The Eagles have 25 wins and 5 losses, an astonishingly high winning rate of 83%. When converted into a final record, that is 68 wins! Although it is just a conversion, it is already terrifyingly strong.

The Pacers are second in the league, with 23 wins and 8 losses, and a winning rate of over 70%. After all teams in the league have played more than 30 games, they are the only team except the Hawks with a winning rate of over 70%.

There are too many strong teams this year. There are four teams competing for the championship in the East and West. At the beginning of the season, the records of the weak teams were very miserable. As the season gradually deepened, the strong teams played against each other more and more.

Our performance also began to decline.

At this time, only the Hawks and Pacers still maintained a winning rate of more than 70%.

But even so, not many people are optimistic about the Pacers. First, they were third in the Eastern Conference last year and were easily eliminated by Payton. Then this year, the Eagles have become so strong. After the Eagles eliminated the Spurs, people suddenly discovered that the Eagles

This time it was for real! He really became a strong contender for the Eastern Conference championship, and then easily killed the Pistons and continued to suppress the Pistons. In people's eyes, the only opponent in the Eastern Conference is the Hawks.

, the only obstacle that has hindered the Hawks for two years is the Nets.

Not only the media thought so, but most of the Eagles players also thought so, otherwise they wouldn't have gone out for a wave the afternoon before the game.

To be honest, including Raheem and Rasheed Wallace, they do not regard the Pacers as opponents because of their strength, but because they feel that they have a face problem and want to fight hard. Only Liu

Mang regarded the Pacers as his opponents.

The main reason is that the Pacers' lineup is really strong and more suitable for Coach Carlisle's offensive and defensive style of play. After originally drawing 2-2 with the Pistons, which had five top players, the Pistons won two games in a row.

Taking away the game, they once had the ability to compete with the top five Pistons, but coach Carlisle was too young and was not a match for Larry Brown.

At this time, Coach Carlisle was a loser, a worse loser than before. He was still the rookie champion and won the best coach in his rookie coaching season, but the best coach was snatched away by coach Kruger, that is, Larry Burr

Dehui has a good eye, otherwise Coach Carlisle would be regarded as a famous coach. After the Pacers and Pistons' Auburn Hills battle, Coach Carlisle reached the playoffs with five players suspended for three half-seasons and one suspended for a full season.

Only after the game did people see his strength, and only then did Cuban take notice of him and reach the pinnacle of his life.

It's not that the Hawks don't take this game seriously, it's just that it's different from playing hard against the Spurs or Nets and having to win.

The Eagles came with the mentality of winning, while the Pacers came with the thought of risking their lives to save their dignity and defend their home court!

At the beginning of the game, after O'Neal Jr. won a jump ball from Rasheed Wallace, the Pacers beat the Hawks unexpectedly. Artest fiercely held the ball and hit it inside. After losing weight,

Raheem couldn't bear it!

Artest weighs 113 kilograms. The most egregious thing is that he is still as flexible as a defender even though his weight has increased by nearly 20 pounds or about 9 kilograms compared with last season. In addition to his career-high average of 19

Points, 5 rebounds are routine, and there are actually 3.9 assists!

Artest started like a bulldozer, squeezing Raheem and rushing to the basket, causing Ratliff to foul!

Although the free throws were very hard at the beginning, and he made two free throws at the beginning, but then when Raheem wanted to regain face with a single, Artest showed his strength again, and Raheem was frustrated by Artest's tough confrontation.

Mistake!

Artest directly fished the ball from bottom to top, snatched the ball from Rahim's hand, and then quickly counterattacked with the ball to meet Liu Mang who was the first to catch up to the basket, pushing Liu Mang away and jumping with one hand.

Smash the ball into the basket.

Liu Mang was shocked. Why did Artest feel like the Cavaliers version 1.0 of James?

Exactly the same way of playing!

Pressure defense, steals and counterattacks, the same free throws are cheating, the same can't be blocked!

Indeed, Liu Mang was surprised by Artest's ability evaluation rising to 90 this year. Artest's ability evaluation is higher than O'Neal's peak ability evaluation of 89. With an offense of only 83, his defensive evaluation is as high as 97! Better than Kobe and Gay.

Germany 95's defensive rating is still high.

But Liu Mang didn't expect that Rahim would be abused at the beginning!

Relying on Artest's offensive and defensive morale in the beginning, the Pacers started the game with a 14-6 start. Artest started too fiercely and played extremely hard, beating the Hawks to five.

A timeout was called at the minute.

It wasn't because of the score, but because Ratliff, who didn't expect the opponent to attack him at the beginning, committed two fouls in the opening game!

The Eagles were forced to replace Ratliff early and replaced him with Kwame Brown.

After the timeout, the Eagles played a little better. They picked up the speed and the Eagles offense improved a lot.

But after Artest's repeated "humiliations", Raheem began to compete with Artest with all his strength. The two fought each other desperately on both ends of the offense and defense.

Raheem was guarded miserably by Artest at first, mainly because he didn’t expect Artest to be so strong! There is a qualitative difference from last season!

Artest was still on the All-Defensive Second Team last season, but this year, Raheem clearly feels that Artest's defense is even stronger than Garnett's last year!

Artest doesn't talk much, but he is very tough.

Rahim's fighting spirit has also been completely aroused. Rahim, whose ability is rated at 92, and Artest, whose ability is rated at 90, may be the two strongest true small forwards in the league now. They fight.

Got it!

