One Guard

The Celtics "unsurprisingly" lost to the league's first-place Mavericks at home, causing Stevens to fall into a storm of public opinion again.

At the post-game press conference, Stevens defended his players as always, taking most of the responsibility for the loss on himself. And this will undoubtedly intensify the attacks from the media.

"Coach Stevens can't read numbers? Doesn't he know how much difference there is between 2.06 meters and 2.15 meters!?"

"Maybe Coach Stevens thinks height is not the most important factor on the basketball court, but the fact is that the Celtics are completely suppressed by their height on the court!"

"If it weren't for Jeff Green's magical performance, perhaps the Celtics would have lost even more miserably. Coach Stevens is suitable for cultivating outstanding talents in the college basketball circle, but he is definitely not suitable for entering the professional basketball field."

The next day, even some local Boston media couldn't help but criticize their own coach. Stevens' hiring yesterday made many media feel puzzled. He used Salinger, who is only 2.06 meters tall, to play center. They can guarantee that the guy's head must have been caught in the locker room door!

But within the team, Ainge agrees very much with Stevens' approach. Those laymen could never predict that the trend of blurring positions on the basketball court is actually inevitable. Stevens was not understood simply because he was ahead of most people.

This young coach has provided the Celtics with a very clear team-building policy. Ainge believes that it will not even take four years for them to complete the reconstruction.

No, the day after losing to the Mavericks, Stevens led the Celtics to defeat the incoming Milwaukee Bucks.

Jeff Green scored 29 points, and Sullinger also contributed 13 points and 10 rebounds at the center position. Exactly the same tactics, but after changing opponents, the Celtics immediately shined.

However, facing the Dallas Mavericks, how many teams' tactics can be effective? The Spurs have not beaten the Mavericks once this season. Does this mean that Popovich's head has also been caught in the door?

After the Celtics beat the Bucks, people were praising Jeff Green and Sullinger. In short, good things never happened to Stevens.

But Stevens doesn't care. He serves the Celtics, not the ridiculous media. What the media says doesn't matter, it's enough that the team plays the game it needs to.

Yiyang is very happy that his former teacher can respond so quickly to the media who questioned him, but now, Yiyang does not have much time to consider Stevens' joking invitation, nor does he have the mind to care about his coach. Can we continue to win games? His own road to the championship has not yet been completed.

The Mavericks still have two games to play before the start of the All-Star Weekend, the "bye period" in the middle of the NBA regular season.

On February 11, they faced the Hornets, who had Anthony Davis but were still rebuilding. On February 12, they will face back-to-back against the Indiana Pacers, who are number one in the Eastern Conference this year and beat the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference rankings.

Game 1 should be a no-brainer for the Mavericks. The Hornets have played against the Mavericks twice this season, and both times they were defeated. Although Anthony Davis is strong, he currently does not have the ability to lead the team to soar.

What really worries Carlisle is the game on February 12. Not only was that game back-to-back, but it was also played on the road, which was a very harsh test for the players' physical fitness.

And the Indiana Pacers are indeed very strong this season. So far, their record is 39 wins and 11 losses, and they are likely to become the first team in the Eastern Conference to win 40 games. The media even claimed that the Pacers would keep James out of the Finals.

Facing such a powerful opponent who had no record of playing against each other this season, Carlisle was really worried.

That's what Carlisle is like,

Even if the team's record is such an impressive 46 wins and 5 losses, he will always worry about the team losing.

He cherishes every experience of playing against strong teams and hopes that the team will win all games against strong teams. It's not that Carlisle is greedy. So far in the regular season, the Mavericks' record is no longer any worse.

The reason why he still hopes that the team can win against strong opponents is to accumulate experience and prepare for the playoffs. Only by playing against these teams and winning can the team be more comfortable in the playoffs.

Carlisle is still worried about the Pacers, but Yiyang is already "letting go".

There is less than a week until the start of the All-Star break, which means that the day when he and Vignelli are reunited is getting closer.

On February 10, the day before the game between the Mavericks and the Hornets, reporters even captured Yiyang in the mall for the first time. He was carrying a bunch of things in his hands, and it looked like the guy was preparing a gift for someone.

As soon as this incident came out, it directly touched the G-spot of many media. It turns out that Yiyang, who has always been famous for his hard work, also has a day of carpe diem. I didn't go to bed early the night before the game. I actually walked around the field and didn't go back until very late.

At the same time, reporters also filmed Marion entering and leaving nightclubs, Gobert was spotted in a video game retail store, and Nowitzki was taking a boat trip on White Rock Lake with his African wife at night...

It seems that the "All-Star Game Syndrome" is about to occur in Yiyang and the Mavericks.

On the night of February 10, the Spurs lost to the Pistons, who were last in the Eastern Conference, on the road. Popovich couldn't help complaining after the game: All the players are thinking about now is how to spend the All-Star Weekend.

Coincidentally, the Rockets, with their "modern combination," also lost to the Timberwolves, ranked tenth in the Western Conference, that night. Howard and Harden performed like sleepwalking on the court, making frequent mistakes.

An hour later, the Warriors lost to the 76ers at home at Oracle Arena. 76ers coach Brett Brown, who has only won 15 games so far this season, said frankly after the game that this was an unexpected and incredible victory!

"Pre-All-Star Game Syndrome" has swept the entire league, and more and more strong teams have begun to lose games inexplicably. Tonight, it's the Spurs, Rockets and Warriors. The Dallas Mavericks have undoubtedly been praised by the media as the favorites to lose next!

