Chapter 690: A Critical Battle
"Meng, are you ready to go fishing?"
After the appearance ceremony, O'Neal walked directly to the Pacers' bench, and asked Meng Xu with a "concern" face, after saying this, the corners of O'Neal's mouth curled slightly, and his smug look was revealed, since leaving Los Angeles, O'Neal has not been so happy, because O'Neal finally waited for the opportunity to take revenge, and finally saw the hope of trampling Meng Xu under his feet, so O'Neal at this time was also somewhat complacent.
"Fishing? I don't have time to go fishing, I still have to go to the finals, but you, you should rest early, you are so old, if you don't take good care of your body, I'm afraid it's time to retire, how about it, have you already bought a ticket to Hawaii for a vacation, if you haven't bought it yet, I can introduce you to a website that can be discounted, very cheap. ”
Although O'Neal is a tease, Meng Xu knows that O'Neal doesn't mean to tease himself, there are many people in this league who don't like O'Neal, Eric Dampier, who calls himself the No. 1 center in the West, and Ben Wallace of the Pistons, but when it comes to the person O'Neal hates the most, Meng Xu is absolutely unavoidable, and of course, Kobe Bryant, who squeezed O'Neal from the Lakers.
"You bastard, look at how I teach you today." O'Neal, who originally wanted to make fun of Meng Xu, was teased by Meng Xu for a while, but O'Neill was still relatively calm at the moment, and did not fight a war of words with Meng Xu too much, but left a cruel word and went directly to the court to warm up.
Due to O'Neal's absence due to injury, the responsibility of representing the Pacers and the Heat jump ball today fell on NN Hilario, NN Hilario is also a typical spring man, but the jump ball is not 100% won if it bounces well, and compared to Jermaine O'Neal, who has the title of jump ball finisher, NN Hilario has no jump ball experience, so in this jump shot, NN Hilario lost to O'Neal.
"Shaq's prediction was excellent, and Nn Hilario's jump was a little too early."
After moving the basketball in the air to the backcourt, O'Neal slowly ran to the frontcourt, but to O'Neal's surprise, he reached the three-point line and didn't see his teammates or Pacers players catching up with him.
In the exclamation of the surrounding audience, O'Neal, who felt that something was wrong, looked back and was shocked to find that the basketball had not even passed the half court, the Pacers pressed the Heat all over the court at the beginning of the game, Tony Allen was stubbornly pestering Jason Williams who was struggling to dribble, Meng Xu stared at Dwyane Wade, Tyshawn Prince and James Posey were clinging to Antoine Walker and Udonis Haslem near the center circle, As for NN-Hilario, who had just jumped with O'Neal, he stopped and stood in the middle of the center circle and the top of the arc after passing through the center circle.
Seeing Jason Williams struggling under the pressure of Tony Allen, Dwyane Wade, who was about to reach the center circle, immediately retreated to cover for Jason Williams, but Dwyane Wade just took two steps, and was directly stuck behind him by Meng Xu, who was sticking to himself, almost at the moment when Dwyane Wade was stuck by Meng Xu, Jason Williams passed the basketball in his hand, and Jason Williams, who had been entangled by Tony Allen for a long time, was obviously a little anxious, So after seeing Dwyane Wade running back to cover for himself, he wanted to pass the basketball directly to Dwyane Wade, and it would be an 8-second violation if he delayed any longer, but who would have thought that Meng Xu suddenly appeared in front of Dwyane Wade.
Meng Xu, who received a pass from Jason Williams very comfortably, scored the first score of the game with a fast-break dunk amid the boos of the audience.
"Jason, thank you for the assist." Meng Xu, who got off the basket, sent his thanks to Jason Williams when he passed by Jason Williams' side.
"This bastard's mouth still owes so much." Jason Williams, who had a gloomy face, looked at Meng Xu not far from him, and scolded hatefully, Jason Williams and Meng Xu are also old acquaintances, in the 99-00 season of the All-Star Rookie Game, Meng Xu was selected for the first-year team, Jason Williams was selected for the second-year team, Jason Williams's pinnacle, the elbow pass was completed in front of Meng Xu, that imaginative pass is one of the top ten passes of the All-Star Weekend until now, in that game, Jason Williams learned Meng Xu's trash talk, after so many years, Meng Xu is now the first person in the league, but his mouth is still so owed.
"Jason, concentrate, don't be careless." O'Neal, who took a few steps back from the frontcourt, looked at Jason Williams, who was pale, and frowned and reminded him that today's game, the Heat must win, that is, in order to win in the Eastern Conference Finals, and for his disgusting words before the game, no matter what, this game cannot be lost.
"I see, Shaq, I'll be careful this time."
After these matchups, Jason Williams has long adapted to the defensive rhythm of the Pacers, and with Jason Williams' ability to control the ball, it is still possible to ensure that the ball is not broken.
"The Pacers are going to press the Heat all over the court!" As soon as Udonis Haslem sent the baseline ball, Tony Allen once again began to press the defense against Jason Williams, who was holding the ball in the backcourt, and it was clear that the Pacers were ready to press the Heat all over the court in the opening stages today.
The Pacers in the Larry Bird era were the best team to use full-court tightness, and the Pacers, who were named the Indiana track and field team, often used full-court pressing tactics to defeat opponents in a wave when the score was behind, but after Rick Carlisle took over the Pacers, the Pacers rarely used this tactic, because full-court pressing is very physically demanding, which is why Larry Bird only uses full-court pressing tactics when the team is behind.
And more importantly, full-court pressing is a tactic with half advantages and disadvantages, because full-court pressing is based on one-on-one defense, so once a point is broken, then there will be a large gap on the field, so the full-court pressing tactic is a tactic of playing well and killing the opponent and killing yourself if you don't play well.
"Jason, here, pass the ball quickly." Under the tight defense of Tony Allen, Jason Williams couldn't get the ball through the half court after several attempts, and in desperation, Dwyane Wade ran over again to cover for Jason Williams, and after the last mistake, Dwyane Wade was much more careful this time.
After sweeping the corner of his eye to Dwyane Wade, who was running towards him, Jason Williams's heart was also a little relaxed, if there were no teammates coming to cover for him, this offense would definitely be violated in 8 seconds, so Jason Williams directly threw the basketball in his hand in the direction of Dwyane Wade after seeing Dwyane Wade's figure.
However, what frightened Jason Williams was that the basketball that had just been passed out by himself changed direction before it reached Dwyane Wade's hands, and Meng Xu, who had been sticking to Dwyane Wade's side, suddenly jumped out almost at the moment of his own pass, and changed the flight trajectory of the basketball with his fingertips.
The basketball that was flown out by Meng Xu was grabbed by Tony Allen on Jason Williams' side, and it was another dunk after the ball was broken, and Tony Allen, who successfully dunked the basketball with both hands, did not come down from the basket directly after dunking the basketball into the basket, but imitated O'Neal holding the basket with both hands and shaking it for a long time before falling from the basket satisfied.
"This dog ***!" O'Neal, who was standing near the center circle, saw that the No. 9 player of the Pacers was imitating his actions after dunking, and he was instantly scolded angrily.
"It's not going to be a good game." After opening the game, two consecutive attacks were broken by the opponent, and Pat Riley, who was standing on the sidelines, had to call a timeout after just 10 seconds of the opening period.