"Larry, we succeeded, we won." On June 11, 2003, at 11 o'clock in the evening, the fourth quarter of the first game of the Pacers and Lakers Finals was about to end with the last minute, and the Pacers still maintained a 10-point advantage. Although the game is not over yet, Lester Connell, who is the assistant coach of the Pacers, has already started shouting loudly at Larry Bird's side with excitement.

Larry Bird's seemingly gambling defensive strategy has received miraculous results in this game, although O'Neal scored 42 points in the first three quarters, but in the crucial fourth quarter, the physically exhausted O'Neal shot 3 of 9 and scored only 6 points, which also led to the Lakers, who were already behind by a large score in the third quarter, had no chance of turning the tables at all, if it weren't for Kobe Bryant's sudden convulsions in the middle of the fourth quarter and hit several 3-pointers in a row, the Lakers would definitely lose to the Pacers by more than 20 points in this game.

"We won, we won, we beat the Lakers, we beat the Lakers!" 98-112, when the referee blew the whistle for the end of the game, Tyshawn Prince immediately threw away the basketball in his hand and began to run on the court to celebrate, although Larry Bird kept emphasizing before the game that the Lakers are not terrible, and the Big Four are just paper tigers, but O'Neal, Kobe, Malone, Payton's prestige is placed after all, although he doesn't say it, some players within the Pacers will still be frightened, especially rookies like Prince, But I grew up watching Malone and Payton and others play.

The game is over, not only Prince, but even the media reporters who supported the Lakers before the game have an incredible expression at the moment, especially the two reporters from the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times, who are even more mournful, and before the start of this game, the two of them are the most happy. After all, from the perspective of the overall strength of the team, the Lakers with the Big Four are obviously stronger than the Pacers, which is why the reporters of the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times are so jumping, especially in the first half of this game, the Pacers resolutely did not include O'Neal, which made these people more and more optimistic, O'Neal's dominance was there, and he scored 30 points in half a game, but under such a premise, the Pacers reversed the situation on the court in the third quarter with a wave of counterattacks, and finally won the Lakers by 14 points, how to look, It's all incredible.

And many members of the Pacers also have this kind of emotion, at the moment when the whistle blew at the end of the game, many bench players on the Pacers bench rushed into the court, the Pacers eliminated the Nets, and they never saw them so excited to enter the Finals, and they didn't know that they thought the Pacers won the championship again.

On the opposite side of the Lakers bench, whether it is the team's coaching staff or a group of substitute players, they also have incredible expressions, and what makes them incredible is that the Lakers lost to the Pacers, and some people are still confused, not knowing where the Lakers lost? Four superstars, as expected by various media before the game, four superstars, one person is enough to crush the Pacers, you tell me how the Lakers lost? The Lakers, who were originally extremely optimistic and thought that they could lift the O'Brien Cup by going through the motions, were beaten by the Pacers in the first game.

"It's only the first game now, and Malone and Payton didn't play much in this game, so the Lakers will definitely win the next game." In order to get rid of the current awkward atmosphere, the reporter of the Los Angeles Times shouted a few words at the media friends around him.

"That is, there are seven games in the Finals, and if the Pacers can't even keep one of their home courts, then they will be swept." After the Los Angeles Times reporter took the lead, the New York Times reporter immediately echoed the words, as if they saw a light in the darkness and a savior in a difficult moment.

"Great first win, Indiana Pacers beat the Los Angeles Lakers perfectly to get their first win in the Finals!"

"The Lakers of the Big Four are in the face! The prospect of winning the championship is uncertain! ”

"Larry Bird's genius, the Pacers cleverly changed the lineup, and easily defeated the Los Angeles Lakers!"

"A humiliating loss, O'Neal was furious after the game, and he was suspected of being dissatisfied with some of his teammates?"

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I have to say that seeing the wind and making the rudder is the natural skill of all media, when the Pacers defeated the Lakers in the first game of the Finals, almost all the headlines of the media sports section the next day were news about the Pacers, those media who were originally very unoptimistic about the Pacers, in the face of the Pacers' victory, have changed their tone, of course, many media still firmly believe that the final winner will be the Lakers, and on the Internet that has gradually emerged, the debate about who will win the championship between the Pacers and the Lakers in the end, It also occupies the top position of major forums.

On June 13th, in the midst of the hustle and bustle, the second game of the finals kicked off at the Bankers Life Arena, today's game, Phil Jackson adjusted the team's starting lineup, and the injured Karl Malone sat on the bench and was replaced by Mr. Robert Hawley, and in the guard position, Phil Jackson sent a dual point guard combination of Jane Naelo Pargo and Gary Payton, and at the same time Kobe Bryant was pushed to the position of small forward, it can be seen, Phil Jackson racked his brains in order to break the Pacers' full-court pressing.

But while Phil Jackson made such a change, it also brought a very unfavorable situation to the Lakers, that is, the height of the Lakers' outside players, Jane Nailo Pargo's height is only 1.85 meters, which is not a star and a half worse than Hamilton, and Janello Pargo's defense is far inferior to Kobe, in the last game under Kobe's defense, Hamilton, who shot 4 of 9 and scored 12 points, only shot 5 of 7 in the first quarter and scored 13 points.

However, although Hamilton's point was opened, under Kobe's personal defense and Payton's constant harassment, Meng Xu played average in the first three quarters of this game.

After the loss of the last game, O'Neal played more aggressively in this game, in the first quarter of the game 4 minutes, he made two fouls each of Mutombo and Jermaine O'Neal, of course, and it didn't stop there, even the Pacers' two bench interior Lorenzen White and Jeff Foster were beaten to the bench by O'Neal, only in the first quarter of the game, O'Neal got 14 free throw opportunities, and hit 8 of them, under O'Neal's outstanding performance of 22 points and 7 rebounds in a single quarter, the Lakers led the Pacers all the way after the opening.

Seeing that the Lakers were about to win an away game, but Meng Xu, who only shot 10 times in the first three quarters of the game and hit 4 goals, shot 10 of 14 in the fourth quarter, including 7 of 10 3-pointers and 4 of 5 free throws, and scored 31 points in a single quarter.

In the end, when the game ended, the Pacers defeated the Lakers 106-102 at home, leading the Lakers 2-0, when the live broadcast camera captured the Lakers' head coach Phil Jackson, Phil Jackson, known as the Zen master, looked stunned and dazed, I don't know whether he was worried about the unfavorable situation of the Lakers, or shocked by Meng Xu's crazy performance of 30+ in a single quarter again.

Obviously, after another loss, the Lakers and Phil Jackson have been cornered, and if they can't recover this slight trend in the next home court, the Lakers are likely to be swept.