The rest is just noise

Thursday, May 31, 1984.

boston garden

During the four-day offseason, both sides took a good rest.

Naturally, the Lakers didn't have it so easy. In the past four days, they had no peace every night.

The Boston fire department is particularly enthusiastic about fires near the Marriott Hotel. Even if it is a false report, they will come to investigate.

The Lakers were woken up countless times in their sleep. Knowing that it was Auerbach's design, they had to follow the hotel staff's warning and come outside, then watch the fire alarms pretend to check and leave without any results.

"Our sleep quality has been seriously affected. This is unethical and unprofessional." Magic strongly criticized the Celtics' off-court tactics. "We will go all out. These shameful methods will only enhance our victory."

Be determined to compete.”

The magician expressed his ambition: "Everything the Celtics plan will come to nothing, and we will be the winners tonight!"

He looked high-spirited, as if he had forgotten the awkwardness of the first game.

The Lakers' starting lineup today is a little different from before.

Dennis Johnson, Magic, Wilkins, Michael Cooper, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

With only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar inside, Magic and Wilkins can properly play as power forwards, but if they are guest stars for the entire game, they will definitely not play well.

This lineup is both offensive and defensive in a literal sense.

Has an outside lock, a strong wing gate and a top-notch rim protector.

As long as one-on-one defense is not counted, Magic's physical condition and athletic ability are enough to make him an excellent help defender.

As for Wilkins, his defensive lower limit is incredibly low, and his upper limit is hard to say.

He may suddenly use his physical fitness to perform unsolvable defense, or he may act like a fool and be tossed around by Bird.

It depends on his condition on the spot.

Louis made a regular starting lineup: Thomas, Long, Bird, Sampson, and Laimbeer.

The Lakers suddenly started without a real power forward, which gave Sampson, who played the fourth position, a broad stage.

"Ralph, it looks like today is your big day."

Before the game started, Louis said.

Sampson confidently dusted off the magnesium powder on his hands. Unfortunately, he did not accept Louis' suggestion. He sprinkled the magnesium powder into the sky with both hands like an emperor, giving this extremely hot and grumpy arena a

Add some substances that are not good for the nasal cavity.

On the opening jump ball, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's prediction was even better.

Sampson wanted to use bullet speed to make up for his misjudgment. As a result, both hands touched the ball at the same time.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar cleverly hooked the ball back with his fingertips, and the Lakers got the ball.

"￥@%#……"

The Garden fans booed heartily and enthusiastically acted as the Celtics' sixth man from the first possession.

In the first round, Magic passed the ball to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Thomas, who was close to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, quickly ran over and tried to flank him.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar realized that he only had one second to decide how to attack. If it took more than one second, a double-team would come.

He stuck to the paint area, put his left hand on Laimbeer's chest, and performed a standard skyhook.

The force was obviously too heavy, and the ball circled half a circle on the basket and fell out.

Bird grabbed the defensive rebound and threw it to Thomas.

Thomas launched a fast break and dribbled the ball with his fingertips to knock away Johnson, the Lakers' most important iron gatekeeper.

Inside, Wilkins flew from the wing, ready to block Thomas.

However, Thomas chose to confront him. After withstanding the confrontation, he picked up the basket with his right hand and took a difficult shot.

"Isn't this a foul?" Louis shouted.

Tonight's referee, notorious home-killer Earl Strom, glanced at Louie and said, "It's not a foul."

Strome is known for sympathizing with visiting teams and never giving conveniences to home teams.

As long as he is the referee of any team's home game, there is no need to call the home whistle.

If the bastard didn't blow the away whistle, he was in a good mood that night - Auerbach said it himself.

Fortunately, Thomas is not the kind of person who breaks through and thinks about causing fouls to stand on the free throw line and shoot. He just wants to put the ball into the basket. 2+1 is an extra gift, which is hard to come by.

It was this attitude that allowed him to score the ball despite strong opposition from Wilkins.

Thomas is tough enough, and the Lakers' defense also allowed Louis to see the difference from Game 1.

After the defeat in the first game, they indeed changed their appearance and adopted a more aggressive defensive posture to deal with the Celtics.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's back-up position was beyond Louis' expectations.

It was actually in the middle, and only about two steps inside the free throw line.

