Volume 1 Western Cowboy Chapter 027 Must Shoot
Larry Bird sat in the luxury box, watched the performance of the players below, and nodded with satisfaction.
At this time, the game between the Indiana Pacers and the Phoenix Suns had reached the final moments, with the Pacers leading by 7 points.
The Suns only had 5.3 seconds left and the game was decided.
A close-up of Jermaine O'Neal's face appeared on the big screen at the scene.
Today, he once again became the best player of the game without any suspense.
32 points, 14 rebounds, 8 blocks!
O'Neal Jr.'s performance was the key to the Pacers' victory today in the absence of Artest.
In the latest MVP rankings, O'Neal Jr. also ranked fifth.
People are now discussing who between him and Garnett is the absolute overlord of the new generation of power forward position!
However, what Bird was most proud of today was not O'Neal's performance, but the shooting percentage of the Suns players.
Stephen Marbury, who averaged 20.8 points per game, was defended to only 14 points in this game, and his shooting percentage was only 26.7%.
The Suns' second offensive point, Shawn Marion, wasn't much better, scoring just 15 points with a 40% shooting percentage.
Bird is very proud of the Pacers' defense.
It is precisely because of this unparalleled super defense that the Pacers have achieved an excellent record of 14 wins and 3 losses this season, ranking first in the Eastern Conference!
"The boys are playing better and better. If Ron hadn't been injured today, we might have been able to widen the gap to double digits." Next to Bird, Pacers president Donnie Walsh took out a cigar and handed it to Bird.
"Of course not. Otherwise, how could Marion score 15 points?" Bird took the cigar and held it in his mouth, showing a bit of the demeanor of his mentor, "Red Head" Auerbach.
"The team I built myself is so awesome." Finally, the "King of Force" did not forget to brag about himself.
2003 was Larry Bird's first year in the Pacers management.
However, Pacers fans already have high expectations for Bird.
Because in the late 1990s, Bird saved the team in a similar way.
Larry Bird briefly coached the Pacers from the late 1990s to the early 2000s.
At that time, he promised that he would only coach the team for three years and would definitely make great changes to the team.
As we all know, the "King of Pretending" has a buff that allows him to pretend to be pretentious without fail.
Thus, Bird's pretentious journey in his coaching career officially began.
In Bird's first year as coach of the Pacers, he led the Pacers, who had only 39 wins and missed the playoffs in the previous season, to an impressive record of 58 wins, ranking second in the Eastern Conference after the Bulls. Bird himself also won the best coach award.
In the end, the Pacers fought hard for seven games against the dynasty Bulls led by Jordan in the Eastern Conference Finals before losing.
In the next two years, Bird led the team to second place in the Eastern Conference once and first place once, and won the Eastern Conference Finals once and the Finals once!
In three years, Bird led a team that was not in the playoffs range to two Eastern Conference Finals and one Finals, once again fulfilling his boast.
Of course, he stepped down as head coach after the third year, as promised.
Now, Bird is back, but as director of basketball operations.
Although the position has changed, all Indianapolis fans believe in Bird's ability.
They firmly believe that Bird can make the Pacers soar like he did a few years ago.
As a result, Bird really did it again!
This summer, as soon as Bird took office, he decisively fired the Pacers' former head coach Isaiah Thomas and hired his friend Rick Carlisle from his playing days as the team's head coach, making drastic changes to the team's system and playing style.
This is why the Pacers have such an impressive record today.
So when Donnie Walsh heard Bird bragging about himself, he just smiled.
This guy Bird really has the capital to brag about himself.
Bird came back this time with the intention of leading his hometown team to win the championship.
As long as the current Pacers are not affected by major injuries, they will definitely be a championship-level team!
In this three-year plan, Bird is very confident that he can win an O'Brien Cup for the Pacers!
After the game, Bird raised the glass as he looked at the cheering fans below.
“This is for you.”
After finishing the drink, Bird and Walsh walked out of the luxury box. It was another wonderful night.
When Bird and Walsh just walked out of the luxury box door, Bird found scout Sweet waiting outside with a briefcase.
"Sweet? Why are you here?" Bird was a little surprised, because the scout only needed to put the report in his office and there was no need to wait for him to submit the report in person.
"I have the latest scouting report for you," Sweet said, handing the briefcase to Bird.
"Is there anything special?" Bird took the report and opened it in front of him.
"You know, I've been giving you reports on that guy for a month now. Even though he's not part of our plan, I think you should really take a look at his performance."
"Um...you mean the guy who made Harrison so helpless?"
"That's him. He's now been promoted to the middle of the second round in the draft predictions, and his team is now ranked eighth in the country!" Sweet's voice became excited. As a scout, the happiest thing is of course to dig up treasure.
