This advantage was not sothing the Lakers could make up for through their periter shooting.
Although Afflalo and Billups had poor shooting performances and Ariza had a god-like ga hitting five three-pointers, the Lakers’ periter only managed to outscore the Pacers by seven points.
In the end, the Pacers won by 20 points, 109 to 89.
You have to understand, this was on the Lakers’ ho court.
Losing the first ho ga made the Lakers’ situation even more difficult.
In the second ga of the series, Phil Jackson put all his defensive focus on the Pacers’ frontcourt and placed all hopes of victory on the duel between Kobe and Su Wan.
Rick Carlisle, seeing his team’s frontcourt being aggressively targeted, imdiately countered by having his n help Su Wan limit Kobe.
In the second half, both teams executed their strategies; Kobe was limited to only 4 out of 13 shots, and the performance of Zach Randolph and Shaq Jr. was also not very good for the Pacers.
Yet Su Wan made 10 of his 15 shots in the second half, was perfect from the free-throw line with 5 free throws, scored 27 points in the half, and ended the ga with 42 points, leading his team to a smooth victory in the second championship ga, 109 to 88.
A commanding lead of 2-0!
The dia in Los Angeles had never missed Yao as much as they did now.
If Yao had been in the ga, the Lakers could definitely have won.
No, not just this ga, but the first two gas, the Lakers might have won them both.
The combination of Zach Randolph and Shaq Jr. did not demonstrate the strength it had last season with Zach Randolph and Shaquille O’Neal.
At least this year, the Lakers could contain the Pacers’ "Twin Towers" frontcourt, whereas last year, the Lakers had no answer at all.
Although Shaquille O’Neal was still sitting on the bench.
But from his poor performance of 2 out of 6 shots tonight, it was clear that Shaq’s tank was truly empty.
He was just going through the motions this season...
That statent was both right and wrong.
Shaquille O’Neal was indeed not in form for the finals.
However, the reason for his poor condition was his excessive exertion in the Eastern Conference Finals.
He played so hard because he knew that without Yao, the Lakers stood no chance against the Pacers, and once they got past the Celtics, the Pacers could win the championship.
That was why he exerted himself and demonstrated his effectiveness against the Celtics.
Had Yao not been out for the season, he might have saved so of his efforts for playing against the Lakers.
So even though he perford poorly, he faced the dia caras unapologetically after the ga claiming, "The biggest regret this year is that I couldn’t raise the Championship Trophy in front of the ungrateful Lakers fans!"
Watching him boast like this, the Los Angeles dia felt a fire building up inside.
But looking at the current situation...
They knew it was extrely difficult for the Lakers to win an away ga.
What else could they do?
They could only watch as Shaquille O’Neal taphorically defecated over their heads.
Two years ago, they would never have imagined that a beaten down Shaq could still make a coback against the odds.
Su Wan...
Was he really that godlike?
Alright!
That was sothing the dia in Los Angeles had not anticipated.
Such a small city as the Pacers’, managing to overco "Dynasty fatigue," was also thanks to him.
Of course...
Larry Bird’s trade was crucial...
In that case, in recent years, the Pacers not only had one of the best players in the League but also the best general manager!
It could only be said that in these past few years, Indiana indeed had the fortune to create an era.
Even the Los Angeles dia was sowhat envious.
In fact, even the Lakers, after the 1980s, hadn’t had monts of championship frequency like the Pacers.
The only recent comparison could be the eight championships in six years created by Michael Jordan in the 1990s.
And considering the current montum of the Pacers, they had the potential to break this record...
Achieving an exaggerated six championships in seven years.
Well, now, that hope didn’t seem so big.
Everyone could see that the new owner and Su Wan didn’t get along.
A proud person like Su Wan was unlikely to stay.
More importantly:
The new owner was clearly soone who highly valued returns.
This was a common issue with Wall Street owners.
Compared to a Championship Trophy, they preferred seeing a solid financial statent.
Put simply, between a Championship Trophy and twenty million dollars in revenue, they would definitely choose the twenty million!
Moreover, since the new owner was not from Indiana, he was even less likely to consider the glory of the city.
If next year the Pacers offered Shaq Jr. a max contract and Su Wan continued with his third-year contract, the total salary combined with luxury tax would definitely exceed ninety million.
A harsh reality, even if the Pacers won the championship, their inco wouldn’t reach ninety million.
First off, Conseco Arena had the cheapest tickets in the entire league; you could buy back-row seats for just a few US dollars.
Then endorsents, during the "three consecutive championships," Pacers’ highest annual endorsent earnings were just twenty to thirty million.
This isn’t to say Su Wan had no market appeal.
From his collaboration with ESPN on "Su Wan’s Prediction," each episode brought in twenty million dollars in sponsorship, it’s clear his comrcial value was evident.
It’s just...
In Bolis, Su Wan couldn’t support many more brands.
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