NBA: Start by torturing Jordan and add points to upgrade

"Especially, in this year's regular season, Smith's 3-point shooting percentage was only 20%, and in the first round of the playoffs, he didn't make a single 4-pointer in 3 games! Such a player suddenly exploded in a game of this level tonight!"

"The Celtics lost because they didn't defend him well enough. But can you blame the Celtics for not defending well? Any normal person would definitely choose to let go of a few players at this time to strengthen the defense against Lin."

"Obviously, when Smith is on the court, he is the one who should be released! This is as it should be. 99% of the players and coaches would choose to release him."

"But he just managed to score. He made four consecutive long-range shots. I can only say that this is his fate and there is nothing we can do about it!"

Barkley said: "But the Knicks should also learn from their mistakes and think carefully about how they should change. It is obviously not okay to continue playing like this."

"Smith can't continue to be so accurate. This is not his normal performance. It's even a question whether he can make three three-pointers in the remaining games of this series. What the Knicks should consider is what they should do if Smith is not accurate in the next game."

"They can't always count on this kind of surprise player to save the team. To be honest: in the matchup between the two regular teams tonight, the Knicks lost!"

"Among the three most important players on the Knicks, Anthony's performance can barely get a 5. I'll give Stoudemire a maximum of 2 points. One of these 2 points is a reward for him for not playing in the fourth quarter but still cheering on his teammates with all his strength and not throwing a tantrum at all."

"Of course, Lin's performance still deserves 10 points, and his performance is still perfect! Even though his teammates didn't perform well, Lin still withstood the pressure and led the team to win the game!"

"Marbury had 13 points and 8 assists, Pierce had 19 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists, Duncan had 22 points and 17 rebounds, and Howard also had 11 points and 13 rebounds. The opponent's most important players all played in a very ideal and good state. They controlled the game, but lost to an accident."

"If any of Smith's shots hadn't gone in, tonight would have been a completely different situation, and the Celtics would have won."

"Let me put it this way: In the next game, it is the winning Knicks who need to make adjustments. They have to find a way to break the Celtics' iron defense. The Celtics don't need to make any adjustments. If they continue to play like this, the current situation in the series is in their favor!"

Kenny laughed and joked: "This is what they call, although you win, you actually lose. It seems like you lose, but you actually win, right Charles!"

The two commentators were making their final jokes on TV and making predictions for the next game. The lights in Madison Square Garden slowly dimmed and the players from both teams had left the court.

"Great job tonight! We played well! Losing an away game is not a problem at all! The important thing is that we played what we needed to play, we just lacked a little luck!"

"What if we could have made one of the last three 3-pointers? What if Smith missed one of those shots? The game would have been different immediately!"

Rivers waved his fist in the locker room and gave his speech passionately: "We can win! The rhythm is here! Now we should worry about those arrogant bastards of the Knicks! We just lost the first game, but we are in complete control of the game!"

"In the next game, let's give him a head-on blow! Okay? Well, that's it for tonight, everyone, let's refuel for the last time, then go take a shower, relax, and take a rest!"

After the Celtics shouted loudly, the team's morale was not low. Instead, everyone was full of confidence. Just as Barkley, Rivers and others said, they just lacked a little luck tonight.

It's really just bad luck, not some kind of far-fetched luck.

No one in the entire Celtics team believes that Smith can make 4 of 4 shots in the next game!

Even within the Knicks, no one believed this.

After the game, Smith attended the post-match press conference on behalf of the team for the first time in his career. After the press conference, his teammates prepared a small welcome and celebration ceremony for him in the locker room.

Although Stoudemire tried his best to be funny and liven up the atmosphere, everyone on the Knicks team was actually not at ease. They all knew that although they won the game tonight, they were quite passive.

Everyone is quite worried about the next game.

And their worry became a reality two days later.

In the second game at Madison Square Garden, the Celtics continued with their strategy from the first game. They blocked the inside, put their bodies on Anthony, deployed heavy troops in the inside to prevent Stoudemire from attacking the inside, and they also significantly strengthened their defense outside the three-point line.

In the middle distance, they choose to let go appropriately.

If you can kill me with a mid-range shot, I'll take it!
But three-pointers and baskets will never be given!
This is Thibodeau, not...

This is Rivers' strategy and the simple adjustment he made in Game 2.

As for the Knicks, Stoudemire simply couldn't put up any good performance against the Celtics' tall, strong and physically fit twin towers. His overly single-minded offensive style was still a little lacking in a game of this level.

In the second game, Stoudemire made 11 of 3 shots, and his score did not reach double digits for the second consecutive game!
Anthony, who scored 22 points in the last game by relying on his ferocity, offensive rebounds and constant fouls, has also lost his way.

