The Basketball Court Swordsman

In the game before Christmas, the Pacers lost to the incredible Celtics in an away game by 9 points. The point difference did not faithfully reflect the difference between the two teams on the court, because at the last minute, if the Celtics were not replaced by the third team, the Pacers would not be able to close the point difference to single digits. And Kevin Garnett, one of the "Big Three" in this game, has not played due to injury. If the "Wolf King" is there, the Pacers may lose even worse.

Jim O'Brien sat on the bench, his eyes blank. He has clearly restricted the Celtics' shooting percentage to a very low level, but why can't he win the game?

The Celtics made only 38% of their field goal attempts today and only 30% of their three-pointers. It stands to reason that the Pacers' defense should be very successful today.

But the fact is not what O'Brien saw, the Celtics have a poor shooting percentage, mostly in the fourth quarter of the game. In the first three quarters, the Pacers' defense was not as good as O'Brien thought. And the Pacers' own offense is just too horrible. The person with the highest score in the team is actually Troy Murphy, the functional space No. 4. After Daniel Granger is absent, the Pacers' offense is simply a group of dragons without a leader, who throws the ball at random.

Of course, the Pacers' offense is not without bright spots. In this game, Zhu Holledi, who played 22 minutes off the bench, scored 15 points with 4 of 4 three-pointers and 71% of the overall shooting. With 22 minutes and 15 minutes, Holledi definitely hit the level today.

However, coach O'Brien relentlessly took Rondo because of Holiday let Rondo break twice, killing the Pacers' only bright spot on the offensive end.

When Hollodi was replaced, he was extremely frustrated. He had already tried his best. Why couldn't he impress the coach? But no one noticed that Pacers assistant coach Henson Joe would give the rookie guard a smile every time Holiday went off the field. This smile and that trust are the reasons why Holiday has been insisting.

Under the guidance of coach Jim O'Brien "Wisdom", the Pacers lost again without a surprise. 9 wins and 18 losses, four consecutive losses. In the cheers of the Celtics fans, no one cares about the shameless boys from the cornfield.

After returning to the dressing room, the atmosphere was still lifeless, without the slightest joy before the holiday.

"Henson, go to the press conference for me today. I...I'm not feeling well." O'Brien muttered and removed the tie that made him blush.

"As you wish, Jim." Henson did not refuse, he was too lazy to fight O'Brien now. Because there is no need to fight on his own, this head coach who has been completely overwhelmed by pressure and blinded his eyes is not far from the end of get out of class.

Henson knows why O'Brien is still here, because the Pacers former president Donny Walsh promised to give O'Brien three years. After Bird took office, he did not easily ruin this promise, and frequent coaching changes are indeed a kind of injury to the team.

But this year is already the third year. With O'Brien in this state, the Pacers want to make the playoffs, I am afraid it is very difficult. Three years later, when the promise expires, Bird will certainly not hesitate. And when that happens, O'Brien will have no excuses. The layoff of Dennis Posey was just a warning to O'Brien.

A three-year cycle is an unwritten rule in the NBA coaching circle. Bird did not win the championship for three years, so he would choose to quit.

Henson now only hopes that O'Brien will not use Holledi as a waste. You know, that's a future All-Star guard...

Another "expected" defeat, the players boarded the team bus with a depressed expression. Starting today, the Pacers have no games to play for 3 days, and it can be considered a Christmas holiday.

Earl Watson and Duntai Jones were discussing where to play cards on Christmas, Troy Murphy laughed on the phone, Dunleavy was still studying his own assets, and Hibbert was just looking shyly Outside the window.

Only Zhu Huo Ledi, his head hung down and said nothing. Henson could see that Holledi was the one who wanted to win the most and wanted to prove himself the most.

Today he scored 15 points in 22 minutes, but he was still pressed on the bench. And this is not the first time that this has happened this season.

The growth environment of a rookie has a decisive influence on his progress. The only thing Henson can do now is to soothe Holledi's emotions as much as possible and not let him give up on himself.

"You played well today, and you made a good three-pointer. It seems that the extra training this morning was not in vain." Hearing Henson's voice, Holledi couldn't help raising his head.

"You think so too? But Coach O'Brien said I took too many three-pointers..." Holledi was excited at first, and then lost again.

"It doesn't matter, if you can be so accurate in three-pointers in every game in the future, Mr. O'Brien will not call you. Don't forcefully change your own style of play, be yourself, be your best self."

Holledi smiled slightly after hearing it, and his heart warmed.

