"Although the Pacers are the first in the league, as long as we can hold on to these two home courts, then we have a good chance of eliminating them and reaching the Eastern Conference Finals!"

"Yes, even though we're only fourth in the East, it looks like we're a far cry from the Pacers, but we've tied the four meetings in the regular season, so we definitely have the reason and the quality to beat them."

"That's right, as long as we can beat the Pacers, with our strength, neither the Celtics nor the Nets will be our opponents, as the newspaper said, the great Pistons have ushered in an opportunity for revival!"

At 6 p.m. on May 16, 2003, the third game of the Pacers and Pistons series, before it started, the Pistons' home stadium of Auburn Hills Palace was already crowded with Pistons fans, when the Pistons won a victory on the home court of the Pacers, and now the wind of public opinion has quietly begun to change, after all, the Pacers, who are the first in the regular season, did not show convincing strength in the playoffs, and the Pistons, who reversed the Magic in the first round, are now becoming more and more courageous, so there are now a lot of media, began to be optimistic that the Pistons would eliminate the Pacers to advance, and even some media directly asserted that the Pacers' road to defending the title was over. Influenced by these media, Pistons fans are now very optimistic about the team's prospects.

"Larry, I'm going to play No. 1 in this game." In the away team locker room of Auburn Hills Palace, just as Larry Bird was about to arrange the starting lineup and tactical strategy for this game, Meng Xu, who was sitting in the middle of the locker room, stood up from his seat and asked Larry Bird to change the tactical arrangement in this game.

After hearing Meng Xu's words, Jamal Tinsley on the side immediately lowered his head, and Jamal Tinsley also knew that the main reason why Meng Xu made such a request was that he had performed poorly in these two games, not only was suppressed by the Pistons' No. 1 on the offensive end, but also frequently leaked people on the defensive end.

"Well, in this game, Meng plays the No. 1 position, Richard continues to start the No. 2 position, James replaces Meng to play the No. 3 position, and Jermaine and Debeken still start, playing the No. 4 and No. 5 positions." After hearing Meng Xu's request, Larry Bird did not hesitate, picked up the sponge brush behind him, wiped off everything that had been drawn on the tactical board, and then picked up the marker and began to rearrange the starting lineup and arrange new tactics.

"Dibeken, Jermaine, you have to pay attention to the protection of the rebound, I don't want to see the short guy on the other side grabbing the rebound above the two of you in this game."

"And James, if you don't have a place to vent the anger in your heart, then you can ask that thorn head to go to E heads-up after the game, understand?"

"Understood!" "Understood!" "Understood!"

。。。。。。

"Erwin, do you think the Pacers will make a change in this game?" When the visiting Pacers players began to walk out of the player tunnel, Michaels, who was on the commentary bench, asked his partner next to him.

"Larry's mind is really not something we can fathom, and maybe this game will continue the lineup of the Pacers in the previous two games, after all, this is the starting lineup that has been used almost all season. But if I were Larry, I'd make a change at the No. 1 position and strengthen the Billups defense, as long as I limit Billups, the Pistons' threat on the offensive end will be greatly reduced. Johnson, the self-proclaimed magician who knows Larry Bird best, didn't give a definite answer after hearing Michaels' words. You must know that before the start of the last game, Magic Johnson said that the Pacers may change the lineup, after all, although the Pacers won the first game of the series, but the process of that game was very thrilling, so Magic Johnson concluded before the game that Larry Bird would definitely make changes, after all, Larry Bird is a guy who always wants to take the initiative in his own hands, but Magic Johnson was slapped in the face in front of the national audience, so when Michaels threw this question again, Magic Johnson has also become much more cautious now.

"Ervin, have the Pacers and Pistons changed lineups in this game?" When all the players on both teams played and the starters began to warm up, Michaels, who got the list of starters on both sides, was obviously stunned after seeing the starting lineups of both sides, because not only the Pacers changed their lineups, but the Pistons also changed their lineup in this game.

Ben Wallace, Clifford Robinson, Collis Williams, Ron Artest, Chauncey Billups, this is the starting lineup of the Pistons in this game, Clifford Robinson switched positions with Ben Wallace in this game and switched to power forward, and the leading scorer in the Pistons, Jerry Starkhouse, was put off the bench by Rick Carlisle and replaced by Collis Williams, the Pistons' sixth man.

