Two days later, the Clippers' opponent at Staples Center was the Indiana Pacers, currently ranked among the top teams in the Eastern Conference.
This season, the Indiana Pacers have a record of 17 wins and 12 losses, making them a playoff-caliber team in the East.
Although starting center Turner was absent from this game due to the flu, the Indiana Pacers' strength should still not be underestimated.
Especially since they also have a guard like Oladipo, who possesses explosive scoring ability.
When Oladipo was interviewed by the media before the game, he also stated: "Our team's goal today is to end the Los Angeles Clippers' winning streak at Staples Center."
"We will deliver a heavy blow to the Los Angeles Clippers on their home court!"
Facing the camera, Oladipo was full of confidence: "Just wait and see!"
"This is something only we can do!"
To be fair, confidence is a good thing, but once a person becomes blindly confident, it is simply foolish!
This was proven in the very first possession of the game!
The Indiana Pacers won the tip-off, gaining the first offensive possession!
Collison brought the ball across half-court and initiated a pick-and-roll with Bogdanovic at the top of the arc.
After the pick-and-roll, he tried to make a bounce pass to Bogdanovic, who was cutting down.
But Beverley had already seen through it!
The moment Collison made the bounce pass, Kai Chen, who had been waiting for a long time, seized the opportunity and completed the steal!
After completing the steal, Kai immediately transitioned from defense to offense, flying down the court with Beverley on both wings, rushing to the frontcourt!
The Indiana Pacers' transition defense could not keep up with their pace at all.
The fans inside Staples Center all stood up!
Under the gaze of tens of thousands of fans, Kai received a pass from Beverley and, from one step inside the free-throw line, executed an axe-handle dunk!
"Boom!"
"Good heavens!"
"Kai Chen delivered a top-five-play-worthy dunk right at the start of the game!"
Seeing the entire crowd excitedly waving their arms, the sideline commentator said with great excitement: "You can feel that Kai is in great form today!"
"That's right, ever since the drama off court, Kai Chen's competitive state has become more and more explosive..."
Because Kai is currently the hottest star, the two commentators are quite knowledgeable about Kai's technical characteristics, offensive habits, and even off-court gossip.
Normally, Kai's opening plays typically involved him coming off a pick-and-roll and shooting a three-pointer.
But in these two games, Kai has started with a dunk.
This also made them recall that widely circulated saying:
Leave the Kardashians, an Kai will surpasses Jordan!
Offensive and defensive transition, Indiana Pacers' possession!
Collison felt like he was being targeted today.
He just had his bounce pass stolen by Kai, and this time he only tried to dribble and drive, but was mercilessly stripped by Beverley.
Watching the Clippers' three-line fast break with Beverley + Kai Chen + Carmelo, Collison could only watch them score.
4:0!
The Clippers established an early lead with two consecutive fast-break dunks by Kai.
Indiana Pacers' ball.
Collison's two consecutive turnovers made Oladipo unable to hold back.
So, he simply took the baseline inbound pass himself and drove the ball to the frontcourt!
Isn't it just a dunk??
Am I, the Black Panther, not capable of that?
With this thought, Oladipo signaled his teammates to clear out, faced Kai's defense one-on-one, and drove hard to the paint, attempting to dunk over Kai!
"Bang!"
Unfortunately, the moment Oladipo jumped, Kai who was defending him head-on, leaped high and swatted the basketball out of Oladipo's hands with a monstrous block!
"Woohoo~~"
Kai's block was powerful, and the basketball flew out of bounds, landing precisely in the first row of the stands, where Emma Watson was sitting.
"Ah~"
The next second, a high-pitched scream came from her.
The basketball had just hit the drink in her hand, spilling it all over the floor.
"Beep beep beep!"
Seeing water on the floor, the Main Referee on the sideline quickly signaled the court staff to come in and clean it up.
"Are you okay!?"
Kai also came to Emma Watson and asked her.
"I'm fine."
Emma Watson patted the water stains on her clothes and shook her head.
Because she was wearing a white dress, she was slightly transparent at the moment.
Seeing those faintly visible thighs, Kai Chen took a deep breath and said to the court staff: "Get this lady another drink, it's on me!"
Hearing this, Emma Watson quickly refused: "No need, I can buy it myself!"
"No need to be polite, it was my fault to begin with!"
"Haha, alright then, if possible, could you give me a jersey after the game!"
Emma Watson said with a smile: "I've been following you since your college league days."
"No problem!"
"He's hooked up with another one!?"
From the Clippers' bench, Grayson Allen looked at the two talking happily and couldn't help but complain: "You promised me a good one, didn't you??"
"Damn Kai, I shouldn't have trusted him!"
After the brief interlude, the game continued!
The Indiana Pacers inbounded the ball from the baseline, again giving it to Oladipo.
Still facing Kai's defense, and having learned from the previous lesson, Oladipo did not choose to force the shot this time, but instead passed the ball to Thaddeus Young in the paint.
"Bang!"
The latter received the ball, but facing Lopez's long-arm interference, he failed to score.
The rebound was secured by Carmelo!
Throughout the first quarter, the Indiana Pacers were completely stifled by the Clippers' defense.
Due to Turner's absence, they could only rely on the outside trio of Collison + Oladipo + Bogdanovic to drive their offense.
But these three found it extremely difficult to make an impact against the Clippers' perimeter defense!
At the end of the first quarter, the Indiana Pacers were trailing the Clippers by a full 20 points, with a score of 20:40 on the road.
During the first quarter break, Indiana Pacers Head Coach Vogel yelled at his starting five.
Head Coach Vogel's forte is defense, but they allowed the Clippers to score 40 points in just one quarter!?
This is simply asking for a scolding!
After scolding, he had to think of a solution to the problem.
Amidst his headache, Vogel's gaze gradually focused on the backup center at the end of the bench!
Zaza Pachulia!
The noble Georgian boxer!
Vogel did not want to use Pachulia unless absolutely necessary.
After all, this boxer had just sidelined Kawhi Leonard in last season's playoffs.
During the offseason, due to external pressure, the Golden State Warriors did not re-sign him.
And Pachulia signed with the Indiana Pacers as a free agent during the offseason.
For this level of super weapon, Vogel always adhered to the attitude of: use him as little as possible.
But today, the Indiana Pacers were down by 20 points in the first quarter.
If this trend continued, even 30 or even 40 points were very likely to happen.
Facing this unfavorable situation, Vogel knew.
It was time for him to make his move!
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