When Antetokounmpo assisted Paul George into the box with a beautiful pass to complete a layup and officially equalize, Mike Malone angrily called out the game to stop.

And this is already the second timeout of this game for the Nuggets.

Since Antetokounmpo's catch-and-go layup, the Pacers have completely turned the tide. They caught the Nuggets off guard with a couple of beautiful breakaways.

At that time, after watching the score be forced close, Mike Malone called the first timeout of the day. But it didn't work well after the timeout, and the Pacers still used their energy and beautiful breakaway to equalize.

So now, Mike Malone has called for a second stoppage of the game. At this time, there were only 4 minutes left before the end of the first quarter.

"Defensively, we need to shrink a little bit to the basket. It's clear that the Pacers don't have a great shooting touch from the outside. So, they're sure to continue to hit the basket more often. Under the basket, tell them whose territory it is! ”

Mike Malone was furious, he didn't expect the Walker to adapt to Denver's high altitude so quickly. I have to admit that it is not for nothing that they can become the greatest team of the second decade of the 21st century.

On the other hand, Henson is finally about to sacrifice his ideal lineup today. Mike Malone is thinking about how to curb the Pacers scoring, and Henson is thinking about how to curb the Nuggets scoring.

Today, the Nuggets' offense was very efficient. Jokic's playmaking and playmaking in the high post gave his teammates plenty of easy scoring opportunities.

What Henson wants to do is kill the connection between Jokic and the others. If team basketball can't be played, Henson believes the Nuggets' offense will be a mess.

As a result, Henson began to make substitutions as planned. Before the game, people said he didn't change formation today. But in fact, he has prepared a big gift for the first place in the west!

"Beep~~~~~~"

At the last minute of the electronic beep, Mike Malone was still impassionedly urging his players to be careful to shrink their defense. Henson, on the other hand, just clapped his hands lightly, looking confident.

After seeing Henson's rotation, Mike Malone became nervous.

He knew that Henson Joe was not that simple. Coming to Denver today, he has only one purpose - to win.

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"Coach Henson has made a substitution, and his rotation doesn't seem to be so regular. PJ Tucker came on to replace Lopez. Siakam and Kuzma replaced Oladipo and Brogdon. Well, pretty much an ultimate lineup! ”

Seeing Henson send such a lineup with no center and no defender, Mike Malone was shocked. He thought that Henson didn't have so many special arrangements for this game, but he didn't expect Henson to come with the determination to kill him.

The ultimate lineup, the almost forgotten killer feature, Henson got him in the Pepsi Center.

"Hit the inside, hit the inside!"

Seeing this, Mike Malone immediately instructed Jokic to chisel inside. Jokic was sweating profusely by this point, and it stands to reason that he should be out of the game now. While Jokic is well adapted to the thin air of Denver, his fat is always there and he can't stay on the court for too long.

But due to the special circumstances, Mike Malone decided to let Jokic play two more minutes. Now, Henson uses PJ Tucker to top the inside, and Mike Malone wants to use Jokic's advantage to make a mistake on the inside.

After Jokic heard the shouting, he also nodded silently to his coach, so this time, Jokic did not move on the outside, but wandered in the middle distance, and then after his teammates opened up space, he suddenly sat in the inside line!

However, it was not PJ Tucker who stood behind Jokic at this time, but Antetokounmpo!

Although Jokic is a center, he is only 2.08 meters tall. Antetokounmpo's height has reached 2.11 meters.

In other words, Henson's no-inside lineup has no height disadvantage in front of Jokic!

Jokic hit the inside twice, but he didn't take full advantage of his tonnage advantage due to his declining stamina.

Seeing that the back-to-back shot didn't work, Jokic wanted to pass the ball, but found that his teammates were being targeted. And the most terrifying thing is that his teammates are still being targeted by a group of guys with similar height and arm length, and it is not easy for him to pass the ball successfully.

That's why Henson needs to field this lineup, as long as the team's ability to switch defenses is good, Jokic's playmaking skills can't be played. And now, the Pacers can do unlimited defensive changes without leaving gaps. Jokic just wanted to pass and didn't have the ability to get the ball to his teammates.

Murray and Barton were surprised to find that they didn't have a lot of speed at the expense of their height.

Millsap and Plumlee watched a group of people about their height run much faster, and their hearts were filled with shadows.

Helplessly, Jokic had to attack on his own. But his hook away from the basket didn't work, and Antetokounmpo's interference and Jokic's tired body made his shot feel terrible.

Basketball finally knocked out of the frame, and the Nuggets didn't have a half-point advantage in this lineup without a center!

P.J. Tucker rushed up to grab a defensive rebound, and the Pacers' offensive and defensive transitions spread out in an instant. Henson has been clapping his hands on the sidelines, urging everyone to make a quick decision.

Tucker got the ball up to Siakam, who threw it into the air and Paul George made an aerial dunk on Wilbarton's head.

With just two passes, the Pacers completed the offense. Henson immediately looked at Jokic, well, that guy has just run past halfcourt, and he has to start defending.

This kind of rhythm is exactly what Henson needs!

With 3 minutes left in the first quarter, the Pacers took a two-point lead!

"Damn, let's do a quick attack too!"

Jamal Murray was a little angry, he was not willing to be overtaken by the Pacers. So, all he was thinking about now was how to equalize the score quickly.

So, he urged Plumlee to send a quick baseline ball. As soon as he got the basketball, Murray went full throttle.

Jokic had just run outside the three-point line when he saw his good teammate with a basketball and went inside. With no passing and no coordination, Jamal Murray used his speed to complete a one-time goal.

It's a pity that he didn't escape Paul George's pursuit in the end. George leaped high and gave Murray a volleyball cap in the air. The basketball was shot off the three-point line and fell right into Antetokounmpo's hands.

"Nope." Jokic let out a painful wail, and sure enough, in the next second, Antetokounmpo began to break fast with the ball!

As a result, Jokic, who was fat, had no choice but to run back with Antetokounmpo again. Jokic's innate physical and athletic abilities are very average, and it is said that when he came to report to the Nuggets on his first day, he couldn't even hold up a minute on the plank.

As long as an ordinary person exercises from time to time, there will be no problem with planking for a minute. But Jokic, as a professional athlete, couldn't hold on

From this, it can be seen that Jokic has a huge deficiency in this regard.

So now, Jokic has barely run a little past the halfway line before Antetokounmpo has already completed the dunk. The Serbian centre-forward had not yet breathed his breath before he had to turn back and run again.

Henson's goal was achieved, and he picked up the tempo, leaving Jokic in a situation where he had to run back and forth.

Mike Malone apparently noticed this as well, but he couldn't do anything. After all, he had just called a stoppage, and Jokic had been overloaded in the first quarter. Not only will he not be able to stabilize his rhythm with Jokic, but he will have to replace him on the next dead ball.

Watching the Nuggets sink into their own set step by step, Henson was finally able to sit back on the bench with ease.

Unless the Nuggets have a player who suddenly breaks out, it won't be too difficult to contain the first place in the West today.

Now, Henson is one last question left to win – fitness.

Whether the players can maintain a good form for 48 minutes in thin air is beyond Henson's control.

So, although he is now leading the Nuggets by the nose, Henson is not happy. Whether they can win or not depends on how well the players perform in the fourth quarter.

Because at that time, everyone must have been exhausted and out of breath.