basketball player

Chapter 541 Chapter 539: Under the Shadow of Giants
Malcolm Brogdon, this guy is now the darling of Indianapolis basketball fans.

At the draft, no one knew him.In the first ten or so games of the Pacers, people only had some impressions of the mature-looking rookie.But now, even LeBron James, No. 1 in the league, can pronounce the name Malcolm Brogdon smoothly.

"Rookie? You think he's a rookie after he's played like this? He's a very strong player with a great outlook. He's a veteran after years of playing in college. Don't think of Malcolm as a rookie, man."

This sentence is not Henson's bragging, but LeBron James said in an interview after the game.

Brogdon's performance in this game is indeed worthy of such praise, although his 18 points in the game don't look so explosive.After all, George, Antetokounmpo, James and Irving all scored 20 points.

But you have to know that 18 of Brogdon's 8 points came in the last 3 minutes.

Among them, including the three-pointer that completely killed the confidence of the Cavaliers.

Therefore, every goal he scored was extremely fatal.

After this game, the outside world couldn't wait to announce.In the first year of his return, Henson Joe once again created a record of low-ranking Taobao success.

Of course, in addition to this, Henson's coaching ability has once again been talked about by people.

"In the last 3 minutes of the game, your team trailed by 4 points. Under such circumstances, if you were coaching, would you dare to send a second-round pick and use him as the core to arrange offensive tactics? Coach Henson dared. And he won."

"Henson Joe has always been known for being bold in employing people, and he has once again proved his ability. After two years away from the game, Coach Henson's personality has become much gentler. But don't think that his threat to the championship has also decreased."

"It must have been awkward when Tyronn Lue and Henson Joe shook hands, because standing across from Lue was a real head coach, not a puppet of a certain star of the team."

The victory of a game made the reporters eager to call Henson the number one coach in the league.After all, the significance and gold content of this game is indeed very high.

What the Pacers defeated was not a cat or a dog, but the defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers!

Before that, no matter how good the Pacers record was, people would not recognize them as a top team.After all, the regular season record is affected by many factors.

In the two years when Henson was away, Budenholzer's Eagles also won the first place in the Eastern Conference with a record of 60 regular season wins.But are they the top team in the league?I'm afraid few would agree.

The same is true. That year, the Eagles were easily swept by the Cavaliers with a total score of 4-0 in the Eastern Conference semifinals. 4 to 0, which is enough to illustrate the gap between the Eagles and the top teams.

But now, people are willing to admit that the Pacers are a top team.After all, they also won the defending champion with an excellent record of 11 wins and 1 loss.

And in this game, the Pacers and the defending champion played back and forth, not by luck.

Therefore, the gold content of the victory in this game was so high that Henson and the Pacers were instantly praised to the sky.

"This season's NBA has become more and more interesting, and the situation in the Eastern Conference has become less clear. I really want to see, Cavaliers and Pacers, LeBron and Henson, who can completely defeat each other." ESPN commentator Mike Breen posted a paragraph on social media, which made a perfect summary of the game.

※※※

After the battle with the Cavaliers, Henson has been thinking about a problem.Would LeBron James be greater than he is without himself?

After all, Henson had only been away for two years, and James seized the opportunity to win a championship trophy.So if Henson never showed up, wouldn't LeBron still have to win the championship?

But soon, Henson stopped this boring thinking.This is the case with competitive sports, there are not so many ifs. "The Postman" Karl Marin's world would not have been "if it hadn't been for Jordan", and Grant Hill's career would not have been "if it hadn't been for injuries".

Besides, Henson's biggest enemy this season is not LeBron's Cavaliers.He couldn't help but glanced at the schedule. The game against the Golden State Warriors seemed to be getting closer.
On November 11, the Pacers will meet the Warriors for the first time at home.

Steve Kerr, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant. Just thinking about these names makes Henson feel thrilled.

However, before playing against the Warriors, the Pacers still have two Western teams to play, namely the Suns and the Thunder.

But for a team that just crushed the defending champions, the Pacers are now in high spirits.The rebuilding Suns and the Thunder, who became Westbrook's stat tool, were not taken seriously by Henson.

Against the Suns on November 11, the Pacers won effortlessly.And because Nash returned to Phoenix as a member of the Pacers coaching staff, the atmosphere of the game was even unexpectedly friendly.

Before the game started, all Phoenix fans stood up to pay tribute to Nash.On the big screen in the American Airlines Center arena, a video tribute to Nash was played.

The video clearly inspired the Suns' young players, each of whom aspires to be a part of Phoenix's story.So in the next game, this group of young people played very hard!

But, no matter how hard you try, you can't escape Henson's control.

Among the Suns, the player who made Henson stand out the most is none other than Devin Booker.Not surprisingly, this guy will be the cornerstone of the Suns' future.

But now, this cornerstone of the team is still very young.Moreover, the staffing of the Suns is also horrible.Suns coach Earl Watson was still fighting Henson as a player a few years ago.Now as a head coach against Henson, he is still too immature.

The ending is that the Pacers scored in double figures with 7 players, playing the sun in a mess, and couldn't find the north.

Suns fans thought that Henson would end the game friendly, but Henson didn't give Nash any face at all.He will not be soft on any opponent.

116 to 96, the Pacers slaughtered others by 20 points in their territory.After the game, Nash could only shake his head helplessly in an interview: "Henson is such a person who is full of desire for victory."

Two days later in Oklahoma, the Pacers let the same thing happen to the Thunder.

Unlike the Phoenix game, the atmosphere of this game was not friendly from the beginning.Henson and the players were booed by Oklahoma fans as soon as they entered the field.

In their view, the Pacers caused the Thunder to lose the possibility of winning the championship.If the Thunder could win the championship that year, maybe Harden and later Durant would not leave.

During the game, Westbrook also expressed his anger with practical actions.

With 31 points, 11 rebounds and 15 assists, Westbrook once again scored a triple-double!Since Durant left, Westbrook has been in a very angry state.He is eager to prove himself, to prove that without Durant, he can take the Thunder very far.

But it turns out that anger alone is not enough.Westbrook's triple-double, Henson simply looked down upon.Why?Because his triple-double is not "authentic" enough.

The ball is all in the hands of Westbrook, of course he can easily score 15 assists.All the shooting rights are in Westbrook's hands, and he can always score [-] points slowly.

What's more, there is a "one card and eight" Stephen Adams beside Westbrook.

People say that the Thunder's rebounder was called Ibaka in the past, but now the Thunder's rebounder is called "one card and eight".Because Adams usually jams eight people alone, allowing Westbrook to easily pick up the rebound.

Westbrook's unskilled triple-double couldn't cause trouble for the Pacers at all.The same is true of the ending, 115 to 108, the Pacers beat the Thunder away.

Among them, George scored 20 points and Antetokounmpo scored 30 points.In addition, the Pacers and 4 other players also scored in double digits.

There is a big difference between a person's carnival and a team's collective strength.

Westbrook must admit that the Thunder without Durant is not at the same level as the team back then.

After the game, Henson was in a good mood, "We have been in a good state recently, and I can't wait to start the battle with the Warriors tomorrow. Back to back? No, back to back games have never been a problem for us."

In an interview, Henson smiled, and the world has praised him and the Pacers since he imagined winning the Warriors tomorrow.

The Chinese coach doesn't know yet, what a disaster tomorrow's game will be for him.

Just because a child defeats a bunch of ants doesn't mean he can challenge a giant.

(End of this chapter)