Pierce, the old fox, took meticulous care of Anthony. He was like a poisonous snake that could never be shaken off, always sticking to Anthony, which made Anthony quite unhappy!
Anthony's playing style is elegant and beautiful, his movements are graceful and beautiful, whether it is shooting or breaking through, his posture is quite handsome! But the problem is that he is not physically strong enough now, and his offensive changes are not enough.

He needs space to set up for one-on-one play and needs to dribble to find a rhythm to shoot.

Now, facing the oily Pierce, he really has no way to deal with it.

Anthony was beaten back to his original form in this game. He made 15 of 5 shots, 3 of 3 three-pointers, and 0 of 5 free throws, scoring only 4 points. More importantly, in this game where the Celtics paid more attention to rebounding protection and positioning, Anthony couldn't grab the rebounds.

Without the rebounds, he couldn’t play to his advantage in the previous game.

Naturally, the performance was pretty bad.

As for Smith, who had an amazing performance in the last game, he returned to his proper level tonight. He was completely left alone by the Celtics again tonight, but compared to his perfect shot in the last game, his shot tonight was in vain!

He made 6 of 0 shots, missed a single one, and even missed all 3 shots.

When his teammates performed so badly and only Jackson and Wallace scored in double digits, Lin Tian was naturally overwhelmed on this night. Although he scored 41 points in the game, he only had 6 assists.

His passes were still in place, but his teammates couldn't make their shots!
6 assists is also Lin Tian’s lowest value in 80 regular season games and 6 playoff games this season!
This was the game with the fewest assists in his entire season, so it was completely understandable that the team lost because of it.

Another thing worth mentioning is that the Knicks won all the games in which Lin Tian had more than 20 assists this season! In the games in which he had 15-20 assists, the Knicks had a 91% winning rate. In the games in which he had 10-15 assists, the Knicks had a 60% winning rate. In the games in which he had less than 10 assists, the winning rate was only 23%.

Lin Tian’s number of assists is the barometer of the Knicks. The more assists he has, the smoother the team’s offense is. If he has fewer assists, it means that the team’s offense is frustrated and they can only rely on individual efforts to win the game.

For example, this evening, while Lin Tian gave his all and scored 41 points, the team only got 79 points!
They were defended more tightly tonight and scored fewer points, while the Celtics still had trouble putting the ball into the basket, but they still scored 83 points.

In the last two minutes of the game, the Celtics double-teamed Lin Tian.

They started to double-team from the backcourt, not giving Lin Tian any space to receive or dribble the ball, nor allowing him to organize an offense.

As for the others?
If you have the guts, come and kill us!
That's the Celtics' attitude.

Obviously, the Celtics were lucky tonight and they won the bet.

In the last two minutes, the Knicks only scored points by relying on Lin Tian's two crazy magic shots when facing double-teaming. In two minutes, only Lin Tian made two shots and scored 2 points, while everyone else was silent.

But obviously, 2 minutes and 4 points are not enough!

So they lost tonight!
The third game that followed was almost a replica of the second game.

The Knicks still couldn't make shots, they still couldn't find the feeling. Both the team's role players and core players were stuck in a vicious circle of constantly missing shots. Even Lin Tian was inaccurate in this game. He made 3 of 11 shots from beyond the three-point line, the worst game of his career.

尼克斯队在今晚总共只拿到了61分，林天更是33投12中，罚球8罚7中，只拿到了31分14篮板5助攻。

His assists were less than in the previous game, and fewer assists means that other people on the Knicks played worse.

That night, Lin Tian was the only player for the Knicks who scored in double digits. He alone scored half of the team's points, but was powerless to turn the tide. Apart from Lin Tian, ​​no one else could help the team. 61 points was the Knicks' lowest score this season. They played the most difficult game of the season!
This time, the Knicks' poor offense even made the Celtics' offense look good.

The Celtics scored 79 points tonight and they beat the Knicks by 18 points!
The series score is 2:1!

The Celtics officially began to gain the upper hand in the series. The next game 4 was still in Boston's North Shore Garden.

The Celtics finally got the upper hand and gained the home advantage, and they certainly would not let the chance of victory slip away.

This night, Rivers' chicken soup-style coaching reached its peak. He stood on the sidelines almost throughout the game. He was yelling throughout the game, and his roar could be heard throughout the entire stadium.

"Wood! Wood! Wood!"

"Come on! Come on!"

"Defend it! Hold on! Don't be afraid!"

"We can win! Hold on to this round!"

"Keep up! Keep up! Keep up!"

"Yes! You can!"

"Change! Change! We can change this ball!"

"Don't change! Don't change! Just follow your own!"

