The rest is just noise

Chapter 1,632 Breaking the Deadlock

On the eve of the first game of the finals, Louis had a rare insomnia.

The strange thing is that he can't find the reason for his insomnia.

No anxiety, no worries, but just can't sleep.

Louis could only get out of bed quietly without disturbing his wife, walked out of the room, and drank some wine, hoping to get sleepy.

But sometimes, if you can't sleep, you just can't sleep.

For him, the night is still very long.

The finals showdown between the Celtics and the Suns was predicted by the media before the playoffs began.

From a lineup perspective, these two teams are basically the strongest teams in the East and West.

The regular season record can also reflect one or two.

The Celtics won 68 games and the Suns won 65 games, and both teams were quite dominant in their respective conference playoffs.

The Suns are also considered the team most likely to break Louis' playoff streak.

“If nothing else happens, Boss Lu’s playoff winning streak will be interrupted in the finals.” Mike Breen of ABC TV said, “The Suns are definitely a team on par with the Celtics.

The game between them is a well-deserved peak showdown!”

Suns coach Mike D'Antoni asked Louis how well he did.

Speaking of which, D'Antoni is also a coach in the road department.

However, he has no direct connection with Louis.

D'Antoni came out of Rick Carlisle's staff.

So, the relationship diagram looks like this.

Louis - Bird - Carlisle - D'Antoni.

So far in the new century, although Louis has rested for six years and is only a legend in the world, the team he left behind has occupied every corner of the league.

No matter which team he is on, you can find his people.

This is even more obvious in the coaching position.

There are more than ten head coaches in the league, and these ten people are scattered among the coaching teams of each team as assistant coaches.

D'Antoni belongs to the third generation of coaches who started early.

Moreover, D'Antoni's Suns played the "S.S.O.L" offense (7 seconds or less) that the Celtics are familiar with.

This is the run-and-gun system that D'Antoni carried forward with the Suns in his previous life, and it was also a far-reaching seed in the pre-small ball era - in 2007, Steve Kerr became the general manager of the Suns, and D'Antoni's philosophy

We don’t know how much of an impact it had on him, but the small ball era that he started with the Warriors and Curry was by no means an accident. It was the fruit of generations of paving the way.

D'Antoni said to Louis: "Coach Lu, let's see who has the better offense!"

Louis smiled and said: "That's what I meant."

Then, the starting lineups of both sides were announced.

Celtics: Lu Wuxia, Manu Ginobili, Mike Dunleavy, Pau Gasol, Yao Yueban.

Suns: Penny Hardaway, Richard Hamilton, Andre Yingodala, Kevin Garnett, Darko Milicic.

The so-called talent that is visible to the naked eye means that you can see how powerful and terrifying the lineup is just from the roster.

Moreover, the alignment of the sun is also very particular.

Ying Guodala faced Lu Wuxia, Pence faced Dunleavy, Hamilton faced Ginobili, Milicic faced Gasol, and Garnett faced Yao Yueban.

Due to their abundant defensive resources, the Suns are very willing to use mismatches to limit their opponents' strengths.

The Celtics, because their players' defensive capabilities are limited, try to match up step by step.

Facing Ying Guodala is a big challenge that Lu Wuxia will face in the playoffs this year.

This person has excellent defensive skills. Although he is young, he is experienced and does not take fake moves very much. His sharp cutting hands have made countless masters suffer. Coupled with James's tank body, it will be difficult for anyone to face him.

With a jump ball at the beginning, Milicic showed off his talent. His excellent bounce speed allowed him to even out the height difference with Yao Yuehan, and he easily took the ball.

Pence patted the ball and saw the flawless road in front of him. He couldn't help but think of the time when he played against the Lakers/Celtics. There was always a boy who would run onto the court and play ball.

I didn't expect it to grow so big in a blink of an eye.

Pence knew that Lu Wuxia used him as a template when he first entered the league, but in fact, except that they are both big point guards, there is really no similarity between the two of them.

When he was in college, Wish really looked like a penny. He was a core ball handler, had a gorgeous playing style, loved to show off, and was a bit sticky.

However, after entering the NBA, due to team reasons, he was unable to hold the ball a lot, so he spent four years developing without the ball under Bird and Louis. Now, he is as comfortable without the ball as he is with the ball.

This is no longer a penny.

Sensing Lu Wuxia's tendency to actively put pressure on him, Pian Shidan smiled and said: "Young man, we have to play four quarters, so there is no need to be in such a hurry."

