But!

Liu Mang wants to open the way for the Hawks to catch up with the Lakers and Celtics!

This can be said to be an unrealistic dream, but Liu Mang just set the goal as an almost impossible goal, if the small goal is only three consecutive championships, then it will be completed this year, and there is no dream at all.

After winning the regular season championship for three years in a row, the fans in attendance were crazy and the Hawks players were excited.

There is a sense of pride that has been accompanied by trade rumors for the Eagles this year, and some media analysis of the so-called future plans of the Eagles, either purely analyzed or purposefully provoked, has not affected the Eagles players, and it is because of this pride that the Hawks players have not been affected.

What will happen in the future, they can't control it, they have been in the NBA for so long, they know very well what the NBA is all about, even stars of Maddy's level can't control their own stay, and there are only a few players in the NBA who can control their own stay, since they can't control their future, then do what they should accomplish.

Liu Mang was excited for a while because of the team's new version of the regular season championship banner, and when he heard Price passionately announcing that this year's playoffs were a dynasty's journey, Liu Mang suppressed that surging emotion and faced the game!

The Pacers, the team of the three first-class stars, if it weren't for the fact that the Pacers were full of trade rumors all season, the three leaders who fought in the Auburn Hills Palace incident complained to each other about the previous fight, and the Pacers' own team didn't like these three players, resulting in the ups and downs of the Pacers players and less and less cooperation, their strength is not as simple as eighth in the East.

And their head coach, Coach Rick Carlisle, is not an average coach either.

……

At half past eight in the evening, with a roar from Rashid Wallace, the starters of both teams came to the field, and the game officially began.

The Hawks, for their part, fielded the starting lineup of Liu Mang, Maddy, Prince, Rasheed Wallace, and Kwame Brown.

The Pacers, on their part, fielded a starting lineup of Jamal Tinsley, Stephen Jackson, Artest, O'Neal Jr., and Jeff Foster.

Kwame Brown easily won the jump ball from Foster, who was primarily in charge, and the Hawks took the lead.

After Liu Mang advanced to the front court, he immediately encountered Artest's rough defense, Liu Mang just took a step outside the three-point line, Artest directly came up and hit Liu Mang with his chest.

Boy! This force made Liu Mang almost dribble the ball out of his hand, and quickly grabbed the ball with both hands.

The referee didn't blow the whistle!

The Pacers have brought the rhythm into playoff mode from the first defense!

Liu Mang was forced to stop the ball, and after standing firm, Liu Mang immediately made a big loop, wanting to take this opportunity to cause Artest to foul.

Artest reacted very quickly, his hands were sandwiched between his waists, and his arms were not stretched out, so as to avoid being fouled by Liu Mang, and at the same time he was very tight, Liu Mang had already stopped the ball, and Artest could arbitrarily stick to the defense.

So sharp!

It is worthy of being the defensive titan second only to Kirilenko in terms of comprehensive defensive efficiency this season!

Liu Mang was forced to have no way to make a move!

Fortunately, at this time, Maddie came up to answer Liu Mang.

Liu Mang passed the ball to Maddie, and Maddie received the ball in the top arc and accelerated the strong burst!

Stephen Jackson's defense is very active, but Maddie is not something he can defend, although Maddy's first step is not the fastest one, but his legs are long, and he takes a big step and goes directly to Stephen Jackson's back, and the second and third steps are getting faster and faster, when Stephen Jackson reacts, Maddie has already entered the free throw line!

The Pacers' defensive discipline was speechless, and in the playoffs, they didn't get up to each other like they did in the regular season, and O'Neal Jr. pressed up and pinched Maddy.

Maddie's beautiful catch made the audience cheer endlessly, Maddie played a little high, the first ball played, facing O'Neal Jr. and Stephen Jackson, Maddie grabbed the ball and took two steps to the left, to the left baseline in the three-second zone, turned 180 degrees to the right, and in the case that O'Neal Jr. didn't expect him to make that posture, his back to the baseline, sideways to face the basket big hook......

The movements are beautiful and the poses look very dashing, but that's not Maddie's job!

Maddie is purely playing, and the hook misses!

The ball bounced off the basket to the right side of the three-second zone, and Foster rebounded the ball as he was retracted to grab the rebound.

"Your hook sucks!" Liu Mang complained when he retreated.

Maddie smiled and stepped back, indeed, the sideways hook with his back to the baseline in that position was a bit too wavey.

Kareem Jabbar wouldn't have hooked his hand like that!

However, if he enters, he will be handsome, and Maddie has a regret that he has not succeeded in playing handsome.

When it came to the Pacers' offense, Tinsley first handed the ball to O'Neal Jr. in the low post, and after O'Neal Jr. received the ball, he wrestled with Rasheed Wallace in the low post and collided to find space to shoot, which took more than three seconds, and finally found an opportunity to shoot when he was about to violate the five-second violation, turned over and leaned back to shoot from close range......