That's considered a half-basket position some distance away from the basket. The average insider might choose to go further inside.

But the Celtics' strategy is to flank Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as long as he has the ball, so moving inside will only weaken Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's line of sight.

Since the Celtics had to double-team him no matter what he did, he moved to a position closer to his teammates so that he could get the ball out even if he was double-teamed.

The Celtics players on the field tried to let Laimbeer defend alone. They wanted to know whether Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was sure to score from that position.

The result was unexpected. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's offensive method was not a sky hook, but a shot with his shoulder and then turned around.

"WTF!"

Louis cursed secretly, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's turnaround jump shot hit the target.

2 to 2

The Sky Hook is the most distinctive characteristic of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. It would be foolish to think that he only has this one trick because of this.

It's like thinking that Curry only has three-pointers; thinking that Carter only has dunks; thinking that Jordan only has his fadeaway and pull-bar; thinking that James and Kobe have been brainwashed by their fans into an inherent impression: teaming up/forging iron.

These wrong impressions will give people a wrong understanding of the stars.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar used this shot to tell Louis: I know a lot, and today I will open your eyes!

Louis did not specifically examine the hit rate of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's various low-post offensive methods. The sky hook skill was so imprinted on him that they did not expect that this guy could use other techniques.

means.

"If Karim plays like this, I can only pray that his hand feels bad."

Thurmond guarded the best Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, so his words are guaranteed.

"You just can't do anything to him."

Louis listened to his words and thought that fortunately Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was already 37 years old. What surprised him was that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar reached his peak in the second grade, and then thought that "Lou Alcindor has completed the supreme game in basketball."

Achievements, he won a high school championship, a college national championship and an NBA championship. It was time for him to give up the name given to his ancestors by the pastoral slave owners and pursue his true self." So he broke with his Christian parents, which was no less extreme than

Yu Kobe stripped all his relatives out of his own world just to stay with Vanessa forever.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was born. Jabbar took away Alcindor, who led the Bucks to the championship in his second year, and brought a man with more problems, more sensitivity, and more irritability, but he could never be alone again.

The super center who led the team to the championship.

Because of the ABA, the NBA was very competitive from 1971 to 1976, but Kareem Abdul-Jabbar did not win another championship for eight years after 1972. This is a mystery that Louis can't figure out.

He should be the kind of player who can lead a team to win championships with a single core, especially in those years.

The answer to this hidden secret can be found in his personal biography "Footsteps of Giants" published last year.

Louis looked at the faltering Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who couldn't keep up with the Lakers' quick counterattack and couldn't stop the Celtics' fast break.

After he completed the turnaround jump shot, the Celtics wanted to take advantage of his slow return and score quickly.

I made a mistake while busy and made a mistake.

The ball was won by Magic, who sent a long pass to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Sampson rushed back quickly and gave Kareem Abdul-Jabbar a chasing shot under the basket.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar failed to score, so he grabbed the offensive rebound, tried again, and was interfered by the young and powerful Sampson, but still missed.

Relying on his good habits at the basket, he grabbed another offensive rebound with his raised hand. This time, he was not reckless. He made a feint shot to get Sampson up, then jumped sideways and made a dunk to score.

4 to 2

"The Lakers' defensive intensity today is no joke." Tom Heinsohn reminded, "The Celtics must adjust early. When the opponent shows full aggression, you must also respond with the same level of energy."

Kareem ran back slowly.

John Long acted as a temporary porter, dribbling the ball from the backcourt across half court and giving it to Bird.

Bird got the ball and didn't waste a second before dribbling and hitting. Wilkins never left the ball.

He didn't expect that Bird's offense was just a pretense to show off to him.

His real purpose is to use L tactics to run and cut to hit Sampson in the penalty area.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's mobility is no longer enough to cope with the Celtics' passing tactics.

Bird hit the ground pass and Sampson caught the ball with one hand. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar turned to defend, but was swayed away by the young junior with a European step he had never seen on a center. Then, behind him, the basket

Encountered a dunk.

"Tom, is this what you want now?" Dick Stockton asked excitedly.

"Not enough!" Heinsohn shook his head happily, "Not enough!"

But he was already impressed. A man as big as Sampson could actually do the European step, which was beyond the imagination of many people.

Even Sampson himself raised his hands, showing off his modest muscles.