The Pacers have an 11-2 record in 13 games, and in just four of the 26 games since the All-Star break, the Pacers have played the best in the league.

Until then, the Pacers have been a team struggling to meet the playoff threshold. In the East, where the overall strength is weak, the Pacers are still struggling on the verge of the playoffs. And after the All-Star break, the Pacers seemed to have a makeover, as if they had changed their blood, and with amazing results, they sat in the fifth place in the East.

If the Pacers can maintain that record from the start of the season, they will surely be able to become one of the best teams in the league.

The Pacers' rise to prominence after the Weekend of Stars is all due to the rise from the bench of a man who has been widely known through the media in the past two months, and whose story is known as the most classic American dream.

"He's exactly the novelist's main character."

"I'm afraid that such a task can only appear in the pen of a Hollywood editor!"

The rise of Li Cheng and the Pacers brought everyone's amazement. And as early as a few years ago, there was a typical figure in this alliance who "turned a chicken into a phoenix" - Gilbert Arenas.

Tonight, in Washington, D.C., the two novelists' protagonist-like missions collide at Washington's Van Zeg Center.

Arenas entered the NBA in the '01-02 season, when he was drafted by the Golden State Warriors in the second round at the second round.

This is a figure who has not been favored by coaches since high school. In his freshman year of high school, his coach told him, "You're never going to go into college to play." ”

Maybe it starts with this sentence! Arenas began to train like crazy. Every day, when it was dark, he would go to the basketball court on the street to fight all kinds of people.

He then transferred to another high school, and Arenas, who was spurious, became the most dazzling player in the high school league. He is averaging 29.8 points per game. But even his number is still not favored by anyone. Then. Another expert said, "You may be able to barely be a substitute in the college league at the end of the bench, but your playing time will stay at '0' for a long time." ”

Arenas, who was lucky enough to catch the last train in the collegiate league, used the number "0" as the number of his jersey in order to mock the pundits who said he couldn't get a minute of playing time.

The "No. 0" quickly became the starting guard at the University of Arizona and led the team all the way to the finals of the NCAA Tournament. In his sophomore year, Arenas decided to enter the NBA draft to make it to the NBA.

However, what awaits him is still skeptical, and the bricks believe that he is not tall enough to play a point guard, and he will not be able to successfully transform into a point guard after entering the NBA. In the end, he was drafted by the Golden State Warriors in the second round.

After joining the Warriors, Arenas threatened, "I'm going to get the starting spot before the season is over." ”

And then he did. He managed to get the starting spot at the end of his first NBA season. Then, in the following year, he started every game and finished with 18 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists.

When he became the most improved player in the NBA that year, he said, "I like people to doubt me so I can easily throw those doubts back in their faces." ”

In fact, the experiences of Arenas and Li Cheng are not quite the same, Li Cheng has not been able to come up with a report card from beginning to end, and his every qiē is blown out for him by Chinese journalists. And Arenas used facts to fight back against those who doubted him again and again, and in the end, he successfully fought back against those people on the peak stage of basketball, leaving those so-called experts speechless.

Life in Arenas is crazy. It has been like this since his childhood.

From the time he saw his father working like crazy to support him as a child, he vowed to become a great football star. In the face of people's doubts again and again, he will always throw those doubts back on the faces of those people with practical actions.

After he became famous, he still had to face some doubts. In the All-Star vote. Arenas has always been the object of overlook by the fans. He gave himself the nickname "East Side Assassin", and he wanted to use his watch to assassinate the hearts of fans.

This is a person with a flexible appearance, but with a boiling and paranoid heart. It's like the tiger tattoos on his chest and abdomen. In adversity, like a tiger. It has the power to shred a qiē.

Li Cheng is quite familiar with Arenas' experience. After he entered the NBA as a second-round pick. He's always been aiming for Gilbert Arenas, and he's going to be a player like Arenas.

Maybe it's the sympathy between the two! When Li Cheng first met Arenas at the Fan Ze Center, the two of them couldn't help but glance at each other.

