When pride still matters

Chapter 415 He is back
If, in the first game of the Finals, the Celtics acted like they were new to the game because they had too many Finals debutants in the team, and everything seemed so immature and rusty, then Paul Pierce clumsily imitated Willie. S. Reed's "comeback" moment is like an educational film about connecting people and allowing the less experienced to grow.

They're starting to get used to the finals.

So came the second game of the series.

The Celtics played like their regular season selves.

They have a strong inside line, top-notch wings and inside lines, and the depth of the lineup that surpasses the Sonics gives Doc Rivers, who likes to make mistakes and is slow to react, the greatest error tolerance.

In the whole game, the Celtics' shooting percentage was as high as 54%, the rebound ratio was 41 to 30, and the free throw ratio was 33 to 21.

Seattle lagged in every key metric.

Yu Fei scored 36 points, but could not change the outcome of the away game losing streak.

The most impressive thing remains the live atmosphere at North Shore Gardens.

Generally speaking, Yu Fei can see many of his fans in away games.

But in Boston, such people are few and far between.

But look at Boston. The problems they face in life are still unsolvable. No one can change the weather, no one can solve the traffic problems, and no one can make the old infrastructure look new. But when sports teams start winning By the time the ball hit, they felt City had recovered.

Moreover, their current situations are all similar.

In the days since they returned to Seattle, the SuperSonics coaching staff has been studying the Celtics.

With a good team, a good management, an owner willing to spend money, and passionate fans, Boston Sports has become a temple in America, and if you want to succeed, you have to learn from them.

The Celtics announced a rule after the playoffs started: If you wear an away team jersey or support the opposing team at the game, you will be suspended from the Garden for one year. Even if you are a season ticket holder, you will lose your season ticket next season.

Sports are often given a higher meaning in the United States, which Yu Fei could not understand when he was in Milwaukee.

It sounds like this violates the "freedom" of American society. But just such a politically incorrect rule is legal in Boston and no one thinks there's a problem.

Because Yu Fei's fan base is already the most powerful in the basketball world. No matter where he plays, there are hundreds of fans who come to support him.

This night, the Celtics once again defended their home court, defeating the SuperSonics 103-88 and taking a 2-0 lead.

Tom Brady, Bobby Orr, Curt Schilling, and John Havlicek represent Boston heroes of today and ghosts of the past, a phenomenon unique to the city that doesn’t belong to the same league. The frequency of interaction between sports clubs is very high.

They have a complete lineup, and if they encounter any problems, they can provide solutions as soon as possible based on the lineup.

The Patriots have become the Yankees of the NFL, the Red Sox have broken the curse, the Celtics are exorcising the shadows of the past, and they are all in their prime.

After the game, avid "sports guy" Bill Simmons wrote excitedly in his column: "Once upon a time, Boston was a pretty easy place to understand. Things never change, and more importantly, we like things never to change. . Life revolves around weather changes (often brutal), sports teams (often disappointing) and those occasional beautiful days of sunshine in April or October that we face year after year. Infrastructure, parking issues, and sports failures, that's who we are. But the resurgence of the Celtics, Red Sox, and Patriots is a reflection of what's happening in Boston as a whole. Simply put, the city I left in 2002 has been. No longer exists."

As a result, the Garden was filled with fans wearing green or white T-shirts, taking the atmosphere to new heights. Then there are the sports stars who are famous in Boston, both active and retired, and cover several other leagues.

The Celtics' greatest strength is balance.

As a dominant team in the regular season, the Celtics don't have as great an offense as those dominant teams in the past.

However, if it is too comprehensive, it will encounter the problem of being comprehensive but not precise.

The only thing the Celtics are good at is defense.

Is this because Bostonians are generally more loyal? No, that's not the case.

George Karl believes that they are strong, but how strong? Where do they rank among the various opponents they have met before? Are they better than the 2006 Mavericks? Are they better than the 2007 Spurs? No, looking at the past opponents in the finals, the Celtics are not obviously better than them.

The Celtics' offense is not great. They often lose power and need to rely on defense to make up for the shortcomings.

There seems to be nothing wrong with this.

This is what Karl thought before meeting Yu Fei.

Defense is something that will never betray you.

But after achieving success with Carnival Basketball in Milwaukee with Yu Fei, Karl's perspective has changed.

