One Guard

Bradley and Rajon Rondo teamed up to defend Yiyang. Before the game started, perhaps no one believed that Stevens could successfully complete the defense with the players in his hands. However, the Celtics did just that on the first possession of the game.

Tony Allen has no shooting range, and this is one of the reasons why Stevens dared to double-team Bradley. Even if Bradley and Rajon Rondo are taken alone, they are both defensive warriors at the No. 1 position.

If the two of them team up to defend a point guard, their power is evident.

Less than a minute into the game, Yiyang experienced the power of Stevens. Yiyang knows that Stevens is a coach who places great emphasis on teamwork. And teamwork is not just reflected on the offensive end. On the defensive end, players also need to work together to do their best.

There's no doubt that Stevens brought the style he coached at Butler University to Boston. Fortunately, there are no absolute superstars in Boston's lineup, so Stevens can implement his coaching style to the end.

The mistake at the beginning did not discourage Yiyang, but made him full of energy. It would be too much to live up to his expectations if the Celtics could be dealt with so easily. This kind of strength is what suits Yiyang's appetite.

Yiyang regained control of the ball and came to the half where the Celtics were guarding, and Bradley was already ready to make a move. As soon as Yiyang breaks through Rondo, he will immediately defend him, not even a second slower. Because of Yiyang's speed, there is not even a second of error margin left for the defensive players.

Yiyang couldn't help but sigh that the two big mountains in front of him, Bradley and Rondo, would now join forces to deal with him. In college, Bradley's defense was the strongest Yiyang had ever seen. When he first entered the league, Rondo's defense also made Yiyang very frustrated.

But now, even if these two guys want to defend themselves at the same time, Yiyang is no longer afraid. In three and a half seasons, I haven't stood still.

Yiyang walked unhurriedly to the three-point line, and both Rondo and Bradley tensed up. However, Yiyang didn't take a step forward. He directly lobbed the ball high into the penalty area, the arc was so high that it was even a little abnormal.

Stevens specially arranged for Salinger to use a forward approach to defend Nowitzki today. Although Salinger is a kid with mediocre talent, his big butt is as practical as Barkley's. Under the "ravage" of Salinger's big butt, Nowitzki is actually very difficult to catch the ball when being bypassed.

But the ball passed by Yiyang was very high, causing Salinger to keep stepping back in an attempt to intercept the pass.

Just as Salinger was staring at the basketball and retreating, Nowitzki suddenly leaned on the little fat man and turned around. Instead, he got stuck in front of Salinger, instantly breaking the forward defense!

The basketball fell just right. After receiving the basketball, Nowitzki didn't even need to look back at the frame, he just stepped back and shot!

Nowitzki's raised knee made Salinger reluctant to lean up. In fact, even if he moves forward, he cannot interfere with Nowitzki due to his height.

The basketball went hollow into the net, and Yiyang made a beautiful assist. Stevens knows how to make the most of his players' strengths, and so does Yiyang. Nowitzki's obvious height advantage in the paint was put to good use by Yiyang.

Seeing Nowitzki score, Stevens actually smiled. Is this guy Yiyang already a perfect passer?

After the goal, the Mavericks players retreated quickly. The entire Celtics team, from the back line to the interior, is at a height disadvantage. Carlisle believes that positional warfare is the best way to take advantage of his height!

Brandon Bass, who is 2.03 meters tall, mentioned that he would pick and roll for Rondo in the high post. The strong Bass still has a very soft touch in the mid-range position. Nowitzki didn't dare to sit idly by and could only keep up with the defense.

Although Buss does not have a standard inside figure, his pick-and-roll quality is unexpectedly high.

Being blocked by the strong Bass, Yiyang found that he had no way to escape the cover quickly!

At this time, Rondo had already used the cover to get rid of Yiyang. Nowitzki had no choice but to change defense in an instant!

It is not easy for Rondo to defeat Nowitzki alone, not to mention that he never thought about scoring by himself from the beginning. During the march, Rondo used his waist and abdomen to drive his arm and flicked it! The basketball returned to Bass at an extremely fast speed, so fast that even Yiyang had no time to reach out and steal it.

It stands to reason that if a power forward shoots over a point guard, he shouldn't have to worry about being interfered with. But Bass's shot encountered a more terrifying result than being interfered with.

I saw that Yiyang and Bass took off almost at the same time, but their jumping height and speed were not at the same level at all. This situation is very fatal when height is not a huge advantage.

Bass shot, but Yiyang had already completely covered the Celtics' starting power forward! Not long after the basketball flew out, Yiyang slapped it back!

"Brand Bass's shot was blocked by Yiyang. The Celtics' tactics were completed very beautifully, but it's a pity that the finishing shot didn't come out!" Mike Breen shook his head. Bass's height There is no advantage at all in front of Yiyang.

