Liu Mang and Maddie glanced at each other, Liu Mang's eyes were full of longing, but Maddie turned his head......

When I needed you, you didn't say anything......

Liu Mang now feels the context of this lyric, it turns out that this is the current situation!

Shooting 8 of 26, Liu Mang played too badly, except for 6 of 15 three-pointers, who were not bad, with a 40 percent three-point shooting rate, he did a very bad job in other aspects.

Get away with it!

Liu Mang and his teammates played until the middle of the third quarter, and when Coach Kruger called a timeout, Liu Mang and others found that they were so far behind!

The Hawks won 73, the Pacers only won 39, 34 wins, the Hawks said that they should pay attention to every opponent in the playoffs, but as soon as the game began, they let themselves go and played, and they were beaten by the opponent in the third quarter 20-6!

Coach Kruger called a timeout, trying to make the players nervous, trying to tighten the rhythm, it was no longer possible.

There was no sense of urgency, no defensive pressure, and the offensive end was not bad, but it was not good, with only 22 points in the third quarter, and 16 points in the second half of the offense.

On the Pacers' side, they fought harder and harder, and sometimes they played better with the lead, and even the long-lost Artest and O'Neal Jr.'s high-low strategy was played.

At the end of the third quarter, the Hawks were 67-88, 21 points behind the Pacers!

Coach Kruger is angry!

The pre-game training was so serious, Liu Mang and Maddie also went to him to talk about tactical changes, so Coach Kruger would sit firmly on Mount Tai in the first half when his team's offense was poor and the defense could not be prevented, and he felt that the opponent was so strong that he could easily overtake in the second half.

Who knew that it was the opponent who took the lead in the second half, and the opponent played a wave of 20-6, which suddenly opened the difference.

The Hawks were beaten by the Pacers for 39 points in the third quarter!

Artest had 13 points and 4 assists in a single quarter, and he defended very well in the first half of the third quarter, leading the Pacers to play the first half of the defensive explosion.

In the fourth quarter, the angry coach Kruger pressed Liu Mang on the bench, although it was Maddie's wave mode, but there must be someone to blame, Liu Mang was regarded as a backstabber, Coach Kruger finished the third quarter, pointing to Liu Mang, who threw 26 shots in the third quarter and only scored 8 points to get 25 points.

As for Maddie in 4 of 14......

Generally speaking, commanders will choose to warn others by punishing the comrade with whom they have the best relationship.

If the NBA is a battlefield, the relationship between the head coach and the players is like the relationship between comrades-in-arms, and from the perspective of a company, it is a colleague relationship, and if it is a little more, it is a mentor-apprentice relationship, and it will not be counted as a relationship between superiors and subordinates.

Rasheed Wallace, who shot 1 of 7 today, and 4 of 14 shots also got out, and the two together are not as high as Liu Mang, but Liu Mang is the one who was sprayed by Coach Kruger.

The Pacers are already on the rise, with three first-class stars, and Artest, a guy who is very tough on both ends of the offensive and defensive ends, it will be too difficult for the Hawks to turn the tables around!

Just like the second round of the series between the Lakers and the Rockets in 2009 in the original time and space, the Rockets just had one more Artest who was 30 years old and had passed his prime, but he transformed in an instant, reached the second round, and could still fight seven games with the Lakers, the champion of the season, who were obviously undermatched, and still when the Rockets lost Maddy from the beginning and Yao Ming in the fifth game of the second round, Artest led the team to tie seven.

Artest is a player who can transform a team, he is not the strongest on the offensive end, maybe not the strongest on the defensive end, he has obvious shortcomings, but as long as the team is willing to fight together, he can create miracles!

In the fourth quarter, Coach Kruger simply pressed Liu Mang to the bench, let Maddie and Jason Terry go up and fight for a wave, and then kept fiercely attacking Liu Mang, making others feel his anger.

Jason Terry and Maddy went up to fight for a quarter, but still didn't close the margin too much.

Liu Mang was yelled at by Coach Kruger, and when there were 4 minutes left in the fourth quarter and 21 points behind 81-102 entering garbage time, Liu Mang asked for help from the replaced Maddie's eyes, and Maddie pretended not to know anything and went to discuss today's problems with Stockton.

Maddie is very calm, knowing that she has caused something today, but since there is a backer, Maddie has turned into an ostrich......

Liu Mang looked at Jason Terry, who played 30 minutes and scored only 15 points on 6-of-15 shooting, Rasheed Wallace, who played 29 minutes and scored 5 points on 1-of-8 shooting, and looked at Maddie, who scored 18 points on 6-of-17 shooting after playing 33 minutes......

