At the end of the first quarter, Heat coach Spoelstra didn't look good. The first two games of the Heat played smoothly, and he really didn't expect that this game would suddenly kill a Leonard!

With 7 points, 2 rebounds, 1 block and 1 steal in a single quarter, Leonard's stats may seem mediocre, but if you compare it with the previous two games, you can see where this guy's magic is.

In the first game of the Eastern Conference finals, Leonard had 2 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 block, and there was no way to take James on the defensive end.

In the second game, Leonard had 5 points and 1 rebound, and there was still no way to take James on the defensive end.

And in the third game today, after only one quarter of the game, Leonard's score was already the sum of the previous two games combined! What's more, he is very good at restricting James on the defensive end!

Although James still scored 8 points in a single quarter, he shot less than 50% from the field. You know, it's impossible for an athlete of James' level to get a clean sheet, and what the managers can do is not to let him score fewer points, but to try to make his scoring efficiency low.

In that regard, Leonard has done an excellent job. On both offensive and defensive ends, Leonard showed a completely different quality from the previous two games, which can be called the wonder of the Pacers!

At the end of the first quarter, the Heat trailed the Pacers 20-28. And this is also the first time that the Heat have been suppressed by the Pacers in the situation since the beginning of the series!

"Every year in the playoffs, there are always a few surprises. Without a doubt, the wonder man for the Pacers this year is Leonard. When this kid entered the draft last summer, he was noticed by many teams. But no one dared to guarantee at the time that they would be able to develop Leonard's potential. But Coach Henson, he seems to have managed to do just that! ”

Can it not be a strange soldier? Henson put that rhetoric on Leonard just to create a surprise soldier! As long as James can have someone to confront him at that point, the Heat will not be so difficult to deal with!

After the start of the second quarter, Henson's other arrangements gradually began to show results. One of the most notable is the Pacers' scramble for offensive rebounding.

Although Bosh is a power forward, he has never been a good rebounder. James, despite his near-perfect physicality, has never been a pure interior player.

In the second quarter, Horford and West used their chicken thief card position and rebounding sense to win many opportunities for the Pacers to rebound. And because the Heat team always wants to play counterattacks, once they don't protect the rebound, it is easy to leak.

On several occasions, Wade had already stormed through the halfcourt, only to have the rebounds snatched by the Pacers. Horford and West only had to give the ball to George, and the Heat's defense collapsed, because Wade couldn't get it back!

As a result, the Heat didn't dare to launch a counterattack easily. Henson used an unconventional method to contain the rapid offense that the Heat were proud of, and the rhythm had to fall into positional warfare! And the Heat's positional offensive ability is not an exaggeration to say that it is the worst level in the league.

Leonard's performances have continued to be excellent, and the taciturn little guy has already attacked with confidence today. And after Leonard restrained Battier, George was liberated from this. Without a tight support and supplement, George was able to cash in on his talent on the court.

These two young men who are most valued by Henson undoubtedly played their worth today. Henson seems to have been able to see a bright future when these two guys join forces in the future!

Under the strong firepower of George and Leonard's two wings, the Heat team has not been thrown away again, but it has not been able to close the score.

Wade shot a lot of balls today, but the feeling he had when he scored 41 points in the last game was gone, so Wade didn't share any pressure on James on the offensive end.

Wade himself is not good at mid-to-long-range shooting, so it was actually very unexpected to score 41 points in the last game because of accurate shooting. It's just that Heat fans wishfully "default" Wade's performance to regular play.

It's self-defeating.

Nine minutes into the second quarter, the Heat still trailed the Pacers by seven points. Spoelstra called the game off and the rotation time was up, and the coaches of both sides had to make changes.

"LeBron, can you hold on for 12 minutes!?" After the players left the field, Spoelstra found his "pride of the sky" for the first time.

"No problem." James didn't hesitate at all, playing the whole quarter was the norm for him.

"Good, you know what to do. Take advantage of the time when the opponent's rotation lineup comes up, and the score is close! The Filipino decided to take the plunge and let James play a full quarter to save the Heat's rundown.

Henson, on his part, replaced all the main players, and he rarely increased the playing time of his players for the sake of health and consistency. Now the Pacers have only Danny on their roster. Green is a starter, and of course, people have long forgotten that Green is still a starter today, because Leonard's performance is really too dazzling.

Stephenson, Matthews, Green, Yi Jianlian and Anderson, against Norris. Cole, Mike. Miller, James, Haslem and Joe. Anthony. James...... Henson's heart sank, was Spoelstra planning to let James play a full quarter?

"LeBron is still there!? Looks like he's going to play the full 12 minutes! Facing the Pacers' rotating lineup, I wonder if James can help the team tie the score!? ”

In the opening game, James closed the score with a mid-range jumper. Green put James too big, and James suddenly made a sudden stop, which shattered Green's defense.

"Tsk!" Henson pouted, Green's defense is naturally very good, but it is indeed not as good as Leonard's enhanced attributes.

The difference was only 5 points in an instant, and the 5-point difference, once James went crazy, let alone an equalizer, the Heat even had a chance to overtake!

"Don't worry, pass a few more hands, and have a chance to shoot again!" Henson immediately stood on the sidelines and shouted, in the case of poor defense, the Pacers must be able to continue to score!