Rivers' shouts continued to ring out. Although Rivers hardly gave any effective suggestions and guidance, his passion infected the Celtics players and stimulated their fighting power to the maximum extent.

His mosquito-like buzzing voice also made the Knicks players very irritated.

With five minutes left in the game, when the Knicks were trailing by 5 points again, Anthony was a little emotionally broken.

Anthony only made 16 of 6 shots that night and scored 15 points. When he was running frontcourt, he heard Rivers yelling, so he stopped impatiently and yelled at Rivers who had almost rushed into the court.

"Are you fucking done yet! Can you shut up! You stupid, stupid nigger, why don't you just sit on the bench! Do you know that your voice sounds like your wife making a noise in bed with another nigger?"

Anthony became more and more excited as he spoke, and he actually took another step forward, with his head almost touching Rivers' forehead.

Then?

Then Anthony's head hit the referee's forehead first.

"Technical foul, get out!" The referee didn't waste time talking to Anthony. Anthony, who had already received a foul in the first half, was given another technical foul by the referee and was directly driven off the court.

Anthony should not be suspended for scolding the opposing head coach in front of the referee, but he will most likely be fined.

From this perspective, the referee may have saved Anthony.

If he had not stepped forward in advance to stop Anthony from taking further action, if Anthony really had a physical conflict with Rivers, it would not be as simple as being expelled tonight.

There is a high probability that he will be banned.

"pity."

Sitting in the VIP box, Auerbach watched the whole process with a cigar in his mouth and shook his head regretfully.

This damn referee, why can't he just watch the show for a while longer?

If Anthony can be suspended, the Celtics' chances of winning the next game will be even greater!
But it’s okay to just expel them like this, at least we’re safe tonight.

With a 3:1 advantage, it is almost impossible to be reversed in this series. In any case, from Auerbach's point of view, there are no variables in this series between the two sides.

Except for the Asian guy, maybe?
Auerbach watched the game for a few more minutes, then put out his cigar.

I'm not in the mood to smoke.

Even the old man began to sweat.

Anthony committed a technical foul, Pierce made the technical free throw, and then Howard dunked at the basket.

With less than 5 minutes left, the Celtics had a 13-point lead.

Then, the competition suddenly became Lin Tian’s show!
This guy first dribbled across the frontcourt and shot a 3-pointer, then he scored a back-to-back against Marbury in the low post and got another 2 points, and then he grabbed the rebound of a Celtics' missed shot and went all the way to the basket and scored 2 points!
……

In less than 4 minutes, Lin Tian made a breakthrough and shot from outside, including free throws, and scored 17 points in a row!
He also fouled Marbury out with 6 fouls.

The gap between the two sides was narrowed from 13 points to 3 points.

The game time has entered the last minute.

Scary, so scary.

At least Auerbach in the stands sat back in his chair, and the calmness and ease on his face temporarily disappeared.

Of course, the old man had seen countless big scenes, so he just felt a little bit weak and a little nervous about Lin Tian’s performance this time, but he was not really scared and at a loss.

In particular, in the following game, Duncan finally played his stabilizing role again, scoring 2 key points in a single play under the basket, widening the score difference to 5 points again, and then waited for Lin Tian's attack under the basket.

This time, he did not let Lin Tian score again, but blocked Lin Tian's key layup, and at the same time kept the team's hope of victory!
Then Pierce grabbed the basketball and Jackson quickly fouled, sending Pierce to the free throw line.

In the last 30 seconds, the Celtics led by 5 points and had two free throws.

The overall situation has been decided.

Auerbach breathed a sigh of relief. Duncan's block made the cold sweat on his back disappear a little.

"Boom!!"

Then, Pierce missed his first free throw, causing Auerbach's hands, which were about to reach for a lighter and cigar, to pause. The old man then cursed, lit the cigar, and sat back on his bench angrily.

This group of people really makes me worry!

Pierce's second free throw went in.

With a 6-point difference, the Knicks sent the ball from the baseline. Lin Tian took the basketball and advanced quickly, all the way to the three-point line of the Celtics. Then he pulled up directly, facing Davis in front of him and Marbury behind him, and forced a 3-point shot!

"Boom!!"

With the muffled sound and Duncan's grab of the rebound, followed by Lin Tian's missed desperate three-pointer, the suspense of the game finally ended.

Although Okur hugged Duncan and sent him to the free throw line, the game was completely over after Duncan made both free throws and Lin Tian rushed to the frontcourt again regardless of anything and missed a nearly desperate three-pointer.

The Celtics defended their home court and won an extremely hard-fought victory!
3: 1!

They got the match point and were leading the Knicks by a large margin! (End of this chapter)