"After the baptism of the last series, Ron Artest is like a different person, he showed pressure and aggression on the defensive end, no less than Gary Payton in his prime, if he can sharpen his defensive awareness and accumulate some game experience, then he will be a regular in the best defensive team in the future, and even like Meng Xu Payton, it is very possible to win the best defensive player as an outside player."

On the evening of May 11, 2003, the Bankers Life Stadium, before today's game began, almost everyone knew very well that the overall strength of the Pacers was much stronger than the Pistons, and today was the home court of the Pacers, and it was Meng Xu's MVP award ceremony, so it had just experienced a hard battle with the Magic, and because it was an away game, the Pistons had no chance in front of the Pacers, so including the Pacers' players, and even the Pacers fans in the Bankers Stadium, The mentality before the start of the race is very relaxed and optimistic.

But just a few minutes after the start of the game, it was not easy for the fans in the room, because what surprised them. The Pacers are now clearly at a disadvantage, and the interior line composed of Mutombo and Jermaine O'Neal has no advantage against the combination of Ben Wallace and Clifford Robinson, knowing that in the regular season, the Pacers' interior has always pressed the Pistons' interior line. And Pistons' playmaker Billups, both on the offensive and defensive ends, steadily suppressed Jamal Tinsley, scoring 6 points on 3-of-4 shooting in less than 5 minutes, while also dishing out 2 assists.

Of course, even if the Pacers have no advantage on the inside, no matter how good Billups plays, the Pistons will not be able to suppress the Pacers on the court, but when Meng Xu is defended by Artest and Starkerhouse, he has never been able to enter his own game state, the Pacers' power on the offensive end has been greatly reduced, the offensive end has been slow to open the situation, and the defensive end has continuously leaked, so the current situation on the court seems to be very unfavorable to the Pacers.

From the very beginning of this game, Artest stalked Meng Xu, as long as Meng Xu received the ball, Starkhouse would immediately give up the defense of Hamilton, and cooperate with Artest to cover Meng Xu, although Artest's strength is not as good as Meng Xu, but it is much stronger than most of the No. 2 and No. 3 players in the league, so Meng Xu wants to use his strength advantage to forcibly squeeze Artest, it is not so easy, and Artest's movement speed is also very good, Even if Meng Xu tried his best to squeeze him away, Artest would still stick it up again at the first time, and with the addition of Starkhouse's bag, it was mainly because Artest made up for the leak and blocked Meng Xu's breakthrough route and passing route in advance, so in the first few minutes of the first quarter, Meng Xu played very awkwardly.

And as the game continues to advance, Artest's defense is becoming more and more crazy, after the last three games of the last round of Maddie's defense are embarrassed, Artest found that he actually liked this feeling, watching under his own defense, so that the entire league is extremely jealous of the super scorer, in front of himself again and again in vain, this huge sense of achievement, so that Artest is extremely intoxicated. Therefore, before the start of this game, when head coach Rick Carlisle arranged Artest to defend Meng Xu, Artest not only did not have the slightest hesitation and concern, but was also extremely excited, Meng Xu is a super scorer who is more powerful than Maddie, and has been elected as the scoring champion for two consecutive seasons, with a miracle of 82 points in a single game, which has made countless people worship. But Artest, who is extremely stubborn in his bones, just wants to take a look, when Meng Xu is pulled off the altar by himself, what kind of reaction will all the people have, the more he thinks about it, the more Artest will defend Meng Xu, the more he pushes people behind him, goes around the front, all kinds of small actions, pinching his waist, pushing his calves, doing everything, as long as it is a means that can restrain Meng Xu, Artest doesn't mind using it on Meng Xu's body, even if he does this, he will be spurned by thousands of people.

