The rest is just noise

As a person who has witnessed all the growth of Ralph Sampson's career so far, Louis believes that Sampson has developed two peak periods in the previous 16 years of his career.

The first peak period began in 1984. That year was Louis' first year as head coach, his fourth year as Sampson's development coach, and Sampson's first year as a starter.

Year.

In Game 3 of the Finals against the Lakers, Sampson finally dominated the game in a unique manner, announcing the rise of the NBA's number one center in the 1980s and 1990s.

Since that year, Sampson has become a well-known figure. For other centers, he is like an insurmountable peak.

This was proven again in the 1985 Finals.

Sampson held the title of No. 1 center and helped the Celtics complete four consecutive championships before losing to the young Knicks in 1988.

After that, Sampson's status within the team began to improve, and he subsequently became a comprehensive, offensive and defensive interior ruler. This was his second peak period.

This peak period ended in 1992. In the following two years, Sampson suffered from the Celtics' overall lack of strength and the irreversible aging caused by age, and began to slip from his position as ruler.

.

Subsequently, he moved to Miami and became the leader of that universe-level team, and his role in the team further deteriorated.

The Heat don't need him to do as much as he did with the Celtics, he just needs to step up when necessary, just like he did in the 1995 playoffs.

From that year on, Sampson's strength became difficult to define.

He has a tendency to assist, but he still has the performance to beat super centers like Ewing. At the same time, Ewing is beginning to be able to suppress him on the court.

The wrinkles of time are clearly imprinted on Sampson's battle-hardened body. Louis once thought that he would quickly fall out of the ranks of super giants like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, maintaining his All-Star level until the age of 38 or 39, and then suddenly face the crisis.

When the competitive state reaches the end, just like Duncan in the 2016 playoffs, he is powerless against the impact of the new generation. He can only admit that he is old and the torch will always have to be passed down.

Louis believes that Sampson's torch will still be passed on, but after returning to the Celtics, he developed his third peak period.

Chuck Daly placed him in a high position as a tactical pivot to prevent his limited physical strength from being consumed too much in melee combat inside, and then nothing else.

Daley just put Sampson in a high position and gave him a tactical position. The rest is to see what answers Sampson can deliver.

Sampson, who has been playing professional games for 16 years, has already mastered all the skills he should master.

While the team was still willing to build their offense around the 36-year-old, his performance did not disappoint.

At this stage, Sampson is omnipotent. There may be some centers that can do better than him in individual specialties, but overall, Sampson is the fifth passer among active centers second only to Sabonis.

A first-class but not top rebounder, a shot-blocker who can surprise people at critical moments, a high-post passer second only to the tragedy maker, a pick-and-roll player second only to Ewing and Malone, an unstoppable scorer and an emotional player at critical moments

A leader who is stable and has a humble personality.

The Celtics' game is very simple. They have 40% of their offense around Sampson, 40% of their offense around Malone, and the remaining 20% ​​are divided equally between Hill and others.

But without the foundation laid by the 40% led by Sampson, problems would also arise in the remaining 60%.

Since the Lakers' starting lineup had a loophole like Barkley, Sampson simply called a pick-and-roll and put a free throw proposition in front of the Lakers.

Should Garnett step back and let Sampson shoot, or should Barkley take the initiative to switch defenses, or should Barkley and Garnett double-team Sampson.

None of these three options work in the first quarter.

If Garnett takes a step back, Sampson will shoot decisively, Barkley switches defense, and the result is still the same.

Sampson would never take Barkley's defense seriously.

If Barkley gives up Karl Malone and double-teams Sampson with Garnett, it may be effective, but Malone will never stand still like a wooden man.

He will pull away at the first opportunity, and this is the scariest thing about this version of Sampson.

His judgment of situations and selection of passes are as sharp as a monster.

After half a quarter, the Celtics led the Lakers by 6 points, 17-11.

Louis took the lead in making substitution adjustments.