"By the way, Mr. Henson, I heard... I heard that you live alone in Indianapolis."

"Yes, I'm a pretty bachelor." Henson laughed at himself. This year he has officially turned 30. In the United States, this is definitely an "older" bachelor. Every time he thought of this question, he would recall the night An Jiali was drunk in his own home. If he could choose again, Henson would definitely want to be a bad guy that day.

"If that's the case, can you come to my house for Christmas? I often mention you to my mother, and she said she would like to see you." Holledi sent out an invitation embarrassingly.

"Sure, no problem, I'm alone anyway. Work hard, you still have a long career, man." Unexpectedly, Henson agreed very readily.

After all, if you can only work at home alone at Christmas, it would be too sad.

So on December 25, Christmas Day, Henson got into Carter's taxi with a lot of gifts. Indianapolis is already covered with snow, the windows of houses along the street are covered with Christmas decorations, and Christmas trees with lights flashing everywhere on the street, the festive atmosphere is extremely strong.

In this bad season, perhaps only Christmas day can make Henson feel a little better.

"For you, Carter, Merry Christmas, thank you for not dumping me on the highway." As soon as he got in the car, Henson handed a small gift box to the driver.

"You also prepared my gift? Hahahaha, thank you Henson. By the way, how does your assistant coaching career feel?" Carter looked at Henson through the rearview mirror again. I couldn't believe it. The "cleaner scout" who started with money has now become the assistant coach of the Pacers.

"Not so good, it's not as good as being comfortable as a scout. At least as a scout, you don't need to get up and go to the team to report every day."

"Jim O'Brien, it's hard to serve. I lost to the Celtics in the last game. It was obvious that Holiday was so good. I don't know why he wants to control Holiday's playing time." Carter As he drove, he complained, "I said long ago that Bird should blast that **** guy out."

"Trust me Carter, it's no good to change the coach at will. Wait a minute, this team can't continue to be so bad, and Bird will not agree."

"Maybe you will become the head coach? Hahahahaha." Carter joked with Henson.

When Henson arrived at Holiday's house, their family had already enthusiastically prepared dinner. After only half an hour, Henson seemed to have found the reason why Holiday was so good.

Holiday’s father once played at uCLA, and his mother was even better. Not only did he play in Arizona when he was young, he is now the head coach of the Campbell University women’s basketball team. Two of Holledi’s brothers also play basketball. This can be said to be an out-and-out basketball family. This kind of family basketball atmosphere is hard for others to get.

"Mr. Henson, you will cut the turkey today. Thank you for your help to Juul in the team. Juul often said that without you, he would have given up long ago." Toya Holiday , Zhu Holledi's mother, she is obviously very grateful to Henson.

"Your son is very good in his own right, madam." Henson said, cutting open the turkey's belly. "Merry Christmas, everyone."

"Merry Christmas!"

A happy Christmas only delayed the death of the Pacers. After the time entered 2010, O'Brien's work still had no substantial breakthroughs and progress.

On January 8, the highly anticipated Daniel Granger finally recovered from a month and a half of injuries and officially returned. O'Brien is also very happy, Granger is his savior, his comeback, he will definitely be able to save the team's poor results.

However, in the first game of Granger's comeback, the Pacers lost. It can be seen that Granger has not yet entered the competitive state very well, this game only scored 19 points with a 36% shooting rate. What O'Brien did not expect was that after Granger came back, the team experienced the longest 8-game losing streak of the season!

It's not that Granger played badly, but because O'Brien's defensive thinking made the Pacers' offense from the beginning unavailable, now four people watch Granger play alone. If this can be won, Henson is willing to walk home upside down.

The terrible results continued into March. On March 14, the Indiana Pacers lost to the Milwaukee Bucks in an away game, harvesting their first three-game losing streak this season.

At this time, the regular season only has more than one month to end, and the Pacers' record is 21 wins and 45 losses! Now let alone the playoffs, O'Brien may not even get 36 wins last season!

After one season, the record was worse than last year. O'Brien knew that he was desperate. The results have not improved, and the three-year deadline has come, O'Brien has also become a dangerous employee on the verge of being fired.

So after today's game, O'Brien found Henson in a desperate manner, his eyes blank.

"Henson, your training plan... can you show me again."

O'Brien knew that his current goal is not the playoffs, but to find a way to keep his job! For this goal, he is willing to try any possibility, even if it is to beg the Chinese teaching assistant!

Henson was not surprised at O'Brien's request. He knew that this day would always come.

"As you wish, Jim." This is the most words Henson has said to O'Brien.