"Spurs won again?"

On March 18, 2006, it has been nearly a month since the end of the All-Star Weekend, and there is only a month left before the end of the regular season of the 05-06 season, but the Spurs and Pacers, who are desperately sprinting for the first place in the league, still have no intention of stopping and adjusting, and have locked up the playoff spots and the Spurs and Pacers, in order to get home court advantage in the Finals, no one wants to stop first.

Originally, after the All-Star Weekend, many bricks expected that the Spurs and Pacers would pause their crazy momentum and begin to adjust their state, after all, the All-Star Syndrome is not covered, for the Spurs and Pacers who have multiple players participating in the All-Star Weekend, they must be troubled by the All-Star Syndrome after the All-Star Weekend, but then the results are shocking, in the Mavericks, Suns, Rockets, Pistons, Heat, Nets These giants are all troubled by the All-Star Syndrome, And when the Spurs and Pacers lost again and again, they continued to expand their leads, and locked up a playoff spot each with a month and a half before the end of the season, and the All-Star syndrome or something didn't exist for them.

After yesterday's game with the Knicks, the 56-10 Pacers are only half a win away from the 56-9 Spurs, and the Spurs have to go back-to-back to play the Rockets away today after winning away from the Mavericks yesterday, so as long as the Spurs lose to the Rockets away, then the Pacers will rely on the win difference between the two sides, so as to overtake the Spurs to the first place in the league, but they have begun to prepare for the playoffs Rockets have not posed a little threat to the Spurs at all, It was a 22-point loss at home to Spurs, which was really speechless.

"It looks like it's better to rely on yourself than on anyone." The Pacers' schedule this week is very easy, three of the four games are at home, and they are all Warriors, Bulls, and Magic, on the other hand, the Spurs' schedule is very unfriendly, all of which are the Heat, Mavericks, and Rockets, among which the Mavericks and Rockets are two back-to-back away games, so the Pacers are counting on the Spurs to fall at the feet of these teams, especially the Mavericks and Rockets' back-to-back aways, but the final result made the Pacers very disappointed, and the Spurs defeated the Heat one after anotherAfter the Mavericks and Rockets, they still maintain a one-win lead over the Pacers.

"Rick, the regular season is over in a month, do we need to prepare in advance?" Looking at Rick Carlisle, who was sitting behind him and seemed to want to say something, Meng Xu took the initiative to mention to him, if it was last season, the Pacers would have already begun to prepare for the playoffs, and it is not a wise thing for a team aiming for a championship to spend all its energy in the regular season.

"It's time to adjust." Looking at Meng Xu who walked in front of him, Rick Carlisle smiled and nodded at Meng Xu, in fact, according to Rick Carlisle's plan, the Pacers should adjust after locking up the playoff spots, and the Pacers, who have 11 wins ahead of the Pistons, which are second in the East, can prepare for the playoffs in advance, but considering the fierce competition between Meng Xu and Tim Duncan in the regular season MVP rankings, Rick Carlisle feels that he can't convince Meng Xu to accept his plan, So Rick Carlisle can only delay and wait, until now, fortunately, Meng Xu is still very important, and compared with the championship, other honors are really nothing.

After setting the strategy of starting to adjust, Rick Carlisle began to rotate the main players of the Pacers gradually, in batches, but Rick Carlisle did not dare to be too blatant, but fully learned from the experience of his predecessor Popovich, on March 20, after the Pacers won at home against the Hawks, the official website of the Pacers issued a statement, the Pacers' main power forward Jermaine O'Neal suffered a groin strain in the game with the Hawks, and is expected to miss about a week, Veterans Mutombo and Anfernee Hardaway will also miss the next 4-6 games due to the recurrence of old injuries.

After the Pacers took the lead in signaling that they were starting to adjust, the Spurs also quickly followed suit, and before the away game against the Trail Blazers, the Spurs officially made an announcement: Tim Duncan has a heel injury, Mike Finley has a left shoulder strain, and Tony Parker has a severe flu and will miss this game with the Trail Blazers.

Although the three main players were absent, but under the leadership of Manu Ginobili, the Spurs still won the Trail Blazers by 17 points on the road, perhaps this big win made Popovich feel that the Spurs could rest a few more 1 or 2 main players, or Ginobili's move of scoring 31 points in this game angered Popovich, so after the game between the Spurs and the Trail Blazers, Manu Ginobili was "injured in the hip" and was sent back to San Antonio by Popovich.

After the end of the game with the Trail Blazers, the Spurs rushed to Denver to face the Nuggets who were sprinting for a playoff spot, but the Spurs that lacked Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Mike Finley were beaten by the Nuggets on the road, especially Kenyon Martin, who finally ate a dumpling meal in the game with the Spurs, without Tim Duncan's Spurs, Only allowed Kenyon Martin and Marcus Camby to wreak havoc under the basket, Marcus Camby 11 points, 21 rebounds and 5 blocks, Kenyon Martin 26 points, 14 rebounds, plus Carmelo Anthony's 35 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, the Nuggets beat the Spurs by 26 points at home.

Just when Popovich led the Spurs to go farther and farther on the road to death, the Pacers, who rested Jermaine O'Neal, won the Celtics and the Wizards on the road, after the Spurs lost to the Nuggets, the Pacers took the opportunity to overtake the Spurs and became the first in the league with a record of 58-10, but it is hard to say whether the Pacers can have the last laugh in the first place in the league, because on March 26, the Pacers will face the Spurs at home, if they lose the game with the Spurs, The Pacers still have to step down from the top spot in the league.