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The two sides of the East Final matchup are the Eastern Conference's first seed, the Pacers, and the second seed, the Miami Heat. In the regular season, these two teams were the only ones in the East to win over 50 games, with the Pacers winning 56 and the Heat 54.

Initially, the Pacers seemed to be aiming for 70 wins, with midseason records comparable to the 99-00 Lakers, 06-07 Mavericks, 05-06 Pistons, and 96-97 Bulls. But during the All-Star break, the Pacers traded Granger for Evan Turner and Lavoy Allen.

In terms of trade value, the Pacers struck gold. Turner was the second overall pick in 2010, played all 52 games before the All-Star break this season, averaging 17.5 points, 6 rebounds, and 3.7 assists per game. Lavoy Allen, a second-round pick in 2011, served as a backup power forward, averaging 18 minutes with 5 points, 5 rebounds, and 1.8 assists per game; he could hustle and had some playmaking ability.

As for Granger, he played only about 20 games before the All-Star break, averaging 8 points and 3 rebounds on 35% shooting. In terms of ability, he was even less valuable than Lavoy Allen, who was essentially a throw-in.

His only value was his expiring five-year, $55 million contract, which could help the 76ers fill their cap requirements, as they had only over $40 million in salary before acquiring Granger.

When the trade was freshly completed, the media and fans were lavishly praising the Big Bird, and then... the Pacers ended with a 56-26 record, going 15-15 in the latter part of the season, with their win rate even dropping to just 40% at one point.

After the collapse, people realized there were numerous internal problems within the Pacers. Lance Stephenson was causing trouble daily, making the locker room a mess, causing issues both on and off the court; Hibbert had the same issues as Howard, complaining about not getting the ball to score; the newly arrived Turner was unhappy with being a backup to Paul George, wanting a starter's position...

With Granger traded away, internal conflicts erupted, and new internal conflicts were brought in along with the trade!

Zhang Yang was quite regretful about this, as he hadn't faced the Pacers before their collapse, and it was unlikely he'd ever see that version of the Pacers again.

He remembered that the Big Bird also expressed regret over this trade in a documentary filmed when he retired in 2017.

The Big Bird mentioned that, at the time, he wasn't unaware that the team wasn't truly harmonious, but he thought that with veterans like David West and Luis Scola, they could manage it, but he overlooked that they only had playing experience, not enough real credentials to win the respect of those proud talents. Granger similarly had no substantial honors, but he was the one who 'raised' those young talents.

Though the Pacers collapsed, Zhang Yang was still very interested in this East Final. The only team in the East capable of defeating the Heat was the Pacers, and this marked the last glow of the standing-style rim-protecting center like Hibbert.

Zhang Yang remembered that the new president joked this summer about ushering in three big changes, first intending to reform the cylinder rule, purpose unknown... Nevertheless, it effectively turned Hibbert, the center who restricted James the most after Howard, into an average player.

After the next season, the once 'strongest rim protector' Hibbert was shopped around by the Big Bird during the 15 off-season, and the highest offer they received was a second-round pick.

However, the modification of the cylinder rule, besides eliminating big centers like Hibbert, had an unexpected 'side effect'—it benefited perimeter shooters, with the biggest beneficiary being Curry. The change in the cylinder rule helped Curry as much as the introduction of the NHC helped Nash.

In the evening, Zhang Yang, Nash, and Harden, who had run over to the guest team's training center to find Zhang Yang after Thunder Team training, all went out for dinner together.

Nash and Harden, both a little mischievous, always engaged in rather colorful conversations whenever they sat down together.

After dinner, Nash and Zhang Yang returned to the hotel, took the elevator to the floor reserved for the team, and as the elevator door opened, they saw Gasol leaning against the opposite wall playing on his phone.

Zhang Yang joked: "Paul, you wouldn't be afraid to go to Kobe's room alone, waiting for us to go together, right?"

"Yes, waiting for you guys. It's probably your first time watching a live broadcast with Kobe, right? You need to make some preparation. Here, some clothes for you, go back to your room and change first." Gasol said and lifted the two bags beside him in front of them.

Nash exclaimed: "Huh? Do we need to change clothes to watch a game?"

Zhang Yang, originally just joking, now looked even more puzzled and asked, "Yeah, are you seriously watching a game like this?"

Seeing their puzzled faces, Gasol hastily said, "Of course, seriously! Very seriously! Just too seriously..."

Zhang Yang took the bag Gasol handed over, opened it, and found a bunch of unopened jerseys, from both the Miami Heat and the Pacers, and from the looks of it, jerseys for all the players on both teams.

Nash saw the jerseys in the bag too, turned to Zhang Yang, and exchanged a look. They both saw the shock and... speechlessness in each other's eyes.

...

Zhang Yang, wearing Wade's No. 3 jersey, went to Kobe's room and found that he had actually switched to a suite with a large living room, a bar, an unusually giant TV that clearly wasn't standard hotel fare, and all kinds of things... It was almost like the fan clubs he had visited.

On the matter of ceremony, Zhang Yang felt that he couldn't match up to the god-level players no matter what. Jordan was infamous for his rituals, and Kobe seemed to be even more so!

Watching a game live probably cost enough for a person to fly to Indianapolis and watch the game live in the front row at the Conseco Fieldhouse!