"Actually, you're luckier than me." Arenas spoke first.

"But you're much higher in rank than I am." Li Cheng said.

"At least you had a wonderful childhood, you never experienced so many doubts, and before you entered the NBA, you never showed your talent, and you never faced those doubts." "You don't know, when you're good enough, it's a bad feeling for someone to jump out and question you," Arenas said. ”

"But aren't you very good now? You've become the best player in the league. ”

"Maybe!" Arenas nodded.

Arenas seemed to be thinking about something, Li Cheng waved at him and went to warm up. Arenas, who stayed in place, looked at Li Cheng's back as he walked towards the court, but fell into deep thought.

"I'm already the best player, and what's my next goal? What do I do next when there is no question, no doubt? ”

Now Arenas has lost his motivation and he is not obsessed with basketball. He played basketball as a kid to stay away from gunfire and drugs, just because his friends were all playing. Later, he was there to fight back against the coaches and bricks who questioned him, but now?

Arenas sighed and slowly walked over to a basketball that had tumbled to the ground.

The warm-up time passed quickly, and Li Cheng was in the locker room with his teammates waiting for the game to start.

This "second-round show war", which has been widely followed by the media and fans, will start soon. For this game, Li Cheng is more confident. First of all, in the past 8 games, although he has not received any more tasks to get additional experience rewards, he has also managed to rise to level 23 with the experience rewarded in these games.

He moved up two levels, gaining a total of 6 attribute points, and he focused his energy to 35 points, and allocated the remaining 4 points to strength and explosiveness. Although he only has a 6-point stat increase, he is more powerful than before.

For this game, Li Cheng has made full preparations, and O'Brien is also more interested in this game.

The regular season of the season is coming to an end, and everyone is actively preparing for the playoffs. Now the Pacers are almost in fifth place in the East, but now O'Brien has some new ideas for the final standings of the season.

The Pacers are now just one win away from the fourth-place Cavaliers, and there are three games left this season. It would be nice to overtake the Cavaliers in the final minute to finish fourth in the East and have home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

So whether it's for the team's training or to fight for the fourth place in the East, the team's remaining three games can't afford to lose.

The next opponents the Pacers will face, in addition to the Wizards in this game, are the 76ers and the Knicks.

A team like the Knicks is basically a "head-away", and after Philadelphia sent away Allen Iverson, the strength of the 76ers has also declined. So the Pacers are hopeful of winning all the way forward, but first they need to win the Wizards in Washington.

They are also only one win away from the Wizards and the 76ers, so they will also want to win a few more games in the closing stages of the season to retain their seventh place. After all, the eighth place will face the Celtics in the first round, and against the Super Three, anyone has a sense of timidity, and everyone wants to avoid them.

And the good news media also put on the hat of "Super Second Round Show", this is a game that both sides want to win, this is a game that both sides are well prepared. So from the first minute after the referee blew the game, the game was in a very fierce battle.

"At the end of the season, everyone is preparing for the playoffs, and it's really rare to see such a fierce game!"

"It's really rare, but for the fans, the more games like this, the better."

"I have to say, the Pacers are really the conscience of the industry! They had great races, especially at the end of the season, and they fought hard every game! ”

"I can't help them! They don't want to touch the Celtics and Pistons, so they can only rush forward, and the Magic's lineup is more restrained against them, which is not an opponent they are willing to meet, and in the end, only meeting the Cavaliers is the opponent they hope to defeat. And now the Pacers and the Cavaliers are only one win away, and they have to fight for home-court advantage. ”

"The Pacers' enterprising spirit is something that many teams in the NBA can learn from."

"For example...... Miami? ”

"Haha! I didn't say that. ”

The local commentator in Washington didn't make fun of the shameless Miami when he talked about the game, but when it came to Miami this season, it really made many people resentful. Of course, you also have to admire the courage of the "God Operator" Pat Riley.

"Look at this ball!" The narrator, who was still in a relaxed and joking atmosphere, suddenly changed his words, and his tone and speed of speech changed completely. (To be continued......)