It wasn't Carlisle's intention to take Thomas off, especially after he lost Artest because of it. If he really instructed him, he wouldn't let Artest do it, but instead used an inconsequential substitute to redeem it. But now that things have turned out like this, he has to think about how he can play well in the next games.

In Carlisle's view, Thomas is still very important to the Pistons, as the tallest one in the Pistons starting lineup, he greatly makes up for the lack of Big Ben in terms of interior offense and defense, and more importantly, he can also pull outside shots. During the regular season, Thomas averaged 16.1 points and 8.2 rebounds per game while shooting 36.1 percent from three-point range.

As for Dio, who replaced Thomas, Carlisle was not impressed by him, in fact, this was also caused by Dior's positioning in the bench. Most of the time, Dio plays with the bench, and the Pistons have Wade and Crawford on the bench, and Simmons and Haywood on the defense, and he still plays more of a connecting role.

Carlisle thinks he sees through Dio's weakness, because the latter plays power forward with the size of a small forward, Carlisle thinks it will be difficult for him to withstand either O'Neal Jr. and Foster on the inside, if this is the case, the Pistons with damaged interior strength may not be able to block the impact of the Pacers, is there a chance to win this game?

Carlisle is ambitious here, Brown isn't too worried about it, and Dio is also partnered with Haywood, a defensive center, in the rotation lineup, so there will be nothing uncomfortable with changing to Big Ben. And Thomas's defense can only be regarded as not dragging its feet among the starting five, and Dior should not decline much after replacing him, and the offense may still improve.

Carlisle's prediction was only half right, Dio did struggle on the defensive end, facing O'Neal Jr. and Foster taking turns to hold the ball in singles, he could only grit his teeth and hard top behind his back until his teammates were in place. But on the offensive end, Dio can be said to be like a fish in water, his mid-range shooting is very accurate, and his ability to play in the high post is quite good.

Billups simply handed the ball to Dio after half-time, and he was able to break through from the high post and also take advantage of opportunities to provide assists to his team-mates, and the team's attack was as good as it was before Thomas's injury. Whether it is Big Ben on the inside or Billups and Hamilton on the outside, they have a lot of easy scoring opportunities, and the Pacers' defensive system is even more stugged, which makes Carlisle surprised, he didn't expect Dio to play such a basketball.

At first, Brown didn't plan to let Dio play power forward, but he reluctantly accepted this suggestion under Chang Wei's repeated suggestions, but he didn't expect that Dio, who had been tepid when he came off the bench before, could have chemistry with the main players so quickly, and Chang Wei once again proved his correctness and authority in player development.

In fact, Chang Wei was still a little apprehensive at first, in his previous life, Dior switched to playing power forward in the latter part of his career, largely because he had become a flexible dead fat man at that time, and it was not suitable for him to continue to play small forward. And now that he's just a slim and nimble young man, it's understandable that Brown doesn't like him to play the No. 4 position.

But now that Dior has played with the main players, he has undoubtedly maximized his ability to play high positions and shoot from medium and long distances, which surprised Chang Wei, but it seems reasonable to think about it. Wade and Crawford, the two leading scorers on the Pistons bench, still prefer to attack with the ball, while Billups, Hamilton and Prince prefer catch-and-shoot or open cuts.

This made Carlisle feel helpless, he originally thought that there would be some chaos without Thomas's Pistons so that the Pacers could seize the opportunity, but he didn't expect Dior to be simply seamless, and even made the Pistons' offense sharper. On the contrary, their side lost Artest, who could make a huge contribution at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends, and gradually fell behind.

At the end of the first half, the Pistons once again led by 10 points at 52-42, and Dio scored only four points in the second quarter, but handed out six assists to put the Pistons' offense in order. Carlisle saw him and felt like he saw Divac, and although the two men looked very different in terms of style, it just gave him a similar feeling.

When Dio came off the court, the Pistons rushed up and congratulated the rookie in a variety of ways, celebrating his ability to help the team build an advantage in the first quarter of the game. Watching everyone flock to Dio into the players' tunnel, Brown smiled at Chang Wei and followed, he had to hurry up and lay out the tactics for the second half of the team.

And in addition to tactics, there are also some changes to the player rotation, which will not allow Dior to play the entire second half. However, the veteran Manning was persuaded by Brown to barely get a base salary to play the last year, and it is unrealistic to expect him to fight on the court for a long time, but fortunately, Dior is very young, and only needs to be replaced and rest when he is too unable to persevere.

Although Billups also played well in the first half, Brown still hoped that he would be able to hand the ball to Dio as he had done at the start of the second half. Of course, this is not to say that Billups is not good enough, but if Dio is allowed to play high positions, he can maximize the offensive firepower of the main players, so that the impact of Thomas's injury on the attack will no longer exist.

At the same time, Brown also apologized that Big Ben had to work harder on the inside, because Dior was flexible and flexible, but he was not very good at strength, and there was no way to protect the basket. If it's against a big forward with three-point ability like Lewis, it's better to say that the Pacers' main interior linemen O'Neal Jr. and Foster are used to working in the low post, and Dio is under a lot of pressure on the defensive end, which makes Big Ben have to take on more responsibility. Fortunately, Big Ben has always taken care of rookies, and defense is what he is good at, so when Brown made things clear to him, he agreed.

However, this also requires Dior to be a little better on the offensive end, otherwise his plus/minus on the floor is estimated to be negative, which is not what Brown wants to see. If there is a flaw on the defensive end, try to make up for it on the offensive end, and only in this way can a player prove his worth in the game.