The Pacers didn't stop Artest from competing with Raheem, and the Hawks certainly couldn't let Raheem lose. It was rare for Raheem to act willfully as the main attacker.

The strength of the two is indeed similar. Rahim has a greater advantage on the offensive end, but Rahim is the kind of player who can have a top level of 90 in offense or a top level of 90 in defense. As for Artest,

He is a player whose offense maintains a quasi-first-class level of over 80 and his defense is directly at the level of the best defensive player. Rahim's ability evaluation is higher than that of Artest, mainly because of his rebounding!

And speaking of it, Artest's one-on-one is really a bit unsolvable. It feels like James, who has poor hand skills but has greatly improved his defense. He protects the ball well and just needs to grind in and hit it.

Once he gets to the basket, he can shake things up.

The most important thing is that Artest's organizational skills are better than Raheem!

After Raheem and Artest competed, the Eagles' situation, which had stabilized a bit, was once again suppressed by the Pacers!

After the first quarter, Artest scored 14 points, 3 assists, 2 steals and 1 block. At his peak, Artest was much better than last season! He is completely a giant-level player!

Although Rahim also scored 15 points, which was higher than Artest, he made three turnovers in a single quarter, and the Pacers' strategy was obvious. Rahim was angered by Artest.

Later, as long as Rahim asked for the ball, Liu Mang gave the ball to Rahim, and the rest of the Pacers cut off the connection between Rahim and the rest of the Hawks, allowing Rahim to have a perfect one-on-one opportunity.

On the other hand, when the Pacers are attacking, Jamal Tinsley, Reggie Miller, and O'Neal are all opening up space in the mid-to-long distance. Jeff Foster under the basket is not only handsome, but also tall.

, standing on the edge of the three-second zone is also a threat. Kwame Brown's help at the basket does not have Ratliff's deterrence. Once Artest enters the inside, he cannot stop him.

After the first quarter, the Eagles trailed the Pacers by 10 points, 23-33!

Completely led by the pedestrians!

Liu Mang realized something was wrong with the situation. He looked over to the Pacers bench and saw Jim Carrey's evil smile, which still had hair. Obviously, all this was a routine!

Moreover, the Pacers had too much trust in Artest's defense and let him play against Raheem.

Liu Mang wanted to talk to Coach Kruger and remind Rahim, but just as Liu Mang was about to talk to Coach Kruger, Coach Kruger waved his hand. Obviously, Coach Kruger also knew this.

.

But coach Kruger did not give a reminder, but specially arranged tactics for Rahim.

Liu Mang was stunned for a moment. Seeing Rahim's unhappy expression, he was obviously ready to confront Artest again. Suddenly Liu Mang understood...

The face of a star player!

Liu Mang has always been recognized by the league as the strongest player of the Eagles even this season, but whether on or off the court, he calls Rahim the boss of the team, and he is convinced of it.

Liu Mang may not be willing to sacrifice himself for the sake of the team and become a defensive pioneer. This is what Liu Mang is doing now.

Therefore, Rahim’s face must be maintained!

Now the Hawks are not so well prepared for the Pacers. After all, after playing eight consecutive home games, they flew to Indianapolis to play the Pacers the next day, and they played the Nets back to back. The key opponent was

The Nets were beaten by the Pacers in this game.

This is also one of the reasons why some teams lose inexplicably in the regular season. Sometimes it seems that one team has an obvious strength advantage, and there are no major problems with feel or state, but they just lose.

Very miserable.

The regular season is much more difficult to predict than the playoffs because it is too long and there are too many opponents to deal with, so there are many upsets in the regular season.

What's more, the Pacers are already strong. Coach Carlisle probably hates the Hawks to the core. He stole his best coach and swept him for two consecutive years, causing him to lose as good a lineup as the Pistons.

Big Bird has a sharp eye, otherwise he wouldn't know where to cry. This time he seized the opportunity and gave the Eagles a ruthless blow!

Liu Mang understood that Coach Kruger wanted to protect Rahim's face, which was also a very important thing for the team. At this time, you couldn't tell Rahim that you were fooled by the other party. After all, he was also a top player who had been famous for many years.

Striker, you can't lose face.

However, although he cannot lose face, Liu Mang still wants to win!

Letting Raheem go and decide the outcome against Artest doesn't mean that this game will be ruined!

Raheem was not that bad. He also scored 15 points on 6-of-11 shots in the first quarter. He just made too many passing mistakes and passed the ball too much with no chance at the last moment.

The most important thing is that the opening tactics were not arranged for Rahim, so Rahim seemed to be suppressed by Artest on the scene.

Liu Mang saw that the tactics arranged by coach Kruger were too conventional. He probably put his mid-range and low-post tactics on Rahim to give Rahim a chance to play singles. Liu Mang felt that this was not enough!

Liu Mang thought for a while and found it!

Liu Mang leaned forward and looked at Coach Kruger eagerly.

Coach Kruger saw Liu Mang's look and tightened his grip on the pen and tactical board. What was this guy going to do?

Liu Mang did not grab the tactical board directly, but said to Rahim: "Sharif, we support you, beat that round-headed guy down!"

When Rahim heard Liu Mang's voice of support, he felt very comfortable. He was also worried that Liu Mang would be unhappy, because Liu Mang made 4 shots in the first quarter, failed to make a layup, and only made three three-pointers.

One, and didn't touch the ball much the rest of the time.

"But..." Liu Mang trailed off.

Rahim was happy and asked doubtfully: "But what?"
Chapter completed!