"If even Yi starts to relax, then I really can't imagine what the rest of the Mavericks are going to be like."

"Anthony Davis is still trying to win as many games as possible to prove himself, but everyone on the Dallas Mavericks team is already thinking about the weekend vacation. Believe me, even the Spurs lost, and the Mavericks will not be spared."

"Even if the Mavericks were lucky enough to win against the Hornets, they will never be able to defeat the Pacers in back-to-back games. I think another string of winning streaks for the Mavericks will be ended in the last two days."

Early the next morning, apart from the three teams that all suffered upset losses yesterday, the Dallas Mavericks became the hottest topic. Almost everyone in the media is sure that the Mavericks will follow in the footsteps of the Spurs, Rockets and Warriors and become another team affected by the "Pre-All-Star Game Syndrome".

In order to give this view a foothold, many "experts" have also listed data that seem quite bluffing.

However, basketball is a game that cannot be accurately predicted by data analysis. Otherwise, what fun would there be in competitive sports?

Just when everyone in the world was waiting to see the Mavericks' "good show", the Dallas Mavericks and Yiyang gave them a real good show!

"Rudy Gobert jumped high and caught the basketball! Boom! Monster dunk. This is Rudy Gobert's 15th point today! And this is also the highest scoring record in his career!" In the commentary box, Mike Breen felt that Gobert's dunk made the entire arena tremble. That tall and lanky boy's dunk was so powerful!

"God, Gobert's dunk has put the Dallas Mavericks ahead of the Hornets by 25 points! He also sent 14 assists today, 4 of which were in conjunction with Rudy in the air. This combination of inside and outside has allowed us to see The Mavericks have endless possibilities for the future!" Next to Brin, Kevin Harlan also looked at the two young men in disbelief. This is only the first year of their cooperation. Who knows whether Gobert and Yiyang will become the next best duo in the future.

"This morning, some people said that the Mavericks are destined to be affected by pre-All-Star Game Syndrome. After all, many strong teams have collectively fallen into disgrace recently. But for now, this 'strange disease' has not spread in Dallas. .”

"Pre-All-Star Game Syndrome? Am I the only one who thinks the person who coined this term is ridiculous?" Kevin Harlan dismissed this statement. Even if the strong teams have lost collectively recently, it doesn't mean anything. This ridiculous term is just a gimmick created by the media to make money.

The outstanding performance of Yiyang and Gobert left Anthony Davis silently tortured. The "Thick Eyebrow Brother" scored 24 points and 15 rebounds in the whole game, which is quite outstanding. Unfortunately, he has never been able to win.

In the end, the Mavericks defeated the Hornets 123-89 at home, and their winning streak continued. This victory also made it difficult for many "experts" to justify their "advanced data".

This is their explanation. "The Hornets themselves are too weak. Facing the Pacers in the next game, the lax Mavericks will definitely suffer."

However, even if the Mavericks lose to the Pacers, it is actually a very normal thing. After all, the opponent is the No. 1 team in the Eastern Conference that has overwhelmed the Heat.

But, these guys just relied on this statement to survive. But what the "experts" didn't know was that this was merely delaying their death.

On the night of February 11, the exhausted Mavericks players had to rush to Indianapolis overnight after the game. During training the next afternoon, except for the two young men Yiyang and Gobert, everyone else's physical condition was very poor. Carlisle hates playing back-to-back away games.

Losing is a trivial matter. If players get injured due to overexertion, he will probably storm into the league office and threaten to blow up the office building.

But whether the Mavericks were ready or not, the game started on time at 8 p.m. Looking at the Pacers' powerful lineup that could suppress the Heat, Carlisle felt that today might be a bad day.

But after the game started, the Pacers' tidal wave of offense did not appear. Instead, the two teams had a very "tacit understanding" of crazy blacksmithing!

The Mavericks are in bad shape because of fatigue, but the Pacers really seem to be suffering from pre-All-Star Game syndrome.

Throughout the game, everyone on the Pacers team, yes, everyone seemed to be sleepwalking.

Their star player Paul George took 17 crazy shots in this game, but only hit a pitiful 4 goals. On average, he only scored one goal in a game. The Pacers center Roy Hibbert, who is 2.18 meters tall and is known as the "Black Yao Ming", "exploded" in the game with 4 points and 7 rebounds, which shocked everyone.

Of course, things aren't much better with the Mavericks. The tired Nowitzki was out of form as soon as he came on the court, scoring only 15 points with a 38.9% shooting rate. However, Darren Collison's 14.3% shooting percentage makes Dirk's statistics not look so bad.

After the game, the Pacers shot 32.1% from the field, and the Dallas Mavericks were slightly better, with 35.7%. This game, which was supposed to be like Mars crashing into the Earth, ended with the continuous sound of iron.

Fortunately, the normal performance of Yiyang and Gobert allowed the Mavericks to win the game 81-73. The scores of both teams were very low, which can be regarded as faithfully reflecting the scene of the game.

Although the scene was ugly, the Mavericks at least successfully passed the period of the "Pre-All-Star Game Syndrome" pandemic. Able to land safely before the start of the All-Star Game.

After the game, Yiyang sat in the media reception room with a tired look. When reporters asked him what he thought of this "shattering" victory, Yiyang answered in a lazy voice.

"Right now, I just want to enjoy the coming weekend."

The damn back-to-back away games are finally over, and for the first time in history, Yiyang feels so happy about the arrival of the All-Star Weekend.

As for those guys who threatened that the Mavericks would definitely lose, not many people still remember them...