basketball player

Chapter 49 048: No need for luck

A week has passed since the start of the pre-season training camp. Under the leadership of Henson, everyone is developing towards the goal he envisioned.On the training ground, the players have also become accustomed to the high-handed, high-hit, high-round, fast-paced offensive style.Compared with last season's obsession with slow-paced defensive play, the Pacers have simply undergone earth-shaking changes.

Facts have proved that Henson perfectly implemented the concept of "tactics serve the team".He is not like O'Brien or Vogel himself, who always wants to force players into the tactics he is good at, but set up such a fast-paced offensive system based on the Pacers' staffing.

Everyone's individual training and confrontational training are almost perfectly combined. Horford's three-pointers can usually open up space for teammates in fast-paced offenses.George's gradually stronger confrontation ability made him a sharp knife in the transition attack, and the continuous rebounding training for Granger allowed him to play with ease in the fourth position.
After a week of high-intensity training, the players have all recovered from the holidays. Without the outside world knowing, this brand new Indiana Pacers team is ready for the playoffs.

That's right, the playoffs.That's Bird's goal this season, and it's also Henson's goal this season.Both Bird and Henson have had enough of not being drafted well and not making the playoffs.But whether the team can play in the playoffs is not up to Henson, but to the game.

Time flies and the beginning of October, the beginning of the NBA preseason, so impatient fans can't wait to see this brand new Pacers team from the boss to the coach to the players.

However, in the preseason, the Pacers' results were very average.Henson's command is not without bright spots, but people see more chaos.Take the starting lineup as an example, in 5 games, Henson lined up 5 different starting lineups.As a result, they only won 5 of 2 games, and the 2 games they won were against the Cavaliers after losing James and the rotten Timberwolves.For a high-profile team, such a result is obviously unable to satisfy the fans.

Of course, it cannot satisfy the media who are full of curiosity about this Chinese coach.

"Turning basketball into a game of sprinting and shooting, IMHO, this is a simple tactic brought by a layman. Even in the East, Henson Joe's tactical concept will make the Pacers bloody!"

"There are two principles that will never change on the basketball court. First, basketball is always a game of giants. Second, the closer to the basket, the easier it is to hit a shot. The Pacers are just completely different from these two basic principles. Al Horford, who is 2 meters tall, is already their first height. Coach Henson also asked the players to place most of their shots outside the three-second zone. If this is not a preseason game, the Pacers may not even win two games!"

"Too young, Coach Henson is too young, and the players that Coach Henson chooses are too young. Youth is a kind of capital, but they are also destined to be rejected a lot. If the Pacers want to reach the playoffs this year, it is estimated that they will have to put in a lot of hard work and quite good luck."

After 5 preseason games, the media from all over the world gave different evaluations to the coach Henson.But these different evaluations all have one meaning: Henson Joe did not meet people's expectations.

与此同时在亚特兰大，罗伊.希伯特还非常“不合时宜”的打出了准全明星级别的水准。希伯特出色的低位技术和无与伦比的身高，让他在季前赛的几场比赛中场均能够拿下20分9.8个篮板和3.3次封盖！对比起霍福德“可怜兮兮”的13.5分8.2个篮板和1.2次封盖，希伯特的出色无需多言。

Geelong estimates that he will wake up from his dreams now. He not only got a more dominant center, but also "robbed" three draft picks by the way.

So people complained again that Henson traded Hibbert with full potential for Horford, a center who is not traditional and can't rule the three-second zone, which is simply digging his own grave.When the fans saw that Henson arranged for Horford, the center, to often pull out to shoot three-pointers, they even wanted to rush up and blow the head of the Chinese coach!

After five preseason games, Henson's reputation among fans took a sharp turn for the worse.The Pacers did not show an impressive performance and are no longer under the spotlight.How can a team that has not played in the playoffs for four consecutive years, has a rookie team, and has no strong insiders yet attract enough attention from the league?
Compared with the Indiana Pacers, people must be more interested in knowing what kind of performance the Heat's Big Three can perform.

In this way, on October 10, the day after the NBA opener, the Indiana Pacers and Henson finally ushered in their first regular season trip.

"The first time I played the regular season as a head coach was in San Antonio. I have to say that your luck is really bad, Henson." On the plane to San Antonio, Frank Vogel felt sympathy for Henson's current situation.

The poor performance in the preseason is not because the Pacers are not strong enough, but because Henson's goal is not to win at all, but to try to get everyone on the court, so that everyone can adapt to the new system and find the feeling of the game.Therefore, he changed 5 sets of starters in 5 games, and the rotation time was also very messy, just to allow everyone to get a chance to play.

The players also knew this, so instead of being discouraged, they held back their energy.Young players have a greater desire for victory than older players. They know very well that the team did not perform well in the preseason, so they all hope to kill the Quartet in the regular season, shut up the media, and justify themselves.

The same is true for Henson. In the regular season, this is a good opportunity to prove himself.But the unlucky Henson met such a difficult opponent as the San Antonio Spurs.

The game was so high-profile that tickets at the ATT Center were already sold out.But people don't come to see the Pacers, they want to see the Spurs in the new season.The Pacers are no longer under the spotlight, and even somewhat underestimated.

Facing the frowning Vogel, Henson didn't even frown, as if he was very relaxed. "Luck is a part of the basketball game, but it's never the most important part. Our luck is indeed bad, but it doesn't mean we will definitely lose."

Henson turned his head and looked out the window, they were almost there
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On the day of the game, Henson took the players to the ATT Center early to prepare for the game.Although the protagonist of today's game is the San Antonio Spurs at home, but when the Pacers' bus drove into the ATT Center, it was inevitable to accept media interviews.

In the player tunnel, only a few journalists were granted interview permission.And those few reporters were basically looking for players to do interviews, and just ignored Henson Joe, the yellow-skinned Chinese coach.

It can be seen that the media dismissed Henson.As a scout and assistant coach, Henson's resume may be amazing enough.But in the stressful and unlucky position of head coach, everyone believed that Henson's "Cinderella fairy tale" was almost over.

Some media even believe that within 10 games, Frank Vogel will replace Henson.

Henson didn't care about this, he wasn't the kind of person who liked to live in the spotlight, so he was more than happy without reporters interviewing him.As for the doubts from the outside world, he has been questioned since the first day he traveled to the United States, and he has long been used to it.

Walking into the visiting team's locker room at the ATT Center and looking at the clean tactical whiteboard, Henson took a deep breath.When he first met Bird, it was in the Pacers-Spurs game.Unexpectedly, in just two years, I will personally direct the team against the Spurs for Bird.

"Are you nervous? Henson." Seeing Henson's body trembling slightly, Vogel went up and patted his good partner on the shoulder.

Henson turned his head with a smile on his face, "No, Frank, I'm excited! Call all the boys in, it's time to make arrangements for tonight's winning plan!"

(End of this chapter)