After a few games of observation, Chang Wei found that the Pacers did have merit. Especially the old Miller, his three-point shot reminded Chang Wei of Ray Allen and Ginobili who entered the end of his career in his previous life, maybe many teams have such a veteran, even if he has been invisible in the first 47 minutes of the game, but as long as he seizes the opportunity, he can kill with one blow.

In addition to Miller, Artest on the outside is also noteworthy. Although Prince has grown into a first-class outside gate in the league, Artest's core strength is quite amazing, and his style of play is also very simple and rough, if he crushes all the way with his strong physical strength, Prince, who has lost more than a lap of weight, is really unable to prevent him.

As for O'Neal Jr., to be honest, Chang Wei didn't take him seriously, even if he averaged 20.1 points, 10 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per game in the regular season, he would definitely not be able to carry Big Ben and Thomas on the inside. Even with Jeff Foster on the side, it's useless, and Big Ben on the defensive end is enough to make them feel embarrassed.

Brown also thinks so, Chang Wei knows the Pistons players very well, he is not bad, the starting lineup of the Pacers only needs to focus on Artest and Miller in his opinion, the interior combination of O'Neal Jr. and Foster is still worse than Big Ben and Thomas, and Tinsley in the No. 1 position does not have to worry, he is basically a soy sauce existence.

However, some things are different on live TV than when they are in real battle, and Brown has tried to estimate Artest's level as high as possible, but he didn't expect this guy to improve so much from the regular season. The Pacers did not look for O'Neal Jr. on the inside in the first round, but gave Artest in the elbow area, Prince saw this and hurriedly stepped forward to defend, and Thomas on the inside line also paid attention to the situation here, ready to make up for the defense at any time, and handed over the task of protecting the basket to Big Ben.

As a result, before Thomas could come to the rescue, Artest easily turned and cleared Prince, hitting a mid-range shot without any interference. Seeing that Prince was almost knocked to the ground, Brown smiled helplessly and said to Chang Wei: "Artest is really a big killer in this position, he is too foul to play small forward, right?" ”

The old coach's worried look made Chang Wei feel funny, he really didn't want to tell Brown that Artest was just the beginning, and another more powerful small forward is still practicing in Cleveland, if nothing else, he will be a strong opponent that the Pistons will have to face in the next many seasons, if Brown still stays in the East to coach.

As a last resort, Brown asked Hamilton to come forward to help defend, and with Thomas, who was ready to make up for the defense, it was equivalent to the Pistons using three people to limit Artest on the defensive end. But the latter wasn't stupid, as he decisively gave the ball to the perimeter after a low-post solo to attract the defense, allowing Miller, the team's spiritual leader and epic shooter, to shoot a three-pointer.

Because of Artest, most of Miller's shots were in absolute vacancy, but this made him feel very uncomfortable. No matter how you say it, he is also inseparable from Jordan, and the Pistons actually let him shoot with a big sting, isn't this contempt? Miller is old and doesn't want to talk much about trash, but he can still prove himself with a three-point shot.

One at the top of the arc and one at the left and right corners, Miller seems determined to show off his marksmanship in front of his juniors. Three consecutive three-pointers helped the Pacers get off to a 12-4 start on the road, leaving Brown feeling disgraced. Before the game, he was more or less contemptuous of Miller, a veteran who is nearly 40 years old, although he also made a request to limit Miller, but mainly to make the players pay attention to Artest's threat on the offensive end, but Miller gave him a hard slap with a three-point shot.

Brown quickly called a timeout to rearrange his tactics in addition to interrupting the Pacers' offense. Now it seems that Miller is an object that must be focused on, but Artest can't be put either, which means that the Pistons may have to empty two people - Tinsley and Foster, which is actually acceptable for the Pistons, as long as they can choke O'Neal Jr., Miller and Artest, if it really doesn't work, give up Miller, he doesn't believe that Miller can keep his hand throughout the game.

It turned out that the Pacers eliminated the Raptors in a justified way, and defending Artest and O'Neal Jr. alone put the Pistons players under tremendous pressure to give Miller open shots in certain rounds. In the rain of Miller's three-pointers, the Pistons trailed 25-37 in the first quarter, and Miller alone made five three-pointers to score 15 points.

Brown's face was ugly at the break, but he didn't blame the players, no one expected Miller's sudden outburst, he averaged only 10 points per game in the regular season, and the sudden outburst in the playoffs really surprised many people. Fortunately, his physical strength could not support him to play thirty or forty minutes a game, and this time it broke out at the beginning of the game, probably because head coach Carlisle wanted the team to be in control in the first quarter, so Miller was able to get so many shots.

Sure enough, Miller didn't appear on the court at the beginning of the second quarter, and his excellent performance in the first quarter still consumed a lot of physical strength, which is definitely a heavy pressure for an old guy who will be 40 years old next year. In addition to allowing O'Neal Jr. to continue to lead the bench lineup on the field, Carlisle has replaced all four positions with substitutes.

Still, the Pacers' rotation can't compete with the Pistons. Under Brown's instructions, Haywood completely abandoned the offense and concentrated on carrying O'Neal Jr. on the inside, not allowing the latter to easily receive the ball on the inside. Wade simply let Dio dominate the ball, and he can do a good job of cutting and catching the ball with his own hands, of course, if the team is in trouble, he will still take over the ball, in fact, Wade's breakthrough point is already the most concise and effective tactic used by the Pistons rotation lineup.

While O'Neal Jr. struggled with Haywood's defense, the Pacers basically relied on Ellington's mid-range shot to score. And the offense on the Pistons' side is in full swing, Wade's catch-and-shoot can be said to be under Hamilton's mastery, and the shooting rate is extremely high, the Pacers players have no way to face the elusive him, and by the time Carlisle replaced the main force on the court, the Pistons have basically tied the score, only 44-47 behind, this is the power of their bench lineup!