The rest is just noise

Don't be compared to the old man

Due to his lack of temper in the first game, Mike D'Antoni, whose coaching ability was seriously questioned, made a fuss about the starting lineup at the beginning of the second game.

Before the finals, Darko Milicic, who was considered the Suns' biggest weakness in this series, was directly removed from the starting lineup by D'Antoni after a poor first game.

Milicic substitutes, who will play center?

The answer is simple, Garnett plays.

In fact, since leaving the Lakers, Garnett no longer plays the pure four position like he did with the Lakers.

Garnett had the experience of gaining weight to play center when he was with the Lakers. After coming to the Suns, with Milicic around, Garnett usually did not need to play center, but he did not lose weight and return to the full-time fourth position.

Garnett knows very well that only by playing the five position can he fully unleash his potential.

Because the Suns cannot rely on one Milicic to deal with all centers.

The finals is such a stage.

If you continue to put Milicic on the court, you will only be beaten by Yao Yueban one after another. It is easy to stay in the fourth position and beat Gasol, but will that bring the Suns closer to victory?

Garnett doesn't think so.

Although Yao Yueban is not as flawless as Lu for the Celtics, his ability to protect the basket on the defensive end is the reason why the Celtics can support Kirilenko's defensive system.

At the same time, Yao Yueban's half-court offensive ability without blind spots is also what all teams dream of.

The Celtics can spend the last period of the regular season without Yao Yueban, because the regular season is the regular season, and the playoffs are the stage where real players can fight against each other.

Garnett started at center, and his partner in the post was veteran Robert Horry.

Louis thought the Suns might start using Garnett at the five at some point in the series.

That would be the turning point of the series.

Once Garnett plays the five position, the intensity of the game will rise to a higher level.

Louis looked at Garnett's figure, which was not much different from his previous life in the late Celtics.

Maybe his upper limbs don't look like he can hold down Yao Yueban in the paint, but what's really strong about him is his lower limbs. His thighs are as strong as tree trunks. This is the difference between Garnett and Howard guarding Yao Yuehan.

This is also the reason why he can fight against Yao Yueban.

Louis still remembers that before he was injured in 2009, Garnett used to hold down the most terrifying low-post killer Yao in 2009 during the regular season.

Taking his ability to limit 2009 Yao as an example, looking at NBA history, the only insider he can't really guard is O'Neal.

In this life, Yao Yueban has not gained as much weight as in his previous life, and his back-up destructive power cannot pull up the defense like Yao did in 2009. However, he has developed a modern inside-style pie-eating kaleidoscope technique, plus he already has considerable back-up skills.

In singles, this version of Yao Yueban is actually harder to guard against.

Now, everything is hypothetical, and we won’t know exactly until the game starts.

Since they won the first game without any surprises, the Celtics fielded the same starting lineup.

At the beginning of the game, Yao Yueban helped the Celtics win the ball, then he went down the pick-and-roll and dunked, then turned around and clenched his fist and shouted.

He's off to a good start.

But... compared with Yao Yueban, Garnett looks like he is several models ahead.

I saw Garnett running down the same pick-and-roll, holding the ball and still having room to make an emergency stop and change direction. He firmly pinned Yao Yueban's defensive focus on the paint area, then accelerated and scored with a dunk.

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Afterwards, the two teams began to block the downstream route in a tacit understanding.

There was no longer an opportunity to easily eat the pie, and Yao Yueban and Garnett began a long and suffocating close-quarters fight.

The two centers played so hard that they didn't even have time to take a breath. Gasol and Horry actually had a peaceful relationship with each other and respected each other like guests.

Louis was extremely annoyed when he saw that Gasol was too lazy to attack Horry. He immediately scolded: "Paul, you are facing an old man who is almost 40 years old. You don't need me to teach you what to do?"

However, although his strength was to attack his weakness, Gasol did not have enough confidence.

Horry scored three goals alone and only scored one?

Louis opened his mouth and wanted to curse, but he held back because Paul is not a player with strong ability to withstand pressure. Although he played one of three against Horry and Zhou Qi's one-on-one against Ji Zhe, it was just as outrageous that he did not touch three in a row⑴(

(true story), but he is not the leading offensive player in the Celtics, so even if he doesn't play well, it won't harm the overall situation.

