Healthy basketball, starting from eating the old Lakers F4

On September 9, Game 18 of the Eastern Conference Finals kicked off.

The Bulls thought they would win the game easily tonight, but they got into trouble from the beginning.

After the humiliation of being eliminated by the Bulls last year, the Celtics have made upgrades in every position this season.

The starting point guard was changed from Smart to Holiday, and the starting center was upgraded from Daniel Theis to Jonas Valanciunas.

Judging from the configuration of the starting lineup, the Celtics are not as good as the Bulls, but they are not much different.

Especially the three core players of the Bulls, they all have people who can match up and defend and limit the players, unlike last season when they were beaten without any chance to fight back.

Of course, in tonight's game, the Bulls somewhat underestimated the Celtics.

After the start of the first quarter, the Bulls played too relaxed and were always behind in the score.

Taking advantage of the intermission, Tyronn Lue used the method he learned from Rivers to constantly motivate the Bulls players, and the Bulls players adjusted their mentality and game status in time.

However, not long after the second quarter began to catch up, the Celtics took the initiative to speed up, using frequent fast breaks and defensive counterattacks to consume the Bulls players' physical strength.

You know, there are many veterans in the Bulls.

Whether it is Duan in the starting lineup, or the main substitutes Anthony and Iguodala, and Jokic's two substitutes Howard and Noah, they are all aging veterans.

Of course, the game pace is too fast, and Jokic's slow movement speed will be quickly exposed.

Sometimes Jokic's defensive enthusiasm begins to decline due to excessive physical exhaustion caused by frequent back-and-forth running.

It has to be said that the Celtics did a deep study of the Bulls. This wave of running and gunning and defensive counterattacks directly hit the Bulls' weak spot.

Facing the Celtics' fast break tactics, the Bulls players gradually felt powerless, especially several veterans, whose physical strength began to decline rapidly.

Faced with such a dilemma, Bulls head coach Tyronn Lue did not sit idly by, but called a timeout in time and readjusted the lineup.

With Curry, Murray, Ohashi, Iguodala, and Howard, the Bulls put out a relatively small lineup to reduce the impact of the Celtics' sudden speed increase.

This lineup, except for its poor offense, is not bad at all in defense.

Apart from being a little short, Curry is very active in defense.

The Celtics played a short rotation of seven players tonight, so they continued to focus on their main players in the second quarter. However, with Holiday's one-on-one ability, he obviously couldn't easily break through Curry's defense.

It's not easy for the two top picks to mention Curry. Maybe Jaylen Brown still has some hope, but Tatum was a bit soft at the critical moment.

In short, the Bulls have Murray, Ohashi, Iguodala, and Howard deployed in all aspects of defense, protecting the wings and the basket firmly, and enhancing the protection of rebounds.

After the timeout, the Celtics' scoring momentum did slow down quickly.

On the other hand, the Bulls, relying on Curry's unbridled scoring, had a pretty good scoring effect.

However, Curry also consumed a lot of physical energy.

Even if Curry had historical-level cardiopulmonary capacity, it would be impossible for him to play the entire game in this way.

If the Bulls want to win the game tonight, someone must step up to help Curry share some of the scoring pressure.

“We have to have our own rhythm in the game, it’s not okay to keep going like this.

Their bench depth is not as good as ours. We need to increase the rotation of players and reduce the consumption of each player as much as possible.

The key is to protect Stephen. When the Celtics' two rookies get tired, we will replace Stephen.

Just leave the rest to me.”

Duane had a conversation with Tyronn Lue on the sidelines, saying that they couldn't always play at the Celtics' pace.

As a veteran, Duane knows very well that the Eastern Conference Finals is not a one-game decision, but a best-of-seven series.

Duane had no doubt that the Celtics would play in this mode and with this tactic throughout the Eastern Conference Finals.

After all, the Celtics' roster is much younger than the Bulls', and they have had no shortage of technology to enhance athletic ability and endurance over the years.

With favorable conditions from all sides, the young Celtics have the opportunity to wear the Bulls out by running like crazy.

“That’s right, we can’t run at their pace.

After a while, Duan, when you lead the team on the court, slow down the pace and play a positional battle.

As long as we can protect the rebounds, we can control the game.

As long as we can get the ball into the basket more confidently, we will have an advantage in tonight's game.

Next, we need to play our cooperation!

