Indiana Pacers, Bankers Living Arena, Corn Yellow Jersey, Henson. Joe......

These things are good for Kelly. For Owen, it's a lingering nightmare. He was previously defeated by the Pacers at Cleveland Cavaliers. And at that time, he had LeBron next to him. James is such a reliable and good teammate.

And this year, it's Kelly. For the first time, Irving faced the Pacers alone in the playoffs. Although the Celtics and Pacers met in the Eastern Conference Finals last season, Irving didn't even play a game due to injury.

As such, this is the first time he has faced the threat of the defending champions in a real sense of the word.

Will he be able to lead the Celtics to victory? Owen didn't know. The only thing he knew was that the second round of the series would definitely drop a piece of meat for himself. Without James' game, Irving has had enough......

"Kelly, today you pay attention to pass the ball more and don't fall into the trap of the opponent's defense. The Pacers must have done a lot of special defensive setups for you, and your job is to make their setups go to waste! ”

It wasn't until he heard Stevens shouting that Owen came back to his senses. He's not here to miss LeBron, he's here to beat the Pacers.

"I see, I'll pay more attention."

Stevens could see that Owen was a little absent-minded, but it was not good to say it in front of so many people. He could only nod his head and pray that his star would perform well in the games he would play later.

Whether it's the Butler College Bulldogs, the Pacers or the Celtics under Thomas Jr., Stevens' team has been united. This is also the reason why the Celtics, led by Thomas Jr., were able to make a name for themselves in the East.

But this year, Stevens' Celtics weren't particularly united. Although the team's locker room is far from the point of breaking out into clashes, it has already greatly affected the combat effectiveness.

Stevens' ability to adjust to this complex locker room atmosphere really needs to be improved.

Both Stevens and Henson knew the Celtics were unlucky, but the media didn't think so. In their opinion, the team that can sweep the Milwaukee Bucks is certainly not an idle person.

So before the game began, most of the media believed that the Celtics were at least on par with the Pacers. This was strange when Henson was interviewed on the sidelines before the game.

"Coach Henson, how are you going to fend off the Celtic offense today? As we all know, the Celtics have a lot of offensive firepower, and you'll be able to do a lot against Kelly. Does Owen use bag clips? ”

"Why don't you ask the Celtics how to fend off our attack? And in my opinion, the fact that the Celtics have a lot of firepower is not well known, at least I don't know. ”

"Uh...... You should know that the Celtics just swept the Milwaukee Bucks......"

"The Milwaukee Bucks and Celtics didn't have 50 wins, while my team had 74 wins. So, what does the Celtics' sweep of the Bucks mean? ”

Henson is still like that, he doesn't like to say flattery, especially in front of the media.

Henson said he would crush Celtic 4-0, and he would definitely put it into action. Even so, it would be very embarrassing for his old friend Stevens.

"The game is about to start, and Coach Henson is as confident as ever. In his opinion, the Celtics' sweep of the Bucks to advance is not a big move. We hope that Coach Henson is not just a vicious mouth, but that he can match his pride. The Celtics started the lineup, and Coach Stevens didn't change lineup. ”

Henson looked up at the court, Horford, Jalen. Brown, Tatum, Marcus. Morris and Irving, Stevens fielded his strongest lineup.

On paper, the Celtics are really strong in this set of starters.

"Ball Blind Examiner" Al. Needless to say, Horford even limited Antetokounmpo during the regular season.

Marcus. Morris has always been a superb role player, averaging nearly 14 points per game as a support player, and also being able to output three points consistently, which is really remarkable.

Tatum and Jaylen. Brown averaged 18 points per game in the playoffs last season. Owen's fame doesn't need much explanation.

Henson admits that even the Pacers will struggle to defend against this Celtics lineup if it plays at full capacity. Not to mention the seven-man rotation in the Stevens playoffs, there are two strong players in Hayward and Rochel.

But basketball isn't just a matter of paper, and the Celtics have had so much of an impact this year that they haven't been as scary as they seem.

This season's Jalen. Brown has suffered a severe loss of self and has not shown a bit of a resurgence until the end of the season. Brown mistakenly focused on singles skills during the summer, and as a result, he didn't get time for singles when he started the season, but instead lost the ability to shoot from the outside that he had worked so.

This year, his three-point shooting percentage plummeted to 34.4 percent, leading to a reversal in his overall performance. And his reading ability in the ball game was already below the level, and he spent more time on the court scurrying around like a headless fly.

The same problem actually arises with Jason. Tatum seems to be following Kobe. Bryant training together wasn't the best option for Tatum.

In the playoffs for two consecutive years, Tatum's three-point shooting rate fell between 32.3~32.4%, and even two-point shooting was relatively sluggish this season when the shooting was completely undisciplined. A lot of players want to emulate Kobe, but in fact there is only one Kobe in this world.

The current appearance of these two guys is naturally not comparable to last season. So in fact, these two young people are not as powerful as they remember.

Of course, when the same problem arises with the young players in a team, it is likely that the problem should not be simply attributed to the young players.

Kelly. Irving and Hayward's on-the-spot season performances are the biggest reason why the Celtics are not favored by Henson right now.

Irving's shooting percentage and three-point percentage in the playoffs this year are both career-low levels, and Irving seems to be missing some leadership qualities on the court.

It's a pity for Hayward, maybe he'll get better in the future, but at least this season this guy can't recover from the shadow of injury. In the series against the Bucks, Hayward's 20-point score in Game 4 was all reported by the media.

But shouldn't scoring 20 points per game be the norm for Hayward? The truth is brutal that Hayward is averaging just 9.4 points per game in the playoffs this season......

Young point guard Rochel was a surprise for the Celtics last season, and his 16.5 points and 5.7 assists per game in the playoffs made him a candidate for the next No. 1 point guard in the league.

But this season, due to the unpleasant quarrel with the Celtics over the contract extension, his investment in the game is far less than last season. This guy's performance in this year's playoffs, averaging 6.4 points and 1.9 assists per game, can be said to be a complete "reverse growth".

The only two players in the entire Celtics team who have been relatively stable are Horford and Morris. Both guys are lubricant players who can make the team better. But Henson still said that if the engine itself is not good enough, no matter how good the lubricant is, it will be useless.

The comparison of the data of these guys is all clearly displayed in front of Henson's eyes. Henson also watched a lot of the Celtics' game footage. Although it is not said that 82 games have not been lost, there are definitely 40 games.

He knows very well that Celtic are already strong on the outside.

"After I got on the field, I only had one request, steady! Don't be in a hurry, try to drag the Celtics into position on the defensive end, and be patient on the offensive end, as their defense will show flaws sooner or later. Last year, we swept the Celtics 4-0 in the Eastern Conference Finals. This year, I need the same ending. ”

After Henson finished speaking, he sat back on the bench. Resolving the battle as soon as possible is the best way to free Stevens......