Stevens is helpless about this. His tactics are no problem, but no matter how good he is, Stevens can't give players things like height and weight.

A basketball coach may be able to teach you everything, but hard indicators of the body cannot be learned.

Buss' shot was blocked by a point guard, which undoubtedly demoralized the Celtics. The Celtics then sent a sideline ball to attack again, but Bradley's three-pointer missed the frame again. His shot selection was a bit too hasty. This is also the point where he is most criticized by fans.

Seeing this situation, the Celtics players immediately retreated on defense. They actively gave up the offensive basketball to prevent Yiyang from making a quick sneak attack. In fact, with the height of the Celtic players, even if they wanted to compete for offensive rebounds, they would not be able to grab them.

Dalembert directly passed the long ball to Yiyang. Yiyang slowed down the pace after halftime and did not seem to want to break through.

Nowitzki slowly ran over, and just when everyone thought Yiyang wanted to wait for Nowitzki to be in position before passing the ball, Yiyang kicked his right foot and suddenly "ejected" himself out.

Rondo, who reacted quickly, immediately moved sideways, but knocked down the wall formed by Nowitzki. It turns out that Yiyang was not waiting for Nowitzki to get into position, but was waiting for him to pick and roll!

Bradley also didn't expect Yiyang to break through suddenly without warning, so his defense was a little slow. When he left Tony Allen behind and came over, Yiyang had already passed by him.

Salinger, who is 2.06 meters tall, does not look like an insider at all to Yiyang. If he hadn't been so fat, Yiyang would have regarded him as a small forward.

So, Yiyang took off directly leaning on Salinger. Salinger himself is a short jumper and short in height. This time, he was directly pressed by Yiyang, and there was no possibility of his palm touching the basketball.

Despite the physical confrontation in the air, Yiyang still stabilized his center of gravity and put the ball into the frame.

4 to 2, the Mavericks' offense was easy. Stevens frowned. Even if Bradley and Rondo teamed up, it would be difficult to limit his performance. And on the court, their height really suffers.

Just 20 seconds later, the Celtics' offense suffered another blow.

This time, Rondo's breakthrough attracted Dalembert's defense. Although Rondo's points per game this season are only a few points, once this guy reaches the three-second zone, it is always disturbing.

At the moment Dalembert lifted up, Rondo used a crotch pass to send the opportunity to Salinger, who was unmarked under the basket.

Salinger had just been blocked by Yiyang, and now he was feeling aggrieved and full of energy! He was about to take off and dunk hard, but was "secondarily injured" by Dalembert.

It was clear that Dalembert was still several steps away from Salinger, but due to Salinger's huge disadvantages in height and jumping, Dalembert came from behind and completed the block.

The Haitian himself was stunned when he blocked Salinger's dunk. Successfully blocked the shot so easily?

"The lineup compiled by Coach Stevens is really too short. Although this is an era when insiders are generally shorter in height, the height of both insiders is under 2.10 meters, which is too short!" Mike. Breen shook his head. He could see that Stevens had a good idea. This coach blurred the divisions of the five positions on the basketball court and simply divided the positions into three: guard, forward and inside. This approach allows him to be tactically versatile, and can maximize the players' strengths, breaking out of the limitations of positional restrictions.

What if the center is replaced by Horford, who is only two centimeters taller than Sullinger? Or give Stevens Carmelo Anthony to play the fourth position. Maybe the Celtics' offense will not be what it is now.

The biggest problem for the Celtics now is that the abilities of this group of players simply cannot meet Stevens' tactical requirements! But this kind-hearted coach attributed all the mistakes to himself. This leads to the media always thinking that there is something wrong with Stevens' tactical arrangements.

Salinger was blocked in two consecutive rounds, which created favorable conditions for Yiyang to launch a defensive counterattack.

Yiyang quickly advanced with the ball, followed by the strong Bradley. Everyone couldn't help but marvel that Bradley could actually keep up with Yiyang's speed!

However, the speed of light was of no use. He reached the inside line. When Yiyang took off, Bradley was obviously a head shorter than Yiyang. Although he was hit hard by Bradley in the air, Yiyang stabilized his upper body and shot the ball. What he won was a chance to hit a three-pointer!

"Did you see it? Although we all say that height is not everything in basketball. But there is no doubt that this is also an important factor. Bradley's defense is already very good, but the only difference is in height!" Mike. Brin couldn't help but sigh that Stevens had no means to deal with the players' height disadvantage. After all, he can't magically make players instantly taller by 3 to 5 centimeters.

In this way, after the Celtics had a flash of inspiration at the beginning of the game, they fell into complete passivity.

