basketball player

Chapter 347 Chapter 345: Follow the plan
Both David West and Ray Allen were injured, which left a relatively large vacancy in Henson's lineup.Fortunately, neither of their injuries were serious. Thanks to Henson's accelerated recovery badge, West's knee and Ray Allen's ankle both healed after two weeks.

In other words, they can return to the game in early April at the earliest, and the playoffs will not be delayed.

"It's the luckiest of misfortunes, Henson. Ray and David's injuries are not serious. As long as we can make it to the playoffs, we will be thankful. To be honest, we have been very lucky this year. We haven't encountered any injuries throughout the entire season. As long as the transition is smooth during this period, there will be no accidents." In the hospital, Larry Bird held his chin with one hand and wrapped his arm around his chest with the other.

"Don't worry Bird, similar tragedies will not happen again. I plan to balance the playing time of the starters and the main players. In other words, for the rest of the season, my team will no longer have the distinction between the starters and the substitutes. Every player's playing time will be average, and everything is for the sake of health."

"Well I heard from Brad yesterday. You mean"

"We will strive for 72 wins as much as possible while ensuring the health and adequate rest of the players. I looked at the schedule and if we are lucky, we can even rest the main players in the last few games."

Bird looked at Henson in disbelief. Even he, the Indianapolis dude, had never heard anything so crazy.

In 96, the Bulls achieved 72 wins. Even the Bulls, who were in full swing at the time, did not win 72 wins until the last game of the regular season.What Henson means is that the Pacers still have the hope of winning 72 wins in the last few games!There is no doubt that this will be more terrifying than the 72 wins of the Bulls!
"Don't be so surprised, Bird. As I said, I've carefully studied our schedule for the rest of the regular season. I know which games can be lost and which games can't be lost. By the way. How is Sean Livingston's recovery?"

"It's okay. The injury he suffered in the Wizards has actually healed, but he still needs some adjustments. As long as you want, you can bring him back at any time. Speaking of which, the Wizards uniform team is really cold-blooded. As soon as Livingston was injured, the Wizards cut him."

"This league is like this. As for Livingston's comeback, we can wait and don't be impatient. After all, there is still a distance between being discharged from the hospital and playing on behalf of the team. There is no need to let Livingston get hurt again."

"You are the head coach, you have the final say, Henson. Whether you can have a great season," Bird turned his head and patted Henson on the shoulder, "It's up to you."

Henson raised the corner of his mouth slightly, but did not answer.Everyone loves to pat him on the shoulder in an attempt to make him relax, because there are too many things on his shoulders.

※※※

West, who is in hot form, is injured and unable to play. The first question Henson needs to face is-who will play the starting four?
Is it to put Leonard on top of the fourth position and play the first and fourth juniors like before?Or let "Birdman" Anderson attack and form twin towers with Horford?
After weighing the advantages and disadvantages, Henson decided that everyone can play the starting four.

According to Henson's philosophy, the Pacers now have no starters and substitutes.The so-called "starter" is nothing more than someone else playing first.Therefore, who will play the starting four position depends entirely on the opponent's situation.

In this way, Henson and the Pacers continued their pursuit of 72 wins after missing two generals.

Playing the Orlando Magic on March 3, Henson made Leonard the starting four.Because the Magic's power forward Maurice Harkless is only 8 meters tall, and his style of play is actually relatively outside.So it doesn't hurt to let Leonard face him.

48 minutes later, the Pacers won 115-86 at the Amway Center in Orlando.One big and four small, this is what Henson is best at.As soon as the rhythm hits and the three-pointer is shot, the Pacers' offense is almost unmatched.

As a result, the Pacers scored 115 points in a devastating manner.And their second defense in the league prevented the Magic from even scoring 90 points.

On March 3, against the Miami Heat.In the absence of West and Ray Allen, the Pacers lost by 10 points.In this game, Henson did not break his "egalitarian" rotation thinking because the opponent was the Heat.During the regular season this year, the Pacers have beaten the Heat twice, and they have proven their strength.So this time, there is no need to fight against the Heat who are in good shape.

