Chapter Ninety-Four: Eastern Conference Finals
In the blink of an eye, the time is on the 24th, and the Pacers will be led by Pickle Pepper to face the Heat who eliminated themselves last season at the Conseco Arena.
Despite the ups and downs, the Eastern Conference Finals were ultimately played between the top two seeds, with the Indiana Pacers hosting the Miami Heat. George needs to play a leading role, Hibbert must play a role inside, and Ye Xuan also needs to show his full strength, and they must lead the team to go all out to get off to a good start.
And LeBron needs to lead the team with excellent performances, Wade and Bosh also need to show their giant value, they need role players to contribute, and the Heat need to work hard to grab home-court advantage.
The Heat didn't face much challenge on their way to the Eastern Conference Finals, as they swept the Bobcats in the first round and met with stubborn resistance from the Nets in the semifinals, but the Heat managed to advance and avenged their regular season sweep as the Heat reached the Eastern Conference Finals for the fourth year in a row.
LeBron James played an important leadership role in advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals, and he helped the team immensely on the court, averaging 30 points, 7.1 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game in nine playoff games, and he showed his worth. He should continue to play like this when he travels to the Pacers today, and the team needs him to play more efficiently and put George under pressure defensively.
"The two best teams in the East meet in the finals, and that's simple, it means both teams have a high level of defense, both can share the ball, both have the ability to kill the opponent inside, both have a strong desire to win, and that's why it's so balanced." LeBron said before the game.
And Wade and Bosh, as the other two giants of the team, they also have to take responsibility, and Wade will encounter the impact of Ye Xuan, which is a big challenge. The best news for Wade at the moment is that he gets three days off before the Eastern Conference Finals, which will allow him to recover well.
Bosh has repeatedly hit key three-pointers in the series against the Nets, and he has become another very dangerous outside point for the team, but he will be under a lot of pressure in this series, and he, Haslem, and Anderson will have to work hard to suppress Hibbert on the inside.
For the Heat, the dominance of the Big Three has not been as pronounced as it was in the previous two playoff games, making it even more important for them to contribute from role players. Allen has played an important role in both series, his three-point shot has been a savior several times, and today he is a trip to Indiana, and he will continue to be on the perimeter on the outside. Chalmers, Kerr, Battier, Lewis and others will also have to contribute to the team, but what the Heat need most is to play on the inside, and Haslem and Anderson will help the team limit Hibbert's offense.
This season, the Pacers have been fighting for home-court advantage in order to be able to challenge the Heat, and although they had a lot of problems in the late regular season, they finally got home-court advantage, and all they have to do is make the most of it.
As the leader of the team, George is going to play better in the series against the Heat, and tomorrow he will use his offense to lead the team to a good start. But George can't do without the contributions of the people around him, like West and Ye Xuan, who have to help the team in the offense.
But for the Pacers, what they need most is Hibbert's contribution. As we all know, the biggest weakness of the Heat is the interior, and Hibbert is an important bargaining chip to challenge them, but he is the most inconsistent point in this year's playoffs, but fortunately in the series with the Wizards, there are signs of recovery, if he can play interior dominance, then the Pacers will have a better chance of winning.
As the top seeds in the East, the Pacers have the best home record of the regular season, but it will be a completely different situation against the Heat, who will have a hard time eliminating their opponents if they can't keep their home court, and they will try to keep their first home court today.
The two teams were tied in the regular season this year, met three times in the playoffs, and the Heat eliminated their opponents twice to advance. In the 2003-04 Eastern Conference semifinals, the Pacers eliminated the Heat 4-2 to advance; In the 2011-12 Eastern Conference semifinals, the Heat eliminated the Pacers 4-2; In the 2012-13 Eastern Conference Finals, the Heat narrowly won 4-3.
So this year's series has also been rendered by the media as a revenge battle for the Pacers.
The game began in a blink of an eye, the referee threw the ball high, and Hibbert pressed Bosh to slap the ball into Ye Xuan's hands. After Ye Xuan got the ball, he slowly controlled the ball and came to the front court, facing Chalmers's defense, a butterfly step directly shook off the gap, and then used his highest hitting rate - throwing and throwing the ball in.
The Heat backcourt served, after Chalmers controlled the ball and came to the front court, he handed the ball to James to organize, after James and Bosh blocked and dismantled, he passed the ball back to Bosh who was waiting in a high position after the end of the block, and the real giant did not hesitate after receiving the ball, and directly made a three-point shot, but unfortunately it felt poor and the shot was iron.
West grabbed the rebound and hurriedly handed the ball to Ye Xuan, Ye Xuan took the ball and quickly pushed forward, and after coming to the front court, he directly passed the ball to Lance Stephenson, who was following up on the side, Lance took the ball and was about to shoot directly, but when he saw that James had quickly chased the defense in place, Lance, who had lost the opportunity to shoot, was not in a hurry, and handed the ball to Ye Xuan again.
The basketball didn't stop at all when it came to Ye Xuan's hands, and it was directly thrown to the inside line by Ye Xuan, it turned out that Pickled Pepper had already used the empty cut to run out of the vacant position, Ye Xuan's pass was just right, and Pickled Pepper easily made a layup after receiving the ball.
Wade saw that Pickled Pepper threw him away and immediately scored, and he was also remorseful, looking back, Chalmers just dribbled the ball past half court, Wade reached out to ask for the ball, after receiving the ball, Wade still wanted to single Pickled Pepper, but as soon as he looked up, he saw Ye Xuan standing in front of him with a cheap smile, waving his slap in front of his eyes, and his other hand reached over from time to time to pull out the ball.
Ye Xuan's defensive skills Wade has also seen it, so he didn't get angry with Ye Xuan, and directly waved his hand to call Battier to help block and dismantle, and after blocking and dismantling, he went directly to the restricted area, and then shook off West who was making up for the defense, and then scored the ball from a lever on the other side of the basket.
After Ye Xuan saw Wade's European step, he couldn't help but pout, and secretly said in his heart, "What kind of drag, I will do this trick too, and I will show you later." As he thought, he slowly brought the ball to the front.