His thinking now is that defense is important, but if you don't have a great offense, you're not a dominant team.

This is exactly what the Celtics' playoff journey has been like so far.

Even the defense they trust must be supported by the home court in order to maximize its performance.

"Frye," Carr said before Game 3, "it's time to be yourself."

Yu Fei had a look of confusion on his face, "It turns out that I'm not myself after averaging 40 points per game in the finals." "How to do it?"

"Play like you did in Milwaukee."

Does this mean that Channing Frye will temporarily replace Brown's starting lineup?

Yu Fei guessed correctly.

Karl doesn't have enough confidence in the existing system - or in other words, he doesn't have enough confidence in whether the young players in the team can shoulder their responsibilities, allowing Yu Fei to safely serve as the ace at the third position.

What's the advantage of big core play? It makes everything simple.

Frye only knows three-pointers? Then you specialize in shooting three-pointers. It's like a caste system. You will only do this thing forever and you are only qualified to do this thing.

In the short term, this can make the best use of everything, but in the long term it will harm the player's development potential.

This is the reason why Yu Fei is determined to transform.

But now it's another story. Young people can't bear such a big responsibility. Yu Fei must step forward and disrupt the Celtics' arrangement through drastic changes in formation.

Moreover, the SuperSonics returning home will undoubtedly benefit from the penalty scale. Therefore, around Yu Fei as the absolute core, Roy serves as a flank attacker, which is like the Bucks in previous years. It's just that Roy's maturity was higher than Martin at the time.

Yu Fei had no objection.

The Sonics simply practiced playing around their big core.

The process is not complicated.

Yu Fei is even more familiar with the road.

Then, the third game day of the finals.

Unlike North Shore Garden, Key Arena does not object to visiting team fans coming to watch the game, and there are even visiting team fans in the front row seats.

For example, Bill Simmons came all the way to Seattle and got front row tickets through connections.

What's the reason? He said he didn't want to miss Celtic's win on the road.

It's a good joke because the Celtics haven't won a game on the road in the playoffs so far.

"Let's win the championship, Frye. The Sonics are here anyway, and you've accomplished your goal." Simmons teased Yu Fei in the front row, "We can't be too greedy, can we?"

Yu Fei sarcastically said: "Celtics fans who have 16 championships in team history actually think that the Sonics are greedy in wanting to win the second championship in team history? Don't you think it's because there are too many people like you? So it will take the Celtics more than ten years to pay off the debt?”

"That's enough, Frye, you are no match for us!"

"Are these words qualified for a fan of a team that has never won an away game?" Yu Fei said, "Tonight I will show you your true colors!"

What Yu Fei said was true. Returning to the core position, he firmly controlled the situation from the beginning of the game.

The SuperSonics scored 33 points in the first quarter, and Yu Fei alone accounted for 19 points.

The pig-headed coach opened his eyes wide. What kind of play is this? It’s not on the scouting report!

When the Celtics trailed by 20 points at halftime, Rivers and his coaching staff confirmed that Yu Fei had regained the playing style of the Bucks.

However, the situation is irreversible.

The most important reason why the 08 Green Army will never be associated with the word dominance is their ugly appearance on the road.

When their three-point ax failed, Rivers' ability to adjust was insufficient. Many of his timeouts were filled with chicken soup and then left to the players to fight on their own.

Of course there is nothing wrong with fighting, but in an away game, will the referee let you fight in your own way?
As a result, the routines failed, there were no countermeasures, and the team couldn't fight hard. Coupled with the classic formulaic substitutions, the score difference became wider and wider, and a defeat was inevitable.

Yu Fei seemed to have gone back in time, the team won, and he scored an astonishing triple-double.

Tonight, he scored 45 points, 15 rebounds and 13 assists.

"Fry Yu, the most attractive guy ever!" said Doug Collins. "He's back!"

Then, Yu Fei said something after the game that made people in Seattle excited and made people in Boston angry and restless: "The finals are very simple. We only need to win one game away from home to win the championship."

"You have two more home games in the future. Can you really win them all?"

Yu Fei laughed jokingly: "You shouldn't ask me this question. You should ask that team that hasn't won away games so far to see how much they want to be the first team in history to win away games. champion."

(End of this chapter)