"It looks like the Lakers still have a long way to go, at least Phil Jackson has to coordinate the distribution of the ball, mix these four stars on the court, and let them play the role of 1+1+1+1+1>4, otherwise they still can't beat the Pacers." As the game continues, the Pacers have completely controlled the situation on the court, especially the inside, O'Neal can no longer do it, as he did in the finals last season, unscrupulously ravaging the Pacers, Mutombo and Jermaine O'Neal are not O'Neal's opponents one-on-one, but the two teamed up to cause a lot of trouble for O'Neal, especially after consuming a lot of physical strength in the first quarter, O'Neal's offensive efficiency in the second quarter dropped sharply, and even had 3 consecutive offensive misses. As for the team's perimeter, Hamilton's defense against Kobe Bryant is also very good, and with Meng Xu helping to defend from the side, the Lakers' two leading stars have encountered a lot of trouble in the second quarter.

When the official timeout came in the second quarter, the Pacers led the Lakers by 6 points at 40-34, and when the bench players on both sides came on the court, the difference between the two teams not only did not narrow, but was further widened, once upon a time the Lakers bench that was proud of the whole league, and it has become a short board this season, Lorenzen White, Jeff Foster, James Posey, Reggie Miller, Bobby Simmons The bench lineup completely suppressed the Lakers bench lineup led by Malone, and when the second quarter of the game was about to end, The difference between the two sides has been widened to 10 points.

The Lakers' current offensive system is really problematic, the triangle offense is no longer compatible with O'Neal and Kobe, and Malone and Payton can't integrate into the triangle offense, especially Payton, who is very resistant to the triangle offense, thinking that many tactical runs in the triangle offense are redundant, in Payton's view, the current Lakers don't need too complex and sophisticated tactics at all, as long as the whole team pulls away and hands the ball to O'Neal, the opponent doesn't pack the clip and play alone, and the bag passes the ball, with Malone, Kobe and their own ability, As long as no one defends, it is an absolute scoring opportunity, a combination of inside and outside, simple and effective, and saves time and effort, which is not much more efficient than Rausch's triangle offense.

At the same time, in this game, the Lakers' problem is not only on the offensive end, but also on the defensive end, the Lakers also have a big problem, the Lakers are in the two guard positions, the big forward and the center position, all of which are strong points, and the small forward position is much worse, and the Pacers are the strongest in the small forward position, and the Lakers do not have a strong point in the outside defense that can limit Meng Xu, Kobe, Malone and Devin George take turns to defend, and they can't limit Meng Xu, they can't limit Meng Xu, No matter how well the Lakers defend the other players on the Pacers, it is useless. Defense and offense have always complemented each other, and if the efficiency on the defensive end is not improved, and the corresponding defensive intensity cannot be achieved, it will also affect the play on the offensive end, especially the Lakers and Pacers, which are mainly positional offense-oriented teams.

"Yes, for the Lakers, the first problem now is how to coordinate the distribution of the ball among several superstars and increase their mutual cooperation, only in this way can the Lakers really play their own strength."

The Pacers players on the court performed well, and the audience off the court was even more excited, today is a day destined to be recorded in the history of the Pacers, for these fans on the scene, if they can beat the Lakers today, then today's championship ring presentation ceremony is perfect, championship, ring, victory. And it is still stepping on last season's Finals opponent, the Lakers with the most prosperous lineup this season, all of this is full of inexplicable pleasure.

Although the Pacers have firmly controlled the situation on the court, it is not far from the first victory of the new season, but after walking into the locker room, Larry Bird is very calm, the Lakers in front of him, obviously did not play the strongest strength, if they have maintained this state, not to mention winning the championship, it is difficult to enter the finals, but the long season has just begun, the Lakers have time to adjust, to run-in, as long as they can find a way to knead them together, The Lakers' strength can rise by at least two steps.

'Guys, you guys did a great job in the first half, but it's far from over and it's not time to relax yet. Originally, Larry Bird thought that after more than a month of training camp, Phil Jackson had solved these problems faced by the Lakers, but judging from the Lakers' performance on the court, the Lakers were obviously not ready. As for the Pacers, in this game, a lot of problems were also exposed, after the replacement of the two main forces, the starting lineup of the Pacers was obviously a little rusty in terms of coordination, and Hamilton was not very familiar with Meng Xu's style of play and technical characteristics, far less tacit than Reggie Miller and Meng Xu. And the team's starting organization guard, Jamal Tinsley was basically locked by Payton, and there was no performance at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends, but fortunately, the Pacers organized the offense by Meng Xu, and Payton didn't get any chance in the Lakers, otherwise Jamal Tinsley alone would be enough for the Pacers to drink a pot.

"Meng, the Lakers are likely to change the lineup in the second half and change the focus of the offense, so in the second half, you have to pay attention to covering for Jamal Tinsley and pay attention to the help defense against Gary Payton." In Larry Bird's view, as a veteran head coach, what he can see, Phil Jackson can't see it, so as long as Phil Jackson still has a little desire to win, he will change the formation in the second half and make the last fight, so since entering the locker room, Larry Bird has been thinking about this question, how should the Pacers deal with the Lakers' change of formation?

"Jermaine, in the second half, you can expand your defense a little bit beyond the free throw line, give the basket area to Debeken, and you can cooperate with Meng to sweep the area near the free throw line, but you still have to pay a little more attention to O'Neal and Malone." After arranging Meng Xu's task, Larry Bird found Jermaine O'Neal again, Jermaine O'Neal has been the Pacers' interior defensive axis last season, but Jermaine O'Neal has a big gap with Duncan, Ben Wallace, and other league-level super-first-class in terms of frame protection ability, so after introducing a rim master like Mutombo this season, Larry Bird is ready to transform Jermaine O'Neal into a defensive free man, so that he can assume the connection between the Pacers' outside defense line and the interior defense. As well as the help of defensive holes, rebuilding the Pacers' defense is also one of Larry Bird's important plans this season.

Soon, when the 15-minute halftime break ended, the Pacers and Lakers players reappeared, and the fans in the stadium were still very excited, they were desperate to beat the Lakers, and in the first game of the new season, they could cut their team against the big rivals.