"The Pistons need to call a timeout to adjust, and Billups is just too weak to defend James Posey! If the Pacers continue to play like this, I'm afraid that the game will lose suspense before halftime! "In the third game of the Pacers and Pistons series, less than four minutes after the opening game, the situation on the court was one-sided. Because the Pistons' small forward Artest has to defend Meng Xu in the No. 1 position, Billups in the No. 1 position of the Pistons has to go to the wrong position to defend James Posey in the No. 3 position of the Pacers, but Billups is more than 10 centimeters shorter than James Posey, and the weight of the two is not at the same level, plus James Posey's movement speed is not bad, James Posey, who is called "low-profile Meng Xu" by Larry Bird, can play as he wants to play against Billups, And the Pacers also obviously discovered this weakness of the Pistons, Meng Xu after scoring the first offense after the opening, he could fatally make the ball to James Posey, either after breaking into the inside line and passing out, or after encountering the bag, immediately distribute the ball to James Posey. Therefore, James Posey also took most of the offensive opportunities of the Pacers in the first 4 minutes, in these 4 minutes, James Posey shot 4 of 7, 2 of 4 3-pointers, 2 of 2 free throws, James Posey scored 12 points in the opening 4 minutes, plus the 3-pointer that Meng Xu hit after the opening, as soon as the game started, the Pistons were beaten by the Pacers with a 15-6 climax.

"I really can't imagine that such a simple change of formation can make earth-shaking changes for the Pacers."

After Rick Carlisle called a timeout, the Pistons fans at the scene also looked at the scoreboard on the court with a confused face, and even more, they kept rubbing their eyes, trying to see clearly whether the score on the scoreboard was real. You must know that in the first two games, the Pacers did not have such a big advantage against the Pistons, especially in the second game of the series, the Pacers were steadily suppressed by the Pistons for most of the game. At the same time, Billups, who was a strong point of the Pistons in the first two games, was not only blown up by James Posey on the defensive end, but also locked up by Meng Xu in the first few minutes after the opening.

"I think Larry should really think about putting Meng Xu in the No. 1 position for a long time, Meng Xu's passing vision, ball control ability, and passing ability are stronger than most of the organizational guards in the league, Meng Xu also played as a playmaker for one season when he was in the Spurs, so for the No. 1 position, Meng Xu can be said to be very familiar. At the same time, the Pacers' current No. 3 position is also full of talent, and with James Posey's ability, he is enough to be qualified for the starting position in any team. "Seeing that Meng Xu is in the position of organizing guard, he is playing more like a fish in water, and even compared to the No. 3 position, he has shown a stronger ability to connect the team, so Magic Johnson is now also bringing up the old thing, after all, after Meng Xu changed to organizational guard in the Spurs, Magic Johnson predicted that Meng Xu would become the next Magician, but after Meng Xu came to the Pacers, he was put back to the No. 3 position by Larry Bird, for this matter, Magic Johnson has always been obsessed, The two successors he selected, Hardaway and Meng Xu, one was robbed by Jordan, and the other was robbed by Larry Bird.

"Yes, especially when Meng is facing a small point guard, he doesn't have the slightest bit of momentum, and at this point, he is much better than you." After Magic Johnson finished speaking, Michael Trick began to tease him, although Magic is recognized as the first point guard in history, but because of his tall size, Magic Johnson has always been less than ideal when defending short and fast guards, which is also one of the few pain points in Magic's career, and Meng Xu is the opposite, because Meng Xu has outstanding speed and first-class reaction ability, so for those small players, Meng Xu is simply a nightmare. Just look at Billups in this game, Billups, who asked for it in front of Jamal Tinsley, was not only timid under Meng Xu's greeting, but even the number of mistakes was far higher than before.

"It looks like the Pistons are really dangerous in this game." After the game restarted, Rick Carlisle arranged for Billups and Collis Williams to switch defenses, and let Collis Williams defend James Posey, but even if he defended Hamilton, Billups also faced the embarrassing situation when defending James Posey just now, although Hamilton was not as strong as James Posey, but Hamilton, who is also more than 2 meters tall, also has a misalignment advantage in front of Billups, In addition, Hamilton's running ability is stronger than James Posey, so under Meng Xu's deliberate feeding of the ball, Hamilton used mid-range shots again and again to make the score of the two sides bigger and bigger.

