Chapter 520
The Celtics are in a little ecstasy right now.
Seeing to be surpassed by the Bucks, the last few games were very difficult.
The Celtics are in a bad year. Last year they got 49 wins and 33 losses and made it to the second round. This year, they are hoping to bring in big money. The annual salary is higher than that of Antawn Walker and the newly renewed Pierce. Wen Baker and traded Rodney Rogers for Tony Delk, a high-quality point guard.
But unexpectedly, when Wen Baker came to the Celtics, he didn't even know his mother.
Although Wen Baker's state has collapsed after the lockout, he is still at the NBA starting level. Last season he played the worst performance of his career so far last season, but at least he has an average of 14+6 per game. Fatty can be a big killer inside, and his singles hit rate is about 45%.
But this year, Wen Baker collapsed to an average of 5+3 per game, and he was out of breath after playing for 10 minutes.
In addition, Antoine Walker also has a problem. Similar to the contract of Madman, the contract can be renewed in advance after the end of the first four years. Therefore, Antoine Walker has been moving towards the renewal of the contract. Throw the ball with the ball, 38% of the field goal percentage and 31% of the three-point shooting percentage, and the average of 20 points per game and 2.5 three-pointers per game are tied for second in the league with Tracy McGrady. Simply insane.
Of course, since the Celtics don't have a better scorer than Pierce, and Antoine Walker has 7 rebounds and 4.5 assists this year, it's acceptable.
But this record is much worse than last season.
But at least it lasted until now, the playoff seats have been determined, it depends on the ranking.
The Bucks are chasing after them. No one wants to meet the Nets in the first round of the playoffs, but the last four games of the Celtics are against the Eagles, Knicks, Raptors, and 76ers. Except for the Raptors, the other three games are difficult to play, while the Bucks are much more lucky. Although they also have to play against opponents like the Pacers and Pistons, the other two games are the Cavaliers and the Bulls.
In this way, the 43-win Celtics are likely to be tied by the 42-win Bucks, and the Celtics and the Bucks have a record of 1 win and 2 losses against each other. Therefore, it was overtaken.
However, who would have imagined that the Eagles, who performed well from January to March and had the strongest record in the Eastern Conference since 2003, actually did things on a whim. It seems that as long as they make it to the playoffs, they are not interested in rankings at all. .
The Celtics players never dreamed that the Eagles themselves played some weird tricks at the last moment, even the Cavaliers lost, and the offense was a mess.
For the Celtics, this can undoubtedly be regarded as a timely help! It can be described as bright and dark.
...
Boston, one of the world's famous education centers, Harvard, MIT and other famous universities are in Boston, so there are many Chinese and Asian students, overseas Chinese, and Asians. The gangster alliance also has sub-helms here. Most Asians and Asians in countries with serious skin color problems like the United States will choose to hug together to keep warm. Except for island countries, no matter which country the islanders go to, they play their own games. Consciously superior to others, after all, he is the number one younger brother of the Americans.
The Celtics fans were very worried about being overtaken by the Bucks, so they wanted to win the remaining four games. When the Eagles entered the field, the audience booed everywhere, but in Boston's fanatical and unanimous basketball atmosphere , Hundreds of fans behind the technical stage seemed to be a clear stream, cheering loudly for the Eagles.
The Eagles only come to Boston twice a year. Even if you add the Rockets, Lakers, and Spurs, there are only five games a year. Asian players come to Boston to play games. Like Wang Zhizhi and Battelle, it is difficult to be regarded as a star. So this season, Liu Mang is already very famous, and Yao Ming is the No. 1 pick. When they came to Boston to play, it was a carnival for the local Asian fans.
The fans are always the cutest. Because the Eagles are not in good shape recently, Liu Mang’s fans in Boston are all worried about the Eagles. The Eagles came to Boston. They took the risk of being beaten and got to the technical platform together. The tickets at the back cheered for the Eagles with nearly 20,000 local fans around.
When Liu Mang entered the field, he expected the Celtics fans to target them, but he didn't expect there to be so many of his own fans. Not to mention, he was really touched!
Liu Mang pulled Jason Terry to the front of the technical stage, and waved to the fans like a big star, as if this was not the game scene, but his fan meeting...
Jason Terry seems to have dug a hole to get in, this is the home court of his team! Our team is already like this, and even ran to provoke.
Seeing Liu Mang coming to greet his group, the fans became even more excited and cheered loudly.
But the fans at the scene quit, hey, this is the home court of our Celtics!
And you have such a bad record recently, 1 win and 3 losses, and you still have the mood to interact with fans?
Celtics fans have a strong feeling of being underestimated. They are sixth in the Eastern Conference, while the Eagles are only eighth in the Eastern Conference! The Celtics fans were very annoyed when they saw Liu Mang interacting with the fans, and immediately booed to cover up the cheers of the hundreds of Eagles fans.
Liu Mang "cut", these Boston fans are so unlovable, fuck their team to death!
When the starters of the home team Celtics entered the field later, they just saw Liu Mang interacting with the fans. Pierce still had the expression of rejecting people thousands of miles away, and Antoine Walker smiled. non-stop.