We are the team with rich championship experience and invincible! ”

While responding to Durant, Tyronn Lue cheered on other players on the bench and gave instructions on how to change their play.

Before long, the Celtics couldn't stand the constant running back and forth and had to replace the sweaty and panting Jaylen Brown.

Seeing this, Tyronn Lue immediately took Curry off the court and sent Durant and Jokic back to the court.

Tatum's ball-handling ability is better than Jaylen Brown, but dribbling and breaking through is not his first offensive option.

This is a bit like Anthony, but Tatum's offensive ability is far inferior to Anthony's in his peak period, so he can only rely on his touch at critical moments.

If you have a good feel, you will be successful in everything; if you don’t have a good feel, you can only sit and wait for death.

The Bulls saw that Jaylen Brown was off the court and the Celtics were not able to attack with Tatum alone, so they began to put pressure on Tatum.

As soon as Durant came on the court, he took the initiative to hold the ball and look for Tatum, but he was not in a hurry to shoot. Instead, he stood two steps outside the three-point line, allowing other teammates to move away and look for opportunities to play one-on-one.

Tatum is pretty good at one-on-one defense and his steps are not slow. Duane tried to change direction between his legs to shake off Tatum, but failed.

So he changed his offensive method, continued dribbling, shortened the offensive time, and forced Tatum to focus more on Durant's position and shooting timing.

However, with about seven seconds left on the shot clock, Jokic suddenly stepped forward to do a pick-and-roll.

Tatum was concentrating on staring at Durant the second before, so he naturally didn't know that Jokic would come forward at this time.

When Durant took a step forward to break through with the help of Jokic's screen, Tatum wanted to move sideways to catch up, but he bumped into Jokic instead.

At the same time, Duane took two steps at a time and went straight to the basket. Facing Valanciunas' block, he completed a layup.

"Basketball is a five-person sport. If you want to defend me, remember to be more careful next time!"

After Duane scored the ball, he did not forget to look back and stimulate Tatum.

As expected, the young and energetic Tatum immediately hurriedly took the ball and challenged Durant, wanting to return the favor.

After all, this is a good occasion and a good time.

Duane is no longer in his prime and his defensive deterrence is not as strong.

But Duane is still the No. 1 player in league history and still the second-in-command of the Bulls that season.

The success of the head-on singles against Dunn is still very valuable.

If the reporter had taken a better picture, it might have become a world-famous painting. To become famous early, Tatum wanted to become famous early, become the new face of the NBA, and enjoy the praise of millions of fans.

By the way, in the first quarter, Tatum also scored two goals under Durant's tight defense.

Therefore, Tatum is still very confident at this moment.

Tatum imagined being able to beat Durant head-on and make the next shot.

To put it another way, even if the shot is not made, by stacking the shots, with three or five shots, you can probably make one.

Anyway, the Celtics were still leading, and the rest of the team couldn't handle the ball.

Jaylen Brown is not on the court at this time, so even if Tatum is not good at one-on-one play against Durant, it is in line with the team's tactical needs and the team's style of play.

Normally this is true, but things don't turn out as Tatum imagined.

As soon as Tatum got the ball, Duane went straight to him, exerting pressure and engaging in some physical confrontation.

The referee didn't blow the whistle, so Dunn took the next step.

Anyway, Tatum has never played under the handcheck rule, so it will be difficult for him to adapt to Durant's current level of defense.

In addition, Tatum's breakthrough was not strong enough, especially his explosive power was a little lacking, so he was unable to pass Durant in one step.

Therefore, Duan had no pressure.

As long as you find the right time for Tatum to shoot, the rest is up to Tatum to choose.

Perhaps it was the youthful spirit that led Tatum to choose to force his way up and play one-on-one against Durant.

As a result, due to the interference of Duane's hand, he missed all three shots.

Jokic protected the rebound under the basket, and the Bulls had no chance to counterattack. Instead, they continued to pass the ball to Duane, slowly slowing down the pace of the game.

Seeing Duane appear in front of him with the ball again, Tatum's eyes became more serious.

In Tatum's eyes, Duane was dribbling the basketball slowly and time passed very slowly, but Duane's movements were not slow at all.

Duane kept dribbling to find opportunities, and Tatum's body had to adjust accordingly to make better defensive responses.

At the same time, Tatum also has to observe the situation around him out of the corner of his eye.

