Friday, January 9, 2004, U.S. time, Indianapolis Bankers Life Arena, the Pacers will host the Dallas Mavericks today, because the Pacers defeated the Celtics in the last game, increasing their winning streak to 33 games, so today's game, for the Pacers, for all the fans who support the Pacers, is their moment to make history, and for the visiting Mavericks, it is also a moment to witness history, Whether to watch the Pacers step on themselves to make history, or go down in history as a finisher, it's up to today's game.

At the same time, today's game is also a strong matchup between the first in the East and the first in the West, as the current first in the West and second in the league, although the Mavericks' current 27-7 record is much inferior to the Pacers' 33-game winning streak, but the Mavericks don't think their strength is much worse than the Pacers. It's just that the Mavericks' players are very unhappy that before the start of this game, the Mavericks seem to be forgotten, the entire American media is overwhelmingly full of news about the Pacers, almost all basketball bricks, on the side of the Pacers, it seems that the Pacers beat them and create a new winning streak is already a thing that everyone is looking forward to. Even the league's president, David Stern, made a statement this morning that he would be there this evening to watch the game and witness the historic moment for himself.

"Steve, don't worry, I'm going to blow that kid up today, don't worry." Looking at Nash in the locker room, looking at Meng Xu who was being interviewed on the TV, Antoine Walker, who also had no good impression of Meng Xu, sat next to Nash, hugged Nash's neck, and gritted his teeth at Meng Xu on the TV.

Once, Antoine Walker was the darling of the whole of Boston and the savior in the eyes of all Celtics fans, but since Meng Xu entered the league and was handpicked by Larry Bird as his successor, Antoine Walker's nightmare came, he went from Boston's darling and future to the object of questioning by fans, and even almost was sent to the Spurs to exchange for Meng Xu, who was just a rookie at the time. You must know that Antoine Walker was a new All-Star in the league at the time, a popular star who could contribute 20+10+5 per game, but he was sent to the Spurs by the Cardinal in exchange for Meng Xu, who averaged only 8 points and 6 rebounds per game at the time, and after that, the Celtics wanted to use him as a bargaining chip to exchange Meng Xu more than once, and while complaining about the Cardinal and Larry Bird many times in his heart, Antoine Walker was also more and more jealous of Meng Xu, jealous that Meng Xu took away everything that should have belonged to him. After the playoffs of the 01-02 season, Antoine Walker's jealousy of Meng Xu completely turned into hatred, Antoine Walker and Paul Pierce led the Celtics were swept by the Pacers, and nearly 20,000 fans at TD North Shore Garden Arena collectively defected, Antoine Walker is still vividly remembered.

After that playoffs, Antoine Walker, who was bent on revenge, changed his laziness in the following season, trained and played hard, and played the second best season of his career, but the Celtics did not meet Meng Xu's Pacers in the playoffs, so they fell at the feet of the Nets first, and after the season ended, Antoine Walker was sent to the Mavericks by Danny Ainge, who lost confidence, which was tantamount to a bolt from the blue for the arrogant Antoine Walker. This also made Antoine Walker's obsession with Meng Xu even deeper.

"These two guys." Listening to the conversation between Walker and Nash, Nowitzki shook his head helplessly, Nowitzki is not as optimistic as the two of them now, the Mavericks only played with the Lakers yesterday, and they came to Indiana non-stop today, while the Pacers have rested for a few days in a row, and the Pacers' tactics have always restrained the Mavericks, especially the one named James Posey, every time he aligns, Nowitzki will play very uncomfortable, so in today's game, it is quite difficult for the Mavericks to defeat the Pacers.

In the Pacers' locker room, there is now a relaxed atmosphere, after the game with the Celtics, the Pacers got three days of rest, plus those players who were not in good shape, and got the opportunity to rest in the first two games, so at this time, the Pacers are full of energy. And today is the day when they made history, and their desire for victory also made them glow with high morale.