"Ace is really interesting, and we also went to say hello to the fans." Antoine Walker ran out with Pierce with a cold face.
Pierce is so helpless, what a joke! They shoot 2.4 three-pointers per game, and you have to shoot 2.5 three-pointers per game, but they average 5.9 three-pointers per game, and you average 8 three-pointers per game. They make 48% of their shots Hit rate, you are 38%, the good ones don't follow the bad ones...
...
"Jason, don't worry, all of us will support you, you don't need to be pressured, just play out your tactics, don't worry about the pressure of the game, our position in the playoffs is very stable..."
The game is about to start, and Coach Kruger still decided to try again in this game. This kind of thing is hard to say, in case he gets the hang of it all at once, sometimes there will be the kind of running-in for 82 games in a season It’s impossible, but wouldn’t it be right if you get the hang of it?
After finishing the pre-match mobilization and seeing the starting players go to the field to do the opening moves, coach Kruger returned to the bench and sat down.
"Lang, isn't it too risky for us to continue trying like this?" Mike Woodson felt that the previous style of play was pretty good. He is a defensive-oriented coach. But now the offense is not as good as the original, and the defense is useless. Even if the opponent is limited to less than 95 points per game, what is the use if you can't get 90 points?
"Last time! If you don't succeed today, put it to next season and adjust it when you play the Pacers in the next game." Coach Kruger is also under a lot of pressure. It is a playmaker on the inside and outside. There are very few teams with this kind of two-guard playmaker. He is under a lot of pressure in this attempt. If it succeeds, the team will become more difficult to defend. If it affects the original team Tactical cohesion is not worth the candle.
Therefore, for coach Kruger, if this game is not successful, the plan can only be shelved temporarily.
The two teams came to the field as starters. Antoine Walker warmly greeted the Eagles players. Liu Mang looked at Antoine Walker, who was getting fatter and fatter, and smiled so brightly. Then he looked at Pierce, with a smile on his face. Frost, Gemini is really not the same at all.
Eagles' starting lineup: Liu Mang, Prince, Rahim, Mohamed, Ratliff.
Celtics starters: Tony Delk, Pierce, Eric Williams, Antoine Walker, Tony Batty.
Delk played for the Celtics in the second half of last season, but was given up due to poor performance. Later, he signed a one-year contract of 2 million yuan with the Nets. Who knew it exploded. This year, 39.5% He averaged 1.8 three-pointers per game, and was traded back by the Celtics with Rodney Rogers.
Eric Williams was a rookie in 1995. At the end of his rookie year, he was one of the three forwards with the most potential along with Rasheed Wallace and Garnett. All of them are highly rated, second only to the best rookie, Momonga. The data of the three rookie seasons is almost the same. In the second grade, they also improved at the same time, and became a quasi-first-class insider with an average of 15+7 per game. His explosive power can only be reduced to a role player now, which is really embarrassing. Before the third-year season was reimbursed, he averaged 19 points per game, which was better than Garnett and Rasheed Wallace at the time.
Batty, who had a bitter and grievous face, looked even more miserable when he saw Ratliff, whose arm was a circle thicker than his own. As Duncan's No. On the contrary, the dominance he had in college was too weak.
The referee blows the whistle to start the game and throws the ball into the air.
Ratliff likes to ravage this kind of soft inside, let out a strange cry before the ball reaches the highest point, jump up, and push the ball back.
Batty glanced at the referee with an aggrieved expression, but the referee ignored it. Fortunately, the Celtics have strict defensive discipline, and Batty quickly returned to defense when Pierce shouted.
Liu Mang received the ball and pushed forward quickly, but Pierce had already defended in place, and Eric Williams, a tenacious small forward, was one step outside the free throw line and was ready to double-team at any time. Seeing that his teammates were not in the position to respond, Liu Mang Mang slowed down and waited for his teammates to take their positions to fight positional warfare.
After Ratliff and Muhammad entered the inside line, the Eagles did not pause, and the tactics ran immediately.
It was Pierce who defended Liu Mang. Delk was short of height and couldn't jump up, so he couldn't guard Liu Mang, so Pierce defended him.
Liu Mang took a step forward with his right foot, but Pierce didn't move. Seeing this, Liu Mang followed the step and accelerated!
It is too straightforward and hasty to say speed up! Pierce hurriedly moved to the rear left, but was a bit slower. Muhammad, who was run out of the pick-and-roll, got stuck in the position first, and Pierce and Muhammad collided! Muhammad gripped Pierce's jersey tightly.
Liu Mang took a step back and shot a three-pointer! Antoine Walker, who followed Muhammad's defense, was unexpectedly fast. He rushed forward and caused a lot of interference to Liu Mang. Liu Mang leaned back a little, and the angle of his shot was crooked!
"Rebound!" Liu Mang yelled when he felt that the shot was missed.
The two people under the basket immediately... Not at all fiercely stuck, Ratliff pressed Batty to press the ball into the basket.
Ratliff didn't expect that one day he would be able to play O'Neal's posture, and ran back excitedly after dunking.
