"Erwin, the Lakers look as strong as they did last season, and the Pacers, like the 76ers, don't look like they have much of a chance." As the second half of the game continued, the situation on the court became clearer and clearer, O'Neal comprehensively suppressed the Pacers' interior line, and Kobe Bryant always maintained a high efficiency on the outside, whether it was Reggie Miller or James Posey, could not limit Kobe's scoring momentum. On the Pacers' side, I don't know if it's too excited, or because it's not very comfortable with the intensity and rhythm of the finals, except for Meng Xu and Reggie Miller, the rest of the Pacers seem to be a little out of shape, if it weren't for Meng Xu always hanging for the Pacers, the Pacers would probably collapse in the third quarter.

"The Pacers are obviously a lot better than the 76ers, but in this game, neither the Pacers nor the Lakers have been able to play the tactics and cooperation that they are good at, especially the Pacers, who seem to have entered a very weird rhythm of the game." After hearing Michaels's words, Magic Johnson also frowned, although the Lakers are strong, they are not invulnerable, if they are Larry Bird, they can find at least three ways to deal with the Lakers, Magic Johnson does not believe that Larry Bird will not see these weaknesses of the Lakers. And the gap between the Lakers and the Pacers is not as big as it shows on the court, normally speaking, as long as the Pacers resolutely implement their tactics and cooperation, there is still a lot of hope of defeating the Lakers, but what makes Magic Johnson always unable to figure out is that Larry Bird completely gave up his team's tactics and characteristics in this game, but is very passive in dealing with this game, is Larry Bird also nervous? No way, that guy was born to be a man who didn't know what nervousness was, and Magic Johnson was racking his brains now and couldn't figure out what Larry Bird was doing this.

"Meng, Reggie, I'm sorry!" When the third quarter of the game ended, the Pacers' bench was silent at the moment, almost all the players were hanging their heads, 77-85, although the 8-point slight momentum was not irretrievable, but the situation on the court made these Pacers players not see any hope, from Meng Xu scored the first goal after the opening, the Pacers did not lead the Lakers once in the whole game, and they were always desperately chasing behind. Just when Meng Xu was thinking about how to play the game in the fourth quarter, Jermaine O'Neal suddenly stood up, walked up to Meng Xu and Reggie Miller, lowered his head, and said sorry to the two like a schoolboy who had made a mistake.

The current Jermaine O'Neal is already the second person second only to Meng Xu in the Pacers, although Jermaine O'Neal has now surrendered to Meng Xu and is willing to be the second leader of the Pacers, but this does not mean that his inner ambition has disappeared, becoming the best inside, becoming the best player, it has always been Jermaine O'Neal's dream, no matter what, he will not give up this dream. Therefore, for this year's finals, Jermaine O'Neal also has very big expectations and fantasies, this is his first trip to the finals, and it is also a stage to prove himself, and Jermaine O'Neal also knows that this year's finals are also the dream journey of the old Miller, and it is a long-awaited day for the entire Indiana people, but in today's game, Jermaine O'Neal performed unsatisfactory, playing 22 minutes, shooting 3 of 10, scoring 7 points and 7 rebounds, as well as 4 fouls and 3 turnovers, He and Lorenzen White, both of them combined couldn't handle the big fat man, so when the third quarter of the game ended, Jermaine O'Neal looked back at the scoreboard behind him, and a strong sense of guilt instantly came to his heart, if he could perform a little better, the team would not face such an unfavorable situation.

At this moment, on the bench of the Pacers, Jamal Tinsley, Lorenzen White, Jeff Foster, Bobby Simmons, James Posey, they and Jermaine O'Neal are in a similar mood, in this game, Meng Xu scored 18 points in the first quarter, 11 points in the second quarter, 13 points in the third quarter, and 42 points in the third quarter, but in addition to Meng Xu, the Pacers' highest score was Reggie Miller's 13 points, If you don't get a chance to shoot, it's just a low score, but Jermaine O'Neal shot 3 of 10, Jamal Tinsley shot 1 of 5, Bobby Simmons shot 2 of 6, Lorenzen White and Jeff Foster two inside lines, and O'Neal was even more collective 0, James Posey only made 2 shots in the whole game because he was defending Kobe Bryant most of the time, and scored 3 points on 1 of 2 shots, but Kobe Bryant under James Posey's defense shot 13 of 22 in the third quarter, 2 of 6 3-pointers, and 4 of 5 free throws, He scored the second-highest 32 points in the game.

For all the players present, before the game started, even if the outside world was no longer optimistic about the Pacers and boasted about how strong the Lakers were, but each of them hoped that their team could win, and they could also contribute their energy in the game. Their will will inevitably wavered.

"Jermaine, don't overthink it, you're already doing well. And it's not over yet, it's not time for us to give up. Looking at the already low emotions of his teammates around him, and Jermaine O'Neal, who looked aggrieved and tears were already rolling in his eyes, Meng Xu stood up from the seat, hugged Jermaine O'Neal, and comforted him while patting him on the back. Jermaine O'Neal is subject to the number of fouls today, so he doesn't play much, and his hand feeling is also very poor, but Meng Xu doesn't think Jermaine O'Neal is a sinner on the field, as the boss of the team, if he loses, Meng Xu naturally has to bear most of the responsibility, how can there be a reason to let the younger brother carry the black pot, and Jermaine O'Neal's performance on the field today, Meng Xu also sees it, although he was not able to restrain O'Neal, but when he faced Shaq O'Neal, toughness and courage are something that everyone can see.

"We're going to win this game!" After separating from Jermaine O'Neal, Meng Xu turned to the Pacers' bench, waved his fist, and roared, at this time, if he didn't even have the confidence to win, then the Pacers really had no hope.

"What? Can we still win? After hearing Meng Xu's roar, the players on the Pacers bench all raised their heads in unison, staring at Meng Xu with their eyes tightly, staring at the team's boss and core, seeing Meng Xu's fiery eyes, and because of the roar, the players on the bench suddenly rose a trace of fighting spirit, under Meng Xu's infection, they all stood up from their seats, waved their arms, and cheered for themselves and their teammates with crazy roars and shouts, and the surrounding spectators, Obviously, they also noticed this change on the Pacers' bench and threw strange glances at the Pacers' bench.

After Meng Xu shouted the slogan of victory, the originally decadent Pacers bench instantly recovered a lot of morale, including Reggie Miller, the Pacers all have great trust in Meng Xu, and there are many games this season that originally seemed to be a must-lose, but they were chased back by Meng Xu in the end. Throughout the season, 8 times in the fourth quarter were 20+ in a single quarter, and 2 times were 30+, which earned Meng Xu the reputation of the king of the fourth quarter, so when Meng Xu said that he could win, these Pacers players really thought that the Pacers could win.