After saying that, Pence turned sideways and hit Kirilenko to the ground, allowing him to beat Yao Yueban in the low post.

Four quarters?

Lu Wuxia's determination was to be so defensive from the first second of the series to the end of the series, not giving Pence any easy rounds.

Moreover, he is not blindly reckless, this is planned. After all, Pian is old and does not have enough energy. He is still young and can afford it. This is a typical tactic to defeat an old man.

Then, the live footage was shown to Milicic.

The man who was hyped to be on the same level as James before the draft was now sandwiched between the big and small kings of James and Lu Wuxia, which was very embarrassing.

With each passing year, the accusations that the Suns missed the mark by drafting Milicic intensified.

Because Lu Wuxia is getting stronger every year, and Milicic has not become significantly stronger after several seasons, especially after the Suns acquired Garnett, his average data is only 12 points and 7 rebounds per game. As the team vigorously cultivates

For supernovae, it is really average.

Moreover, Milicic is simply a replica of Lin Ziye. They both obviously have extraordinary talents and have truly changed their class through basketball, but the news about their departure has nothing to do with basketball.

Lin Ziye is known as the stallion of the East, while Milicic is the king of nightclubs in Europe.

However, although Lin Ziye's life was full of fire, his personal performance on the field was not bad, while Milicic lost himself in the drunkenness and wealth.

Now that the team is back in the Finals, facing the Celtics seems to have sobered Milicic a lot.

He doesn't care about anything except the game between the Celtics and the Cavaliers.

Even if he has to back-up Yao Yueban, the second-highest player in today's basketball world⑴, he still has to show the courage of a nightclub king and bet on the dozens of nightclub VIP gold cards in the safe. This goal must be scored.

Milicic tried his best to push Yao Yueban back even though he was fighting against three in the nightclub, and then he reluctantly used his feet to turn around and make a small hook.

His offense was very difficult to complete, but no matter how hard he tried, his talent was still there. With a wingspan of nearly 230 centimeters, and the fact that he consciously squeezed Yao Yuehan's lower limbs, the latter was unable to take off and block shots.

Milicic messed up the offense. Although he recovered well, he only avoided being blocked. The actual shot was horribly crooked, and it was completely affected by Yao Yueban.

"boom!"

Before Yao Yueban's teammates could breathe a sigh of relief, above them, Garnett loomed over the penalty area like a shadow, and directly picked off the rebound over Gasol's head. He let out a roar. This man usually encounters opponents who are weaker than him.

He will become the world's best tough guy.

It’s no surprise this time either.

Garnett ate Gasol alive and dunked directly under the basket to score.

2 to 0

It can be said that playing against Garnett magnified Gasol's softest side in the NBA. He is not the kind of person who writes his emotions on his face. Due to the lack of tactical support, he is not as confident as playing for the national team.

At the scene, the opening momentum was suppressed, and Garnett might be able to establish the matchup advantage for the entire series with this goal.

This was one of the things that Louis was most worried about before the finals started - if Gasol was possessed by the limited version of the 2008 Finals softie in his previous life, then the enhanced version of Garnett in this life would only make him even more miserable.

Louis turned back to Kirilenko and said: "Andrei, get ready to play."

As soon as Louis finished speaking, Wu Xia made a mistake on the court. Garnett predicted the pass and intercepted it halfway.

In less than four seconds, Pence scored from the frontcourt.

4 to 0

The start of the Finals was completely different from the previous playoff games the Celtics had played in.

The intensity and defensive efforts provided by the Suns are extraordinary and cannot be compared to those teams in the Eastern Conference.

"This rhythm is wrong."

Louis was thinking in his mind and was about to call a timeout to adjust. Suddenly, Ginobili came over, took the ball away from Wu Xia's hand, and then called Yao Yue in the frontcourt to use a snake-shaped breakthrough to force a goal.

Ginobili's response made Louis temporarily give up the idea of ​​a timeout.

The Celtics are not a team without experience in the finals. Since the rhythm is wrong, the intensity is not enough, so all we need to do is increase the intensity.

Ginobi used tough singles to wake up his teammates, and then the Celtics began to enter the game. Only Gasol and Garnett were still at an absolute disadvantage in the matchup.

This was foreseeable before the series started.

However, Louis noticed that Yao Yueban blocked Milicic's position unable to move - this will also be a matchup advantage that will last until the end of the series.

It's just that it belongs to the Celts.

⑴ Sub-question: Who was the tallest in professional basketball in 2007? PS: Mr. Yao’s registered height at that time was 229.