Stephenson glanced at Henson, then obediently organized himself from beyond the three-point line. But Stephenson isn't a playmaker by much, and most of his assists come from brilliant shots after breakaways. At this time when the situation needs to be stabilized, Henson is already considering whether to take the more stable Hinrich on board.

But soon, Stephenson dismissed this idea, because "Funny Phifenson" scored.

Finson first asked Yi Jianlian for a cover, and after breaking through with the cover, Stephenson vigorously shifted the ball and threw it into the hands of Green, the shooter.

However, James stayed on Green's defense and didn't give him any shots. Want to break through? James didn't mind if Green came to his death.

So Green didn't hold the ball more, but returned the ball to Stephenson, who was already in the bottom corner on the same side as Green.

Stephenson took the ball and looked at Norris. Cole is still some way away. So Stephenson stepped back and pushed outside the three-point line, and then pulled up and shot!

"Don't......" watched Stephenson actually choose a step-back three-pointer, and Norris. Cole pounced again, and Henson was already ready to take off his shoes and go up to "pump".

But it was such a ball that seemed to be only a superstar dared to throw, and it was scored by Stephenson!

"Don't ...... What a ball! Well done! Henson waved his arm, Stephenson just dared to fight. Sometimes, daring to fight is a disadvantage, but if he happens to feel hot today, daring to fight is undoubtedly an advantage.

It seems that after resetting the morale of all the players to 100, Stephenson, a guy who is easily affected by emotions, seems to be hot in his hands!

"It's a three-pointer, it's a three-pointer! Reims. Stephenson, this guy always surprises us. Haha, Coach Henson must have been on a rollercoaster ride! "Mike. Brin quipped that Henson's expression had just changed from anger to ecstasy, but it hadn't escaped Brin's eyes.

Stephenson hit a three-point shot, and in fact scored four points on 2-of-2 shooting in the first quarter. It's just that as Paul's substitute, Stephenson didn't play for long, so the statistics looked mediocre.

It seems that today, the Pacers' odd roster is not just Leonard. Surprise, what a surprise.

James gritted his teeth, thinking that he would be able to close the score soon, but he didn't know that the score difference instantly became 8 points! For the whole game today, the point difference has been hovering in this range. Whenever James thought he could get the score close, there were always "accidents" of one kind or another.

After that, James' breakaway was stopped by Matthews' supplementary defense. But don't forget, Matthews is also an out-and-out "Mr. Tough". Although George has performed well this season, Matthews has also performed very well as a substitute. There are even rumors that there will be a lot of teams ready to offer a big contract this summer for this former undrafted pick!

This kind of easy-to-use 3-and-D defender is a role that all players dream of. In the eyes of others, Henson's use of Matthews as a substitute was a real outrage.

After James was forced to stop, he planned to pass the ball to Mike. Miller.

Miller Sr. is a veteran shooter, and in the regular season this season, Miller Sr. shot a perverted 45.3% from three-point range!

Miller Sr. has only one tactical task now, and that is to make a solid three-point shot when James is caught in the bag. Because of this, Miller didn't have many opportunities to shoot and didn't have much pressure on defense, so the three-point shooting percentage was so exaggerated.

But sometimes, a long-range shot from Miller Sr. can help stabilize the Heat.

This time he was caught by Matthews, and James skillfully distributed the ball to Miller Sr. Only this time, the Heat's usual tactics didn't work out. Because Stephenson predicted James's passing route, he rushed over and stretched out his arm and laughed at the basketball directly!

"Steal, LeBron missed! Reims. Stephenson, he's incredibly active on both ends of the floor today! ”

Amid the exclamations of the Heat fans, Stephenson advanced with the ball! James chased back in a frustrated manner, eager to save face with a chaser.

However, Stephenson made another frustrated back pass that sent the ball to Matthews.

Matthews catches the ball and throws it, and the basketball goes into the net. Although it was unforgettable to step on the line on tiptoe, the referee only gave the Pacers a two-point point. But two points is enough for the Pacers to stretch the gap back to double digits!

Stephenson barred his tongue at the stands at the American Airlines Center after the assist, and Henson bet that at least half of the people in the stands wanted to rush down and beat up the guy!

But that's Stephenson, and how much his opponents hate him, his teammates love him!

After that, Stephenson continued his amazing performances. The guy unexpectedly made a steal of Norris. Cole, a minute later, stepped on his "drunken eight" European step and inexplicably made a layup......

Spoelstra let James play the full 12 minutes in the original intention that he would help the Heat recover the score. However, at halftime, the Heat still trailed by eight points due to a Stephenson halfway through. James was tired for 12 minutes, and there was no progress in the goal chasing plan!

At this time, the cheers in the American Airlines Center were already much quieter. Heat fans seem to realize that it won't be easy to sweep the Pacers.

Before returning to the locker room, Henson gave a courtside interview. In the face of the reporter's question, his smile returned to his face.

"Feng Shui takes turns, and today it's time for us to have Wade with 41 points. The Heat cost us two of our home courts, and I just exchanged courtesy. ”

A Leonard, plus Stephenson's surprise. Henson believes that in the second half of the game, the Heat will still not be able to turn the situation around!

Sweeping the Pacers? Dream your dreams!