"Although the problem of the Pistons seems to be in Billups' defense, the root of the problem is actually still in Meng Xu, and if Meng Xu cannot be solved, the Pistons will never be able to get rid of the current predicament." Watching the Pacers on the court, staring at Billups this point, Michaels on the commentary bench could only keep shaking his head, in the first two games, it was still the only strong point that the Pistons had the advantage of facing the Pacers, but in this game it became the shortcomings of the Pistons, whoever Billups defended, the Pacers used whoever singled him, because the Pacers' 3 backcourt players are all more than 2 meters tall, so Billups, who is only 1.91 meters tall, no matter how he rotates, will be a defensive black hole for the Pistons, And if this problem cannot be solved, the piston is destined to be pressed to the ground by the pacers and rubbed at will.

"Compared with the Meng Xu who cut down like a mustard, I think that this kind of Meng Xu is the most deterrent Meng Xu." Just Meng Xu changed his position on the court, which brought earth-shaking changes to the Pacers, looking at the end of the first quarter of the game, the difference between the Pacers and the Pistons was as high as 15 points, Magic Johnson felt more and more that he was right, Meng Xu can only play his greatest power in the No. 1 position, 1 shot, 3 points, 7 assists, 2 rebounds, 2 steals, this is Meng Xu's data in the first quarter, although it looks a little strange, but behind this data, But it was the Pacers who scored 41 points in a single quarter.

"Ugh." After the start of the second quarter of the game, Rick Carlisle, who was still expecting Stackhouse to lead the bench lineup and narrow the gap between the two sides, saw the picture of Stackhouse playing iron continuously under the Pacers' bench Tyshawn Prince's leaky defense, but instead led the Pacers bench lineup Reggie Miller, after the game started, 3 3-pointers shot 2, and under the leadership of Reggie Miller, alas, the Pacers only took a very short time to widen the difference between the two sides to 20 points. Not only was the main lineup suppressed by the Pacers, but even the bench lineup was pressed by the Pacers, although it was only the second quarter, and the Pistons still had enough time to recover the score. But in this terrible situation, not to mention a wave of more than a dozen to 0 scoring frenzy, the Pistons have not even been able to organize an effective counterattack, and as one of the best defensive teams in the league and the best at controlling the pace of the game, the Pacers are unlikely to give the Pistons a chance to play such a scoring frenzy.

In this case, when the Pacers ended the first half with a 74-48 lead of 26 points, no one in the audience, including the fans, would think that the Pistons would be able to move the score back, even if the Pistons reversed the Magic in that situation in the last round, no one would think that the Pistons could reverse the Pacers today.

"I didn't expect this game to be like this today!" As the game progressed, Rick Carlisle continued to adjust, and it was really after replacing Billups with Starkerhouse, but there was no way to change the situation on the field. The reporters who kept advocating for the Pistons to eliminate the Pacers before the game are basically silent now, and the Pistons really don't have the strength to beat the Pacers, at least in this game, the Pistons can't beat the Pacers.

In the end, when the game ended, the visiting Pacers defeated the Pistons 125-103, the Pacers scored 20 points with 3 players, Jermaine O'Neal 26 points, 15 rebounds, James Posey 28 points, 7 rebounds, Hamilton 24 points, and Meng Xu, as the league's scoring champion and the Pacers' top scorer, only scored 14 points in today's game, but Meng Xu sent an astonishing 24 assists, if it weren't for the difference between the two sides, Meng Xu did not play in the entire fourth quarter, so in this game, Meng Xu is likely to hit the feat of 30 assists in a single game.

If the Pacers' big win in G3 still made many anti-Pacers media have illusions, then on May 18, 2003, when the Pacers defeated the Pistons 108-95 on the road again, turning the series into a big score of 3-1, the media that hoped that the Pistons could eliminate the Pacers immediately quieted down.

However, in this game between the two sides G4, there were also a lot of discordant factors, the Pistons, who were behind by a large score, moved more and more in defense, Mutombo and Ben Wallace clashed many times when they were scrambling for rebounds, Artest also blatantly paddled Meng Xu when defending Meng Xu, and the referee on duty blew Artest, Sterkhhouse, James Posey, Meng Xu 4 technical fouls, and expelled Artest from the court, only to avoid the further expansion of the conflict.