On December 20th, it snowed heavily in Indianapolis. It's a bit like the Pacers' recent situation, and it's extremely cold.

Without Horford and George, the Pacers appear to be lame both offensively and defensively. The lack of containment on the offensive end and the lack of strong points on the defensive end make Henson a bit stretched in terms of tactical arrangements.

Luckily, both guys made it back before Christmas. And in yesterday's training, the performance was quite good. During his ankle injury, George went crazy on his long shots. And Horford's finger contusion did not hinder his defensive training. In other words, although both men have been away from the ring for a while, their training has never stopped. With systematic training, it is not difficult to maintain the condition.

However, the Pacers' opponents today, the New Orleans Hornets, are not so easy to deal with. Chris. Paul, he's arguably one of the best point guards in the league right now. David. West, an All-Star forward, has solid fundamentals. Averaging nearly 20 points per game, he is a huge threat to the Pacers' defense. Emeka. Okafor, second only to Howard in the '04 draft. Although the data is not explosive enough, in Chris. With Paul's organization, he can also play a huge role on the offensive end.

Coming into contact with the Hornets on a four-game losing streak, Henson's luck in December was indeed not very good. I don't know if achieving a five-game losing streak will also unlock an achievement, but Henson definitely won't try it.

Before the game began, almost no one except the local media in Indians Polis thought the Pacers would win.

After all, it turns out that the Pacers' roster is still a bit stretched when facing a really strong team. And the New Orleans Hornets are definitely a strong team to the core.

"We've got to give it all on the defensive end today, and a tight man-to-man defense can allow Chris. Paul's passing isn't so magical anymore! As soon as there is a cover, I will change the defense, whether I cover without the ball or with the ball, in short, I must change the defense quickly and decisively! Because whenever there is any gap, Paul can pass the ball over and assist his teammates to score! ”

In the dressing room before the game, Henson was a little more serious than ever. He did it on purpose, because now he had to make the lads nervous. Let them know that this is an incredibly important game.

Young teams are easy to get tired when they lose, get used to losing, and no longer have a desire to win. And what Henson has to do is to keep stimulating their desire to win.

Inspired by Henson, Horford and Paul. Naturally, George is gearing up, and the rest of the Pacers want to shake off the losing streak as soon as possible.

However, after talking about the tactical set-up, Henson approached Horford and George on his own and told them, "Think about it, think about what you are going to do when you get on the court." I know you can't wait to prove that you're okay, but I don't want to see you come on and not do your job. ”

Some players need some passion, while others need more composure.

The lights at the Consec Arena went out around 7 p.m. and came back on after the national anthem was sung. Henson stood on the sidelines with a blank face, dressed in a modest suit and spotless leather shoes, looking completely different from the previous "cleaner scout" look.

After two months of regular season training, he has become more and more like a coach who has been in the NBA for many years. At this time, Henson looked steady and cunning.

In stark contrast to that is the new head coach of the Hornets, Monty. Williams, Williams was born in 71 and is not yet 40 years old. But the young black coach stood on the sidelines with his hands in his pockets and didn't feel as steady as Henson.

But Monty doesn't need to be steady, because he has a steady and extremely talented point guard who can help his team control the situation at all times!

The Pacers' starting lineup for this game is similar to that of November, with Holiday continuing to play as the starting point guard, Matthews at the second position, Dunleavy playing as three, and Granger and Horford returning from injury as the interior partner.

In this regard, ESPN commented on Jeff. Van Gundy was a little confused.

"Al only announced his comeback yesterday, and he will sit directly in the starting line-up today, will Coach Henson be a little too hasty." Jeff, who used to be a coach in the NBA. Van Gundy questioned Henson's employment from a coach's point of view.

Henson is a young manager who is just as hungry as the players are to get out of trouble. But sometimes, it's not a good thing to be in too much of a hurry.

"Coach Henson rarely makes mistakes in the selection of personnel, which is very valuable. Trust me Jeff, never question Henson's change in hiring strategy. "ESPN Top Label Mike. Brin has confidence in Henson, who has seen many of Henson's seemingly unreasonable moves that ultimately cost his team the game.

After the start of the game, the two sides played hard, and Chris . Paul's great talent allows the Hornets to always be methodical in their offense.

On the Pacers' side, Horford's comeback has made a huge difference to the Pacers.

First, he made it easy for his teammates to fight big players anymore. Horford hit two open three-pointers in a row after the opening period, forcing Okafor to leave the basket. Second, the Pacers' offense has become a lot more fluid. The frequent mistakes in the previous games did not appear again.

But after the Hornets were empty inside, Henson was surprised to find that the Pacers' offense was still a little difficult. The reason is that Chris. Paul and Tevor. Ariza's one-on-one defense ability limited the Pacers' activities.

Holiday has a strong offensive ability on his own, but Paul is one of the best point guards in the league and can even remove the "one". Dunleavy doesn't have a very good offensive ability with the ball, and what he is best at is catching and shooting.

But Ariza's shadowy defense made it difficult for Dunleavy to play.

In this way, the two sides tied 22 in the first quarter. The score was not high, because the Pacers also made the Hornets suffer a lot on the defensive end.

West thought he could beat Granger with his height advantage, but Granger's toughness made West's offense less smooth.

After the start of the second quarter, Henson replaced Dunleavy with George, and the effect was obvious.

In the face of George's more offensive front, Ariza's single defense is not so tight. George is not afraid of physical confrontation and is very athletic and shooting. In the second quarter of the game, George played 10 minutes and scored 12 points for Henson in a single quarter, with a shooting rate of 64%!

In an interview on the sidelines at halftime, Henson proudly said: This is just the first step for George to become a superstar!

Indeed, George finally made his mark in today's game, giving Henson a glimpse of the star's personality. Maybe this almost month-long injury has made George really crazy. 49-53, with George's excellent play, the Pacers ended the half with a four-point lead.

In the third quarter, Paul assisted Italian shooter Belinelli to make frequent mid-range shots. The margin was close, and just as Henson feared, George's hasty performance in the third quarter allowed him to score only three points, and the Hornets entered the fourth quarter with a one-point advantage.

In the fourth quarter of the game, the two sides played back and forth. West and Okafor frequently received Paul's clever passes in the low post and scored easily. Granger and Horford took advantage of their footwork and also dealt a heavy blow to the Hornets' defense.

It wasn't until the final 16 seconds of the game that Granger broke through to attract the defense and distributed the ball to Holiday . The latter scored a solid three-pointer and made Paul pay a heavy price for the only defensive misstep of the game! With 13 seconds to play, Holiday hit a three-pointer to give the Pacers a vital one-point lead.

But soon, Paul's fake pass assisted West again to hit an easy layup under the basket, 93-92, and in three seconds, the Pacers fell behind again!

The scene was still boiling, and the fans didn't expect the game to be so exciting. Mike. Brin and Van Gundy were cheering on Paul's brilliant pass, and Paul's calm assist was no exaggeration to use any more flattering words. At the same time, they are also expecting: "Let's see if there will be a lore in this game!" ”

Henson used up the last timeout on his hand, the last timeout, and needed to set up a shootout tactic.

Vogel was a little nervous, and he shuddered and handed the tactics board to Henson. But Henson's face was calm, and at this point, Vogel remembered what Henson had said to himself yesterday.

Be prepared.