NBA's No. 1 guard

Chapter 368: First place in the East in the regular season!

The Pacers have a record of 54 wins and 23 losses, and the Cavaliers have a record of 54 wins and 24 losses.

0.5 win difference!

Compared with the West, this year's East seems to be competing for the top spot extremely fiercely.

And under the attention of many, a crucial game finally came.

The Cavaliers challenged the Pacers away.

In the past, many fans watched both sides together, which was very troublesome, but this time it is different.

Verbal confrontation is nothing but floating clouds, how can it be so comfortable to fight with real swords and guns.

It's time to fight the bayonet!
Both sides are back-to-back games, and everyone is similar in terms of pure physical fitness, but the Pacers have a home court advantage.

In this kind of game, the home field advantage is still very large.

As imagined, the game was extremely intense.

Both sides started with all the main players, and both sides scored 30+ points in the first quarter.

The Pacers at home scored 36 points in a single quarter, while the Cavaliers in the away game were slightly behind by 3 points and scored 33 points.

The game was very good. This is the fourth time the two teams have met. In the first three times, the Pacers maintained a lead of two wins and one loss. If the Cavaliers win this game, then the two sides will be tied 2-2!

And if the Pacers won this game, then they would lead 3-1!

This will give them an absolute psychological advantage when they meet in the playoffs!

Playing 7 games in the playoffs is not only about strength, but also spirit!

Whoever can't bear the pressure first will be the first to fall behind.

The consequences of falling behind are generally unbearable.

In the second quarter, the substitutes on both sides also played impressively.

The Cavaliers' bench lineup is also not weak. With their 13-man rotation in this game, veterans such as Richard Jefferson, Channing Frye, Dellavedova, Maurice Williams and other veterans have started the playoffs.

It is not too early to enter the playoff mode, because the playoffs are not far away.

By the playoffs, it doesn't mean that you can save the world alone. Even James, who was at his peak, was almost prevented from being psychologically shadowed.

The playoffs and the regular season are basically equal to two different leagues.

Therefore, many teams will seek to become a playoff team when they have a super rookie, because a playoff game is likely to cause this rookie to change.

The Pacers also have a 13-man rotation in this game, but Zhou Qi and others still don't have much chance to play, at most they will be played once during garbage time.

The most important thing for the Pacers is to play Jokic and others.

In the second half of the second quarter, Xu Xiang went up to play for a while, and was immediately replaced, and Paojiao took over again. The two of them took turns leading the team to play for a while.

At halftime, the Cavaliers were 61 to 70, and the point difference was widened to 9 points by the Pacers all the way.

"You can tell the boys in Indiana are desperate for this win."

"Yes, their fighting spirit is very high. Xu Xiang and Paojiao spared no effort to take turns to fight. They must want to win."

"It depends on how the Cavaliers choose."

If the Pacers win this game, their record is 55 wins and 23 losses, while the Cavaliers are 54 wins and 25 losses.

The win margin will become 1.5 in an instant.

For the subsequent situation, it will play a crucial decision, because there are not many game constants. If this is not counted, the Pacers still have 4 games, while the Cavaliers only have 3 games.

In the current situation, the outcome of every game is very important, especially for the two teams aspiring to be the first in the Eastern Conference.

The halftime interview went to Pacers head coach Nate McMillan.

"Mr. Coach, hello, I want to ask whether Xu Xiang and PG will continue to play later?"

"Of course!" McMillan said as a matter of course.

They fought so fiercely in front of them to win.

"As far as I know, isn't it a bit sloppy to use core players like this when the playoffs are approaching?" The reporter also asked bluntly.

"No, of course not, I trust their physical strength." Nate replied without hesitation.

After the intermission, the game continued.

In the first official timeout of the third quarter, Xu Xiang and Paojiao played together. The Cavaliers also played James and Love, and they decided to fight.

Xu Xiang continued the touch of the previous two quarters, making 5 of 4 three-pointers in a single quarter and scoring 15 points personally!
In the third quarter, the Pacers scored a total of 26 points, and Xu Xiang scored 15 points alone!
More than half.

At the end of the three quarters, the Cavaliers trailed by 14 points.

After James went up and played for a while in the fourth quarter, he still couldn't narrow the point difference. He shook his head at Tyronn Lue, indicating that it could be over.

Tyronn Lue was very obedient. He called a timeout immediately, replaced James and Love, and announced his abandonment of the game.

On the Pacers side, Coach Nate smiled slightly, and replaced Xu Xiang and Paojiao, and the game entered garbage time.

This time is when Zhou Qi and others go up to play.

This is generally the case at the beginning and end of each season.

However, the focus of everyone's attention is not on this, but - the Pacers won the Cavaliers!

This victory is crucial, and the Pacers directly secured their first place in the East and West.

Of course, the result is still undecided, and there may be a comeback, but in this case, unless the Cavaliers win all the next three games and the Pacers lose at least three times, they will be overturned.

This is difficult to do, and I believe that the Cavaliers' coaching staff, including the management and even James himself, will not do this.

It's pointless to fight for the first place if James is tired or injured.

The purpose of fighting for the first place is to play better in the playoffs, but if the core players are injured in order to fight for the first place.

Then it's really SHABI.

Sure enough, in the following games, both Xu Xiang and Paojiao of the Pacers and the Big Three of the Cavaliers began to rest.

Until the end of all games between the two teams, the Pacers still advanced to the playoffs with 58 wins and 24 losses in the regular season.

In the next four games, the Pacers won three!

This is still the case when Xu Xiang and Pickled Pepper take turns off.

The Pacers' bench really is something.

The Cavaliers have a record of 55 wins and 27 losses, ranking second.

4月份的这8场比赛，徐向出场了5场，场均出场时间26分钟，场均数据26分5.0个助攻1.4个篮板，场均罚球2中1。

In addition, in these 5 games, Xu Xiang scored a total of 4 steals and 7 blocks!
He now puts all his attention on blocking shots other than scoring, which has caused his blocking data to skyrocket during this period.

Of course, what Xu Xiang hopes most is to be able to improve his defensive ability again, but God did not allow him to fulfill this wish. The steal data is already enough, but it is a pity that he is still short of two blocks.

(End of this chapter)