"MVP, are you happy with my defense today?" After blocking Meng Xu's way again, and withstanding Meng Xu's collision with him, Artest was obviously very satisfied with his performance on the defensive end just now, and even provoked Meng Xu in a rare way. When Rick Carlisle arranged the task for Artest before the game, Carlisle said to Artest that no matter how effective Meng Xu's defense is, as long as he can cut off the practice connection between him and his teammates and force him to continue to hold the ball and play alone, even if Meng Xu cut 60 points on Artest's head in this game, Artest's defense against Meng Xu is successful.

As an ambitious head coach, Rick Carlisle has done only one thing this season besides leading the team to the game, and that is to take a closer look at the Pacers and Nets, wanting to identify each of their weaknesses and then give them a lethal blow in the playoffs. The Pacers, in particular, are the object of Rick Carlisle's constant research, four meetings in the regular season, each time Carlisle tried to beat the Pacers' strategy, and finally in the final game of the playoffs, Carlisle found the Pacers' goal. As the offensive and defensive core of the Pacers, Meng Xu's offensive means are very comprehensive, and the scoring efficiency is also very high, the true shooting rate ranks first among all outside players in the league, and the average score per game has exceeded 33 points for two consecutive seasons, so most teams in the league have put defensive attention on limiting Meng Xu's scoring when defending Meng Xu, and they do not hesitate to cover the whole game, but what they did not do was to limit Meng Xu's score. But in Carlisle's view, this is precisely the reason why they can't restrain the Pacers, compared to Meng Xu's deterrence on the offensive end, Meng Xu is more threatening in organizing the team, and the breakthrough tactics with Meng Xu as the core are the foundation of the Pacers. Therefore, in this game, Rick Carlisle has only one goal, that is, to defend Meng Xu's breakthrough, and at the same time try to cut off the connection between Meng Xu and his teammates, so that Meng Xu can continue to hold the ball and play alone, maybe at the beginning of the game, Meng Xu can also ensure a good hit rate, but once the physical strength declines, 8 of 26 in the closing game, and 1 of 6 in the fourth quarter, is a very good proof.

"Come on, boy, you almost stopped me." After Artest's provocation, Meng Xu immediately hit a mid-range jumper, although Meng Xu used a shot to respond to Artest's provocation, but Meng Xu still frowned when he retreated, obviously a little dissatisfied with the situation on the court. With the start of the playoffs, almost every player's physical condition has some problems, but the intensity of the game has not decreased in the slightest, but has directly increased by a level, in this case, many of the tactics and strategies applicable in the regular season will not work in the playoffs, and Meng Xu can no longer be as random as in the regular season, just take this game as an example, although Artest and Starkhouse's bag cannot completely limit Meng Xu, But they can always make Meng Xu use a more difficult way and consume more physical strength before they can complete the offense, so if Meng Xu keeps holding the ball and playing alone, his physical strength will not be able to support the fourth quarter, and it will be exhausted.

"Jamal, you need to put a little pressure on that kid."

"Jermaine, we need to increase the defensive intensity a little bit."

In the process of retreating, Meng Xu glanced at the bench on the sidelines and found that the head coach Larry Bird did not have the slightest instructions, but after constantly discussing something with assistant coach Lester Connell, Meng Xu decided to change the tactics and strategies formulated by Larry Bird before the start of the game. Therefore, when passing by Jamal Tinsley and Jermaine O'Neal, Meng Xu sent a signal to the two of them to strengthen their defense. As for the remaining Mutombo and Hamilton, Meng Xu doesn't need to remind them, Mutombo himself is an inside line who is good at defense, and he is a veteran who has been in the league for many years, so he doesn't need any prompts at all, after entering the playoffs, Mutombo's game state immediately rose sharply, and it looks like an old ruffian who pretended to be dead in the regular season and made a force in the playoffs. And Hamilton, although after coming to the Pacers, Hamilton did not behave very well, perhaps because he experienced betrayal and betrayal in the Wizards, which made Hamilton very insecure and distrustful of everything around him, so Hamilton has an average relationship with anyone in the team, even Hamilton's idol Reggie Miller can't get into Hamilton's heart. It's just that although he seems to be withdrawn off the field, Hamilton is conscientious in every game, and at the same time, Hamilton will adjust his game intensity according to the intensity of the game of his teammates around him, which can be said to be a player with a very high IQ, so without Meng Xu's prompt, Hamilton knows how to adjust himself according to the performance of his teammates on the field = on the field.

