Chapter 33: The Dallas Old Men
Speaking of the Mavericks, many longtime fans must have a lot to say, and since seeing their team win the 2011 NBA championship, Mavericks management has decided to go in a completely new direction. Rather than executing long-term contracts focused on older players, they would rather use short-term contracts to control salary space so that they could pursue Dwight Howard and Chris Paul last summer. Unfortunately, this plan did not materialize well.
The Mavericks' high-dollar free agent goals are all spent elsewhere, so they have to pick the rest. So they signed Monta Ellis who can score, Jose Calderón who can distribute the ball, and Samuel Delham Porter who can defend them, and in fact their lineup is not as awkward as those bombastic media people have made it up for them.
Dirk Nowitzki is a fantastic player who has led some of the more or less problematic rosters to 50+ wins and into the playoffs. Last season, he began to struggle with age and injuries, and as a result, the team missed the playoffs. And this season, judging by the current results, even if they barely make the playoffs, they will face a strong Thunder duo or the Spurs, and no matter which of these two teams they face, the Mavericks have the possibility of being swept.
When the team arrived in Dallas, they didn't make any changes, and after getting used to the venue, the game was about to begin. After the game started, Pickled Pepper dominated the direction of the game, and came up with a cross step to open the distance between the defender and the defender, and an accurate shot opened the curtain of the game.
Then he stole Calderon's cross, rode fast alone, looked at Monta Alice who was chasing behind, and calmly chose to take a slow three steps, which not only scored the ball, but also caused Alice's foul. After the penalty was added, the score came to 5:0. Subsequently, Calderon's three-point iron and gave up the ball again, and Pickled Pepper was not polite, and directly launched a fast attack after receiving a pass from Roy Hibbert, and forced a dunk in the face of Durham Porter, although the opponent struggled to block, but it was still useless, 7:0.
Nowitzki stepped up at the critical moment, first hitting a three-pointer one step away from the three-point line to stabilize the morale of the army, and then blocking David West's 9-tenth mid-range shot. A big hat not only covered the ball, but also directly covered the ball directly into the hands of teammate Alice, Alice is also the former Warriors boss, and the strength is still there, and she received the basketball and went down quickly, and made a layup with a low hand, 7:5.
In the following round, Peppers began to create opportunities for his teammates, and Lance Stephenson hit a three-pointer on a breakaway pointer, and Sean Marion hit a mid-range shot on the opposite side. Not to be outdone, the Pacers were not to be outdone, with Hill hitting a three-pointer after receiving a pick-and-roll from Roy Hibbert, and then David West and Pickles Pepper picked up a return pass in the high post and also hit a two-pointer. With the Pacers' starters blooming across the board, the game score was quickly pulled away, and after the TV paused, Ye Xuan was substituted, and the score was already 23:16 at this time.
Ye Xuan is not the kind of top ten young people who respect the old and love the young, he burst into the inside line when he came up and threw a shot in front of Nowitzki. However, Nowitzki immediately returned the color and used the Golden Rooster to hit two points in front of West. Ye Xuan took control of the ball and came to the front court, and after thinking about it, he handed the ball to Pickled Pepper, because he also wanted to adapt to the off-ball style of play as soon as possible and prepare for the next playoffs.
After Pickle Pepper received the ball, he was not polite, and he took the ball directly and killed it, Marion cooperated with Alice to directly block his way, but Ye Xuan on the side also ran out of the vacant position, and Pickle Pepper threw it easily, Ye Xuan received the ball, and instantly opened the difference to ten points. Although everyone's hand dropped somehow, as the substitutes came on the court, Ye Xuan regained control of the ball, and with a substitute, he beat the Mavericks' substitutes to the ground.
If it weren't for the fact that Carter Sr. and Devin Harris also played well, maybe Ye Xuan would have been able to put the game directly into garbage time before the second quarter was over. At halftime, Ye Xuan, who played 12 minutes, scored 17 points and 7 assists, helping the Pacers lead the opponent with a score of 58:41 at the end of the first half.
At halftime, the TNT group couldn't stand it, and the big-mouthed Sir Charles Barkley began to half-jokingly complain about Ye Xuan: "Oh, look at Ye Xuan, this little rabbit cub, dunking in front of our UFO?" Ridiculous one-handed dunk, when the UFO performed a dunk on the court, the kid was probably still wetting the bed, but now, things are different, those players back then are old, retired and retired, even players like Kobe Bryant, Vince Carter and Nowitzki who are still active in the NBA have also suffered from injuries. ”
O'Neal on the side took over the conversation: "Yes, that's right, you look at this player of the Mavericks, 31-year-old Devin Harris, 32-year-old Jose Calderon, 33-year-old Samuel Dareham Porter, 35-year-old Dirk Nowitzki, 36-year-old Sean Marion, 37-year-old Vince Carter. Is this an NBA team or a nursing home? Looking at the Pacers, a young man who is less than 30 years old, and even Ye Xuan is only 20 years old this year, bombarding these league veterans. But this can't be helped, the back waves of the Yangtze River push the front waves, and the front waves die on the beach (I don't know if O'Neill knows where the Yangtze River is... Just as you 84 handed over the scepter to the 96 generation, the time has come for the 96 generation to hand over the scepter, and the alliance will eventually belong to the young people. ”
At the end of the intermission, Ye Xuan directly applied to Coach Frank for his debut, on the one hand, in order to run in with starters such as Pickled Pepper, and on the other hand, of course, he also wanted to end the battle as soon as possible. The starting lineup was stronger than the opponent, and now the spear on the bench was also lined up, the Mavericks suddenly couldn't resist, and after holding on for 7 minutes, Rick Carlisle, who saw that there was no hope of turning the tables, directly chose to replace all the main players, he didn't want his veterans to waste energy on the court for a regular season game when they faced the powerful Pacers and fell behind by more than 20 points.
At the end of the game, it was another big win of more than 20 points, which made all the media shout that the super team is coming. And those teams that aspire to win the championship also sensed the crisis and joined forces to appeal, because they questioned why the Pacers were able to sign a strong player like Ye Xuan with a base salary and wanted to break up the Pacers with the help of the league.