For a month in a row, Sweet has been attaching a scouting report on Wayne to Bird every time.
In his opinion, Wayne's arrival can help the team further open up space and completely liberate O'Neal Jr. and Artest.
Of course, he is just a scout, and there are more professional people to consider the tactical aspects.
What he has to do is to bring the best players to Bird.
Even players who are not in the team's plan.
"Okay, I'll take a look at his report. Thank you for your hard work, Sweet." Bird waved his hand and thanked Sweet for his enthusiasm for work.
Of course, he didn't take a second-round pick seriously.
"By the way, Larry, there's one more thing!"
"Huh?" Bird, who was originally planning to leave, stopped again. If it weren't for the fact that Sweet was a veteran employee of the team and a native of Indianapolis, he would have probably become impatient long ago.
"Tomorrow night, Oklahoma State will meet Texas, which is definitely the most important matchup in the Big 12. If you have time, watch that kid play. Believe me, you will be interested in him too."
"Tomorrow? OK. I'll take a look when I have time." Bird nodded superficially, but he actually had no intention of watching it.
In short, let 's get rid of Sweet, who is too enthusiastic.
"Okay, Larry. I'll leave you alone, then."
After Sweet walked away, Donnie Walsh approached Bird curiously.
Although he is the team president, this year the Pacers' basketball affairs are basically handled by Bird, the director of basketball operations.
"What's going on? Isn't Harrison our target this year?" Walsh asked curiously.
"Oh, Sweet said that when he was watching Harrison's game a month ago, he unexpectedly discovered a Chinese student who performed very well. So, he always sends me the scouting report of that guy."
"Chinese students? That's rare. Why, are you interested?"
In response to Walsh's question, Bird spread his hands and said, "I don't think we can get the second Yao. Let's wait and see. If that guy is really that good, he will naturally appear in our field of vision."
Bird put the report back into the document bag.
Now, he just wants to enjoy today's wonderful victory.
※※※
Wayne called up his system interface and increased his lateral speed from 62 to 67. The growth points he had accumulated over the past month were almost gone.
Wayne was in tears. This game was so frustrating.
On the surface, the victory seemed glorious, but due to the low intensity and difficulty of the competition, few growth points were obtained.
And the more Wayne looked at his current attribute interface, the more depressed he became.
Why haven't any of the physical attributes such as jumping and speed been unlocked yet? How many times do I have to upgrade to see them?
Every time Wayne saw Graham running and dunking, he was envious.
Now I can't add anything even if I want to, and I have no idea how many attributes there are in this area.
Wayne could only guess based on his own feeling that his speed should be pretty good for the power forward position, like the thin Yao Ming in his rookie period, more flexible.
But his jumping ability is a bit poor, and blocking shots depends entirely on his height.
Damn, at such a young age, he already looks like Duncan blocking a shot when he was old...
Wayne shook his head. At the moment, he could only frantically collect statistics in the game to make up for the lack of points.
Speaking of which, when the training ended this afternoon, the system gave Wayne a new task.
Wayne switched to the system interface and looked at it again.
“Mission: A crucial battle at the beginning of the season.
Mission objective: Win the game against the University of Texas.
Mission Reward: Get double growth points in a single game. "
Since it is just a short-term mission, the mission rewards are simple and not too rare.
But now... Wayne, who is only interested in upgrading quickly, doesn't want to let go of even a bit of grasshopper meat, let alone double the grasshopper meat.
In tomorrow's game, I must do my best...bah, help the team well.
Three-pointers, you must shoot more three-pointers!
The University of Texas' defense is not to be underestimated, and it is easy to make mistakes when trying to get assists.
Therefore, the most efficient way to gain points tomorrow is to shoot more three-pointers.
Of course, as a veteran football fan in his previous life, Wayne also hated data brushes very much, and he would not allow himself to become a data brush.
If Wayne doesn't feel good about his three-point shooting tomorrow, he won't keep shooting just for the sake of points.
But if the three-point shot is good...
"Hehe." Wayne touched his chin and couldn't help laughing.
Tomorrow his opponent is P.J. Tucker, whom Wayne is very familiar with.
Because later on, Tucker made a name for himself in the league, a typical example of a late bloomer.
But that guy is less than two meters tall, so Wayne has an absolute height advantage.
With the help of the straight-arm shooting bag, Tucker's interference with Wayne's shooting is almost negligible.
If the feel is good, why not just shoot through and blow it up! ?
Wayne rubbed his hands excitedly and said, "Brother Tucker, it must be !"
In order to have the chance to double your growth points, you must take a big bite out of Tucker!