These three guys, who usually call him so affectionately with a good brother, all sold him at a critical moment!

The Eagles replaced the main force and announced their surrender, 4 minutes, 21 points, it's not that they can't chase, the key is that the other party has boosted their morale, the Eagles scored a goal, and the opponent desperately hit his head against his arm to score two points or one.

109-91, when the Pacers blew the final whistle, the three stars of the Pacers who were still on the court in garbage time were so excited that they cheered and celebrated like they had won the championship!

Artest, who had 33 points, 3 boards, 7 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks, Jermaine O'Neal, who had 22 points and 11 boards, was 3-of-9 in the first three quarters by Liu Mang, and only 2-of-6 in the fourth quarter by Maddy, and only 5-of-15 in the game to score 11 points but desperately grabbed 10 rebounds.

They actually won against the Eagles!

Before the series began, they didn't expect to win against the Hawks, and it was the playoff opener that won against the Eagles!

They don't care what the future holds, they usually have a problem with each other, and the three of them have been put aside for the time being, and now they have won!

The Eagles, who have won 73 wins, and the defending champions, who have won two consecutive championships!

……

After the game, the Eagles locker room refused to be interviewed, and Coach Kruger scolded Liu Mang in the locker room.

This situation has hardly happened, even Jason Terry, a veteran who has been the second oldest member of the team since Liu Mang entered the team, has never seen Coach Kruger scold Liu Mang like this, and everyone in the Eagles knows that they are really playing too badly today.

After scolding Liu Mang miserably, Coach Kruger's frustration was finally vented, leaving the locker room so quiet that he could hear a single needle, leaving a group of wide-eyed players.

Seeing that Coach Kruger had indeed left, Liu Mang, who had been miserable before, immediately became energetic and walked over to Maddie, Jason Terry, and Rasheed Wallace, who were sitting together, three teammates who performed worse than him today.

The three of them were in a mess, and Maddie hid behind Rashid Wallace: "Ace, what are you going to do!" Stay back! ”

Suddenly, Rashid Wallace pulled Maddie directly from behind him in front of him, using Maddie as a shield: "Ace, what are you going to do, Jason, we haven't taken a shower together for a long time, let's take a shower......"

Jason Terry immediately ran with Rashid Wallace, leaving Maddie huddled in the corner of the locker room.

Maddie looked at Liu Mang's hideous face, but she didn't expect that she would have today......

……

Outside the locker room, Stockton asked Coach Kruger: "Lang, will you scold too much, what if Ace has a problem with his mentality?" ”

"Is there something wrong with that kid's mentality? No, don't put a little pressure on him, he's completely using the playoffs as a playground, he hasn't lost a series other than the Eastern Conference Finals, and he doesn't have the opponents of the first two series in his eyes at all. Coach Kruger said it was fine.

"yes, Ace never seems to have lost the first game of the series, what a horrible guy." Stockton then remembered how terrifying Liu Mang's playoff dominance was before this game.

'We can't be careless, we've lost home advantage, we have to win the game the day after tomorrow, it's bad to be two games behind......

Coach Kruger and Stockton are actually not so worried about losing this game.

The main reason for the loss was that from the very beginning of the game, Maddie and Liu Mang started to wave with their teammates, so that the usually cautious role players played.

So much so that in the second half, if you want to raise the rhythm and play tighter, you can't do it.

But Coach Kruger didn't have the slightest doubt about winning the series.

scolded Liu Mang, mainly to let those role players see that he was angry.

For Liu Mang, just scold, for others, don't scold, just hide it, play the Pacers, the Hawks hide a few substitutions who are not active, and they can still win.

The main thing is to focus!

The Pacers were abused for 18 points in the first game, couldn't shoot, and didn't have any cohesion on defense.

It's better to have a problem early than a temporary problem, and the Hawks coaching staff can see it.

As a coach to see a lot more than a player, the Hawks have been blocked by the Nets in the East for two years, and all the other playoff opponents in the East have been beaten by the Hawks, and the mentality of the Hawks is too relaxed, especially after two consecutive championships, they have won 73 wins, and they don't take the opponent in their eyes at all.

The Hawks gradually have the "aristocratic disease" of the Lakers, this mentality is not bad to say, the team should have the pride of a strong team, but it must be nervous.

The Lakers have Kobe Bryant's paranoia that even his teammates have to spray, don't worry about that, but the Hawks don't have Kobe's kind of air-spraying people, so they need the coaching staff to handle these things.

……

In the locker room, Liu Mang and Maddie, who had made a fuss, went to take a shower together, did not accept an interview, and went home early.

It's a shame to lose the first game of the playoffs!