"Guys, are you all ready?" On the afternoon of May 22, 2002, in the home locker room of the Pacers' home stadium and the Bankers Life Arena, all the Pacers players had gathered in the locker room to prepare for the first round of the Eastern Conference Finals that began this evening.

"Ready!"

"I can't wait to play."

。。。。。。

The atmosphere in the locker room immediately became lively, especially the team's two rookies, Jamal Tinsley and Bobby Simmons, who immediately stood up and screamed with excitement, for them to be able to reach the division finals with the team in the first year of their careers, it is undoubtedly a very proud thing.

Compared with the rookies, Lorenzen White, James Posey, Jermaine O'Neal and others, who have been in the league for many years, are obviously much better, although they are also the first time in their careers to reach the division finals, but after all, they are already old fritters who have been in the league for many seasons, and they will not be excited to control themselves because they reached the division finals. And Reggie Miller, who has experienced the baptism of the finals, and Jeff Foster, and even Meng Xu, who has already won the championship ring, they seem very calm.

"Good." Looking at the scrappy players, Larry Bird stretched out his palm and slapped it twice. In this round of the series, facing the Nets, who had just finished the tiebreaker with the Pistons, the Pacers had a big advantage in both the team's lineup and physical strength. The interior combination of Jermaine O'Neal and Lorenzen White also obviously has the upper hand in the face of the Nets, especially Jermaine O'Neal, after experiencing the baptism of the series with the Celtics, his ability has obviously improved a lot, in the G3G4 two games, Jermaine O'Neal has 36 points and 14 rebounds in a game, 28 points in a game, 18 rebounds, and 7 blocks, there is no doubt that Jermaine O'Neal has now become one of the league's first-class interior lines. And the outside line of the Pacers, the combination of Meng Xu and Reggie Miller, it is no exaggeration to say that the Pacers have an advantage in the face of the outside line of all the remaining 28 teams in the league.

The only thing that worries Larry Bird is the position of organizing guards, Jason Kidd is very restrained by Jamal Tinsley, four regular season games, except for the last game, Jamal Tinsley performed slightly better, the rest of the games were miserable. And now, compared to the regular season, Kidd in the playoffs has further released his offensive desire, and at the same time has not slacked off in connecting teams, so in this round of the series, the Pacers' defense of Kidd is the top priority.

Therefore, Larry Bird also walked directly in front of Jamal Tinsley and said: "Jamal, the restriction on Kidd is the key to whether we can win today, so in this game, you have to give 100% of your energy to defend him." ”

"Don't worry, coach, I don't have any problems." Facing the worried eyes of the coach and teammates, Jamal Tinsley nodded heavily, after resting for more than a week, Jamal Tinsley is now very physically strong, and the current Jamal Tinsley is no longer afraid of the confrontation with Kidd, in Jamal Tinsley's heart, this round of the series is a stage to prove himself. At the same time, this round of the series, for everyone, including Jamal Tinsley, is also related to whether to go back to fishing in advance or enter the NBA's highest stage of the series, so for everyone, there will be no reservations, and they will go all out to win this round of the series.

"Guys, I won't say anything superfluous, we must win today's game." Larry Bird's eyes looked around the locker room, and after seeing the faces of almost all the players in the field full of high morale, Larry Bird also nodded with great satisfaction.

At the same time, in the visiting team's locker room, Nets head coach Byron Scott is also making the final arrangements before the opening, compared with the energetic Pacers, the Nets players are obviously a little tired, because the Western Conference Finals have begun, the Nets, who have just finished seven games with the Pistons, only had one day of rest, and the whole team rushed to Indiana to start the series with the Pacers.

As the head coach of the team, Byron Scott is also worried at this time, and now Byron Scott is full of thoughts about how to deal with Meng Xu, of course, Jermaine O'Neal, and Reggie Miller.

"Kenyon, Keith is going to wrap up Meng Xu with Richard in this game, so you have to face the Pacers' two interior lines alone, so you have to be mentally prepared in advance, understand? Of course, if you can't do both, you can give up the defense against Lorenzen White and focus on Jermaine O'Neal. Due to the team's interior line is obviously in a slight situation, in this game, Byron Scott simply broke the jar and fell, replaced the team's main center Todd McCulculott, pushed Kenyon Martin to the center position, and sent Keith Van Horn and Richard Jefferson two small forwards, ready to cover the Pacers' offensive and defensive core Meng Xu.

"Understood, Coach."

"And you, Corey, in this game, you must stare at Reggie Miller, that old guy can't run now, as long as you can keep up with him closely and don't let him have enough room to shoot, he won't pose any threat to us, and if necessary, you must also cooperate with Keith and Richard to contain Meng Xu."

"In the end, Jason, the rookie on the other side will be handed over to you, blow him up, ravage him hard, whether we can win this game depends on your performance."

In the locker room of the Nets, Byron Scott arranged the team's offensive and defensive tactics with a serious face, and at the same time made detailed arrangements for the several starters who were about to play, one by one, and those players who heard Byron Scott's arrangements and requirements for themselves also nodded seriously.

。。。。。。

"Hey, Reggie, why do you look so excited like those Jamal and them?" When the whole Pacers team walked out of the players' tunnel and waved to the fans at the scene, Meng Xu, who was about to warm up, actually saw Reggie Miller who was taking off his coat, perhaps because he was too excited, he took it off twice in a row, but he couldn't take off his coat, it turned out that this guy's calm expression in the locker room just now was all pretended.

"Why, you are talking nonsense." As Reggie Miller, who has reached the Eastern Conference Finals for 3 consecutive years and even reached the Finals, it stands to reason that he should have adapted to this kind of scene early, but Reggie Miller, who has experienced countless big scenes, was also infected in the wave after wave of the audience, almost crazy cheers, although Reggie Miller kept saying no, but the excited look on his face could not be concealed.

After experiencing the failure of last season, the Pacers, who had entered the rebuilding period this season in Reggie Miller's heart, were able to avoid becoming a fish belly, and it was already a miracle to reach the playoffs, but the Pacers not only did not become a fish belly, but instead completed the revival, won the first place in the Eastern regular season, and with a 7-0 record, after a year, they reached the Eastern Conference Finals again, which is undoubtedly a miracle, not only that, as long as they can eliminate the Nets, then the Pacers will complete the feat of entering the Finals twice in 3 years.

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