scoring 27 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists, helping the Pacers win the battle of Kings Mountain and prove their quality.

However, the difference between the two teams is obvious, and the Suns can be said to have advantages in all positions.

Especially in the No. 1 position, the Pacers' starting point guard is Jamal Tinsley, and the backup is Anthony Johnson, both of whom are only role players. They can't limit Guo Xu with a single defense, and people think that the suspense of the finals is not who wins the championship, but how many games the Sun will use to win the championship.

In an interview before the game, everyone in the Suns was full of confidence, while the Pacers players and coaches only said that they would do their best.

Guo Xu is the most confident person, without the Auburn Hills Palace battle, it is an accident that the Pacers entered the Finals, how can they win the championship? In the previous life, the team that won the championship in 2005 was the Spurs, but the Suns beat the Spurs in the Western Conference.

On June 9, the first battle between the two sides began in Phoenix.

Due to the late start of the season and the tie-break in the Eastern Conference Finals, the Pacers only had two days off to start the finals, and the Suns had a huge advantage in terms of player strength.

Even so, D'Antoni did not arrange a run-and-bomb tactic, but let Xiao Si and Nene form a twin tower starter, play more positional attacks, and constantly block and cover to create misplaced offensive opportunities.

This is the Suns' main tactic against the Timberwolves last season, O'Neal Jr.'s defense is good, compared to Garnett, it is still slightly inferior and not tough enough, which can be seen from the face. As long as O'Neal Jr. is withdrawn from the restricted area, the Suns' two interior players will hit the basket together and the Pacers will be enough.

Jeff Foster is a blue-collar center forward with a height of 211CM and a weight of 110kg. In Guo Xu's previous life, Foster was an unknown blue-collar worker until his retirement, and there were no bright spots in all aspects except for fighting for frontcourt rebounds.

Foster is at a disadvantage against the Suns' two major interior lines, and he can be released outside the box on the offensive end, and his statistics this season are the peak of his career, with 6 points, 8.3 rebounds, 0.8 assists, 0.7 steals and 0.2 blocks in 25 minutes.

You can see Foster's rim protection ability just by the data, the 7-foot white man has almost no blocks, and his defensive style is to interfere with his height, which can deal with the average inside, and if he can't jump up against Xiao Si and Nene, he has to watch them perform.

The Pacers' bench is not as good as Foster, Dale Davis is 36 years old, and he chose to lose weight in order to keep up with the pace of the game, with a height of 211CM and a weight of only 104kg.

Austin Crohill is a space-type power forward with a height of 206cm and a weight of 107kg, and his ability to protect the rim is even worse. He has long since become a high-paid and low-performance representative, shooting 37.8% from the field this season and averaging only eight minutes per game in the playoffs.

In order to change the defense infinitely, the Pacers are relatively mobile insiders, and the only meat shield is Scott Pollard, who is 211cm tall and weighs 120 kilograms, and is just a marginal man in the team.

Guo Xu passed to his teammates to impact the inside, and he looked for opportunities to shoot on the periphery, only when he was misplaced against the big man did he break through, and he would also choose to divide the ball when he broke through to attract the bag. This style of play was not expected by Coach Carlisle, and the Pacers were distracted in the third quarter.

Carlisle thought that Guo Xu would try his best to FMVP, and it was impossible to shoot very little in the finals, so he emphasized his defense before the game, and as a result, Guo Xu was organization-oriented throughout the game, attracting defensive assist teammates.

Guo Xu can focus more on the defensive end and entangle Tinsley with all his might.

In the first game, he played 38 minutes, shooting 6-of-11, 2-of-5 three-pointers, 3-of-4 free throws, and scored 17 points, 4 rebounds, 18 assists and 2 steals; Tinsley shot 0-of-5 from the field, 0-of-2 from three-point range, and made no free throws, finishing with 0 points, 4 rebounds and 8 assists.

Six members of the Suns scored double-doubles, selflessly sharing the ball, and only Xiao Si cut 20+. He played 36 minutes and had 26 points and 10 rebounds, beating O'Neal Jr. with 18 points and 7 rebounds.

O'Neal Jr. currently has a shortcoming, scoring is too dependent on shooting, and the shooting rate drops sharply under the rotation of Nener, Diop, Haslem and others.

In the first game, O'Neal Jr. made just 6 of 18 shots, 6 of 6 free throws, and didn't have an assist. With such a performance at the core of the team, it is not surprising that the Pacers lost by 27 points.

In the second battle between the two sides, O'Neal Jr. regained his senses, and the Pacers' outside line was guarded as a blacksmith again.

Jackson and Artest only hit 36.4% and 31.6% from the field, which was miserable. Reggie Miller made 3 of 6 shots, had 6 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists, and it was difficult to regain the courage of the year.

The Suns won again 107-86 and led 2-0 overall.

In the third game of the Polis game, the Suns won comfortably, and when the defense was solid, they always had the last laugh with a higher offensive efficiency.

Tinsley was beaten by Guo Xu every game, and his best performance got 8 points and 10 assists, and his score never doubled. Guo Xu scored two 20+10 games, with a hit rate of more than 50%.

In the fourth game, the league probably didn't want to see another Finals sweep, and the Pacers' home whistle was more obvious, with O'Neal Jr. scoring 36 points, 12 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 blocks, and made 15 of 17 free throws. Jackson finally made a move, hitting six three-pointers and scoring 26 points, two rebounds and three steals.

With the efforts of the two, the Pacers pulled one back 101-94.

On the defensive end, the Pacers made big defensive moves and the smell of gunpowder was very strong, and Xiao Si and Foster almost clashed, but fortunately they were stopped. The Pacers have the idea of "redeeming" in order to win. If the two are suspended together, the Pacers will definitely earn it.

In the fifth game, the Suns were mainly anti-visitors, and the Pacers were not given another chance, and Guo Xu broke out after four games of low-key. He broke through with the ball, caught and shot, attracted the ball and divided the ball, played with great flexibility, and dominated the court.

He shot 16-of-25, 7-of-12 from three-point range and 8-of-8 from the free-throw line to finish with 47 points and eight assists.

Tinsley's mentality has completely collapsed, and he can't defend against Guo Xu one-on-one, and he frequently hits iron on the offensive end. He shot just 4-of-12, 0-of-4 from three-point range and 4-of-4 from the free-throw line to finish with 12 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and two steals.

Joe Johnson, Marion, and Raja Bell also played well, once again killing Artest and Jackson.

The Suns won 79 on the road, defeating the Pacers with a total score of 4-1 and winning the championship strongly.