Hit!

O'Neal Jr.'s one-on-one low-post close-range jumper was really powerful, and he scored the first shot.

When the Hawks attacked, Liu Mang received Kwame Brown's serve and advanced through the middle circle, and when there was still about one and a half meters away from the three-point line, Artest was still stepping on the three-point line and waiting for Liu Mang to stick to the three-point line, Liu Mang suddenly stopped, pulled up and threw the ball out!

Three points over long distance!

Liu Mang coldly threw at a position more than a meter away from the top arc!

The fans at the scene exclaimed!

Artest defended very hard today, and was very focused on judging Liu Mang's offensive intentions, but he didn't expect Liu Mang to shoot like this!

Liu Mang's shot is very positive! However, it was a little stronger, and it hit the rebound, but luckily it bounced into the basket!

Liu Mang's ultra-long three-point hit!

Maddie first turned on the wave mode, and Liu Mang also followed the wave.

If you want to play, let's play together!

Little O'Neal violated the rules in a low position and quickly turned his back for five seconds, and it took a lot of effort to score a two-point, Liu Mang pushed it over for five seconds, threw it into the basket for more than a second, and the three points were in hand!

Less than seven seconds!

Easily offset O'Neal Jr.'s low singles score.

This kind of three-point arc more than a meter away from the farthest distance of the three-point line makes the Pacers players feel too uncomfortable!

Especially Artest, how to prevent this?

Stick to that distance? Don't be sudden!

The key is to be able to throw!

Artest didn't know what to do.

On the first ball, Liu Mang made the Pacers players feel very depressed, and the atmosphere on the scene made them feel irritable, but now it is even more depressed.

As for the Eagles, Liu Mang's balls were thrown, and everyone was relieved and started playing!

Artest kept yelling at his teammates, telling them not to be intimidated by each other.

The Pacers have reached the playoffs, and they have played very steadily, although they were made big by Liu Mang's first three points, but they are an absolute disadvantaged team, even if the other side plays a crazy performance against them, they feel normal, but Liu Mang's confidence and accuracy of the three points are too scary.

The Pacers are still playing steadily, and they will focus on whichever position has an advantage.

On the Hawks' side, they are playing very easily, and some shots and actions that they don't usually use are played.

After playing, at the end of the first quarter, the Hawks were 23-24, one point behind the Pacers!

In the second quarter, the rotation lineup came on, and after Liu Mang, Jason Terry, Iguodala, Josh Smith, and Mourning's lineup came on the court, they played even more, Liu Mang and Jason Terry made three-point shots one by one.

It's just that the double-wave combination is not efficient, and the three-point shooting is too casual, and on the Pacers' side, Artest and Tinsley are doing a better and better job of Liu Mang and Jason Terry's three-point defense.

The Hawks have been trailing by one or two points, and they haven't fallen too far behind, so they didn't care, Iguodala even wanted to dunk O'Neal Jr. directly after grabbing the offensive rebound, but O'Neal Jr. even pressed down with the ball.

Due to the small difference in points, the Eagles did not pay attention to it, and the players on the Eagles bench were still laughing at Iguodala, and Iguodala licked his face and laughed.

At halftime, the Hawks were 45-49 and played casually in the first half, still trailing by only four points.

At halftime, the Hawks didn't have much adjustment, Liu Mang felt good, 3 of 8 three-pointers in the half, got 11 points and 2 assists, Jason Terry also made two three-pointers, scored 8 points, except for a little wave, the defense became looser and looser, the Hawks didn't seem to have any other problems.

But in the second half, after the start of the third quarter, the storm suddenly changed!

Artest first hit a three-point shot, Jason Terry responded with a three-pointer and missed a shot, and then Stephen Jackson faced Maddy's defense, caught the ball on the left baseline and hit a three-point shot, and the Pacers came up in the third quarter to play a wave of 6-0!

Coach Carlisle watched half the game and determined that the Eagles' problems today allowed their offensive players to start a wave of onslaught.

In the space of one minute, the Pacers went on a 6-0 run to turn the score to 55-45, ten points ahead of the Hawks!

Coach Kruger wanted to call a timeout, but seeing the lineup of Jason Terry and Maddy on the field, Korver, David Lee, and Rasheed Wallace was still very confident, and he held his breath for the time being and let the players on the field solve the problem.

The Hawks attacked, and after Maddy went to the frontcourt, he burst into the interior, dodged O'Neal Jr.'s supplementary defense, turned around and scored two points with one hand, helping the Hawks stop the bleeding.

However, the Hawks' slackened defense, as well as Maddy's random offense after a dunk, were beaten 14-4 by the Pacers in the next period!

Halfway through the third quarter, the Hawks were 51-69, 18 points behind the Pacers!

Coach Krueger had to call a timeout!