Before the finals began, people were looking forward to the Suns one-sidedly, even though the Pacers had retired veteran Reggie Miller.

Almost all opponents of Miller's period have retired, and the remaining veterans will join his team for a championship ring. Miller's old teammates in the Pacers have also left one by one. The once rebellious big mouth is confused by the years.

Should I go or stay? While thinking about my career path, the then general manager "Big Bird" Bird tried his best to keep Miller. The sentence "Pacers need you" made Miller decide to devote all his career to Pacers.

With Miller's hard work, the Pacers have accumulated a group of powerful players this season and reached the finals.

It is known that this is Miller's last season. When he last appeared in Madison Square Garden, the New Yorker who hated Miller the most reason to use the most vicious words to sarcastically use the highest decibel boo to mock this empty-handed enemy.

But on that night, there was only a faint sadness and respect that filled the entire game. All the audience stood up and shouted his name. Miller, a guy who used to be full of trash talk, won the respect of fans and opponents with his spirit of never giving up.

After exploring in the NBA for eighteen years, Miller has left countless classics, such as Miller's moments, throat chords, and gentleman's rituals.

Miller can still play a role. In the fifth game of the Eastern Conference Final, he played for 33 minutes, made 11 of 16 shots, 4 of 8 three-pointers, 1 of 1 free throws, scored 27 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists, helping the Pacers win the Battle of Tianwang Mountain and proved their strength.

However, the difference between the two teams' lineups is obvious, and the Suns can be said to have advantages in each position.

Especially in the No. 1 position, the Pacers' point guard is Jamal Tinsley, and the substitute is Anthony Johnson. Both of them are just role players. Their single defense cannot limit Guo Xu. People think that the suspense in the finals is not who won the championship, but the Suns won the championship in several games.

In an interview before the game, everyone in the Suns were full of confidence, while the Pacers players and coaches only said that they would do their best.

Guo Xu is the most confident person. Without the Auburn Palace battle, it was an accident that the Pacers entered the finals. How could they win the championship? The team that won the championship in 2005 in his previous life was the Spurs, and the Suns beat the Spurs in the Western Conference Finals.

On June 9, the first battle between the two sides began in Phoenix City.

Due to the late start of the season and the Eastern Conference Finals tiebreak, the Pacers only had two days off before the finals started, and the Suns had a huge advantage in terms of players' physical strength.

Even so, D'Antoni did not arrange for running and bomb tactics, but instead asked Sir and Nene to form a double tower, attack more positions, and constantly pick-and-roll cover to create misaligned offensive opportunities.

This is the main tactic of the Suns against the Timberwolves last season. O'Neal Jr.'s defense is good, but it is still slightly inferior to Garnett and is not tough enough. This can be seen from the face. As long as O'Neal Jr. is withdrawn from the penalty area, the Suns' two insides will be enough for the Pacers to hit the basket together.

Jeff Foster is a blue-collar center, 211cm tall and weighs 110 kilograms. In Guo Xu's previous life, Foster was an unknown blue-collar worker until his retirement. He had no highlights in all aspects except for fighting for the frontcourt rebounds.

Foster is at a disadvantage against the Suns' two inside players, and can be shorted outside the penalty area on the offensive end. His data this season is the peak of his career, scoring 6 points, 8.3 rebounds, 0.8 assists, 0.7 steals, and 0.2 blocks in 25 minutes.

The data alone can show Foster's ability to protect the frame. The 7-foot white man has almost no blocks. His defensive method is to use height interference to deal with ordinary insiders. When facing Xiao Si, Nene can't jump up, so he has to watch them perform.

The Pacers' substitute is not as good as Foster. Dell Davis is 36 years old. In order to keep up with the pace of the game, he chose to lose weight. He is 211cm tall and weighs only 104 kilograms.

Austin Crohill is a space power forward with a height of 206cm and a weight of 107kg, and has even worse frame protection. He has long become a representative of high salary and low energy. His shooting percentage of 37.8% this season is speechless, and he averages only 8 minutes per game in the playoffs.