"The Pacers have also strengthened their defense on the court, and it looks like the Pacers are looking to use defense to change the unfavorable situation on the court." As Billups dribbled through the halfcourt, the Pacers' defensive intensity immediately strengthened a lot, and at the same time, in response to the Pistons' weak outside shooting, when Billups and Clifford Robinson were blocking and picking, Jermaine O'Neal no longer followed, but stood on Billups' path down in advance and let Clifford Robinson shoot. At the same time, after the change, several outside players of the Pacers also changed their respective defensive objects, Hamilton to defend Artest, Jamal Tinsley to defend Jerry Starhouse, and Billups, Meng Xu to deal with personally.

"It's only for a minute, but I have to say, it's a pain to watch a game like this, and if the Pacers and Pistons play like that for the entire series, I'd rather not talk about their game." When the whistle blew for the official timeout in the first quarter, Michaels on the commentator couldn't help but complain.

After the Pacers strengthened their defense on the court, the Pistons also strengthened their defense by the way, and the two teams that played 14-11 in the first 5 minutes did not score a point in the minute before the official timeout.

Due to the poor long-range shooting of the Pistons, the Pacers began to shrink the basket when defending, and Jermaine O'Neal, who used to often help defend to the free throw line or even the edge of the 3-point line, began to shrink near the paint area and did not come out, and with Mutombo, who spent most of his time under the basket, it will obviously become more and more difficult for the Pistons to score close to the basket. And the Pistons in the Pacers outside shooting rate is not high, also began to shrink the defense, Cleverd Robinson and Ben Wallace stayed under the basket and Mutom Bojmaine O'Neal wrestling, for a time the basket was full of people, so whether it is the Pacers or the Pistons, if they want to break through to the basket, it will become extremely difficult, they can't shoot outside, they can't rush inside, you can imagine what kind of situation the two teams will face in this game.

"Everyone played really well in the previous games, although we are still three points behind, but the score is still acceptable!"

"In the second half of the game, we didn't have to adjust, and we continued to execute according to the tactics in the previous games."

After all the players on the Pacers court got off the court, they were all looking up, waiting for Larry Bird's order to adjust and change, but what they heard was an order that they didn't need to change, so everyone, including Meng Xu, looked at Larry Bird, and then glanced at each other, wanting to guess what kind of medicine was sold in Larry Bird's gourd through eye contact.

"It was a strange game, neither the Pacers nor the Pistons played their tactics in the first half of the first quarter, nor did they show the strength they should have, but at the official timeout, Larry Bird and Rick Carlisle did not make any adjustments, can it be said that the current situation on the court is in line with their psychological expectations?" Not to mention that the Pacers players don't know what Larry Bird is thinking, even Michaels is a little puzzled by what Larry Bird is doing.

"Maybe this game is just a test." Magic Johnson on the side, after pondering for a while, said his thoughts with some uncertainty, every ambitious team will have its own hole cards, in the playoffs just in case, maybe the Pacers and Pistons are now testing, wanting to let the other party expose their hole cards in advance, so that they have a better chance of winning. At the same time, Magic Johnson now has a very dark idea that has not been said, that is, Larry Bird wants to deliberately extend the time of this round of the series, the Pistons have fought 7 games with the Magic, so the longer this round of the series, the more unfavorable it will be for them, and the Pacers are in poor condition now, which can also be seen by anyone with a discerning eye, maybe Larry Bird really wants to use a few more games to directly drag down the Pistons, and by the way, also help his team find a state, otherwise they will definitely be more difficult to parry when they encounter the Nets stronger than the Pistons.