If someone else were coaching the Celtics right now, this game might be what it is. The Mavericks would coast to victory, and then the Celtics would quietly accept the fate of ending their winning streak. But Stevens did not give up easily. After the team fell behind by 8 points, he made a simple adjustment that changed the situation of the game.

Stevens put Jeff Green at the power forward position, which made Nowitzki miserable to defend.

Jeff Green is 2.06 meters tall, but has the mobility of a small forward. In previous eras, this kind of "neither three nor four" players were least favored by coaches. But Stevens just likes this kind of panacea that can play multiple positions.

Green's offensive range extends from the basket to beyond the three-point line. Following Green for the entire half, Nowitzki quickly consumed a lot of energy.

Not only did he fail to complete the defensive task well, it also affected the stability of the offensive end.

With this change of position, the Celtics evened the score midway through the second quarter. Jeff Green shines in the hands of Stevens. In fact, this season is indeed Jeff Green's best year since entering the league for seven seasons.

In the past, in college, Stevens made Yiyang and Hayward a blockbuster. His ability to turn stone into gold has long been amazed by the world. It's just that people didn't expect that this guy could actually "turn waste into treasure" for an older player like Jeff Green who has little potential left. Jeff Green can become the Celtics' leading scorer this season, and Stevens is indispensable for his correct use.

Stevens' ability amazed Carlisle. If it were him, he would definitely not be able to accept such a thing as blurring the five positions on the basketball court. But the old-fashioned Carlisle must also admit that sometimes breaking the rules is really very effective.

It's a pity that Jeff Green is still Jeff Green. No matter how good Stevens is, he can't make Green transform into Anthony.

Green did bring some troubles to the Mavericks, but the terrifying firepower the Mavericks produced under the leadership of Yiyang was not comparable to Green alone.

At the beginning of the third quarter, the Mavericks used their strength on the offensive end to completely break through the Celtics' paper-like defense.

Gobert played alley-oops with Yiyang many times today, clearly bullying you. The Celtics' interior can't touch the ball. When the Frenchman jumped high and opened his arms, the Celtics players really could only stand and watch.

After eight minutes of play in the third quarter, the Mavericks established a 12-point lead. Then, Stevens hopes Bradley will look for shooting opportunities through the pick-and-roll. But it's a pity that Tony Allen killed Bradley's fantasy of saving the team.

The huge strength gap between the two sides was obvious. Stevens gave his all, changing one move after another. But facing Yiyang's solid organization and the Mavericks' iron-clad defense, all his tricks were ineffective.

Yiyang did not disappoint Stevens, scoring 27 points and 13 assists in the game. After completely outscoring Rondo, he also had 3 more assists than Rondo.

Three minutes before the end of the game, Yiyang was replaced by Carlisle. Because at that time, the game had already entered garbage time.

On the one hand, Stevens was very pleased that Yiyang's ability to control the game was even better than he originally imagined! But on the one hand, he was also uncomfortable. It was really uncomfortable to watch the team lose but there was nothing he could do about it.

In this way, the Celtics started the game at home with a lot of thunder and a lot of rain, losing to the Mavericks by 11 points.

102 to 91, the Mavericks won their fifth consecutive victory at the North Shore Garden Arena. If Carlisle hadn't stopped early at the last moment, the point difference might have been even greater.

"Your team is very good, and the tactics are amazing! It would be even better if they had a few more years!" After the game, Carlisle took the initiative to shake hands with Stevens and expressed his respect for this opponent. And he didn't forget to humorously complain about Stevens' short and exaggerated lineup, which was considered to be giving some advice to the junior.

If Carlisle could know in advance that a year later, a point guard who is only 1.75 meters tall will shine under Stevens, how would he feel?

Later, Yiyang also came up to hug the most important coach in his life. Yiyang could see Stevens' good intentions and his tactical arrangements were very sophisticated. If he had been the one to attack for Stevens today, the outcome might have been very different.

"Hey, your contract expires this summer, are you interested in joining forces with me?" Stevens suddenly asked with a smile, as if he could read Yiyang's mind.

Yiyang was stunned for a moment. He didn't expect that he would seriously consider this issue!

"Hahaha, you're kidding! You performed very well today. They were right, dwarfs are not worthy of playing basketball." Stevens did not forget to laugh at himself, easing the inexplicably serious atmosphere.

However, Stevens was very pleased to see Yiyang's serious expression when facing that "joke".

Both Yiyang and Hayward will become restricted free agents this summer. In other words, the matter of the three of them joining forces again is no longer just a mere fantasy.

Yiyang watched Stevens' retreating back, fascinated. Why does that guy always have this inexplicable attraction?

"Why are you in a daze?" Nowitzki patted Yiyang's shoulder, bringing Yiyang back to his senses.

"It's nothing." Yiyang shook his head. How could he have such terrible thoughts?