The rest is just noise

In the last few minutes of the first quarter, the Celtics expected Louis to use a full-court press.

As a result, Louis did not use a full-court press as they thought, but played the first quarter naturally.

27 to 24

The Celtics led by 3 points. The Big Three each played 7-9 minutes, while the Knicks insisted on changing players every six minutes.

Among the starters, Dale Ellis played the longest time. He was heavily targeted by the Celtics tonight, but was used as bait by Louis.

So even though Ellis only scored 3 points in the first quarter, he verified the famous saying of the small ball era.

A great player without the ball can save the entire team's offense.

You must know that Ellis is far from being a master without the ball. Although his running without the ball is excellent, he is not a historical-level player without the ball like Jordan, Miller, Ray Allen, and Curry.

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He is a big threat without the ball in the Knicks because the team mainly plays the N.UCLA system.

A system that focuses on pick-and-rolls and screens is more conducive to his performance, and he uses his shooting skills and shooting threats to feed his teammates.

This is a virtuous cycle.

In the second quarter, Louis boldly put on a three-line lineup of Webber, Gerald Wilkins, A.C. Green, Antoine Kyle and Manute Bol.

Because the Celtics' second quarter lineup is Thomas, Ainge, Guy Williams, Jim Peterson and Laimbeer.

Compared with the previous two years, the Celtics' lineup depth has been greatly weakened, but it is still comparable to the starting lineups of some weak teams.

What's more, the person leading this lineup is Thomas.

Louis expected that K.C would not deliberately DIY the Knicks' lineup, so the Knicks' second team was very targeted.

Putting Webb at the first position, who no one in the Celtics can keep up with, and the three inside players to strengthen their rebounding advantage, Bol's protection of the rim and the Celtics' performance in attacking the rim will determine the tone of the second quarter.

In the second quarter, the Knicks took the lead in attacking.

Antoine Kyle ran to the right paint area and caught the ball.

As long as they don't play with Stockton, Louis won't force them to play the N.UCLA offense.

Kyle caught the ball, found that his opponent had not followed up, and immediately took action.

26 to 27

Louis whistled and said to Laimbeer: "Bill, what's wrong? Do you think Antoine can't shoot?"

The Celtics intended to counterattack quickly, but the Knicks' defense did not slow down because of the three inside lines.

A.C is a flexible and light inside man. As a religious believer, he may be the most pure player in NBA history.

His flexible footsteps allow him to defend the third position on the defensive end, which is why Louis dares to use a three-poster lineup.

Kyle is a player who needs to use offense to mobilize defensive enthusiasm. Scoring a goal when he comes up will help him defend seriously.

Bol's speed is a bit slow, but it doesn't matter. The coaching staff never expects him to defend against the opponent's counterattacks. It is enough to try to keep up with the rhythm.

Thomas faced Webber in the frontcourt.

Thomas, who had been playing against opponents taller than himself in almost every game, suddenly encountered a player 20 centimeters shorter than him. It was rare for Thomas to have a disadvantage when he was attacking with the ball.

Weber put Thomas two meters away.

Thomas dribbled in, fearing Bol's height advantage, and chose to make a pull-up jumper.

29 to 26

Webber often doesn't know what tactics to use. There are too many pick-and-roll tactics.

Stockton has a good memory and can use all tactics as part of his game memory. He often looks at Louis to see what instructions he has.

"Empty 9!" Louie shouted.

After receiving the instruction, Weber gestured to his teammates from a distance.

Kyle pulls to the left and takes the defender away.

A.C ran out to the outside, and Gerald Wilkins got the ball from Webber.

It seemed to be a tactic to clear space for Wilkins to play in isolation, but after passing the ball, Weber took a step behind Wilkins and then turned around and ran back, using his teammate's body to block Thomas behind him. Kay

The Celtics' average defensive IQ is very high. Anji switched defenses decisively, but one after another, on the right three-point line, A.C.'s off-ball screen was already in place.

Ainge knew that a collision was inevitable, so he swung his elbow hard at A.C. They both fell to the ground at the same time, and Webb rushed inside.

Wilkins made a lob, and Webber caught the ball and jumped from the paint area. This was something Laimbeer could not have imagined.

A young man less than 1.7 meters tall actually completed a dunk inside their paint!

This is "Empty9", Empty Lob. The direct translation means airside lob coordination. It still uses the player's running and pick-and-roll coverage to create space. Unlike Empty Side, Lob is more likely to allow the ball to be held.

People are the cutters, and Side is often a collaboration between the ball handler and the inside line, and the goal is to take the ball by surprise.

The Knicks were not happy for long before Louis saw a conflict between Ainge and A.C.

"Try fucking touching me!" Angie, who hit with his elbow first, showed no sign of apology, making it seem like A.C struck first.

