The rest is just noise

69 to 58

The halftime score of this game confused many people.

The Celtics, with Isiah Thomas and Ralph Sampson, trailed the Knicks by 11 points at halftime?

"Tommy, what did you think of the first half?" Dick Stockton asked.

Tom Heinsohn said helplessly: "New York is no longer the New York of the past, and the Celtics are no longer the Celtics of previous years. The impact of Larry's absence has been underestimated by us."

"Moreover, the Knicks are no longer the Celtics team that can win just by playing."

"After a year of growth and offseason signings, they have completely grown up."

"Celtic must open their eyes and take a hard look at the opponent in front of them."

Louis and his assistant coaches did not expect this situation.

The Celtics' desire to play, or in other words, the feeling of wanting to fix the Knicks, is not as strong as expected.

Both Thomas and Sampson started strong, but gradually lost their momentum.

K.C. Jones's offensive setup is problematic, but it's not just the offense that's problematic.

Sampson has a huge advantage and can beat anyone with confidence.

However, the Celtics did not design a tactical system that allowed him to catch the ball easily.

The Celtics like to have Sampson receive the ball in the high post to take advantage of his omnipotent ability.

Doing this is naturally satisfying, but it takes a huge toll on Sampson's physical strength.

In the long run, it is not conducive to superstar paddling.

The Celtics are already a team that has won three consecutive championships, and they cannot be as focused on the regular season as they were in the past.

Before the game started, they might have had the idea of ​​revenge against the Knicks, but as the game started, the Knicks were as tenacious as a hard bone to chew, making them give up that idea.

The Celtics returned to their usual self and treated the game with ease.

The Knicks took the game against the Celtics as a serious test.

From the coaching staff to the players, no one doesn't take it seriously.

Louis told CBS' frontline reporter: "Only counting the regular season, we play five games with the Celtics every year. To me, this is not too much. They are the best team in the league. Every time

Playing against them is a learning opportunity.”

"Are you confident that you can defeat them?" the reporter asked.

"For the kings who have dominated the league in the past three years, we should not use words like 'confidence' to scorn them." Louis smiled, "I can only say that the Celtics are the team we most want to beat."

To do this, the Knicks' coaching staff can stay up all night discussing game plans.

The Celtics' shortcomings don't seem to be many, but as long as they are targeted carefully, they can find gaps.

Now, their gap has appeared and is obvious.

When Bird was away, they didn't even have a regular starting position at the third position. They chose to let Harper play the third position, which shows that they are not confident in the other wings in the team.

The backcourt partnership of Thomas and Ainge is not incompatible on the offensive end, but it is very problematic on the defensive end.

Thomas and Ainge are both dirty but not excellent defensive players. They are very serious, but limited by their innate conditions, their defensive effects are very average.

When John Long's athletic ability was still at its peak a few years ago, it was not that obvious. Now that Bird is gone and Ainge is replaced, the situation suddenly becomes serious.

Louis returned to the locker room, and he already had ideas for the second half of the game.

"Benj, you have the biggest matchup advantage tonight, why didn't you shoot a few more goals in the first half?" Louis asked specifically when he returned to the locker room.

Moreover, he added: "If you don't take advantage of this moment to have a good time, you will be completely blown away by Larry Bird when he comes back."

During this time, Wilson has been trained by Louis to be as well-behaved as a puppy.

When he heard Louis ask this, he thought he was "fishing" and quickly said: "I'm just running tactics."

"You mean, you don't take too many shots because our tactical support for positional warfare is not in place?" Louis asked.

The more he behaved like this, the more Wilson suspected it was "fishing."

When I talk back, I become more emotionally intelligent.

"No, our tactics are the most advanced in the league. I am too stupid for not being able to escape the opportunity..."

He was so aware of current affairs that Louis didn't know what to say.

Although the Knicks' N.UCLA system was built around the UCLA offense, as the system entered its second year, Louis changed many tactical routines.

Although the framework is still the UCLA offense, the routine has changed too much.

Under this framework, shooting guards and small forwards are collectively called wings. Their main ways of scoring are shooting, cutting and backdoors.

Before Wilson came, the Knicks' wings didn't have much one-on-one ability.

A one-on-one fight by Tony Campbell and his ilk is not called a one-on-one fight, it's called a sudden illness.

Louis did not give Wilson a one-on-one challenge as soon as he came up, because his successful experience in training Sampson convinced him that ball-handling skills, which are deeply rooted in Wilson's soul, will not disappear just because there are not many opportunities for actual combat.

If Sampson hadn't spent those years honing his other skills and improving his flaws step by step according to the plan laid out by Louis, there would be no "Mr. One" today.

