"Larry, looks like Jermaine is not recovering a little optimistically, huh?" On April 16, 2008, in the last game of the 07-08 regular season, Jermaine O'Neal, who played only one game and was reimbursed for the season, finally made a successful comeback before the start of the playoffs. He frowned and discussed Jermaine O'Neal with Larry Bird.

"It's the first game, so let's see." Larry Bird, who was sitting next to Jim Morris, looked at Jermaine O'Neal who was substituted, and frowned, what he is most worried about now is that Jermaine O'Neal will leave a psychological shadow after being injured, afraid of confrontation, timid, if an interior player can't overcome these psychological pressures, then he is really finished.

For 7 consecutive seasons, Jermaine O'Neal has been the Pacers' main power forward, the second strongest player on the Pacers team after Meng Xu, and also the Pacers' interior core and second leader, so Jermaine O'Neal is still very important to the Pacers, which is why the management and Jermaine O'Neal themselves hope that he can return before the playoffs begin.

Maybe in the regular season, the Pacers can still rely on Meng Xu's tactics to play a good record, but Meng Xu is not an iron man, he also needs to rest, especially in the playoffs where he can't afford to lose every game, and someone needs to stand up and share the pressure for him, so that Meng Xu can reasonably distribute his physical strength.

"Larry, in fact, we will play the playoffs according to the main lineup of the regular season, it should be okay, right?" Jim Morris is actually against rashly changing the main lineup, when NN Hilario returns, he does not recommend replacing Kwame Brown with NN-Hilario, because the interior combination of Kwame Brown and Darko Milicic is already very reasonable in his opinion, as for Jermaine O'Neal, if there are more than 20 games left before the end of the regular season, he will not object to letting Jermaine O'Neal play the main team, but now the playoffs are about to start, Walkers simply don't have extra time to adjust and grind in.

"In terms of the team's personnel arrangement and scheduling, we still have to listen to Rick, after all, he is the head coach of this team." Although Jermaine O'Neal is missing, the Pacers still won 62 of the 81 games before the regular season, and Rick Carlisle, as the head coach, is naturally indispensable, and Larry Bird has always believed in Rick Carlisle's coaching ability, so although Larry Bird is now the Pacers' vice president and president of basketball affairs, Larry Bird will not directly go down to interfere with the team's staffing.

Not to mention that Jim Morris and Larry Bird are discussing the Pacers' staffing in the playoffs, in fact, even Rick Carlisle is a little upset about this now, after NN Hilario and Jermaine O'Neal have returned from injury, the Pacers' interior line is unprecedentedly bloated, Jermaine O'Neal, N.N. Hilario, Darko Milicic, Kwame Brown, who these four players let start, who to bench is not suitable, and how to allocate their playing time is a headache for Rick Carlisle, And in addition to these four players, there is also the dedicated Jeff Foster, and the champion Mutombo.

Although Mutombo is now 42 years old, Mutombo's performance is still quite impressive in the absence of Jermaine O'Neal and NN Hilario, and he can contribute 3 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks in an average of 15 minutes per game, but after N.N. Hilario's return, Mutombo's playing time was squeezed to only a few minutes, and Jermaine O'Neal is also back now, and Mutombo has little chance.

And for Jeff Foster, Rick Carlisle is even more guilty, this year is Jeff Foster's contract year, for any player in the contract year, asking for more playing time, getting better statistics, and striving for a better contract is a natural thing, but Jeff Foster has never made any demands on Rick Carlisle, how the coach arranges, Rick Carlisle will execute, especially after the Pacers traded Kwame Brown, Originally, Rick Carlisle was worried that Jeff Foster would be dissatisfied with the loss of the main position, but Jeff Foster not only did not have any dissatisfaction, but also actively helped Kwame Brown integrate into the team, you must know that before Kwame Brown arrived, Jeff Foster had always occupied the starting position, and in less than 40 minutes of playing time, he averaged 11 points and 12 rebounds per game, but after the Pacers traded to Kwame Brown, Jeff Foster not only lost the main position, Playing time and averages have also dropped significantly.

Likewise upset with Rick Carlisle is the head coach of the Celtics, Doug Rivers, Rick Carlisle is troubled by how to arrange the playing time of so many players, and Doug Rivers is troubled by how to deal with the Pacers' huge interior group in the playoffs, although the Celtics' 64-18 record has locked the first place in the regular season, but they have no advantage against the Pacers, losing three of the four games against the Celtics in the regular season, and all three of them were lost on the inside.

Although the Celtics also have a super interior line like Kevin Garnett, but the Celtics can no longer take out an excellent interior line except for Garnett, in the face of the Pacers' multiple interior line rotation consumption and wheel battles, Doug Rivers really has no good way, once Garnett's physical strength is exhausted, no matter how big the Celtics' advantage will collapse, so after the regular season, Doug Rivers is thinking about what to do to deal with them if they encounter the Pacers in the playoffs.

With the growth of Dwight Howard, and several signings in the offseason, the Magic jumped from last season's belly to the third powerhouse in the East, originally for squeezing the Cavaliers out of the top three at the end of the season, Stan Van Gundy was very satisfied, because this could avoid his nemesis Pacers, but who would have thought that the Pacers dropped the chain at a critical moment and lost two games in a row at the critical moment of competing for the top spot in the East, There is no way to reach the top spot in the East, so the Magic will have to face the Pacers in the second round of the playoffs, which is tantamount to a catastrophe for Stan Van Gundy, who wants to reach the division finals.

Dwight Howard's performance this season is very good, averaging 21 points, 14.2 rebounds, 2.1 blocks per game, has been dubbed the title of the first center by many media, with the addition of Rashard Lewis, Sido Turkoglou, Jamil Nelson These strong players, head coach Stan Van Gundy is ready to do a big job in the playoffs, the finals may be difficult, and there is no problem in reaching the Western Conference finals.

It's just that due to Howard's weakness in lower body strength, every time he encounters those interior lines with strong lower body strength, Howard will play very aggrieved, especially against the Rockets and the Pacers, Howard's performance will be greatly reduced, so in the regular season sprint, Stan Van Gundy has been staring at the Pacers' rankings, ready to wait for an opportunity to avoid the Pacers in the playoffs, but Stan Van Gundy was smart and mistaken in the end.