Legendary star

Chapter 50 The North Shore Gardens (1)

"Pitino's performance is too bad. Under his leadership, the Celtics can't see the hope of revival. Instead, they will slip into the bottomless abyss." The Celtics trailed the Spurs by as much as 3 points. Compared with Popovich, Pitino's on-the-spot command was simply powerless to complain. The Celtics were disorganized on the offensive end and had no tactics at all. They relied entirely on Anthony Walker A solo single with Paul Pierce.On the defensive end, not only can't guard Tim Duncan, but there is also a lack of countermeasures for the Spurs' big and four small tactics with Duncan as the core.

"Pitino has been coaching the team for the past few years, blindly choosing outside players. The team's inside lacks enough depth. Facts have proved that a group of outside players cannot succeed. Even Jordan has Grant and Rodman. Star inside." When the Celtics were behind the Spurs by a big score and there was no hope of moving back to the score, the Celtics stars in the commentary, Bob Cousy and Tom Heinsohn were also live on TV On the Internet, he began to ruthlessly criticize Pitino, and incidentally also criticized Anthony Walker, who performed poorly in this game.

Anthony Walker struggled very much in this game. He played small forward in the first quarter and the first half of the second quarter. Facing Meng Xu's stalking, he couldn't make a breakthrough and couldn't shoot accurately.After being pushed to the bench by Pitino and reflecting for a few minutes, he re-entered the field and returned to the position of power forward, but after being blocked by Tim Duncan twice in a row, he did not play inside and kept floating outside.

Tim Duncan and Anthony Walker were a pair of enemies when they were in college. The games between the two are often full of sparks. Anthony Walker's mouth is relatively broken. He once greeted Duncan's mother during the game, so every time Duncan met Anthony Walker They were all very exciting. After Anthony Walker played power forward, Duncan took the initiative to switch positions with Samaki Walker and directly faced Anthony Walker.

And Meng Xu's game was as reasonable as ever, even a little conservative. While defending Anthony Walker and Paul Pierce with all his strength, Meng Xu also kept passing the ball to his teammates in order to overwhelm Anthony Walker in various statistics. Especially Tim Duncan, who has a very high hit rate.He fought desperately for every rebound. With Anthony Walker floating on the outside and not going in, at the end of the 3rd quarter, Meng Xu surpassed Anthony Walker in the 3 statistics of assists, rebounds and steals.In terms of scoring, Meng Xu made 3 of 6 shots in the 3 quarters and 1 of 0 free throw. Among them, he made 3 of 5 2-pointers and scored 8 points.Although Anthony's shooting percentage was low, only 15 of 6 shots, but relying on 5 free throws, he still scored 18 points.

"Meng, how is your physical strength?" Due to the big lead, Popovich plans to replace the main lineup in the fourth quarter and try some new tactics again.

"My physical strength is still very strong." Although he was panting heavily and sweat was dripping from his forehead, Meng Xu still hoped to continue playing.

Whether it is Pitino or the Celtics players, they all very much hope to win this game. After learning that the Cardinal and all the celebrities watched the game live, the Celtics players are also holding back. With a sigh of relief, he wanted to prove himself in front of the cardinal.And Pitino also urgently needs a victory to prove himself. This year is Pitino's third season coaching the Celtics, but Pitino has been unable to make a breakthrough in performance. The darkest hour in the history of the Alts.

Although I was personally appointed by the Cardinal, and although I am currently in charge of the Celtics alone, I have been questioned by the Celtics fans because of my poor grades, and even some extreme fans have shouted Let yourself be called out of class.Those Celtics celebrities are also constantly blaming and slandering. If there is no way to make a breakthrough in performance this year, then he can only leave in disgrace. As a famous NCAA coach, Pitino is not reconciled to this Go back, and this game has become my life-saving straw. As long as I can defeat the defending champion, I will have a chance to breathe and regain the trust of the fans.

So in the fourth quarter of this game, even though he was already behind by a big score, Pitino still kept the main lineup on the court.

After the start of the fourth quarter, the Spurs put on a bench lineup full of small men. After playing for 3 minutes, the effect was not very good. After Duncan went off the field, Anthony Walker also faced the Spurs' backup power forward. He played well, and in just 3 minutes, he made 5 of 3 shots and scored 6 points.Under the leadership of Anthony Walker and Paul Pierce, the Celtics also played a 12-5 spurt, pulling the score to 78-85.
Seeing that the point difference fell back to within 10 points, Popovich immediately called a timeout and adjusted the lineup on the field. He replaced Jeremy Kersi with Meng Xu and replaced Mario Eli with Without Antonio Daniels, Tim Duncan is still sitting on the bench, waiting for the final moments of the game.

After the game restarted, Popovich pushed Meng Xu to the core of the tactics and sent Mario Elli to escort him.

"It's finally time for me to perform." Meng Xu slapped the basketball between the center circle and the 3-point line, trying to calm down his mood.

In the first 3 quarters of the game, due to David Robinson's truce, Meng Xu also grabbed the second most 8 rebounds in the team, and sent 6 assists at the same time, in addition to 3 steals and 1 block.

Just when Meng Xu held the ball and was two steps away from the 3-point line, Paul Pierce stepped forward decisively. After making a screen with Mario Elli, Meng Xu, who moved laterally, threw away Paul Pierce. , the unguarded Meng Xu made a direct shot from half a step outside the 3-point line.After the big heart skill takes effect, not only does the attribute point increase, Meng Xu's shots will be more decisive, and the frequency of shots will be slightly different from the previous 3 quarters.

After hitting the 3-pointer, Meng Xu retreated to the backcourt expressionlessly, but he was thinking in his heart that he needed to make a few 3-pointers to surpass Anthony Pierce in scoring.

Popovich and Pitino on the sidelines are in completely different moods at the moment. Meng Xu's selfless performance in the first three quarters has disappeared in the fourth quarter of the game. His desire to shoot is very strong, and only the basket is in his eyes. The basket even made Popovich doubt whether the Meng Xu on the field is the same person as the one in the previous 3 quarters.

(End of this chapter)