Almost immediately, the other four teammates on the Knicks court gathered around him, and they all happened to be his classmates. What are the benefits of being in the same class? They are very good friends with each other. Because Louis gives almost everyone

Given the opportunity, they cooperate with each other and make progress together. They will help anyone who encounters problems.

Kyle, Boll, Webb, and Wilkins all rushed over to surround them, and the second conflict was about to happen.

Fortunately, there was a referee. Tommy Nunez grabbed the whistle and shouted: "Do you want a T? If you don't want it, just move away and play hard!"

"He elbowed me first and then made rude remarks. Is that the end of it?" A.C made a legitimate accusation.

"Stop fucking farting here, rookie, this is part of the game. If you don't like it, go home and stop playing!" Angie mocked vulgarly.

"Okay!" Kyle and the others took A.C away, and then said to Angie, "Let's see who is more ruthless!"

Nunez shouted angrily: "Whoever dares to do unnecessary things again, I will never let him go!"

"Tommy, I'm not telling you. If you didn't see what Angie did to my players, you can ask your assistant referee. He should see it clearly, but he doesn't like me, so he doesn't

You can blow the whistle, but you should know who Anji is, and you should also know that A.C will never take the initiative to cause trouble!"

Louis stood on the sidelines to put some pressure on Nunez, and then found Oakley eager to try.

"Coach, is it my turn?"

His fists were hardened, it was obvious that he was going to fight.

"Go back and sit down, this is none of your business!"

"Can I be spared from fighting?"

"Damn it, can you stop thinking about fighting and fighting all day long? We are fucking civilized people. Is fighting something civilized people should do? Can you just learn from me and stop being so fucking stupid?

Are you thinking about a fucking fight?"

Oakley was shocked: "Coach, I will definitely listen to you and be a fucking civilized person!"

The dispute caused by Ainge gave the Celtics a tougher team.

A.C and Guy Williams are rolling around in the confrontation.

Louis remembered that Williams originally wanted to be a thug. Louis hoped that he could have his own unique skill, but unfortunately he didn't realize it.

Now he has become Ranbir's executor.

Laimbeer never takes the initiative to fight. He is not an enforcer in the strict sense, nor is he a thug like Oakley. He is more advanced than these people. He is an instigator. He is responsible for inciting the opponent's emotions, stirring up trouble, and making things difficult for him.

The other party takes action.

Williams' current role is that of Ranbir's executor. He basically acts based on Ranbir's face.

Louis couldn't tell whether this was good or bad.

In fact, this is a good thing for Williams. In Louis' previous life, he had faded out of the league at this stage. Now he has a stable position in Boston because both K.C. and Auerbach feel that Laimbeer needs a thug.

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A.C and Williams hit the ground together, and Thomas broke through and passed the ball.

Anjie shot from outside the three-point line, but Antoine Kyle destroyed his center of gravity.

What's confusing is that the referee didn't call Kyle a foul.

Instead, Laimbeer was given a blocking foul under the basket.

"Tommy?" Now it was K.C's turn to be dissatisfied.

K.C stood up and complained loudly, "Where was the foul just now? If the inside line is not stuck, why are we still playing..."

Louis smiled and said to Tomjanovich: "Mr. Nunez is really a good player at blowing the balance whistle."

"I still like Earl Strom better than Tom Nunez (referees/calls in games where the home team has a lower winning percentage than the away team)," Tomjanovich said.

The dispute caused by Anji further escalated the confrontation on the court.

It seemed that the defending champions were putting pressure on their opponents, but this was exactly what Louis wanted to see.

The current Celtics are no longer the same team in 1981 that relied on hand-to-hand combat to reverse three consecutive games against the Philadelphia 76ers.

In fact, even if you search all over NBA history, you can't find another team like the Celtics that has three of the top four players in the league.

Their combat power and talent are superior to many teams.

For them, fighting in hand-to-hand combat is considered a degradation of their status, so fighting like this is not good for them.

This time Webb used a step screen. With the Celtics' unpreventable offensive speed, he rushed outside the paint area and made a high-altitude parabolic throw, hitting the board.

30 to 29

"With Spot Weber's floater, the Knicks took the lead!"

"It's time for us to put aside our past prejudices and take a serious look at this team." Tom Heinsohn said, "Little Lu is doing to this team what he once did to the Celtics."

The fierce physical confrontation prevented the Celtics from finding opportunities with the ball. Thomas went to the basket and passed the ball to Laimbeer.

Laimbeer fired a shot, shook Bol up, and then used a time difference to cause Bol's foul.

In two free throws, he only made one and missed the second one.

A.C grabbed the rebound and threw a long pass to Weber.

Thomas caught up at full speed and also received a shooting foul.

The rhythm and intensity of the game were not to the Celtics' liking. At the beginning of the second quarter, they did not gain any planned advantage, and instead allowed the Knicks to control the rhythm.

The source of the change in the game was that after Ainge's conflict with A.C., he forced the Knicks' young people to show their blood.