On Oct. 23, when he saw the Golden State Warriors lose to the Denver Nuggets, Henson immediately realized how sinister the championship environment has been this season.

To be honest, in the past two seasons, it can really be regarded as the two dominant teams of the Pacers and the Warriors. The Warriors basically swept all the way to the Finals, and the Pacers could put a little pressure on the Cavaliers.

But this year, things are very different. Both in the East and in the West, many teams have completed their metamorphosis. Take the Warriors' loss to the Nuggets, Curry scored 30 points, Durant scored 20 points, and Thompson also scored 15 points.

Moreover, the Nuggets shot only 18% from three-point range that day!

But even so, the Nuggets were able to win. They didn't rely on the sudden three-point touch against the sky, nor the opponent's poor state, but relied on real strength to defeat the Warriors.

From that game, it is not difficult to see that Henson is by no means easy to mess with this season's Nuggets. Jokic, Gary. Harris and Jamal. Murray and others already have the ability to change the trend of the game.

So it's a season of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The Warriors will be defeated, and neither will the Pacers. Henson will have to take all his opponents seriously if he wants to win.

Even if this opponent has just lost their star of the house.

※※※

Paul. George has not had a good time these days, and although the team has won four in a row, the voices questioning him have become more and more because of the team's continuous wins.

It is known that this summer, George signed a four-year, $137 million contract extension with the Pacers. And it is precisely because of the need to renew George's contract with a maximum salary that the Pacers cannot afford to keep Paul.

As a result, George's performance this season has been in the spotlight. People even joked that he needed to fill the hole left by Paul's departure with performance.

But after four games in the regular season, George's performance was far from what people imagined.

In the first game of the regular season, the Pacers beat the Timberwolves, but George only scored 18 points.

18 points is certainly not low, but compared to his $137 million contract, it is not enough.

In the second game of the regular season, George scored 16 points. While the shooting percentage is good, it's his final score that people care about more than efficiency. After all, even if you only score 2 points on 100% shooting, it doesn't make sense.

In the third game, George scored 20 points. Finally, Paul. George finally scored his first 20 points of the season in Game 3 of the new season. But there is no doubt that 20 points is not a great score either. Moreover, this is already the third game after the start of the regular season!

So, early this morning, George saw the news criticizing himself again.

"The Pacers beat the Grizzlies by a big margin, but Paul. George's 19-point run is worrying. ”

"Oladipo slashed 23 points, but George, who scored 50 million more than him, scored 4 points less than him."

"Paul. Is George worth 137 million? Was it wise for the Pacers to give up Paul for him? ”

Seeing the last piece of news, George angrily pressed off the phone screen. It was as if he had driven Paul away with his heart.

The media is like that, they don't care about distorting the facts at all in order to attract attention.

So today, as soon as George came to the training gym, Henson found that the kid was not in the right state.

"What's wrong with him? I haven't talked much today. Henson stood on the sidelines and watched George, who was practicing breaking through with the ball, and pulled Stephenson to his side.

"What's wrong with who?" Stephenson looked at the court in confusion, as if he hadn't noticed anything unusual.

"George, don't you think he's silent today!?"

"Oh, maybe it's out of love."

After listening to Stephenson, Henson looked at the guy in confusion. It's all my fault, how could I think of finding a guy with a bad brain to ask.

"Hey, just kidding. Haven't you been watching the news lately? George has been questioned these days, and he must be in a bad mood. After all, who wants to be said to have taken $137 million to eat soft rice? ”

Stephenson spread his hands, he had long passed the age of "abnormal brains".

"Really? It turns out that this is because of this ......" Henson touched his chin, no wonder George was always sullen today.

Indeed, this season due to Antetokounmpo's number one position, he has greatly increased the amount of time he has been in possession, and most of the opportunities have come to Antetokounmpo. So, with Antetokounmpo playing four consecutive games with exaggerated numbers, George's performance doesn't seem worth mentioning.

But Henson is well aware that it's not that George is incompetent, it's that his shots have been compressed. As long as George is left open, he can also get a good statistical performance.

Henson admits that there have been too many stars who have fallen in recent years after signing big contracts. Gordon of the Celtics. Hayward is an example. So far in the regular season this season, Hayward has averaged just about 11 points per game. Undoubtedly, this is a serious mismatch for what Celtic fans expect from him.

But the reason for Hayward's fall was more due to injuries, and George was not bothered by this. The media's conflation of George and Hayward is inherently untenable.

Thinking of this, Henson had planned to talk to George. But on second thought, instead of reasoning with the players, it is better to let him use his actions to regain his confidence.

So, Henson went back to his office. In tomorrow's game against the Spurs, I'm afraid I'll have to arrange a few more offensive tactics for George.

※※※

By the time Popovich arrived in Indianapolis, it was already afternoon. As soon as he got off the plane, he was met by a group of reporters who were pressed by black.

There is no doubt that the Spurs are also considered the Pacers' streak terminator after the Warriors' loss to the Nuggets ended their four-game winning streak.

So, the Spurs' trip was very popular. After all, every game between the Spurs and the Pacers is a key battle!

Popovich looked serious, he wasn't happy to be on his old friend's turf. Because at this time the relationship between Popovich and Henson was not friends, but the worst enemies.

After getting on the team bus, Popovich was still figuring out how to break the Pacers. In the last four games, four teams have proven for Popovich that simply trying to trap Antetokounmpo won't work.

But what if you block Antetokounmpo while blocking his pass? While such a defensive strategy can be very complicated to execute, the San Antonio Spurs are made for this.

They are the best team offensive team in the league, and they always have a clear way of executing complex tactics.

This season, Antetokounmpo is the Pacers' offensive starting point, and as long as he is choked, the Pacers' offensive fluency will at least be discounted. He doesn't expect the Spurs to limit Antetokounmpo to single-digit scoring tomorrow, but as long as they don't let the Pacers play smoothly, the Spurs' defense will be considered a success.

That night, in many media previews, they gave the Spurs one of the keys to victory: be sure to limit Antetokounmpo.

A well-known self-media commentator even said in the video: "As long as the Spurs can choke the Greeks, the Pacers are no threat." It's like destroying a car's engine, and no matter how powerful the car is, it won't help. ”

The hype in the media has made this game already in the spotlight before it even starts. So the next afternoon, when reporters saw Henson in the tunnel of players, they asked Henson what he thought of the self-media critic's remarks.

Henson looked at the camera and shook his head in disappointment. He didn't expect that in this Internet era, people or ghosts can actually question their own team.

What qualifications does a self-media judge have to judge the Pacers? For these "keyboard emperors", Henson has long been unaccustomed to it. Suddenly having an opportunity to "talk" with them today, how could Henson let it go?

So, after listening to the question, Henson looked at the screen indifferently and said lightly, "He knows a ball!" ”

With that, Henson turned away without saying a word.

Strangling Antetokounmpo is tantamount to strangling the Pacers? Well, I'm afraid you've forgotten the horror of being dominated by the "Great General of the Indian City".