On the contrary, it is the sun that surprises people one after another.

Garnett, who is standing at the five position, is not the focus of everyone's attention because his main focus is on defense, rebounding and wearing out Yao Yue.

A super giant whose ranking is higher than Yao Yueban's, and his willingness to lower himself to become a pawn in hand-to-hand combat makes Yao Yueban uncomfortable. It must be said that Garnett is the teammate that everyone wants on the court.

Garnett disappeared into the wave of physical combat, and the Suns' offensive focus was on the connection between Pence and others.

Pence's play became a top priority.

In the last game, Pence's performance could only be considered average. After the start of tonight's game, he showed his strength.

Pence first staggered the flawless defense with a probing step, and then jumped up to grab the space and hit a three-pointer.

Then, the Celtics responded with a three-pointer from Ginobili.

When it comes to the Suns' offensive round, it's Penny again. He runs without the ball to pick up a screen and meets Gasol out of position. He receives a pass from his teammate and directly uses his speed to break through him. He comes to the basket and makes a large change that is inconsistent with his age.

A layup with a hand lever solved Yao Yueban's defense and scored 5 points in a row.

At this point, Pianpian's performance finally attracted Lu Wuxia's attention.

Although the outside world had been looking forward to his matchup with Pence before the game, he himself did not take the matchup seriously.

Because Pence is not young, a veteran like him is basically past the age of engaging in emotional battles on the court. Due to his limited physical strength, he will not come up with all his firepower.

But tonight, Penny showed no regard for physical strength and was determined to defeat the Celtics in one go.

After seeing the performance of the Sun, Louis had an idea of ​​what they were thinking.

Weaken the offensive position of the inside line, use Garnett's defense to suppress Yao Yueban's performance, and at the same time put offensive pressure on his outside line.

Therefore, Pence cannot perform as averagely as he did in the last game. He has to dream back to his peak and perform at the level of the mid-to-late 1990s.

After Pence showed his strength, Lu Wuxia also needed to show the same level to compete with him on the scene.

However, it wasn't just Penny who planted seeds in the sun, but also Ying Guodala and Hamilton.

Yingodala is mainly an explosive player on the defensive end.

He is a strong defensive player, but he also performed at a very high level, squeezing through pick-and-rolls and blocking Lu Wuxia and Ginobili twice in a row, preventing the Celtics from fully utilizing their tactics.

Since the tactics couldn't work out, the Celtics had no choice but to let their stars play in isolation.

Singles itself has its unstable side.

The Celtics failed to score in several passive singles due to tactical failures.

The defensive rebounds caused by missed singles were collected by Garnett. What followed was a pass from Garnett. Pence received the ball and passed it to Hamilton who was rushing down. The masked man scored on a fast break.

Halfway through the first quarter, the Suns led by 7 points and the Celtics requested a timeout.

Louis has a serious expression, and all questions can be said to be counterpoint questions.

Compared with the Celtics, the Suns' starters have a clear division of labor in terms of positions. The Celtics lack manpower at the small forward position, so they often adjust according to the opponent, either letting the No. 2 position or Kirilenko.

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But this arrangement is not so effective against Yingodala facing the sun.

The reason why the Suns were suppressed from the outside by the Suns at the beginning of the second game was because the Celtics focused on a balanced offense inside and outside, and the Suns allowed Garnett to play center to suppress the Celtics' inside offense.

Lu Wuxia and Ginobili, who wanted to take care of both the inside and outside, were constrained and found it difficult to let go and do their best.

Thinking of this, Louis had a plan to adjust.

He turned to look at the players and said: "Mike, you go up to the third position, Andre, you go to the fourth position, David (Lee), you go to the fifth position."

The Celtics' two major insiders, Yao Yueban and Gasol, who dominate the Eastern Conference, were replaced.

Louis reduced the height of the team's lineup, turning the inside from a balance of power to a disadvantage, but enhanced the team's positional flexibility and shifted the offensive weight from inside-out to outside.

Before the timeout ended, Louis looked at Wuxia and said, "Don't let the old man compare you."