In order to replace unlimited defenses, the Pacers have strong mobility in the inside players. The only flesh shield is Scott Pollard, who is 211cm tall and weighs 120 kilograms. He is just a marginal person in the team.

Guo Xu passed it to his teammate and rushed to the inside line. He looked for opportunities to shoot on the outside. He only broke through if he misplaced the big man. He would choose to pass the ball when he broke in and attracted double teams. This style of play was beyond the expectations of coach Carlisle, and the Pacers were exhausted in the third quarter.

Carlisle believes that Guo Xu will try his best to compete for FMVP, and there is very little chance of making moves in the finals, so he emphasized his defense against him before the game. As a result, Guo Xu is mainly organized throughout the game, attracting defensive and assisting teammates.

Guo Xu's playing like this can focus more on the defensive end and tangle Tinsley with all his strength.

In the first game, he played 38 minutes, made 6 of 11 shots, 2 of 5 three-pointers, 3 of 4 free throws, scored 17 points, 4 rebounds, 18 assists and 2 steals; Tinsley made 0 of 5 shots, 0 of 2 three-pointers, no free throws, scored 0 points, 4 rebounds and 8 assists.

Six players in the Suns scored in double digits, and they shared the ball selflessly. Only Smith scored 20+. He played in 36 minutes and scored 26 points and 10 rebounds, beating O'Neal Jr., who had 18 points and 7 rebounds.

O'Neal Jr. currently has a disadvantage. He relies too much on shooting. He turns his back and shoots. Nene, Diop, Haslem and others take turns to defend and shoot.

In the first game, O'Neal Jr. made only 6 of 18 shots, 6 of 6 free throws, and no assist was available. It is not surprising that the Pacers lost 27 points in such a performance as the team's core.

In the second battle between the two sides, O'Neal Jr. regained his feelings, and the Pacers' outside line was defended into a blacksmith again.

Jackson and Artest's shooting percentages were only 36.4% and 31.6%, which was a terrible sight. Reggie Miller made 3 of 6 shots, scored 6 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists, and it was hard to regain the courage of the year.

The Suns won again 107 to 86, leading 2 to 0 in the total score.

In the third game in Polis, the Suns won easily and were able to defend firmly, they always laughed to the end with their superior offensive efficiency.

Tinsley was beaten by Guo Xu in every game. The best performance game scored 8 points and 10 assists, and the score never went into double digits. Guo Xu won two games with a shooting percentage of more than 50%.

In the fourth game, the league probably didn't want to see a sweep in the finals again. The Pacers' home whistle was quite obvious. O'Neal Jr. scored beautiful data of 36 points, 12 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 blocks, and made 15 free throws in the game. Jackson finally played a powerful role, shooting 6 three-pointers, scoring 26 points, 2 rebounds and 3 steals.

With the efforts of the two, the Pacers won a game 101 to 94.

The Pacers have a big defensive move on the defensive end and the smell of gunpowder is very strong. Sir and Foster almost started to fight in a conflict, but fortunately they were pulled. The Pacers have the idea of ​​"redeem" for victory. If these two people are suspended together, the Pacers will definitely make a profit.

In the fifth game, the Suns took the lead and did not give the Pacers any chance. Guo Xu lowly for four games and then exploded. He broke through with the ball, received the ball and shot, attracted double-teams to pass the ball, and his style of play was very flexible and dominated the court.

He made 16 of 25 shots, 7 of 12 three-pointers, 8 of 8 free throws, and scored 47 points and 8 assists.

Tinsley's mentality has completely collapsed. He cannot defend Guo Xu one-on-one, and he frequently hits on the offensive end. He only made 4 of 12 shots, 0 of 4 of 3-pointers, 4 of 4 free throws, and scored 12 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 steals.

Joe Johnson, Marion and Laga Bell also performed well, defending Artest and Jackson again.
Chapter completed!