After all, Henson does not want to repeat the tragedy against the Celtics.

Since the last time the Heat lost to the Pacers, they have never lost again. Up to now, counting today's game, they have achieved a record of 18 consecutive victories!Everyone is guessing whether the Pacers' 25-game winning streak will be broken by the Heat before they warm up.

But Henson was already indifferent to this.In the face of 72 wins, any winning streak is not worth mentioning!
With 57 wins and 6 losses, the Pacers have only 4 fault-tolerant games left!
"Coach Henson, is it possible for the Pacers to break the 72-win record this season?" After the game against the Heat, Henson was a loser, but the number of reporters around him was more than twice that of Spoelstra.

"You will know in the end. Anyway, whatever I say, you will think that I am bragging."

Henson didn't get entangled with reporters much. Although they lost today, the Pacers are still moving forward as planned so far.In Henson's plan, the game was planned to be lost.And the same plan, there are two more games this month
In this way, Henson led the crippled Pacers all the way to March 3.During this period, the Pacers defeated the Timberwolves, 23ers, Cavaliers, Magic and Bucks, but lost to the Lakers on March 76, and today, March 3, at the United Center, Henson finally lost to the Chicago Bulls in front of the creator of the previous 15-win record.

"This is the first time the Bulls have defeated the Pacers this season. Coach Tom Thibodeau has prevented the situation of being completely blocked by Henson. Otherwise, this will be the most embarrassing season for Coach Thibodeau. 89 vs. 84, neither side scored high. The Bulls' substitute forward Ty Gibson made Leonard hard to defend. For the Bulls, this game is worthy of joy. They used their actual actions to defend Chicago's super record of 72 wins! But for the Pacers, this does not seem to be the case It's a good sign." Bill Wharton sat on the commentary platform of the United Center and looked at the information at hand.

After losing this game to the Bulls, the Pacers' record became 61 wins and 8 losses.Is this a good record?Undoubtedly, it couldn't be better!The regular season is drawing to a close, but the Pacers have lost less than 10 games.No team can do better than the Pacers.

But if the Pacers' goal is to win 72, I'm afraid it will be a little dangerous.

"Admit it, Henson, it's impossible for you to break our record. There's almost a month left in the regular season, and you've already lost eight games." After the game, when shaking hands with Thibodeau, the penguin-like coach finally raised his eyebrows in front of Henson.

But Henson was not angry. Facing Thibodeau’s provocation, he still had a smile on his face. “First, the 90-win record of the Bulls in the 72s has nothing to do with you, so don’t say ‘we and us’. Second, it’s a small thing for the Pacers to lose no more than two games a month. After all, I’m not like you, who lose half of the games every month on average.”

Henson is the most lethal when he laughs and curses.Thibodeau was so angry that he gritted his teeth, but he couldn't do anything.It's impossible, let's beat Henson on the spot.In the battle of words, even Spike Lee lost to Henson, so what's the point of being a mere Tom Thibodeau?

61 wins and 8 losses, so far, the Pacers' record and losses are exactly the same as Henson's plan.So for this loss, Henson is not too angry.Of course, while enjoying the thrill of controlling everything, the danger of overturning also accompanied Henson.

For example, in the next game, Henson, who has an uneven lineup and cannot rely too much on the main players, will meet the Atlanta Hawks, who are currently fifth in the Eastern Conference.As for whether this game will overturn, Henson is not so sure.

Sure enough, there may not be many professions in this world that can be more exciting than being the head coach of a basketball team.

But no matter how many crises lurk in the future, there is still good news that is beneficial to Henson.

"Sean's physical condition is recovering very well, and his performance in confrontation training is also good. I think he has reached the standard for the game."

Fraser's report to Henson undoubtedly gave Henson more confidence in the next game.

After all, who wouldn't like one more usable player?

　Today is the 5th update, everyone, don't miss it.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)