king of defenders

Chapter 1271 The Most Anticipated Showdown ([-])
"beep"

The Heat requested a timeout.

Fortunately, there was not much time left in the first quarter. Coach Spoelstra replaced Meng Yun and Xiang Long with substitute players.

The Celtics also made personnel rotations.

Looking at the score again, the faces of the coaches of both sides are not very good-looking, but there are quite a lot of points.

By the end of the first quarter, the score was 37:36, and the Heat led by 1 point.

The scores of the two sides in this single quarter are already very high. This is also because the two sides did not have any defense for a period of time in the first quarter.

But in the future, both sides will not play like that again, because it is difficult to control, largely depends on the players' on-the-spot performance, the state of the game, and the game will be out of the control of the coach. This is a situation that neither coach wants to see.

So entering the second quarter, the lineups of both sides have changed again.

This time the Celtics head coach sent Daniel Theis, Morris, Brown, Hayward, and Rozier. Without Durant and Irving, the offensive end is indeed much inferior, but the positions are fairly balanced. On the defensive end, he performed very well.

The game was no longer an offense-to-offensive game like in the previous first quarter, but returned to the rhythm that the Eastern Conference Finals should have, with both sides based on defense.

For the Heat, Monroe finally got a chance to play.

Coach Spoelstra didn't let him play in the first quarter, but just let him feel it on the sidelines. By the way, he had enough time to adjust his mentality, and he didn't send Monroe until this time.

Although he is back, it is impossible for Monroe to return to the starting lineup, not only now, but it may not be possible to return to the starting lineup in the future, because Xiang Long's performance during this period is too good.

Xiang Long has become the team's "second man", and Monroe can only act as a substitute.

In addition to Monroe, the other four on the field are Salinger, Green, Johnson, and Lu Wei.

"boom!"

Monroe failed to score in post-up singles at the basket. He was a little depressed. After all, it was a long time in the battle. He couldn't feel it all at once. His hands felt cold and his rhythm was not very good. He hit the iron and made 3 of 0 shots, which made him feel a little ashamed.

The Celtics counterattacked, Rozier suddenly scored and passed to Hayward, Hayward made a feint after getting the ball, and did not deceive the defender, so he asked for a pick-and-roll, and used the pick-and-roll to throw off the defense. mid-range jumper hit
Four minutes passed in the second quarter in a blink of an eye.

Because Monroe is not in good condition, the Heat are playing a pure substitute lineup, mainly relying on Lu Wei on the offensive end, but the Celtics are much better, so the Celtics have the upper hand in the past few minutes. At the end of the quarter, they were still one point behind, and now they have turned into a 7-point lead.

Substitution!

The Heat asked for a substitution. Spoelstra waved to Xiang Long and Thomas Jr. and said, "Come on, you two, replace Monroe and Johnson. Xiang Long, you need to attack more. Thomas, you can make more breakthroughs, but you must Pay attention to the ball."

"Yes."

"Yeah." The two nodded.

Monroe walked off the field and high-fived his teammates, feeling a little depressed. Meng Yun smiled at him and said a few words of comfort, which made him feel better.

on the field.

Thomas Jr. broke through, and then distributed the ball out to Xiang Long.

Thomas Jr. got some opportunities this season, but due to injuries, his state has been unable to return to the level where he averaged 28 points per game in the Celtics, so even if he is on the bench, his position is not good. Especially at the front, playing time is limited.

Because of the change of role, Thomas Jr. had to adjust his game style. He used to mainly score, but now he has turned into three-point shooting and organizing offense.

Thomas Jr. is not tall, which is a disadvantage, but it is also an advantage to a certain extent. His low center of gravity makes him less likely to be intercepted by the opponent. This allows him to walk around the free throw line more easily, forcing the opponent to shrink their defense. Teammates behind the arc create space to shoot.

Swish!
Xiang Long made a three-pointer.

Seeing that Xiang Long came up and scored, the Celtics head coach couldn't help frowning. Of course he was most afraid of Meng Yun, but the second was Xiang Long, and Lu Wei would be ranked third.

But what he wants to restrict the most is Xiang Long.

Immediately, the head coach of the Celtics made a gesture towards the field, and the players on the field understood, and began to double-team Xiang Long, preventing Xiang Long from making easy moves.

At the same time, on the offensive end, the Celtics players attacked the inside line more, heading towards Xiang Long, trying to make Xiang Long's foul.

The Heat have three main scoring points, Meng Yun, Xiang Long, and Lu Wei. Meng Yun is unsolvable, and it is basically impossible to really limit him. Lu Wei is an old player with rich experience, and it is difficult to limit. Only Xiang Long It can be a breakthrough. After all, he is young, not as experienced as Lu Wei, and not as strong as Meng Yun in terms of strength.

So the Celtics head coach has long planned to focus on restricting Xiang Long.

This is not easy when Xiang Long and Meng Yun are on the court at the same time, because the main defensive experience is on Meng Yun, and Meng Yun and Xiang Long have a good understanding, but when Meng Yun is not there, only Xiang Long is on the court In fact, it is much easier to restrict Xianglong.

beep!
The whistle sounded, and the referee gave Xiang Long a foul.

"Huh?" Meng Yun raised his eyebrows, "This is aimed at Xiang Long."

Xiang Long narrowed his eyes, already aware of the clues, and then quickly made adjustments to minimize the possibility of being calculated by the opponent.

During this period of time, Xiang Long has made great progress, and some details that he did not pay attention to before have also been changed, such as fouls.

So now that they have seen the opponent's plan and are prepared, it will not be so easy for the Celtics to foul Xiang Long.

However, when Xiang Long held the ball, the Celtics immediately double-teamed, which still limited Xiang Long's offense.

Originally, Coach Spoelstra's purpose of letting Xiang Long play was to score, but now that Xiang Long is restricted, the goal cannot be achieved.

"The opponent should have calculated it long ago. On the one hand, they tried to make a foul for Xianglong, and on the other hand, they restricted his scoring by double-teaming." Coach Spoelstra thought to himself, "And they must have studied it and knew that when Xianglong It's not easy for Long and Meng Yun to limit him on the field, so he didn't target Xiang Long in the first quarter, and now Meng Yun didn't play, and started to double-team Xiang Long."

Thinking of this, Coach Spoelstra snorted coldly and looked at the time. Five minutes had passed in the second quarter, and it was almost time for a substitution.

Then he called a timeout, and when the players came down, he said, "Meng Yun, Whiteside, wait for the two of you to come on, and replace Sullinger and Thomas."

(End of this chapter)