After scoring this goal, in the next round, Ji Liang made a comeback, this time, he received a basketball at the front of the penalty area, and Schmitz hurriedly posted it up, not giving Ji Liang space to shoot.

For the first time, Chi Liang leaned in, and Schmitz only felt a strong surge coming, and involuntarily took a step back.

As he retreated, Ji Liang's shoulders swayed, and he quickly took a tentative step towards Schmitz with his left foot as the axis and his right foot as the arc.

Schmitz shook for a moment, he was experienced and not completely fooled, but Ji Liang's movements still made his defensive attention shift.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Ji Liang's left foot began to exert force, and he took another step, and Schmitz immediately moved his footsteps, wanting to block Ji Liang's breakthrough. But Chi Liang retracted his footsteps and took a step back, Schmitz was unable to step forward, so he could only be pulled away by Chi Liang for most of his body and jumped out.

Swish~

Seeing the basketball fly into the basket, Chi Liang waved his right hand vigorously, accompanied by the cheers of the fans.

After a succession, in the next few minutes, it was almost the same as before, even if Schmitz went all out, he was never able to limit Chi Liang's attack, and was always scored by Chi Liang.

Schmitz said that he was helpless about this, he felt like he had met Olajuwon in his prime, and he couldn't limit his low footsteps at all.

Of course, Ji Liang's low footwork has not yet reached the level of Olajuwon, but it is also quite solid, and combined with his physical fitness, he can play a great threat.

The most important thing is that because of Ji Liang's wide vision and sharp passing, the Pacers do not dare to implement the bag at all, as long as they make a move, they will be seized by Ji Liang and connect his teammates to score.

As a last resort, the Pacers chose to switch defenses and use Dale Davis to defend Chi Liang, an excellent blue-collar interior player with very good frontcourt rebounding skills, averaging 3 frontcourt rebounds per game.

In addition, compared with Schmitz, Davis also has excellent confrontation ability, and the defensive effect is naturally better than Schmitz, at least he will not be easily knocked back by Chi Liang.

However, Davis is not flexible enough, and Ji Liang can always use his fast steps, like crossing a stake, to complete the breakthrough with ease.

In the ninth minute of the first quarter, the Nets temporarily led the Pacers 23-20.

During the official timeout, Coach Rivers looked at the players on the bench, and all the players immediately held their heads up, hoping that the coach would call them by name.

Among these people, it is natural that rookies and fringe players are dominant.

"Chauncey continues to play, with George, Jameel, Corey and ......" Coach Rivers paused visibly at this point, and after glancing at the remaining players, he finally made his choice.

"Corey, you're on!"

As soon as Coach Rivers finished speaking, Margeti first showed a surprised look, and then became delighted.

Unexpectedly, he got playing time in the first quarter, which undoubtedly exceeded his expectations.

It is also for this reason that Margeti took a deep breath, wanting to force himself to calm down and avoid being too excited to play to his strength.

Sadly, the thought of this being his first regular-season game made Margeti unable to keep his composure.

"Corey, just keep your mind normal!" Chi Liang naturally could see Margety's nervousness, and couldn't help patting him on the shoulder.

If it is an ordinary player, Chi Liang will naturally not take it to heart, but Margeti has excellent potential, coupled with good immediate combat power, as long as he is trained well, he will definitely be able to become his right-hand man in the future.

While Chi Liang's abnormal behavior surprised his teammates, Margeti was even more flattered, but diluted the tension in his heart.

"Yes, I will definitely try!"

After saying that, Margeti stood up and took the pitch with his teammates.

On the other side, the Pacers also fielded a replacement lineup, with Miller continuing to play, followed by Al Harrington, Chris Mullin, Sam Perkins and Austin Crohill.

Among them, Mullin needless to say, while Harrington and Chi Liang are rookies in the same class, and compared with last season, his strength has improved again.

Judging from the substitution lineup, the Pacers have a stronger hand, but in fact, there is not much difference between the two sides.

Although the Pacers have Miller, Mullin and Harrington, Mullin's form has declined rapidly compared to last season, and he has already had the idea of retiring, and Harrington has not fully realized his potential.

Compared to the Pacers, the Nets have Billups, Kidders and Margety, and they are no worse than the Pacers.

The fact is also the same, the lineups of both sides are strong on the outside, weak on the inside, and for a while, you come and go, and no one has the upper hand.

Perhaps because of Chi Liang, Margeti played quite well, scoring 4 points on 2-of-3 shooting after the end of the first quarter.

31:29

At the end of the first quarter, the Nets maintained a slight advantage, temporarily leading the Pacers by two points.

After the start of the second quarter, the Nets continued to send the starting lineup, and Coach Rivers gave Jill another chance, but what made him frown was that Jill's performance was no different from before, and he still did not react to Ji Liang.

Bird's sharp eyes soon spotted the problem as well, and at his direction, the Pacers took steps and began targeting the Jills specifically for this point.

Under the targeting of the pacers, Jill has a very poor hand, and there are many mistakes, giving people the feeling of sleepwalking.

This also led to a decline in the efficiency of the Nets as a team, which was quickly overtaken by the Pacers, and there was a growing trend.

With such a trend, by the end of the first half, the Pacers had a double-digit advantage.

At halftime, Coach Rivers had a private conversation with Jill, but unfortunately it didn't work out well, so Gill didn't continue to play after the start of the third quarter.

In this way, Ji Liang and Cage continue to partner on the inside, while the outside line is composed of Williams, Billups and Armstrong.

Compared to the Pacers, such a lineup is significantly faster and more flexible, but it also has the disadvantage of not being as tall as the Pacers.

At the beginning of the third quarter, even though Bird adopted targeted defense, Ji Liang still performed well, whether it was Schmitz, Davis or Harrington, it was difficult to limit his play.

So in the later process, Chi Liang frequently used his low-post footsteps to get rid of the opponent again and again to shoot and score, or to attract the defense and assist his teammates to score.

However, on the defensive end, the Nets also have no problem with the Pacers, and their cooperation is more tacit, especially Miller's running, which can easily tear up the defense, which also causes the Nets to not take much advantage.

84:90

At the end of the third quarter, the Nets narrowed the gap slightly, but still trailed the Pacers.