Coach Jim O'Brien asked Vin Baker to prepare to play quickly, and the inside tonnage was insufficient.
The offense and defense switched, the Celtics attacked, and Delk pushed forward with the rhythm.
After advancing to the frontcourt, Delk handed the ball to Eric Williams, and Eric Williams responded with the top arc.
This year's Celtics have become a three-point team, playing a very different offense from last season. Except for Barty, the other four starters have an average three-point shooting percentage of 35%. Averaged 7.1 three-pointers per game, and the entire Celtics averaged 8.8 three-pointers per game. After Delk traded back, the Celtics played to the end of the season and ranked second in the league in average three-pointers per game! Second only to the Dallas Mavericks' 8.9 three-pointers, it's nearly one more than the Hawks' average of 7.9 three-pointers per game.
Eric Williams held the ball in the top arc, and everyone else was running in the pick-and-roll. After running for a long time, it didn't have a good effect. The Celtics' offense has always been a big problem. It seems that there are many scorers, but There are not many stable scorers, but the defense is good. The average conceded points per game is 93.4 points, and the average points per game is only 92.7 points. He runs very vigorously, but he doesn't get rid of the defense. There is only one point where he has a chance. He is... Antoine Walker!
With four seconds left in the press, Eric Williams threw the ball to Antoine Walker who came to a 45-degree angle on the right, and Antoine Walker caught the ball and shot!
It's true that Antoine Walker is quite difficult to guard against. He hit everyone in the wrong position. Muhammad didn't keep up. Antoine Walker caught the ball and made a three-pointer.
After Liu Mang broke through, Raheem gave Prince an off-ball pick-and-roll, and Prince received a pass from Liu Mang for a three-pointer and returned the favor.
Antoine Walker is a standard player who starts like a tiger. He scored 7 points in a row after the game started.
But the Celtics scored 11 points in 3 minutes, which did not affect the Eagles.
For the Eagles, they are playing steadily. Liu Mang organizes the offense. He shoots when he needs to shoot and passes when he needs to. The most irritable few minutes at the beginning of the game did not allow Raheem to exhaust his energy to play singles inside, but to run and organize offenses.
Coach Kruger changed Liu Mang to the starting lineup. In addition to strengthening his defense, he wanted to free Raheem from the vicious circle of singles that consumed a lot of energy at the beginning. Liu Mang's scoring ability may not be as strong as Jason Terry. The explosive scoring may be stronger, but the stable scoring ability is still better than Jason Terry.
If it was the first few games, in order to create better time for Jason Terry to run in, Liu Mang must have tried his best to open up the score at the beginning, and then Jason Terry gave the lead to the opponent after he came up. go back……
But today, Liu Mang is not in a hurry, Antoine Walker broke out? Then break out, Liu Mang controlled the tempo, played slowly, followed the score steadily, and used team offense to survive Antoine Walker's strong performance of 7 points and 3 assists at the beginning.
When 5 minutes passed in the first quarter, the Celtics couldn't sit still, and coach Jim O'Brien called a timeout.
Scoring 16 points in the first 5 minutes, this scoring efficiency is simply terrifying, and it did not make Coach O'Brien happy, because the Eagles also scored 14 points!
Ratliff's offensive rebounds broke out at the basket. The Celtics scored 16 points in a row relying on personal ability. For Mulder, the best rebounders for the Celtics are Antoine Walker and Pierce, who only averaged 7 rebounds per game. The rebounding disadvantage is too great.
And it’s mainly because the Celtics were originally the team that played in the first and fourth quarters. Antoine Walker relied on Antoine Walker in the first quarter and Pierce in the final quarter. Antoine Walker averaged 8.5 points per game in the first quarter of this season. , Pierce averaged 6.7 points per game at the end of the season, second only to Tracy McGrady in the league.
In this first quarter, when Antoine Walker made such a beautiful start, he failed to open the score, so Coach O'Brien was not in a hurry.
Coach O'Brien called a timeout in advance with one purpose, to let the Eagles replace Jason Terry!
After watching the first few games of the Eagles, Coach O'Brien discovered the beginning of the Eagles' collapse, which is to replace Jason Terry, and the start is often very good, that is, after Jason Terry is on, The Eagles fell apart.
In this game, Coach O'Brien found that he couldn't suppress the Eagles' starter, so he immediately called a timeout.
The Celtics replaced Batty with Vin Baker to increase the inside tonnage, 13 million for 10 minutes, and these 10 minutes must be used well.
For the Hawks, coach Kruger hesitated, and replaced Prince with Jason Terry and Muhammad with Boozer.
Seeing Jason Terry's rare nervousness, Liu Mang patted him on the back and whispered, "It's okay, play at your own pace, and leave the rest to me."
Jason Terry didn't expect that one day he would need this kid to comfort him, and it felt amazing.
Liu Mang has also grown up. He understands a sentence written by Jin Yong, with great ability comes great responsibility. In the past, it was Jason Terry and Raheem who gave him all kinds of nonsense. Now, it is also his. As the one who takes responsibility!