Louis also followed this process when training Wilson.

He wants to train Wilson to be a master without the ball, and then let him combine his ability with the ball to become the monster Louis imagined, with the ball like Tracy McGrady, and without the ball, comparable to Durant.

So Wilson began the integration process day after day.

Dale Ellis is much more skilled than him. He can run almost all Exchange Ricky (high dynamic offense). For many tactics, as soon as Stockton launches it, Ellis knows what to do next, and Wilson has to confirm it.

Take action again.

Therefore, it is often Ellis who gets the chance through tactics.

Wilson has too many ineffective moves.

Of course, he currently averages 20 points per game and is the second-highest scoring player on the Knicks. Even if he runs around casually, he can attract the attention of opponents, so it cannot be said that most of his moves are ineffective.

All I can say is that it looks very brainless, but it is not that brainless. The result is invalid, but it is not completely invalid from an overall perspective.

His entire game is a fragmentation of contradictory logic, then reorganization, fragmentation, and reorganization.

"Well, in that case, I'll make you look smarter."

What happened next was beyond Wilson's imagination.

Louis positioned him as the core of the offense in the third quarter and deployed a large number of Exchange Ricky (high dynamic offense) around him.

Dale Ellis did not start the second half.

The Knicks' starting lineup for the third quarter is Stockton, Wilson, Rodman, Oakley, and Ewing.

Wilson was moved to the second position by Louis.

This is an inconspicuous arrangement, but it determines the trend of the game.

Sampson faced the basket in the low post and was interfered by Ewing.

However, his height advantage is obvious, and he grabbed offensive rebounds to make up for it.

60 to 69

Then, the offense surrounding Wilson began.

The first is a typical Exchange Ricky (high dynamic offense). This tactic is under the framework of high dynamic offense, and the tactical name is "Zero". Ellis rarely runs the Zero tactic because of the way the Zero tactic operates.

The third position provides a screen for the second position, and then the second position runs to the free throw line to catch the ball and shoot.

Ellis is a utilitarian in terms of tactical tendencies. He believes in the magic ball logic that three points are greater than two points, so he rarely runs zero tactics.

Harper was caught by a screen, and Wilson caught the ball at the free throw line and made a jumper.

71 to 60

In the next round, Thomas' breakthrough was blocked by Ewing.

Oakley grabbed the rebound ferociously.

Oakley passed to Stockton, who found Wilson.

Wilson advanced alone with the ball, and now there was no strategy.

Facing Harper, who was slightly shorter than him, Wilson rushed to the left wing, turned his back lightly and entered the paint. Facing Ainge, he turned around like Jordan and hit the target again.

His dribbling, coordination, and consistency when he turns over and shoots a jump shot.

Too rare.

73 to 60

This brought out the anger of the two Celtic bosses.

How could they let a rookie show off in front of them?

Sampson dribbled the ball to attract a three-man attack from the Knicks and distributed it to the outside.

Anji hit a three-pointer and returned the favor.

63 to 73

The Knicks entered into a one-on-one battle, and Sampson's terrifying sweep destroyed the Knicks' tactics.

"Give the ball to Benj!" Louie yelled.

Stockton immediately stopped his tactics and passed the ball to Wilson for a one-on-one challenge.

Even though the tactics stopped running, Wilson still called a pick-and-roll mismatch to face Thomas. He allowed his teammates to pull away, changed directions and passed the smiling assassin into the inside to pick up the basket and score.

75 to 63

This was facing the Smiling Assassin's offense with the ball facing the basket. His speed of movement and size advantage when finishing at the basket left Thomas completely helpless.

But what's valuable is that he can actually dribble in front of Thomas.

"This kid...really deserves his reputation." McHale would say this about Wilson almost every day.

But this time he was the most sincere.

Wilson only relied on his own matchup advantage to forcibly curb the Celtics' counterattack momentum.

The goal that excited Louis the most came two minutes before the end of the third quarter.

Laimbeer hit a three-pointer, and then Wilson advanced alone with the ball from the backcourt.

At that time, he had no tactics in his mind.

He just wanted to score the answer right away.

The Celtics didn't expect him to do that.

Before his teammates were in position, Wilson faced Danny Ainge out of position, and made a fake move to prepare for a breakthrough, allowing Ainge to lower his focus. Suddenly, the outside line was pulled up.

Breaking through the threat, precisely and subtly, dismembering the defender within a millisecond with the beat.

"His height, athletic ability, coordination, speed of movement, height and wingspan..." Tomjanovich complained, "God is really unfair sometimes."