This is to prevent the situation like in the last round, where the player was too focused on defending Durant and failed to notice Jokic coming forward to provide screen.

As a result, Duane easily got to the basket and scored.

"I'm coming!"

This time Tatum noticed Jokic in advance.

But the problem is that Durant and Jokic have played against each other for so many years and have a very good understanding of each other.

It's obvious that Duane's speed is not fast, but Tatum can't keep up with him and can't get forward to set screen as soon as Jokic arrives.

It can only be said that muscle gain has its pros and cons. Tatum's muscles prevent him from being fast, and at the same time, his body is too big, so he can't squeeze into the screen like a smaller guard.

Therefore, Tatum could only take a step back to bypass the screen, then get stuck in Duane's breakthrough path, and then launch a new round of defense on Duane.

Then Duane has shooting ability, and his shooting ability is still relatively good.

With the help of Jokic's high-quality screen, Durant got rid of Tatum and took a long two-point shot.

Tatum saw the basketball flying into the sky, so he jumped up quickly to block it.

However, no matter how long Tatum's wingspan is, it is not as abnormal as that of Wentz, who can jump from a distance of two meters and intercept the ball that has been thrown by others.

brush--

The capping is invalid!

Duane successfully singled out Tatum for two consecutive rounds, helping the Bulls to recover the 4-point difference in one go.

Jaylen Brown, who had just returned to the sidelines and hadn't even sat down yet, had a serious look on his face.

However, the Celtics still have some advantages, and Tatum, as the leader of the Celtics, can not only attack, but also do many things on the court.

Just because they can't defend the experienced Durant doesn't mean they can't limit the scoring of other Bulls players through help defense.

What's more, Tatum can also pass the ball to assist his teammates in scoring and protect rebounds.

It is worth mentioning that Tatum has very good physical fitness and is very durable.

Even if Tatum plays on the court for a long time, his condition will not deteriorate seriously due to exhaustion.

In other words, even if Tatum cannot contribute points stably on the court, considering his other abilities, he is much better than coming on as a substitute.

But the problem is that after Durant and Jokic came on the court, the Bulls started to gain momentum.

At this stage, if the Celtics want to continue to maintain their advantage, someone must step up and score.

Tatum did not act on impulse. Facing Durant's strong defense, Tatum knew it would not be easy to solve. If he forced a shot, his shooting percentage would drop significantly.

So Tatum changed his offensive strategy, trying to pass the ball to his teammates, attracting Durant's defense on the side, and creating better scoring opportunities for other teammates.

After Durant and Jokic came on the court, the Bulls' defensive quality declined a little throughout the day, especially under the basket.

After all, Jokic's ability is not mainly defensive.

At this time, the Celtics stepped up their attack on the basket, especially Duane, who was pulled to the three-point line by Tatum and had no way to assist in defense under the basket. The Bulls were indeed likely to lose the restricted area.

However, the Celtics have a problem at the moment. Jaylen Brown is resting on the sidelines and Tatum has given up the top of the arc. Who will hold the ball on the outside at this time?
Of course only Holiday!
Holiday's ability to attack with the ball is not bad, but because of his limited physical talent, his explosiveness is not strong enough, and his first step is not fast enough, it is difficult for him to break through the outside defenders.

As for his finishing ability at the basket, he is just at the level of an average guard and there is nothing commendable about him.

Previously, Holiday was able to become an All-Star substitute because the league's coaches valued his defense and organizational skills.

All in all, Holiday is a well-rounded guard who can be a good piece of the championship puzzle, but he is somewhat unqualified as a main attacker.

Now that Tatum has handed over the ball, it would be best if Jaylen Brown was on the court.

But when the ball was handed to Holiday, there was only the sound of "duangduang" (missed shots).

Since the Bulls have a bigger lineup, they have no problem protecting the defensive rebounds.

After getting the defensive rebound, he was not in a hurry to launch a counterattack. Instead, he slowly slowed down the pace of the game. After halftime, he singled out Tatum and continued to put pressure on Tatum and other Celtics players on the court.

Duane was not successful in every single shot, but less than 2 minutes after Jaylen Brown came off the court, he helped the Bulls recover 6 points.

The Celtics were already in a scoring drought and had to call a timeout to adjust.

After the timeout, Jaylen Brown, who was called upon to play in an emergency, returned to the court again.

The Bulls also sent out Curry, using a small lineup to fight the Celtics again. (End of this chapter)