Roy's interview after the game against the Nuggets undoubtedly touched a nerve, the media was in an uproar, the fans were boiling, and of course, the players.

The NBA pros who are the protagonists are certainly not immune to Roy's challenge declaration. Those who stand at the top of the league are unhappy, they must not want their profit cake to be divided by a new rookie; Those depressed and powerful players are dissatisfied, they have worked hard for many years, beautiful data and good reputation, but in the end they are not as good as a newcomer who has only played more than 20 games, how can there be any reason? Not to mention those "subsistence households" and "temporary workers" who are mixed in the bottom of the alliance, many of them are poor worms whose hearts are higher than the sky and their lives are thinner than paper, and they have a lot of complaints about Roy's rise and arrogance.

Paul George is one of the leaders of the "Anti-Roy Army", and the star of the Indiana Pacers was the first to express his attitude after hearing Roy's challenge declaration. He said on Twitter that he would lead the Pacers to spare no effort to snipe the Knicks and completely defeat Roy by himself.

George took a stand on behalf of the Pacers, so what is the level of the Indiana Pacers, the "touchstone" in Brynn's mouth?

If you ask this question in previous years, many people may still tell you that the Pacers represent the strength of the strongest team in the East, and they represent the strongest defensive team in the league, but after the vicissitudes of the past two years, there are really not many people who take the Pacers seriously anymore.

The Pacers have indeed changed dramatically in the past two years, and they have not had good luck, as early as the 2013-2014 season, they were still the regular season Eastern Conference champions that year, and they are still a top team in the league that can reach the Eastern Conference finals and play against the Heat with the Big Three.

Who knows, just a year later, their bad luck will befall them. First, the team's number one star Paul George suffered an unexpected fracture in the summer offseason, then Lance Stephenson (who was not famous at the time) and Evan Turner (the one who later signed a poison contract) who had performed well last season left the team, and finally when the season began, they found that the highly-expected All-Star center Roy Hibbert (the one who played for the Hornets at the beginning) was also gone. The Pacers had an extremely difficult season without a backbone, falling from No. 1 in the East the year before to ninth, and they haven't recovered since.

Paul George didn't slow down, and neither did the Pacers.

The current Pacers are in such an embarrassing state of not being small, not dying, not surviving, to say that they want to compete for a playoff spot, and they don't seem to be worried about not playing the playoffs with a healthy Paul George, but if they want to go further, it is completely extravagant.

With no hope of winning the championship and no chance of rebuilding, this is exactly the dilemma faced by all the mid-table teams in the league.

In order to get out of this embarrassing situation, Pacers president Larry Bird also learned from the pain this summer, sending away the meritorious head coach Frank Vogel, who has been coaching the team for six years and leading the team to the Eastern Conference Finals twice, and boldly hired the iron-blooded coach Nate McMillan.

Speaking of McMillan, he was known for his tough outside defense when he was a player (steal king in 1994), and the SuperSonics backcourt formed by him and "Glove" Payton was the "breaking ball" that made the league feared at the time. After becoming the head coach, McMillan also integrated his strong defensive concept and discipline requirements into the coaching team.

He coached the Seattle SuperSonics (now the Oklahoma City Thunder) and the Portland Trail Blazers. In the early days of his tenure, almost all of them were bad cards, but McMillan didn't believe in evil, and thanks to his hard work and courage, both young teams were reborn. The SuperSonics upset all the way to the top three in the West and the second round of the playoffs without being favored; The Trail Blazers quickly rebuilt and returned to the playoffs and remained in the top eight in the West the following year despite a series of injuries.

The key to McMillan's success in coaching is his defence and team discipline. He originally wanted to copy this concept to the Pacers, but unfortunately, judging from the tactical execution of the Pacers this season, it is 108,000 miles away from achieving McMillan's ideal state. Since the beginning of the season, the Pacers have played a total of 29 games, conceding an average of 105.8 points per game, and have scored hundreds of points in 19 games, including 12 games in which they have conceded more than 110 points, 6 games in which they have conceded more than 120 points, and even 1 "avalanche" game in which they have conceded 131 points and 1 game in which they have conceded 142 points.

Therefore, Brin's impression that the Pacers are good defensively is actually wrong, which is based on the one-sided impression of Paul George's personal defensive ability and McMillan's coaching style, and the actual defensive ability of the Pacers has long been much worse than before.

Against teams with poor defense, Roy and the New York Knicks are naturally not afraid, and when Roy is on the floor, the Knicks' offense is never a problem. In their last game against the Denver Nuggets, the Knicks scored a season-high 144 points. Obviously, after Roy showed his strong breakthrough ability, everyone's confidence in the Knicks' victory was stronger.

McMillan got the video of the game between the New York Knicks and the Denver Nuggets at the first time, and after seeing Roy Howe's feat of scoring 30 points in the first quarter, McMillan was not good.