First, he asked Garnett to return to the fourth position, then took Barkley and replaced Buck Williams.

Old Buck was placed in the fifth position by Louis.

This means that Old Buck needs to take on the task of defending Sampson at a high position.

Wilson first helped the team ease the situation with a three-pointer.

14 to 17

The opponent changed from Garnett to Buck, and Sampson didn't even call the pick-and-roll.

He grabbed the ball with one hand and flicked Old Buck on his head.

Then, Sampson took a step to the left, collected the ball and shot.

"Whoosh!"

"I don't even think he needs to shake Buck away." Nelson sighed, "Ralph can completely ignore Buck's defense, their height difference is too much."

Bird said jokingly: "Thanks to someone's cultivation, Ralph should have shot over Buck's head like those talented idiots, but someone made him understand the space of the court many years ago.

importance."

"Someone" frowned and said, "Who knew he was so obedient..."

If Old Buck can't do anything to Sampson, Louis can't do anything either.

It's not that he can't think of a way, but with the Lakers' inside configuration, they can't limit the connection between Sampson and Malone.

If you play Barkley, your defense will be penetrated. If you play a short inside line like Old Buck, you will be suppressed by Sampson's height - no, strictly speaking, Sampson's method of suppressing Old Buck is skill. Against Old Buck, he still has

You don't need to rely on your height to play ball.

After a few rounds, Old Buck was scored by Sampson for 6 points. Fortunately, Burrows and Wilson had good touch, otherwise the point difference would have widened further.

Although the Lakers do not have enough staff inside, Louis' attempts continue.

After Old Buck was replaced, Garnett returned to the fifth position to face Sampson again, and his partner at the fourth position was James Worthy.

Worthy was a large small forward in his early years, but players of his type inevitably have to change their positions as they age.

The fourth position is the position that suits him best now.

Louis wants Worthy to use his speed and offensive agility to wear down Malone.

However, when Sampson saw Malone and Worthy facing each other, he did nothing and passed the ball directly to the outside of the three-point line.

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Worthy defended Malone and had no advantage except speed.

Malone hit with his back and raised his elbow while facing the basket, disintegrating Worthy's defense on the spot.

It is a pity that Worthy cannot play a certain role in the fourth position as Louis expected.

His speed has a slight advantage over Malone, but Malone does not need to compete with him in speed and uses his strength to flatten his defense.

Worthy's defeat indicates one thing - the Lakers do not have the talent reserves to limit Boston's two interior stars.

To defeat the Green Army, we must find another way out.

Except for Malik Rose and Ben Wallace, who were not on the active list, Louis tried all the insiders, but the result was still the same.

Finally, Coach Lu, who has always wanted to be strong, admitted with difficulty that with the current cards in hand, he could not defeat Sampson and Malone on the defensive end.

At that time, there was less than 2 minutes left in the first quarter.

The Greens led 30-21 by 9 points. Daley replaced the two giants inside to rest, allowing Hill to lead the second team.

Louis also replaced Wilson, Garnett, Burrows, and Liu Yuqing, and replaced Dumars, Ellis, Kobe, and Ostertag.

When the defensive end is difficult to defend, you have to do something on the offensive end.

Louis' strategy is to attack the Celtics' basket and quickly disrupt the Green Army's position, allowing Daly to replace the two giants in advance.

Only when the two giants inside are present and the Lakers can still successfully attack the basket, Louis' arrangement is valuable.

The Lakers, four up and four down, began to attack around the perimeter.

Dumars made a beautiful breakthrough pass to Kobe.

Kobe was standing high on the left wing. When everyone thought he would choose to attack on his own, he used a skill that even a tragedy expert would call an expert and passed the ball to Ellis outside the three-point line in the bottom corner.

Ellis raised the knife and hit a three-pointer.

He didn't applaud Kobe, he just glanced at Hill who missed him with an indifferent look. That look seemed to say: Have you forgotten how the Celtics died back then? How dare you let me vote like this?