Due to Stackhouse's frequent leaks on the defensive end, and when he cooperated with Artest to wrap Meng Xu, he often made mistakes, so Rick Carlisle simply put him on the bench in this game and let him play the sixth man, as for the Pistons' original sixth man Collis Williams, this is a typical nerve knife player, although his defense is a little stronger than Stackhouse, but it is also limited, and his defensive judgment has always been Collis-Williams's shortcomings. However, fortunately, his defensive attitude on the court is much better than that of Sterkhouse, which also shows that Stackhouse has completely lost the trust of Rick Carlisle.

And Rick Carlisle was also directly stunned after seeing the Pacers' adjustments, and Rick Carlisle is even thinking now, did Larry Bird expect him to change? Then directly put Meng Xu in the No. 1 position? The benefits of such a change for the Pacers are obvious, first of all, because Meng Xu played as an organizational guard for a season in the Spurs, so there is no problem for the Pacers to make such a change, and after the Pacers make such a change, the Pistons will first face the problem of how to arrange the defense. If according to the original plan, Artest at the small forward position will continue to mark Meng Xu, then Billups will be misplaced by the opponent when defending James Posey or Hamilton. And after Meng Xu changed to the No. 1 position and James Posey started the game, the Pacers' rebounding ability will also be greatly strengthened, after all, James Posey has also played a cameo role as a big forward for half a season in the Pacers, and the average of nearly 8 rebounds per game is better than the Pistons' orthodox interior Clifford Robinson.

"This game is not easy to play!" Rick Carlisle, who already knew the Pacers' intentions, stood on the sidelines after the opening game, keeping his eyes on the every move of the players on both sides of the court.

"I'm going to win you this time!" Jermaine O'Neal, who had already walked into the middle circle and was about to jump the ball, looked at Ben Wallace opposite, and said fiercely that in the first two games, Jermaine O'Neal lost to Ben Wallace when he jumped the ball, which made Jermaine O'Neal, known as the "Jump Ball Finisher", very faceless.

"Meng, what did you just say to Jermaine? He was like a stimulant today, working extra hard? When the referee's whistle blew, Jermaine O'Neal rubbed it and jumped into the air, before Ben Wallace, the basketball that the referee threw into the air was dialed to the Pacers' half court, this speed, this height, James Posey behind him was stunned, and in his impression, he had never seen Jermaine O'Neal jump so high and jump so fast. Thinking about it again, just now when the referee signaled the jump players on both sides to prepare, Meng Xu grabbed Jermaine O'Neal, as if to say something to him, James Posey wanted to know very much, what was going on, what could stimulate Jermaine O'Neal like this.

"Confidentiality." Meng Xu smiled mysteriously at James Posey, and then dribbled the ball to the front court.

"Nerves." Looking at Meng Xu's mysterious appearance, James Posey grinned, cursed, and ran towards the front court with Meng Xu.

"Come on, just like in the last game." When Meng Xu dribbled through the middle circle, Artest immediately rushed up, although the tactics arranged by the head coach in this game still had to wrap Meng Xu, but after two consecutive games of alignment, Artest, who was already confident, also wanted to try a single defense against Meng Xu, so this time the defense, when Collis Williams behind him was about to rush over to cover Meng Xu, Artest made a gesture towards him, signaling that he didn't have to come up.

"Ron, calm down!" Rick Carlisle on the sidelines saw that Artest was ready to defend Meng Xu alone, and provoked Meng Xu with words, Carlisle felt that something was wrong, a player like Meng Xu, as long as he didn't cover it, any player's defense was an absolute opportunity for them, even in the state of double packing, as long as he wanted to shoot, no one could stop him, therefore, Artest's choice now is definitely very unwise, although Rick Carlisle on the sidelines has discovered Artest's intentions, But by the time he reminded Artest, it was already too late.

After the two consecutive feints were recognized by Artest, Meng Xu, who had already adjusted his breakthrough posture, first pushed Artest sideways, and then immediately took half a step back, and when Artest continued to post over, Meng Xu started to the other side, two steps out, and then another change of direction, Meng Xu not only got rid of Artest, but also got rid of Corlis-Williams who came up to make up for the defense. Just when Ben Wallace, who was below the free throw line, was still hesitating, whether to pull out to make up for the defense, or when he was ready to defend Meng Xu's breakthrough, Meng Xu, who was outside the 3-point line, quickly pulled up his body and jumped up directly on the spot.

"Nice 3!" When Meng Xu's basketball was not yet in the frame, Michaels shouted out, looking at this beautiful arc, Michaels knew that the ball would definitely go in, and sure enough, just before Michaels' words fell, he flew to the basketball above the basket and brushed it hollow into the net.