Roy is not easy to defend, as a super guard who combines height, speed, agility, and strength, it is difficult for anyone to defend him alone. Let's just say that in his own team, Jeff Teague may be able to keep up with Roy in terms of speed, but his height and strength are too far behind, Thaddeus Young is tall enough, but his individual defense is not excellent, and as for other Glenn Robinson III, C.J. Myers, let alone other Glenn Robinson III, C.J. Myers. The only thing the team can look forward to is probably the big boss Paul George.

Who is Paul George, nicknamed "Pickled Pepper"? George was the No. 10 rookie in 2010 and this year marks his seventh season in the league. In terms of honors, in George's seven-year NBA career, he was selected to the All-Star team four times, three times to the All-Star team (all times to the All-Third Team) and three times to the All-Defensive Team (1 time to the All-Defensive First Team, two-time All-Defensive Second Team).

Speaking of George's defensive ability, he has excellent physical fitness, has a strong sense of defensive rotation, and is particularly strong in helping to defend and fill positions, and can often block three-point shooters in the bottom corner; His defense rarely gets out of position, and he's especially adept at disrupting the rhythm of opponents' attacks, stealing the ball from opponents with the ball is one of his best tricks, and it's no exaggeration to call Paul George the league's top wing defender.

But unfortunately, this Paul George is not very taken seriously.

A star who has been seriously injured is like a flawed work of art, and his value will naturally drop a lot. The same is true for George, whose status among experts, media and fans has always been low due to that unexpected injury, and it has always been difficult for George to be nominated by everyone in the league's top star awards.

Therefore, when he met Roy, the most popular in the league, this time, and when he met Roy, who challenged the whole league, George could finally vent his resentment on Roy. If you can beat Roy and the Knicks in New York, it will be a great opportunity to prove yourself and get a lot of attention.

George has long been ready, even if McMillan doesn't come to ask for his opinion, he will take the initiative to ask Ying to defend Roy in the opposite position, and he has enough confidence in one-on-one defense.

"This kid is very fast, and the way he breaks through is also very strange, I can't guarantee that I can completely prevent him one-on-one, so we also have to do a good job of helping to defend, understand?"

In the final training session before the game, George brought everyone together to explain the defensive strategy of the McMillan manager.

"Jeff (Teague), if you find an opportunity, you can wrap Roy with me, no matter how strong his individual ability is, he can't break through the defense of the two of us."

George's slightly hoarse voice was menacing, and Teague nodded with his waist thrust.

"Myers (Turner), we need your reinforcement and blocking skills, and if I push Roy into a corner, you can act as an opportunity to help defend."

George was very cautious, and letting Turner help defend Roy was not what Coach McMillan meant, it was a defensive instruction that George gave to Turner on his own initiative.

"Paul [George], I don't really understand that if we all put all the defensive focus on Roy, what if he takes the pass?" Glenn Robinson III, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly spoke, his question was actually a question that other players wanted to ask but didn't dare to ask, why did George attach so much importance to Roy? Isn't he worried that his opponent will avoid the truth and be false?

Glenn Robinson III immediately received a roll of the eye from George.

"You know what, as long as we contain Roy, we have a very good chance of winning, that's my experience, and it's also the arrangement of McMillan's manager, do you understand?"

The boss George's scolding made the suspicious voice at the scene disappear immediately, and everyone looked at each other and stopped talking.

It was at this moment that a burst of applause came from outside the door.

A familiar face appeared on the training floor, and that person was none other than the president of the Pacers, passing star Larry "Big Bird" Bird.

"George is right, we have to go all out to defeat Roy, if it was me back then, I would never let such a rookie who pretends to be X so arrogant." After Bird finished speaking, he glanced at everyone's reactions, in fact, he wanted to say, "When it comes to pretending to be X, there is anyone who can compare to me?" If someone dared to pretend to be X, I would have blown him up a long time ago."

Seeing the team's boss and childhood idol appear on the training ground, the Pacers players suddenly had their spirits, and their morale skyrocketed.

"Guys, play me well in tomorrow's game, don't let that rookie with X underestimate our Pacers, can you do it?"

"Yes!"

"Excellent! Kill that rookie, kill the Knicks! You can do it! ”

After the crowd dispersed, Bird left George behind.

"Paul (George), tell me what you're going to do with Roy?" Bird looked at George with his chest crossed, as if to say, "If you don't know how to defend Roy, come and ask me".

Honest George didn't understand Boss Bird's intentions, and he told his plan one by one.

George had thought that his perfect strategy would be appreciated by Bird, but before he could finish speaking, Bird laughed.

"Paul (George), do you know how I dealt with Michael (Jordan)?"

George thought for three seconds and shook his head, Bird had defended Jordan? George didn't seem to be that impression.

Seeing the bewildered George, Bird laughed again, "Of course you don't know, because I haven't defended Jordan at all, of course, not because I can't guard him, but I don't bother to defy him at all." Up until this point, Bird didn't forget to pretend to be X, and he continued: "The way I beat Jordan was very simple, it was to keep scoring in front of him. ”

After Bird finished speaking, there was another weird smile, "To get back to the point, Roy is not Jordan, I still have a way to deal with him." Listen to me, you may not be able to prevent Roy in a normal way, why don't I teach you two special ...... now"