"The Mavericks are likely to play a small lineup today, so we have to change our starting lineup today, Jermaine, you play the No. 1 position today, James goes to the No. 2 position, Tyshawn starts the No. 3 position today, Reggie still plays the No. 4 position, Meng returns to the No. 1 position, the Mavericks' offensive and defensive conversion speed is very fast, which requires us to concentrate our attention at all times and protect our defensive area, understand?" After arranging the starting lineup for this game, Rick Carlisle secretly clenched his fists, as long as he defeated the Mavericks, the longest winning streak in NBA history, it would belong to the Pacers and himself, at this time, Rick Carlisle's heart was also a little uncontrollable nervous.

"Understood!"

"Understood!" 。。。。。。

"Okay, let's go, let's go and make new history!"

"The Pacers fans were so enthusiastic today!" When the visiting Mavericks players began to walk out of the player tunnel, the Bankers Life Arena instantly erupted in deafening boos, obviously never seen such a big formation of Mavericks rookie Marquis Daniels, was frightened to stay in place for a few seconds before reacting, sitting on the sideline commentary bench to witness all this, looking at Marquis Daniels a little panicked and joking.

Since Meng Xu came to Indiana, the Pacers' home attendance has been among the top three in the league, even in the offseason last season, the Pacers carried out a comprehensive renovation of the Bankers' Living Arena, increasing the number of seats to 20,680. In the face of the boos of more than 20,000 fans in the stadium, not to mention a rookie like Marquis Daniels, even an old guy like Michael Finley is a little uneasy at the moment.

"In this game, the starting lineups of the Pacers and Mavericks are a little different." Magic Johnson, who has already won the starting line-up for both sides, is obviously more concerned about the changes between the two sides in this game.

Just when Michaels also paid attention to the starting lists of both sides, the boos in the Bankers Life Arena came to an abrupt end, accompanied by waves of cheers, the Pacers players walked out of the players' tunnel, and when Meng Xu walked out of the players' tunnel for the last time, the warm atmosphere of the scene instantly reached its peak, and after cheers and applause, it was the "MVP" sound that resounded through the Bankers' Life Arena.

"It's Dirk who represents the Mavericks jumping ball today!" Similar to what Rick Carlisle expected, the Mavericks' main center "Big Bamboo Pole" Shaun Bradley was put on the bench in today's game, and Dirk Nowitzki was pushed to the center position by Nelson Sr.

It's just that Nowitzki really doesn't have any talent and experience in jumping the ball, with a whistle when the referee threw the basketball in his hand into the air, Jermaine O'Neal rubbed it and jumped up, and the basketball in the air was dialed to the Pacers' half, and Nowitzki, who jumped with Jermaine O'Neal, just tiptoed, the jump ball was over, and Jermaine O'Neal's bounce speed was so fast that Nowitzki in front of him was wondering if he was standing in front of him an inside liner.

After Sean Bradley was pressed to the bench, the Mavericks' retreat speed was indeed much faster, and they were also prepared for the result of the jump ball, so when Meng Xu just dribbled through the half court, the five Mavericks players on the court had all retreated in place.

In this case, the Pacers could only slow down the pace to play positional battles, and after Meng Xu slowed down the speed of advancement, Jermaine O'Neal also had a tacit understanding to stay at the top of the arc, ready to block and dismantle for Meng Xu.

Defense is originally Nash's shortcoming, not to mention that it is Meng Xu who can crush all the players in the same position who has to defend today, so the head coach of the Mavericks, Niles Sr., also arranged Michael Finley to cooperate with Nash to defend Meng Xu today.

It's just that the defense of Nash and Finley is obviously not enough in front of Meng Xu, Meng Xu easily got rid of Nash with a big stride dribble breakthrough, and then got rid of Finley again through the blocking and dismantling between Jermaine O'Neal, who had been prepared in advance, and in the face of Nowitzki, who switched defenses, Meng Xu also only used a feint to get rid of him, and rushed directly to the Mavericks' basket.

"Bastard, and me!" Antoine Walker, who played power forward in today's game, saw Meng Xu get rid of several defenders in a row and rushed towards the basket, he immediately gave up his defensive object and rushed towards Meng Xu.

"You're too slow." Meng Xu, who had already jumped up, saw Antoine Walker who was rushing towards him, and dodged his block with an easy folding lever in the air, followed by a one-handed split, Danny Fortson, who rushed from the other side, didn't even have a chance to foul, Meng Xu was already hanging on the basket.