As it approached seven o'clock, the arena was filled with a lot of noise, as if it was the key to the game, but in fact the game had not yet begun.

"Guys, the tactics of this game are very simple, we have to pick up the tempo and run to death this group of old guys, do you understand?"

On the Nuggets bench, D'Antoni pointed to the tactical board and repeated the phrase again.

D'Antoni was helpless, and the Nuggets' lineup was much weaker after the absence of Van Exel and Lafrentz, which also made him have to be cautious.

"Got it!"

Chi Liang was a little speechless, but he still followed his teammates to answer.

Soon, at the direction of the referee, the starters of both sides took off their coats and began to walk towards the field.

Nuggets starting lineup: McDyce, Fortson, Ji Liang, Billups and Alexander.

The Pacers starting lineup

Center: Rick Schmitz

Power forward: Dale Davis

Small forward: Reggie Miller

Shooting guard: Chris Mullin

Point guard: Mark Jackson

The Pacers' backcourt lineup is one of the most luxurious in the league, not to mention Miller, and Chris Mullin is a left-handed player, known by fans as 'God's left hand', with excellent shooting ability, and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in later generations.

Now Mullin is 36 years old, and although he has fallen to his prime, he has maintained his form well and is still the Pacers' second-leading scorer.

Mark Jackson is also famous, ranking second on the NBA's total assists list, behind John Stockton, and he, along with "Magic" Johnson and Stockton, are also players with 10,000 assists in the NBA so far.

Like Miller and Mullin, Mark Jackson is also not young, and is now 34 years old.

If all three of them are in their prime, they are undoubtedly favourites to win the title.

Even so, the Pacers are still very competitive, and no one dares to take it lightly.

In addition to being good enough in the backcourt, the Pacers are also good inside. At 224 centimeters, Rick Schmitz was the star of the list in 1988, when he and Sabonis were considered rising European hopefuls and were named All-Stars last season.

As for Dale Davis, he is also the youngest player on the Pacers' starting lineup, but at this time he is 30 years old, and Davis, who is 211 cm tall and weighs 114 kilograms, is very good at rebounding in the frontcourt, and will also be an All-Star player in the future.

That said, in addition to an aging roster, the Nuggets are up against five All-Star caliber players.

In addition, the Pacers' interior line has an advantage in height.

In the jump ball session, occupying the height and arm length, Schmitz pressed McDyce and grabbed the ball first.

After dribbling past half court, Jackson began to observe the form of the court as he dealt with Alexander.

Chi Liang followed Miller closely, and the speed of the two was not much different, but Miller's running skills were undoubtedly top-notch, and he almost threw Chi Liang away.

On the other side, Billups also chased after Mullin and did not dare to relax.

These two all-time shooters are the Pacers' No. 1 and No. 2 scorers, and they are also the Nuggets' key defensive targets.

At this time, Schmitz stood in the waist position, which was also his favorite position.

Without hesitation, Jackson hoisted the ball to Schmitz.

Schmitz is a typical European center, with accurate shooting, and very solid basketball fundamentals such as positioning, back, hook and passing. Later, when Yao Ming joined the NBA, the draft template included Schmitz.

McDyce stood behind Schmitz and pushed Schmitz hard to prevent him from being easily backstruck.

Schmitz is a lanky center, and although he is much taller than McDyes, he does not have a weight advantage.

After receiving the basketball, Schmitz began to look left and right, and found that the three-second zone was not crowded, only Fortson was standing there.

In the next moment, Schmitz took advantage of the Sigma step to switch from the back basket to the face frame, and at the same time opened up a certain amount of shooting space and jumped to shoot.

Swish~

Even if McDies tried his best to defend, there was a clear gap in height and arm span between the two sides, and Schmitz was finally scored easily.

After Schmitz scored, the decibels on the scene were a few points louder, and there were strong cheers.

McDyce picked up the basketball and wanted to launch a fast break, which is also the usual way many teams play against the Pacers, wanting to speed up the tempo and run to the death of this group of old guys.

Alexander held the ball and advanced quickly, and immediately passed the ball to Ji Liang before being intercepted by the opponent.

Miller immediately posted up and pressed on Ji Liang outside the three-point line.

Maybe it was because the opening game was full of energy, the Pacers' return defense was not slow, and the Nuggets had no chance to break quickly.

Outside the three-point line, Ji Liang took a look, and at this time, McDyce stood near 45° on the left side of the penalty area and began to ask for the ball with his back.

For the first time, Ji Liang passed the ball to McDyce.

McDyce caught the ball with both hands, pushed Schmitz with his back, and when he found that he couldn't move, he immediately shook his shoulders and completed the turn.

After taking a step forward, McDyce jumped to his feet and threw the basketball in his hand.

For McDyes, this shot close to the basket can be described as nine out of ten.

But when he shot, McDyce felt bad, not because someone stopped him, but because the basketball he threw was a little stronger, obviously biased to the inside.

Boom~

No accident, the basketball hit the rebound and bounced towards the restricted area.

The two sides began to fight hand-to-hand inside, and Chi Liang hurriedly stepped forward, wanting to snatch the rebound in the front court.

It's a pity that Schmitz's height is too dominant, but the basketball bounces towards him again, and he easily gets the rebound.

After the transition between offense and defense, Jackson slowly passed the half, deliberately slowing down the tempo, he is a master of passing, and has excellent rhythm control.

At this time, Miller once again took Chi Liang to run, his running skills are excellent, he has a strong grasp of timing, and he can always find opportunities to see the seams.

Ji Liang barely followed Miller, and he also had some running skills, but compared with Miller, this aspect is undoubtedly much worse.

At this moment, Miller and Mullin interspersed the run, and then ran to Davis, just as Ji Liang was about to go around, Miller made a sharp stop, moved in the opposite direction, and finally ran out of the empty space.

Jackson's quick reflexes, like a scalpel, immediately passed the ball to Miller, whose passing accuracy and strength allowed Miller to jump and shoot without having to adjust.

Swish~

By the time Ji Liang arrived, Miller had already made a shot and passed the basket.

"Rookie, I will use seven points of strength to get rid of you!"

After shooting the basketball, Miller shrugged his shoulders at Ji Liang with a very relaxed look.

Reggie Miller is a well-known trash talk guru in the NBA, with a lot of words and small actions, and he likes to provoke opponents the most.